Highly sensitive spectrophotometric methods for the determination of olanzapine

Highly sensitive and selective spectrophotometric methods (A and B) were developed for the determination of micro amounts of olanzapine (OLZ). Method A (direct method) is based on the oxidation of olanzapine with a known excess of iodine monochloride (ICl) in an acidic medium. Under the same condition, thymol blue was iodinated by unreacted ICl, and the absorbance of uniodinated thymol blue was measured at 536 nm. The decrease in ICl concentration is a measure of drug concentration. In method B (indirect method), oxidation of OLZ by a known excess of Ce(IV) in sulfuric acid medium followed by the reaction of unreacted Ce(IV) with leuco crystal violet (LCV) to crystal violet (CV), which is measured in an acetate buffer medium ( pH 4.9) at 580 nm. These methods obey the Beer's law in the concentration range of 0.2-1.6 µg mL-1 (method A) and 0.1-1.4 µg mL-1 (method B). The developed procedures have been successfully applied to the determination of OLZ in pure and in dosage forms. The results exhibit no interference from the presence of excipients. The reliability of the methods was established by parallel determination of OLZ against the reference method.

Evaluation of an anti-carcinoembryonic monoclonal antibody suitable for immunoscintigraphy

An anti-carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) monoclonal antibody (mAb 6D1.1) was evaluated in vitro and in vivo to determine its suitability as a tracer for immunoscintigraphy of colorectal carcinomas. Determination of mAb affinity for CEA showed a constant of association of 0.63 ± 0.11 x 109 M-1. Binding of technetium-99m (99mTc)-6D1.1, labeled by a direct method, to human cultured lineages was highly specific. Binding to only CEA-positive LS-174T cells resulted in a saturable curve inhibited by pre-incubation with unlabeled mAb. No binding at all was observed for the human lineages MeWo (melanoma) or ZR75-30 (breast carcinoma), neither of them expressing CEA cells. Intravenous injection of 99mTc-6D1.1 into nude mice xenografted with human LS-174T tumors resulted in planar images of excellent quality. Localization of an irrelevant mAb labeled with either 99mTc or iodine-125 was never observed in tumor masses. Biodistribution studies on excised tumoral tissue showed retention of 28.48% of the injected dose per gram of LS-174T tumor. The tumor-to-blood ratio was 3.46. The same analysis performed on the other three human xenografted tumors studied demonstrated that only the CEA-producing HT-29 (colorectal adenocarcinoma) retained 99mTc-6D1.1 while the other two (ZR75-30 and MeWo) did not. These data demonstrate that this mAb is an adequate tool for targeting CEA-expressing tumors in experimental models.

Apolipoprotein CIII polymorphism and triglyceride levels of a Japanese population living in Southern Brazil

Apolipoprotein CIII (apo-CIII) participates in the regulation of triglyceride-rich lipoprotein metabolism. Several polymorphic sites have been detected within and around the apo-CIII gene. Here, we examined the relationship between apo-CIII SstI polymorphism (CC, CG, GG genotypes) and plasma triglyceride (TG) levels in a group of 159 Japanese individuals living in Southern Brazil. The sample was divided into a group of Japanese descendants (N = 51) with high TG (HTG; >200 mg/dL) and a group of Japanese descendants (N = 108) with normal TG (NTG; <200 mg/dL). TG and total cholesterol levels were analyzed by an enzymatic method using the Labtest-Diagnostic kit and high- and low-density lipoproteins by a direct method using the Labtest-Diagnostic kit and DiaSys Diagnostic System International kit, respectively. A 428-bp sequence of apo-CIII gene was amplified using oligonucleotide primers 5' GGT GAC CGA TGG CTT CAG TTC CCT GA 3' and 5' CAG AAG GTG GAT AGA GCG CTG GCC T 3'. The PCR products were digested with a restriction endonuclease SstI. Rare G allele was highly prevalent in our study population (0.416) compared to Caucasians (0.00-0.11). G allele was almost two times more prevalent in the HTG group compared to the NTG group (P < 0.001). The genotype distribution was consistent with the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. There was a significant association between rare G allele and HTG in Japanese individuals living in Southern Brazil as indicated by one-way ANOVA, P < 0.05.

