Seed lipases: sources, applications and properties - a review

This paper provides an overview regarding the main aspects of seed lipases, such as the reactions catalyzed, physiological functions, specificities, sources and applications. Lipases are ubiquitous in nature and are produced by several plants, animals and microorganisms. These enzymes exhibit several very interesting features, such as low cost and easy purification, which make their commercial exploitation as industrial enzymes a potentially attractive alternative. The applications of lipases in food, detergents, oils and fats, medicines and fine chemistry, effluent treatment, biodiesel production and in the cellulose pulp industry, as well as the main sources of oilseed and cereal seed lipases, are reviewed.

beta-Xylosidases from filamentous fungi: an overview

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Evaluation of the beta-glucanolytic enzyme complex of Trichoderma harzianum Rifai for the production of gluco-oligosaccharide fragments by enzymatic hydrolysis of 1,3;1,6-beta-D-glucans

Botryosphaeran, a new exopolysaccharide from the endophytic fungus Botryosphaeria rhodina MAMB-05, and algal laminarin were hydrolyzed by partially-fractionated enzymes of the beta-glucanolytic complex from Trichoderma harzianum Rifai. beta-Glucanase fractions (F-I and F-II) separated by gel permeation chromatography presented different modes of attack on botryosphaeran and laminarin. Botryosphaeran was hydrolyzed to the extent of 66% (F-I) and 98% (F-II) within 30 min, and its main hydrolysis products were gluco-oligosaccharides of DP >= 4, with lesser amounts of glucose, di- and tri-saccharides. The action of enzyme fractions I and II on laminarin resulted in 15% conversion to glucose, while the percentage of saccharification was radically different (70% for F-I and 25% for F-II). The different product arrays within the polysaccharide hydrolysates can be explained by the difference in the enzymes' specificities within each enzyme fraction, and the molecular structures of the polysaccharides and their complexity.

The water factor in the protein-folding problem

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

Ribonuclease production by Aspergillus species

Ribonuclease production by Aspergillus flavipes. A sulphureus and A. fischeri in semisynthetic medium, after 24-144 hours at 30 degrees C under shaking, was studied. After cultivation, the medium was separated from micelia by filtration and the resultant solution was used as enzymatic extract. The highest amount of biomass and RNase was obtained after 96 hours of cultivation. The enzymes produced by three species presented similar characteristics, with optimum temperature at 55 degrees C and two peaks of activity at pH 4.5 and 7.0. A. flavipes RNases were more sensitive to temperature: 50% of the initial activity was lost after 1 hour at 70 degrees C. After this heat treatment, RNase of A. sulphureus lost 30% of this activity and that of A. fischeri only 16%. The nucleotides released by enzimatic hydrolysis of RNA were separated by ion exchange chromatography in a AG-1X8-formiate column and identified by paper chromatography. This procedure indicated that the raw enzymatic extract of Aspergillus flavipes is able to hydrolyze RNA, releasing 3'-nucleotides monophosphate at pH 4.5 and 3' and 5'-nucleotides monophosphate at pH 7.0 and 8.5. This result suggests that this strain produces two different types of RNase, one acidic and other alcaline, with different specificities.

Natural antibodies in paracoccidioidomycosis

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

Cementum, apical morphology and hypercementosis: a probable adaptive response of the periodontal support tissues and potential orthodontic implications

Information about orthodontic movement of teeth with hypercementosis is scarce. As cementum deposition continues to occur, cementum is expected to change the shape of the root and apex over time, but this has not yet been demonstrated. Nor has it ever been established whether it increases or decreases the prevalence of root resorption during orthodontic treatment. The unique biological function of the interconnected network of cementocytes may play a role in orthodontic movement and its associated root resorptions, but no research has ever been conducted on the topic. Unlike cementum thickness and hypercementosis, root and apex shape has not yet been related to patient age. A study of the precise difference between increased cementum thickness and hypercementosis is warranted. Hypercementosis refers to excessive cementum formation above and beyond the extent necessary to fulfill its normal functions, resulting in abnormal thickening with macroscopic changes in the tooth root, which may require the delivery of forces that are different from conventional mechanics in their intensity, direction and distribution. What are the unique features and specificities involved in moving teeth that present with hypercementosis? Bodily movements would be expected to occur, since inclination might prove difficult to achieve, but would the root resorption index be higher or lower?

