Zooplankton fluctuations in Jurumirim Reservoir (São Paulo, Brazil): a three-year study

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

Farming technology, biochemistry characterization, and protective effects of culinary-medicinal mushrooms Agaricus brasiliensis S. Wasser et al. and Lentinus edodes (Berk.) Singer: Five years of research in Brazil

The biotechnology, biochemical characterization, and protective effects of the himematsutake and shiitake mushrooms were studied for the Thematic Project, from 1998 to 2003. A new species, Agaricus Brasiliens is Wasser et al. (= A. blazei Murrill ss. Heinem.), was proposed for the cultivated lineages in Brazil. Interactions among lineages, substrates, casing layers, and fructification inductions (temperature alternations) significantly increased the productivity of A. brasiliensis in Brazil (from 40 g to 200 g of fresh mushroom kg -1 moist compost). However, pests and diseases (mainly Sciaridae flies and false truffle), drastically reduced the productivity of A. brasiliensis (below 50 g kg -1). Biochemically for each mushroom species, the polar extracts, no polars, and medium polarity presented the same organic substances; however, their concentrations differed as a result of the lineages, maturation of the fruit bodies, and cultivation conditions. In this aspect, concentration of linoleic acid in A. brasiliensis (added to animal food) was related directly to the chemical protection against carcinogenic drugs in mice. Aqueous extracts of Lentinus edodes (= Lentinula edodes (Berk.) Pegler) and A. brasiliensis may be preventive chemical protectors against mutagenic and carcinogenic drugs, depending on the lineage and extraction method (tea or juice). However, immunomodulator effects and tumor reduction were only observed with concentrated fractions (hexanic, methanolic, and ATF extracts). Aqueous extracts of A. brasiliensis and L. edodes have antibiotic-like substances and substances able to act as elicitors of resistance responses in some plants (local and systemic) and show a potential to be used in the alternative control of plant pathogens. © 2005 by Begell House, Inc.

Lodos de esgoto, escória de aciaria e lama cal na cultura da soja sob sistema plantio direto em latossolo vermelho

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Aspectos ecofisiológicos da germinação de sementes de mulateiro (Calycophyllum spruceanum Benth.) Rubiaceae

Pós-graduação em Ciências Biológicas (Biologia Vegetal) - IBRC

Validação farmacológica da preferência claro-escuro em Danio rerio

A ansiedade é uma desordem complexa e com grande relevância clínica, cujo estudo com modelos animais é importante para pesquisar sobre seus mecanismos e drogas para o seu tratamento. O zebrafish figura como um potencial modelo animal para pesquisas farmacológicas da ansiedade. Um modelo de ansiedade é a preferência claro-escuro, que já foi validado comportamentalmente em zebrafish, contudo necessita de uma validação farmacológica. Objetiva-se descrever a sensibilidade da preferência claro-escuro em zebrafish adultos para as drogas mais utilizadas na clínica da ansiedade, foram administradas pela imersão do animal na solução: Benzodiazepínicos (Clonazepam); Agonistas parciais 5-HT1A (Buspirona); Antidepressivo tricíclico (Imipramina); Antidepressivo ISRS (Fluoxetina e Paroxetina); Antipsicóticos (Haloperidol e Risperidona); Psicostimulante (Dietilpropiona); Beta bloqueadores (Propranolol) e Depressores do SNC (Etanol). Os parâmetros analisados foram o tempo despendido pelo animal no ambiente escuro, o tempo da primeira latência e número de alternâncias. O clonazepam administrado por 300s aumentou o tempo no escuro na menor concentração e reduziu a atividade locomotora, a administração durante 600s da concentração intermediária diminuiu o tempo no escuro e da primeira latência, assim como aumentou a atividade locomotora, indicando efeito ansiolítico. A buspirona aumentou o tempo de permanência no escuro provavelmente devido a redução da atividade motora. A imipramina e a fluoxetina aumentaram o tempo no escuro e da primeira latência e diminuíram o número de alternâncias, indicando ação ansiogênica. A paroxetina não alterou o tempo no escuro, entretanto aumentou o tempo da primeira latência e diminuiu a atividade locomotora. O haloperidol diminuiu a ansiedade na menor concentração, curiosamente aumentou a atividade motora na maior concentração, ao contrário da risperidona que diminuiu a atividade na maior concentração. A dietilpropriona não modificou o tempo no escuro, mas aumentou o tempo da primeira latência e diminuiu a atividade motora apenas na menor concentração. O propranolol reduziu somente o tempo no escuro. O etanol foi efetivo na redução da ansiedade com a concentração intermediária e diminuiu a atividade locomotora em uma concentração menor Os dados corroboram com relatos da literatura em Danio rerio tanto neste modelo em administração intraperitoneal como em outros modelos por administração hídrica e em roedores, quando foi possível a comparação.

