O Tratamento com a fluoxetina (mas não com outros farmacos antidepressivo e ansioíiticos) reverte o déficit de memória aversiva causado por estresse agudo de contenção em camundongos

The physiologist H. Selye defined stress as the nonspecific response of the body to any factors that endanger homeostasis (balance of internal environment) of the individual. These factors, agents stressors, are able to activate the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis, thus resulting in the physiological responses to stress by the release of glucocorticoids that leads to psychophysiological changes, including effects on cognitive functions such as learning and memory. When this axis is acutely stimulated occurs a repertoire of behavioral and physiological changes can be adaptive to the individual. Notwithstanding, when the HPA axis is chronically stimulated, changes may favor the development of, such as anxiety disorders. Some drugs used in the clinic for the treatment of anxiety disorders these can exert effects on cognitive function, on the HPA axis and on the anxiety. In this context, the aim of our study was to investigate the effects of administration i.p. acute of diazepam (DZP, 2 mg/kg), buspirone (BUS, 3 mg/kg), mirtazapine (MIR, 10 mg/kg) and fluoxetine (FLU, 10 mg/kg) in male mice submitted to acute restraint stress, and evaluated using plus-maze discriminative avoidance task (PMDAT), which simultaneously evaluates parameters such as learning, memory and anxiety. Our results demonstrated that (1) the administration of DZP and BUS, but not FLU, promoted anxiolytic effects in animals; (2) administration mirtazapine caused sedative effect to animals; (3) in the training session, the animals treated with BUS, MIR and FLU learned the task, on the other hand DZP group showed impairment in learning; (4) in the test session, animals treated with DZP, BUS, and MIR showed deficits in relation to discrimination between the enclosed arms, aversive versus non-aversive arm, demonstrating an impairment in memory, however, animals treated with FLU showed no interference in the retrieval of this memory; (5) acute stress did not interfere in locomotor activity, anxiety, or learning on the learning task, but induced impairment in retrieval memory, and the group treated with FLU did not demonstrated this deficit of memory . These results suggest that acute administration of drugs with anxiolytic and antidepressant activity does not interfere with the learning process this aversive task, but impair its retrieval, as well as the acute restraint stress. However, the antidepressant fluoxetine was able to reverse memory deficits promoted by acute stress, which may suggest that modulation, even acutely serotonergic neurotransmission, by selectively inhibiting the reuptake of this neurotransmitter, interferes on the process of retrieval of an aversive memory

Compromisso social do psicólogo em artigos publicados em periódicos científicos no Brasil

Psychologist s social commitment in scientific articles published in scientific papers in Brazil. A situation analysis of the scientific production concerning psychologist s social commitment can aid the historical constitution of this theme and also subsidize reflections about the course of this profession in Brazil. In order to contribute to this debate, the theme social commitment of psychologist was analyzed in the scientific literature concerning psychologist profession in the country. Specifically, papers about the profession that mentioned the theme social commitment were characterized and their approach of this matter was analyzed. In order to accomplish these goals, two research stages were fulfilled: first, in a systematic search for scientific literature in internet databases, studies about the psychologist profession in the country were gathered; in the second stage, scientific papers relating to social commitment in their titles, abstracts or keywords were selected. 61 papers were retrieved, organized in electronic database and full-text analyzed, based in two axis: scientometric and thematic. The papers were identified, in general, as recent, of theoretic character and aligned with several Psychology subareas; mainly produced in public universities, in country s southwest; were of conjunctural interest to the authors research projects, individually published, by professors in touch with post-graduation; published in open access journals, with high Qualis evaluation. It was verified that there is no consensus on the meaning of the theme, prevailing definitions concerning the understanding of the social reality, to the majority of people or to a progressive-aligned professional performance. Are adduced as committed agents: the psychologist (sometimes together with other kinds of professionals or with users), the academia, and the representative entities of the profession. Depending on the subareas and the nature of study, all papers mentioned at least one of the following criteria: expansion of target-audience, renewal of practices, political direction, defined theoretical approach or adequate technical competence, sometimes relating each other. In short, psychologist s social commitment is a contradictory issue which have earned projection in scientific literature, reiterating the historical custom of evaluate the psychologist profession. As conclusion, it is regarded as indispensable to intensify the reflection about the role whose psychologist plays in a class-cleaved society and the limits and potentials of his performing in that framework.

Analysis and functional annotation of an expressed sequence tag collection for tropical crop sugarcane

To contribute to our understanding of the genome complexity of sugarcane, we undertook a large-scale expressed sequence tag (EST),program. More than 260,000 cDNA clones were partially sequenced from 26 standard cDNA libraries generated from different sugarcane tissues. After the processing of the sequences, 237,954 high-quality ESTs were identified. These ESTs were assembled into 43,141 putative transcripts. of the assembled sequences, 35.6% presented no matches with existing sequences in public databases. A global analysis of the whole SUCEST data set indicated that 14,409 assembled sequences (33% of the total) contained at least one cDNA clone with a full-length insert. Annotation of the 43,141 assembled sequences associated almost 50% of the putative identified sugarcane genes with protein metabolism, cellular communication/signal transduction, bioenergetics, and stress responses. Inspection of the translated assembled sequences for conserved protein domains revealed 40,821 amino acid sequences with 1415 Pfam domains. Reassembling the consensus sequences of the 43,141 transcripts revealed a 22% redundancy in the first assembling. This indicated that possibly 33,620 unique genes had been identified and indicated that >90% of the sugarcane expressed genes were tagged.

Os leucócitos e a resposta inflamatória na lesão de isquemia-reperfusão

Os eventos de isquemia-reperfusão desencadeiam uma resposta inflamatória sistêmica que pode levar a lesões celulares e até falência de órgãos. Tais repercussões são notadas no pós-operatório de cirurgias, em especial, com o uso de circulação extracorpórea. Sabe-se, atualmente, que os leucócitos exercem importante papel neste processo. Assim, este estudo aborda o papel dos leucócitos na fisiopatologia das lesões de isquemia-reperfusão e a ativação das cascatas inflamatórias por esse processo e procura auxiliar na compreensão destes mecanismos assim como trazer contribuições acerca das abordagens terapêuticas que possam atenuá-los. Esta revisão bibliográfica retrospectiva foi realizada a partir de documentos científicos publicados nos últimos dez anos, em português e inglês, indexados em bases de dados internacionais Medline e SciELO e de textos clássicos relacionados. Os descritores pesquisados foram: isquemia-reperfusão, leucócitos, resposta inflamatória, circulação extracorpórea, efeitos adversos e apoptose.

Aleitamento materno: fatores de influência na sua decisão e duração

Os autores analisaram diferentes fatores que podem influenciar na decisão das mães de amamentar, na duração da amamentação e as principais razões do desmame. Foram selecionados artigos publicados entre 1990 e 2004 das bases de dados Lilacs, Medline, Scielo, Bireme, utilizando as palavras-chave: desmame e fatores de risco, bem como suas versões em inglês. Alguns fatores, como maternidade precoce, baixo nível educacional e socioeconômico maternos, paridade, atenção do profissional de saúde nas consultas de pré-natal, necessidade de trabalhar fora do lar, são freqüentemente considerados como determinantes do desmame precoce. Contudo, outros, como o apoio familiar, condições adequadas no local de trabalho e uma experiência prévia positiva, parecem ser parâmetros favoráveis à decisão materna pela amamentação. Apesar da relevância dos fatores mencionados acima, os aspectos culturais e a história de vida da mãe foram os mais importantes na decisão materna pelo aleitamento e pelo momento do desmame.

Infant formula and enamel fluorosis A systematic review

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Gestão do lazer: os grupos de pesquisa em foco

This qualitative study aimed to investigate the research groups that focus on leisure management in Brazil. A documentary research was developed in the databases of the Directory of Research Groups CNPq - Plataforma Lattes. The results evidenced 12 groups in different Brazilian regions, predominantly in South region and in Tourism field. The same region also concentrates the largest production of complete articles; however, the field of Production Engineering leads the number of specific researches on leisure management. It is suggested further initiatives in order to implement and efficiently cataloging and disseminating academic information about leisure management.

Relationship between global structural parameters and Enzyme Commission hierarchy: Implications for function prediction

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

Feather mites of Brazil (Acari: Astigmata: Analgoidea and Pterolichoidea)

We present a checklist of feather mites known from native birds in Brazil. The list was compiled from a survey of Brazilian records published in indexing databases (e.g. Zoological Records) and from the available literature. To date, 185 nominal species representing 21 families have been recorded from Brazilian birds. Associations with 15 bird orders were found: Anseriformes, Apodiformes, Caprimulgiformes, Ciconiiformes, Columbiformes, Cuculiformes, Falconiformes, Galliformes, Gruiformes, Opisthocomiformes, Passeriformes, Piciformes, Psittaciformes, Tinamiformes and Trogoniformes. These birds sum to 218 species, which represent only 12.4% of all bird species occurring in Brazil. The feather mite fauna of several species-rich and important bird orders in Brazil remain unexplored, including Cathartiformes, Charadriiformes, Coraciiformes, Galbuliformes and Strigiformes. We estimate that between 900 and 5300 feather mite species are expected to occur on Brazilian birds, which is at least five times greater than current records. The training of researchers with expertise in the taxonomy of this group of mites should be stimulated so that there is a compatible number of taxonomists to discover and describe the almost unexplored feather mite fauna in Brazil.

Ferroelectric and dielectric properties of Ba0.5Sr0.5(Ti0.80Sn0.20)O-3 thin films grown by the soft chemical method

Polycrystalline Ba0.5Sr0.5(Ti0.80Sn0.20)O-3 (BST:Sn) thin films with a perovskite structure were prepared by the soft chemical method on a platinum-coated silicon substrate from spin-coating technique. The resulting thin films showed a dense structure with uniform grain size distribution. The dielectric constant of the films estimated from C-V curve is around 1134 and can be ascribed to a reduction in the oxygen vacancy concentration. The ferroelectric nature of the film indicated by butterfly-shaped C-V curves and confirmed by the hysteresis curve, showed remnant polarization of 14 mu C/cm(2) and coercive field of 74 kV/cm at frequency of 1 MHz. At the same frequency, the leakage current density at 1.0 V is equal to 1.5 x 10(-7) A/cm(2). This work clearly reveals the highly promising potential of BST:Sn for application in memory devices. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A nação pela pluma Natureza e sociedade no Museu do Índio (Rio de Janeiro, 1953-1957)

A história política do Museu do Índio, criado em 1953, no Rio de Janeiro, sob a orientação institucional do antropólogo Darcy Ribeiro, permite conhecer algumas relações sociais estabelecidas em torno de elementos da natureza no Brasil. O estudo do momento inicial na constituição deste patrimônio cultural, de sua história e das disputas que gerou, inclusive na memória, é realizado a partir da noção de coerência ilusória de uma geração de etnólogos, militares e intelectuais e da ação do Estado nacional brasileiro na década de 1950. As fontes e documentação consultadas são de natureza arquivística, jornalística e bibliográfica.

Design of a simplified neuro-fuzzy system based on CMAC Architectures

This work presents the design of a fuzzy controller with simplified architecture that use an artificial neural network working as the aggregation operator for several active fuzzy rules. The simplified architecture of the fuzzy controller is used to minimize the time processing used in the closed loop system operation, the basic procedures of fuzzification are simplified to maximum while all the inference procedures are computed in a private way. As consequence, this simplified architecture allows a fast and easy configuration of the simplified fuzzy controller. The structuring of the fuzzy rules that define the control actions is previously computed using an artificial neural network based on CMAC Cerebellar Model Articulation Controller. The operational limits are standardized and all the control actions are previously calculated and stored in memory. For applications, results and conclusions several configurations of this fuzzy controller are considered.

Transcriptome profiling of Paracoccidioides brasiliensis yeast-phase cells recovered from infected mice brings new insights into fungal response upon host interaction

Paracoccidioides brasiliensis is a fungal human pathogen with a wide distribution in Latin America. It causes paracoccidioidomycosis, the most widespread systemic mycosis in Latin America. Although gene expression in P. brasiliensis had been studied, little is known about the genome sequences expressed by this species during the infection process. To better understand the infection process, 4934 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) derived from a non-normalized cDNA library from P. brasiliensis (isolate Pb01) yeast-phase cells recovered from the livers of infected mice were annotated and clustered to a UniGene (clusters containing sequences that represent a unique gene) set with 1602 members. A large-scale comparative analysis was performed between the UniGene sequences of P. brasiliensis yeast-phase cells recovered from infected mice and a database constructed with sequences of the yeast-phase and mycelium transcriptome (isolate Pb01) (https://dna.biomol.unb.br/Pb/), as well as with all public ESTs available at GenBank, including sequences of the P. brasiliensis yeast-phase transcriptome (isolate Pb18) (http:// www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/). The focus was on the overexpressed and novel genes. From the total, 3184 ESTs (64.53%) were also present in the previously described transcriptome of yeast-form and mycelium cells obtained from in vitro cultures (https://dna.biomol.unb.br/Pb/) and of those, 1172 ESTs (23.75% of the described sequences) represented transcripts overexpressed during the infection process. Comparative analysis identified 1750 ESTs (35.47% of the total), comprising 649 UniGene sequences representing novel transcripts of P. brasiliensis, not previously described for this isolate or for other isolates in public databases. KEGG pathway mapping showed that the novel and overexpressed transcripts represented standard metabolic pathways, including glycolysis, amino acid biosynthesis, lipid and sterol metabolism. The unique and divergent representation of transcripts in the cDNA library of yeast cells recovered from infected mice suggests differential gene expression in response to the host milieu.

Yeast biodiversity from oleic ecosystems: Study of their biotechnological properties

The aim of this study was to know the yeast biodiversity from fresh olive (Olea europaea L.) fruits, olive paste (crush olives) and olive pomace (solid waste) from Arbequina and Cornicabra varieties. Yeasts were isolated from fruits randomly harvested at various olive groves in the region of Castilla La Mancha (Spain). Olive paste and pomace, a byproduct of the processing of this raw material, were also collected in sterile flasks from different oil mills. Molecular identification methodology used included comparison of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplicons of their 5.8S rRNA gene and internal transcribed spacers ITS1 and ITS2 followed by restriction pattern analysis (RFLP). For some species, sequence analysis of the 5.8S rDNA gene was necessary. The results were compared to sequences held in public databases (BLAST). These techniques allowed to identify fourteen different species of yeasts, belonging to seven different genera (Zygosaccharomyces, Pichia, Lachancea, Kluyveromyces, Saccharomyces, Candida, Torulaspora) from the 108 yeast isolates. Species diversity was thus considerable: Pichia caribbica, Zygosaccharomyces fermentati (Lachancea fermentati) and Pichia holstii (Nakazawaea holstii) were the most commonly isolated species, followed by Pichia mississippiensis, Lachancea sp., Kluyveromyces thermotolerans and Saccharomyces rosinii. The biotechnological properties of these isolates, was also studied. For this purpose, the activity of various enzymes (beta-glucosidase, beta-glucanase, carboxymethylcellulase, polygalacturonase, peroxidase and lipase) was evaluated. It was important that none of species showed lipase activity, a few had cellulase and polygalacturonase activities and the majority of them presented beta-glucanase, beta-glucosidase and peroxidase activities. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Use of a semantically grained database system for distribution and control within design environments

This paper presents a technique to share the data stored in an object-oriented database aimed at designing environments. This technique shares data between two related databases, called the Original and Product databases, and is composed of three processes: data separation, evolution and integration. Whenever a block of data needs to be shared, it is spread into both databases, resulting in a block on the original database, and another into the Product database, with special links between them controlled by the Object Manager. These blocks do not need to be maintained identical during the evolution phase of the sharing process. Six types of links were defined, and by choosing one, the designer control the evolution and reintegration of the block in both databases. This process uses the composite object concept as the unit of control. The presented concepts can be applied to any data model with support to composite objects.