Control and model-based analysis of microaerobic processes - using Rhodospirillum rubrum as model organism

Magdeburg, Univ., Fak. für Elektrotechnik und Informationstechnik, Diss., 2015

Biologia reprodutiva de Ligia exotica (Crustacea, Isopoda, Ligiidae) em Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil

Com o objetivo de elucidar alguns aspectos da biologia reprodutiva de Ligia exotica Roux, 1828, duas populações que habitam o Estuário da Lagoa dos Patos (Molhe Oeste da Barra de Rio Grande e Ilha do Leonídeo) foram analisadas. A amostragem foi realizada quinzenalmente entre o verão/2003 e o inverno/2004. Os animais foram coletados manualmente durante uma hora. O período reprodutivo da espécie foi registrado para os meses de outubro a junho. Nenhuma fêmea ovígera foi observada de julho a setembro. No Molhe Oeste da Barra de Rio Grande, 5.376 indivíduos foram capturados (1.494 juvenis, 1.748 machos e 2.134 fêmeas, das quais 245 eram ovígeras). A proporção sexual estimada foi 0,78 (M:F). Para a análise da fecundidade, 178 fêmeas ovígeras com o marsúpio intacto foram analisadas. O comprimento total destas fêmeas variou entre 20,73 a 34,3 mm, e o número de ovos-embriões variaram de 33 a 142. O comprimento médio de primeira maturação sexual das fêmeas foi 24,65 mm e o número médio de ovos-embriões foi 88. Na Ilha do Leonídeo, 5.519 animais foram coletados (510 juvenis, 1.956 machos e 3.053 fêmeas, das quais 129 eram ovígeras). A proporção sexual foi 0,68 (M:F). Pequenas porcentagens de fêmeas ovígeras foram encontradas de setembro a maio, sendo a mais alta porcentagem observada no final de março. Neste local, 101 fêmeas ovígeras foram analisadas, com o comprimento total variando entre 17,62 a 28,61 mm e o número de ovos-embriões entre 25 e 113. O comprimento médio de primeira maturação sexual das fêmeas e o número médio de ovos-embriões foram, respectivamente, 21,43 mm e 73,8.

Densidade populacional de raposa-do-campo Lycalopex vetulus (Carnivora, Canidae) em áreas de pastagem e campo sujo, Campinápolis, Mato Grosso, Brasil

Diante da crescente descaracterização do Bioma Cerrado em função da expansão da fronteira agropecuária na região central do Brasil, torna-se importante avaliar a capacidade de adaptação das espécies ao ambiente antropizado. Neste sentido, este trabalho foi desenvolvido com o objetivo de estimar e comparar a densidade populacional da raposa-do-campo Lycalopex vetulus (Lund, 1842) em duas áreas com diferentes graus de alteração, pastagem e campo sujo, em Campinápolis, Mato Grosso. Para tanto, no período entre agosto a novembro de 2005, foram efetuados censos noturnos ao longo de transectos lineares, totalizando percursos de 129,8 km na área de campo sujo e 62,08 km na área de pastagem. Estimativas de densidade populacional foram geradas utilizando o programa Distance 5.0, sendo que o modelo e ajuste mais adequados aos dados foram half-normal + hermite. Foram obtidas 23 e 52 detecções de raposas-do-campo nas áreas de campo sujo e pastagem, respectivamente. A densidade populacional de raposa-do-campo na área de pastagem (D=4,28 indivíduos/km²; IC=2,69 - 6,82) foi maior que na área de campo sujo (D=1,21 indivíduos/km²; IC=0,73 - 2,01), fato que deve estar relacionado, principalmente, com a disponibilidade de alimento e redução de potenciais predadores. Por apresentar uma dieta composta principalmente de cupins, especialmente os dos gêneros Syntermes e Cornitermes, a raposa-do-campo encontra na área de pastagem uma base alimentar abundante e estável. Além disto, a simplificação ambiental, em função da implantação de pastagens acaba por reduzir, ou até mesmo eliminar, animais que são potenciais predadores de raposas-do-campo, como Chrysocyon brachyurus (Illiger, 1815), favorecendo o aumento da densidade populacional da espécie neste tipo de ambiente. Por fim, características adaptativas apresentadas pela raposa-do-campo têm permitido que esta espécie sobreviva, inclusive apresentando elevada densidade populacional, em áreas de pastagem utilizadas para a criação de gado, em Campinápolis, Mato Grosso, onde a vegetação original era Cerrado.

