Erosivity of rainfall in Lages, Santa Catarina, Brazil

The erosive capacity of rainfall can be expressed by an index and knowing it allows recommendation of soil management and conservation practices to reduce water erosion. The objective of this study was to calculate various indices of rainfall erosivity in Lages, Santa Catarina, Brazil, identify the best one, and discover its temporal distribution. The study was conducted at the Center of Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences, Lages, Santa Catarina, using daily rainfall charts from 1989 to 2012. Using the computer program Chuveros , 107 erosivity indices were obtained, which were based on maximum intensity in 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, 120, 135, 150, 165, 180, 210, and 240 min of duration and on the combination of these intensities with the kinetic energy obtained by the equations of Brown & Foster, Wagner & Massambani, and Wischmeier & Smith. The indices of the time period from 1993 to 2012 were correlated with the respective soil losses from the standard plot of the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) in order to select the erosivity index for the region. Erosive rainfall accounted for 83 % of the mean annual total volume of 1,533 mm. The erosivity index (R factor) of rainfall recommended for Lages is the EI30, whose mean annual value is 5,033 MJ mm ha-1 h-1, and of this value, 66 % occurs from September to February. Mean annual erosivity has a return period estimated at two years with a 50 % probability of occurrence.

CA88, a nuclear repetitive DNA sequence identified in Schistosoma mansoni, aids in the genotyping of nine Schistosoma species of medical and veterinary importance

CA88 is the first long nuclear repetitive DNA sequence identified in the blood fluke, Schistosoma mansoni. The assembled S. mansoni sequence, which contains the CA88 repeat, has 8,887 nucleotides and at least three repeat units of approximately 360 bp. In addition, CA88 also possesses an internal CA microsatellite, identified as SmBr18. Both PCR and BLAST analysis have been used to analyse and confirm the CA88 sequence in other S. mansoni sequences in the public database. PCR-acquired nuclear repetitive DNA sequence profiles from nine Schistosoma species were used to classify this organism into four genotypes. Included among the nine species analysed were five sequences of both African and Asian lineages that are known to infect humans. Within these genotypes, three of them refer to recognised species groups. A panel of four microsatellite loci, including SmBr18 and three previously published loci, has been used to characterise the nine Schistosoma species. Each species has been identified and classified based on its CA88 DNA fingerprint profile. Furthermore, microsatellite sequences and intra-specific variation have also been observed within the nine Schistosoma species sequences. Taken together, these results support the use of these markers in studying the population dynamics of Schistosoma isolates from endemic areas and also provide new methods for investigating the relationships between different populations of parasites. In addition, these data also indicate that Schistosoma magrebowiei is not a sister taxon to Schistosoma mattheei, prompting a new designation to a basal clade.

Soil carbon and nitrogen stocks in traditional agricultural and agroforestry systems in the semiarid region of Brazil

In the semiarid region of Brazil, inadequate management of cropping systems and low plant biomass production can contribute to reduce soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) stocks; therefore, management systems that preserve C and N must be adopted. This study aimed to evaluate the changes in soil C and N stocks that were promoted by agroforestry (agrosilvopastoral and silvopastoral) and traditional agricultural systems (slash-and-burn clearing and cultivation for two and three years) and to compare these systems with the natural Caatinga vegetation after 13 years of cultivation. The experiment was carried out on a typical Ortic Chromic Luvisol in the municipality of Sobral, Ceará, Brazil. Soil samples were collected (layers 0-6, 6-12, 12-20, 20-40 and 40-60 cm) with four replications. The plain, convex and concave landforms in each study situation were analyzed, and the total organic C, total N and densities of the soil samples were assessed. The silvopastoral system promoted the greatest long-term reductions in C and N stocks, while the agrosilvopastoral system promoted the smallest losses and therefore represents a sustainable alternative for soil C and N sequestration in these semiarid conditions. The traditional agricultural system produced reductions of 58.87 and 9.57 Mg ha-1 in the organic C and total N stocks, respectively, which suggests that this system is inadequate for these semiarid conditions. The organic C stocks were largest in the concave landform in the agrosilvopastoral system and in the plain landform in the silvopastoral system, while the total N values were highest in the concave landform in the native, agrosilvopastoral and silvopastoral systems.

