Considerações gerais sôbre a vegetação do Estado de Goiás: notas preliminares sôbre a fitosociologia do Planalto Central do Brasileiro

Em junho de 1947, fomos convidados pelo general DEJALMA POLY COELHO, chefe da Comissão de Estudos do Planalto Central Brasileiro, para colaborarmos com o Grupo de Geógrafos chefiado pelo Prof. FRANCIS RUELLAN, a quem foi confiada parte dos trabalhos para a localização de novo Distrito Federal da República. A Diretoria do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, nos incumbiu então de estudar as condições fito-ecológicas de trechos do Estado de Goiás, paralelamente às observações bio-geográficas que teríamos de realizar para a Comissão. Desde 1945 que vimos observando, em viagens, a vegetação do tipo Cerrado, nos Estados de São Paulo, Minas Gerais e Mato Grosso, Outrossim, em notas já publicadas sôbre a vegetação dos Estados de Mato Grosso e Minas Gerais, tivemos a oportunidade de apreciar, ligeiramente, a importãncia do Cerrado como uma climática e o papel que o mesmo desempenha na configuração bio-geográfica do brasil. Queremos salientar, mais uma vez, a grande necessidade que temos de estudar determinados pontos de outras regiões, para podermos apresentar um trabalho ecológico sôbre o Cerrado brasileiro que, apesar de muito bem conhecido sob o ponto de vista da Sistemática, é quase desconhecido quanto ao papel das espécies dentro das associações e sias reações aos habitats. Com os dados ecológicos que possuíamos e com os estudos que realizamos no Estado de Goiás, sòmente nos falta obter uma visão mais ampla das formações e fazer alguns levantamentos sociológicos nas associações do Cerrado dos Estados de São Paulo, Minas Gerais e Baía para completarmos assim, a nossa monografia sôbre a vegetação do Centro Oeste do Brasil. Na apresentação desta nota não poderiamos deixar de agradecer ao Prof. ALFREDO PORTO DOMINGUES e aos componentes do Grupo pos, recebemos contribuição valiosa de todos, que muito fizeram para o bom andamento dos trabalhos de campo. Expressamos também nossos agradecimentos a quantos, direta ou indiretamente, nos auxiliaram, especialmente a Dra. BERTHA LUTZ, a quem devemos o resumo deste trabalho em Inglês.

Contribuição ao estudo da ação central da mianesina

1) Neste trabalho, expusemos a ação da mianesina sôbre o organismo do Leptodactylus ocellatus, sôbre as convulsões da crioepilepsia e estriquinina produzidas experimentalmente no mesmo e também a ação desta substância sôbre a contratura em flexão da perna do coelho espinhal produzida pelo arrancamento da pele da mesma. 2) A mianesina provocou em doses de 150 a 200 mg/kg paralisia flácida no Leptodactylus ocellatus. 3) A mianesina revelou-se capaz de suprimir os movimentos convulsivos de tipo epileptiforme, obtidos pelo resfriamento brusco da medula espinhal. 4) No Leptodactalus ocellatus o antagonismo da mianesina e estriquinina não é muito acentuado e doses paralisantes da primeira são ineficazes para impedir o surto dos efeitos do alcalóide. 5) A mianesina provocou uma abolição na contratura em flexão da perna do coelho espinhal motivada pelo arrancamento da pele da mesma.

The role of central bank operating procedures in an economy with productive government spending

The choice of either the rate of monetary growth or the nominal interest rate as the instrument controlled by monetary authorities has both positive and normative implications for economic performance. We reexamine some of the issues related to the choice of the monetary policy instrument in a dynamic general equilibrium model exhibiting endogenous growth in which a fraction of productive government spending is financed by means of issuing currency. When we evaluate the performance of the two monetary instruments attending to the fluctuations of endogenous variables, we find that the inflation rate is less volatile under nominal interest rate targeting. Concerning the fluctuations of consumption and of the growth rate, both monetary policy instruments lead to statistically equivalent volatilities. Finally, we show that none of these two targeting procedures displays unambiguously higher welfare levels.

Payments for environmental services in watersheds: insights from a comparative study of three cases in Central America

We have compared three cases of payments for water-related environmental services (PES) in Central America, in terms of socioeconomic background, opportunity costs of forest conservation and stakeholders’ perceptions on the conditions of water resources and other issues. We found that, in general, the foregone benefits from land uses alternative to forest cover are larger than the amount paid, which apparently contradicts the economic foundation of PES schemes. A number of possible explanations are explored. The results also suggest that trade-offs between different environmental and social goals are likely to emerge in PES schemes, posing some doubts on their ability to be multipurpose instruments for environmental improvement and rural development. We also found that PES schemes may work as a conflictresolution instrument, facilitating downstream -upstream problem solving, though at the same time they might introduce changes in social perceptions of property rights.

