Neuroendocrine Tumours of the Female Genital Tract: a Case-Based Imaging Review with Pathological Correlation

BACKGROUND: Both primary and secondary gynaecological neuroendocrine (NE) tumours are uncommon, and the literature is scarce concerning their imaging features. METHODS: This article reviews the epidemiological, clinical and imaging features with pathological correlation of gynaecological NE tumours. RESULTS: The clinical features of gynaecological NE tumours are non-specific and depend on the organ of origin and on the extension and aggressiveness of the disease. The imaging approach to these tumours is similar to that for other histological types and the Revised International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) Staging System also applies to NE tumours. Neuroendocrine tumours were recently divided into two groups: poorly differentiated neuroendocrine carcinomas (NECs) and well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumours (NETs). NECs include small cell carcinoma and large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma, while NETs account for typical and atypical carcinoids. Cervical small cell carcinoma and ovarian carcinoid are the most common gynaecological NE tumours. The former typically behaves aggressively; the latter usually behaves in a benign fashion and tends to be confined to the organ. CONCLUSION: While dealing with ovarian carcinoids, extra-ovarian extension, bilaterality and multinodularity raise the suspicion of metastatic disease. NE tumours of the endometrium and other gynaecological locations are very rare. TEACHING POINTS: • Primary or secondary neurondocrine (NE) tumours of the female genital tract are rare. • Cervical small cell carcinoma and ovarian carcinoids are the most common gynaecological NE tumours. • Cervical small cell carcinomas usually behave aggressively. • Ovarian carcinoids tend to behave in a benign fashion. • The imaging approach to gynaecological NE tumours and other histological types is similar.

Petri net based development of globally-asynchronous locally-synchronous distributed embedded systems

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores

Piranha attacks in dammed streams used for human recreation in the State of São Paulo, Brazil

In recent years, attacks by piranhas have become a common problem in dammed portions of rivers and streams in the State of Sao Paulo, Southeastern Brazil. In two outbreaks recorded in two neighboring counties in the Northwest region of the state, 74 bathers were bitten. Only one bite per person was recorded during a short period of the year. The bites were related to parental care and/or defense of spawning territory, which confirms previous studies and demystify the attacks by these legendary fish, as they are perceived by most people. Placement of fine mesh nets and removal of aquatic vegetation stopped the attacks.

Seroepidemiological monitoring in sentinel animals and vectors as part of arbovirus surveillance in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

INTRODUCTION: From February-September 2010, seroepidemiological surveys were conducted on non-human primates and transmitter vector capture was used to investigate the possible circulation of arboviruses in the municipalities of Bonito, Campo Grande, and Jardim, State of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. METHODS: A total of 65 primates from the wild and captivity were used, and potential vectors were captured using Castro and dip nets. Serum samples were tested at the Instituto Evandro Chagas, State of Pará, using the hemagglutination inhibition test to detect total antibodies against 19 different arboviruses. Virus isolation was attempted from serum samples and arthropod suspensions using newborn mice and the C6/36 cell line clone. In addition, identification of the vector species was conducted. RESULTS: From the 19 serum samples from Campo Grande, 1 sample had a 1:20 titer for Flavivirus. From the 35 samples collected in Bonito, 17 samples had antibodies to arboviruses, 4 (11.4%) were positive for Alphavirus, and 5 (14.2%) were positive for Flavivirus. Monotypic reactions were observed for the Mayaro (n = 10) and Oropouche (n = 5) viruses, and 6 (17.1%) samples had titers for >1 virus. We captured 120 Culicidae individuals that were potential arbovirus transmitters in Jardim; however, all the samples were negative for the viruses. CONCLUSIONS: Mato Grosso do Sul has a variety of vertebrate hosts and transmission vectors, thereby providing ideal conditions for the emergence or reemergence of arboviruses, including some pathogenic to human beings.

Feeding of the Brycon cephalus, Triportheus elongatus and Semaprochilodus insignis (osteichthyes, characiformes) larvae in Solimões/Amazonas River and floodplain areas.

Information on larval fish feeding is essential for understanding their trophic relations, including the management in conditions totally or partially controlled by humans. An experiment was designed to evaluate the larval diets of three commercially important species. Four varzea-lakes and the adjacent river were sampled with bongo and hand nets from January 1993 to November 1995. Larval diets were evaluated by length-classes and capture sites, and were tested by two factor ANOVA. The larvae were feeding in all habitats, except in the flooded forests. The three species had different diets, which varied with their length and lake. The rotifers were the main initial food item of the three species, replaced by fish larvae in Brycon cephalus, cladocerans in Triportheus elongatus and detritus in Semaprochilodus insignis. The increase of the ingestion limit, as the larvae grew, was higher than the increase in the consumed prey size for the three species.

