Riesgo cardiovascular de trabajadores de una empresa de hidrocarburos. 2014

Objetivo: Determinar el riesgo cardiovascular de los trabajadores de una empresa de hidrocarburos (E.H) mediante la aplicación de la escala Framingham REGICOR durante el año 2014. Métodos: Se realizó un estudio descriptivo tipo corte transversal a partir de los registros de 700 trabajadores de una empresa de hidrocarburos que tenían una historia clínica laboral con información completa. Resultados: La edad promedio fue de 33,6 años (σ 9,1). Se encontró una prevalencia de HTA (1,4%), tabaquismo (5,7%), hábito de tomar licor (66,4%) y exceso de peso (61,6%). La prevalencia de hipertensión arterial y tabaquismo fue de 1.71% y 5.7% respectivamente, de hipercolesterolemia el 39,00%, de hipertrigliceridemia del 30,14% y el 20,00% de los trabajadores son obesos. El 3,00% (21) de los trabajadores fueron clasificados como de riesgo moderado de sufrir un evento isquémico o hemorrágico en un periodo de 10 años. A pesar que ningún trabajador fue clasificado como riesgo alto, se recomienda se realicen actividades tendientes a que a los trabajadores generen conciencia sobre los riesgos de desarrollar un evento cardiovascular si no se modifican los estilos de vida.

Factors influencing zooplankton size structure at contrasting temperatures in coastal shallow lakes: Implications for effects of climate change

We assessed the importance of temperature, salinity, and predation for the size structure of zooplankton and provided insight into the future ecological structure and function of shallow lakes in a warmer climate. Artificial plants were introduced in eight comparable coastal shallow brackish lakes located at two contrasting temperatures: cold-temperate and Mediterranean climate region. Zooplankton, fish, and macroinvertebrates were sampled within the plants and at open-water habitats. The fish communities of these brackish lakes were characterized by small-sized individuals, highly associated with submerged plants. Overall, higher densities of small planktivorous fish were recorded in the Mediterranean compared to the cold-temperate region, likely reflecting temperature-related differences as have been observed in freshwater lakes. Our results suggest that fish predation is the major control of zooplankton size structure in brackish lakes, since fish density was related to a decrease in mean body size and density of zooplankton and this was reflected in a unimodal shaped biomass-size spectrum with dominance of small sizes and low size diversity. Salinity might play a more indirect role by shaping zooplankton communities toward more salt-tolerant species. In a global-warming perspective, these results suggest that changes in the trophic structure of shallow lakes in temperate regions might be expected as a result of the warmer temperatures and the potentially associated increases in salinity. The decrease in the density of largebodied zooplankton might reduce the grazing on phytoplankton and thus the chances of maintaining the clear water state in these ecosystems

Zooplankton structure and dynamics in Mediterranean marshes (Empordà Wetlands): a size-based approach

Zooplankton community structure (composition, diversity, dynamics and trophic relationships) of Mediterranian marshes, has been analysed by means of a size based approach. In temporary basins the shape of the biomass-size spectra is related to the hydrological cycle. Linear shape spectra are more frequent in flooding situations when nutrient input causes population growth of small-sized organisms, more than compensating for the effect of competitive interactions. During confinement conditions the scarcity of food would decrease zooplankton growth and increase intra- and interspecific interactions between zooplankton organisms which favour the greatest sizes thus leading to the appearance of curved shape spectra. Temporary and permanent basins have similar taxonomic composition but the latter have higher species diversity, a more simplified temporal pattern and a size distribution dominated mainly by smaller sizes. In permanents basins zooplankton growth is not only conditioned by the availability of resources but by the variable predation of planktivorous fish, so that the temporal variability of the spectra may also be a result of temporal differences in fish predation. Size diversity seems to be a better indicator of the degree of this community structure than species diversity. The tendency of size diversity to increase during succession makes it useful to discriminate between different succession stages, fact that is not achieved by analysing only species diversity since it is low both under large and frequent or small and rare disturbances. Amino acid composition differences found among stages of copepod species indicate a gradual change in diet during the life cycle of these copepods, which provide evidence of food niche partitioning during ontogeny, whereas Daphnia species show a relatively constant amino acid composition. There is a relationship between the degree of trophic niche overlap among stages of the different species and nutrient concentration. Copepods, which have low trophic niche overlap among stages are dominant in food-limited environments, probably because trophic niche partitioning during development allow them to reduce intraspecific competition between adults, juveniles and nauplii. Daphnia species are only dominant in water bodies or periods with high productivity, probably due to the high trophic niche overlap between juveniles and adults. These findings suggest that, in addition to the effect of interspecific competition, predation and abiotic factors, the intraspecific competition might play also an important role in structuring zooplankton assemblages.

