Distribuição geográfica da fauna e flora da Baía de Guanabara

The author studied, the horizontal and vertical distribution of most common part of the flora and fauna of the bay of Guanabara at Rio de Janeiro. In this paper the eulittoral, poly, meso and oligohaline regions were localised and studied; and the first chart of its distribution was presented (fig. 2). The salinity of superficial waters was established through determinations based on 30 trips inside the buy for collecting biological materials. Some often 409 determinations which were previous reported together with the present ones served for the eleboration of a salinity map of the bay of Guanabara (fig. 1). This map of fig. 2 shows the geographic locations of the water regions. EULITTORAL WATER REGIME — Fig. 3 shows the diagram scheme of fauna and flora of this regime. Sea water salinity 34/1.000, density mean 1.027, transparent greenish waters, sea coast with moderate bursting waves. Limpid sea shore with white sand, gneiss with the big barnacle Tetraclita squamosa var. stalactifera (Lam. Pilsbry. Vertical distributions: barna¬cles layers with a green region in which are present the oyster Ostrea pa-rasitica L., the barnacles Tetraclita, Chthamalus, Balanus tintinnabulum var. tintinnabulum (L.) e var. antillensis Pilsbry in connection with several mollusca and the sea beatle Isopoda Lygia sp. Covered by water and exposed to air by the tidal ritms, there is a stratum of brown animals that is the layer of mussels Mytilus perna L., with others brown and chestnut animals : the Crustacea Pachygrapsus, the little crab Porcellana sp., the stone crab Me-nippe nodifrons Stimpson, the sea stars Echinaster brasiliensis (Mull. & Tr.), Astropecten sp. and the sea anemones Actinia sp. Underneath and never visible there is a subtidal region with green tubular algae of genus Codium and amidst its bunches the sea urchin Lycthchinus variegatus (Agass.) walks and more deeply there are numerous sand-dollars Encope emarginata (Leske). The microplancton of this regime is Ceratiumplancton. POLYHALINE WATER REGIMB — Water almost sea water, but directly influenced by continental lands, with rock salts dissolved and in suspension. Salinity: 33 to 32/1.000. This waters endure the actions of the popular nicknamed «water of the hill» (as the waters of mesohaline and oligohaline regimes), becoming suddenly reddish during several hours. That pheno¬menon returns several times in the year and come with great mortality of fishes. In these waters, according to Dr. J. G. FARIA there are species of Protozoa : Peridinea, the Glenoidinium trochoideum St., followed by its satellites which he thinks that they are able to secret toxical substances which can slaughter some species of fishes. In these «waters of the hill» was found a species of Copepoda the Charlesia darwini. In August 1946 the west shore of the Guanabara was plenty of killed fishes occupying a area of 8 feet large by 3 nautical miles of lenght. The enclosure for catching fishes in the rivers mouthes presents in these periods mass dead fishes. The phenomenon of «waters of the hill» appears with the first rains after a period of long dryness. MESOHALINE WATER REGIME — Fig. 4 shows the the diagramm scheme. Salt or brackish water from 30 to 17/1.000 salinity, sometimes until 10/1.000. Turbid waters with mud in suspension, chestnut, claveyous waters; shore dirty black mud without waving bursting; the waters are warmer and shorner than those of the polihaline regime. Mangrove shore with the mangrove trees : Rhizophora mangle L., Avicennia sp., Laguncularia sp., and the »cotton tree of sea» Hibiscus sp. Fauna: the great land crab «guaimú» Cardisoma guanhumi Latr., ashore in dry firm land. There is the real land crab Ucides cordatus (L.) in wetting mud and in neigh¬ bourhood of the burrows of the fiddler-crabs of genus Uca. On stones and in the roots of the Rhizophora inhabits the brightly colored mangrove-tree-crab («aratu» Portuguese nickname) Goniopsis cruentata (Latreille) and the sparingly the big oyster Ostrea rhizophorae Guild. Lower is the region of barnacles Balanus amphitrite var. communis Darwin and var. niveus Darwin; Balanus tintinnabulum var. tintinnabulum (L.) doesn't grow in this brackish water; lower is the region of Pelecipoda with prepollency of Venus and Cytherea shell-fishes and the Panopeus mud crab; there are the sea lettuce Ulva and the Gastreropod Cerithium. The Paguridae Clibanarius which lives in the empty shells of Gasteropod molluscs, and the sessile ascidians Tethium plicatum (Lesuer) appears in some seasons. In the bottom there is a black argillous mud where the «one landed shrimps» Alpheus sp. is hidden. OLIGOHALINE WATER REGIME — The salinity is lower than 10/1.000. average 8/1.000. There are no barnacles and no sea-beetles Isopods of genus Lygia; on the hay of the shore there are several graminea. This brackish water pervades by mouthes of rivers and penetrates until about 3 kilometers river above. While there is some salt dissolved in water, there are some mud crabs of the genus Uca, Sesarma, Metasesarma and Chasmagnatus. The presence of floating green plants coming from the rivers in the waters of a region indicated the oligohaline waters, with low salt content because when the average of NaCl increases above 8/1.000 these plants die and become rusty colored.

