Quantum coherence and uncertainty in the anisotropic XY chain

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

CHARACTERIZATION OF THE BRAZPD II COHORT AND DESCRIPTION OF TRENDS IN PERITONEAL DIALYSIS OUTCOME ACROSS TIME PERIODS

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) in tapirs (Tapirus terrestris) withMycobacterium tuberculosis

This paper describes the in vivo Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL)technique by endoscopy in tapirs (Tapirus terrestris) with clinicalsigns of tuberculosis. The technique was performed in two tapirs, male and female,from Curitiba Zoo, Paraná, Brazil. A flexible endoscope and a polyethylene catheterwere used after the chemical restraint of the animals. For BAL technique, 60mL ofsaline 0.9% were infused with a polyethylene catheter, introduced by the endoscope'working channel, and 15mL of BAL were recovered, analyzed and submitted tocytocentrifugation. Slides were stained by Papanicolaou, periodic acid-Schiff (PAS)and Ziehl-Neelsen methods contained high quantity of inflammatory cells on lightmicroscopy (macrophages 27.5%, lymphocytes 0.5%, neutrophis 67% and eosinophis 5%).BAL samples were submitted to culture, bacilloscopy and PCR and were negative forboth animals. Based on this study, it was concluded that the bronchoalveolar lavagetechnique in tapirs is feasible, simple, noninvasive, practical and fast, providingan important clinical information in vivo regarding the functionalstatus of the lower respiratory tract.

BtoxDB: a comprehensive database of protein structural data on toxin-antitoxin systems

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

Plant identification based on leaf midrib cross-section images using fractal descriptors

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

Biology Teachers'Conceptions of the Diversity of Life and the Historical Development of Evolutionary Concepts

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

Neuroglia and their roles in central respiratory control; an overview

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

An ethnobotanical study of anti-malarial plants among indigenous people on the upper Negro River in the Brazilian Amazon

In this article we present the plants used for the treatment of malaria and associated symptoms in Santa Isabel do Rio Negro in the Brazilian Amazon. The region has important biological and cultural diversities including more than twenty indigenous ethnic groups and a strong history in traditional medicine. The aims of this study are to survey information in the Baniwa, Baré, Desana, Piratapuia, Tariana, Tukano, Tuyuca, Yanomami ethnic communities and among caboclos (mixed-ethnicity) on: a) plant species used for the treatment of malaria and associated symptoms; b) dosage forms and c) distribution of these anti-malarial plants in the Amazon. Information was obtained through classical ethnobotanical and ethnopharmacological methods from interviews with 146 informants in Santa Isabel municipality on the upper Negro River, Brazil. Fifty-five mainly native neotropical plant species from 34 families were in use. The detailed uses of these plants were documented. The result was 187 records (64.4%) of plants for the specific treatment of malaria, 51 records (17.5%) of plants used in the treatment of liver problems and 28 records (9.6%) of plants used in the control of fevers associated with malaria. Other uses described were blood fortification ('dar sangue'), headache and prophylaxis. Most of the therapeutic preparations were decoctions and infusions based on stem bark, root bark and leaves. These were administered by mouth. In some cases, remedies were prepared with up to three different plant species. Also, plants were used together with other ingredients such as insects, mammals, gunpowder and milk. This is the first study on the anti-malarial plants from this region of the Amazon. Aspidosperma spp. and Ampelozizyphus amazonicus Ducke were the most cited species in the communities surveyed. These species have experimental proof supporting their anti-malarial efficacy. The dosage of the therapeutic preparations depends on the kind of plant, quantity of plant material available, the patient's age (children and adults) and the local expert. The treatment time varies from a single dose to up to several weeks. Most anti-malarial plants are domesticated or grow spontaneously. They are grown in home gardens, open areas near the communities, clearings and secondary forests, and wild species grow in areas of seasonally flooded wetlands and terra firme (solid ground) forest, in some cases in locations that are hard to access. Traditional knowledge of plants was found to be falling into disuse presumably as a consequence of the local official health services that treat malaria in the communities using commercial drugs. Despite this, some species are used in the prevention of this disease and also in the recovery after using conventional anti-malarial drugs.

Improving logistics services through the technology used in fleet management

Outsourcing logistics has established itself in the area of the LSP (Logistics Service Provider), which offers a range of services to its customers. In this line, transportation is characterized as one of the most important services, and therefore efficient fleet management is essential for establishing a high level of customer service. With advances in technology and vehicle tracking systems, this approach of management has gained new possibilities for the improvement of logistics services. By studying the specific case of an LSP, this paper investigates the use of these technologies in the management of their business and services. The results indicate that the LSP seeks to increase its services and to streamline information in order to respond to customer needs in real time. It is also evident in this case under study that the combination of the technology available together with the fleet management system has become a distinguishing feature for this LSP, one which increases their skills and important information for both customers and business.

