Controle do amadurecimento de carambolas com 1-MCP

O 1-metilciclopropeno (1-MCP) inibe a ação do etileno retardando o amadurecimento de muitos frutos climatéricos e não-climatéricos. Considerando a potencialidade do 1-MCP em retardar o amadurecimento, o objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o efeito inibitório desse bloqueador da ação do etileno sobre o amadurecimento de carambolas mantidas em condições de ambiente. Frutos da cultivar Fwang Tung, colhidos no estádio de maturação verde-maduro (50% amarelos), foram tratados com 1-MCP a 500 etaL.L-1 e 1.000 etaL.L-1 em caixas plásticas hermeticamente fechadas por 24 horas, a 25(0)C. Depois da aplicação, estes frutos e os controle (sem tratamento) foram transferidos para ambiente a 21,6+0,9(0)C e 59,7% UR, onde foram mantidos por até nove dias, sendo amostrados a cada três dias. O delineamento utilizado foi o inteiramente casualizado, em esquema fatorial (duas concentrações de 1-MCP e o controle, com quatro períodos de avaliação). Foram utilizadas três repetições com seis frutos por tratamento e período de avaliação. A respiração dos frutos foi significativamente reduzida em 36,62% e 68,89%, quando se aplicaram 500 etaL.L-1 e 1.000 etaL.L-1 de 1-MCP em relação aos não-tratados, respectivamente. O uso do 1-MCP levou também à melhor manutenção da coloração dos frutos, todavia o amadurecimento dos mesmos não foi significativamente retardado pelo uso deste produto.

Chemotherapy and radiotherapy in nasopharyngeal carcinoma: an update of the MAC-NPC meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: A previous individual patient data meta-analysis by the Meta-Analysis of Chemotherapy in Nasopharynx Carcinoma (MAC-NPC) collaborative group to assess the addition of chemotherapy to radiotherapy showed that it improves overall survival in nasopharyngeal carcinoma. This benefit was restricted to patients receiving concomitant chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The aim of this study was to update the meta-analysis, include recent trials, and to analyse separately the benefit of concomitant plus adjuvant chemotherapy. METHODS: We searched PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Controlled Trials meta-register, ClinicalTrials.gov, and meeting proceedings to identify published or unpublished randomised trials assessing radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy in patients with non-metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma and obtained updated data for previously analysed studies. The primary endpoint of interest was overall survival. All trial results were combined and analysed using a fixed-effects model. The statistical analysis plan was pre-specified in a protocol. All data were analysed on an intention-to-treat basis. FINDINGS: We analysed data from 19 trials and 4806 patients. Median follow-up was 7·7 years (IQR 6·2-11·9). We found that the addition of chemotherapy to radiotherapy significantly improved overall survival (hazard ratio [HR] 0·79, 95% CI 0·73-0·86, p<0·0001; absolute benefit at 5 years 6·3%, 95% CI 3·5-9·1). The interaction between treatment effect (benefit of chemotherapy) on overall survival and the timing of chemotherapy was significant (p=0·01) in favour of concomitant plus adjuvant chemotherapy (HR 0·65, 0·56-0·76) and concomitant without adjuvant chemotherapy (0·80, 0·70-0·93) but not adjuvant chemotherapy alone (0·87, 0·68-1·12) or induction chemotherapy alone (0·96, 0·80-1·16). The benefit of the addition of chemotherapy was consistent for all endpoints analysed (all p<0·0001): progression-free survival (HR 0·75, 95% CI 0·69-0·81), locoregional control (0·73, 0·64-0·83), distant control (0·67, 0·59-0·75), and cancer mortality (0·76, 0·69-0·84). INTERPRETATION: Our results confirm that the addition of concomitant chemotherapy to radiotherapy significantly improves survival in patients with locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma. To our knowledge, this is the first analysis that examines the effect of concomitant chemotherapy with and without adjuvant chemotherapy as distinct groups. Further studies on the specific benefits of adjuvant chemotherapy after concomitant chemoradiotherapy are needed. FUNDING: French Ministry of Health (Programme d'actions intégrées de recherche VADS), Ligue Nationale Contre le Cancer, and Sanofi-Aventis.

