Patenteamento de sequências genéticas

As patentes sobre sequências genéticas, amplamente consideradas, são tema de controvérsia no cenário da propriedade intelectual. Discute-se se os variados materiais genéticos seriam verdadeiras invenções ou meras descobertas, não havendo unanimidade de tratamento. Este trabalho buscou sistematizar a possibilidade ou não de patenteamento de tais materiais, a partir do estudo do Caso Myriad, decidido pela Suprema Corte norte-americana. Realizou-se análise da Teoria dos Produtos da Natureza, a partir de decisões norte-americanas, buscando-se o estabelecimento de premissas. Efetuou-se a análise da legislação brasileira sobre o tema, bem como do entendimento do INPI. Foram feitas considerações acerca da necessidade ou não da proteção das invenções biotecnológicas, ponderando-se com o necessário atendimento ao fim constitucional do desenvolvimento científico e tecnológico.

Quando a palavra está ligada ao corpo e o corpo à palavra (um ensaio dramático)

O objetivo desta tese é, por um lado, abordar a relação entre o corpo e a linguagem a partir das perspectivas da poesia, do teatro e da performance. Por outro lado, propomos que a compreensão de tal campo relacional pode esclarecer pontos em comum entre essas diferentes artes, trazendo uma nova percepção do fenômeno poético. Para tal, fez-se necessário operar um desvio com relação à concepção moderna que entende o corpo enquanto substância material extensa e a linguagem como algo associado à substância subjetiva ideal do pensamento. Pelo contrário, procuramos trabalhar com a hipótese de que corpo e linguagem se encontram em estado de relação senão necessária ao menos constante, valendo-nos da ideia do corpo-em-vida, e da linguagem enquanto ação e enquanto discurso. A análise opera um recorte contemporâneo entre obras que vão das poetas Angélica Freitas e Marília Garcia até a da atriz e encenadora Cristina Flores, e da performer norte-americana Laurie Anderson. A escrita da tese nos levou a uma combinação entre aspectos formais do ensaio e do drama, numa costura de múltiplas vozes, de modo a concretizar o entrelaçamento entre as ideias vividas ao longo da pesquisa e a experiência física da produção do texto

Dendroclimatic reconstructions of temperature, precipitation, and pressure patterns over the western and central USA, 1602-1961 [abstract]

EXTRACT (SEE PDF FOR FULL ABSTRACT): Verified reconstructions of seasonal temperature, precipitation and sea-level pressure over North America and the North Pacific have been derived from 65 arid-site tree-ring chronologies in the North American West. Significant reconstructions were obtained for temperature for wide areas in the West and mid-continent. Precipitation reconstructions were significant only in the West, and pressure was reconstructed over wide areas of the North Pacific Ocean and the North American continent.

Sea surface temperature and the subsequent freshwater survival rate of some salmon stocks: a surprising link between the climate of land and sea

Previous consideration of the relationship between climate and the survival rate of Pacific salmon eggs and fry has been confined to effects of large variation in the ambient freshwater environment; e.g., stream discharge, temperature, turbidity. This analysis shows sea surface temperatures during the last year of life of maturing adult salmon are also strongly associated with the subsequent survival rate of salmon eggs and fry is fresh water, presumably through development of the future eggs or sperm. In several stocks of three species of North American salmon, the association between the "marine" climate and egg survival is stronger than, or additive to, any estimated climatic association in fresh water. This apparent and surprising link between fresh water and the distant ocean has some interesting and complex implications for management of future salmon production.

