Production of annual winter forage sown before and after soybean harvest under different nitrogen fertilization levels

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect on forage yield of sowing winter forage species before and after soybean harvest, at different nitrogen application levels. The experiment was set out in a randomized block design with a strip-split plot arrangement, and three replicates. Sowing methods (18 days before soybean harvest and six days after soybean harvest) were allocated in the main plots, and the combination among forage species (Avena strigosa cv. IAPAR 61 + Lolium multiflorum; A. strigosa cv. Comum + L. multiflorum; A. strigosa cv. Comum + L. multiflorum + Vicia villosa; A. strigosa cv. Comum + L. multiflorum + Raphanus sativus; and L. multiflorum) and nitrogen levels (0, 140, 280 and 420 kg ha-1) in the plots and subplots, respectively. Forage sowing before the soybean harvest made it possible to anticipate first grazing by 14 days, with satisfactory establishment of forage species without affecting forage production. This method permitted a longer grazing period, preventing the need for soil disking, besides allowing the use of no-tillage system. The mixture of forage species enables higher forage yield for pasture in relation to single species pastures, with response to nitrogen fertilization up to 360 kg ha-1.

Optimization of solvent mixtures for extraction from bark of Schinus terebinthifolius by a statistical mixture-design technique and development of a UV-Vis spectrophotometric method for analysis of total polyphenols in the extract

A statistical mixture-design technique was used to study the effects of different solvents and their mixtures on the yield, total polyphenol content, and antioxidant capacity of the crude extracts from the bark of Schinus terebinthifolius Raddi (Anacardiaceae). The experimental results and their response-surface models showed that ternary mixtures with equal portions of all the three solvents (water, ethanol and acetone) were better than the binary mixtures in generating crude extracts with the highest yield (22.04 ± 0.48%), total polyphenol content (29.39 ± 0.39%), and antioxidant capacity (6.38 ± 0.21). An analytical method was developed and validated for the determination of total polyphenols in the extracts. Optimal conditions for the various parameters in this analytical method, namely, the time for the chromophoric reaction to stabilize, wavelength of the absorption maxima to be monitored, the reference standard and the concentration of sodium carbonate were determined to be 5 min, 780 nm, pyrogallol, and 14.06% w v-1, respectively. UV-Vis spectrophotometric monitoring of the reaction under these conditions proved the method to be linear, specific, precise, accurate, reproducible, robust, and easy to perform.

Probabilistic structure of an annual extreme rainfall series of a coastal area of the State of São Paulo, Brazil

This study aimed to describe the probabilistic structure of the annual series of extreme daily rainfall (Preabs), available from the weather station of Ubatuba, State of São Paulo, Brazil (1935-2009), by using the general distribution of extreme value (GEV). The autocorrelation function, the Mann-Kendall test, and the wavelet analysis were used in order to evaluate the presence of serial correlations, trends, and periodical components. Considering the results obtained using these three statistical methods, it was possible to assume the hypothesis that this temporal series is free from persistence, trends, and periodicals components. Based on quantitative and qualitative adhesion tests, it was found that the GEV may be used in order to quantify the probabilities of the Preabs data. The best results of GEV were obtained when the parameters of this function were estimated using the method of maximum likelihood. The method of L-moments has also shown satisfactory results.

Multiple centroid method to evaluate the adaptability of alfalfa genotypes

This study aimed to evaluate the efficiency of multiple centroids to study the adaptability of alfalfa genotypes (Medicago sativa L.). In this method, the genotypes are compared with ideotypes defined by the bissegmented regression model, according to the researcher's interest. Thus, genotype classification is carried out as determined by the objective of the researcher and the proposed recommendation strategy. Despite the great potential of the method, it needs to be evaluated under the biological context (with real data). In this context, we used data on the evaluation of dry matter production of 92 alfalfa cultivars, with 20 cuttings, from an experiment in randomized blocks with two repetitions carried out from November 2004 to June 2006. The multiple centroid method proved efficient for classifying alfalfa genotypes. Moreover, it showed no unambiguous indications and provided that ideotypes were defined according to the researcher's interest, facilitating data interpretation.

