Phenotypic plasticity of composite beef cattle performance using reaction norms model with unknown covariate

The objective of the present study was to determine the presence of genotype by environment interaction (G × E) and to characterize the phenotypic plasticity of birth weight (BW), weaning weight (WW), postweaning weight gain (PWG) and yearling scrotal circumference (SC) in composite beef cattle using the reaction norms model with unknown covariate. The animals were born between 1995 and 2008 on 33 farms located throughout all Brazilian biomes between latitude -7 and -31, longitude -40 and -63. The contemporary group was chosen as the environmental descriptor, that is, the environmental covariate of the reaction norms. In general, higher estimates of direct heritability were observed in extreme favorable environments. The mean of direct heritability across the environmental gradient ranged from 0.05 to 0.51, 0.09 to 0.43, 0.01 to 0.43 and from 0.12 to 0.26 for BW, WW, PWG and SC, respectively. The variation in direct heritability observed indicates a different response to selection according to the environment in which the animals of the population are evaluated. The correlation between the level and slope of the reaction norm for BW and PWG was high, indicating that animals with higher average breeding values responded better to improvement in environmental conditions, a fact characterizing a scale of G × E. Low correlation between the intercept and slope was obtained for WW and SC, implying re-ranking of animals in different environments. Genetic variation exists in the sensitivity of animals to the environment, a fact that permits the selection of more plastic or robust genotypes in the population studied. Thus, the G × E is an important factor that should be considered in the genetic evaluation of the present population of composite beef cattle. © The Animal Consortium 2012.

Phenotypic changes and small mammal impoverishment on a Brazilian Atlantic Forest Island

Faunal impoverishment and distorted species compositions are common phenomena in oceanic islands; however, many land-bridge islands are poorly inventoried, especially in the Neotropics. We sampled a small mammal community on a land-bridge island (Anchieta Island) along the Brazilian coast. We found only one marsupial Didelphis aurita (Wied-Neuwied, 1826) and two rodent species Oligoryzomys nigripes (Olfers, 1818) and Trinomys iheringi (Thomas, 1911) during 12 months of live trapping and 9195 trap-nights. The diversity of rodents and marsupials was not explained by species-area relations, indicating possible past extinctions. The abundance of D. aurita and O. nigripes was approximately three times higher, while the abundance of T. iheringi was approximately four times lower than abundances reported from other Brazilian Atlantic Forest sites. The population of D. aurita exhibited many phenotypic changes; males were on average 8 % smaller and females produced 30 % less litters than those from the mainland and other land-bridge islands. The long history of forest disturbance, habitat loss, reduction in forest productivity, and the recent introduction of mesopredators may be the major drivers that explain the small mammal community composition on this island. © 2013 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston.

Phenotypic variation of leptodactylus cupreus caramaschi, são-pedro and feio, 2008 (Anura, Leptodactylidae)

This study describes for the first time the female of Leptodactylus cupreus and provides new information concerning its geographical distribution, male's morphology and bioacustics. Leptodactylus cupreus, a poorly known species from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, was originally allocated in the L. mystaceus complex of the L. fuscus species group. Based on morphological observations, we infer that L. cupreus should be in fact related to L. mystacinus, a species that, although assigned to the L. fuscus species group, is not assigned to the L. mystaceus complex. Therefore, we comment the phylogenetic relationships concerning L. cupreus, L. mystaceus and L. mystacinus. © 2013 Magnolia Press.

Phenotypic and biochemical responses of sugarcane cultivars to glyphosate application

Sugarcane cultivars show varying degrees of herbicide susceptibility, with herbicide effects ranging from no injury to total plant eradication. In this study, phenotypic and biochemical responses to glyphosate were evaluated in three sugarcane cultivars. Herbicide tolerance of the three cultivars (IACSP93-3046, IACSP94-4004 and RB72454) was tested in a greenhouse experiment using a completely randomized design. The experiment consisted of four replications of treatments in a factorial arrangement of 3 cultivars × 6 glyphosate dosages (0, 1,440, 2,160, 2,880, 3,600 and 4,320 g a. e. ha-1). Intoxication symptoms, based on a percentage scale ranging from 0 (no injury) to 100 % (total plant death), and total chlorophyll content were recorded at 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 20 and 34 days after glyphosate application (DAA). Shikimate dehydrogenase and α-esterase isoenzyme assays were performed at 8, 24, 48, 72 and 144 h after application (HAA). Intoxication symptoms observed at 6 DAA ranged from 5 % at the lowest glyphosate dosage (1,440 g a. e. ha-1) to ~30 % at the highest dosage (4,320 g a. e. ha-1) across all cultivars. IACSP94-4004 and IACSP93-3046 were determined to be the most glyphosate-tolerant cultivars. Reduction in chlorophyll content was observed with high dosages of glyphosate at 6 DAA. The shikimate dehydrogenase banding pattern was generally conserved among cultivars and treatments, with the exception of the IACSP94-4004 cultivar, which showed alterations in the banding pattern of α-esterase after glyphosate application. © 2013 Society for Sugar Research & Promotion.