Limited genetic structure of Gulf Menhaden (Brevoortia patronus), as revealed by microsatellite markers developed for the genus Brevoortia (Clupeidae)

Long-term sustainable management of wild populations should be based on management actions that account for the genetic structure among populations. Knowledge of genetic structure and of the degree of demographic exchange between discreet [sic] populations allows managers to better define management units. However, adequate gene loci for population assessments are not always available. In this study, variable co-dominant DNA loci in the heavily exploited marine genus Brevoortia were developed with a microsatellite-enriched DNA library for the Gulf Menhaden (Brevoortia patronus). Microsatellite marker discovery was followed by genetic characterization of 4 endemic North American Brevoortia species, by using 14 novel loci as well as 5 previously described loci. Power analysis of these loci for use in species identification and genetic stock structure was used to assess their potential to improve the stock definition in the menhaden fishery of the Gulf of Mexico. These loci could be used to reliably identify menhaden species in the Gulf of Mexico with an estimated error rate of α=0.0001. Similarly, a power analysis completed on the basis of observed allele frequencies in Gulf Menhaden indicated that these markers can be used to detect very small levels of genetic divergence (Fst≈0.004) among simulated populations, with sample sizes as small as n=50 individuals. A cursory analysis of genetic structure among Gulf Menhaden sampled throughout the Gulf of Mexico indicated limited genetic structure among sampling locations, although the available sampling did not reach the target number (n=50) necessary to detect minimal values of significant structure.

东亚—北美间断分布类群的分子生物地理学研究—以莲科和菖蒲科为例