Information processing in sleep-onset insomnia : a test of the neurocognitive model /

The present thesis study is a systematic investigation of information processing at sleep onset, using auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) as a test of the neurocognitive model of insomnia. Insomnia is an extremely prevalent disorder in society resulting in problems with daytime functioning (e.g., memory, concentration, job performance, mood, job and driving safety). Various models have been put forth in an effort to better understand the etiology and pathophysiology of this disorder. One of the newer models, the neurocognitive model of insomnia, suggests that chronic insomnia occurs through conditioned central nervous system arousal. This arousal is reflected through increased information processing which may interfere with sleep initiation or maintenance. The present thesis employed event-related potentials as a direct method to test information processing during the sleep-onset period. Thirteen poor sleepers with sleep-onset insomnia and 1 2 good sleepers participated in the present study. All poor sleepers met the diagnostic criteria for psychophysiological insomnia and had a complaint of problems with sleep initiation. All good sleepers reported no trouble sleeping and no excessive daytime sleepiness. Good and poor sleepers spent two nights at the Brock University Sleep Research Laboratory. The first night was used to screen for sleep disorders; the second night was used to investigate information processing during the sleep-onset period. Both groups underwent a repeated sleep-onsets task during which an auditory oddball paradigm was delivered. Participants signalled detection of a higher pitch target tone with a button press as they fell asleep. In addition, waking alert ERPs were recorded 1 hour before and after sleep on both Nights 1 and 2.As predicted by the neurocognitive model of insomnia, increased CNS activity was found in the poor sleepers; this was reflected by their smaller amplitude P2 component seen during wake of the sleep-onset period. Unlike the P2 component, the Nl, N350, and P300 did not vary between the groups. The smaller P2 seen in our poor sleepers indicates that they have a deficit in the sleep initiation processes. Specifically, poor sleepers do not disengage their attention from the outside environment to the same extent as good sleepers during the sleep-onset period. The lack of findings for the N350 suggest that this sleep component may be intact in those with insomnia and that it is the waking components (i.e., Nl, P2) that may be leading to the deficit in sleep initiation. Further, it may be that the mechanism responsible for the disruption of sleep initiation in the poor sleepers is most reflected by the P2 component. Future research investigating ERPs in insomnia should focus on the identification of the components most sensitive to sleep disruption. As well, methods should be developed in order to more clearly identify the various types of insomnia populations in research contexts (e.g., psychophysiological vs. sleep-state misperception) and the various individual (personality characteristics, motivation) and environmental factors (arousal-related variables) that influence particular ERP components. Insomnia has serious consequences for health, safety, and daytime functioning, thus research efforts should continue in order to help alleviate this highly prevalent condition.

Los métodos de enseñanza en ELE : el método comunicativo revisado

Cette étude se focalise sur la révision de l’approche communicative des manuels d’enseignement de l’espagnol comme langue étrangère (ELE) et, plus particulièrement, sur celle des manuels utilisés dans les institutions scolaires du Québec. D’un point de vue historique, les premières inquiétudes liées à l’enseignement et à l’acquisition de langues secondes sont apparues dans l’Antiquité. Pendant des siècles, l’enseignement fondé sur la répétition de structures a prédominé, mais une fois le Moyen Âge passé, d’autres avancées pédagogiques sont nées. Par exemple, au XVIIe siècle, des études sur la question, inspirées de penseurs comme Montaigne et Locke, ont révélé que l’apprentissage formel de la langue n’était pas utile et que les apprenants avaient besoin d’une motivation pour apprendre. Le XXe siècle a été caractérisé par le déploiement de propositions méthodologiques à utiliser dans l’enseignement de langues secondes, et c’est ainsi que des méthodes telles que Directe, Audio-linguistique, Apprentissage communautaire de la langue et Approche naturelle ont surgi. Au milieu du XXe siècle s’est développée en Europe une proposition basée sur les besoins communicatifs des étudiants et ce qui, au début, était connu comme l’approche notionnelle fonctionnelle a évolué et est devenu l’enseignement communicatif. Une telle approche concerne essentiellement l’usage de la langue et accorde moins d’importance aux connaissances linguistiques. Elle a pour objectif principal que l’étudiant-parlant développe des habiletés interprétatives et expressives de la langue objet. En nous appuyant sur un cadre théorique de l’enseignement des langues et en analysant les manuels Nuevo ELE, Prisma et Español en marcha (niveaux A1-B2), nous prétendons vérifier la présence de l’approche communicative dans ces manuels afin de pouvoir démontrer que dans les activités dites communicatives, il y a différentes applications possibles des méthodes traditionnelles de l’enseignement de langues secondes et que, par conséquent, l’approche communicative réunit plusieurs propositions qui proviennent d’autres méthodes. Mot-clés : Espagnol langue étrangère (ELE), approche communicative, analyse de manuels, Nuevo ELE, Prisma, Español en marcha.