Sobre a nefrosclerose maligna

1º - Das aus den oeffentlichen Krankenhäusern von Rio de Janeiro stammende Sektionsmaterial umfasst einen beträchtlichen Prozentzatz von Individuen schwarzer und gemischter Rasse. Es besteht durchweg aus Angehörigen der sozial und oekonomisch niedersten Bevölkerungsschichten der Stadt und ihrer Vororte, die gemessen am Standard der Gesamtbevölkerung unter den dürftigsten hygienischen Bedingungen leben. So fanden sich unter 212 Autopsien aus dem Anfall der Pathologisch-Anatomischen Abteilung des Institutes Oswaldo Cruz im Jahr 1920 bei 111 Fällen schwarze oder Mischlinsfarbe protokolliert, (52,3%). Unter 349 Sektionen der gleichen Abteilung im Jahr 1938 waren 184 (= 52,7%) von Individuen von schwarzer oder gemischter Rasse. Ein derartiges Material bietet guenstige Bedingungen fuer die Untersuchung der Bedeutung der Rassenzugehoerigkeit als aetiologischem und pathogenem Faktor fuer bestimmte Affektionen, bei welchen sie in der Literatu in diesem Sinn angeführt worden ist. 2º - Unter 1080 Sektionen von Indiduen männlichen Geschlechts jeder Altersstufe aus dem Material der gleichen Abteilung der Jahre 1918-1926 fanden sich bei 214 Faellen syphilitische Befunde protokolliert. (19,8% der Faelle.) 129 (12%) wiesen eine Aortitis oder Arteritis syphilitica auf. 3º - Das histologische Material einer Serie von 528 Autopsien von Individuen im Alter unter 40 Jahren wurde auf das Vorkommen der fuer Nephrosclerose maligna (FAHR) typisch erachteten pathologischen Veraenderungen untersucht. Es wurden 4 Faelle festgestellt, die das Bild dieser Nephropathie zeigten. Unter den 528 Individuen dieser Gruppe waren 244 Weisse, (46,2%) 274 Schwarze oder Mischlinge (51,8%) Bei 10 war die Rassenzugehoerigkeit nicht ersichtlich. 4º - Unter Heranziehung von 6 weiteren Faellen aus anderen Serien von Sektionen der letzten 4 Jahre beläuft sich die Gesamtzahl der mikroskopisch festegestellen Faelle von Nephrosclerose maligna unter dem Material der Pathologisch-Anatomischen Abteilung des Institutes auf 10. Bei einem dieser Faelle (weiblichen Geschlechts) fand sich diese Nephropathie zusammen mit einer congenitalen Missbildung (Aplaise der linken Niere, des Ovarium und der Tube dieser Seite und Hypoplasie des Uterus). 7 dieser Faelle waren maennlichen Geschlechts. 3 waren von weisser, 2 von schwarzer Rasse, 5 waren mischrassig. 5º - Unsere Beobachtungen bieten keinen Anhalt fuer die Annahme, dass der Syphilis oder der Rassenzugehoerigkeit eine besondere Bebeutung fuer die Pathogenese der Nephrose maligna zukommt.

Investigating independent language learning in classroom-based EFL Learners

La recerca efectuada sobre les estratègies d’aprenentatge de llengües ha demostrat que els aprenents que utilitzen estratègies metacognitives (planificació, revisió i avaluació) desenvolupen estratègies cognitives més eficaces (Anderson, 2002). Aquest article descriu les activitats que 43 estudiants de llengua estrangera de la Universitat de Vic van emprendre de forma independent i dedueix les estratègies metacognitives que van utilitzar sense cap formació prèvia en estratègies. Els estudiants van completar un dossier on expressaven les necessitats d’aprenentatge, la planificació i supervisió de les activitats i finalment l’avaluació de l’aprenentatge que havien portat a terme de manera independent fora de les hores lectives. La primera fase de l’anàlisi de les dades revela que, tot i que els estudiants foren capaços d’expressar les necessitats d’aprenentatge en general, la formulació d’objectius i la supervisió de les activitats fou escassa. La discussió gira entorn de la formació dels estudiants de llengües estrangeres en estratègies metacognitives i la integració de l’aprenentatge autònom dins el currículum docent.

Multi-phase post-mortem CT angiography: development of a standardized protocol.