The optimal behaviour of firms facing stochastic costs

This paper aims at assessing the optimal behavior of a firm facing stochastic costs of production. In an imperfectly competitive setting, we evaluate to what extent a firm may decide to locate part of its production in other markets different from which it is actually settled. This decision is taken in a stochastic environment. Portfolio theory is used to derive the optimal solution for the intertemporal profit maximization problem. In such a framework, splitting production between different locations may be optimal when a firm is able to charge different prices in the different local markets.

Quarta contribuição ao conhecimento do gênero Archytas Jaennicke, 1867: (Diptera, Tachinidae)

The author studies 5 species of Archytas Jaennicke, 1867, belonging to the "dissimilis group": A. seminigra (Wiedemann, 1830) and four species which are considered as new. The species of this group may be characterized as follow: Species of short body, exceptionally large ones. Abdomen yellowish, with a median blackish V-shapedspot. Second antennal segment with 2/3 length of third. Parafacialia with blackish hairs. Propleura pilose. Post alar wall with few hairs. The following key facilitates the identification of the species: 1. Third article of antennae, strongly convex in the anterior margin (fig. 10); posterior margin straight. Parafacialia with a facio-orbital bristle well differentiated . . . . A. arnaudi sp. n. — Third article of antennae not so convex in the anterior margin; facio-orbital bristle absent, if present not well differentiated [...] 2; 2. Parafrontalia with golden polen [...] 3; — Parafrontalia brownish to shining black with few polen . . . 4; 3. Forcipes superiores slender and sub-truncate apically (figs. 5 and 6)[...] A. seminigra; — Forcipes superiores broad apically (fig .20)[...] A, gongalvesi sp. n.; 4. First, second and third sternites yellowish [...] A. angrensis sp. n.; — All sternites brownish to black [...] A. sabroskpi sp. n.; The material studied belongs to the Instituto Oswaldo Cruz collections, where is located the types of new species.

A Computable general equilibrium approach to hypothetical extractions and missing links

Identifying key sectors or key locations in an interconnected economy is of paramount importance for improving policy planning and directing economic strategy. Hence the relevance of categorizing them and hence the corresponding need of evaluating their potential synergies in terms of their global economic thrust. We explain in this paper that standard measures based on gross outputs do not and cannot capture the relevant impact due to self- imposed modeling limitations. In fact, common gross output measures will be systematically downward biased. We argue that an economy wide Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) approach provides a modeling platform that overcomes these limitations since it provides (i) a more comprehensive measure of linkages and (ii) an alternate way of accounting for links' relevance that is in consonance with standard macromagnitudes in the National Income and Product Accounts.

Host factors influencing outcome of Leishmania mexicana infection in mice

Studies were undertaken to determine the influence of several host-related parameters on the course of Leishmania mexicana mexicana infection in inbred C57B1/10 (C57) and outbred albino (OA) mice. An important influence of the following variables was demonstrated: Host strain: lesions in C57s were significantly less variable in size and outcome than those of OAs under the conditions studied and even when persistent developed at a slower rate. Host age: Subcutanous injection of 2 x 10 [raised to the power of 4] to 2 x 10 [raised to the power of 6] amastigotes into the dorsum of the rear paw produced significantly larger lesions which healed more slowly in 2 mo. old C57s than in 4 mo. old mice. Reduced healing ability was observed in older (8 mo. old) female C57s, and low mortality occurred after 15 months of age in infected mice of both sexes. Lesion site: Following amastigote infection, lesions in paws of most C57s regress within 15 - 25 wks. In contrast, perinasal legions produced with the same number of parasites tend to persist for the life of the animal as slowly spreading irregular nodules. In animals infected in both locations, each lesion site behaves similarly to that in singly infected animals of the same age, i.e. regression in the two sites is independent. Our results indicate that while host strain may strongly influence infection outcoem, such variables as lesion site and host age play important roles and may explain, in part, reported inter- and intraexperimental variability in responses of murine hosts to a given leishmanial parasite.

The distribution of two morphological forms of Lutzomyia longipalpis (Lutz & Neiva) (Diptera: Psychodidae)

The males of the sandfly Lutzomyia longipalpis occur in two forms, one which bears a single pair of pale spots on tergite 4 and another in which an additional pair of spots characterizes tergite 3. Almost complete reproductive isolation between sumpatric populations of the two forms and between allopatric populations of the one-spot form has been reported (Ward et al., 1983). Micromorphological differences in cuticular structures on the spots have also been observed and may be sites of pheromone release (Lane & Ward, 1984). Detais of the known distribution of the two are based on the examination of new specimens captured in Brazil during 1982, as well as museum collections and specimens from other laboratories. Males with a single pair of pale spots have been found from Mexico to southern Brazil, whilst the two-spot form is found only from the state of Maranhão in North Brazil to Minas Gerais and the border with Paraguay. In the eastern area of Brazil the two forms occur sympatrically in some locations and separately in others.