Decomposition of ground biomass of secondary forest and yield of annual crops in no tillage

ABSTRACT The objective of this work was to evaluate the dynamics of decomposition process of chopped secondary forest system, previously enriched with legumes Inga velutina Willd. and Stryphnodendron pulcherrimum (Willd.) Hochr. and the contribution of this process to the nutrient input to the cultivation of corn and bean under no-tillage. The experimental design was a randomized block, split plot with four replications. The plots were two species (I. velutina and S. pulcherrimum) and the subplots were seven times of evaluation (0, 7, 28, 63, 189, 252, 294 days after experiment installation). There was no difference (p ≥ 0.05) between the secondary forest systems enriched and no interaction with times for biomass waste, decomposition constant and half-life time. The waste of S. pulcherrimum trees had higher (p < 0.05) C/N ratio than that I. velutina. However, this one was higher (p < 0.05) in lignin content. Nevertheless, the dynamics of residue decomposition was similar. The corn yield was higher (p < 0.05) in cultivation under I.velutina waste. Meanwhile, the beans planted after corn, shows similar (p > 0.05) yield in both areas, regardless of the waste origin.

O planejamento econômico no Brasil: considerações críticas

In the past thirty years, a series of plans have been developed by successive Brazilian governments in a continuing effort to maximize the nation's resources for economic and social growth. This planning history has been quantitatively rich but qualitatively poor. The disjunction has stimulated Professor Mello e Souza to address himself to the problem of national planning and to offer some criticisms of Brazilian planning experience. Though political instability has obviously been a factor promoting discontinuity, his criticisms are aimed at the attitudes and strategic concepts which have sought to link planning to national goals and administration. He criticizes the fascination with techniques and plans to the exclusion of proper diagnosis of the socio-political reality, developing instruments to coordinate and carry out objectives, and creating an administrative structure centralized enough to make national decisions and decentralized enough to perform on the basis of those decisions. Thus, fixed, quantified objectives abound while the problem of functioning mechanisms for the coordinated, rational use of resources has been left unattended. Although his interest and criticism are focused on the process and experience of national planning, he recognized variation in the level and results of Brazilian planning. National plans have failed due to faulty conception of the function of planning. Sectorial plans, save in the sector of the petroleum industry under government responsibility, ha e not succeeded in overcoming the problems of formulation and execution thereby repeating old technical errors. Planning for the private sector has a somewhat brighter history due to the use of Grupos Executivos which has enabled the planning process to transcend the formalism and tradition-bound attitudes of the regular bureaucracy. Regional planning offers two relatively successful experiences, Sudene and the strategy of the regionally oriented autarchy. Thus, planning history in Brazil is not entirely black but a certain shade of grey. The major part of the article, however, is devoted to a descriptive analysis of the national planning experience. The plans included in this analysis are: The Works and Equipment Plan (POE); The Health, Food, Transportation and Energy Plan (Salte); The Program of Goals; The Trienal Plan of Economic and Social Development; and the Plan of Governmental Economic Action (Paeg). Using these five plans for his historical experience the author sets out a series of errors of formulation and execution by which he analyzes that experience. With respect to formulation, he speaks of a lack of elaboration of programs and projects, of coordination among diverse goals, and of provision of qualified staff and techniques. He mentions the absence of the definition of resources necessary to the financing of the plan and the inadequate quantification of sectorial and national goals due to the lack of reliable statistical information. Finally, he notes the failure to coordinate the annual budget with the multi-year plans. He sees the problems of execution as beginning in the absence of coordination between the various sectors of the public administration, the failure to develop an operative system of decentralization, the absence of any system of financial and fiscal control over execution, the difficulties imposed by the system of public accounting, and the absence of an adequate program of allocation for the liberation of resources. He ends by pointing to the failure to develop and use an integrated system of political economic tools in a mode compatible with the objective of the plans. The body of the article analyzes national planning experience in Brazil using these lists of errors as rough model of criticism. Several conclusions emerge from this analysis with regard to planning in Brazil and in developing countries, in general. Plans have generally been of little avail in Brazil because of the lack of a continuous, bureaucratized (in the Weberian sense) planning organization set in an instrumentally suitable administrative structure and based on thorough diagnoses of socio-economic conditions and problems. Plans have become the justification for planning. Planning has come to be conceived as a rational method of orienting the process of decisions through the establishment of a precise and quantified relation between means and ends. But this conception has led to a planning history rimmed with frustration, and failure, because of its rigidity in the face of flexible and changing reality. Rather, he suggests a conception of planning which understands it "as a rational process of formulating decisions about the policy, economy, and society whose only demand is that of managing the instrumentarium in a harmonious and integrated form in order to reach explicit, but not quantified ends". He calls this "planning without plans": the establishment of broad-scale tendencies through diagnosis whose implementation is carried out through an adjustable, coherent instrumentarium of political-economic tools. Administration according to a plan of multiple, integrated goals is a sound procedure if the nation's administrative machinery contains the technical development needed to control the multiple variables linked to any situation of socio-economic change. Brazil does not possess this level of refinement and any strategy of planning relevant to its problems must recognize this. The reforms which have been attempted fail to make this recognition as is true of the conception of planning informing the Brazilian experience. Therefore, unworkable plans, ill-diagnosed with little or no supportive instrumentarium or flexibility have been Brazil's legacy. This legacy seems likely to continue until the conception of planning comes to live in the reality of Brazil.