Lankesterella alencari n. sp., a toxoplasma-like organism in the central nervous system of Amphibia (Protozoa, Sporozoa)

Lankesterella alencari n. sp. a Sporozoa that occur in the blood and CNS of the South American frog Leptodactylus acellatus is described. Since the tissue forms of this parasite have been previously reported as belonging to the genus Toxoplasma, we attempted in fection of 2 species of amphibia (Bufo marinus an dLeptodactylus ocellatus) with a Toxoplasma strain of human origen; inoculation was by intraperitoneal injection of parasite-containing ascitic fluid from infected mice. Attempt of experimental inoculation of the parasite found in the CNS of L. ocellatus in a highly susceptible host (mice) was unsuccessful. These results suggest that Toxoplasma does not occur naturally in the amphibia; be related to Toxoplasma is excluded. The following genera of haematozoa found in brazilian amphibia have been considered briedfly: Haemobartonella, Cytamoeba, Dactylosoma, Hepatozoon and Trypanosoma.

Ten Propositions on Rural Poverty and Agrarian Transition in Central Eurasia

The relation between agricultural development and rural poverty reduction in six Central Eurasian countries, namely Azerbaijan (South Caucasus) and Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan (Central Asia), is discussed by presenting and analyzing ten propositions. These propositions cover a broad range of issues that relate to rural poverty in this region, such as: the state of income and non-income poverty; the diverse processes of land reform and farm restructuring, and agricultural policy reform; and finally, the institutional and market framework that is needed for dynamic agricultural and rural development. The paper contends that rural poverty is not responding as robustly to rapid economic growth in these countries, and that agricultural growth, in particular in the newly emerging peasant farm sector, is necessary to promote rural poverty reduction.

The principal reservoir host of cutaneous leishmaniasis in the urban areas of Manaus, Central Amazon of Brazil

Twenty one opossums (Didelphis marsupialis) from disturbed primary forest in the vicinity of Manaus, and seven from an isolated island of secondary vegetation within the city of Manaus, were examined for the presence of Leishmania. Of the opossums from the primary forests, 13 (61.9%) were found to be positive for Leishmania braziliensis guyanenesis. One additional opossum was found to be positive for Le. mexicana amazonensis. A simple and economical trapping technique for opossums is presented here, and a control method in special cases is suggested.

A new triatomine host of trypanosoma from the Central Amazon of Brazil: Cavernicola lenti n.sp. (Hemiptera, Reduviidae, Triatominae)

Adults and nymphs of Cavernicola lenti, new species, from Amazonas state, Brazil, are described and illustrated. Observations on the biology of the new species are presented. Preliminaty findings indicate that C. lenti is a probable vector of bat trypanosomes.

When do central banks prefer to intervene secretly?

Central banks often intervene secretly in the foreign exchange market. This secrecy seems to be at odds with the signalling channel. In this article we will analyse when a central bank intervening in the foreign exchange rate market purely through the signalling channel would prefer to act secretly or publicly. By using a microstructure model, we will show that the consistency of the intervention with fundamentals, the volume of noise trading, the weight given to the effectiveness of intervention and the degree of superior information held by the central bank will influence the decision to intervene secretly or publicly. Keywords: foreign exchange intervention, market microstructure. JEL Classifi…cation: D82, E58, F31, G14.