Efeitos da contaminação fecal sobre a dinâmica e a estrutura da alça microbiana em areias de praias do litoral norte do estado de São Paulo

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Variação e gênero textual: o uso das preposições nas cartas de leitoras brasileiras e portuguesas

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Millennial-Scale Climate Variability during the Last Glacial Period in the Tropical Andes

Millennial-scale climate variation during the Last Glacial period is evident in many locations worldwide, but it is unclear if such variation occurred in the interior of tropical South America, and, if so, how the low-latitude variation was related to its high-latitude counterpart. A high-resolution record, derived from the deep drilling of sediments on the floor of Lake Titicaca in the southern tropical Andes, is presented that shows clear evidence of millennial-scale climate variation between ~60 and 20 ka BP. This variation is manifested by alternations of two interbedded sedimentary units. The two units have distinctive sedimentary, geochemical, and paleobiotic properties that are controlled by the relative abundance of terrigenous or nearshore components versus pelagic components. The sediments of more terrigenous or nearshore nature likely were deposited during regionally wetter climates when river transport of water and sediment was higher, whereas the sediments of more pelagic character were deposited during somewhat drier climates regionally. The majority of the wet periods inferred from the Lake Titicaca sediment record are correlated with the cold events in the Greenland ice cores and North Atlantic sediment cores, indicating that increased intensity of the South American summer monsoon was part of near-global scale climate excursions.

Daily morphological changes determined by high-energy events on an embayed beach: a qualitative model

This paper examines the daily morphological responses of Sununga Beach, an embayed beach located on the south-eastern Brazilian coast, to storms in the South Atlantic Ocean. The main mechanisms and timing of beach erosion and accretion, the relationship between wave height and direction, and beach volume changes are considered, to establish a qualitative model for short-term embayed beach morphological changes. The methodology consisted of daily topographic surveys during the month of May in 2001, 2002, and 2003, using an RTK-GPS (real-time kinematics global positioning system). Weather and wave model results were used to correlate hydrodynamics and beach morphology. The results indicate that the morphodynamics of Sununga Beach are characterized by a process of beach rotation, which occurred more or less clearly during all three surveys. Unlike what has been commonly described in the literature for longer time intervals and alternations of fair and stormy weather, the beach rotation processes on Sununga Beach occurred under conditions of moderate-to-high wave energy change (wave heights greater than 2 m). An integrated evaluation of the behaviour of the meteorological aspects, together with beach morphology, enabled us to recognize that extra-tropical cyclones were the most important agent in remobilizing the beach planform, whether in beach rotation or in cross-shore erosion. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The "bizarre" valency behaviour of Finnish verbs

The paper discusses two cases of valency alternations in Modern Finnish that to our knowledge have not attracted much attention. We discuss sentences (a) in which a verb which is normally used intransitively, i.e. without an object, is used transitively, i.e. with an object, and (b) in which a transitive verb appears with a new type of object.

Particle placement and the case for “allostructions”

As a reaction against derivational frameworks, Construction Grammar accords no place to regular alternations between two surface patterns. This paper argues for a more tolerant position towards alternations. With respect to the well-known placement variability of verbal particles (pick up the book / pick the book up), the author grants that there is little reason for analysing one ordering as underlying the other but goes on to show that it is equally problematic to claim that the two orderings code two different meanings (or serve two different functions) and therefore cannot be linked in the grammar as variants of a single category. The alternative offered here is to consider the two orderings as two “allostructions” of a more general transitive verb-particle construction underspecified for word order.

