Euschistus heros mass rearing technique for the multiplication of Telenomus podisi

The objective of this work was to improve the mass rearing technique of Euschistus heros in laboratory. Nymphs and adults were reared at densities 100, 200, 300 and 400 eggs per Petri dish (9 cm diameter), and at 50, 100, 150 and 200 couples per rearing cages (900 mL), respectively. Survival rate of immature stages and survivorship and reproduction of adults were determinated. Survivorship of nymph to adult was the highest (89%) at density 100 eggs per dish. Adult survivorship was independent of density, and 100 couples per cage were the best to improve quality of the produced progeny. In these conditions, fecundity was 160.8±9.28 eggs per female, and a total of 8,950±456 eggs per cage per month was produced. Two hundred couples per cage showed a negative effect on reproduction, which decreased to 65%. With this technique, a colony of 35 cages with 100 couples per cage yields about 313.3 thousands eggs per month, which is enough to supply the egg parasitoid Telenomus podisi to colonize about 35 ha of soybean field.

Step-by-step of ultrasound-guided core-needle biopsy of the breast: review and technique

Ultrasound-guided core-needle biopsy has high sensitivity in the diagnosis of breast cancer. The present study is aimed at detailing the main steps of such procedure, including indications, advantages, limitations, follow-up and description of the technique, besides presenting a checklist including the critical steps required for an appropriate practice of the technique. In the recent years, an increasing number of patients have required breast biopsy, indicating the necessity of a proportional increase in the number of skilled professionals to carry out the procedures and histological diagnoses. A multidisciplinary approach involving the tripod clinical practice-radiology-pathology is responsible for the highest rate of accuracy of the technique and must always be adopted.

Use of the EPR technique to determine thermal stability of some humified organic substances found in soil organic-mineral fractions

In this work, using the EPR spectroscopy, we analysed the thermal stability of some organic-mineral compounds found in a Gleysoil from Rio Janeiro. It was observed a complete disappearance of the EPR signal around 600 °C for the < 2 µm fraction and a residual EPR signal of semiquinone free radical for the 2-20 µm and 20-53 µm fractions at the same temperature. Also, the experiments showed that the 2-20 µm fraction had a larger concentration of semiquinone free radical per g of carbon and a smaller line width indicated a larger humification of this fraction. This is an evidence that the soil organic matter of this fraction (2-20 µm) is more stable than the other ones.

Sistemas aquosos bifásicos: fundamentos e aplicações para partição/purificação de proteínas

By the year 2005 the world biochemical market will reach an estimated $ 100 billion and separation processes are a vital link between lab discoveries and the fulfillment of this commercialization potential. The practical application of aqueous two-phase systems (ATPS) to extraction processes has been exploited for several years for the recovery of biological products. Unfortunately, this has not resulted in an extensive presence of the technique in commercial processes. In this paper a critical overview of the fundamental thermodynamic properties related to formation of aqueous two-phase systems and their application to extraction and purification of bioparticules is presented.

Utilização da extração em fase sólida (SPE) na determinação de hidrocarbonetos policíclicos aromáticos em matrizes aquosas ambientais

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a great environmental concern mainly because of their toxic, mutagenic and carcinogenic potential. This paper reports utilization of the solid-phase extraction (SPE) technique to determine PAHs in environmental aqueous matrices. The recovery from environmental aqueous matrices fortified with PAHs varied from 63.7 to 93.1% for atmospheric liquid precipitation, from 38.3 to 95.1% for superficial river water, and from 71.0 to 95.5% for marine water. No negative matrix effect was observed for the recovery of PAHs from atmospheric liquid precipitation and marine water, but was observed for superficial river water, particularly for PAHs possessing 5 and 6 aromatic rings.

Alternative technique for biodiesel quality control using an optical fiber long-period grating sensor

We report the use of an optical fiber sensor to measure the soybean oil concentration in samples obtained from the mixture of pure biodiesel and commercial soybean oil. The operation of the device is based on the long-period grating sensitivity to the surrounding medium refractive index, which leads to measurable modifications in the grating transmission spectrum. The proposed analysis method results in errors in the oil concentration of 0.4% and 2.6% for pure biodiesel and commercial soybean oil, respectively. Techniques of total glycerol, dynamic viscosity, density, and hydrogen nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy were also employed to validate the proposed method.

Supercritical CO2 recovery of caffeine from green coffee oil: new experimental solubility data and modeling

The caffeine solubility in supercritical CO2 was studied by assessing the effects of pressure and temperature on the extraction of green coffee oil (GCO). The Peng-Robinson¹ equation of state was used to correlate the solubility of caffeine with a thermodynamic model and two mixing rules were evaluated: the classical mixing rule of van der Waals with two adjustable parameters (PR-VDW) and a density dependent one, proposed by Mohamed and Holder² with two (PR-MH, two parameters adjusted to the attractive term) and three (PR-MH3 two parameters adjusted to the attractive and one to the repulsive term) adjustable parameters. The best results were obtained with the mixing rule of Mohamed and Holder² with three parameters.