Le visage de la douleur : informations efficientes pour la reconnaissance et impacts sur l’observateur.

L’expression faciale de la douleur occupe un rôle central dans la communication de la douleur et dans l’estimation de l’intensité de la douleur vécue par autrui. Les propriétés du visage d’une personne en souffrance ont été investiguées principalement à l’aide de méthodes descriptives (e.g. FACS). L’introduction fait le point sur les connaissances de l’expression faciale de douleur et de la communication de cette expérience sur les plans comportemental et cérébral et souligne que les mécanismes et stratégies visuels utilisés par l’observateur pour parvenir à détecter la douleur dans le visage d’autrui demeurent très peu connus. L’étude des processus impliqués dans la reconnaissance de l’expression de la douleur est essentielle pour comprendre la communication de la douleur et éventuellement expliquer des phénomènes ayant des impacts cliniques considérables, tel que l’effet classique de sous-estimation de la douleur d’autrui. L’article 1 vise à établir à l’aide d’une méthode directe (Bubbles) les informations visuelles utilisées efficacement par l’observateur lorsqu’il doit catégoriser la douleur parmi les émotions de base. Les résultats montrent que parmi l’ensemble des caractéristiques du visage typique de la douleur, peu d’informations sont vraiment efficaces pour parvenir à cette discrimination et que celles qui le sont encodent la partie affective- motivationnelle de l’expérience d’autrui. L’article 2 investigue le pouvoir de ces régions privilégiées du visage de la douleur dans la modulation d’une expérience nociceptive chez l’observateur afin de mieux comprendre les mécanismes impliqués dans une telle modulation. En effet, s’il est connu que des stimuli ayant une valence émotionnelle négative, y compris des expressions faciales de douleur, peuvent augmenter les réponses spinales (réflexes) et supra-spinales (ex.: perceptives) de la douleur, l’information visuelle suffisante pour permettre l’activation des voies modulatrices demeure inconnue. Les résultats montrent qu’en voyant les régions diagnostiques pour la reconnaissance de l’expression faciale de douleur, la douleur perçue par l’observateur suite à une stimulation nociceptive est plus grande que lorsqu’il voit les régions les moins corrélées avec une bonne reconnaissance de la douleur. L’exploration post-expérimentale des caractéristiques de nos stimuli suggère que cette modulation n’est pas explicable par l’induction d’un état émotionnel négatif, appuyant ainsi un rôle prépondérant de la communication de la douleur dans la modulation vicariante de l’expérience douloureuse de l’observateur. Les mesures spinales ne sont toutefois pas modulées par ces manipulations et suggèrent ainsi que ce ne sont pas des voies cérébro-spinale qui sont impliquées dans ce phénomène.

Retrial Queues with Orbital Search

Queueing system in which arriving customers who find all servers and waiting positions (if any) occupied many retry for service after a period of time are retrial queues or queues with repeated attempts. This study deals with two objectives one is to introduce orbital search in retrial queueing models which allows to minimize the idle time of the server. If the holding costs and cost of using the search of customers will be introduced, the results we obtained can be used for the optimal tuning of the parameters of the search mechanism. The second one is to provide insight of the link between the corresponding retrial queue and the classical queue. At the end we observe that when the search probability Pj = 1 for all j, the model reduces to the classical queue and when Pj = 0 for all j, the model becomes the retrial queue. It discusses the performance evaluation of single-server retrial queue. It was determined by using Poisson process. Then it discuss the structure of the busy period and its analysis interms of Laplace transforms and also provides a direct method of evaluation for the first and second moments of the busy period. Then it discusses the M/ PH/1 retrial queue with disaster to the unit in service and orbital search, and a multi-server retrial queueing model (MAP/M/c) with search of customers from the orbit. MAP is convenient tool to model both renewal and non-renewal arrivals. Finally the present model deals with back and forth movement between classical queue and retrial queue. In this model when orbit size increases, retrial rate also correspondingly increases thereby reducing the idle time of the server between services

