Water supplied by sprinkler irrigation system for upland rice seed production

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Screening and Production Study of Microbial Xylanase Producers from Brazilian Cerrado

Hemicelluloses are polysaccharides of low molecular weight containing 100 to 200 glycosidic residues. In plants, the xylans or the hemicelluloses are situated between the lignin and the collection of cellulose fibers underneath. The xylan is the most common hemicellulosic polysaccharide in cell walls of land plants, comprising a backbone of xylose residues linked by beta-1,4-glycosidic bonds. So, xylanolytic enzymes from microorganism have attracted a great deal of attention in the last decade, particularly because of their biotechnological characteristics in various industrial processes, related to food, feed, ethanol, pulp, and paper industries. A microbial screening of xylanase producer was carried out in Brazilian Cerrado area in Selviria city, Mato Grosso do Sul State, Brazil. About 50 bacterial strains and 15 fungal strains were isolated from soil sample at 35 A degrees C. Between these isolated microorganisms, a bacterium Lysinibacillus sp. and a fungus Neosartorya spinosa as good xylanase producers were identified. Based on identification processes, Lysinibacillus sp. is a new species and the xylanase production by this bacterial genus was not reported yet. Similarly, it has not reported about xylanase production from N. spinosa. The bacterial strain P5B1 identified as Lysinibacillus sp. was cultivated on submerged fermentation using as substrate xylan, wheat bran, corn straw, corncob, and sugar cane bagasse. Corn straw and wheat bran show a good xylanase activity after 72 h of fermentation. A fungus identified as N. spinosa (strain P2D16) was cultivated on solid-state fermentation using as substrate source wheat bran, wheat bran plus sawdust, corn straw, corncob, cassava bran, and sugar cane bagasse. Wheat bran and corncobs show the better xylanase production after 72 h of fermentation. Both crude xylanases were characterized and a bacterial xylanase shows optimum pH for enzyme activity at 6.0, whereas a fungal xylanase has optimum pH at 5.0-5.5. They were stable in the pH range 5.0-10.0 and 5.5-8.5 for bacterial and fungal xylanase, respectively. The optimum temperatures were 55C and 60 A degrees C for bacterial and fungal xylanase, respectively, and they were thermally stable up to 50 A degrees C.

Occurrence of consonant production errors in liquid phonemes in children with operated cleft lip and palate

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Increased production of hydrogen peroxide by peripheral blood monocytes associated with smoking exposure intensity in smokers

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Identificação e comparação entre controle preditivo com modelo não linear e PI sintonizados com PSO em sistema de separação gravitacional de águia-óleo

The separation methods are reduced applications as a result of the operational costs, the low output and the long time to separate the uids. But, these treatment methods are important because of the need for extraction of unwanted contaminants in the oil production. The water and the concentration of oil in water should be minimal (around 40 to 20 ppm) in order to take it to the sea. Because of the need of primary treatment, the objective of this project is to study and implement algorithms for identification of polynomial NARX (Nonlinear Auto-Regressive with Exogenous Input) models in closed loop, implement a structural identification, and compare strategies using PI control and updated on-line NARX predictive models on a combination of three-phase separator in series with three hydro cyclones batteries. The main goal of this project is to: obtain an optimized process of phase separation that will regulate the system, even in the presence of oil gushes; Show that it is possible to get optimized tunings for controllers analyzing the mesh as a whole, and evaluate and compare the strategies of PI and predictive control applied to the process. To accomplish these goals a simulator was used to represent the three phase separator and hydro cyclones. Algorithms were developed for system identification (NARX) using RLS(Recursive Least Square), along with methods for structure models detection. Predictive Control Algorithms were also implemented with NARX model updated on-line, and optimization algorithms using PSO (Particle Swarm Optimization). This project ends with a comparison of results obtained from the use of PI and predictive controllers (both with optimal state through the algorithm of cloud particles) in the simulated system. Thus, concluding that the performed optimizations make the system less sensitive to external perturbations and when optimized, the two controllers show similar results with the assessment of predictive control somewhat less sensitive to disturbances

DNA damage and nitric oxide production in mice following infection with L. chagasi

Leishmania chagasi, which causes visceral leishmaniasis in South America, is an obligate intracellular protozoan. Production of nitric oxide by macrophages during the inflammatory response is one of the main microbicidal mechanisms against this parasite. The goal of this study was to evaluate whether L. chagasi infection causes DNA damage in peripheral blood and spleen cells of Balb/c mice and whether such damage may be related to NO production. Balb/c mice were either infected with L chagasi or maintained as controls. The single-cell gel electrophoresis (comet) assay was used to measure DNA damage in peripheral blood and spleen cells, and the Griess reaction was used to measure NO production in the spleen. L chagasi infection induced DNA damage in peripheral blood and spleen cells of infected mice. Macrophages from the control group, challenged with L. chagasi, showed significantly (p < 0.05) greater NO production, compared to non-challenged cells. Treatment of spleen cells with N(G)-monomethyl-L-arginine (LNMMA) caused a significant reduction of NO production and DNA damage (p < 0.05). Our results indicate that L. chagasi induces DNA damage in the peripheral blood and spleen cells and that NO not only causes killing of the parasite but also induces DNA damage in adjacent cells. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Silibinin modulates the NF-kappa b pathway and pro-inflammatory cytokine production by mononuclear cells from preeclamptic women

