The perception of brazilian researchers concerning the factors that influence the citation of their articles: A study in the field of sustainability

With growing institutional pressure from the Brazilian government to increase the impact of research that it funds, Brazilian researchers are increasingly interested in discovering factors that affect the citation of their articles. The aim of the present article was to assess the perceptions of Brazilian sustainability researchers to identify factors that influence the impacts of their research. A survey was conducted with researchers in the field of sustainability and 89 questionnaires were completed. All of those researchers have articles or research projects in the field of sustainability (mixing environmental, social and/or economical) recorded in the Scielo or Lattes Curriculum Brazilian databases. Results suggest four factors that may explain the impact of article citations: (1) prestige of the author and the research network; (2) prestige of the means of publication and indexing; (3) accessibility and quality characteristics of the article; and (4) international nature of communication and scope of the study. Surprisingly, such factors were not statistically significant in explaining the citations of the participating researchers. These results show the need to consider other factors that can explain the impact of research, discovering the missing links. © 2013 Elsevier Inc.

Rastreamento de polimorfsmos no gene HIOMT e associações com os fenótipos circadianos

HIOMT is a gene that encodes hydroxyindole-O-methyltransfe-rase, the final enzyme in the melatonin synthesis pathway. As the timing of melatonin synthesis is different for morning and evening people, it is possible that polymorphisms in genes coding for the enzymes which participate in melatonin synthesis can influence this hormone synthesis and release patterns that may result in different circadian outputs. The aim of this study was to search for polymorphisms in the HIOMT gene and to verify possible associations between genetic variations in this gene and circadian phenotypes in a Brazilian population sample. Among the 44 extreme morning and the 48 extreme evening people, ten polymorphisms were found, being two of them not described so far. Haploview analyses showed linkage disequilibrium between pairs of polymorphisms in the promoter B region. Also, the haplotype AG (rs4446909, rs5989681) is associated with evening preference. The analysis of these data indicates that polymorphisms in the HIOMT gene exhibit a possible trend to influence circadian phenotypes in this Brazilian population sample, possibly affecting the rate and/or level of melatonin synthesis.

Genetic diversity of the HLA-G coding region in Amerindian populations from the Brazilian Amazon: a possible role of natural selection

HLA-G has an important role in the modulation of the maternal immune system during pregnancy, and evidence that balancing selection acts in the promoter and 3′UTR regions has been previously reported. To determine whether selection acts on the HLA-G coding region in the Amazon Rainforest, exons 2, 3 and 4 were analyzed in a sample of 142 Amerindians from nine villages of five isolated tribes that inhabit the Central Amazon. Six previously described single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified and the Expectation-Maximization (EM) and PHASE algorithms were used to computationally reconstruct SNP haplotypes (HLA-G alleles). A new HLA-G allele, which originated in Amerindian populations by a crossing-over event between two widespread HLA-G alleles, was identified in 18 individuals. Neutrality tests evidenced that natural selection has a complex part in the HLA-G coding region. Although balancing selection is the type of selection that shapes variability at a local level (Native American populations), we have also shown that purifying selection may occur on a worldwide scale. Moreover, the balancing selection does not seem to act on the coding region as strongly as it acts on the flanking regulatory regions, and such coding signature may actually reflect a hitchhiking effect.Genes and Immunity advance online publication, 3 October 2013; doi:10.1038/gene.2013.47.

Reports, articles and other writings 1955-1972

Serie de artículos

Revista de la CEPAL - Numéro Spécial en français: section d'articles publies 1995-2004

Le contenu de cette édition spéciale de la Revista est une sélection de plusieurs thèmes abordés dans 10 articles déjà publiés,auxquels ont été ajoutés deux articles préparés spécialement pour ce numéro par des chercheurs de l 'Institut des Hautes Études de l 'Amérique latine (IHEAL). Cette sélection a été réalisée par le directeur de la Revista de la CEPAL et l 'IHEAL.Nous remercions,par ailleurs,la Délégation régionale de coopération pour le Cône Sud et le Brésil,chargée de la coordination du programme de coopération entre la France et la CEPALC,du concours prêté à cette entreprise.

A contribuition to the study of channel coding in wireless communication systems

Pós-graduação em Engenharia Elétrica - FEIS

Sequence characterization of coding regions of the myostatin gene (GDF8) from Brazilian Murrah buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) and comparison with the Bos taurus sequence

Within about 30 years the Brazilian buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) herd will reach approximately 50 million head as a result of the great adaptive capacity of these animals to tropical climates, together with the good productive and reproductive potential which make these animals an important animal protein source for poor and developing countries. The myostatin gene (GDF8) is important in the physiology of stock animals because its product produces a direct effect on muscle development and consequently also on meat production. The myostatin sequence is known in several mammalian species and shows a high degree of amino acid sequence conservation, although the presence of non-silent and silent changes in the coding sequences and several alterations in the introns and untranslated regions have been identified. The objective of our work was to characterize the myostatin coding regions of B. bubalis (Murrah breed) and to compare them with the Bos taurus regions looking for variations in nucleotide and protein sequences. In this way, we were able to identify 12 variations at DNA level and five alterations on the presumed myostatin protein sequence as compared to non double-muscled bovine sequences.

Worldwide HLA-E nucleotide and haplotype variability reveals a conserved gene for coding and 3 ' untranslated regions

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)