Taxonomic and evolutionary analysis of Zaprionus indianus and its colonization of Palearctic and Neotropical regions

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Evolutionary chromosomal differentiation among four species of Conoderus Eschscholtz, 1829 (Coleoptera, Elateridae, Agrypninae, Conoderini) detected by standard staining, C-banding, silver nitrate impregnation, and CMA(3)/DA/DAPI staining

The speciose Brazilian Elateridae fauna is characterized by high karyotypic diversity, including one species (Chalcolepidius zonatus Eschscholtz, 1829) with the lowest diploid number within any Coleoptera order. Cytogenetic analysis of Conoderus dimidiatus Germar, 1839, C. scalaris (Germar, 1824,) C. ternarius Germar, 1839, and C. stigmosus Germar, 1839 by standard and differential staining was performed with the aim of establishing mechanisms of karyotypic differentiation in these species. Conoderus dimidiatus, C. scalaris, and C. ternarius have diploid numbers of 2n(male) = 17 and 2n(female) = 18, and a X0/XX sex determination system, similar to that encountered in the majority of Conoderini species. The karyotype of C. stigmosus was characterized by a diploid number of 2n=16 and a neoXY/neoXX sex determination system that was highly differentiated from other species of the genus. Some features of the mitotic and meiotic chromosomes suggest an autosome/ancestral X chromosome fusion as the cause of the neoXY system origin in C. stigmosus. C-banding and silver impregnation techniques showed that the four Conoderus species possess similar chromosomal characteristics to those registered in most Polyphaga species, including pericentromeric C band and autosomal NORs. Triple staining techniques including CMA(3)/DA/DAPI also provided useful information for differentiating these Conoderus species. These techniques revealed unique GC-rich heterochromatin associated with NORs in C. scalaris and C. stigmosus and CMA(3)-heteromorphism in C. scalaris and C. ternarius.

Molecular characterisation and evolutionary relationships of a potyvirus infecting Crotalaria in Brazil - Brief report

The 3' terminal genomic region of a potyvirus causing mosaic disease in several Crotalaria species has been cloned and sequenced. Comparisons of the nucleotide and deduced amino acid (aa) sequences of the cloned cDNA with those from other potyviruses show that the Crotalaria-infecting virus (designated Crotalaria mosaic virus; CrMV) is closely related to Cowpea aphid-borne mosaic virus (CABMV). Maximum identity (95.4%) at the coat protein (CP) aa level was observed between CrMV and a Brazilian strain of CABMV. Phylogenetic analyses derived from the sequence alignments of the CP and 3' untranslated region confirmed the identification of CrMV as a strain of CABMV and the name CABMV-Cr is suggested.

Ladder operators for subtle hidden shape-invariant potentials

Ladder operators can be constructed for all potentials that present the integrability condition known as shape invariance, satisfied by most of the exactly solvable potentials. Using the superalgebra of supersymmetric quantum mechanics, we construct the ladder operators for two exactly solvable potentials that present a subtle hidden shape invariance.

Comments on spin operators and spin-polarization states of 2+1 fermions

In this brief article we discuss spin-polarization operators and spin-polarization states of 2 + 1 massive Dirac fermions and find a convenient representation by the help of 4-spinors for their description. We stress that in particular the use of such a representation allows us to introduce the conserved covariant spin operator in the 2 + 1 field theory. Another advantage of this representation is related to the pseudoclassical limit of the theory. Indeed, quantization of the pseudoclassical model of a spinning particle in 2 + 1 dimensions leads to the 4-spinor representation as the adequate realization of the operator algebra, where the corresponding operator of a first-class constraint, which cannot be gauged out by imposing the gauge condition, is just the covariant operator previously introduced in the quantum theory.

Dynamics in discrete phase spaces and time interval operators

The von Neumann-Liouville time evolution equation is represented in a discrete quantum phase space. The mapped Liouville operator and the corresponding Wigner function are explicitly written for the problem of a magnetic moment interacting with a magnetic field and the precessing solution is found. The propagator is also discussed and a time interval operator, associated to a unitary operator which shifts the energy levels in the Zeeman spectrum, is introduced. This operator is associated to the particular dynamical process and is not the continuous parameter describing the time evolution. The pair of unitary operators which shifts the time and energy is shown to obey the Weyl-Schwinger algebra. (C) 1999 Elsevier B.V. B.V. All rights reserved.

Bootstrap confidence regions for canonical variates: Application to studies of evolutionary differentiation

Theory recently developed to construct confidence regions based on the parametric bootstrap is applied to add inferential information to graphical displays of sample centroids in canonical variate analysis. Problems of morphometric differentiation among subspecies and species are addressed using numerical resampling procedures.