在洲际间断生物地理学研究中，东亚—北美间断分布类群的分子生物地理学研究一直是关注和研究的热点。在本论文中我们选取了水生和半水生的植物代表类群，莲科（Nelumbonaceae）和菖蒲科（Acoraceae）作为研究对象，通过来自叶绿体、线粒体和核基因组的DNA 序列分析和微卫星分析，一方面探讨莲科的系统位置、揭示其间断地理格局的形成过程、重建菖蒲科的系统发育及其地理格局的形成过程的同时，另一方面，在总结前人研究成果的基础上，总结东亚—北美间断分布的基本特点。主要成果总结如下。 1. 菖蒲科的系统发育和分子生物地理学 菖蒲科仅含一属，菖蒲属（Acorus），共5 种。其中北美菖蒲（A. americanus） 分布于北美，其余4 种（A. calamus, A. gramineus, A. tatarinowii and A. rumphianus） 分布于亚洲的东部和南部。北美菖蒲和菖蒲（A. calamus）叶片中间具有明显的中肋；其余3 种不具有明显的中肋。本论文的19 份材料包含了4 个种，（不含较狭域分布的长苞菖蒲A. rumphianus），利用4 个叶绿体基因片段（trnL-F, psbA-trnH, rps16-trnK, rbcL）和1 个核基因片段（ITS）的序列重建菖蒲属的系统发育。结果表明（1）具有中肋和不具中肋的物种各自聚为一支；（2）具有中肋的菖蒲和北美菖蒲亲缘关系最近，构成东亚—北美间断种对关系；（3）在不具有中肋的一支内部，来自台湾的材料与其它材料差异最大，其余的材料也明显的分为了两类。基于rbcL 序列，使用松散分子钟模型、贝叶斯算法估算菖蒲属起源时间约为135.17 百万年（mya），菖蒲和北美菖蒲的间断分歧时间约为3.72mya。该结果支持菖蒲属为古老的单子叶植物，但东亚—北美间断物种分化时间较年轻。我们推测间断的种对可能通过白令陆桥，从东亚扩散到了北美。 2. 莲科的系统位置和分子生物地理学 莲科仅含一属，莲属（Nelumbo），两个种莲（N. nucifera）和美洲黄莲（N. lutea），间断分布于东亚、澳大利亚北部和北美东部。莲科的系统位置在形态和分子证据不一致。本论文使用了核基因18S rDNA、26S rDNA，叶绿体基因atpB、rbcL，线粒体基因NAD1 的序列重新构建莲科的系统位置并进行了分化时间推算。结果为：（1）叶绿体和核基因构建的严格一致树的拓扑结构不一致，叶绿体数据支持莲科和山龙眼科、悬铃木科具有较近的亲缘关系，核基因数据显示莲科位于真双子叶植物的基部；（2）5 个基因片段的合并分析结果显示，莲科与山龙眼科、悬铃木科聚为一支但支持率不高；（3）基于核基因、叶绿体和5 个基因的分别合并数据，使用松散分子钟模型、贝叶斯算法估算莲科起源时间分别为，113.13 、109.38 和110.35mya ，两个间断物种的分化时间为，3.77、4.34、5.85mya；（4）根据间断的时间和两个物种的遗传差异程度，现存的两个物种应是来自于东亚或北美的冰期残遗，而不是来自于两个大陆祖先种的独立进化后裔。 3. 莲的分子谱系地理学研究 我们采集了37 份莲的材料，10 份美洲黄莲的材料，代表了两者的主要分布区。我们选取了叶绿体基因（trnL-trnF, trnS-trnG, petB-petD 和psbA-trnH），线粒体基因COX1，以及11 个微卫星位点进行莲的分子谱系地理研究。DNA 序列显示莲和美洲黄莲均具有很低的遗传多样性；微卫星数据揭示了稍高于DNA 序列的遗传多样性。两物种相比，美洲黄莲的多样性较高。基于微卫星数据的遗传结构分析表明，莲存在明显的3 个地理分化区域，这三个区域的遗传分化显著（FST=0.542），说明莲远距离群体间基因交流有限。基于DNA 序列和微卫星数据的单倍型地理分布关系，我们推测东南亚地区是莲的避难所或冰期残遗区，冰期后群体分别向西和向北扩张。 4. 东亚—北美间断分布的一般特点 （1）东亚—北美东部间断分歧时间范围较长，从始新世中期甚至更早一直持续到1mya 左右；东亚—北美西部间断类群分化时间跨度相对小，集中在中新世时期；东亚—整个北美间断分化时间与东亚—北美东部间断类群一样经历较长时间；草本类群晚于木本类群形成间断分布式样，洲际间断分化时间与类群的起源时间并无相关性。（2）东亚与北美间断分布类群的起源地因类群而异。（3） 东亚与北美间断分布类群扩散方向呈不确定性。（4）东亚与北美间断类群扩散有三条可能的路径，即大西洋陆桥、白令陆桥和南半球跨洋长距离传播。

