Systematic review and cladistic analysis of the genus Eusarcus Perty 1833 (Arachnida, Opiliones, Gonyleptidae)

Eusarcus Perty 1833 is one of the oldest described genera of Pachylinae, comprising 36 species distributed from northeastern to southern Brazil (including the central west region), northeastern Argentina, eastern Paraguay and Uruguay. The genus is reviewed and a new classification is proposed based on a cladistic analysis. A cladistic analysis was performed with the 34 valid species of Eusarcus and 11 species belonging to certain Gonyleptidae subfamilies. The data matrix has 67 characters: 14 from dorsal scutum and pedipalp, 38 from male legs and 15 from male genitalia. Two equally parsimonious trees were found (L=319; C. I.=0.26, R. I.=0.61). Pygophalangodus gemignanii uruguayensis Ringuelet 1955a and Pygophalangodus gemignanii gemignanii Mello-Leitao 1931b are here elevated to the category of species, and the following new combinations are proposed: E. catharinensis (Mello-Leitao 1927); E. berlae (Mello-Leitao 1932); E. gemignanii (Mello-Leitao 1931b); E. signatus(Roewer 1949); E. sooretamae (Soares & Soares 1946a); E. uruguayensis (Ringuelet 1955a). The following generic synonymies are proposed: Eusarcus Perty 1833 (type species E. armatus Perty 1833) = Metagraphinotus Mello-Leitao 1927 (type species M. catharinensis Mello-Leitao 1927), Pareusarcus Roewer 1929 (type species P. corniculatus Roewer 1929), Pygophalangodus Mello-Leitao 1931b (type species P. gemignanii-gemignanii Mello-Leitao 1931b) and Antetriceras Roewer 1949 (type species A. signatus Roewer 1949). The following specific synonymies are proposed: Eusarcus hastatus Sorensen 1884 = Pucrolioides argentina Roewer 1913, E. guimaraensi H. Soares 1945, Jacarepaguana pectinifemur Piza 1943, Canestrinia canalsi Mello-Leitao 1931a, and E. maquinensis H. Soares 1966b; E. armatus Perty 1833 = E. curvispinosus Mello-Leitao 1923b, and Enantiocentron montis Mello-Leitao 1936; Eusarcus catharinensis (Mello-Leitao 1927) = E. antoninae Mello-Leitao 1936, E. perpusillus Mello-Leitao 1945, E. tripos Mello-Leitao 1940, and Metagraphinotus trochanterspinosus Soares & Soares 1947b; E. nigrimaculatus Mello-Leitao 1924 = Pareusarcus centromelos Mello-Leitao 1935a, E. furcatus Roewer 1929, Orguesia armata Roewer 1913, and Pareusarcus corniculatus Roewer 1929; E. oxyacanthus Kollar in Koch 1839a = Enantiocentron doriphorus Mello-Leitao 1932, and E. spinimanu Mello-Leitao 1932; E. pusillus Sorensen 1884 = E. vervloeti B. Soares 1944c; E. berlae Mello-Leitao 1932 = Metagraphinotus arlei Mello-Leitao 1935a. Metapucrolia armata (Sorensen 1895) is revalidated, transferred to Eusarcus and considered as a species inquirenda. A new name, Eusarcus metapucrolia is proposed for this species to avoid homonymy with the type species of Eusarcus, E. armatus Perty 1833. Eusarcus aberrans Mello-Leitao 1939a is considered as a species inquirenda. The male of E. teresincola Soares & Soares 1946a is described. Female of the following species are described: E. bifidus Roewer 1929; E. dubius B. Soares 1943b; E. insperatus B. Soares 1944a; E. schubarti Soares & Soares 1946a; E. sooretamae (Soares & Soares 1946a). The following new species are described from Brazil: E. acrophthalmus (type locality: Bahia, Ilheus, Parataquice); E. alpinus (Rio de Janeiro, Santa Maria Madalena, Parque Estadual do Desengano); E. caparaoensis (Minas Gerais, Alto Caparao, Parque Nacional do Caparao); E. cavernicola (Goias, Sao Domingos, Parque Estadual de Terra Ronca, Lapa da Angelica); E. didactylus (Rio de Janeiro, Teresopolis, Parque Nacional Serra dos Orgaos); E. garibaldiae (Santa Catarina, Itajai); E. geometricus (Rio de Janeiro, Teresopolis, Parque Nacional Serra dos Orgaos); E. manero (Rio de Janeiro, Marica, Itaipuacu); E. matogrossensis (Mato Grosso, Chapada dos Guimaraes); E. mirabilis (Minas Gerais, Marlieria, Parque Estadual Rio Doce); E. sergipanus (Sergipe, Itabaiana, Parque Nacional de Itabaiana) and E. tripectinatus (Minas Gerais, Rio Preto). The holotype of E. curvispinosus is proposed as the neotype of E. armatus Perty 1833, the type material of which has been lost. Lectotypes for the following species were designated: E. aduncus; E. hastatus; E. oxyacanthus.

