Integração morfológica e modularidade em crânios das espécies do grupo Rhinella granulosa

Os conceitos e métodos provindos das teorias de integração morfológica e de genética quantitativa formam o arcabouço teórico para o estudo da evolução de estruturas complexas, compostas de múltiplos caracteres que interagem entre si. Nesse trabalho, utilizamos o crânio como modelo de estrutura complexa e estudamos sua diversificação nas espécies de sapo do grupo Rhinella granulosa. As perguntas do trabalho foram: (1) A organização da (co)variação é similar entre as espécies?; (2) A organização da (co)variação é modular nas espécies, conforme expectativas baseadas em desenvolvimento ou função?; (3) Fatores externos, como filogenia e clima, estruturam a similaridade no padrão de covariação entre as espécies?; (4) A diversificação da morfologia média do crânio se deu por deriva ou seleção natural?; (5) A divergência na morfologia média do crânio está associada à variação climática entre as espécies?; e finalmente (6) Restrições evolutivas atuaram na divergência entre as espécies? Os espécimes foram escaneados e validamos o uso de imagens 3D para a mensuração de 21 distâncias lineares. Os crânios das espécies foram representados como matrizes fenotípicas (P) de covariância e de correlação entre as distâncias. A similaridade entre as P das espécies é alta. As P de todas as espécies se conformam a um padrão modular compatível com interações funcionais entre ossos. As diferenças entre as P concentram-se no rostro e são associadas a diferenças no clima entre as espécies. Detectamos sinal de seleção natural nos nós mais basais da filogenia e variação local no crânio está associada à variação na sazonalidade da chuva entre as espécies. Restrições evolutivas atuaram na diversificação do crânio das espécies, defletindo as respostas evolutivas para tamanho. Concluímos que tanto seleção estabilizadora e direcional, conectadas à variação climática, quanto restrições evolutivas atuaram na diversificação do crânio das espécies

Correlação entre taxa de recomposição do fundo, pluviometria e maré.

Este estudo teve por objetivo analisar as possíveis correlações entre as taxas de recomposição do fundo, pluviometria e marés para a região do Terminal Marítimo de Ponta da Madeira, Maranhão, Brasil. Foram analisados os dados de levantamentos batimétricos, pluviometria e marés, realizados na região do Terminal, além de dados de chuvas e vazões líquidas e sólidas provenientes do sistema fluvial da sub-bacia do rio Mearim, ligado ao estuário em que se localiza o Terminal. O período analisado compreende os anos de 2010 a 2013. Observou-se que há boa correlação entre vazões sólidas e líquidas no sistema fluvial, sendo que há variação sazonal de vazão líquida, relacionada aos períodos chuvoso e seco, com maiores vazões no período chuvoso. Foram observadas influências desta sazonalidade nas áreas de dragagem mais a sul no Terminal, com boa correlação entre taxas de recomposição do fundo e pluviometria. Em relação às marés, as influências foram melhor observadas nas áreas mais a norte, com boa correlação entre taxas de recomposição do fundo e marés nestas áreas. Os períodos com maiores intensidades de movimentação de fundo estão, de maneira geral, relacionados ao período de intensificação das chuvas e aos solstícios e equinócios, principalmente o equinócio de primavera. O método utilizado provou ser uma boa ferramenta de auxílio à previsão de movimentação e deposição de sedimentos.

Estudo descritivo de série histórica da coqueluche no Brasil no período de 2006 a 2013