Concepções de alunos do ensino médio sobre o tema água: subsídios para o planejamento de atividades investigativas interdisciplinares

Meaningful learning occurs when new knowledge to be aggregated are grounded in other students already possess. In preparing didactic sequences for teaching concepts, one should take into account these concepts and knowledge to produce more effective and lasting learning, and build new concepts that will become subsumes for subsequent learning. This research was developed in a subproject linked to institutional Scholarship Program Initiation to Teaching (PIBID) of a Universidade Estadual Paulista. The proposal is based on the articulation of the Public School and the University, strengthening the initial training of undergraduates, and continued teacher network, improving the quality of education. The proposed work is based on interdisciplinary research and teaching by investigation. Undergraduates in Biology, Physics, Mathematics and Chemistry jointly propose interdisciplinary teaching activities and investigative applied to high school students of Public School partner. To survey the views of these students on the theme Water, they were asked to draw up an essay entitled "The importance of water", with the aim of organizing information for planning a teaching strategy that articulates the disciplines of training of undergraduates. In this paper we present a qualitative analysis of these essays, performed based on content analysis. The analysis allowed to identify existing concepts in students' cognitive structure and classify them into adequate and inadequate compared to scientifically accepted concepts. Several misconceptions were raised indicating the need to produce didactic sequences that in addition to working the concepts presented in the curriculum of disciplines take into consideration the possibility of more meaningful learning. This research produced the elucidation of existing concepts, indicating where deficiencies were larger. One major contribution was the realization that concepts that may be considered by teachers as simple and already acquired by the students often come so misguided in their explanations. From the results obtained, integrated activities have been planned and implemented, and more relevant to the needs of students aiming to recover and enrich the knowledge they possessed, encouraging the use of scientific concepts and their application to daily living situations.

Bioética para estudantes de ciências biológicas: investigação sobre os fundamentos que compõem ou deveriam compor a área

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Avaliação das barreiras à inovação em sistemas de embalagens que visam a redução do desperdício/perda de carne bovina in natura

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

The Impact of Software Evolution on Code Coverage Information

Many tools and techniques for addressing software maintenance problems rely on code coverage information. Often, this coverage information is gathered for a specific version of a software system, and then used to perform analyses on subsequent versions of that system without being recalculated. As a software system evolves, however, modifications to the software alter the software’s behavior on particular inputs, and code coverage information gathered on earlier versions of a program may not accurately reflect the coverage that would be obtained on later versions. This discrepancy may affect the success of analyses dependent on code coverage information. Despite the importance of coverage information in various analyses, in our search of the literature we find no studies specifically examining the impact of software evolution on code coverage information. Therefore, we conducted empirical studies to examine this impact. The results of our studies suggest that even relatively small modifications can greatly affect code coverage information, and that the degree of impact of change on coverage may be difficult to predict.

Smart histogram analysis applied to the skull-stripping problem in T1-weighted MRI

In this paper we address the "skull-stripping" problem in 3D MR images. We propose a new method that employs an efficient and unique histogram analysis. A fundamental component of this analysis is an algorithm for partitioning a histogram based on the position of the maximum deviation from a Gaussian fit. In our experiments we use a comprehensive image database, including both synthetic and real MRI. and compare our method with other two well-known methods, namely BSE and BET. For all datasets we achieved superior results. Our method is also highly independent of parameter tuning and very robust across considerable variations of noise ratio.

Private and Public Dental Care in the City of Sao Paulo in the First Decade of the XXI Century

Two concomitant movements occur in the first decade of the XXI century within the private and public dental services in Brazil: the entrance of oral health on the agenda of political priorities of the federal government and the vigorous growth of additional dental care. We analyzed the occurrence of these phenomena in the city of Sao Paulo, by seeking information in official documents and electronic databases in the Municipality of Sao Paulo, the Ministry of Health and National Health Agency (ANS), and also in scientific literature. During the studied period - January 2000 to December 2009 - and with basis on indicators such as coverage of First Consultation Program and Dental coverage Population Potential, percentages were found that characterize low public assistance and a situation far short of the constitutional principle of universal access to dental care. The growing number of beneficiaries of additional services through exclusively dental coverage insurance plans and other types of private insurance plans in the same period was significant, accounting for a major expansion of population coverage in this mode of care. It was found that, compared to the overall national framework, the city of Sao Paulo offers poor access to public dental care, with reduced supply of services to adults and aged people. Furthermore, considering the limitations of market additional services to provide dental care to all Brazilians, it reinforces the need for continuity and expansion of Brasil Sorridente, which is the programmatic expression of the National Oral Health Politics.