Non-assisted versus neuro-navigated and XperCT-guided external ventricular catheter placement: a comparative cadaver study.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Accurate placement of an external ventricular drain (EVD) for the treatment of hydrocephalus is of paramount importance for its functionality and in order to minimize morbidity and complications. The aim of this study was to compare two different drain insertion assistance tools with the traditional free-hand anatomical landmark method, and to measure efficacy, safety and precision. METHODS: Ten cadaver heads were prepared by opening large bone windows centered on Kocher's points on both sides. Nineteen physicians, divided in two groups (trainees and board certified neurosurgeons) performed EVD insertions. The target for the ventricular drain tip was the ipsilateral foramen of Monro. Each participant inserted the external ventricular catheter in three different ways: 1) free-hand by anatomical landmarks, 2) neuronavigation-assisted (NN), and 3) XperCT-guided (XCT). The number of ventricular hits and dangerous trajectories; time to proceed; radiation exposure of patients and physicians; distance of the catheter tip to target and size of deviations projected in the orthogonal plans were measured and compared. RESULTS: Insertion using XCT increased the probability of ventricular puncture from 69.2 to 90.2 % (p = 0.02). Non-assisted placements were significantly less precise (catheter tip to target distance 14.3 ± 7.4 mm versus 9.6 ± 7.2 mm, p = 0.0003). The insertion time to proceed increased from 3.04 ± 2.06 min. to 7.3 ± 3.6 min. (p < 0.001). The X-ray exposure for XCT was 32.23 mSv, but could be reduced to 13.9 mSv if patients were initially imaged in the hybrid-operating suite. No supplementary radiation exposure is needed for NN if patients are imaged according to a navigation protocol initially. CONCLUSION: This ex vivo study demonstrates a significantly improved accuracy and safety using either NN or XCT-assisted methods. Therefore, efforts should be undertaken to implement these new technologies into daily clinical practice. However, the accuracy versus urgency of an EVD placement has to be balanced, as the image-guided insertion technique will implicate a longer preparation time due to a specific image acquisition and trajectory planning.

The Teggiolo zone: a key to the Helvetic-Penninic connection (stratigraphy and tectonics in the Val Bavona, Ticino, Central Alps)

The Teggiolo zone is the sedimentary cover of the Antigorio nappe, one of the lowest tectonic units of the Penninic Central Alps. Detailed mapping, stratigraphic and structural analyses, and comparisons with less metamorphic series in several well-studied domains of the Alps, provide a new stratigraphic interpretation. The Teggiolo zone is comprised of several sedimentary cycles, separated by erosive surfaces and large stratigraphic gaps, which cover the time span from Triassic to Eocene. At Mid-Jurassic times it appears as an uplifted, partially emergent block, marking the southern limit of the main Helvetic basin (the Limiting South-Helvetic Rise LSHR). The main mass of the Teggiolo calcschists, whose base truncates the Triassic-Jurassic cycles and can erode the Antigorio basement, consists of fine-grained clastic sediments analogous to the deep-water flyschoid deposits of Late Cretaceous to Eocene age in the North-Penninic (or Valais s.l.) basins. Thus the Antigorio-Teggiolo domain occupies a crucial paleogeographic position, on the boundary between the Helvetic and Penninic realms: from Triassic to Early Cretaceous its affinity is with the Helvetic; at the end of Cretaceous it is incorporated into the North-Penninic basins. An unexpected result is the discovery of the important role played by complex formations of wildflysch type at the top of the Teggiolo zone. They contain blocks of various sizes. According to their nature, three different associations are distinguished that have specific vertical and lateral distributions. These blocks give clues to the existence of territories that have disappeared from the present-day level of observation and impose constraints on the kinematics of early folding and embryonic nappe emplacement. Tectonics produced several phases of superimposed folds and schistosities, more in the metasediments than in the gneissic basement. Older deformations that predate the amplification of the frontal hinge of the nappe generated the dominant schistosity and the km-wide Vanzèla isoclinal fold.

Description of Lutzomyia (Coromyia) disneyi, n. sp. (Diptera: Psychodidae-Phlebotominae) from Belize, Central America

The commonest sand fly in limestone caves in Belize, Central America, previously, referred to as Lutzomyia beltrani (Belize form), is described as Lutzomyia (Coromyia) disneyi n. sp.

New Sorex araneus karyotypes from Germany and the postglacial recolonization of central Europe

New G-banded karyotypes from populations of the common shrew Sorex araneus Linnaeus, 1758 provide a clearer picture of the distribution of chromosome races in central Europe. As expected according to their occurrence in neighbouring countries, the Jutland (kq, no), Laska (k/o) and Drnholec (ko, nr) races are also found in Germany. A new chromosome race "Rugen" (kq) is described from this Baltic Island. Together with the previously recorded races Ulm and Mooswald (kr), six chromosome races are now known from Germany. The resulting distribution pattern is characterized by high frequencies of different race-specific metacentrics at the periphery of the country and clines with decreasing frequencies towards the centre which is occupied by the Ulm race. This race is acrocentric for all chromosome arms involved in the observed race-specific fusions and represents a buffer between the surrounding, more metacentric races. According to the present distribution of these metacentrics, a scenario for the postglacial recolonization of central Europe by S. araneus populations on three different routes is proposed: from the east along the northern slopes of the Carpathian Arc, from the south-east along the Danube Valley and from the south-west through the Upper Rhine Valley.