Principal components and factor analytic models for birth to mature weights in Nellore cattle

A total of 61,528 weight records from 22,246 Nellore animals born between 1984 and 2002 were used to compare different multiple-trait analysis methods for birth to mature weights. The following models were used: standard multivarite model (MV), five reduced-rank models fitting the first 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 genetic principal components, and five models using factor analysis with 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 factors. Direct additive genetic random effects and residual effects were included in all models. In addition, maternal genetic and maternal permanent environmental effects were included as random effects for birth and weaning weight. The models included contemporary group as fixed effect and age of animal at recording (except for birth weight) and age of dam at calving as linear and quadratic effects (for birth weight and weaning weight). The maternal genetic, maternal permanent environmental and residual (co)variance matrices were assumed to be full rank. According to model selection criteria, the model fitting the three first principal components (PC3) provided the best fit, without the need for factor analysis models. Similar estimates of phenotypic, direct additive and maternal genetic, maternal permanent environmental and residual (co)variances were obtained with models MV and PC3. Direct heritability ranged from 0.21 (birth weight) to 0.45 (weight at 6 years of age). The genetic and phenotypic correlations obtained with model PC3 were slightly higher than those estimated with model MV. In general, the reduced-rank model substantially decreased the number of parameters in the analyses without reducing the goodness-of-fit. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.

Genomic and phenotypic profiles of two Brazilian breast cancer cell lines derived from primary human tumors

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women worldwide. Research using breast cancer cell lines derived from primary tumors may provide valuable additional knowledge regarding this type of cancer. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the phenotypic profiles of MACL-1 and MGSO-3, the only Brazilian breast cancer cell lines available for comparative studies. We evaluated the presence of hormone receptors, proliferation, differentiation and stem cell markers, using immunohistochemical staining of the primary tumor, cultured cells and xenografts implanted in immunodeficient mice. We also investigated the ability of the cell lines to form colonies and copy number alterations by array comparative genomic hybridization. Histopathological analysis showed that the invasive primary tumor from which the MACL-1 cell line was derived, was a luminal A subtype carcinoma, while the ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) that gave rise to the MGSO-3 cell line was a HER2 subtype tumor, both showing different proliferation levels. The cell lines and the tumor xenografts in mice preserved their high proliferative potential, but did not maintain the expression of the other markers assessed. This shift in expression may be due to the selection of an 'establishment' phenotype in vitro. Whole-genome DNA evaluation showed a large amount of copy number alterations (CNAs) in the two cell lines. These findings render MACL-1 and MGSO-3 the first characterized Brazilian breast cancer cell lines to be potentially used for comparative research. © 2013 Spandidos Publications Ltd. All rights reserved.

The use of Gramian matrices for aeroelastic stability analysis

Most of the established procedures for analysis of aeroelastic flutter in the development of aircraft are based on frequency domain methods. Proposing new methodologies in this field is always a challenge, because the new methods need to be validated by many experimental procedures. With the interest for new flight control systems and nonlinear behavior of aeroelastic structures, other strategies may be necessary to complete the analysis of such systems. If the aeroelastic model can be written in time domain, using state-space formulation, for instance, then many of the tools used in stability analysis of dynamic systems may be used to help providing an insight into the aeroelastic phenomenon. In this respect, this paper presents a discussion on the use of Gramian matrices to determine conditions of aeroelastic flutter. The main goal of this work is to introduce how observability gramian matrix can be used to identify the system instability. To explain the approach, the theory is outlined and simulations are carried out on two benchmark problems. Results are compared with classical methods to validate the approach and a reduction of computational time is obtained for the second example. © 2013 Douglas Domingues Bueno et al.