The bivalency effect represents an interference-triggered adjustment of cognitive control: an ERP study

When bivalent stimuli (i.e., stimuli with relevant features for two different tasks) occur occasionally among univalent stimuli, performance is slowed on subsequent univalent stimuli even if they have no overlapping stimulus features. This finding has been labeled the bivalency effect. It indexes an adjustment of cognitive control, but the underlying mechanism is not well understood yet. The purpose of the present study was to shed light on this question, using event-related potentials. We used a paradigm requiring predictable alternations between three tasks, with bivalent stimuli occasionally occurring on one task. The results revealed that the bivalency effect elicited a sustained parietal positivity and a frontal negativity, a neural signature that is typical for control processes implemented to resolve interference. We suggest that the bivalency effect reflects interference, which may be caused by episodic context binding.

Age affects the adjustment of cognitive control after a conflict: evidence from the bivalency effect

Age affects cognitive control. When facing a conflict, older adults are less able to activate goal-relevant information and inhibit irrelevant information. However, cognitive control also affects the events after a conflict. The purpose of this study was to determine whether age affects the adjustment of cognitive control following a conflict. To this end, we investigated the bivalency effect, that is, the performance slowing occurring after the conflict induced by bivalent stimuli (i.e., stimuli with features for two tasks). In two experiments, we tested young adults (aged 20-30) and older adults (aged 65-85) in a paradigm requiring alternations between three tasks, with bivalent stimuli occasionally occurring on one task. The young adults showed a slowing for all trials following bivalent stimuli. This indicates a widespread and long-lasting bivalency effect, replicating previous findings. In contrast, the older adults showed a more specific and shorter-lived slowing. Thus, age affects the adjustment of cognitive control following a conflict.

Episodic context binding in task switching: Evidence from amnesia

The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether amnesic patients show a bivalency effect. The bivalency effect refers to the performance slowing that occurs when switching tasks and bivalent stimuli appear occasionally among univalent stimuli. According to the episodic context binding account, bivalent stimuli create a conflict-loaded context that is re-activated on subsequent trials and thus it is assumed that it depends on memory binding processes. Given the profound memory deficit in amnesia, we hypothesized that the bivalency effect would be largely reduced in amnesic patients. We tested sixteen severely amnesic patients and a control group with a paradigm requiring predictable alternations between three simple cognitive tasks, with bivalent stimuli occasionally occurring on one of these tasks. The results showed the typical bivalency effect for the control group, that is, a generalized slowing for each task. In contrast, for amnesic patients, only a short-lived slowing was present on the task that followed immediately after a bivalent stimulus, indicating that the binding between tasks and context was impaired in amnesic patients.

Structure-function relation in retinoid regulated gene expression

Retinoids are known to inhibit proliferation of and induce terminal differentiation of many normal and transformed cells. It has been postulated that retinoids exert their effect by altering gene expression. HL-60 cells and macrophages both respond to retinoic acid action by the rapid induction of the enzyme tissue transglutaminase. The induction has been shown to be due to increased transcription of the transglutaminase gene. The first part of the dissertation studied the structure-function relationship of retinoid-regulated transglutaminase induction, differentiation and proliferation in HL-60 cells using retinoid analogs. The results indicated strict structural constraints and a strong structure-function correlation between transglutaminase induction and differentiation; those retinoids that induced transglutaminase also induced differentiation, those analogs that did not induce transglutaminase could not induce differentiation. The ability of the retinoids to induce transglutaminase in HL-60 cells was paralleled in macrophages. However, the antiproliferative effect of the retinoids displayed less stringent structural constraints than their differentiation- and transglutaminase-inducing properties. Specifically all the retinoids were able to inhibit proliferation to varying extents. It is concluded that the induction of transglutaminase and of differentiation by retinoids is mediated by receptors. While receptor mediation cannot be entirely ruled out, with the current data no definitive statement can be made about the antiproliferative activity of retinoids. Also, the concordance in the ability of the retinoids to induce transglutaminase and the ability to induce differentiation of HL-60 cells suggests that the former is an early response of the cells to retinoids and differentiation a later consequence on the same pathway. Using the induction of transglutaminase as an index of the direct, or primary, effect of retinoids on gene expression, the second part of the dissertation investigates, by 2D gel electrophoresis, the alteration in the rates of synthesis of other proteins in macrophages and HL-60 cells in response to short incubations with retinoic acid. Any changes in parallel with transglutaminase were taken to indicate proteins directly under the control of retinoic acid. It is concluded that retinoic acid regulates the expression of a circumscribed set of genes in a cell-specific manner. The results support the hypothesis that retinoids exert their multiple effects on myeloid cells, in part, by receptor-mediated alternations in gene expression. ^