Prediction of soil shear strength in agricultural and natural environments of the Brazilian Cerrado

The objective of this work was to develop uni- and multivariate models to predict maximum soil shear strength (τmax) under different normal stresses (σn), water contents (U), and soil managements. The study was carried out in a Rhodic Haplustox under Cerrado (control area) and under no-tillage and conventional tillage systems. Undisturbed soil samples were taken in the 0.00-0.05 m layer and subjected to increasing U and σn, in shear strength tests. The uni- and multivariate models - respectively τmax=10(a+bU) and τmax=10(a+bU+cσn) - were significant in all three soil management systems evaluated and they satisfactorily explain the relationship between U, σn, and τmax. The soil under Cerrado has the highest shear strength (τ) estimated with the univariate model, regardless of the soil water content, whereas the soil under conventional tillage shows the highest values with the multivariate model, which were associated to the lowest water contents at the soil consistency limits in this management system.

Emerald zoyzia grass development regarding photosynthetically active radiation in different slopes

With this study, the objective was to estimate the photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) and to correlate it with the dry matter (MMSPA) of the emerald zoysia (Zoysia japonica Steud.) on surfaces with different expositions and slopes. The research was conducted at the Experimental Watershed of the Agricultural Engineering Department, School of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences of São Paulo State University (FCAV/UNESP), Brazil, where the surfaces (H, 10 N, 30 N, 50 N, 10 S, 30 S, 50 S, 10 L, 30 L, 50 L, 10 O, 30 O and 50 O) were used. To obtain the global solar radiation, it was installed an automated weather station where the PAR (dependent variable) was obtained by the equation y = a + bx, and the global radiation was independent. To compare means of MMSPA, it was used the Tukey test at 5% probability, and to assess the relation PAR/MMSPA, the simple linear correlation coefficient. The result showed that the accumulation of these effects in the PAR increases with North exposure and decreases with the South, and exposure to 50N is most suitable for slopes, not having correlation between the PAR and the MMSPA for the surfaces evaluated for the study period.

A conceptual and practical overview of cDNA microarray technology: implications for basic and clinical sciences

cDNA microarray is an innovative technology that facilitates the analysis of the expression of thousands of genes simultaneously. The utilization of this methodology, which is rapidly evolving, requires a combination of expertise from the biological, mathematical and statistical sciences. In this review, we attempt to provide an overview of the principles of cDNA microarray technology, the practical concerns of the analytical processing of the data obtained, the correlation of this methodology with other data analysis methods such as immunohistochemistry in tissue microarrays, and the cDNA microarray application in distinct areas of the basic and clinical sciences.

The scientific production in health and biological sciences of the top 20 Brazilian universities

Brazilian scientific output exhibited a 4-fold increase in the last two decades because of the stability of the investment in research and development activities and of changes in the policies of the main funding agencies. Most of this production is concentrated in public universities and research institutes located in the richest part of the country. Among all areas of knowledge, the most productive are Health and Biological Sciences. During the 1998-2002 period these areas presented heterogeneous growth ranging from 4.5% (Pharmacology) to 191% (Psychiatry), with a median growth rate of 47.2%. In order to identify and rank the 20 most prolific institutions in these areas, searches were made in three databases (DataCAPES, ISI and MEDLINE) which permitted the identification of 109,507 original articles produced by the 592 Graduate Programs in Health and Biological Sciences offered by 118 public universities and research institutes. The 20 most productive centers, ranked according to the total number of ISI-indexed articles published during the 1998-2003 period, produced 78.7% of the papers in these areas and are strongly concentrated in the Southern part of the country, mainly in São Paulo State.