Investigating scaling of an abstracted LCS utilising ternary and S-Expression alphabets

Utilising the expressive power of S-Expressions in Learning Classifier Systems often prohibitively increases the search space due to increased flexibility of the endcoding. This work shows that selection of appropriate S-Expression functions through domain knowledge improves scaling in problems, as expected. It is also known that simple alphabets perform well on relatively small sized problems in a domain, e.g. ternary alphabet in the 6, 11 and 20 bit MUX domain. Once fit ternary rules have been formed it was investigated whether higher order learning was possible and whether this staged learning facilitated selection of appropriate functions in complex alphabets, e.g. selection of S-Expression functions. This novel methodology is shown to provide compact results (135-MUX) and exhibits potential for scaling well (1034-MUX), but is only a small step towards introducing abstraction to LCS.

Preliminary results on the non-thermal effects of 200-350 GHz radiation on the growth rate of S. cerevisiae cells in microcolonies

We report preliminary results from studies of biological effects induced by non-thermal levels of non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation. Exponentially growing Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast cells grown on dry media were exposed to electromagnetic fields in the 200–350 GHz frequency range at low power density to observe possible non-thermal effects on the microcolony growth. Exposure to the electromagnetic field was conducted over 2.5 h. The data from exposure and control experiments were grouped into either large-, medium- or small-sized microcolonies to assist in the accurate assessment of growth. The three groups showed significant differences in growth between exposed and control microcolonies. A statistically significant enhanced growth rate was observed at 341 GHz. Growth rate was assessed every 30 min via time-lapse photography. Possible interaction mechanisms are discussed, taking into account Frohlich's hypothesis.

Risk reduction and real estate portfolio size

Despite a number of papers that discuss the advantages of increased size on risk levels in real estate portfolios there is remarkably little empirical evidence based on actual portfolios. The objective of this paper is to remedy this deficiency by examining the portfolio risk of a large sample of actual property data over the period 1981 to 1996. The results show that all that can be said is that portfolios of properties of a large size, on the average, tend to have lower risks than small sized portfolios. More importantly portfolios of a few properties can have very high or very low risk.

Patterns of diversification in two species of short-tailed bats (Carollia Gray, 1838): the effects of historical fragmentation of Brazilian rainforests

The small-sized frugivorous bat Carollia perspicillata is an understory specialist and occurs in a wide range of lowland habitats, tending to be more common in tropical dry or moist forests of South and Central America. Its sister species, Carollia brevicauda, occurs almost exclusively in the Amazon rainforest. A recent phylogeographic study proposed a hypothesis of origin and subsequent diversification for C. perspicillata along the Atlantic coastal forest of Brazil. Additionally, it also found two allopatric clades for C. brevicauda separated by the Amazon Basin. We used cytochrome b gene sequences and a more extensive sampling to test hypotheses related to the origin and diversification of C. perspicillata plus C. brevicauda clade in South America. The results obtained indicate that there are two sympatric evolutionary lineages within each species. In C. perspicillata, one lineage is limited to the Southern Atlantic Forest, whereas the other is widely distributed. Coalescent analysis points to a simultaneous origin for C. perspicillata and C. brevicauda, although no place for the diversification of each species can be firmly suggested. The phylogeographic pattern shown by C. perspicillata is also congruent with the Pleistocene refugia hypothesis as a likely vicariant phenomenon shaping the present distribution of its intraspecific lineages. (C) 2011 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2011, 102, 527-539.