Phylogenetic and evolutionary aspects of Paracoccidioides brasiliensis reveal a long coexistence with animal hosts that explain several biological features of the pathogen

The habitat of the mycelial saprobic form of Paracoccidio ides brasiliensis, which produces the infectious propagula, has not been determined and has proven difficult for mycologists to describe. The fungus has been rarely isolated from the environment, the disease has a prolonged latency period and no outbreaks have been reported. These facts have precluded the adoption of preventive measures to avoid infection. The confirmation of natural infections in nine-banded armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus) with P. brasiliensis, in high frequency and wide geographic distribution, has opened new avenues for the study and understanding of its ecology. Armadillos belong to the order Xenarthra, which has existed in South America ever since the Paleocene Era (65 million years ago), when the South American subcontinent was still a detached land, before the consolidation of what is now known as the American continent. on the other hand, strong molecular evidence suggests that P. brasiliensis and other dimorphic pathogenic fungi - such as Blastomyces dermatitidis, Coccidioides immitis and Histoplasma capsulatum - belong to the family Onygenaceae sensu Into (order Onygenales, Ascomycota), which appeared around 150 million years ago.P. brasiliensis ecology and relation to its human host are probably linked to the fungal evolutionary past, especially its long coexistence with and adaptation to animal hosts other than Homo sapiens, of earlier origin. Instead of being a blind alley, the meaning of parasitism for dimorphic pathogenic fungi should be considered as an open two-way avenue, in which the fungus may return to the environment, therefore contributing to preserve its teleomorphic (sexual) and anamorphic (asexual) forms in a defined and protected natural habitat. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

An evolutionary algorithm for the one-dimensional cutting stock problem

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Othonella araguaiana (Bivalvia, Megadesmidae) from the Corumbatai Formation (Midlle [Middle] Permian), Eastern Margin of the Parana Basin: systematic, evolutionary and biostratigraphic significances.

In this study, the occurrence of Othonella araguaiana Mendes, a rare bivalve species is reported for the first time in the Pinzonella illusa biozone, Middle Permian Corumbatai Formation, in the State of São Paulo. This species was originally described in coeval rocks of the Estrada Nova Formation (= Corumbatai) from the Alto Araguaia and Alto Garcas regions, State of Mato Grosso. The specimens of O. araguaiana were found in the base of a bioclastic sandstone bed, a proximal tempestite, in the middle of the Corumbatai Formation, in the city of Rio Claro, São Paulo State. The silicified shells and internal molds are well preserved, showing impressions of muscle scars and other internal anatomic characters (e.g., hinge), never illustrated by previous authors. In his original description, Mendes (1963) called attention to the similarity between O. araguaiana and Terraia aequilateralis, a common veneroid of the Corumbatai Formation. Conversely, Runnegar and Newell (1971) suggested that O. araguaiana belongs to Megadesmidae, being a junior synonym of Plesiocyprinella carinata (the commonest megadesmid of the Passa Dois Group). Our study indicates that O. araguaiana is indeed a megadesmid, but is distinct from the P. carinata. The new occurrence of O. araguaiana demonstrates that a) the paleobiogeographic distribution of this species is wider than previously thought (that it was restricted to the northern part of Parana Basin, Mato Grosso State); b) the molluscan fauna of the Corumbatai Formation (P. illusa biozone) in the State of São Paulo is more diverse and dominated by megadesmids; and c) the composition of the molluscan fauna of the Corumbatai Formation in Alto GarYas, State of Mato Grosso, is essentially the same as that of the P. illusa biozone of the eastern margin of the Parana Basin.

Paracoccidioidomycosis: A comparative study of the evolutionary serologic, clinical and radiologic results for patients treated with ketoconazole or amphotericin B plus sulfonamides

A comparative study of two groups of patients with paracoccidioidomycosis was carried out with the objective of comparing the evolutionary serologic, clinical and radiologic results after 6, 12, 15 and 18 months of treatment with ketoconazole (22 patients) or amphotericin B plus sulfonamides (32 patients). The serologic data analyzed as a whole showed a tendency to sharper drops in antibody titers in the patients treated with ketoconazole. Clinically patients treated with ketoconazole fared better but the differences were not statistically significant. No statistical difference was detected between groups in terms of the results of radiologic evolution. © 1985 Martinus Nijhoff/Dr W. Junk Publishers.

Vertex operators and Jordan fields

The construction of Lie algebras in terms of Jordan algebra generators is discussed. The key to the construction is the triality relation already incorporated into matrix products. A generalisation to Kac-Moody algebras in terms of vertex operators is proposed and may provide a clue for the construction of new representations of Kac-Moody algebras in terms of Jordan fields. © 1988.