The objective of this work was to develop an easily applicable technique and a standardized protocol for high-quality post-mortem angiography. This protocol should (1) increase the radiological interpretation by decreasing artifacts due to the perfusion and by reaching a complete filling of the vascular system and (2) ease and standardize the execution of the examination. To this aim, 45 human corpses were investigated by post-mortem computed tomography (CT) angiography using different perfusion protocols, a modified heart-lung machine and a new contrast agent mixture, specifically developed for post-mortem investigations. The quality of the CT angiographies was evaluated radiologically by observing the filling of the vascular system and assessing the interpretability of the resulting images and by comparing radiological diagnoses to conventional autopsy conclusions. Post-mortem angiography yielded satisfactory results provided that the volumes of the injected contrast agent mixture were high enough to completely fill the vascular system. In order to avoid artifacts due to the post-mortem perfusion, a minimum of three angiographic phases and one native scan had to be performed. These findings were taken into account to develop a protocol for quality post-mortem CT angiography that minimizes the risk of radiological misinterpretation. The proposed protocol is easy applicable in a standardized way and yields high-quality radiologically interpretable visualization of the vascular system in post-mortem investigations.

QoS support in satellite and wireless networks: study under the network simulator (NS-2)

Aquest projecte es basa en l'estudi de l'oferiment de qualitat de servei en xarxes wireless i satel·litals. Per això l'estudi de les tècniques de cross-layer i del IEEE 802.11e ha sigut el punt clau per al desenvolupament teòric d’aquest estudi. Usant el simulador de xarxes network simulator, a la part de simulacions es plantegen tres situacions: l'estudi de la xarxa satel·lital, l'estudi del mètode d'accés HCCA i la interconnexió de la xarxa satel·lital amb la wireless. Encara que aquest últim punt, incomplet en aquest projecte, ha de ser la continuació per a futures investigacions.

RADIC II: a fault tolerant architecture with flexible dynamic redundancy

The demand for computational power has been leading the improvement of the High Performance Computing (HPC) area, generally represented by the use of distributed systems like clusters of computers running parallel applications. In this area, fault tolerance plays an important role in order to provide high availability isolating the application from the faults effects. Performance and availability form an undissociable binomial for some kind of applications. Therefore, the fault tolerant solutions must take into consideration these two constraints when it has been designed. In this dissertation, we present a few side-effects that some fault tolerant solutions may presents when recovering a failed process. These effects may causes degradation of the system, affecting mainly the overall performance and availability. We introduce RADIC-II, a fault tolerant architecture for message passing based on RADIC (Redundant Array of Distributed Independent Fault Tolerance Controllers) architecture. RADIC-II keeps as maximum as possible the RADIC features of transparency, decentralization, flexibility and scalability, incorporating a flexible dynamic redundancy feature, allowing to mitigate or to avoid some recovery side-effects.

The identity type weak factorisation system

We show that the classifying category C(T)of a dependent type theory T with axioms for identity types admits a nontrivial weak factorisation system. After characterising this weak factorisation system explicitly, we relate it to the homotopy theory of groupoids.

Rapid evolution of cancer/testis genes on the X chromosome.

BACKGROUND: Cancer/testis (CT) genes are normally expressed only in germ cells, but can be activated in the cancer state. This unusual property, together with the finding that many CT proteins elicit an antigenic response in cancer patients, has established a role for this class of genes as targets in immunotherapy regimes. Many families of CT genes have been identified in the human genome, but their biological function for the most part remains unclear. While it has been shown that some CT genes are under diversifying selection, this question has not been addressed before for the class as a whole. RESULTS: To shed more light on this interesting group of genes, we exploited the generation of a draft chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) genomic sequence to examine CT genes in an organism that is closely related to human, and generated a high-quality, manually curated set of human:chimpanzee CT gene alignments. We find that the chimpanzee genome contains homologues to most of the human CT families, and that the genes are located on the same chromosome and at a similar copy number to those in human. Comparison of putative human:chimpanzee orthologues indicates that CT genes located on chromosome X are diverging faster and are undergoing stronger diversifying selection than those on the autosomes or than a set of control genes on either chromosome X or autosomes. CONCLUSION: Given their high level of diversifying selection, we suggest that CT genes are primarily responsible for the observed rapid evolution of protein-coding genes on the X chromosome.