A coqueluche vem reemergindo enquanto importante problema de saúde pública em vários países do mundo, apesar das altas coberturas vacinais na infância. O objetivo geral deste estudo foi avaliar a morbimortalidade da coqueluche no Brasil e os objetivos específicos foram: estimar as taxas de mortalidade, incidência e letalidade anuais, geral e por faixa etária, por unidade da federação e regiões do país; caracterizar a sazonalidade da doença; estimar as taxas de hospitalização anuais por faixa etária e verificar as características clínicas, histórico de contato e vacinação prévia dos casos notificados da doença. Métodos: estudo descritivo, baseado nos casos de coqueluche notificados ao Sistema de Informação de Agravos de Notificação (SINAN), de 2006 a 2013. Os resultados mostraram aumento nas taxas de incidência de coqueluche no Brasil, a partir de 2011. Em 2013, foram confirmados 6.523 casos de coqueluche no país, três vezes o número de casos confirmados em 2011, com incidência geral de 3,24 /100.000 habitantes e incidência em menores de um ano de 125,82/100.000 habitantes, as maiores durante o período estudado. As crianças menores de um ano foram as mais acometidas pela doença em todas as macrorregiões. Em 2013, todas as regiões, exceto a região sul, apresentaram suas maiores taxas de incidência geral, com destaque para as regiões sudeste e centro-oeste com 4,0 e 3,1 por 100.000 habitantes, respectivamente. As maiores taxas de letalidade foram observadas na faixa etária menor de dois meses de idade, variando de 4,0% (2008) a 9,5% (2010). As taxas de letalidade foram maiores em crianças menores de seis meses em todas as regiões, sendo as regiões nordeste e sudeste as que apresentaram maiores taxas ao longo dos anos, exceto em 2013, quando o centro-oeste superou o nordeste. Houve predomínio dos casos nos meses mais quentes, entre novembro e março. A maioria das hospitalizações ocorreu na faixa etária de menores de um ano, principalmente em menores de quatro meses, cuja frequência de hospitalização ficou em torno de 75%. A tosse e o paroxismo foram os sintomas mais frequentes, independente da faixa etária, e a cianose foi importante sintoma nos menores de dois meses, com uma frequência de 80% nos casos confirmados desta faixa etária. A complicação mais comum foi pneumonia (13,93%), principalmente na faixa etária menor de dois meses, com frequência de 27,5%. O critério mais utilizado para diagnóstico de coqueluche foi o clínico, seguido pelo laboratorial que aumentou a partir de 2011, ano em que foi responsável por 49,9% dos diagnósticos. A maioria dos casos confirmados (51%) não relatou contato prévio com casos suspeitos ou confirmados de coqueluche, no entanto quando presente, a maioria dos contatos ocorreu no domicílio (70,6%). Os resultados mostraram aumento dos casos de coqueluche no Brasil, a partir de 2011, com as maiores taxas de incidência, hospitalizações, complicações e letalidade na faixa etária de menores de um ano

Risco de mercado na comercialização de energia elétrica: uma análise estruturada com foco no ambiente de contratação livre - ACL.

A motivação para o desenvolvimento desse trabalho surge em um momento em que se verifica uma participação cada vez mais significativa das fontes energéticas renováveis não convencionais no País. Não obstante, o cenário de evolução evidencia que o arcabouço regulatório e as regras de mercado não acompanharam as especificidades inerentes à exploração dessas fontes. Assim, para que se mantenha adequado ritmo de inserção na matriz energética, devem ser buscadas opções para que fontes alternativas sejam cada vez mais competitivas na atual configuração do mercado energético. A contribuição dessa pesquisa, portanto, centra-se na análise dos riscos de mercado incorridos por esses geradores de fontes intermitentes de energia ao comercializarem energia no ambiente de contratação livre. Nessa perspectiva, a Dissertação foi desenvolvida abordando tipos de geração de energia e suas características técnicas e econômicas, legislação do setor elétrico, regras de comercialização, balanço energético do sistema, formação de preços no mercado de curto prazo e precificação de contratos no ACL, diferença de preços entre submercados, requisitos de flexibilidade e sazonalidade nos contratos de venda a consumidores livres e seu impacto na precificação de contratos, identificação de comportamento energético complementar para mitigação de riscos de mercado entre fontes renováveis e rebatimento na formulação de mecanismo de hedge, análise de portfólio de contratos e estratégia ótima de contratação de energia para agentes geradores atuando no ACL. Como resposta ao desafio de equacionar o impasse surgido na comercialização de fontes de produção sazonal, propõe-se um modelo para definir estratégias de contratação para agentes geradores e comercializadores a partir da complementação energética entre diferentes tipos de fontes, de forma a maximizar os ganhos de comercialização para um risco estabelecido. Busca-se a composição ideal dessas fontes na carteira de um comercializador para minimizar o risco de exposição à volatilidade dos preços do mercado de curto prazo. Isso é possível em virtude das compensações energéticas feitas entre as diferentes fontes em um portfólio combinado, mitigando a receita em risco decorrente das variações que existem nos preços de curto prazo e na produção energética. De forma complementar, estruturou-se um modelo de negócio no qual uma empresa detentora de ativos de geração hidrelétrica compra os direitos de produção de uma eólica e/ou biomassa para incorporar ao seu portfólio e vender como contrato por quantidade. Determinou-se o volume de energia a ser comprado de cada fonte, o preço, a estratégia mais indicada de contratação e a mitigação de fatores de risco contemplados nos contratos de venda, buscando maximizar os ganhos de comercialização condicionada a critérios de risco pré-fixados.

