Occurrence of hyphomycetes and actinomycetes in red-yellow latosol from a cerrado region in Brazil

A study to quantify the populations of filamentous fungi and actinomycetes was undertaken in a cerrado area, in Corumbatai county, São Paulo, at different depths of medium-textured red-yellow latosol, correlating them to humidity, organic matter, pH of the soil and climatic factors. The technique used was the serial dilution of composite soil samples (n=4), using Martin's medium with streptomycin for filamentous fungi and a starch medium for actinomycetes. The number of filamentous fungi was more abundant in the first soil layer, 0-5 cml compared to the other depths. The number of actinomycetes was higher between 5 cm and 50 cm depth. There were two-monthly variations in the number of filamentous fungi and actinomycetes. A sharp drop in fungi was found in May 1988 at all depths of the soil, when there was lower air temperature and an atypically high monthly rainfall for this period in the cerrado. Statistically significant and directly proportional correlations were obtained between the number of actinomycetes and the rainfall at depths of 0 to 5 cm and 50 to 100 cm. The results obtained in the different soil layers to 100 cm depth demonstrated the importance of the first 5 cm layer due to the heavy concentration of microorganisms, mainly the filamentous fungi, together with the highest organic matter content.

Hypothalamic melanin-concentrating hormone is induced by cold exposure and participates in the control of energy expenditure in rats

Short-term cold exposure of homeothermic animals leads to higher thermogenesis and food consumption accompanied by weight loss. An analysis of cDNA-macroarray was employed to identify candidate mRNA species that encode proteins involved in thermogenic adaptation to cold. A cDNA-macroarray analysis, confirmed by RT-PCR, immunoblot, and RIA, revealed that the hypothalamic expression of melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) is enhanced by exposure of rats to cold environment. The blockade of hypothalamic MCH expression by antisense MCH oligonucleotide in cold-exposed rats promoted no changes in feeding behavior and body temperature. However, MCH blockade led to a significant drop in body weight, which was accompanied by decreased liver glycogen, increased relative body fat, increased absolute and relative interscapular brown adipose tissue mass, increased uncoupling protein 1 expression in brown adipose tissue, and increased consumption of lean body mass. Thus, increased hypothalamic MCH expression in rats exposed to cold may participate in the process that allows for efficient use of energy for heat production during thermogenic adaptation to cold.

The Role of Tax Policy in the Context of the Global Crisis: consequences and prospects

Includes bibliography

Gaseous neurotransmitters and their role in anapyrexia

Mammals keep their body temperature (Tb) relatively constant even under a wide range of ambient temperature variation. However, in some particular situations it may be beneficial to increase or to decrease Tb. For instance, under hypoxic conditions, a regulated drop in Tb (anapyrexia) takes place which has been reported to be crucial for survival in a number of different species. This review highlights major advances in the research about nitric oxide (NO) and carbon monoxide (CO-where data are relatively less abundant), before focusing on the role played by these gaseous neuromediators in thermoregulation, under the conditions of euthermia and anapyrexia. Available data are consistent with the notion that both NO and CO, acting on the CNS, participate in thermoregulation, with NO decreasing Tb and CO increasing it. However further studies are required before definitive conclusions can be made as to their physiological mechanisms of action.

Fabricação e caracterização de fios supercondutores do sistema BSCCO pelo método Powder-In-Tube (PIT)

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Income inequality in Latin America. Recent decline and prospects for its further reduction

Incluye bibliografía.

Latin America and the Caribbean in the World Economy 2015. The regional trade crisis: assessment and outlook.

With external conditions sluggish and highly uncertain as the global economy still struggles to shake off the effects of the economic crisis of 2008-2009, the Latin American and Caribbean region is not isolated from these effects and is projected to record a small drop in gross domestic product (GDP) in 2015, followed by a weak recovery in 2016. Against this backdrop, 2015 will be the third consecutive year of increasing declines in regional export values; a state of affairs not seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s. This poor performance reflects the end of the commodity price boom, the slowdown of the Chinese economy, the weak recovery of the eurozone and the lacklustre economic activity in the region, particularly in South America.

Employment Situation in Latin America and the Caribbean: Recent improvements and persistent gaps in rural employment

This new edition of Employment situation in Latin America and the Caribbean, a twice-yearly report prepared jointly by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Office for the Southern Cone of Latin America of the International Labour Organization (ILO), discusses how weak job creation led to the third consecutive annual decline in the employment rate, which fell by 0.4 percentage points in 2015, indicating a reduction in the number of labour income earners per household. The ensuing drop in household income has played a large part in the increase estimated in the poverty rate for 2015. The second section of this report examines employment trends in rural areas of the countries of the region between 2005 and 2014, seeing to establish whether the improvements seen in the labour markets overall in that period also occurred in rural areas, and whether the gaps compared with urban areas decreased. The data presented in that section were generated from special processing of data from national household surveys.

