Efeito da somatotropina na hipertrofia das fibras musculares esqueléticas e precocidade reprodutiva de novilhas Nelore

O trabalho objetivou avaliar o desempenho produtivo, precocidade sexual e hipertrofia das fibras musculares esqueléticas em resposta à aplicação de somatotropina bovina recombinante (rbST). Foram utilizadas 58 novilhas Nelore de sete meses de idade com peso vivo médio de 193 kg. O delineamento experimental foi inteiramente casualizado, em um esquema fatorial incompleto e dividido em duas fases experimentais. Na primeira fase, com duração de 150 dias, os animais foram divididos em dois grupos, de acordo com os níveis de rbST, 0 mg (controle) e 500 mg, a cada 28 dias. Na Fase II, os animais do grupo controle da Fase I foram divididos em 15 e 14 novilhas, que receberam 0 mg e 500 mg de rbST, respectivamente; os animais tratados com 500 mg na Fase I foram divididos em 15 e 14 novilhas e receberam 500 mg e 1.000 mg de rbST, respectivamente, com intervalos de 28 dias, e dieta em regime de pastejo, durante 180 dias. Foram retirados fragmentos do músculo semitendinosus para análise das fibras, no início e final da Fase I. Os animais foram pesados a cada 28 dias. Os resultados mostraram que não houve diferença significativa (p>0,05) entre os tratamentos quanto ao ganho de peso e quanto à precocidade sexual. Quanto ao diâmetro das fibras, os animais que receberam rbST tiveram um aumento significativo (p<0,01) tanto nas fibras de contração lenta quanto nas fibras de contração rápida em relação aos animais-controle.

The importance of environmental exposures to physical, mental and social well-being

"Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity" states the WHO. However, the current focus in this important area seems to be on reducing diseases, while less attention is paid on aspects how to increase the well-being of populations. This paper reviews three examples where well-being has drawn attention of the public and policy makers, and compares the policies of two wealthy countries. The first example is noise. Noise can reduce sleep quality and cause physiological, mental, and social effects. In Switzerland, noise receives a lot of attention by the public. Swiss laws are extensive, e.g., they prohibit trucks and planes from traveling at night. In the USA, there is little public attention and no national strategy against environmental noise. The second example is aesthetics and recreation. Many humans seek contact with the beauty of nature. The USA and Switzerland have similar strategies for achieving clear waters, while the protection of scenic views is approached very differently. Lifestyle is the last example. In the USA, the desire for individual freedom is a leading cause for suburban sprawl, a car-dependent sedentary lifestyle resulting in obesity, asthma and loss of community spirit. In Switzerland, a strict land use planning seeks to balance individual and public interests and stresses public transportation, which seems to be a more promising approach. Paying attention to aspects of well-being while developing political strategies might be a promising model to tackle environmental problems. Successful strategies employed so far seem to include the public, local authorities, politicians and scientists in this process, which might have been a key for their success. [Authors]

Joint inversion of crosshole GPR and seismic traveltime data

Joint inversion of crosshole ground-penetrating radar and seismic data can improve model resolution and fidelity of the resultant individual models. Model coupling obtained by minimizing or penalizing some measure of structural dissimilarity between models appears to be the most versatile approach because only weak assumptions about petrophysical relationships are required. Nevertheless, experimental results and petrophysical arguments suggest that when porosity variations are weak in saturated unconsolidated environments, then radar wave speed is approximately linearly related to seismic wave speed. Under such circumstances, model coupling also can be achieved by incorporating cross-covariances in the model regularization. In two case studies, structural similarity is imposed by penalizing models for which the model cross-gradients are nonzero. A first case study demonstrates improvements in model resolution by comparing the resulting models with borehole information, whereas a second case study uses point-spread functions. Although radar seismic wavespeed crossplots are very similar for the two case studies, the models plot in different portions of the graph, suggesting variances in porosity. Both examples display a close, quasilinear relationship between radar seismic wave speed in unconsolidated environments that is described rather well by the corresponding lower Hashin-Shtrikman (HS) bounds. Combining crossplots of the joint inversion models with HS bounds can constrain porosity and pore structure better than individual inversion results can.