Studies of stability of fluid flowa using variational methods

The study of stability problems is relevant to the study of structure of a physical system. It 1S particularly important when it is not possible to probe into its interior and obtain information on its structure by a direct method. The thesis states about stability theory that has become of dominant importance in the study of dynamical systems. and has many applications in basic fields like meteorology, oceanography, astrophysics and geophysics- to mention few of them. The definition of stability was found useful 1n many situations, but inadequate in many others so that a host of other important concepts have been introduced in past many years which are more or less related to the first definition and to the common sense meaning of stability. In recent years the theoretical developments in the studies of instabilities and turbulence have been as profound as the developments in experimental methods. The study here Points to a new direction for stability studies based on Lagrangian formulation instead of the Hamiltonian formulation used by other authors.

Catalysis by Modified Pillared Clays and Porous Clay Heterostructures

In this venture three distinct class of catalysts such as, pillared clays and transition metal loaded pillared clays , porous clay heterostructures and their transition metal loaded analogues and DTP supported on porous clay heterostructures etc. were prepared and characterized by various physico chemical methods. The catalytic activities of prepared catalysts were comparatively evaluated for the industrially important alkylation, acetalization and oxidation reactions.The general conclusions drawn from the present investigation are  Zirconium, iron - aluminium pillared clays were synthesized by ion exchange method and zirconium-silicon porous heterostructures were Summary and conclusions 259 prepared by intergallery template method. Transition metals were loaded in PILCs and PCHs by wet impregnation method.  Textural and acidic properties of the clays were modified by pillaring and post pillaring modifications.  The shift in 2θ value to lower range and increase in d (001) spacing indicate the success of pillaring process.  Surface area, pore volume, average pore size etc. increased dramatically as a result of pillaring process.  Porous clay heterostructures have higher surface area, pore volume, average pore diameter and narrow pore size distribution than that of pillared clays.  The IR spectrum of PILCs and PCHs are in accordance with literature without much variation compared to parent montmorillonite which indicate that basic clay structure is retained even after modification.  The silicon NMR of PCHs materials have intense peaks corresponding to Q4 environment which indicate that mesoporous silica is incorporated between clay layers.  Thermo gravimetric analysis showed that thermal stability is improved after the pillaring process. PCH materials have higher thermal stability than PILCs.  In metal loaded pillared clays, up to 5% metal species were uniformly dispersed (with the exception of Ni) as evident from XRD and TPR analysis. Chapter 9 260  Impregnation of transition metals in PILCs and PCHs enhanced acidity of catalysts as evident from TPD of ammonia and cumene cracking reactions.  For porous clay heterostructures the acidic sites have major contribution from weak and medium acid sites which can be related to the Bronsted sites as evident from TPD of ammonia.  Pillared clays got more Lewis acidity than PCHs as inferred from α- methyl styrene selectivity in cumene cracking reaction.  SEM images show that layer structure is preserved even after modification. Worm hole like morphology is observed in TEM image of PCHs materials  In ZrSiPCHS, Zr exists as Zr 4+ and is incorporated to silica pillars in the intergallary of clay layers as evident from XPS analysis.  In copper loaded zirconium pillared clays, copper exists as isolated species with +2 oxidation state at lower loading. At higher loading, Cu exists as clusters as evident from reduction peak at higher temperatures in TPR.  In vanadium incorporated PILCs and PCHs, vanadium exist as isolated V5+ in tetrahedral coordination which is confirmed from TPR and UVVis DRS analysis.  In cobalt loaded PCHs, cobalt exists as CoO with 2+ oxidation state as confirmed from XPS.  Cerium incorporated iron aluminium pillared clay was found to be the best catalyst for the hydroxylation of phenol in aqueous media due to the additional surface area provided by ceria mesopores and its redox properties. Summary and conclusions 261  Cobalt loaded zirconium porous clay heterostructures were found to be promising catalyst for the tertiary butylation of phenol due to higher surface area and acidic properties.  Copper loaded pillared clays were found to be good catalyst for the direct hydroxylation of benzene to phenol.  Vanadium loaded PCHs catalysts were found to be efficient catalysts for oxidation of benzyl alcohol.  DTP was firmly fixed on the mesoporous channels of PCHs by Direct method and functionalization method.  DTP supported PCHs catalyst were found to be good catalyst for acetalization of cyclohexanone with more than 90% conversion.