Hydroxyurea in the sickle cell anemia: toxicity and effectiveness

Objective: to evaluate the use of hydroxyurea with regard to effectiveness and toxicity in people with sickle cell anemia. Method: this is a retrospective descriptive study, developed with 57 medical records of patients with sickle cell anemia, treated at the University Hospital Center of Campo Grande (Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil), from 1993 to 2005. Inclusion criteria: electrophoresis of hemoglobin in medical record; regular use of drugs, for an average of 196 weeks; dosage; and hematological analyses before starting treatment. Exclusion criteria: living with other hemoglobinopathies. The variables evaluated were: neutrophils count; platelets; leukocytes; hemoglobin; time using hydroxyurea; drug response to the optimal dosage; and number and type of episodes of hospitalization. The research protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, under the Protocol 645. Results: of the 57 medical records, 3 cases were evaluated. Comparing the hematological values, according to Portaria 872, enacted on 11/12/2002, it was found that: cases A, B, and C present an use of hydroxyurea (500 mg/day) for four years, with an average of 196 weeks. Case A, female, decreased painful episodes and frequency of hospitalization, keeping hematological values with no toxicity. In Case B, female, there was one hospitalization due to pain crises and important hemolysis. It stood out, in case C, male, neutropenia with hematological values < 2,000/mm3 . Conclusion: in the cases analyzed, we observed a drop in the number of hospitalizations with the decrease in painful crises from three to one a year, and there was no toxicity with regard to the dosage and time using hydroxyurea, in all three cases. For more comprehensive results, one suggests further study on this therapy with significant samples of this clientele.

CRF1 and CRF2 receptors in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis modulate the cardiovascular responses to acute restraint stress in rats

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Evaluation of roof slope and exposure with different roofing materials in reduced models of animal production facilities in spring and summer

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Capacitive DNA detection driven by electronic charge fluctuations in a graphene nanopore

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Comprehensive genome methylation and whole genome expression analysis in penile carcinoma: Uncovering new molecular markers

Background: Penile carcinoma (PeCa) is frequently associated with high morbidity rates. Unlikely of the vast majority of tumors, there is no molecular markers described that are able to assist in diagnosis and prognosis or with potential to be therapeutic targets in PeCa. Patients and methods: DNA methylation status (244K Human DNA Methylation Microarray platform, Agilent Technologies) and large-scale expression analysis (4x44K Whole Human Genome Microarray, Agilent Technologies) were performed in 35 and 37 PeCa, respectively. Quantitative bisulfite pyrosequencing (qBP) and RT-qPCR were used to validate the findings in 93 samples. HPV status was assessed using the Linear Array HPV Genotyping kit (Roche Molecular Diagnostics, CA, USA). Results: Methylome analysis revealed 171 hypermethylated and 449 hypomethylated CpGs sites and the transcriptome profiling showed 2986 down- and 2817 over-expressed genes. HPV positivity was found in 32.7% of the cases, mainly the HPV16. The integrative analysis in 32 PeCa revealed a panel of 96 genes with inverse correlation between methylation and gene expression levels. The CpG hypermetlylation and gene downexpression, was confirmed for TWIST1, RSOP2, SOX3, SOX17, CD133, OTX2, HOXA3 and MEIS. In addition, BIRC5, DNMT1 and DNMT3B presented low levels of methylation and overexpression. The comparison of the results with clinical findings revealed that LIN28A, NKX2.2, NKX2.3, LHX5, BDNF, FOXA1 and CDX2 were associated with poor prognosis features. Conclusion: Putative prognostic markers were detected revealing that DNA methylation modulates the expression of several genes in PeCa. These data may prove instrumental for biomarker discovery in clinics and molecular epidemiology of PeCa.

Electromyographic Study in Patients With Surgically Treated Facial Fractures

This study, using surface electromyography, analyzed the activity of the masseter muscles of 30 patients with facial bone fractures that were surgically treated. Evaluations were made before surgery and in the 7th, 30th, and 60th days after surgery. The value of each measure and the average of 3 maximum voluntary isometric contractions lasting 5 seconds each were registered, and statistical analyses were performed. Patients had a mean age of 31 years and an average of 1.33 fractures. They were grouped according to the type of fracture as follows: mandibular (50%), zygomatic complex (33%), maxilla (10%), and associated fractures (6.7%). There was a lower masseter activity in the preoperative period, when compared with normal values in all groups of fractures. There was a sharp drop in the masseter activity in the postoperative period of 7 days, and all groups showed recovery of activity in 60 days but still below the normal value referenced in the literature. The mean values of the masseter activity, in descending order, were from the zygomatic complex, mandibular, maxillary, and associated fractures. The unilateral mandibular fractures showed higher values than the bilateral fractures in most of the evaluations. There was a highly significant difference in the comparison of the evolution of the masseter activity on both sides, for mandibular and zygomatic complex fractures, and the pairwise comparison showed significant difference between most groups. It was concluded that facial fractures and surgical procedures had negative effects in the muscle activity as observed using electromyography.

H-1 low- and high-field NMR study of the effects of plasma treatment on the oil and water fractions in crude heavy oil

The chemical and physical properties of a Brazilian heavy oil submitted to plasma treatment were investigated by H-1 low-and high-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) combined to the characterization of rheological properties, thermogravimetry and measurement of basic sediments and water (BSW) content. The crude oil was treated in a dielectric barrier discharge plasma reactor, using natural gas, CO2 or H-2 as working gas. The results indicated a large drop in the water content of the plasma-treated samples as compared to the crude oil, giving rise to a reduction in the viscosity. No significant chemical change was produced in the oil portion itself, as observed by H-1 NMR. The water contents determined by H-1 low-field NMR analyses agreed well with those obtained by BSW, indicating the low-field NMR methods as a useful tool for following the effects of plasma treatments on heavy oils, allowing the separation of the effects caused on the water and oil fractions. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.