Learning benefits of self-controlled knowledge of results in 10-year-old children

PIBIC-CNPq-Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Technologico

Natural and human forcing in recent geomorphic change; case studies in the Rio de la Plata basin

An analysis of geomorphic system`s response to change in human and natural drivers in some areas within the Rio de la Plata basin is presented The aim is to determine whether an acceleration of geomorphic processes has taken place in recent years and, if so, to what extent it is due to natural (climate) or human (land-use) drivers Study areas of different size, socio-economic and geomorphic conditions have been selected: the Rio de la Plata estuary and three sub-basins within its watershed Sediment cores were extracted and dated ((210)Pb) to determine sedimentation rates since the end of the 19th century. Rates were compared with time series on rainfall as well as human drivers such as population, GDP, livestock load, crop area, energy consumption or cement consumption, all of them related to human capacity to disturb land surface Data on river discharge were also gathered Results obtained indicate that sedimentation rates during the last century have remained essentially constant in a remote Andean basin, whereas they show important increases in the other two, particularly one located by the Sao Paulo metropolitan area Rates in the estuary are somewhere in between It appears that there is an intensification of denudation/sedimentation processes within the basin. Rainfall remained stable or varied very slightly during the period analysed and does not seem to explain increases of sedimentation rates observed. Human drivers, particularly those more directly related to capacity to disturb land surface (GDP, energy or cement consumption) show variations that suggest human forcing is a more likely explanation for the observed change in geomorphic processes It appears that a marked increase in denudation, of a ""technological"" nature, is taking place in this basin and leading to an acceleration of sediment supply This is coherent with similar increases observed in other regions (C) 2010 Elsevier B V All rights reserved

No relationship found between point heteroplasmy in mitochondrial DNA control region and age range, sex and haplogroup in human hairs

The analysis of heteroplasmy (presence of more than one type of mitochondrial DNA in an individual) is used as a tool in human identification studies, anthropology, and most currently in studies that relate heteroplasmy with longevity. The frequency of heteroplasmy and its correlation with age has been analyzed using different tissues such as blood, muscle, heart, bone and brain and in different regions of mitochondrial DNA, but this analysis had never been performed using hair samples. In this study, samples of hair were sequenced in order to ascertain whether the presence or not of heteroplasmy varied according to age, sex and origin of haplogroup individuals. The samples were grouped by age (3 groups), gender (male and female) and haplogroup of origin (European, African and Native American), and analyzed using the chi-square statistical test (chi(2)). Based in statistical results obtained, we conclude that there is no relationship between heteroplasmy and sex, age and haplogroup origin using hair samples.

Measuring Hydraulic Conductivity to Wilting Point Using Polymer Tensiometers in an Evaporation Experiment

The polymer tensiometer is a novel instrument to measure soil water pressure heads from saturation to permanent wilting conditions. We used tensiometers of this type in an experiment to determine the hydraulic properties of evaporating soil samples in the laboratory. Relative errors in the hydraulic conductivity function in the wet part were high due to the relatively low accuracy of the pressure transducers, resulting in a large uncertainty in the hydraulic gradient and therefore in the calculated hydraulic conductivity. In the dry part, the error related to this accuracy was on the same order of magnitude as the error related to balance accuracy. Therefore, the method can be assumed adequate for measuring soil hydraulic properties except under very wet conditions. In our experiments, relative error and bias increased significantly at pressure heads less negative than -1 m.

ECONOMICAL OCCUPATION OF AGRICULTURAL AREA OF PIRACICABA (SAO PAULO STATE, BRAZIL), INCLUDING RISK THROUGH LINEAR PROGRAMMING

The economic occupation of an area of 500 ha for Piracicaba was studied with the irrigated cultures of maize, tomato, sugarcane and beans, having used models of deterministic linear programming and linear programming including risk for the Target-Motad model, where two situations had been analyzed. In the deterministic model the area was the restrictive factor and the water was not restrictive for none of the tested situations. For the first situation the gotten maximum income was of R$ 1,883,372.87 and for the second situation it was of R$ 1,821,772.40. In the model including risk a producer that accepts risk can in the first situation get the maximum income of R$ 1,883,372. 87 with a minimum risk of R$ 350 year(-1), and in the second situation R$ 1,821,772.40 with a minimum risk of R$ 40 year(-1). Already a producer averse to the risk can get in the first situation a maximum income of R$ 1,775,974.81 with null risk and for the second situation R$ 1.707.706, 26 with null risk, both without water restriction. These results stand out the importance of the inclusion of the risk in supplying alternative occupations to the producer, allowing to a producer taking of decision considered the risk aversion and the pretension of income.