Técnicas de extrações e procedimentos de clean-up para a determinação de hidrocarbonetos policílicos aromáticos (HPA) em sedimentos da costa do Ceará

Extraction and clean-up are essential points in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) analysis in a solid matrix. This work compares extraction techniques and clean-up procedures for PAH analysis. PAH levels, their toxicological significance and source were also evaluated in the waters of the Cocó and Ceará rivers. The efficiency of PAH recovery was higher for the soxhlet and ultrasonic techniques. PAH recovery varied from 69.3 to 99.3%. Total PAH concentration (ΣHPA) varied from 720.73 to 2234.76 µg kg-1 (Cocó river) and 96.4 to 1859.21 µg kg-1 (Ceará river). The main PAH sources are pyrolytic processes and the levels were classified as medium so that adverse effects are possible.

Análise de resíduos de agrotóxicos em tomates empregando dispersão da matriz em fase sólida (DMFS) e cromatografia gasosa

This work was aimed on optimization of the matrix solid-phase dispersion (MSPD) technique using gas chromatography for analyzing residues of chlorpyriphos, λ-cyhalothrin, cypermethrin and deltamethrin in tomatoes. The results showed that silica was more efficient for the clean up of extracts, but florisil provided the highest recovery rates. A 2³ complete factorial design was carried out to evaluate the absorbent/sample ratio, presence of co-column (silica) and ultrasonic bath on the extraction rate. The percentage of extraction of the pesticides chlorpyriphos, λ-cyhalothrin, cypermethrin and deltamethrin were 64.7, 88.3, 99.2 and 89.2%, respectively, with relative standard deviations below 5%.

Photometric procedure for quantitative analysis of Aflatoxin B1 in peanuts by thin-layer chromatography using charge coupled device detector

A photometric procedure was developed for determination of aflatoxin B1 in peanuts by TLC-CCD technique. The quantification and detection limit were 1.2 μg kg-1 and 0.4 ng per spot, respectively, with mean recovery of 98%. The CCD camera is sufficiently sensitive to detect small changes in spots fluorescence intensity and the results for performance confirmed the efficiency of the method. Another important property of CCD detector is its linearity for a wide range of luminous stimulus determined by analysis of five-point calibration curves using the intensity of AFB1 fluorescence versus AFB1 concentration (0.8 to 4.8 ng per spot). The method was applied to the analysis of thirty nine peanut samples and aflatoxin B1 levels ranged from 16 to 115 μg kg-1. The TLC-CCD and the photometric procedure developed in this study demonstrated to be a simple and efficient tool for quantitative analyses of AFB1 in peanut samples.

Emprego de sílica gel organicamente modificada e impressa ionicamente para pré-concentração seletiva on-line de íons cobre

The present work purposes the preparation of a silica gel sorbent organically modified with 2-aminoethyl-3-aminobutylmethyldimethoxysilane (AAMDMS) and imprinted with Cu2+ ions by means surface imprinting technique and its use for selective on-line sorbent preconcentration of Cu2+ ions with further UV-VIS spectrophotometric determination by flow injection analysis. The Cu2+-imprinted silica gel, when compared with non imprinted silica gel and silica gel, showed from the binary mixture of Cu2+/Ni2+ relative selectivity coefficient (k') of 6.84 and 5.43 and 6.64 and 19.83 for the mixture Cu2+/Pb2+, thus demonstrating higher selectivity of Cu2+-imprinted silica gel towards Cu2+ ions. Under optimized condition, the on-line preconcentration method provided detection limit of 3.4 μg L-1 and linear range ranging from 30.0 up to 300.0 μg L-1 (r = 0.995). The accuracy of method was successfully assessed by analyzing different kind of spiked water samples with recovery values ranging from 92.2 up to 103.0%.

Determination of rutin and narcissin in marigold extract and topical formulations by liquid chromatography: applicability in skin penetration studies

A chromatographic technique for determination of rutin and narcissin in marigold extract and topical formulations was developed and validated. The method shows linearity over the concentration range of 0.2 - 6.0 μg/mL of rutin (r = 0.9986) and 0.8 - 12.0 μg/mL of narcissin (r = 0.9951). The values obtained for precision and accuracy are in agreement with ICH guidelines. Both the formulation excipients and the porcine ear skin samples did not interfere with the flavonoids determination. The recovery of rutin and narcissin in skin samples added with marigold extract was 81.41% and 83.35%, respectively, which demonstrate the applicability of this method to perform skin penetration studies.

Recovery of manganese and zinc from spent Zn-C and alkaline batteries in acidic medium

The anode and the internal paste of spent Zn-C and alkaline batteries were leached with 2 mol L-1 H2SO4 at 80 ºC for 2 h. Solid/liquid ratio was 1/10 (g mL-1). The leachate was treated with Na2S in order to precipitate Hg, Cd and Pb. Zn was quantitatively isolated at pH 1,5-2 by adding Na2S. Mn can be precipitated at pH close to 7. Na2S may be replaced by oxalic acid. Zn precipitated at pH around 0, whereas Mn was quantitatively recovered at pH > 4. Acidity control is a critical parameter. Na2SO4 and carbon are the end products.