An appraisal of the health planning method proposed by the Pan-American Health Organization for Latin America

A brief description of the main features of the health planning technique developed by the "Centro de Estudios del Desarrollo" (CENDES) in Venezuela, and proposed by the Pan-American Health Organization for use in Latin America, is presented. This presentation is followed by an appraisal of the planning method which includes comments both upon its positive aspects and upon its negative points. Comments are also made referring to other recent publications of the WHO/PAHO on health planning. In conclusion, the CENDES technique is considered a health planning method of great potential for use especially in underdeveloped areas, the success of its application depending upon the hability of the health planners to introduce the necessary modifications to adapt to the local circunstamces.

The use of wide-mesh gauze impregnated with lambda-cyhalothrin covering wall openings in huts as a vector control method in Suriname

An alternative vector control method, using lambda-cyhalothrin impregnated wide-mesh gauze covering openings in the walls of the houses was developed in an area in the Eastern part of the interior of Suriname. Experimental hut observations showed that Anopheles darlingi greatly reduced their biting activity (99-100%) during the first 5 months after impregnation. A model assay showed high mortality both of mosquitoes repelled by the gauze as well as of those that succeeded in getting through it. A field application test in 270 huts showed good acceptance by the population and good durability of the applied gauze. After introducing the method in the entire working area, replacing DDT residual housespraying, the malaria prevalence, of 25-37% before application dropped and stabilized at between 5 and 10% within one year. The operational costs were less than those of the previously used DDT housespraying program, due to a 50% reduction in the cost of materials used. The method using widemesh gauze impregnated with lambdacyhalothrin strongly affects the behavior of An. darlingi. It is important to examine the effect of the method on malaria transmission further, since data indirectly obtained suggest substantial positive results.