Deriving acceptable biological catch from the overfishing limit: implications for assessment models

The recently revised Magnuson–Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act requires that U.S. fishery management councils avoid overfishing by setting annual catch limits (ACLs) not exceeding recommendations of the councils’ scientific advisers. To meet that requirement, the scientific advisers will need to know the overfishing limit (OFL) estimated in each stock assessment, with OFL being the catch available from applying the limit fishing mortality rate to current or projected stock biomass. The advisers then will derive ‘‘acceptable biological catch’’ (ABC) from OFL by reducing OFL to allow for scientific uncertainty, and ABC becomes their recommendation to the council. We suggest methodology based on simple probability theory by which scientific advisers can compute ABC from OFL and the statistical distribution of OFL as estimated by a stock assessment. Our method includes approximations to the distribution of OFL if it is not known from the assessment; however, we find it preferable to have the assessment model estimate the distribution of OFL directly. Probability-based methods such as this one provide well-defined approaches to setting ABC and may be helpful to scientific advisers as they translate the new legal requirement into concrete advice.

An examination of spatial and temporal genetic variation in walleye pollock (Theragra chalcogramma) using allozyme, mitochondrial DNA, and microsatellite data

We used allozyme, microsatellite, and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) data to test for spatial and interannual genetic diversity in wall-eye pollock (Theragra chalcogramma) from six spawning aggregations representing three geographic regions: Gulf of Alaska, eastern Bering Sea, and eastern Kamchatka. Interpopulation genetic diversity was evident primarily from the mtDNA and two allozyme loci (SOD-2*, MPI*). Permutation tests ˆindicated that FST values for most allozyme and microsatellite loci were not significantly greater than zero. The microsatellite results suggested that high locus polymorphism may not be a reliable indicator of power for detecting population differentiation in walleye pollock. The fact that mtDNA revealed population structure and most nuclear loci did not suggests that the effective size of most walleye pollock populations is large (genetic drift is weak) and migration is a relatively strong homogenizing force. The allozymes and mtDNA provided mostly concordant estimates of patterns of spatial genetic variation. These data showed significant genetic variation between North American and Asian populations. In addition, two spawning aggregations in the Gulf of Alaska, in Prince William Sound, and off Middleton Island, appeared genetically distinct from walleye pollock spawning in the Shelikof Strait and may merit management as a distinct stock. Finally, we found evidence of interannual genetic variation in two of three North American spawning aggregations, similar in magnitude to the spatial variation among North American walleye pol-lock. We suggest that interannual genetic variation in walleye pollock may be indicative of one or more of the following factors: highly variable reproductive success, adult philopatry, source-sink metapopulation structure, and intraannual variation (days) in spawning timing among genetically distinct but spatially identical spawning aggregates.

Centennial oscillation of the climatic crescendo during the last glacial maximum: evidence from Lake Estancia, central New Mexico

Sediments deposited in late Pleistocene Lake Estancia, central New Mexico, contain a paleoclimatic record that includes the last glacial maximum and deglacial episode. Stratigraphic reconstruction of an interval representing the highstand of the lake that occurred during the last glacial maximum reveals ~2000-, ~600-, and ~200-year oscillations in lake level and climate. Shifting position of the polar jetstream in response to expansion and contraction of the North American ice sheet may be partly responsible for the millenial-scale changes in Lake Estancia but probably does not explain the centennial-scale oscillations.

Tree-ring records as indicators of air-sea interaction in the northeast Pacific sector

Climate conditions in land areas of the Pacific Northwest are strongly influenced by atmosphere/ocean variability, including fluctuations in the Aleutian Low, Pacific-North American (PNA) atmospheric circulation modes, and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). It thus seems likely that climatically sensitive tree-ring data from these coastal land areas would likewise reflect such climatic parameters. In this paper, tree-ring width and maximum lakewood density chronologies from northwestern Washington State and near Vancouver Island, British Columbia, are compared to surface air temperature and precipitation from nearby coastal and near-coastal land stations and to monthly sea surface temperature (SST) and sea level pressure (SLP) data from the northeast Pacific sector. Results show much promise for eventual reconstruction of these parameters, potentially extending available instrumental records for the northeastern Pacific by several hundred years or more.

Molecular systematics of pikas (genus Ochotona) inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequences

The phylogenetic relationships among worldwide species of genus Ochotona were investigated by sequencing mitochondrial cytochrome b and ND4 genes. Parsimony and neighbor-joining analyses of the sequence data yielded congruent results that strongly indicated three major clusters: the shrub-steppe group, the northern group, and the mountain group. The subgeneric classification of Ochotona species needs to be revised because each of the two subgenera in the present classification contains species from the mountain group. To solve this taxonomic problem so that each taxon is monophyletic, i.e., represents a natural clade, Ochotona could be divided into three subgenera, one for the shrub-steppe species, a second for the northern species, and a third for the mountain species. The inferred tree suggests that the differentiation of this genus in the Palearctic Region was closely related to the gradual uplifting of the Tibet (Qinghai-Xizang) Plateau, as hypothesized previously, and that vicariance might have played a major role in the differentiation of this genus on the Plateau, On the other hand, the North American species, O. princeps, is most likely a dispersal event, which might have happened during the Pliocene through the opening of the Bering Strait. The phylogenetic relationships within the shrub-steppe group are worth noting in that instead of a monophyletic shrub-dwelling group, shrub dwellers and steppe dwellers are intermingled with each other. Moreover, the sequence divergence within the sister tars of one steppe? dweller and one shrub dweller is very low. These findings support the hypothesis that pikes have entered the steppe environment several times and that morphological similarities within steppe dwellers were due to convergent evolution. (C) 2000 Academic Press.