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Influence of Maternal Hyperglycemia on IL-10 and TNF-alpha Production: The Relationship with Perinatal Outcomes

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Inhibitory effect of silibinin on tumour necrosis factor-alpha and hydrogen peroxide production by human monocytes

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Increased Reactive Oxygen Species and Tumor Necrosis Factor-Alpha Production by Monocytes are Associated with Elevated Levels of Uric Acid in Pre-Eclamptic Women

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Survivin and inducible nitric oxide synthase production during 4NQO-induced rat tongue carcinogenesis: A possible relationship

This study was undertaken to investigate, by immunohistochermistry, the expression of survivin and inducible nitric oxide synthase during 4NQO-induced rat tongue carcinogenesis. Male Wistar rats were distributed into three groups of 10 animals each and treated with 50 ppm 4NQO solution through their drinking water for 4, 12, and 20 weeks. Ten animals were used as negative control. Although no histopathological abnormalities were induced in the epithelium after 4 weeks of carcinogen exposure, survivin and iNOS were expresssed (P < 0.05) in some cells of the 'normal' oral epithelium. In pre-neoplastic lesions at 12 weeks following carcinogen exposure, the levels of survivin and iNOS were increased (p < 0.05) when compared to negative control, being the strongest effect observed to iNOS. In well-differentiated squamous cell carcinoma induced after 20 weeks of treatment with 4NQO, survivin and iNOS were expressed in some tumor cells. Lack of immunoreactivity for both markers was observed in the negative control group. Taken together, our results support the belief that expression of survivin and iNOS are early events during malignant transformation and conversion of the oral mucosa. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Polysaccharide fraction of Agaricus brasiliensis avoids tumor-induced IL-10 production and changes the microenvironment of subcutaneous Ehrlich adenocarcinoma

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Indigestible cellulose and lignin in determining feces production and apparent digestibility in horses

Foram utilizados quatro cavalos castrados sem raça definida, distribuídos em blocos casualizados. Objetivou-se estudar a viabilização dos indicadores internos, celulose (CELi) e lignina indigestíveis (LIGi), para predizer a digestibilidade em cavalos. Os tratamentos consistiram na determinação da digestibilidade por método direto com a coleta total de fezes (CT) e indireto pelo uso CELi e LIGi obtidos pelas técnicas in situ (IS) na cavidade ruminal de bovinos e in vivo (IV) nos equinos por meio do saco de náilon móvel (SNM). A produção fecal e taxa de recuperação (p > 0,05) médios encontrados foram de 2,80 kg na MS e 101%, respectivamente. As estimativas dos CD dos nutrientes (p > 0,05) foram adequadamente preditos pela CELi e LIGi, obtidos in situ e in vivo, no qual os valores médios observados foram de 52,63, 54,17, 64,90, 43,73 e 98,28% para MS, MO, PB, FDN e Amido, respectivamente. Concluiu-se que a CELi e LIGi podem ser obtidas in vivo por meio do SNM em equinos, para predizer os coeficientes de digestibilidade de nutrientes, consumindo dieta mista.

Growth hormone 1 gene (GH1) polymorphisms as possible markers of the production potential of beef cattle using the Brazilian Canchim breed as a model

The growth hormone 1 gene (GH1) is a candidate gene for body weight and weight gain in cattle since it plays a fundamental role in growth regulation. We investigated the GH1 gene AluI and DdeI restriction enzyme polymorphisms, located 149 bp apart in the cattle genome, as possible markers of the production potential of Canchim crossbreed cattle, a 5/8 Charolais (Bos taurus) and 3/8 Nelore (Bos indicus) breed developed in Brazil, by evaluating the birth weight, weaning weight, yearling weight and plasma insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) concentration of 7 month to 10 months old Canchim calves (n = 204) of known genealogy and which had been genotyped for the AluI and DdeI markers. Our results showed significant effect (p < 0.05) between the homozygous DdeI+/DdeI+ polymorphism and the estimated breeding value for weaning weight (ESB-WW), while the AluI leucine homozygous (L/L) and leucine/valine (L/V) heterozygous polymorphisms showed no significant effect on the traits studied. The restriction sites of the two enzymes led to the formation of haplotypes which also exerted a significant effect (p < 0.05) on the ESB-WW, with the largest difference being 8.5 kg in favor of the homozygous L plus DdeI+/L plus DdeI+ genotype over the heterozygous L plus DdeI-/V plus DdeI+ genotype.

Alternative calcium source effects on commercial egg production and quality

This study aimed at verifying the possibility of replacing calcitic limestone by marine calcium in the diet of layers. A total number of 321 Hi-sex hens, with 40 weeks of age at the beginning of the experiment, was used. A completely randomized experimental design was applied, with 5 treatments (0, 15, 30, 45, and 60 % of calcitic limestone replacement by marine calcium source) and eight replicates of eight birds each. Treatments significantly affected specific gravity (p<0.05), with the inclusion of 60% marine calcium (T5) presenting the worst result as compared to T1, which included only calcitic limestone as calcium source. It was concluded that marine calcium can replace up to 45% of calcitic limestone with no effects on performance or egg quality.