Comportamento de seis variedades de pomelo (Citrus paradisi Macfad.) cultivadas sob irrigação na região semi-árida de Pernambuco

O uso da irrigação nas regiões semi-áridas do Nordeste brasileiro tem viabilizado o cultivo comercial de inúmeras fruteiras, tais como a uva, a manga, a goiaba, o coco e a banana. Outras espécies, como o pomelo, ou grapefruit, vêm sendo ainda objeto de estudos e avaliações. Uma coleção formada de 06 variedades de pomelos (Citrus paradisi), de polpas com coloração rosa-avermelhada ('Marsh Foster', 'Star Ruby', 'Rio Red' e 'Red Blush') e amarelada ('Triumph' e 'Marsh Foster Nucelar'), foi implantada em 1993 na Estação Experimental de Ibimirim, localizada no município de Ibimirim, no Vale do Rio Moxotó - região semi-árida de Pernambuco. Contando com cinco plantas por parcela, a coleção foi conduzida sob irrigação localizada e as avaliações realizadas durante três anos (2000 a 2002). Os resultados demostraram alta variabilidade na produção de frutos, tendo a variedade 'Marsh Foster Nucelar' alcançado a produção média de 135,0 kg/planta, enquanto a 'Star Ruby' atingiu apenas 31,0 kg/planta. O peso médio dos frutos variou de 285,5g ('Red Blush') até um máximo de 401,6g na variedade 'Triumph'. O volume de suco extraído, os sólidos solúveis totais (SST), a acidez total titulável (ATT) e a relação SSS/ATT também apresentaram mudanças entre as variedades estudadas.

El Semi-Semanario Ilerdense (1822)

En este artículo se pretende analizar la prensa de la ciudad de Lleida durante el Trienio Liberal. Para ello se ha iniciado el texto introduciendo un contexto histórico marcado por la contrarrevolución realista destinada a acabar con el gobierno liberal. Para a continuación esbozar una breve caracterización de la prensa en el Trienio Liberal. Finalmente se estudian de una manera pormenorizada los ocho números del Semi-Semanario Ilerdense (1822), el único periódico editado y publicado en Lleida a lo largo del período liberal, el cual se identificó por su carácter liberal exaltado.

Efeito do ácido indolbutírico e época de coleta no enraizamento de estacas semi-lenhosas do cacaueiro

O objetivo do trabalho foi verificar o efeito do ácido indolbutírico (AIB) no enraizamento de estacas do cacaueiro. O delineamento experimental foi o inteiramente casualizado, em esquema fatorial 3 x 5 x 2, envolvendo 3 clones (Cepec 2008, CCN 51 e TSH 1188), 5 concentrações de ácido indolbutírico AIB (0; 1.000; 3.000; 6.000 e 9.000 mg kg-1), duas épocas do ano (verão e inverno),, cinco repetições e 10 estacas por parcela. A avaliação do experimento foi realizada 120 dias após o plantio e analisadas as seguintes variáveis: percentagem de sobrevivência (SOB), número de brotações (NB), matéria seca das brotações (MSB), percentagem de estacas enraizadas (ENR), número de raízes (NR) e matéria seca de raízes (MSR). Os fatores época do ano e concentração de AIB apresentaram efeito significativo para as variáveis estudadas quando isolados e em interação com os clones. Os dados obtidos possibilitaram concluir que o valor médio da concentração ideal de AIB (CI) foi de 4.169 mg kg-1 e 3.985 mg kg-1 no verão e inverno, respectivamente. Verificou-se que os clones apresentam diferentes respostas em relação à CI de AIB e época do ano. De modo geral, as CIs no verão foram maiores que no inverno. Os resultados mostraram que a época de plantio e a concentração de AIB influenciaram de maneira mais expressiva na sobrevivência e enraizamento das estacas dos clones Cepec 2008 e CCN 51 e em menor intensidade no clone TSH 1188. Existe uma concentração ideal de AIB para cada um dos clones estudados.