A new species of Phaenocarpa Foerster (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Alysiinae) from Brazil parasitizing Neosilba perezi (Diptera: Lonchaeidae)

This paper provides the description of Phaenocarpa neosilbae sp. n. (Braconidae: Alysiinae) reared from larvae of Neosilba perezi (Romero Ruppel, 1973) (Diptera: Lonchaeidae) in Brazil. Diagnostic characters are figured and the key to the Neotropical species of Phaenocarpa (Arouca Penteado-Dias, 2006) is modified to include the new species.

Heteroplasmy in Hair: Study of Mitochondrial DNA Third Hypervariable Region in Hair and Blood Samples

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis has proved useful for forensic identification especially in cases where nuclear DNA is not available, such as with hair evidence. Heteroplasmy, the presence of more than one type of mtDNA in one individual, is a common situation often reported in the first and second mtDNA hypervariable regions (HV1/HV2), particularly in hair samples. However, there is no data about heteroplasmy frequency in the third mtDNA hypervariable region (HV3). To investigate possible heteroplasmy hotspots, HV3 from hair and blood samples of 100 individuals were sequenced and compared. No point heteroplasmy was observed, but length heteroplasmy was, both in C-stretch and CA repeat. To observe which CA ""alleles"" were present in each tissue, PCR products were cloned and re-sequenced. However, no variation among CA alleles was observed. Regarding forensic practice, we conclude that point heteroplasmy in HV3 is not as frequent as in the HV1/HV2.

Chiral Triphenylprolinol Ligands for the Efficient Catalytic Asymmetric Arylation of Aldehydes

The synthesis of new chiral amino alcohols by Heck arylation of an enecarbamate is described. These compounds were used as chiral ligands for the catalytic asymmetric arylation of aldehydes and can be easily recovered. Chiral, nonracemic diarylmethanols were obtained in high yields and enantioselectivities.

Antileishmanial Sesquiterpenes from the Brazilian Red Alga Laurencia dendroidea

Investigation of the bioactive crude extracts from two populations of the red alga Laurencia dendroidea from the southeastern Brazilian coast led to the identification of five sesquiterpenes: (+)-obtusane (1), a triquinane derivative (2), (-)-elatol (3), obtusol (4), and cartilagineol (5). An antileishmanial bioassay against Leishmania amazonensis was conducted for crude lipophilic extracts and for sesquiterpenes 2, 3, and 4. Compounds 3 and 4 displayed in vitro and in vivo leishmanicidal activity and very low cytotoxicity.

Influence of insulin treatment on the lacrimal gland and ocular surface of diabetic rats

Previous studies have observed changes in the lacrimal gland and ocular surface related to diabetes mellitus and related it to insulin resistance or insufficiency and oxidative damage. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether insulin treatment inhibits those changes. Diabetes was induced in male Wistar rats with a single intravenous injection of streptozotocin and a subgroup was treated with insulin. After 5 and 10 weeks, the three groups (n = 5-10/group/experimental procedure) were compared for biochemical, functional, and histological parameters. After 5 weeks, changes in morphology and increased numbers of lipofucsin-like inclusions were observed in lacrimal glands of diabetic but not insulin-treated rats. After 5 weeks, malonaldehyde and total peroxidase activity were significantly higher in diabetic rats, but similar to control in insulin-treated diabetic rats (P = 0.03, P = 0.02, respectively). Our data indicate that diabetes induces histological alterations in lacrimal gland and suggests that hyperglycemia-related oxidative stress may participate in diabetic dry eye syndrome. Prevention by insulin replacement suggests direct hormone action and/or benefit by early sub optimal metabolic control.