Determination of copper in different ethanolic matrices using a chloropropyl silica gel modified with a nanostructured cubic octa(3-aminopropyl)octasilsesquioxane

The chloropropyl silica gel was modified with octa(3-aminopropyl) octasilsesquioxane and characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), spectroscopies, and surface and area porosity. The specific sorption capacity of metallic ions (Cu2+ and Ni2+) increases in the following solvent order: water < ethanol 42% < ethanol < ketone. The high values of the constant (K) in the order of 103 L mol-1 suggested the high adsorbent capacity of the modified silica (SGAPC) for Cu2+ and Ni2+. SGAPC was applied to a separation column and shows recoveries of around 100% of copper in samples of sugar cane spirit, vodka, ginger brandy, and ethanol fuel. © 2013 Devaney Ribeiro Do Carmo et al.

Perturbations on the antidiagonals of Hankel matrices

Given a strongly regular Hankel matrix, and its associated sequence of moments which defines a quasi-definite moment linear functional, we study the perturbation of a fixed moment, i.e., a perturbation of one antidiagonal of the Hankel matrix. We define a linear functional whose action results in such a perturbation and establish necessary and sufficient conditions in order to preserve the quasi-definite character. A relation between the corresponding sequences of orthogonal polynomials is obtained, as well as the asymptotic behavior of their zeros. We also study the invariance of the Laguerre-Hahn class of linear functionals under such perturbation, and determine its relation with the so-called canonical linear spectral transformations. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Phenotypic and metabolic aspects of prostatic epithelial cells in aged gerbils after antisteroidal therapy: Turnover in the state of chromatin condensation and androgen-independent cell replacement

The gerbil is a rodent considered a good model for studies of prostatic morphophysiology under different experimental conditions. Studies involving castration and steroidal blockers of aged gerbils showed that the glandular epithelium persists after long-term therapy, preventing the organ atrophy. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the phenotypic characteristics and behavior of prostatic epithelial cells that remained after different periods of hormone ablation in aged gerbils. The identification of elements that influenced the survival of this cell type was performed by morphometric, nuclear phenotypes, ultrastructural and immune histochemical analysis. The most significant responses to treatment, by analyzing morphometric features, were observed during the first three time points (day 1, day 3, and day 7), after which there appeared to be an adjustment of the gland to the hormone ablation. All treatments led to changes in the state of chromatin condensation, DNA methylation pattern and phenotypic changes indicated cell senescence. Additionally, an increase in the basal cells seemed to guarantee self-renewal properties to the epithelium. These data indicate that changes occur at many levels, including gene expression and nuclear architecture in the epithelial cells, when aging and steroidal blockade are associated. These aspects are important when considering castration-resistant prostate cancer, a malignant tumor posing difficult therapeutic intervention. © 2013 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

A single chart with supplementary runs rules for monitoring the mean vector and the covariance matrix of multivariate processes

The MRMAX chart is a single chart based on the standardized sample means and sample ranges for monitoring the mean vector and the covariance matrix of multivariate processes. User's familiarity with the computation of these statistics is a point in favor of the MRMAX chart. As a single chart, the recently proposed MRMAX chart is very appropriate for supplementary runs rules. In this article, we compare the supplemented MRMAX chart and the synthetic MRMAX chart with the standard MRMAX chart. The supplementary and the synthetic runs rules enhance the performance of the MRMAX chart. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

The importance of size-exclusion characteristics of type I collagen in bonding to dentin matrices

The mineral phase of dentin is located primarily within collagen fibrils. During development, bone or dentin collagen fibrils are formed first and then water within the fibril is replaced with apatite crystallites. Mineralized collagen contains very little water. During dentin bonding, acid-etching of mineralized dentin solubilizes the mineral crystallites and replaces them with water. During the infiltration phase of dentin bonding, adhesive comonomers are supposed to replace all of the collagen water with adhesive monomers that are then polymerized into copolymers. The authors of a recently published review suggested that dental monomers were too large to enter and displace water from collagen fibrils. If that were true, the endogenous proteases bound to dentin collagen could be responsible for unimpeded collagen degradation that is responsible for the poor durability of resin-dentin bonds. The current work studied the size-exclusion characteristics of dentin collagen, using a gel-filtration-like column chromatography technique, using dentin powder instead of Sephadex. The elution volumes of test molecules, including adhesive monomers, revealed that adhesive monomers smaller than ∼1000 Da can freely diffuse into collagen water, while molecules of 10,000 Da begin to be excluded, and bovine serum albumin (66,000 Da) was fully excluded. These results validate the concept that dental monomers can permeate between collagen molecules during infiltration by etch-and-rinse adhesives in water-saturated matrices. © 2013 Acta Materialia Inc.

Correlação e análise de trilha de produtividade de grãos e seus componentes e caracteres de planta em cártamo (Carthamus tinctorius L.) e mamona (Ricinus communis L.)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Sistema de matrices sociales

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