Seasonality of thyroid function

Trabalho Final do Curso de Mestrado Integrado em Medicina, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa, 2014

Sistemas urbanos de drenagem sustentáveis

O desenvolvimento e a expansão dos núcleos urbanos conduziram a um aumento das taxas de impermeabilização do solo. Em termos de drenagem urbana, este processo é bastante nefasto, visto que reduz a capacidade de infiltração da água pluvial no solo, aumentando o volume de escoamento superficial, e reduzindo os tempos de concentração, provocando um agravamento nos caudais de ponta. A consequência direta dos fenómenos apontados é a ocorrência de inundações, causadas pela falta de capacidade dos sistemas de drenagem face aos novos caudais de ponta decorrentes das novas urbanizações. Para prevenir estas situações podem implementar-se duas soluções distintas: reforçar a capacidade dos sistemas de drenagem existentes (solução bastante dispendiosa e nem sempre exequível) ou implementar soluções de sistemas de drenagem de águas pluviais alternativos. Esta dissertação apresenta uma forma alternativa de gestão das águas pluviais designada de Sistemas Urbanos de Drenagem Sustentáveis (SUDS), que através de técnicas de controlo na origem (soluções que favorecem a infiltração da água pluvial no solo ou aumentam a capacidade de retenção/armazenamento da água pluvial), reduzem o caudal de ponta e, consequentemente, o risco de inundação.

Holocene depositional history of the Burdekin River delta of northeastern Australia: A model for a low-accommodation, highstand delta

The Burdekin River of northeastern Australia has constructed a substantial delta during the Holocene (delta plain area 1260 km2). The vertical succession through this delta comprises (1) a basal, coarse-grained transgressive lag overlying a continental omission surface, overlain by (2) a mud interval deposited as the coastal region was inundated by the postglacially rising sea, in turn overlain by (3) a generally sharp-based sand unit deposited principally in channel and mouth-bar environments with lesser volumes of floodplain and coastal facies. The Holocene Burdekin Delta was constructed as a series of at least thirteen discrete delta lobes, formed as the river avulsed. Each lobe consists of a composite sand body typically 5-8 m thick. The oldest lobes, formed during the latter stages of the postglacial sea-level rise (10-5.5 kyr BP), are larger than those formed during the highstand (5.5-3 kyr BP), which are in turn larger than those formed during the most recent slight sea-level lowering and stillstand (3-0 kyr BP). Radiocarbon ages and other stratigraphic data indicate that inter-avulsion period has decreased through time coincident with the decrease in delta lobe area. The primary control on Holocene delta architecture appears to have been a change from a pluvial climate known to characterize the region 12-4 kyr BP to the present drier, ENSO-dominated climate. In addition to decreasing the sediment supply via lower rates of chemical weathering, this change may have contributed to the shorter avulsion period by facilitating extreme variability of discharge. More frequent avulsion may also have been facilitated by the lengthening of the delta-plain channels as the system prograded seaward. Copyright © 2006, SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology).