Fatores de risco associados ao excesso de peso entre adolescentes da Região Oeste Paulista

Analisar a associação entre excesso de peso e diferentes fatores de risco familiares em adolescentes da região oeste do estado de São Paulo. Estudo transversal com 1779 adolescentes de ambos os sexos, e idade compreendida entre 11 e 17 anos. Calculou-se o índice de massa corporal e os fatores de risco familiares foram analisados por meio de questionário. O excesso de peso foi associado com o sexo masculino (RC=1,55 [1,22-1,97]), estudar em escola particular (RC=2,14 [1,56-2,94]) e maior escolaridade materna (RC=0,52 [0,33-0,83]). Iniciativas de combate à obesidade devem ser instauradas em meio escolar e atingir toda a estrutura familiar, bem como levar em consideração particularidades decorrentes do sexo.

Desenvolvimento de uma Lista de Verificação em Comunicação e Linguagem para os Transtornos do Espectro Autístico

A Lista de Verificação em Comunicação e Linguagem aqui apresentada foi elaborada para avaliar as especificidades de dois grupos distintos: os transtornos do espectro autístico e outras alterações de desenvolvimento da linguagem. Com essa finalidade foi aplicada em 60 participantes, divididos em dois grupos: 20 portadores de transtornos do espectro autístico (M=7, 11) e 40 portadores de outras alterações de desenvolvimento da linguagem (M=4, 10). Foi utilizado o teste do Qui-Quadrado para avaliar a validade do conteúdo e determinar quais questões deveriam ser retiradas do instrumento por não serem significativas. Os outros testes utilizados foram o Índice de Concordância Kappa e o teste de Mann-Withney. A Lista também apresentou uma sensibilidade de 90% e uma especificidade de 97,5%, o que demonstra a viabilidade de sua utilização como instrumento auxiliar na detecção de transtornos do espectro autístico.

Reabilitação neuropsicológica pediátrica

A neuropsicologia investiga a expressão comportamental das disfunções cerebrais, isto é, a interação entre estruturas cerebrais preservadas e prejudicadas e as funções cognitivas, tais como linguagem, memória, atenção e outras. A neuropsicologia pediátrica possui especificidades: maturação, estratégias cognitivas, ensino formal e cultura, e características intrínsecas à reorganização cerebral. O objetivo da reabilitação neuropsicológica é estabelecer estratégias para adaptação de funções cognitivas afetadas em relação às demandas do ambiente da criança. A reabilitação cognitiva pediátrica auxilia crianças com deficiência mental, epilepsia, traumatismo craniencefálico, síndromes autísticas, tumores cerebrais, paralisia cerebral, etc. Programas de reabilitação neuropsicológica podem ser voltados para dificuldades acadêmicas ou para funções cognitivas. A investigação da efetividade de programas de reabilitação depende de diversos fatores. O neuropsicólogo deve contribuir para o desenvolvimento de novas estratégias de reabilitação cognitiva, ser qualificado para o uso das mesmas e partilhar, com a equipe interdisciplinar, as técnicas e experiências efetivas.

A participação escolar de alunos com deficiência na percepção de seus

The identification of the level of school participation of disabled students is crucial for monitoring the inclusive educational process. It requires the use of measuring instruments that provide functionality before school specific demands, and that at the same time can motivate the teacher to reflect on his judgment about the performance of students with disabilities. School Function Assessment (SFA) is a tool that helps recognize the special needs of students with disabilities according to parameters of functionality and participation. Thus, this study analyzed the influence of the use of SFA on the teacher's judgment of student participation and performance. Eight teachers responded regarding the participation of nine students with disabilities through the use of the SFA and a questionnaire. The results indicated that, for five teachers, SFA helped with the perception of the student's participation, focusing on the activity demand and brought reflections on: the need of evaluation not just in the classroom, co-relation between the degree of disability and the participation of the student, understanding of the specificities of the performance, importance of the adaptation to neutralize incapacity and the importance of the focus deviation from the disability toward functionality.