Laparoscopic Pancreatic Enucleation With End-to-End Pancreatic Duct Reconstruction.

BACKGROUND: Laparoscopic enucleation for neuroendocrine pancreatic tumors has become a feasible technique, with a reported incidence of pancreatic fistula ranging from 13 to 29 %.1 (-) 3 This report describes the first successful case of laparoscopic pancreatic enucleation with resection of the main pancreatic duct followed by end-to-end anastomosis. METHODS: A 41-year-old woman was admitted to the authors' hospital for repeated syncope. Hypoglycemia also was noted. A contrast-enhanced computed tomography examination showed a highly enhanced tumor measuring 22 mm in diameter on the ventral side of the pancreatic body adjacent to the main pancreatic duct. The patient's blood insulin level was elevated, and her diagnosis was determined to be pancreatic insulinoma. Laparoscopic pancreatic enucleation was performed. Approximately 2 cm of the main pancreatic duct was segmentally resected, and a short stent (Silicone tube: Silastic, Dow Corning Corporation, Midland, MI) was inserted. The direct anastomosis of the main pancreatic duct was performed using four separate sutures with an absorbable monofilament (6-0 PDS). RESULTS: The operation time was 166 min, and the estimated blood loss was 100 mL. The postoperative course was uneventful, and the patient was discharged from hospital on postoperative day 7. The pathologic findings showed a well-differentiated insulinoma and a negative surgical margin. A computed tomography examination performed 1 month after the operation showed a successful anastomosis with a patent main pancreatic duct. CONCLUSIONS: Laparoscopic segmental resection of the main pancreatic duct and end-to-end anastomosis can be performed safely with the insertion of a short stent. This technique also can be used for a central pancreatectomy.

Macromicets de l'illa de Menorca.II.

Donem a conèixer els resultats de les prospeccions micològiques realitzades a Menorca entre els anys 1980 i 1988, i els presentem en forma de catàleg. S'han estudiat 193 tàxons (10 Ascomycetes i 183 Basidiomycetes), dels quals 127 creiem corresponen a citacions noves per a l'illa, entre els quals destaquem: Agaricus pequinii (Boud.) Konr. & Maubl., Amanita boudieri Barla, Dermoloma pseudocuneifolium Henrink, Hebeloma sarcophyllum (Peck) Sacc., Inocybe tenebrosa Quél., Psathyrella ammophila (Dur. & Lev.) Orton, Lactarius cistophilus Bon & Trimb. Russula seperina Dupain i Battarraea phalloides (Dicks.) Pers

Effects of math anxiety on student success in higher education

This study examines whether math anxiety and negative attitudes toward mathematics have an effect on university students" academic achievement in a methodological course forming part of their degree. A total of 193 students were presented with a math anxiety test and some questions about their enjoyment, self-confidence and motivation regarding mathematics, and their responses were assessed in relation to the grades they had obtained during continuous assessment on a course entitled"Research Design". Results showed that low performance on the course was related to math anxiety and negative attitudes toward mathematics. We suggest that these factors may affect students" performance and should therefore be taken into account in attempts to improve students" learning processes in methodological courses of this kind.

The data treatment dependent variability of U-Pb zircon ages obtained using mono-collector, sector field, laser ablation ICP-MS

