Método da árvore temporal modificada aplicado à análise de impactos ambientais: um estudo de caso

Pós-graduação em Geociências e Meio Ambiente - IGCE

The Inflation Index Prognosis Based on the Method of Decision-Marking “Tree”

The description of the support system for marking decision in terms of prognosing the inflation level based on the multifactor dependence represented by the decision – marking “tree” is given in the paper. The interrelation of factors affecting the inflation level – economic, financial, political, socio-demographic ones, is considered. The perspectives for developing the method of decision – marking “tree”, and pointing out the so- called “narrow” spaces and further analysis of possible scenarios for inflation level prognosing in particular, are defined.

Increased Vascular Permeability, Angiogenesis and Wound Healing Induced by the Serum of Natural Latex of the Rubber Tree Hevea brasiliensis

Increases in vascular permeability and angiogenesis are crucial events to wound repair, tumoral growth and revascularization of tissues submitted to ischemia. An increased vascular permeability allows a variety of cytokines and growth factors to reach the damaged tissue. Nevertheless, the angiogenesis supply tissues with a wide variety of nutrients and is also important to metabolites clearance. It has been suggested that the natural latex from Hevea brasiliensis showed wound healing properties and angiogenic activity. Thus, the purpose of this work was to characterize its angiogenic activity and its effects on vascular permeability and wound healing. The serum fraction of the latex was separated from the rubber with reduction of the pH. The activity of the dialyzed serum fraction on the vascular permeability injected in subcutaneous tissue was assayed according Mile`s method. The angiogenic activity was determined using a chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane assay and its effects on the wound-healing process was determined by the rabbit ear dermal ulcer model. The serum fraction showed evident angiogenic effect and it was effective in enhancing vascular permeability. In dermal ulcers, this material significantly accelerated wound healing. Moreover, the serum fraction boiled and treated with proteases lost these activities. These results are in accordance with the enhancement of wound healing observed in clinical trials carried out with a biomembrane prepared with the same natural latex. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Monitoring of New Psychoactive Substances in the hair of patients with a history of addiction. Evaluation of the public health impact.

Introduction. The term New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) encompasses a broad category of drugs which have become available on the market in recent years and whose illicit use for recreational purposes has recently exploded. The analysis of NPS usually requires mass spectrometry based techniques. The aim of our study was to define the preva-lence of NPS consumption in patients with a history of drug addiction followed by Public Services for Pathological Addictions, with the purpose of highlighting the effective presence of NPS within the area of Bologna and evaluating their association with classical drugs of abuse (DOA). Materials and methods. Sustained by literature, a multi-analyte UHPLC-MS/MS method for the identification of 127 NPS (phenethylamines, arylcyclohexylamines, synthetic opioids, tryptamines, synthetic cannabinoids, synthetic cathinones, designer benzodiazepines) and 15 classic drugs of abuse (DOA) in hair samples was developed and validated according to International Guidelines [112]. Samples pretreatment consisted of washing steps and overnight incubation at 45°C in an acid mixture of methanol and water. After cooling, supernatant were injected into the chromatographic system coupled with a tandem mass spectrometry detector. Results. Successful validation was achieved for almost all of the compounds. The method met all the required technical parameters. LOQ was set from 4 to 80 pg/mg The developed method was applied to 107 cases (85 males and 22 females) of clinical interest. Out of 85 hair samples resulting positive to classical drugs of abuse, NPS were found in twelve (8 male and 4 female). Conclusion. The present methodology represents an easy, low cost, wide-panel method for the de-tection of 127 NPS and 15 DOA in hair samples. Such multi-analyte methods facilitates the study of the prevalence of drugs abused that will enable the competent control authorities to obtain evi-dence-based reports regarding the critical spread of the threat represented by NPS.

De Novo Assembly And Transcriptome Analysis Of The Rubber Tree (hevea Brasiliensis) And Snp Markers Development For Rubber Biosynthesis Pathways.

Hevea brasiliensis (Willd. Ex Adr. Juss.) Muell.-Arg. is the primary source of natural rubber that is native to the Amazon rainforest. The singular properties of natural rubber make it superior to and competitive with synthetic rubber for use in several applications. Here, we performed RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) of H. brasiliensis bark on the Illumina GAIIx platform, which generated 179,326,804 raw reads on the Illumina GAIIx platform. A total of 50,384 contigs that were over 400 bp in size were obtained and subjected to further analyses. A similarity search against the non-redundant (nr) protein database returned 32,018 (63%) positive BLASTx hits. The transcriptome analysis was annotated using the clusters of orthologous groups (COG), gene ontology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), and Pfam databases. A search for putative molecular marker was performed to identify simple sequence repeats (SSRs) and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). In total, 17,927 SSRs and 404,114 SNPs were detected. Finally, we selected sequences that were identified as belonging to the mevalonate (MVA) and 2-C-methyl-D-erythritol 4-phosphate (MEP) pathways, which are involved in rubber biosynthesis, to validate the SNP markers. A total of 78 SNPs were validated in 36 genotypes of H. brasiliensis. This new dataset represents a powerful information source for rubber tree bark genes and will be an important tool for the development of microsatellites and SNP markers for use in future genetic analyses such as genetic linkage mapping, quantitative trait loci identification, investigations of linkage disequilibrium and marker-assisted selection.