Fisheries and fishing effort at the Indigenous Reserves Ashaninka/Kaxinawá, river Breu, Brazil/Peru

This article aimed to describe the subsistence fisheries of traditional populations of three ethnic groups, one Ashaninka and two Kaxinawá, lying on the banks of the River Breu. Initially, monitors were trained to fill logbooks with data from fisheries of the villages during an annual cycle (august/1995 august/1996). Based on these data, it was realized an inventory of the most common fish species caught as well as one about the fishing environment. The following results were obtained: i) Indians prefer to use pools, locally known as "poços", for fishing; ii) the most common caught species are the "mandis" (35%, Pimelodidae), armored catfishes (Loricariidae), specially Hypostomus sp. (25%), the "curimatá" (9%, Prochilodus sp.) and the "saburus" (8%, Curimatidae), among others; iii) the fishing gears that lead to a high rate of fishing are the native "tingui", nets and bow and arrows; iv) fisheries are more intensive during summer; v) the fishing effort and their associated factors statistically significant in predicting the catches in the Indian Reserve were f1 = number of fishermen, f2 = (number of fishermen*total time devoted to fishing), f3 = [(number of fishermen)*(total time devoted to fishing)-(the time displacement)] and the factor villages and fishing gears; vi) although almost all the fisheries are done by walking to the fishing places, catches increase when paddle boats are used; and vii) the most active fishermen belong to Kaxinawá tribe.

Abundance of two Dendrocincla woodcreepers (aves: Dendrocolaptidae) in relation to forest structure in Central Amazonia

Few studies have been conducted to verify how the structure of the forest affects the occurence and abundance of neotropical birds. Our research was undertaken between January 2002 and July 2004 at the Reserva Ducke, near Manaus (02º55',03º01'S; 59º53',59º59'W) in central Amazonia, to verify how the forest structure affects the occurrence and abundance of two bird species: the Plain-brown Woodcreeper Dendrocincla fuliginosa and the White-chinned Woodcreeper Dendrocincla merula. Bird species occurrence was recorded using lines of 20 mist-nets (one sample unit), along 51 1-km transects distributed along 9 pararel 8 km trails covering an area of 6400 ha. Along these transects, we placed 50 x 50m plots where we recorded forest structure components (tree abundance, canopy openness, leaf litter, standing dead trees, logs, proximity to streams, and altitude). We then related these variables to bird occurence and abundance using multiple logistic and multiple linear regression models, respectively. We found that D. fuliginosa frequently used plateau areas; being more abundant in areas with more trees. On the other hand, D. merula occurred more frequently and was more abundant in areas with low tree abundance. Our results suggest that although both species overlap in the reserve (both were recorded in at least 68% of the sampled sites), they differ in the way they use the forest microhabitats. Therefore, local variation in the forest structure may contribute to the coexistence of congeneric species and may help to maintain local alpha diversity.

A structured inventory of spiders (Arachnida, Araneae) in natural and artificial forest gaps at Porto Urucu, Western Brazilian Amazonia

A preliminary survey of the spider fauna in natural and artificial forest gap formations at “Porto Urucu”, a petroleum/natural gas production facility in the Urucu river basin, Coari, Amazonas, Brazil is presented. Sampling was conducted both occasionally and using a protocol composed of a suite of techniques: beating trays (32 samples), nocturnal manual samplings (48), sweeping nets (16), Winkler extractors (24), and pitfall traps (120). A total of 4201 spiders, belonging to 43 families and 393 morphospecies, were collected during the dry season, in July, 2003. Excluding the occasional samples, the observed richness was 357 species. In a performance test of seven species richness estimators, the Incidence Based Coverage Estimator (ICE) was the best fit estimator, with 639 estimated species. To evaluate differences in species richness associated with natural and artificial gaps, samples from between the center of the gaps up to 300 meters inside the adjacent forest matrix were compared through the inspection of the confidence intervals of individual-based rarefaction curves for each treatment. The observed species richness was significantly higher in natural gaps combined with adjacent forest than in the artificial gaps combined with adjacent forest. Moreover, a community similarity analysis between the fauna collected under both treatments demonstrated that there were considerable differences in species composition. The significantly higher abundance of Lycosidae in artificial gap forest is explained by the presence of herbaceous vegetation in the gaps themselves. Ctenidae was significantly more abundant in the natural gap forest, probable due to the increase of shelter availability provided by the fallen trees in the gaps themselves. Both families are identified as potential indicators of environmental change related to the establishment or recovery of artificial gaps in the study area.