The Interplay between NF-kappaB and E2F1 Coordinately Regulates Inflammation and Metabolism in Human Cardiac Cells

Pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 4 (PDK4) inhibition by nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) is related to a shift towards increased glycolysis during cardiac pathological processes such as cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure. The transcription factors estrogen-related receptor-α (ERRα) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) regulate PDK4 expression through the potent transcriptional coactivator PPARγ coactivator-1α (PGC-1α). NF-κB activation in AC16 cardiac cells inhibit ERRα and PPARβ/δ transcriptional activity, resulting in reduced PGC-1α and PDK4 expression, and an enhanced glucose oxidation rate. However, addition of the NF-κB inhibitor parthenolide to these cells prevents the downregulation of PDK4 expression but not ERRα and PPARβ/δ DNA binding activity, thus suggesting that additional transcription factors are regulating PDK4. Interestingly, a recent study has demonstrated that the transcription factor E2F1, which is crucial for cell cycle control, may regulate PDK4 expression. Given that NF-κB may antagonize the transcriptional activity of E2F1 in cardiac myocytes, we sought to study whether inflammatory processes driven by NF-κB can downregulate PDK4 expression in human cardiac AC16 cells through E2F1 inhibition. Protein coimmunoprecipitation indicated that PDK4 downregulation entailed enhanced physical interaction between the p65 subunit of NF-κB and E2F1. Chromatin immunoprecipitation analyses demonstrated that p65 translocation into the nucleus prevented the recruitment of E2F1 to the PDK4 promoter and its subsequent E2F1-dependent gene transcription. Interestingly, the NF-κB inhibitor parthenolide prevented the inhibition of E2F1, while E2F1 overexpression reduced interleukin expression in stimulated cardiac cells. Based on these findings, we propose that NF-κB acts as a molecular switch that regulates E2F1-dependent PDK4 gene transcription.

Työvälineiden käyttöpäätöksen mukainen vaatimustenmukaisuuden arviointi vanhoille käytössä oleville koneille ja konelinjoille

Työssä on tavoitteena saada tarkastuksilla käytettävä tarkastuslista, jonka avulla tarkastuksista saadaan laadukas ja yhtenäinen tuote. Työssä käydään läpi pääpiirteittäin koneturvallisuuteen vaikuttavat lait, standardit ja direktiivi. Käsitellään lain ja sen pohjalta annettujen säädöksien kehitys ja nykypäivä. Lisäksi selvitetään, kenelle kuuluu, kussakin koneen elinkaaren vaiheessa, vastata turvallisuudesta ja kuinka sitä tulee seurata, sekä mitä vaaditaan säädöksien yhteensovittamiselta. Pääpaino on sähköjärjestelmien koneturvallisuutta koskevissa vaatimuksissa ja siinä mitä sähköjärjestelmiltä vaaditaan. Käsitellään lyhyesti, kenen tulee missäkin koneen kehitysvaiheessa tehdä turvallisuustoimenpiteisiin vaadittava riskien arviointi. Sähköjärjestelmien vaatimukset jaotellaan työssä kahteen ryhmään eli sähköisiin vaatimuksiin ja ohjauspiireille asetettuihin vaatimuksiin. Sähköiset vaatimukset on jaoteltu kuuteen alakohtaan, siten kun ne on järjestetty standardissa. Ohjauspiirit on vastaavasti jaoteltu seitsemää alakohtaa standardin mukaisesti. Tarkastuksen vaatimukset ovat esitetty kussakin kohdassa, kuten ne on esitetty standardissakin. Työhön on liitetty työkalu, minkä avulla koneen tarkastamiseen liittyvät alueet eivät ole pelkästään muistin varassa. Työkalulla saadaan yhtenäistettyä tarkastajien suorittamat tarkastukset, siten että ne vastaavat työturvallisuuslain mukaista tarkastusta. Työn aikana on suoritettu yksi todellinen koneeseen kohdistuva tarkastus, mikä on anta-nut työkalun kehittymiselle oman todellisuuspohjansa. Tarkastus on suoritettu Saint-Gobain Isover Oy:n tehtaalla.

Visual SLAM for 3D large-scale seabed acquisition employing underwater vehicles

This paper presents a novel technique to align partial 3D reconstructions of the seabed acquired by a stereo camera mounted on an autonomous underwater vehicle. Vehicle localization and seabed mapping is performed simultaneously by means of an Extended Kalman Filter. Passive landmarks are detected on the images and characterized considering 2D and 3D features. Landmarks are re-observed while the robot is navigating and data association becomes easier but robust. Once the survey is completed, vehicle trajectory is smoothed by a Rauch-Tung-Striebel filter obtaining an even better alignment of the 3D views and yet a large-scale acquisition of the seabed

Visual SLAM for underwater vehicles using video velocity log and natural landmarks