U-Pb dating of zircons by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICPMS) is a widely used analytical technique in Earth Sciences. For U-Pb ages below 1 billion years (1 Ga), Pb-206/U-238 dates are usually used, showing the least bias by external parameters such as the presence of initial lead and its isotopic composition in the analysed mineral. Precision and accuracy of the Pb/U ratio are thus of highest importance in LA-ICPMS geochronology. We consider the evaluation of the statistical distribution of the sweep intensities based on goodness-of-fit tests in order to find a model probability distribution fitting the data to apply an appropriate formulation for the standard deviation. We then discuss three main methods to calculate the Pb/U intensity ratio and its uncertainty in the LA-ICPMS: (1) ratio-of-the-mean intensities method, (2) mean-of-the-intensity-ratios method and (3) intercept method. These methods apply different functions to the same raw intensity vs. time data to calculate the mean Pb/U intensity ratio. Thus, the calculated intensity ratio and its uncertainty depend on the method applied. We demonstrate that the accuracy and, conditionally, the precision of the ratio-of-the-mean intensities method are invariant to the intensity fluctuations and averaging related to the dwell time selection and off-line data transformation (averaging of several sweeps); we present a statistical approach how to calculate the uncertainty of this method for transient signals. We also show that the accuracy of methods (2) and (3) is influenced by the intensity fluctuations and averaging, and the extent of this influence can amount to tens of percentage points; we show that the uncertainty of these methods also depends on how the signal is averaged. Each of the above methods imposes requirements to the instrumentation. The ratio-of-the-mean intensities method is sufficiently accurate provided the laser induced fractionation between the beginning and the end of the signal is kept low and linear. We show, based on a comprehensive series of analyses with different ablation pit sizes, energy densities and repetition rates for a 193 nm ns-ablation system that such a fractionation behaviour requires using a low ablation speed (low energy density and low repetition rate). Overall, we conclude that the ratio-of-the-mean intensities method combined with low sampling rates is the most mathematically accurate among the existing data treatment methods for U-Pb zircon dating by sensitive sector field ICPMS.

Adjuvant dibromodulcitol and BCNU chemotherapy in anaplastic astrocytoma: results of a randomised European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer phase III study (EORTC study 26882).

BACKGROUND: In a previous randomised EORTC study on adjuvant dibromodulcitol (DBD) and bichloroethylnitrosourea (BCNU) in adults with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) and anaplastic astrocytoma (AA), a clinically significant trend towards a longer overall survival (OS) and a progression-free survival (PFS) was observed in the subgroup of AA. The aim of the present study was to test this adjuvant regimen in a larger number of AA patients. METHODS: Continuation of the previous phase III trial for newly diagnosed AA according to the local pathologist. Patients were randomised to either radiotherapy only or to radiotherapy in combination with BCNU on day 2 and weekly DBD, followed by adjuvant DBD and BCNU in cycles of six weeks for a maximum total treatment duration of one year. OS was the primary end-point. RESULTS: Patients (193 ) with newly diagnosed AA according to local pathological assessment were randomised to radiotherapy (RT) alone (n=99), or to RT plus DBD/BCNU (n=94); 12 patients were considered not eligible. At central pathology review, over half (53%) of the locally diagnosed AA cases could not be confirmed. On intent-to-treat analysis, no statistically significant differences in OS (p=0.111) and PFS (p=0.087) were observed, median OS after RT was only 23.9 months 95% confidence interval (CI), [18.4-34.0] after RT plus DBD/BCNU 27.3 months 95% CI [21.4-46.8]. CONCLUSION: No statistically significant improvement in survival was observed after BCNU/DBD adjuvant chemotherapy in AA patients. The trend towards improved survival is consistent with previous reports. Central pathology review of grade 3 tumours remains crucial.

Iowa Department of Transportation Major Items - Preliminary Quantity Report, February 17, 2015; With Addendums

Weekly letting report.

Herramienta web para la gestión de metadatos de negocio

El proyecto consiste principalmente en definir y desarrollar una herramienta de gestión de metadatos de negocio para los indicadores clave de rendimiento. Actualmente no existe ninguna herramienta BI que permita almacenar información de negocio más allá de las especificaciones técnicas. Dicha aplicación, actuará como repositorio centralizado de la definición de los indicadores clave de negocio de la compañia incluyendo información del metadato del indicador, (tal como, responsable del indicador, dimensiones de análisis, profundidad histórica, frecuencia de actualización, procesos de negocio implicados, etc.).