Evaluation of the Electric Vehicle Impact in the Power Demand Curve in a Smart Grid Environment

Smart grids with an intensive penetration of distributed energy resources will play an important role in future power system scenarios. The intermittent nature of renewable energy sources brings new challenges, requiring an efficient management of those sources. Additional storage resources can be beneficially used to address this problem; the massive use of electric vehicles, particularly of vehicle-to-grid (usually referred as gridable vehicles or V2G), becomes a very relevant issue. This paper addresses the impact of Electric Vehicles (EVs) in system operation costs and in power demand curve for a distribution network with large penetration of Distributed Generation (DG) units. An efficient management methodology for EVs charging and discharging is proposed, considering a multi-objective optimization problem. The main goals of the proposed methodology are: to minimize the system operation costs and to minimize the difference between the minimum and maximum system demand (leveling the power demand curve). The proposed methodology perform the day-ahead scheduling of distributed energy resources in a distribution network with high penetration of DG and a large number of electric vehicles. It is used a 32-bus distribution network in the case study section considering different scenarios of EVs penetration to analyze their impact in the network and in the other energy resources management.

Schellackia (Apicomplexa: Eimeriidae) of the brazilian tree-frog, Phrynohyas venulosa (Amphibia: Anura) from Amazonian Brazil

Endogenous stages of a Schellackia species are described in histological sections of the intestine of the tree-frog, Phrynohyas venulosa, from North Brazil. Most oocysts sporulate within the epithelial cells of the gut, but a few were detected in the lamina propria.

An erythrocytic virus of the brazilian tree-frog, Phrynohyas venulosa

Blood erythrocytes of Brazilian tree-frogs, Phrynohyas venulosa were found to frequently contain single, small, densely staining inclusions. Electron microscopy showed these to be icosahedral viral particles which measured from 250-280 nm in diameter; they were devoid of an envelope, and thus differed from previously described viruses of frog erythrocytes. The infected erythrocytes lacked a crystalline body.

The complex history of the olive tree: from Late Quaternary diversification of Mediterranean lineages to primary domestication in the northern Levant.

The location and timing of domestication of the olive tree, a key crop in Early Mediterranean societies, remain hotly debated. Here, we unravel the history of wild olives (oleasters), and then infer the primary origins of the domesticated olive. Phylogeography and Bayesian molecular dating analyses based on plastid genome profiling of 1263 oleasters and 534 cultivated genotypes reveal three main lineages of pre-Quaternary origin. Regional hotspots of plastid diversity, species distribution modelling and macrofossils support the existence of three long-term refugia; namely the Near East (including Cyprus), the Aegean area and the Strait of Gibraltar. These ancestral wild gene pools have provided the essential foundations for cultivated olive breeding. Comparison of the geographical pattern of plastid diversity between wild and cultivated olives indicates the cradle of first domestication in the northern Levant followed by dispersals across the Mediterranean basin in parallel with the expansion of civilizations and human exchanges in this part of the world.

The contribution of patch topology and demographic parameters to PVA predictions: the case of the European tree frog

Population viability analyses (PVA) are increasingly used in metapopulation conservation plans. Two major types of models are commonly used to assess vulnerability and to rank management options: population-based stochastic simulation models (PSM such as RAMAS or VORTEX) and stochastic patch occupancy models (SPOM). While the first set of models relies on explicit intrapatch dynamics and interpatch dispersal to predict population levels in space and time, the latter is based on spatially explicit metapopulation theory where the probability of patch occupation is predicted given the patch area and isolation (patch topology). We applied both approaches to a European tree frog (Hyla arborea) metapopulation in western Switzerland in order to evaluate the concordances of both models and their applications to conservation. Although some quantitative discrepancies appeared in terms of network occupancy and equilibrium population size, the two approaches were largely concordant regarding the ranking of patch values and sensitivities to parameters, which is encouraging given the differences in the underlying paradigms and input data.

Observations on the biology and distribution of Uresiphita reversalis (Lepidoptera, Crambidae), a defoliator of the native tree Calia secundiflora in México

Observations on the biology and distribution of Uresiphita reversalis (Lepidoptera, Crambidae), a defoliator of the native tree Calia secundiflora in México. Uresiphita reversalis (Guenée, 1854) feeding on Calia secundiflora (Ortega) Yakovlev is recorded for the first time in the state of Hidalgo, Mexico. New aspects regarding the life cycle, feeding behaviour, geographical distribution and host plant damage by U. reversalis on C. secundiflora are here presented and discussed.

Crescent and star shapes of members of the Chlamydiales order: impact of fixative methods.

Members of the Chlamydiales order all share a biphasic lifecycle alternating between small infectious particles, the elementary bodies (EBs) and larger intracellular forms able to replicate, the reticulate bodies. Whereas the classical Chlamydia usually harbours round-shaped EBs, some members of the Chlamydia-related families display crescent and star-shaped morphologies by electron microscopy. To determine the impact of fixative methods on the shape of the bacterial cells, different buffer and fixative combinations were tested on purified EBs of Criblamydia sequanensis, Estrella lausannensis, Parachlamydia acanthamoebae, and Waddlia chondrophila. A linear discriminant analysis was performed on particle metrics extracted from electron microscopy images to recognize crescent, round, star and intermediary forms. Depending on the buffer and fixatives used, a mixture of alternative shapes were observed in varying proportions with stars and crescents being more frequent in C. sequanensis and P. acanthamoebae, respectively. No tested buffer and chemical fixative preserved ideally the round shape of a majority of bacteria and other methods such as deep-freezing and cryofixation should be applied. Although crescent and star shapes could represent a fixation artifact, they certainly point towards a diverse composition and organization of membrane proteins or intracellular structures rather than being a distinct developmental stage.