Intraoperative cerebral perfusion and postoperative cognitive dysfunction in geriatric patients

Background: Inadequate intraoperative cerebral perfusion has been suggested as a possible cause of postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD). Methods: We investigated 35 patients aged 65 or older undergoing elective major non-cardiac surgery under standardized general anaesthesia (thiopental, sevoflurane, fentanyl, atracurium). Intraoperative cerebral perfusion was monitored with transcranial Doppler, and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Arterial blood pressure was monitored continuously with a Finapres device. Mx, an index allowing continuous monitoring of cerebrovascular autoregulation based on the changes in mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) and cerebral blood flow velocity was calculated. Mx >0.5 was defined as disturbed cerebrovascular autoregulation. Cognitive function was measured preoperatively and 7 days postoperatively using the CERAD-NAB Plus test battery. A postoperative decline >1 z-score in at least two of the tested domains was defined as POCD. Data are shown as mean } SD. Results: Mean age was 75 } 7 yrs. Sixteen patients (46%) developed POCD. These patients were older (77 } 8 vs 73 } 7 yrs), had lower MAP (77 } 12 vs 81 } 11 mm Hg), lower cerebral tissue oxygenation indices measured by NIRS (66.8 } 6.0 vs 68.6 } 4.3%) and less efficient cerebrovascular autoregulation (Mx 0.54 } 0.17 and 0.44 } 0.22) than patients without POCD. Disturbed intraoperative cerebrovascular autoregulation was found more often (56 vs 37%) in patients with POCD. However, none of these differences reached statistical significance. Conclusions: Our data show a trend towards subtle changes in intraoperative cerebral perfusion in elderly patients who develop POCD. However, a cause effect relationship must not be assumed and a greater number of patients needs to be investigated patients. However, more patients need to be investigated to confirm and characterize these differences.

Diagnostic yield of short-term video-EEG monitoring for epilepsy and PNESs: a European assessment.

INTRODUCTION: Although long-term video-EEG monitoring (LVEM) is routinely used to investigate paroxysmal events, short-term video-EEG monitoring (SVEM) lasting <24 h is increasingly recognized as a cost-effective tool. Since, however, relatively few studies addressed the yield of SVEM among different diagnostic groups, we undertook the present study to investigate this aspect. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 226 consecutive SVEM recordings over 6 years. All patients were referred because routine EEGs were inconclusive. Patients were classified into 3 suspected diagnostic groups: (1) group with epileptic seizures, (2) group with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNESs), and (3) group with other or undetermined diagnoses. We assessed recording lengths, interictal epileptiform discharges, epileptic seizures, PNESs, and the definitive diagnoses obtained after SVEM. RESULTS: The mean age was 34 (±18.7) years, and the median recording length was 18.6 h. Among the 226 patients, 127 referred for suspected epilepsy - 73 had a diagnosis of epilepsy, none had a diagnosis of PNESs, and 54 had other or undetermined diagnoses post-SVEM. Of the 24 patients with pre-SVEM suspected PNESs, 1 had epilepsy, 12 had PNESs, and 11 had other or undetermined diagnoses. Of the 75 patients with other diagnoses pre-SVEM, 17 had epilepsy, 11 had PNESs, and 47 had other or undetermined diagnoses. After SVEM, 15 patients had definite diagnoses other than epilepsy or PNESs, while in 96 patients, diagnosis remained unclear. Overall, a definitive diagnosis could be reached in 129/226 (57%) patients. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that in nearly 3/5 patients without a definitive diagnosis after routine EEG, SVEM allowed us to reach a diagnosis. This procedure should be encouraged in this setting, given its time-effectiveness compared with LVEM.

Secondary amyloidosis: a severe complication of ankylosing spondylitis. Two case-reports.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To report two cases of amyloidosis secondary to ankylosing spondylitis. PATIENTS AND RESULTS: Of the 47 ankylosing spondylitis patients who have received follow-up at our department over the last few years, two have developed AA amyloidosis. Both have extremely severe, long-standing joint disease, with virtually complete spinal ankylosis and destructive peripheral arthritis of the hips and wrists; one also has tarsal joint destruction. Renal dysfunction was the first manifestation of amyloidosis in both cases. One patient required chronic hemodialysis and developed peritonitis due to colonic perforation, probably at a site of amyloid deposition. CONCLUSIONS: Secondary amyloidosis is a rare complication of ankylosing spondylitis that can cause severe renal and gastrointestinal complications. No treatment capable of clearing established amyloid deposits is available to date.