Robot Motion Vision by Fixation

In many motion-vision scenarios, a camera (mounted on a moving vehicle) takes images of an environment to find the "motion'' and shape. We introduce a direct-method called fixation for solving this motion-vision problem in its general case. Fixation uses neither feature-correspondence nor optical-flow. Instead, spatio-temporal brightness gradients are used directly. In contrast to previous direct methods, fixation does not restrict the motion or the environment. Moreover, fixation method neither requires tracked images as its input nor uses mechanical tracking for obtaining fixated images. The experimental results on real images are presented and the implementation issues and techniques are discussed.

El virus de l'hepatitis C i la ribonucleasa Phumana: aspectes biològics i terapèutics

El virus de l'hepatitis C (VHC) provoca una hepatitis crònica que afecta a més de 170 milions de persones d'arreu del món. És un virus petit que es classifica dins de la família Flaviviridae i és un virus d'RNA de cadena positiva amb un genoma d'aproximadament 9.600 nucleòtids. A l'extrem 5' del genoma viral s'hi troba una regió no codificant (5'NCR) que comprèn els primers 341 nucleòtids i la seva funció està relaciona amb la traducció. Immediatament després hi ha una pauta de lectura oberta ORF que acaba en un únic codó d'aturada i codifica una poliproteïna de 3.010 aminoàcids. A continuació l'extrem 3' no codificant (3'NCR), que malgrat es desconeixen les seves funcions exactes, s'ha demostrat que és essencial per a la replicació vírica. La única poliproteïna generada és processada co- i postraduccionalment mitjançant proteases de l'hoste i víriques, donant lloc a les proteïnes estructurals (Core, E1 i E2-p7) i no estructurals (NS2-NS5B). Igual que la majoria de virus RNA, el VHC es caracteritza per tenir una taxa de mutació elevada. De fet, el genoma del virus no es pot definir com una única seqüència sinó per una població de variants molt relacionades entre sí. A aquesta manera d'organitzar la informació genètica se l'anomena quasiespècie viral i una de les seves implicacions principals és la facilitat amb què sorgeixen resistents al tractament. Els tractaments disponibles són llargs, cars, provoquen efectes secundaris considerables i només es resolen completament el 40% dels casos. Per aquesta raó es busquen altres solucions terapèutiques per combatre el virus entre les quals s'hi inclouen diferents estratègies. Una de les més innovadores i prometedores és la utilització de ribozims dirigits directament contra el genoma del virus. Aquest treball es centra en l'estudi de les noves estratègies terapèutiques basades en ribozims, concretament la ribonucleasa P. La ribonucleasa P és un ribozim que està present en tots els organismes ja que és l'enzim responsable de la maduració dels precursors d'RNA de transferència. El més interessant a nivell terapèutic és que s'ha demostrat que es pot dirigir la seva activitat cap a qualsevol RNA utilitzant una seqüència guia d'RNA que quan hibrida amb l'RNA diana, l'híbrid imita l'estructura secundària del substrat natural. En el cas del VHC, s'han estudiat ribozims dependents de seqüència (ribozims derivats d'RNAs satèl·lits i de viroides de plantes), sempre dirigits contra la regió més conservada del virus per evitar una disminució de l'eficiència del ribozim deguda a la variació de la diana. La ribonucleasa P és una endonucleasa d'activitat molt específica i es diferencia dels altres ribozims naturals en el sistema de reconeixement del substrat, reconeix elements estructurals i no de seqüència. L'objectiu final del treball és tallar