Ecologia e história natural de população Hemidactylus agrius (Squamata: Gekkonidae) em área de Caatinga, com avaliação da distribuição das espécies nativas do gênero no nordeste do Brasil

The genus Hemidactylus Oken, 1817 has cosmopolite distribution, with three species occurring in Brazil, two of them native, H. brasilianus and H. agrius, and one exotic, H. mabouia. Considering the studies about ecology of lizards conducted in the Ecological Station of the Seridó, from 2001 to 2011, this study aimed (1) to re-evaluate the occurrence of the species of Hemidactylus in this ESEC; (2) to analyze ecological and biological aspects of the H. agrius population; and (3) to investigate the current and potential distribution of the native species of the genus in northeastern Brazil, analyzing the suitability of ESEC to this taxon. For the first two objectives, a sampling area consisting of five transects of 200 x 20 m, was inspected in alternating daily shifts for three consecutive days, from August 2012 to August 2013. For the latter objective, occurrence points of H. agrius and H. brasilianus from literature and from the database of Herpetological Collections of the UFRN and the UNICAMP were consulted to build predictive maps via the Maximum Entropy algorithm (MaxEnt). In ESEC Seridó, 62 H. agrius individuals were collected (25 females, 18 males and 19 juveniles), and two neonates were obtained from a communal nest incubated in the laboratory. No record was made for the other two species of the genus. Hemidactylus agrius demonstrated to be a nocturnal species specialized in habitats with rocky outcrops; but this species is generalist regarding microhabitat use. In the population studied, females had an average body length greater than males, and showed higher frequencies of caudal autotomy. Regarding diet, H. agrius is a moderately generalist species that consumes arthropods, especially insect larvae, Isoptera and Araneae; and vertebrates, with a case of cannibalism registered in the population. With respect to seasonal differences, only the number of food items ingested differed between seasons. The diet was similar between sexes, but ontogenetic differences were recorded for the total volume and maximum length of the food items. Significant relationships were found between lizard body/head size measurements and the maximum length of prey consumed. Cases of polydactyly and tail bifurcation were recorded in the population, with frequencies of 1.6% and 3.1%, respectively. In relation xv to the occurrence points of the native species, 27 were identified, 14 for H. agrius and 13 for H. brasilianus. The first species presented restricted distribution, while the second showed a wide distribution. In both models generated, the ESEC Seridó area showed medium to high suitability. The results of this study confirm the absence of H. brasilianus and H. mabouia this ESEC, and reveal H. agrius as a dietary opportunist and cannibal species. Further, the results confirm the distribution patterns shown by native species of Hemidactylus, and point ESEC Seridó as an area of probable occurrence for the species of the genus, the establishing of H. brasilianus and H. mabouia are probably limited by biotic factors, a fact yet little understood

Secagem de resíduo de goiaba em secador convectivo de bandejas: modelagem matemática e análise do processo

Actually, Brazil is one of the larger fruit producer worldwide, with most of its production being consumed in nature way or either as juice or pulp. It is important to highlig ht in the fruit productive chain there are a lot lose due mainly to climate reasons, as well as storage, transportation, season, market, etc. It is known that in the pulp and fruit processing industy a yield of 50% (in mass) is usually obtained, with the other part discarded as waste. However, since most this waste has a high nutrient content it can be used to generate added - value products. In this case, drying plays an important role as an alternative process in order to improve these wastes generated by the fruit industry. However, despite the advantage of using this technique in order to improve such wastes, issues as a higher power demand as well as the thermal efficiency limitation should be addressed. Therefore, the control of the main variables in t his drying process is quite important in order to obtain operational conditions to produce a final product with the target specification as well as with a lower power cost. M athematical models can be applied to this process as a tool in order to optimize t he best conditions. The main aim of this work was to evaluate the drying behaviour of a guava industrial pulp waste using a batch system with a convective - tray dryer both experimentally and using mathematical modeling. In the experimental study , the dryin g carried out using a group of trays as well as the power consume were assayed as response to the effects of operational conditions (temperature, drying air flow rate and solid mass). Obtained results allowed observing the most significant variables in the process. On the other hand, the phenomenological mathematical model was validated and allowed to follow the moisture profile as well as the temperature in the solid and gas phases in every tray. Simulation results showed the most favorable procedure to o btain the minimum processing time as well as the lower power demand.