Disparities in cervical and breast cancer mortality in Brazil

OBJECTIVE To analyze cervical and breast cancer mortality in Brazil according to socioeconomic and welfare indicators. METHODS Data on breast and cervical cancer mortality covering a 30-year period (1980-2010) were analyzed. The data were obtained from the National Mortality Database, population data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics database, and socioeconomic and welfare information from the Institute of Applied Economic Research. Moving averages were calculated, disaggregated by capital city and municipality. The annual percent change in mortality rates was estimated by segmented linear regression using the joinpoint method. Pearson’s correlation coefficients were conducted between average mortality rate at the end of the three-year period and selected indicators in the state capital and each Brazilian state. RESULTS There was a decline in cervical cancer mortality rates throughout the period studied, except in municipalities outside of the capitals in the North and Northeast. There was a decrease in breast cancer mortality in the capitals from the end of the 1990s onwards. Favorable socioeconomic indicators were inversely correlated with cervical cancer mortality. A strong direct correlation was found with favorable indicators and an inverse correlation with fertility rate and breast cancer mortality in inner cities. CONCLUSIONS There is an ongoing dynamic process of increased risk of cervical and breast cancer and attenuation of mortality because of increased, albeit unequal, access to and provision of screening, diagnosis and treatment. 

Ill-defined causes of death in Brazil: a redistribution method based on the investigation of such causes

OBJECTIVE To propose a method of redistributing ill-defined causes of death (IDCD) based on the investigation of such causes.METHODS In 2010, an evaluation of the results of investigating the causes of death classified as IDCD in accordance with chapter 18 of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) by the Mortality Information System was performed. The redistribution coefficients were calculated according to the proportional distribution of ill-defined causes reclassified after investigation in any chapter of the ICD-10, except for chapter 18, and used to redistribute the ill-defined causes not investigated and remaining by sex and age. The IDCD redistribution coefficient was compared with two usual methods of redistribution: a) Total redistribution coefficient, based on the proportional distribution of all the defined causes originally notified and b) Non-external redistribution coefficient, similar to the previous, but excluding external causes.RESULTS Of the 97,314 deaths by ill-defined causes reported in 2010, 30.3% were investigated, and 65.5% of those were reclassified as defined causes after the investigation. Endocrine diseases, mental disorders, and maternal causes had a higher representation among the reclassified ill-defined causes, contrary to infectious diseases, neoplasms, and genitourinary diseases, with higher proportions among the defined causes reported. External causes represented 9.3% of the ill-defined causes reclassified. The correction of mortality rates by the total redistribution coefficient and non-external redistribution coefficient increased the magnitude of the rates by a relatively similar factor for most causes, contrary to the IDCD redistribution coefficient that corrected the different causes of death with differentiated weights.CONCLUSIONS The proportional distribution of causes among the ill-defined causes reclassified after investigation was not similar to the original distribution of defined causes. Therefore, the redistribution of the remaining ill-defined causes based on the investigation allows for more appropriate estimates of the mortality risk due to specific causes.

An ELISA method using serum derived HDAg for the sorological detection of HDV antigens and antibodies

One of the main difficulties related to the detection of the Hepatitis Delta Virus (HDV) antigen and antibody has been the source of the needed HD antigen since HDV containing human and animal livers are very difficult to obtain and since yield is low. This fact prompted us to try to use the serum of patients in the acute phase of HDV infection as a source of HDAg and turn to enzyme immunoassays (EIA) instead of RIA for the sake of easiness and economy in the amount of HDAg needed. The antigen for EIA was obtained from patients during the acute phase of HDV infection and the antibody from patients who have been carriers for many years. For the detection of the antigen, a sandwich type method was employed, whereas for the antibody a competition assay was developed. In order to assess the relative specificity and sensibility of the test, the antibody assay was compared to a commercial RIA (C. RIA, Abbott) and to a non-commercial RIA (NC RIA). Forty-two sera were tested by the two methods and only in two cases discrepant results were obtained. Its is concluded that: 1) sera from patients in the acute and chronic phases of HDV infection can be used as source of both antigen and antibody, for immunoassays; 2) EIA and RIA have comparable relative specificity and sensibility and 3) EIA is easier to perform, cheaper, non-hazardous, has a longer shelf-life and saves scarce HDAg.