A visual SLAM system has been implemented and optimised for real-time deployment on an AUV equipped with calibrated stereo cameras. The system incorporates a novel approach to landmark description in which landmarks are local sub maps that consist of a cloud of 3D points and their associated SIFT/SURF descriptors. Landmarks are also sparsely distributed which simplifies and accelerates data association and map updates. In addition to landmark-based localisation the system utilises visual odometry to estimate the pose of the vehicle in 6 degrees of freedom by identifying temporal matches between consecutive local sub maps and computing the motion. Both the extended Kalman filter and unscented Kalman filter have been considered for filtering the observations. The output of the filter is also smoothed using the Rauch-Tung-Striebel (RTS) method to obtain a better alignment of the sequence of local sub maps and to deliver a large-scale 3D acquisition of the surveyed area. Synthetic experiments have been performed using a simulation environment in which ray tracing is used to generate synthetic images for the stereo system

Determinação de compostos de massa molecular alta em folhas de plantas da Amazônia

The fractIons of dichloromethane extracts of leaves from andiroba (Carapa guianensis - Meliaceae), caapi (Banisteriopsis caapi - Malpighiaceae), cocoa (Theobroma cacao - Sterculiaceae), Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa - Lecytidaceae), cupuaçu (Theobroma grandiflorum - Sterculiaceae), marupá (Simaruba amara - Simaroubaceae) and rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis - Euphorbiaceae), were analyzed by HT-HRGC and HT-HRGC-MS. Esters of homologous series of fatty acids and long chain alcohols, phytol, amyrines and tocopherols were characterized. The characterization of the compounds was based mainly in mass spectra data and in addition by usual spectrometric data (¹H and 13C NMR, IR).

Óleo da castanha de caju: oportunidades e desafios no contexto do desenvolvimento e sustentabilidade industrial

The new millennium is marked by a growing search for renewable fuels and alternative raw materials from biomass in the petrochemicals industry. However, there are many challenges to overcome regarding technological and human resources aspects. In this scenario, cashew nut oil, which is rich in natural phenols, is considered to be very promising for the development of synthetic and functional products and as a feedstock for production of fine chemicals and a wide variety of new materials.

Determinação de As, Cd e Pb em amêndoas e mesocarpo de babaçu, sapucaia, xixá e castanha-do-pará por espectrometria de absorção atômica

This work describes methods for the simultaneous determination of Cd and Pb by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry and As by hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry in Brazilian nuts. The samples (~ 0.300 g) were digested to clear solutions in a closed vessel microwave oven. The pyrolysis and atomization temperatures for simultaneous determinations of Cd and Pb were 1100 and 2100 °C, respectively, using 0.5% (w v-1) NH4H2PO4 + 0.03% (w v-1) Mg(NO3)2 as chemical modifier. The limits of detection (3Δ) were 3.8 μg kg-1 for As, 0.86 μg kg-1 for Cd and 13 μg kg-1 for Pb. The reliability of the entire procedures was confirmed by peach leaves (No. 1547 - NIST) certified reference material analysis and addition and recovery tests. The found concentrations presented no statistical differences at the 95% confidence level.

Biodiesel metílico de Dipteryx lacunifera: preparação, caracterização e efeito de antioxidantes na estabilidade à oxidação

The objective of this work was to study the potentialities of Dipteryx lacunifera Ducke seeds oil for biodiesel production. The yield in oil was of 46.11 ± 0.37%. Methyl biodiesel was prepared by base catalyzed transesterification yielding 88.13% and percentage conversion of triglycerides to corresponding methyl ester of 89.1%. The addition of the tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ, 50 ppm), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT, 50 ppm) and cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL, 2000 ppm) antioxidants in the biodiesel contributed to the increase of the induction period of 2.97 h for 8.08; 6.06 and 6.02 h, respectively.

AMAZON RAINFOREST COSMETICS: CHEMICAL APPROACH FOR QUALITY CONTROL

The market for natural cosmetics featuring ingredients derived from Amazon natural resources is growing worldwide. However, there is neither enough scientific basis nor quality control of these ingredients. This paper is an account of the chemical constituents and their biological activities of fourteen Amazonian species used in cosmetic industry, including açaí (Euterpe oleracea), andiroba (Carapa guianensis), bacuri (Platonia insignis), Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa), buriti (Mauritia vinifera or M. flexuosa), cumaru (Dipteryx odorata), cupuaçu (Theobroma grandiflorum), guarana (Paullinia cupana), mulateiro (Calycophyllum spruceanum), murumuru (Astrocaryum murumuru), patawa (Oenocarpus bataua or Jessenia bataua), pracaxi (Pentaclethra macroloba), rosewood (Aniba rosaeodora), and ucuuba (Virola sebifera). Based on the reviewed articles, we selected chemical markers for the quality control purpose and evaluated analytical methods. Even though chromatographic and spectroscopic methods are major analytical techniques in the studies of these species, molecular approaches will also be important as used in food and medicine traceability. Only a little phytochemical study is available about most of the Amazonian species and some species such as açaí and andiroba have many reports on chemical constituents, but studies on biological activities of isolated compounds and sampling with geographical variation are limited.