A evolução do turismo no Seridó: uma análise à luz do modelo de Butler

Tourism is configured as an activity that presents constant movement could boost local development in the economic, sociocultural and human in locations with potential for structuring and such. Because it is a dynamic activity, tourism allows changes in its flow, extending the periods of seasonality. To this end, in view of the aforementioned dynamics, it becomes relevant to the presence of tourism planning, initially starting from the government so that it create laws and standards and develop projects for the management of activities in an orderly way, seeking citizen participation, making essential the presence of actors and agents in local tourism, expanding democracy and knowledge of their place of origin. In this scenario, the Ministry of Tourism is emerging with the National Tourism Plan which incorporates among its actions, the Regionalization Program Guide, adopting a model of regional local management, a participatory manner, through the bodies of governance imposed at the poles, and the shares of public policy in their various departments most responsible for promoting tourism in pole Seridó. This scientific work aims to analyze the pole Seridó, under the theory of tourism area life cycle (TALC) proposed by BUTLER (1980), locating actions for tourism and chronology of the locality applied the proposed process activity. For both the methodology is descriptive and exploratory, qualitative approach, historical, descriptive and narrative level, non-probability sampling, using secondary sources, through documents and other records occurred during the planning processes in the region, in order to have access to information related to the planning process of tourism in Seridó, using as a way to research the data collected the technique of content analysis. As a conclusion of this study it is observed that from the survey in relation to the history of tourism in the region, economic activities of livestock, cotton industry, mining and ceramics industry were responsible for the initiation of tourism in the locality through the flow directed to the same, the insertion of the first hotels and performing traditional events, giving rise to the demand for public policies that aided in directing the activity being, therefore, inserted into the engagement phase, the second phase proposed by BUTLER (1980) model, and the study was terminated with suggestions for the continuation of tourism in the region.

Ecologia trófica de uma comunidade de lagartos da caatinga

The trophic ecology studies issues related to the diet of individuals within a community .The relation between the body size of the predator and the prey size, individual specialization and niche breadth are some of the issues that can be discussed by it .I collected the lizards using pitfall trap, glue and active collecting traps in a fragment of Caatinga. The most common species in this community were Tropidurus hispidus, T. semitaeniatus and Cnemidophorus ocellifer. The visits to the farm also relied on collecting invertebrates at each season to understand how the nutritional resources of lizards were presented in each one of them. I tried to answer some questions : 1) If there was a positive relation between body size of the predator and the size of prey of the community ; 2) If in different seasons the relation of body size of the predator and the maximum and/or minimum size of the prey would be positive ; 3) If species with different foraging strategies have positive relation on the size of the predatorprey relation; 4) If the seasonality would influence on the individual expertise of lizards community and more common species; 5) If the breadth of the niche would be influenced by seasonality ; 6) If more individuals with different morphology between them would present less similar diet. I found that there was indeed a positive relationship between size of prey and predator, but nonexistent related to the minimum size of prey; Among the seasons relative size of predators and prey was different for the maximum and minimum size, but was positively related only to the size of the maximum prey. And comparisons between different foraging strategies had the maximum and minimum line inclination greater than zero and different from each other; individual specialization was not influenced by seasonality and the niche breadth was wider in the dry season only to T. semitaeniatus. At last I didn't find a significant negative relationship between morphological dissimilarity and similarity of diet.

