A tentative determination of upwelling influence on the paleo-surficial marine water reservoir effect in southeastern Brazil.

Previous work has suggested that seasonal and inter-annual upwelling of deep, cold, radiocarbon depleted waters from the South Atlantic has caused variations in the reservoir effect (R) through time along the southern coast of Brazil. This work aims to examine the possible upwelling influence on the paleo-reservoir age of Brazilian surficial coastal waters based on paired terrestrial/marine samples obtained from archaeological remains. On the Brazilian coast there are hundreds of shell-middens built up by an ancient culture that lived between 6500 to 1500 years ago, but there are few located on open coast with a known upwelling influence. Three archaeological sites located in a large headland in Arraial do Cabo and Ilha de Cabo Frio, southeastern coast of Brazil with open ocean conditions and a well-known strong and large upwelling of the Malvinas/Falkland current were chosen for this study. The 14C age differences between carbonized seed and marine samples varied from 281 ± 44 to 1083 ± 51 14C yr. There are also significant age differences between carbonized seed samples (977 14C yr) and marine samples (200 and 228 14C yr) from the same archaeological layer that cannot be explained by a reservoir effect or an old-wood effect for charcoal. Therefore the present data from the southeastern Brazilian coast are inconclusive for identifying an upwelling effect on R. To do so it would be necessary to more precisely define the present-pre-bomb R in upwelling regions and to analyze paired marine/terrestrial samples that are contemporaneous beyond doubt.

Temporal changes in Varroa destructor fertility and haplotype in Brazil

The relationship between fertility and haplotype was studied in Varroa destructor mites sampled from colonies of A. mellifera carnica and Africanized Honeybees ( Apis mellifera) in Germany and Brazil respectively. Both in Germany and in Brazil, only the V. destructor Korea haplotype was found, though the Japan-Thailand haplotype was formerly thought to have been more abundant in Brazil. The fertility of Varroa mites in Brazil has increased since 1998 and is currently ( 2001) at European levels. Temporal changes in mite fertility and haplotype are not fully congruent.

Molecular systematics of Ceramium and Centroceras (Ceramiaceae, Rhodophyta) from Brazil

Morphological investigations identified 11 Ceramium Roth species, of the 18 previously reported from Brazil. Phylogenetic analyses of sequences of the chloroplast-encoded rbcL gene confirmed the presence of seven of these species. Three other species are reported from Brazil for the first time. Ceramium affine Setchell & Gardner and C. filicula Harvey ex Womersley were previously known only from the Pacific Ocean (Mexico and Australia, respectively). A new species, C. fujianum Barros-Barreto et Maggs sp. nov., is described here. Its general habit is similar to that of C. strictum sensu Harvey from Europe but it has one less periaxial cell than C. strictum; its cortical filament arrangement is closest to C. deslongchampsii Chauvin ex Duby, also from Europe, but whorled tetrasporangia partially covered by cortical cells differ strikingly from the naked protruding tetrasporangia of C. deslongchampsii. Ceramium species in which each periaxial cell cuts off transversely only a single basipetal cell formed a robust clade. The genus Ceramium as represented in Brazil is not monophyletic with respect to Centroceras Kutzing and Corallophila Weber-van Bosse; Ceramium nitens, which has axial cells completely covered by rounded cortical cells formed by acropetal and basipetal filaments, did not group with any Ceramium clade but was weakly allied to a species of Corallophila. All three Brazilian Centroceras sequences were attributed to a single species, C. clavulatum.

Essentialism and Folkbiology: evidence from Brazil

Experimental results in reference to Brazilian children and adults are presented in the context of current discussions about essentialism and folkbiology. Using an adoption paradigm, we replicate the basic findings of a previous article in this journal concerning the early emergence in children of a birth-parent bias (Atran et al. 2001). This cognitive bias supports the claim that causal essentialism cross-culturally constrains the reasoning about the origin, development and maintenance of the characteristics and identity of living kinds. We also report some intriguing differences with earlier findings that speak to theoretical and methodological issues of cultural relativity.

Cognitive deficits in first-episode psychosis: A population-based study in Sao Paulo, Brazil

Background: Studies conducted in high-income countries have reported significant cognitive deficits in first on set schizophrenia subjects relative to asymptotic controls, and it has been suggested that the severity of such deficits could be directly related to the duration of untreated psychosis (DUP). It is relevant to conduct similar studies in developing countries, given the supposedly better outcome for schizophrenia patients living in the latter environments.

Methods: We applied verbal fluency and digit span tests to an epidemiological-based series of patients with first-onset psychoses (n = 179) recruited in the city of Sao Paulo, and compared the findings with those from non-psychotic control subjects randomly selected from the same geographical areas (n=383).

Results: Psychosis subjects showed lower scores on the three tests relative to controls, with greatest between-group differences for the backward digit span task (p < 0.0001). There were no significant differences between subjects with affective and schizophreniform psychosis. Cognitive performance indices were negatively correlated with the severity of negative symptoms, but showed no relation to DUP.

Conclusion: We found significant cognitive deficits in patients investigated early during the course of psychotic disorders in an environment that is distinct from those where the subjects investigated in previous studies have been drawn from. We found no support to the hypothesis of an association between greater cognitive deficits and a longer DUP. (c) 2006 Published by Elsevier B.V.