Between Immunology And Tolerance: Controlling Immune Responses Employing Tolerogenic Dendritic Cells

Dendritic cells (DCs) are the most efficient antigen presenting cells, they provide co-stimulation, are able to secrete various proinflammatory cytokines and therefore play a pivotal role in shaping adaptive immune responses. Moreover, they are important for the promotion and maintenance of central and peripheral tolerance through several mechanisms like the induction of anergy or apoptosis in effector T cells or by promoting regulatory T cells. The murine CD8α+ (MuTu) dendritic cell line was previously derived and described in our laboratory. The MuTu cell line has been shown to maintain phenotypical and functional characteristics of endogenous CD8α+ DCs. They are able to cross-present exogenous antigens to CD8+ T cells and produce interleukin (IL-) 12 upon engagement of Toll like receptors. The cell line constitutes an infinite source of homogenous, phenotypically well-defined dendritic cells. This allows us to investigate the role and potential of specific molecules in the induction as well as regulation of immune responses by DCs in a rational and standardized way. In a first project the MuTu dendritic cell line was transduced in order to stably express the immunosuppressive molecules IL-10, IL-35 or the active form of TGF-β (termed IL-10+DC, IL-35+DC or actTGFβ+DC). We investigated the capability of these potentially suppressive or tolerogenic dendritic cell lines to induce immune tolerance and explore the mechanisms behind tolerance induction. The expression of TGF-β by the DC line did not affect the phenotype of the DCs itself. In contrast, IL-10+ and IL-35+DCs were found to exhibit lower expression of co-stimulatory molecules and MHC class I and II, as well as reduced secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines upon activation. In vitro co-culture with IL-35+, IL10+ or active TGFβ+ DCs interfered with function and proliferation of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. Furthermore, IL-35 and active TGF-β expressing DC lines induced regulatory phenotype on CD4+ T cells in vitro without or with expression of Foxp3, respectively. In different murine cancer models, vaccination with IL-35 or active TGF-β expressing DCs resulted in faster tumor growth. Interestingly, accelerated tumor growth could be observed when IL-35-expressing DCs were injected into T cell-deficient RAG-/- mice. IL-10expressing DCs however, were found to rather delay tumor growth. Besides the mentioned autocrine effects of IL-35 expression on the DC line itself, we surprisingly observed that the expression of IL-35 or the addition of IL-35 containing medium enhances neutrophil survival and induces proliferation of endothelial cells. Our findings indicate that the cytokine IL-35 might not only be a potent regulator of adaptive immune responses, but it also implies IL-35 to mediate diverse effects on an array of cellular targets. This abilities make IL-35 a promising target molecule not only for the treatment of auto-inflammatory disease but also to improve anti-cancer immunotherapies. Indeed, by applying active TGFβ+ in murine autoimmune encephalitis we were able to completely inhibit the development of the disease, whereas IL-35+DCs reduced disease incidence and severity. Furthermore, the preventive transfer of IL-35+DCs delayed rejection of transplanted skin to the same extend as the combination of IL-10/actTGF-β expressing DCs. Thus, the expression of a single tolerogenic molecule can be sufficient to interfere with the adequate activation and function of dendritic cells and of co-cultured T lymphocytes. The respective mechanisms of tolerance induction seem to be different for each of the investigated molecule. The application of a combination of multiple tolerogenic molecules might therefore evoke synergistic effects in order to overcome (auto-) immunity. In a second project we tried to improve the immunogenicity of dendritic cell-based cancer vaccines using two different approaches. First, the C57BL/6 derived MuTu dendritic cell line was genetically modified in order to express the MHC class I molecule H-2Kd. We hypothesized that the expression of BALB/c specific MHC class I haplotype (H-2Kd) should allow the priming of tumor-specific CD8+ T cells by the otherwise allogeneic dendritic cells. At the same time, the transfer of these H-2Kd+ DCs into BALB/c mice was thought to evoke a strong inflammatory environment that might act as an "adjuvant", helping to overcome tumor induced immune suppression. Using this so called "semi-allogeneic" vaccination approach, we could demonstrate that the delivery of tumor lysate pulsed H-2Kd+ DCs significantly delayed tumor growth when compared to autologous or allogeneic vaccination. However, we were not able to coherently elucidate the cellular mechanisms underlying the observed effect. Second, we generated MuTu DC lines which stably express the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-2, IL-12 or IL-15. We investigated whether the combination of DC vaccination and local delivery of pro-inflammatory cytokines might enhance tumor specific T cell responses. Indeed, we observed an enhanced T cell proliferation and activation when they were cocultured in vitro with IL-12 or IL-2-expressing DCs. But unfortunately we could not observe a beneficial or even synergistic impact on tumor development when cytokine delivery was combined with semi-allogeneic DC vaccination.

Stable isotopes in arid and semi-arid forest systems

El empleo de isótopos estables en el ámbito de la ecología forestal ha ido creciendo progresivamente en las últimas dos décadas. Cabe esperar que esta tendencia se mantenga en el futuro, ya que éstos aportan una visión integradora de cómo las plantas, hoy y en el pasado, han interaccionado con el medio así como con otros organismos. Su implementación es particularmente relevante en climas secos debido a la fuerte limitación de recursos que en ellos acontece. Tras una breve introducción sobre las bases teóricas de los isótopos estables en fisiología vegetal, esta revisión destaca, sobre diferentes escalas espaciales y temporales, los últimos avances en ecología forestal empleando esta metodología y con un énfasis especial en los sistemas áridos y semiáridos.

A semi-grand canonical Monte Carlo simulation model for ion binding to ionizable surfaces: Proton binding of carboxylated latex particles as a case study

In this paper, we present a computer simulation study of the ion binding process at an ionizable surface using a semi-grand canonical Monte Carlo method that models the surface as a discrete distribution of charged and neutral functional groups in equilibrium with explicit ions modelled in the context of the primitive model. The parameters of the simulation model were tuned and checked by comparison with experimental titrations of carboxylated latex particles in the presence of different ionic strengths of monovalent ions. The titration of these particles was analysed by calculating the degree of dissociation of the latex functional groups vs. pH curves at different background salt concentrations. As the charge of the titrated surface changes during the simulation, a procedure to keep the electroneutrality of the system is required. Here, two approaches are used with the choice depending on the ion selected to maintain electroneutrality: counterion or coion procedures. We compare and discuss the difference between the procedures. The simulations also provided a microscopic description of the electrostatic double layer (EDL) structure as a function of pH and ionic strength. The results allow us to quantify the effect of the size of the background salt ions and of the surface functional groups on the degree of dissociation. The non-homogeneous structure of the EDL was revealed by plotting the counterion density profiles around charged and neutral surface functional groups. © 2011 American Institute of Physics.

Automated monitoring of medical protocols: a secure and distributed architecture

The control of the right application of medical protocols is a key issue in hospital environments. For the automated monitoring of medical protocols, we need a domain-independent language for their representation and a fully, or semi, autonomous system that understands the protocols and supervises their application. In this paper we describe a specification language and a multi-agent system architecture for monitoring medical protocols. We model medical services in hospital environments as specialized domain agents and interpret a medical protocol as a negotiation process between agents. A medical service can be involved in multiple medical protocols, and so specialized domain agents are independent of negotiation processes and autonomous system agents perform monitoring tasks. We present the detailed architecture of the system agents and of an important domain agent, the database broker agent, that is responsible of obtaining relevant information about the clinical history of patients. We also describe how we tackle the problems of privacy, integrity and authentication during the process of exchanging information between agents.