Molecular phylogenetics and biogeography of Lepus in Eastern Asia based on mitochondrial DNA sequences

In spite of several classification attempts among taxa of the genus Lepus, phylogenetic relationships still remain poorly understood. Here, we present molecular genetic evidence that may resolve some of the current incongruities in the phylogeny of the leporids. The complete mitochondrial cytb, 12S genes, and parts of ND4 and control region fragments were sequenced to examine phylogenetic relationships among Chinese hare taxa and other leporids throughout the World using maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian phylogenetic reconstruction approaches. Using reconstructed phylogenies, we observed that the Chinese hare is not a single monophyletic group as originally thought. Instead, the data infers that the genus Lepus is monophyletic with three unique species groups: North American, Eurasian, and African. Ancestral area analysis indicated that ancestral Lepus arose in North America and then dispersed into Eurasia via the Bering Land Bridge eventually extending to Africa. Brooks Parsimony analysis showed that dispersal events followed by subsequent speciation have occurred in other geographic areas as well and resulted in the rapid radiation and speciation of Lepus. A Bayesian relaxed molecular clock approach based on the continuous autocorrelation of evolutionary rates along branches estimated the divergence time between the three major groups within Lepus. The genus appears to have arisen approximately 10.76 MYA (+/- 0.86 MYA), with most speciation events occurring during the Pliocene epoch (5.65 +/- 1.15 MYA similar to 1.12 +/- 10.47 MYA). (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Improved energy efficiency in paper making through reducing dryer steam consumption using advanced process control

Over the last two or three years, the increasing costs of energy and worsening market conditions have focussed even greater attention within paper mills than before, on considering ways to improve efficiency and reduce the energy used in paper making. Arising from a multivariable understanding of paper machine operation, Advanced Process Control (APC) technology enables paper machine behaviour to be controlled in a more coherent way, using all the variables available for control. Furthermore, with the machine under better regulation and with more variables used in control, there is the opportunity to optimise machine operation, usually providing very striking multi-objective performance improvement benefits of a number of kinds. Traditional three term control technology does not offer this capability. The paper presents results from several different paper machine projects we have undertaken around the world. These projects have been aimed at improving machine stability, optimising chemicals usage and reducing energy use. On a brown paperboard machine in Australasia, APC has reduced specific steam usage by 10%, averaged across the grades; the controller has also provided a significant capacity to increase production. On a North American newsprint machine, the APC system has reduced steam usage by more than 10%, and it provides better control of colour and much improved wet end stability. The paper also outlines early results from two other performance improvement projects, each incorporating a different approach to reducing the energy used in paper making. The first of these two projects is focussed on optimising sheet drainage, aiming to present the dryer with a sheet having higher solids content than before. The second project aims to reduce specific steam usage by optimising the operation of the dryer hood.

Changes in benthic algal communities following construction of a run-of-river dam

Ecological responses to dam construction are poorly understood, especially for downstream benthic algal communities. We examined the responses of benthic algal communities in downstream reaches of a tributary of the Xiangxi River, China, to the construction of a small run-of-river dam. From February 2003 to August 2006, benthic algae, chemical factors, and habitat characteristics were monitored upstream and downstream of the dam site. This period spanned 6 mo before dam construction and 37 mo after dam construction. Benthic algal sampling yielded 199 taxa in 59 genera that belonged to Bacillariophyta, Chlorophyta, and Cyanophyta. Some physical factors (flow velocity, water depth, and channel width) and 3 algal metrics (diatom species richness, Margalef diversity, and % erect individuals) were significantly affected by the dam construction, whereas chemical factors (e.g., NH4-N, total N, SiO2) were not. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMS) ordinations showed that overall algal assemblage structure downstream of the dam sites was similar to that of upstream control sites before dam construction and for 1 year after dam construction (p > 0.05). However, sites belonging to upstream and downstream reaches were well separated on NMS axis 1 during the 2(nd) and 3(rd) years after dam construction. Our results suggest that impacts of dam construction on benthic algal communities took 2 to 3 y to emerge. Further development of a complete set of indicators is needed to address the impact of small-dam construction. Our observations underscore the need for additional studies that quantify ecological responses to dam construction over longer time spans.