Biochemical and structural characterization of a beta-1,3-1,4-glucanase from Bacillus subtilis 168

beta-1,3-1,4-Glucanases (E.C. 3.2.1.73) hydrolyze linked beta-D-glucans, such as lichenan and barley beta-glucan. Recombinant beta-1,3-1,4-glucanase from Bacillus subtilis expressed in Escherichia coil and purified by Ni-NTA chromatography exhibited optimum activity at 50 degrees C and pH 6.0. The catalytic half-life at 60 degrees C decreased from 90 to 5 min when the enzyme was incubated in the presence and absence of Ca(2+) respectively. The kinetic parameters of lichenan hydrolysis were 2695, 3.1 and 1220 for V(max) (mu mol/min/mg), K(m) (mg mL(-1)) and K(cat) (s(-1)), respectively. Analysis by DLS, AUC and SAXS demonstrated the enzyme is monomeric in solution. Chemical denaturation monitored by ITFE and far-UV CD yielded Delta G(H2O) values of 9.6 and 9.1 kcal/mol, respectively, showing that the enzyme has intermediate stability when compared with other Bacillus beta-1,3-1,4-glucanases. The crystal structure shows the anti-parallel jelly-roll beta-sheet conserved in all GH16 beta-1,3-1,4-glucanases, with the amino acid differences between Bacillus sp. enzymes that are likely determinants of stability being distributed throughout the protein. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Conditioned fear is modulated by D(2) receptor pathway connecting the ventral tegmental area and basolateral amygdala

Excitation of the mesocorticolimbic pathway, originating from dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA), may be important for the development of exaggerated fear responding. Among the forebrain regions innervated by this pathway, the amygdala is an essential component of the neural circuitry of conditioned fear. The functional role of the dopaminergic pathway connecting the VIA to the basolateral amygdala (BLA) in fear and anxiety has received little attention. In vivo microdialysis was performed to measure dopamine levels in the BLA of Wistar rats that received the dopamine D(2) agonist quinpirole (1 mu g/0.2 mu l) into the VTA and were subjected to a fear conditioning test using a light as the conditioned stimulus (CS). The effects of intra-BLA injections of the D(1) antagonist SCH 23390 (1 and 2 mu g/0.2 mu l) and D(2) antagonist sulpiride (1 and 2 mu g/0.2 mu l) on fear-potentiated startle (FPS) to a light-CS were also assessed. Locomotor performance was evaluated by use of open-field and rotarod tests. Freezing and increased dopamine levels in the BLA in response to the CS were both inhibited by intra-VTA quinpirole. Whereas intra-BLA SCH 23390 did not affect FPS, intra-BLA sulpiride (2 mu g) inhibited FPS. Sulpiride`s ability to decrease FPS cannot be attributed to nonspecific effects because this drug did not affect motor performance. These findings indicate that the dopamine D(2) receptor pathway connecting the ventral tegmental area and the basolateral amygdala modulates fear and anxiety and may be a novel pharmacological target for the treatment of anxiety. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Wnt signaling pathway and rheumatoid arthritis

The Wnt signaling pathways play a key role in cell renewal, and there are two such pathways. In patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the synovial membrane expresses genes such as Wnt and Fz at higher levels than those observed in patients without RA. The Wnt proteins are glycoproteins that bind to receptors of the Fz family on the cell surface. The Wnt/Fz complex controls tissue formation during embryogenesis, as well as throughout the process of limb development and joint formation. Recent studies have suggested that this signaling pathway plays a role in the pathophysiology of RA. Greater knowledge of the role of the Writ signaling pathway in RA could improve understanding of the differences in RA clinical presentation and prognosis. Further studies should also focus on Wnt family members as molecular targets in the treatment of RA. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Comparison of Humanized IgG and FvFc Anti-CD3 Monoclonal Antibodies Expressed in CHO Cells

Two humanized monoclonal antibody constructs bearing the same variable regions of an anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody, whole IgG and FvFc, were expressed in CHO cells. Random and site-specific integration were used resulting in similar expression levels. The transfectants were selected with appropriate selection agent, and the surviving cells were plated in semi-solid medium for capture with FITC-conjugated anti-human IG antibody and picked with the robotic ClonePix FL. Conditioned media from selected clones were purified by affinity chromatography and characterized by SDS-PAGE, Western-blot, SEC-HPLC, and isoelectric focusing. Binding to the target present in healthy human mononuclear cells was assessed by flow cytometry, as well as by competition between the two constructs and the original murine monoclonal antibody. The humanized constructs were not able to dislodge the murine antibody while the murine anti-CD3 antibody could dislodge around 20% of the FvFc or IgG humanized versions. Further in vitro and in vivo pre-clinical analyses will be carried out to verify the ability of the humanized versions to demonstrate the immunoregulatory profile required for a humanized anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody.