Ambulatory blood pressure and Doppler echocardiographic indexes of borderline hypertensive men presenting an exaggerated blood pressure response during dynamic exercise

Borderline hypertension (BH) has been associated with an exaggerated blood pressure (BP) response during laboratory stressors. However, the incidence of target organ damage in this condition and its relation to BP hyperreactivity is an unsettled issue. Thus, we assessed the Doppler echocardiographic profile of a group of BH men (N = 36) according to office BP measurements with exaggerated BP in the cycloergometric test. A group of normotensive men (NT, N = 36) with a normal BP response during the cycloergometric test was used as control. To assess vascular function and reactivity, all subjects were submitted to the cold pressor test. Before Doppler echocardiography, the BP profile of all subjects was evaluated by 24-h ambulatory BP monitoring. All subjects from the NT group presented normal monitored levels of BP. In contrast, 19 subjects from the original BH group presented normal monitored BP levels and 17 presented elevated monitored BP levels. In the NT group all Doppler echocardiographic indexes were normal. All subjects from the original BH group presented normal left ventricular mass and geometrical pattern. However, in the subjects with elevated monitored BP levels, fractional shortening was greater, isovolumetric relaxation time longer, and early to late flow velocity ratio was reduced in relation to subjects from the original BH group with normal monitored BP levels (P<0.05). These subjects also presented an exaggerated BP response during the cold pressor test. These results support the notion of an integrated pattern of cardiac and vascular adaptation during the development of hypertension.

Análise espacial do padrão de introdução e disseminação da dengue nos municípios do Espírito Santo

O número de municípios infestados pelo Aedes aegypti no Estado do Espírito Santo vem aumentando gradativamente, levando a altas taxas de incidência de dengue ao longo dos anos. Apesar das tentativas de combate à doença, esta se tornou uma das maiores preocupações na saúde pública do Estado. Este estudo se propõe a descrever a dinâmica da expansão da doença no Estado a partir da associação entre variáveis ambientais e populacionais, utilizando dados operacionalizados por meio de técnicas de geoprocessamento. O estudo utilizou como fonte de dados a infestação pelo mosquito vetor e o coeficiente de incidência da doença, as distâncias rodoviárias intermunicipais do Estado, a altitude dos municípios e as variáveis geoclimáticas (temperatura e suficiência de água), incorporadas a uma ferramenta operacional, as Unidades Naturais do Espírito Santo (UNES), representadas em um único mapa operacionalizado em Sistema de Informação Geográfica (SIG), obtido a partir do Sistema Integrado de Bases Georreferenciadas do Estado do Espírito Santo. Para análise dos dados, foi realizada a Regressão de Poisson para os dados de incidência de dengue e Regressão Logística para os de infestação pelo vetor. Em seguida, os dados de infestação pelo mosquito e incidência de dengue foram georreferenciados, utilizando como ferramenta operacional o SIG ArcGIS versão 9.2. Observou-se que a pluviosidade é um fator que contribui para o surgimento de mosquito em áreas não infestadas. Altas temperaturas contribuem para um alto coeficiente de incidência de dengue nos municípios capixabas. A variável distância em relação a municípios populosos é um fator de proteção para a incidência da doença. A grande variabilidade encontrada nos dados, que não é explicada pelas variáveis utilizadas no modelo para incidência da doença, reforça a premissa de que a dengue é condicionada pela interação dinâmica entre muitas variáveis que o estudo não abordou. A espacialização dos dados de infestação pelo mosquito e incidência de dengue e as Zonas Naturais do ES permitiu a visualização da influência das variáveis estatisticamente significantes nos modelos utilizados no padrão da introdução e disseminação da doença no Estado.

Práticas corporais na comunidade tradicional Alto Santa Maria : continuidades e descontinuidades

O objetivo do estudo foi identificar jogos, danças, brincadeiras e outras práticas corporais para analisar o processo de sua apreensão pelos sujeitos nas dinâmicas de relações sociais das comunidades. Em menor instância, os objetivos foram listados para analisar os momentos de continuidade, descontinuidade e/ou ruptura das tradições que ocorrem ao se desenvolver as práticas corporais e identificar e analisar as relações registradas nos espaços de “entrega” e “recepção” dessas tradições. Para tanto, ao propor a investigação das práticas corporais de comunidades tradicionais como nosso objeto de estudo, decidimos analisar Alto Santa Maria, do estado do Espírito Santo, localizada no município de Santa Maria de Jetibá, elegendo como sujeitos deste estudo crianças e adultos da comunidade pomerana. A partir de uma abordagem qualitativa, num primeiro momento foi realizado um levantamento bibliográfico e, posteriormente, o trabalho em campo para a coleta de dados por meio de entrevistas abertas e da técnica de observação assistemática de campo. A análise das entrevistas foi realizada de forma interpretativa, buscando apreender nas falas dos sujeitos, e de forma qualitativamente satisfatória,as categorias previamente selecionadas. A análise dos dados permitiu reconhecer, dentre os vários elementos da identidade cultural, a cultura corporal com relaçãoàspráticas corporais locais. Em Alto Santa Maria, elas se inscrevem em um contexto dinâmico, no qual se registram tanto tradicionais quanto não-tradicionais. Desta forma, concluímos que as práticas corporais, como jogos, brincadeiras e danças, materializam-se, nos contextos descritos, simultaneamente como práticas pomeranas ou externas à comunidade, mas que hoje fazem parte das práticas culturais do Alto Santa Maria, conduzindo a um diálogo entre elas.

Um algoritmo PSO híbrido para planejamento de caminhos em navegação de veículos utilizando A*

Utilizar robôs autônomos capazes de planejar o seu caminho é um desafio que atrai vários pesquisadores na área de navegação de robôs. Neste contexto, este trabalho tem como objetivo implementar um algoritmo PSO híbrido para o planejamento de caminhos em ambientes estáticos para veículos holonômicos e não holonômicos. O algoritmo proposto possui duas fases: a primeira utiliza o algoritmo A* para encontrar uma trajetória inicial viável que o algoritmo PSO otimiza na segunda fase. Por fim, uma fase de pós planejamento pode ser aplicada no caminho a fim de adaptá-lo às restrições cinemáticas do veículo não holonômico. O modelo Ackerman foi considerado para os experimentos. O ambiente de simulação de robótica CARMEN (Carnegie Mellon Robot Navigation Toolkit) foi utilizado para realização de todos os experimentos computacionais considerando cinco instâncias de mapas geradas artificialmente com obstáculos. O desempenho do algoritmo desenvolvido, A*PSO, foi comparado com os algoritmos A*, PSO convencional e A* Estado Híbrido. A análise dos resultados indicou que o algoritmo A*PSO híbrido desenvolvido superou em qualidade de solução o PSO convencional. Apesar de ter encontrado melhores soluções em 40% das instâncias quando comparado com o A*, o A*PSO apresentou trajetórias com menos pontos de guinada. Investigando os resultados obtidos para o modelo não holonômico, o A*PSO obteve caminhos maiores entretanto mais suaves e seguros.

Cidade-paisagem : novas perspectivas sobre a preservação da paisagem urbana no Brasil

The edification of the landscape in the scientific and social field, in speech as in the method, is taken in this study as a complex process, from which were developed relationships of dominance on the perception of space, which persist strongly consolidated, since the genesis of the conceptual practice till its actual praxis. Historically, the landscape studies took place slowly, immersed in many questions, in face of the multiplicity of meanings that the concept offers. In the psyche, the notion of landscape is present since a long time ago, as an unconscious human being practice, even before any ideological hypothesis formulation. However its materialization in the social conscious will come only from painting, and specially with the perspective, through the technicity of the view, at first wandering the infinity, now ordained in a frame‟. Since then, the landscape is perceived according to the order of the view, as the equivalent of nature and beauty, assuming at the same time, an important symbolic value, since it is linked to mnemonic and subjective processes that the being build with the territory. The domain on this space-cognitive experience, characteristic of the contemporary, consolidates in the social imaginary, building consensus on the landscape, whose aesthetic references make a cultural appeal, very pertinent to the actual capitalist dynamics of production the space worldwide, mainly of the spectacle and commodification of cities promoted by the city marketing. In Brazil, this consensual ideology of the landscape surpass the social imaginary and also dominates the political imaginary, whereas the main instrument for preserving the landscape, Decree-law 25, from November 30, 1937, and its limit to those of exceptional value or remarkable feature. The analysis of the processes for putting under governmental trust for inscription of goods by the landscape value, reveals the dominant, if not exclusive, adoption of selection criteria related to aesthetic aspects. Abstain, therefore, from what the nation considers patrimony , other landscapes that, besides not having, at first, remarkable aesthetic value, play a crucial role as an inheritance from ancestor relations between man and space and pre- existing condition for the same present and future relations. From this historical background, the research seeks to transfer into contemporaneity, the ideological analysis of the concept and its relation with the building of the landscape in the collective imaginary, in order to recognize, in current practices to landscape preservation, as much this genesis, rooted in aesthetics, remains strongly consolidated, feeding the current dynamics of consumption and commodification of the city. Therefore, as preliminary conclusion, one can state that the identification of landscapes of different value, especially aesthetic, maintains and intensify the treatment of the city as an object, a standard‟ commodity to be sold / traded on the world market, in detriment of its recognition as a dynamic process that, even though inserted in the global context, develops specificifities and peculiarities, inherent to the production of space, as Lefebvre preconizes, that is, to the production of life, social product , as characteristic, dissent generator

Versão brasileira do Dynamic Gait Index

O Dynamic Gait Index (DGI) é um teste que avalia o equilíbrio e marcha do corpo humano. OBJETIVOS: Os objetivos deste estudo foram adaptar culturalmente o DGI para o português e avaliar a sua confiabilidade. MATERIAL E MÉTODO: Seguiu-se o método de Guillemin et al. (1993) para a adaptação cultural do instrumento. Trata-se de estudo prospectivo em que 46 pacientes foram avaliados na fase de adaptação cultural e os itens que apresentaram 20% ou mais de incompreensão foram reformulados e reaplicados. A versão final do DGI em português foi aplicada em 35 idosos para examinar a confiabilidade intra e inter-observadores. O coeficiente de Spearman foi utilizado para correlacionar os escores inter e intra-observador e o teste de Wilcoxon para comparar as pontuações. A consistência interna foi analisada pelo coeficiente alfa de Cronbach. RESULTADOS: Houve correlações estatisticamente significantes entre os escores obtidos às avaliações inter e intra-observadores para todos os itens (p<0,001), classificadas como boa a muito forte (com de variação de r=0,655 a r=0,951). O DGI mostrou alta consistência interna entre seus itens nas avaliações inter e intra-observadores (variação de µ ou = 0,820 a a=0,894). CONCLUSÃO: O DGI foi adaptado culturalmente para o português brasileiro, mostrando-se um instrumento confiável.

International thought in the Lula era

In the last fifty years, Brazil began a rapid process of structural transformation, following the first stage of industrial development in the 1930s. Currently the country integrates the small group of countries which evolved from an initial peripheral and subordinate insertion dating back to the nineteenth century, part of the most dynamic segment of the semiperiphery. But this category, intermediate between the "maturity" and "backwardness", according Modernization theorists, or between the "center" and "periphery", as theorists of the Dependence defend, has undergone a process of overcoming considerable positive progress in the direction of the group of states that dominate the current world system. In this way, during the years 2003-2010, foreign policy, along with the formulation of a new regionalism as a strategy of global integration and a new ideal model of State, has been a key factor

Terrorism as war by other means: national security and state support for terrorism

The conventional approach in the discipline of International Relations is to treat terrorist organizations as "non-state" actors of international relations. However, this approach is problematic due to the fact that most terrorist organizations are backed or exploited by some states. In this article, I take issue with the non-stateness of terrorist organizations and seek to answer the question of why so many states, at times, support terrorist organizations. I argue that in the face of rising threats to national security in an age of devastating wars, modern nation states tend to provide support to foreign terrorist organizations that work against their present and imminent enemies. I elaborate on my argument studying three cases of state support for terrorism: Iranian support for Hamas, Syrian support for the PKK, and American support for the MEK. The analyses suggest that, for many states, terror is nothing but war by other means.

Root growth of Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. treated with humic acids isolated from typical soils of Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil

Humic substances isolated from soil organic matter had been used as stimulators of plant metabolism. Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. with only five chromosomes, short cycle and size, is an important model to evaluate the physiological effects of these substances, which are qualitatively and quantitatively influenced by morphogenesis, mineralogy and chemistry of soils. The objective of this study was to evaluate the ambience effects on bioactivity of humic acids. A and B horizons of four typical soils of the North Fluminense were sampled. After isolation and purification, humic acids were applied to plants in increasing concentrations. The number and length of lateral roots and main root length were evaluated and, subsequently, the concentrations of maximum stimulation were determined by dose-response curves and regression equations. The results showed that more stable humic acids isolated from soil in less advanced stages of weathering, high activity clay and high base saturation resulted in better physiological stimulants for Arabidopsis.

Effect of poling state and morphology of piezoelectric poly(vinylidene fluoride) membranes for skeletal muscle tissue engineering

This work reports on the influence of polarization and morphology of electroactive poly(vinylidene fluoride), PVDF, on the biological response of myoblast cells. Non-poled, ‘‘poled +’’ and “poled-“ -PVDF were prepared in the form of films. Further, random and aligned electrospun -PVDF fiber mats were also prepared. It is demonstrated that negatively charged surfaces improve cell adhesion and proliferation and that the directional growth of the myoblast cells can be achieved by the cell culture on oriented fibers. Therefore, the potential application of electroative materials for muscle regeneration is demonstrated.

An interactive state monad example

A common problem among information systems is the storage and maintenance of permanent information identified by a key. Such systems are typically known as data base engines or simply as data bases. Today the systems information market is full of solutions that provide mass storage capacities implemented in different operating system and with great amounts of extra functionalities. In this paper we will focus on the formal high level specification of data base systems in the Haskell language. We begin by introducing a high level view of a data base system with a specification of the most common operations in a functional point of view. We then augment this specification by lifting to the state monad which is then modified once again to permit input/output operations between the computations

Cold storage of peaches cv. Aurora grown in the Zona da Mata Mineira, Minas Gerais State, Brazil

This study aimed to evaluate the postharvest behavior of peach cv. Aurora 1 harvested in the Zona da Mata region of Minas Gerais in two ripening stages and kept under different storage temperatures. Fruits on mid-ripe and fully ripe stages were stored at three temperatures: 5.6 ± 1.57 °C and 72.8 ± 3.8% RH; 10.4 ± 0.5 °C and 95.8 ± 5.5% RH; 21.04 ± 1.63 °C and 96.9 ± 2.6% RH up to 28 storage days (SD) . During storage, fruits stored at 21.04 ± 1.63 °C were evaluated every two days until 8 SD, and every four days for fruits stored at other temperatures. The harvest day was assigned as day zero. The variables evaluated were CO2 production, color of the pericarp and pulp, fresh mass loss, flesh firmness, total soluble solids, titratable acidity, contents of ascorbic acid and carotenoids. The fresh mass loss increased during storage, peaking at 5.6 °C. The reduction in ascorbic acid content was higher in fully ripe fruits at all temperatures. Mid-ripe fruits reached the end of the storage period with better quality. The temperature of 10.4 °C was the most efficient in keeping postharvest quality of peach cv. Aurora 1 harvested in the Zona da Mata region.

Antibodies against Bovine herpesvirus 1 in dairy herds in the state of Espirito Santo, Brasil

Bovine herpesvirus 1 (BoHV-1) causes major losses in worldwide livestock, affecting the respiratory and reproductive tracts of bovine. In the past decades, the number of cases in Brazil has been gradually increasing. Therefore, it is important to assess the distribution of infection in different regions of the country. In the state of Espírito Santo (ES) the BoHV 1 infection rate in dairy cattle herds is unknown. Thus, the aim of this study was to detect neutralizing antibodies against BoHV-1 in serum samples from 1,161 non-vaccinated cows from 59 dairy cattle herds in 23 municipalities of the Metropolitan, North, Northwest and South macro-regions. The identification of seropositive cows was evaluated by the virus neutralization test. The results showed that of all serum samples evaluated 775 (66.75%) had neutralizing antibodies against BoHV-1. Moreover, all herds were found positive; however, the percentage of positive cows varied among regions; 49.06%, 62.15%, 67.21% and 80.04% for the Metropolitan, South, North and Northwest macro-regions, respectively. In this study, the results clearly indicate the dissemination of the viral agent in dairy cattle in the ES state, requiring the monitoring and control of diseases related to BoHV-1 infection.

Morphological and phytochemical characterization of Piper hispidinervum DC. and Piper aduncum L. populations in the state of Acre

Because of the increasing demand of the industry for the production of essential oils, studies highlight the genetic variability of Piper hispidinervum and P. aduncum species according to their patterns of spatial distribution, showing the Amazon region as the source of superior genetic material in the production of safrole and dillapiole. Thus, the objective this study was to characterize the morphology and the phytochemistry of Piper hispidinervum and P. aduncum populations in the Active Germplasm Bank of Embrapa Acre to generate subsidies for the genetic improvement of these species. The results showed that the average values for leaf width and length were 141.67 and 48.04 mm, and petioles length and diameter measurements were 2.83 and 1.78 mm for P. hispidinervum and 189.22; 67.74; 6.03 and 2.22 mm for P. aduncum respectively. The average height and canopy volume measurements were 2.39 m and 6.30 m3 and 2.70 m and 7.78 m3 respectively for each species. For P. hispidinervum, the population with higher performance indried yield and content of safrole was population 02, with 3.9%, and the population 04 showed 94.3% safrole content, both with genetic material from the region of Acrelândia and Plácido de Castro. To P. aduncum, the populations with better performance were 207, 208 and 209, forming a homogeneous group with dried yield average of 3.8% and dillapiol content of 84-85%. Such populations are indicated for selection in breeding program of these species due to better performance.