The impact of balancing on problem hardness in a highly structured domain

Random problem distributions have played a key role in the study and design of algorithms for constraint satisfaction and Boolean satisfiability, as well as in ourunderstanding of problem hardness, beyond standard worst-case complexity. We consider random problem distributions from a highly structured problem domain that generalizes the Quasigroup Completion problem (QCP) and Quasigroup with Holes (QWH), a widely used domain that captures the structure underlying a range of real-world applications. Our problem domain is also a generalization of the well-known Sudoku puz- zle: we consider Sudoku instances of arbitrary order, with the additional generalization that the block regions can have rectangular shape, in addition to the standard square shape. We evaluate the computational hardness of Generalized Sudoku instances, for different parameter settings. Our experimental hardness results show that we can generate instances that are considerably harder than QCP/QWH instances of the same size. More interestingly, we show the impact of different balancing strategies on problem hardness. We also provide insights into backbone variables in Generalized Sudoku instances and how they correlate to problem hardness.

Crescimento e conteúdo de nutrientes minerais em mudas de mirtileiro em sistema convencional e semi-hidropônico

O mirtileiro possui alto potencial econômico, no entanto, sua expansão de cultivo é limitada pela dificuldade de propagação. O cultivo hidropônico possibilita melhor crescimento devido à eficiência no fornecimento de nutrientes. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar o crescimento e o conteúdo de nutrientes minerais de mudas micropropagadas de mirtileiro em sistema convencional e semi-hidropônico. Mudas das cultivares Bluebelle e Woodard, com 3 meses de aclimatização, foram submetidas a dois sistemas de cultivo: sistema convencional,em que foram mantidas em sacos de polietileno contendo Plantmax® + vermiculita (1:1) e irrigadas com solução nutritiva a cada 15 dias; e sistema semi-hidropônico, na qual permaneceram em floreiras plásticas contendo areia, sendo irrigadas com solução nutritiva diariamente. O delineamento experimental foi em blocos casualizados com quatro tratamentos, com quatro repetições compostas por doze plantas. Foram avaliados mensalmente a altura da parte aérea, número de brotações e comprimento médio das brotações, e aos 90 dias a massa fresca da parte aérea, massa fresca e seca radicular e análise nutricional das folhas. O sistema semi-hidropônico proporcionou melhores resultados para todas as variáveis avaliadas, em ambas as cultivares. As mudas cultivadas no sistema semi-hidropônico apresentaram teores de nutrientes mais elevados e adequados para esta cultura.

Enraizamento de microestacas de mirtileiro provenientes de microjardim clonal semi-hidropônico

O uso de microjardins clonais hidropônicos tem sido relatado com sucesso para espécies florestais e pode vir a se tornar uma excelente alternativa para espécies frutíferas de difícil propagação, como é o caso do mirtilo. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar o enraizamento de microestacas de mirtileiro provenientes de dois sistemas de cultivo (convencional e semi-hidropônico), submetidas a diferentes concentrações de AIB (ácido indolbutírico). As microestacas de mirtileiro das cultivares Bluebelle e Woodard foram submetidas a diferentes concentrações de AIB (0; 500; 1.000; 1.500 e 2.000 mg.L-1), acondicionadas em caixas plásticas contendo vermiculita e, aos 90 dias de cultivo, avaliou-se o seu rendimento. O delineamento experimental foi o inteiramente casualizado, com vinte tratamentos, contendo quatro repetições, compostas por dez microestacas cada. Foram avaliados as porcentagem de sobrevivência e de enraizamento, o comprimento da maior raiz, o número de brotações, o comprimento médio das brotações, o número de folhas e as massas fresca e seca radiculares. O sistema semi-hidropônico proporcionou um rendimento de microestacas significativamente superior ao convencional; entretanto, este material apresentou menores porcentagens de sobrevivência e enraizamento. Todos os tratamentos, inclusive aquele sem a presença de AIB, apresentaram porcentagens de enraizamento superiores a 50%.