SMEs in the environmental goods and services market: identifying areas of opportunity, policies and instruments: case studies: Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Mexico

Includes bibliography

The problems of intellectual property in Latin America and how to address them

Includes bibliography

Restructuring in manufacturing: case studies of Chile, Mexico and Venezuela

Includes bibliography

Leaf anatomical and molecular studies in Bulbophyllum section Micranthae (Orchidaceae) and their implications for systematics

Bulbophyllum section Micranthae comprises 12 species of rupicolous or epiphytic orchids occurring in forests or in open rocky fields in Cerrado/Atlantic Forest ecotones throughout South America. We examined the leaf anatomy of 14 species and compared them with molecular data (nrITS) in phylogenetic analyses. The leaves of Bulbophyllum section Micranthae are characterised by uniseriate epidermis, with periclinal external cell wall thicker than the internal, presence of epicuticular wax, stomata present only on the abaxial surface with suprastomatic chambers, and collateral vascular bundles associated with sclerenchyma fibres. Some of these characters are shared with other rupicolous Orchidaceae species, demonstrating adaptive convergence in xeromorphic habitats. We found some anatomical characteristics with phylogenetic value. Bulbophyllum section Micranthae can be separated into two lineages: those with needle-like leaves, or flat leaves. The analyses show that anatomical characters as well as molecular data may contribute to the development of phylogenetic hypotheses. © 2013 Botanical Society of Sao Paulo.

Enterotoxin genes in coagulase-negative and coagulase-positive staphylococci isolated from bovine milk

The objective of this study was to isolate and identify the main staphylococcal species causing bovine mastitis in 10 Brazilian dairy herds and study their capability to produce enterotoxins. Herds were selected based on size and use of milking technology, and farms were visited once during the study. All mammary glands of all lactating cows were screened using the California Mastitis Test (CMT) and a strip cup. A single aseptic milk sample (20. mL) was collected from all CMT-positive quarters. Identification of Staphylococcus spp. was performed using conventional microbiology, and PCR was used to determine the presence of enterotoxin-encoding genes (sea, seb, sec, and sed). Of the 1,318 CMT-positive milk samples, Staphylococcus spp. were isolated from 263 (19.9%). Of these isolates, 135 (51%) were coagulase-positive staphylococci (CPS) and 128 (49%) were coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS). Eighteen different species of CNS were isolated, among which S. warneri, S. epidermidis and S. hyicus were the most frequent. The distribution of Staphylococcus species was different among herds: S. epidermidis was found in 8 herds, S. warneri was found in 7 herds, and S. hyicus in 6 herds. Some of the CNS species (S. saprophyticus ssp. saprophyticus, S. auricularis, S. capitis, and S. chromogenes) were isolated in only one of the farms. Genes related to production of enterotoxins were found in 66% (n = 85) of all CNS and in 35% of the CPS isolates. For both CNS and CPS isolates, the most frequently identified enterotoxin genes were sea, seb, and sec; the prevalence of sea differed between CPS (9.5%) and CNS (35.1%) isolates. Staphylococcus warneri isolates showed a greater percentage of sea than seb, sec, or sed, whereas S. hyicus isolates showed a greater percentage of sea than sec. Over 60% of CNS belonged to 3 major species, which carried 62.2 to 81.3% of the enterotoxin genes. The high prevalence highlights the potential for food poisoning caused by these species. For possible high-risk situations for food poisoning, such as milk produced with total bacterial counts greater than regulatory levels and stored under inappropriate temperatures, monitoring contamination with CNS could be important to protect human health. Because the prevalence of CNS intramammary infections in dairy herds is usually high, and these species can be found in great numbers in bulk milk, identification of risk factors for production of staphylococcal enterotoxins should be considered in future studies. © 2013 American Dairy Science Association.