Susceptibility of five forest species to Coptotermes gestroi

Termites are well known for their ability to damage wood and various types of wood-derived products. This study was performed in the municipality of Seropédica, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, with the objective of evaluating the susceptibility of the wood of five different forest species to the activity of the Asian subterranean termite, Coptotermes gestroi. Wood stakes from the following forest species were used as specimens: pine (Pinus sp., Pinaceae), Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa, Lecythidaceae), cabbage angelin (Andira inermis, Leguminosae-Papilionoideae), maçaranduba (Manilkara huberi, Sapotaceae) and pink ipê (Tabebuia avellanedae, Bignoniaceae). The stakes, with dimensions of 2 cm x 2 cm x 16 cm, were subjected to the activity of C. gestroi from September 2, 2006 to June 2, 2007. The experimental design consisted of randomized blocks with four replications in an 11 x 5 x 3 factorial arrangement. Twelve stakes of each of the five forest species were installed at each of eleven sites, totaling 660 stakes. Three evaluations were performed, at 90, 180 and 270 days after stake installation. The results indicated that the pine, Brazil nut and cabbage angelin stakes were more susceptible to C. gestroi attack, while the pink ipê and maçaranduba stakes suffered no significant damage from this termite. There was a significant negative correlation between the wood consumption rate and the wood density of the species studied. The woods most susceptible to C. gestroi attack presented moderate to low densities and therefore less resistance, as in the case of pine and cabbage angelin.

Experimental evaluation of the performance of a wireless sensor network in agricultural environments

The aim of this study was to perform an experimental study to evaluate the proper operation distance between the nodes of a wireless sensor network available on the market for different agricultural crops (maize, physic nut, eucalyptus). The experimental data of the network performance offers to farmers and researchers information that might be useful to the sizing and project of the wireless sensor networks in similar situations to those studied. The evaluation showed that the separation of the nodes depends on the type of culture and it is a critical factor to ensure the feasibility of using WSN. In the configuration used, sending packets every 2 seconds, the battery life was about four days. Therefore, the autonomy may be increased with a longer interval of time between sending packets.

Development of an automated bench top electronic penetrometer

The aim of this study was to develop a an automated bench top electronic penetrometer (ABEP) that allows performing tests with high rate of data acquisition (up to 19,600 Hz) and with variation of the displacement velocity and of the base area of cone penetration. The mechanical components of the ABEP are: a supporting structure, stepper motor, velocity reducer, double nut ball screw and six penetration probes. The electronic components of ABEP are: a "driver" to control rotation and displacement, power supply, three load cells, two software programs for running and storing data, and a data acquisition module. This penetrometer presented in compact size, portable and in 32 validation tests it proved easy to operate, and showed high resolution, high velocity in reliability in data collection. During the validation tests the equipment met the objectives, because the test results showed that the ABEP could use different sizes of cones, allowed work at different velocities, showed for velocity and displacement, were only 1.3% and 0.7%, respectively, at the highest velocity (30 mm s-1) and 1% and 0.9%, respectively for the lowest velocity (0.1 mm s-1).

Physical properties of Brazil nuts

The Brazil-nut, also known as Para-nut, is widely used as food and in cosmetic industries. The seeds are rich in lipids and protein, and also present a considerable amount of selenium. Limited research has been conducted on postharvest of the Brazil nut, being an important information to design equipment related to aeration, drying, storage and transportation steps. Thus, the objective of this study was to determine the physical properties of the Brazil-nut with and without tegument. The dimensions found for the almonds with tegument were 39.35 mm in the X axis, 24.19 mm in the Y axis, and 17.88 mm in the Z axis. However for the almond without tegument the values were 31.05 mm in X, 14.38 in Y and 15.91 mm in Z axis. The sphericity was 66.40% and 51.59% for the kernels with and without seed tegument respectively. The kernels with and without tegument presented sphericity of 63.00% and 47.72% respectively. The mass of 1000 almonds was 6.13 kg for almond with teguments and 3.18 kg for almonds without teguments. Specific mass of 0.947 g.cm-3 and 1.003 g.cm-3 for the kernels with and without tegument, coupled with a porosity of 46.88% and 37.60% and, resulting on a bulk density of 0.504 g.cm-3 and 0.626 g.cm-3 for almonds with and without teguments respectively. Finally, the angle of repose for the kernels with teguments was 36.37°.