Modelagem estatística e atribuições dos eventos de precipitação extrema na Amazônia brasileira

Intense precipitation events (IPE) have been causing great social and economic losses in the affected regions. In the Amazon, these events can have serious impacts, primarily for populations living on the margins of its countless rivers, because when water levels are elevated, floods and/or inundations are generally observed. Thus, the main objective of this research is to study IPE, through Extreme Value Theory (EVT), to estimate return periods of these events and identify regions of the Brazilian Amazon where IPE have the largest values. The study was performed using daily rainfall data of the hydrometeorological network managed by the National Water Agency (Agência Nacional de Água) and the Meteorological Data Bank for Education and Research (Banco de Dados Meteorológicos para Ensino e Pesquisa) of the National Institute of Meteorology (Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia), covering the period 1983-2012. First, homogeneous rainfall regions were determined through cluster analysis, using the hierarchical agglomerative Ward method. Then synthetic series to represent the homogeneous regions were created. Next EVT, was applied in these series, through Generalized Extreme Value (GEV) and the Generalized Pareto Distribution (GPD). The goodness of fit of these distributions were evaluated by the application of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, which compares the cumulated empirical distributions with the theoretical ones. Finally, the composition technique was used to characterize the prevailing atmospheric patterns for the occurrence of IPE. The results suggest that the Brazilian Amazon has six pluvial homogeneous regions. It is expected more severe IPE to occur in the south and in the Amazon coast. More intense rainfall events are expected during the rainy or transitions seasons of each sub-region, with total daily precipitation of 146.1, 143.1 and 109.4 mm (GEV) and 201.6, 209.5 and 152.4 mm (GPD), at least once year, in the south, in the coast and in the northwest of the Brazilian Amazon, respectively. For the south Amazonia, the composition analysis revealed that IPE are associated with the configuration and formation of the South Atlantic Convergence Zone. Along the coast, intense precipitation events are associated with mesoscale systems, such Squall Lines. In Northwest Amazonia IPE are apparently associated with the Intertropical Convergence Zone and/or local convection.

Qualidade dos serviços hoteleiros: percepções dos turistas de negócios de Teresina-PI

Business tourism is one of tourist segments with different market characteristics in relation to others segmentations, such as low seasonality, there is no requirement of natural attractions, it serves as destination projection and it generates profitable larger numbers. Due to the context around business travels, the hotel so many times has a fundamental whole among the elements of the production chain in this segmentation. Business tourism in Teresina is the primary segmentation of the capital, since it represents almost 70% of hotel demand; hence this research has as objective to evaluate through the perceptions of business travelers, the level of quality services of hotels of Teresina. The research is exploratory and descriptive, of functionalist character. This study is characterized by qualitative and quantitative research, supported by a basis of methodological pluralism. For primary data collection was performed applying a suitable research instrument of SERVPERF model (Service Performance). The universe of this study were Teresina's accommodations, restricted to only those that fit in hotel category and it was inside metropolitan area of Teresina. The study subjects were business travelers who were hosted in these hotels. For the analysis, it was considered certain factors: descriptive analysis, factor analysis, correlation matrix analysis of the variables; It was still compiling a graphic of lexicons obtained in the survey about respondent's the notion of quality of vision in the hotel service; Finally, qualitative analysis was based on the theories of marketing, targeting and quality of tourism services applied. The results show that the Teresina hotel service is on a regular average, especially for Reliability and Safety dimensions were highlighted. Whereas, the factor analysis showed the emergence of two factors to explain "Empathy" dimension, one of this is about the organization and the other one is about consumer. And by Lexicometria was possible to observe the importance to the customer of other variables such as: personal aspects, price and location for this tour segmentation.