The discovery of Foxl2 paralogs in chondrichthyan, coelacanth and tetrapod genomes reveals an ancient duplication in vertebrates

The Foxl2 (forkhead box L2) gene is an important member of the forkhead domain family, primarily responsible for the development of ovaries during female sex differentiation. The evolutionary studies conducted previously considered the presence of paralog Foxl2 copies only in teleosts. However, to search for possible paralog copies in other groups of vertebrates and ensure that all predicted copies were homolog to the Foxl2 gene, a broad evolutionary analysis was performed, based on the forkhead domain family. A total of 2464 sequences for the forkhead domain were recovered, and subsequently, 64 representative sequences for Foxl2 were used in the evolutionary analysis of this gene. The most important contribution of this study was the discovery of a new subgroup of Foxl2 copies (ortholog to Foxl2B) present in the chondrichthyan Callorhinchus milii, in the coelacanth Latimeria chalumnae, in the avian Taeniopygia guttata and in the marsupial Monodelphis domestica. This new scenario indicates a gene duplication event in an ancestor of gnathostomes. Furthermore, based on the analysis of the syntenic regions of both Foxl2 copies, the duplication event was not exclusive to Foxl2. Moreover, the duplicated copy distribution was shown to be complex across vertebrates, especially in tetrapods, and the results strongly support a loss of this copy in eutherian species. Finally, the scenario observed in this study suggests an update for Foxl2 gene nomenclature, extending the actual suggested teleost naming of Foxl2A and Foxl2B to all vertebrate sequences and contributing to the establishment of a new evolutionary context for the Foxl2 gene. © 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited All rights reserved.

Partitioning of net primary production in Eucalyptus and Acacia stands and in mixed-species plantations: Two case-studies in contrasting tropical environments

The introduction of nitrogen fixing species (NFS) in fast-growing tree plantations is an alternative option to reduce fertilizer inputs. However, the success of mixed-species plantations depends on the balance between positive interactions among species (resulting from facilitation and/or complementarity) and the negative effects of interspecific competition.Using a carbon budget approach and coupling measurements of standing biomass, aboveground litterfall and soil CO2 efflux, we assessed the influence of replacing half of eucalypt trees by Acacia mangium on total belowground carbon flux (TBCF), net primary production (NPP) and its partitioning between above- and belowground growth at two tropical sites in Brazil (Itatinga) and in Congo (Kissoko) exhibiting contrasting climates, edaphic conditions and wood productions.Annual soil CO2 efflux (FS) was significantly lower in the acacia monocultures than in eucalypt monocultures and mixed-species stands at both sites. Annual FS was significantly lower at Itatinga compared to Kissoko for all stands while TBCF was significantly lower in the eucalypt stands only. In the eucalypt monocultures we found a significantly lower aboveground NPP (ANPP) and wood production (wood NPP) at Kissoko compared to Itatinga that was almost fully balanced by a significantly higher belowground NPP (BNPP), leading to similar NPP. Similarly, acacia monocultures exhibited significantly higher ANPP and wood NPP at Itatinga than at Kissoko. The mixed-species stands exhibited a significantly lower wood NPP and ANPP than the eucalypt monocultures at the Brazilian site while NPP of the mixture was not significantly different than the average NPP of the two monocultures. At the Congolese site, NPP of the mixture was significantly higher than the average NPP of the two monocultures. NPP was similar in the mixed-species stand and the eucalypt monoculture with a significantly lower partitioning of NPP to belowground production, leading to a one third higher wood biomass at harvest in the mixed-species stand.A positive effect of growing eucalypts with the nitrogen fixing acacia trees on stand wood production occurred at Kissoko but not at Itatinga. Mixed-species plantations with NFS can be advocated at sites where the productive gains resulting from nitrogen fixation are not compromised by other resource limitations. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.

Algunos aspectos de salud mental en relación al fenómeno de urbanización = Psychological and mental health problems of urbanization based on case studies in Peru

Los documentos del Seminario fueron publicados por UNESCO en 1961 con el título: La urbanización en América Latina/Urbanization in Latin America

Finance and the real economy: issues and case studies in developing countries

Includes bibliography

Regulatory and economic instruments in Latin America and the Caribbean: a summary of 18 studies

Includes bibliography