Gestão da qualidade no Brasil: setor manufatura

This project intends to analyse quality management in Brazilian manufacture segment. The study was undertaken through the mailing of an extensive questionnaire to a convenience sample of large-, mid- and small-sized companies. The survey covers social-organizational, technical-technological and economical-competitive aspects of the firms. It has appraised the procedures used in quality management as well as the results achieved by firms on this respect. This research is part of a worldwide program on quality management, under the coordination of Prof. Gustavo Vargas from California State University at Fullerton.

Gestão de qualidade no Brasil: setor serviços

O presente relatório origina-se de projeto destinado a analisar a gestão da qualidade no setor de serviços nacional. A pesquisa foi conduzida através do envio de questionário, contendo 135 perguntas, a uma amostra, selecionada por conveniência, de empresas de grande, médio e pequeno portes do segmento de serviços. A sondagem cobre aspectos socioorganizacionais, técnico-tecnológicos e econômico-competitivos das indústrias. Foram avaliados os procedimentos usados na gestão da qualidade e os resultados obtidos. O trabalho insere-se numa pesquisa mundial sobre gestão da qualidade, coordenada pelo Prof. Gustavo Vargas da Universidade Estadual da Califórnia em Fullerton.

Gestão da qualidade no Brasil: setor processamento

This project intends to analyse quality management in Brazilian processing segment. The study was undertaken through the mailing of an extensive questionnaire to a convenience sample of large-, mid- and small-sized companies. The survey covers social-organizational, technical-technological and economical-competitive aspects of the firms. It has appraised the procedures used in quality management as well as the results achieved by firms on this respect. This research is part of a worldwide program on quality management, under the coordination of Prof. Gustavo Vargas from California State University at Fullerton.

Gestão da qualidade no Brasil

O presente relatório origina-se de projeto destinado a analisar a gestão da qualidade no setor de serviços nacional. A pesquisa foi conduzida através do envio de questionário, contendo 135 perguntas, a uma amostra, selecionada por conveniência, de empresas de grande, médio e pequeno portes do segmento de serviços. A sondagem cobre aspectos socioorganizacionais, técnico-tecnológicos e econômico-competitivos das indústrias. Foram avaliados os procedimentos usados na gestão da qualidade e os resultados obtidos. O trabalho insere-se numa pesquisa mundial sobre gestão da qualidade, coordenada pelo Prof. Gustavo Vargas da Universidade Estadual da Califórnia em Fullerton.

Produção de pepino em função da idade das mudas produzidas em recipientes com diferentes volumes de substrato

Estudou-se o efeito do volume de substrato e da idade das mudas na produção de pepino japonês 'Hokuho' sob ambiente protegido na área experimental da UNESP, de março a julho/2000. Os tratamentos consistiram em dois volumes de substrato (34,6 e 121,2 cm³ em bandeja de poliestireno expandido) e quatro idades das mudas (19; 24; 29 e 34 dias após a semeadura). O delineamento experimental foi em blocos ao acaso, com cinco repetições e cinco plantas por parcela. Foram avaliados no dia do transplante o número de folhas, área foliar, comprimento, massa fresca e seca da parte aérea das mudas e, após o transplante, a produção precoce (porcentagem da produção nos primeiros 20 dias de colheita), produção de frutos (número e massa) e produção comercial (número e massa). Nas condições deste experimento, obteve-se maior precocidade com mudas de pepino produzidas em maior volume de substrato. Porém, a produção de frutos não apresentou diferença estatística quando utilizou-se mudas de pepino com menos de duas folhas produzidas em menor volume de substrato. A produção comercial foi superior com mudas produzidas em bandejas com maior volume de substrato. A idade não influenciou a produção comercial de frutos em mudas produzidas em volume de substrato maior, porém, quanto mais velhas as mudas produzidas em recipientes com menor volume de substrato, menor a produção destas plantas.

5S rDNA chromosomal mapping and COI sequence analysis reveal differentiation among distinct populations of a characid fish Serrapinnus notomelas

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

Natural triploidy and B chromosomes in Astyanax scabripinnis (Characiformes, Characidae): a new occurrence

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

Importance of lateral lagoons for the ichthyofauna in a large tropical reservoir

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)