Theory and practice of industrial policy: evidence from the Latin American experience

Includes bibliography

Weak expansions: a distinctive feature of the business cycle in Latin America and the Caribbean

Using two standard cycle methodologies (Classical and Deviation Cycle) and a comprehensive sample of 83 countries worldwide, including all developing regions, we show that the Latin American and Caribbean cycle exhibits two distinctive features. First, and most importantly, its expansion performance is shorter and for the most par less imtense than that of the rest of the regions considered, and in particular than that of East Asia and the Pacific, East Asia and the Pacific's expansions last five years longer than those of LAC, and its output gain is 50% greater than that of LAC. Second, LAC tends to exhibit contractions that are not significantly different in terms of duration and amplitude than t those of other regions. Both these features imply that the complete Latin American and Caribbean cycle has, overall, the shortest duration and smallest amplitude in relation to other regions. The specificities of the Latin American and Caribbean cycle are not confined to the short run. These are also reflected in variables such as productivity and investment, which are linked to long-run growth. East Asia and the Pacific's cumulative gain in labor productivity during the expansionary phase is twice that of LAC. Moreover, the evidence also shows that the effects of the contraction in public investment surpass those of the expansion leading to a declining trend over the entire cycle. In this sense we suggest that policy analysis needs to increase its focus on the expansionary phase of the cycle. Improving our knowledge of the differences in the expansionary dynamics of countries and regions, can further our understanding of the differences in their rates of growth and levels of development. We also suggest that while, the management of the cycle affects the short-run fluctuations of economic activity and hence volatility, it is not trend neutral. Hence, the effects of aggregate demand management policies may be more persistent over time and less transitory than currently thought.

Impacto das tecnologias de informação e comunicação: cultura digital e mudanças sócio-culturais

The contemporaneous culture presents new con ditions of interaction with the information flows in the knowledge construction. Multidimensional codifications stimulate the brain and impress meaning to concepts initially empty. Culture is redefined as mosaic-culture, composed by a diversity of media and by immersion in the messages' sphere. In emerge nt countries like Brazil that propose to capacitate citizens for action and for interaction, the aims should imply the respect to the cultural specificities and in the real improvement of the citizens welfare. Information Science in this context must seek theorizations and practices that contribute to social improvements, capacitating and a better understanding of the challenges of Social Web. If the PISA examination demonstrates the County's frailness relating to the information, the 2011 Unicef report point to opportunities. The Universities have an essential role in the capacitating and in the creation of professional contingents, developing their own potentialities in the study, research and knowledge production for a better use of the Information and Communication Technologies. The man-machinery interfaces offer new problems to be dealt together with the literacy lags in Brazil: if information needs to be communicated to re-elaborate in knowledge, its representational supports need to be learnt as technological processes. Implementing informational ambiences studies will produce material for analyses, for the understanding and for the cultural practices importation, converting them to the contextualization of the Country's needs.

(Em defesa dos) Cuidados Paliativos na Atenção Primária à Saúde

One of the basic principles of the Brazilian Public Health System (SUS) is integral assistance, which considers the integrality of the individual, of service and care, which should necessarily include end of life care. Our aim was to analyze the work process of health professionals at the Family Health Strategy / Primary Care that already cared for people in the dying process to propose viable contributions to the Public Health area as regards the implementation of Palliative Care in Primary Care. We present data referring to the following themes: Singular Therapeutic Project (PTS); death quality as PTS goal (work purpose); the team's ways of doing (bonding as a pact condition). Eleven health professionals (four nurses and seven physicians) linked to the Family Health Strategy (ESF) of Campinas (São Paulo) participated on this research. From the interviews, data analysis followed the Socio-Historical Psychology theoretical and methodological approach. The professionals' activity was analyzed in articulation with the specificities of caring for people in the dying process. We found that action planning in health is oriented by the Singular Therapeutic Project (PTS), with an emphasis in social diagnosis and the need of a bond for attaining a pact. It is understood that the purpose of health professionals' activity is to promote dignity and life quality in the dying process, but integral care should include not only individual and family care, but also the defence of full human development during all phases of life.