in vitro l'RNA del VHC aprofitant la propietat que presenta aquest ribozim de reconèixer elements estructurals i no de seqüència ja que per a un mateix nombre de seqüències, el nombre d'estructures viables que pot adoptar l'RNA genòmic és molt més petit i per tant la variabilitat de la diana disminueix. S'han estudiat dos models d'RNasa P, la RNasa P humana guiada per seqüència guia externa (EGS) i l'RNA M1 de l'RNasa P d'E.coli unit a la seqüència guia per l'extrem 3' (ribozim M1GS). Abans però de dirigir el ribozim, s'han estudiat l'estructura i la variabilitat d'una regió del genoma del virus ja que s'ha descrit que són factors que poden limitar l'eficiència de qualsevol ribozim. Derivat d'aquests estudis s'aporten dades sobre accessibilitat i variabilitat d'una regió interna del genoma del virus de l'hepatitis C, la zona d'unió de la regió E2/NS2 (regió 2658-2869). L'estudi d'accessibilitat revela que la regió 2658-2869 del genoma del virus conté dominis oberts i tancats i que la transició entre uns i altres no és brusca si es compara amb altres regions d'estructura coneguda (regió 5' no codificant). Els resultats dels assajos in vitro amb els dos models de RNasa P mostren que s'ha aconseguit dirigir tant la ribonucleasa P humana com el ribozim M1GS cap a una zona, predeterminada segons l'estudi d'accessibilitat, com a poc estructurada i tallar l'RNA del virus. De l'anàlisi de mutacions, però, es dedueix que la regió estudiada és variable. Tot i dirigir el ribozim cap a la zona més accessible, la variació de la diana podria afectar la interacció amb la seqüència guia i per tant disminuir l'eficiència de tall. Si es proposés una estratègia terapèutica consistiria en un atac simultani de vàries dianes.D'altra banda i derivat d'un resultat inesperat on s'ha observat en els experiments control que l'extracte de RNasa P humana tallava l'RNA viral en absència de seqüències guia externes, s'ha caracteritzat una nova interacció entre l'RNA del VHC i la RNasa P humana. Per a la identificació de l'enzim responsable dels talls s'han aplicat diferents tècniques que es poden dividir en mètodes directes (RNA fingerprinting) i indirectes (immunoprecipitació i inhibicions competitives). Els resultats demostren que la ribonucleasa P humana, i no un altre enzim contaminant de l'extracte purificat, és la responsable dels dos talls específics observats i que es localitzen, un a l'entrada interna al ribosoma (IRES) i molt a prop del codó AUG d'inici de la traducció i l'altre entre la regió codificant estructural i no estructural. La ribonucleasa P és un dels enzims del metabolisme del tRNA que s'utilitza per identificar estructures similars al tRNA en substrats diferents del substrat natural. Així doncs, el fet que la ribonucleasa P reconegui i talli el genoma del VHC en dues posicions determinades suggereix que, a les zones de tall, el virus conté estructures semblants al substrat natural, és a dir estructures tipus tRNA. A més, tot i que el VHC és molt variable, els resultats indiquen que aquestes estructures poden ser importants per el virus, ja que es mantenen en totes les variants naturals analitzades. Creiem que la seva presència podria permetre al genoma interaccionar amb factors cel·lulars que intervenen en la biologia del tRNA,particularment en el cas de l'estructura tipus tRNA que es localitza a l'element IRES. Independentment però de la seva funció, es converteixen en unes noves dianes terapèutiques per a la RNasa P. S'ha de replantejar però l'estratègia inicial ja que la similitud amb el tRNA les fa susceptibles a l'atac de la ribonucleasa P, directament, en absència de seqüències guia externes.

