Annual pattern of plasma melatonin and progesterone concentrations in hair and wool ewe lambs kept under natural photoperiod at lower latitudes in the southern hemisphere

To study the annual pattern of plasma melatonin and progesterone concentrations in hair [Santa Ines (SI)] and wool [Romney Marsh (RM) and Suffolk (SU)] ewe lambs kept under natural photoperiods at 21 degrees 59'S, 12 ewe lambs (four/breed) were used. For melatonin, blood samples were collected monthly throughout the year at the onset (17:00, 19:00 and 21:00 hr) and end (04:00, 06:00 and 08:00 hr) of the night, and for progesterone the samples were collected in the morning, two to three times a week throughout the year. Plasma melatonin concentrations at different times of the day changed according to the season. In diurnal periods (17:00 and 8:00 hr) no seasonal differences were observed but they became evident in the nocturnal intervals (21:00 and 4:00 hr) and transitional night-day (6:00 hr) times. The patterns of melatonin secretion were higher in winter and autumn than in spring and summer. The patterns of plasma progesterone secretion were affected by interaction between breed and season. There was no seasonal variation in plasma progesterone concentrations for SI females. The progesterone pattern for RM and SU females varied with season. The plasma levels were higher in autumn and winter than in spring and summer. At 21 degrees 59'S hair and wool ewe lambs showed the same annual pattern of plasma melatonin concentration while the annual progesterone profiles were quite different. For SI females this pattern was constant along all seasons and for RM and SU females this pattern was higher during autumn and winter than spring and summer.

The breathing pattern and the ventilatory response to aquatic and aerial hypoxia and hypercarbia in the frog Pipa carvalhoi

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

Immune response pattern of the popliteal lymph nodes of dogs with visceral leishmaniasis

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

Soil sampling intensity and spatial distribution pattern of soils attributes and corn yield in no-tillage system

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

Postharvest changes and respiratory pattern of bacuri fruit (Platonia insignis Mart.) at different maturity stages during ambient storage

O bacuri (Platonia insignis, Mart.) é um dos mais importantes entre os frutos da Amazônia. Todavia, pouco se sabe sobre sua fisiologia pós-colheita, bem como, estádio de maturação, mudanças durante o armazenamento sob condições ambientais e padrão respiratório. Os frutos foram colhidos em três estádios de maturação baseados na coloração do epicarpo: verde-escuro, verde-claro e de vez (50% amarelo), com o objetivo de se determinar as modificações de coloração e padrão respiratório durante armazenamento sob condições de ambiente (25,2 ºC, 75,1 % UR). Os frutos de todos os estádios de maturação apresentaram, a partir do terceiro dia de colheita, comportamento respiratório não climatérico, com os frutos de vez apresentando maior taxa de produção de CO2 até o quarto dia de armazenamento (177,63 mg CO2.kg-1.h-1). O amarelecimento aumentou durante o armazenamento e foi relacionado com a diminuição da luminosidade (L), cromaticidade e ângulo hue. Os frutos de vez podem ser armazenados sob condições de ambiente por até 10 dias sem nenhuma perda da qualidade comercial.

Production and action pattern of inulinase from Aspergillus Niger-245: hydrolysis of inulin from several sources

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

A low-cost 3D reconstruction system using a single-shot projection of a pattern matrix

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

Susceptibility to Yersinia pseudotuberculosis Infection is Linked to the Pattern of Macrophage Activation

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

Electromyographic preactivation pattern of the gluteus medius during weight-bearing functional tasks in women with and without anterior knee pain

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

A newly recognized syndrome of marfanoid habitus; Long face; Hypotelorism; Long, thin nose; Long, thin hands and feet; and a specific pattern of language and learning disabilities

Here, we report on a newly recognized syndrome in a Brazilian family with three affected women, who had a Marfanoid habitus; long face; hypotelorism; long, thin nose; long, thin hands and feet; and language and learning disabilities. The disorder is compatible with autosomal dominant inheritance. (C) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Caracterização sócio-ambiental do bairro de Felipe Camarão- Natal/ RN