Síndrome de Guillain-Barré: epidemiologia, prognóstico e fatores de risco

Introduction. Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is an immune-mediated polyneuropathy and the principal cause of acute neuromuscular paralysis. The most prominent GBS subtypes are: acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (AIDP), acute motor axonal neuropathy (AMAN), acute motor-sensory axonal neuropathy (AMSAN) and Fisher syndrome (FS). Differences in geographical distribution of variants have been reported. In Brazil, there are few studies describing the characteristics of GBS, but none on the frequency of GBS variants and their clinical manifestations. Infection-induced aberrant immune response resulting from molecular mimicry and formation of cross-reacting antibodies, contribute to complement activation. Functional biallelic polymorphism in immunoglobulin receptors that influence the affinity of IgG subclasses and the type of immune response have been described, suggesting genetic susceptibility to developing disease. It remains unclear whether individuals carrying different FCGR alleles have differential risk for GBS and⁄or disease severity. The goals of this study were: (1) To characterize GBS and describe the clinical findings in a cohort of patients with GBS from the state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil; (2) to determine whether polymorphism in FCGR were associated with development of GBS, and (3) to tease out whether the global gene expression studies could be a tool to identify pathways and transcriptional networks which could be regulated and decrease the time of disease. Methods. Clinical and laboratory data for 149 cases of GBS diagnosed from 1994 to 2013 were analyzed. Genomic DNA and total RNA were extracted from whole blood. Antigangliosides antibodies were determined in the sera. In addition, we also assessed whether FCGR polymorphism are present in GBS (n=141) and blood donors (n=364), and global gene expressions were determined for 12 participants with GBS. Blood samples were collected at the diagnosis and post-recovery. Results. AIDP was the most frequent variant (81.8%) of GBS, followed by AMAN (14.7%) and AMSAN (3.3%). The incidence of GBS was 0.3 ⁄ 100,000 people for the state of Rio Grande do Norte and cases occurred at a younger age. GBS was preceded by infections, with the axonal variant associated with episodes of diarrhea (P = 0.025). Proximal weakness was more frequent in AIDP, and distal weakness predominant in the axonal variant. Compared to 42.4% of cases with AIDP (P<0.0001), 84.6% of cases with the axonal variant had nadir in <10 days. Individuals with the axonal variant took longer to recover deambulation (P<0.0001). The mortality of GBS was 5.3%. A worse outcome was related to an axonal variant (OR17.063; P=0.03) and time required to improve one point in the Hughes functional scale (OR 1.028; P=0.03). The FCGR genotypes and allele frequencies did not differ significantly between the patients with GBS and the controls (FCGR2A p=0.367 and FCGR3A p=0.2430). Global gene expression using RNAseq showed variation in transcript coding for protein isoforms during acute phase of disease. Conclusions. The annual incidence of GBS was 0.3 per 100,00 and there was no seasonal pattern. A predominance of the AIDP variant was seen, and the incidence of the disease decreased with age. The distribution of weakness is a function of the clinical variants, and individuals with the axonal variant had a poorer prognosis. Early diagnosis and variant identification leads to proper intervention decreasing in long-term morbidity. FCGR polymorphisms do not seem to influence susceptibility to GBS in this population. This study found deregulated genes and signs of transcriptional network alterations during the acute and recovery phases in GBS. Identification of pathways altered during disease might be target for immune regulation and with potential to ameliorate symptoms.

Morfometria, variação anual no peso e demografia do Tico-tico-rei-cinza (Lanio pileatus: thraupidae) em dois ambientes de caatinga no nordeste do Brasil

The caatinga is considered the only exclusively Brazilian biome, with a total area of 735.000km². It is estimated that about 59% of this area has already been removed and only 2% are protected in conservations units. The region is characteristic by strong seasonality and heterogeneity in their environments. This paper sets generate information on morphological and population patterns Lanio pilatus in two areas of caatinga of Estação Ecológica do Seridó (ESEC – Seridó), Serra Negra do Norte - RN. Data collection was performed in six phases between July 2012 and December 2014, covering the end of the dry and rainy seasons in the region. The captures were performed with nets and individuals captured were marked with metal rings and measured (weight, wing length, tail, tarsus, culmen and tip of the bill to nostril). Through these measures, we observed that only males of open area range in weight during the dry and rainy season, youngs were significantly lower for all parameters measured, and males were larger than females in three characteristics (weight, wing length and tail) in open area and only one (wing length) in the closed area. The population parameters were generated from the mark-capture-recapture technique by program MARK, using the techniques of robust design and CJS. The survival probability of detection and population estimates varied with time. Only individuals of open area fluctuated in their estimates during the study. Overall, the environment was a great mediator of results which increases the need for more studies on the life history of the species in the region.