On improving the performance in robust controllers for robot manipulators with parametric disturbances

This paper presents a new strategy for controlling rigid-robot manipulators in the presence of parametric uncertainties or un-modelled dynamics. The strategy combines an adaptation law with a well known robust controller proposed by Spong, which is derived using Lyapunov's direct method. Although the tracking problem of manipulators has been successfully solved with different strategies, there are some conditions under which their efficiency is limited. Specifically, their performance decreases when unknown loading masses or model disturbances are introduced. The aim of this work is to show that the proposed strategy performs better than existing algorithms, as verified with real-time experimental results with a Puma-560 robot. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Conditioning model output statistics of regional climate model precipitation on circulation patterns

Dynamical downscaling of Global Climate Models (GCMs) through regional climate models (RCMs) potentially improves the usability of the output for hydrological impact studies. However, a further downscaling or interpolation of precipitation from RCMs is often needed to match the precipitation characteristics at the local scale. This study analysed three Model Output Statistics (MOS) techniques to adjust RCM precipitation; (1) a simple direct method (DM), (2) quantile-quantile mapping (QM) and (3) a distribution-based scaling (DBS) approach. The modelled precipitation was daily means from 16 RCMs driven by ERA40 reanalysis data over the 1961–2000 provided by the ENSEMBLES (ENSEMBLE-based Predictions of Climate Changes and their Impacts) project over a small catchment located in the Midlands, UK. All methods were conditioned on the entire time series, separate months and using an objective classification of Lamb's weather types. The performance of the MOS techniques were assessed regarding temporal and spatial characteristics of the precipitation fields, as well as modelled runoff using the HBV rainfall-runoff model. The results indicate that the DBS conditioned on classification patterns performed better than the other methods, however an ensemble approach in terms of both climate models and downscaling methods is recommended to account for uncertainties in the MOS methods.

Trends in systemic lupus erythematosus mortality rates in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil from 1985 to 2004

Objectives To estimate mortality rates and mortality trends from SLE in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Material and methods The official data bank was used to study all deaths occurred from 1985 to 2004 in which SLE was mentioned as the underlying cause of death. Besides the overall mortality rate, the annual gender- and age-specific mortality rates were estimated for each calendar year by age bracket (0-19 years, 20-39 years, 40-59 years and over 60 years) and for the sub-periods 1985-1995 (first) and 1996-2004 (second), by decades. Chi-square test was used to compare the mortality rates between the two periods, as well the mortality rates according to educational level considering years of study. Pearson correlation coefficient test was used to analyse mortality trends. The crude rates were adjusted for age by the direct method, using the standard Brazilian population in 2000. Results A total of 2,601 deaths (90% female) attributed to SLE were analysed. The mean age at death was significantly higher in the second than in the first sub-period (36.6 +/- 15.6 years vs. 33.9 +/- 14.0 years; p<0.001). The overall adjusted mortality rate was 3.8 deaths/million habitants/year for the entire period and 3.4 deaths/million inhabitants/year for the first and 4.0 deaths/million inhabitants/year for the second sub-period (p<0.001). In each calendar year, the mortality rate was significantly lower for the better educated group. Throughout the period, there was a significant increase in mortality rates only among women over 40. Conclusion SLE patients living in the state of Silo Paulo still die at younger ages than those living in developed countries. Our data do not support the theory that there was an improvement in the SLE mortality rate in the last 20 years in the state of Sao Paulo. Socio-economic factors, such as the difficulty to get medical care and adequate treatment, may be the main factors to explain the worst prognosis for our patients.

UNIFORM DISSIPATIVENESS, ROBUST SYNCHRONIZATION AND LOCATION OF THE ATTRACTOR OF PARAMETRIZED NONAUTONOMOUS DISCRETE SYSTEMS

In this series of papers, we study issues related to the synchronization of two coupled chaotic discrete systems arising from secured communication. The first part deals with uniform dissipativeness with respect to parameter variation via the Liapunov direct method. We obtain uniform estimates of the global attractor for a general discrete nonautonomous system, that yields a uniform invariance principle in the autonomous case. The Liapunov function is allowed to have positive derivative along solutions of the system inside a bounded set, and this reduces substantially the difficulty of constructing a Liapunov function for a given system. In particular, we develop an approach that incorporates the classical Lagrange multiplier into the Liapunov function method to naturally extend those Liapunov functions from continuous dynamical system to their discretizations, so that the corresponding uniform dispativeness results are valid when the step size of the discretization is small. Applications to the discretized Lorenz system and the discretization of a time-periodic chaotic system are given to illustrate the general results. We also show how to obtain uniform estimation of attractors for parametrized linear stable systems with nonlinear perturbation.