The rapid growth of the Brazilian cities in the latest years has brought a series of problems regarding housing policies and, therefore, the provision of dwellings for the low-income class people. Following the pattern of other capital cities, Natal has repeated the pattern of urbanization practiced in the country, which concentrates the low-income class inhabitants in specific zones of the city known as peripheries or even in a dwelling place for less-favored classes such as Felipe Camarão, which is one of ten boroughs belonging to the western administrative zone, a region which has historically received less attention from the public administrators towards infrastructure investments. Based on those aspects, the general objective of this work is to investigate which main social-environmental alterations have resulted from the processes of urbanization and field occupation in that area. The specific objectives are concerned with verifying 1) the process of urbanization and the process of dividing urban soil from the 1960s; 2) the current configuration of the public spaces in the borough; 3) the process of the deprivation of the original landscape characteristics of Environmental Protection Zones; 4) the dynamics of land occupation which are predominant in dune areas; 5) the dynamics of land occupation which are predominant in mangrove areas; 6) and the destruction of green covering on the land with its consequent alteration of the local floristic pattern. The methodology consisted of in-loco visits; the application of questionnaires as community research; a survey of bibliography published by the organisms and institutions in charge of carrying out the city hall s environmental and housing policies; and descriptive statistics of the collected data. Concerning the pattern of occupation which is predominant in the borough, the treatment of space dispensed by the local dwellers has culminated in the emergence and consolidation of environmental alterations which are clearly different from common occurrence in both the building area represented by housing complexes and in the green areas represented by dunes and mangroves. The data show that there was the predominance of the irregular land occupation process over the official housing policy during the population settlement which contributed with a series of frequent and foreseeable problems in the dynamics of urbanization of poverty such as invasions and appropriations of land parcels, the beginning of irregular arrangement of streets, the formation of villages and slums, which are full of self-constructed housing units, and the occupation and degradation of susceptibly fragile environmental areas such as the dune slopes and the mangroves

The first reported case of human tick paralysis in Brazil: a new induction pattern by immature stages

Tick paralysis (TP) is a rare disease with rapid progression and potential fatal evolution. Immediately after the diagnosis, removal of all ticks from the body of the patient is mandatory. The present study reports for the first time a human case of the disease in Brazil. The patient had loss of muscle strength, decreased reflexes and marked palpebral ptosis. Six hours after removal of the last tick, the ptosis improved and on the following day, the patient had near total regression of the symptoms. This report emphasizes the possible presence of similar cases that should be promptly diagnosed and quickly treated. A new induction pattern for TP in humans associated with immature stages of ticks is also presented.

DNA methylation in the CTCF-binding site I and the expression pattern of the H19 gene: Does positive expression predict poor prognosis in early stage head and neck carcinomas?

Loss of allele-specific expression by the imprinted genes IGF2 and H19 has been correlated with a differentially methylated region (DMR) upstream to the H19 gene. The H19-DMR contains seven potential CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) binding sites. CTCF is a chromatin insulator and a multifunctional transcription factor whose binding to the H19-DMR is suppressed by DNA methylation. Our study included a group of 41 head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) samples. The imprinting status of the H19 gene was analyzed in 11 out of 35 positive cases for H19 gene expression, and only 1 of them showed loss of imprinting. We detected a significant correlation (P=0.041, Fisher's exact test) between H19 expression and tumor recurrence. Among H19 positive cases, six were T2, in which five developed recurrence and/or metastasis. Inversely, in the group of tumors that showed no H19 gene expression, 5 out of 24 were T2 and only I presented regional recurrence. These data support the hypothesis that H19 expression could be used as a prognostic marker to indicate recurrence in early stage tumors. We also examined the methylation of the CTCF binding site 1 in a subgroup of these samples. The H19 gene silencing and loss of imprinting were not correlated with the methylation pattern of the CTCF binding site 1. However, the significant correlation between H19 expression and tumor recurrence suggest that this transcript could be a marker for the progression of HNSCC. (c) 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.