The seasonal diet of Aequidens tetramerus (Cichlidae) in a small forest stream in the Machado River basin, Rondônia, Brazil

Trophic relationships in fish communities are affected by the availability of resources, which in turn is affected by spatial and temporal variations throughout the year. The aims of this study were to characterize the diet of A. tetramerus in a streamlet in the north of Brazil and compare its composition in different hydrological seasons (wet and dry seasons). Collections were performed every two months from October 2011 to September 2012 with the aid of seine nets, hand net and fishing traps in the streamlet located in the Machado River drainage basin in the Rondônia state. Most of the specimens collected were quite small (< 40 mm) and had empty stomachs. Our results showed that A. tetramerus feeds on a wide variety of items of plant origin, such as algae, seeds and leaves, as well as items of animal origin, including bryozoans, crustaceans, fish scales, terrestrial insects and detritus. The data also indicated higher consumption of aquatic insects than other food items, suggesting a primarily insect-based diet. Items of plant and allochthonous origin were consumed more in the wet season than in the dry season, but there were no seasonal differences in the consumption of animal and autochthonous items.

Bat survey of the lower Juruena River and five new records for the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil

ABSTRACT The northern Brazilian state of Mato Grosso is considered an important biogeographical region, but has many sampling gaps. Apart from the well-documented non volant mammal community in the region, the bat fauna still poorly recorded. The aim of this study was to record the bat species of Juruena National Park, northern Mato Grosso, Brazil. Nineteen sites were sampled using mist-nets placed at ground level and near potential bat roosts. We collected 115 individuals belonging to 35 species and five families, which increased the number of species known for Mato Grosso´s Amazon from 86 to 91. The five new records were: Peropteryx kappleri, Peropteryx leucoptera, Lonchorhina inusitata, Tonatia saurophila, and Artibeus concolor. Our results pointed out the necessity of more studies in order to better estimate the bat diversity in northern Mato Grosso.

SOFHIA: a CAD environment to design digital control systems

"Series Title: IFIP - The International Federation for Information Processing, ISSN 1868-4238"

An evolutionary approach to the use of Petri net based models: from parallel controllers to HW/SW co-design

"A workshop within the 19th International Conference on Applications and Theory of Petri Nets - ICATPN’1998"

An object-oriented model for rapid prototyping of data path/control systems - a case study

Publicado em "Information control in manufacturing 1998 : (INCOM'98) : advances in industrial engineering : a proceedings volume from the 9th IFAC Symposium, Nancy-Metz, France, 24-26 June 1998. Vol. 2"

Redes e nós da aprendizagem: a integração curricular no 1º ano da escolaridade obrigatória

Relatório de estágio de mestrado em Educação Pré-escolar e Ensino do 1º Ciclo do Ensino Básico

Evaluation of fish pots as a feasible fishing method in Irish waters, with specific reference to the physiological effects of common and alternate pots on the lesser spotted dogfish (Scyliorhinus canicula).

Finfish pots have emerged as a “responsible” gear, when used in combination with conservational and technical measures to sustain fisheries. Previous trials in Irish waters have offered no published reported data and so three designs tested in the current study provide new information on this gear. The most successful traps in terms of fish catch were rigid steel framed rectangular pots used to target Conger eel. Although commercial yield was low (0.2 per trap haul), potential existed for a viable pot fishery. Deployment and storage of Norwegian floating pots was conducted with relative ease but performance in the water was poor resulting in loss of gear. Catch returns were notable even though effort was restricted as mega-faunal by-catch was a problem, which lead to ending this trial. From these initial trials it was evident that catch rates were low compared to established Norwegian fisheries (3.6 cod per pot), which resulted in the utilisation of pots, already established in the crustacean fishery, to find species readily accessible to pot capture. Although fished and designed differently, these gears provided an opportunity to establish the benefits of pot fishing to fish quality and to determine the effects on by-catch. The fishing effects of three catching methods (pots, angling and trawl) and the effects of air exposure on the physiological status of a common by-catch, the lesser spotted dogfish Scyliorhinus canícula (L.) were examined using a range of physiological biomarkers (plasma catecholamine, glucose, lactate, muscle pH and muscle lactate). Physiological responses of fish to an emersion stress regime resulted in a significant metabolic disturbance in groups, but may not have weakened the overall health of these fish, as signified in the revival of some metabolites. Plasma glucose and lactate concentrations did not however recovery to baseline levels indicating that to achieve an accurate profile, responses should be determined by a suite of biomarkers. Responses did not demonstrate that samples from the pots were significantly less stressed than for the other two methods; angling and trawling, which are in contrast to many other studies. Employment of finfish potting therefore in Irish waters needs further consideration before further promotion as a more responsible method to supplement or replace established techniques.