Sistema de Informació i Gestió Integral de la Producció Pesquera Internacional (SIGIPPI)

Des de la ciència geogràfica combinada amb el coneixement biològic i comercial, aquest projecte pretén crear una eina basada en la biogeografia i les últimes tecnologies de la Informació Geogràfica, que permetrà a l’usuari disposar de informació actualitzada per cada espècie amb interès comercial. El projecte es basa en el desenvolupament d’una aplicació web de consulta, entrada i actualització de dades referents a la producció pesquera internacional. Les eines utilitzades són les bases de dades MySQL i PostgreSQL i programació web amb html, php i javacript. Aquesta aplicació està pensada per ser accessible des de qualsevol ordinador amb connexió a internet i es subdivideix en tres sub-aplicacions. La primera sub-aplicació es basa en l’entrada d’espècies a partir de l’estructura taxonòmica. Partint de l’arbre taxonòmic, l’usuari té la possibilitat d’entrar, eliminar o modificar qualsevol tàxon o espècie. La segona subaplicació és una eina de digitalització cartogràfica on-line on l’usuari podrà marcar, eliminar o modificar sobre un mapa les localitzacions de les espècies que estiguin entrades en la sub-aplicació anterior. Finalment, la tercera sub-aplicació és una eina d’entrada de dades quinzenals referent als comportaments pel que fa tan a les dimensions com a les disponibilitats de pesca per cada espècie i localització.

Anatomical landmarks for transnasal endoscopic skull base surgery.

Resection of midline skull base lesions involve approaches needing extensive neurovascular manipulation. Transnasal endoscopic approach (TEA) is minimally invasive and ideal for certain selected lesions of the anterior skull base. A thorough knowledge of endonasal endoscopic anatomy is essential to be well versed with its surgical applications and this is possible only by dedicated cadaveric dissections. The goal in this study was to understand endoscopic anatomy of the orbital apex, petrous apex and the pterygopalatine fossa. Six cadaveric heads (3 injected and 3 non injected) and 12 sides, were dissected using a TEA outlining systematically, the steps of surgical dissection and the landmarks encountered. Dissection done by the "2 nostril, 4 hands" technique, allows better transnasal instrumentation with two surgeons working in unison with each other. The main surgical landmarks for the orbital apex are the carotid artery protuberance in the lateral sphenoid wall, optic nerve canal, lateral optico-carotid recess, optic strut and the V2 nerve. Orbital apex includes structures passing through the superior and inferior orbital fissure and the optic nerve canal. Vidian nerve canal and the V2 are important landmarks for the petrous apex. Identification of the sphenopalatine artery, V2 and foramen rotundum are important during dissection of the pterygopalatine fossa. In conclusion, the major potential advantage of TEA to the skull base is that it provides a direct anatomical route to the lesion without traversing any major neurovascular structures, as against the open transcranial approaches which involve more neurovascular manipulation and brain retraction. Obviously, these approaches require close cooperation and collaboration between otorhinolaryngologists and neurosurgeons.

Epidemiological aspects of toxoplasmosis in schoolchildren residing in localities with urban or rural characteristics within the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Immunofluorescence tests (IF) for toxoplasmosis were performed on a total of 608 schoolchildren in elementary and junior high grades. 166 being in the Bonsucesso district (an urban region of Rio de Janeiro) and 442 children from locations within the lowlands of Jacarepaguá (with rural characteristics). All the IF-IgM were nonreactive, whilst 416 schoolchildren (68.4%) were IF-IgG serum-reactive ([greater than or equal to] 1:16). The percentages of serum-reactives in Jacarepaguá were significantly higher than in Bonsucesso, both as regards the total number of schoolchildren (p < 0.001), as also when subdivided according to the age-grades from six to eight years (p < 0.001) or from twelve to fourteen (p < 0.05). Both in Jacarepaguá and in Bonsucesso, the prevalence of reactions in the 12 to 14 year age-grade was significantly greater than in the 6 to 8 year age-grade (p < 0.001 in both cases). Expressively larger prevalences of serum reactions were found in Jacarepaguá among schoolchildren who preferred eating raw or undercooked meat, as well as among those having cats as pets; this occurred equally in the 6 to 8 year and in the 12 to 14 year age-grades. In Bonsucesso, the only significant difference was in the 6 to 8 year age-grades that had cats as pets. Thus, it has been verified that the risk of infection is greater and more precocious in localities with rural characteristics than in urban regions.

Modularity of auditory spatial representations

Abstract : Auditory spatial functions are of crucial importance in everyday life. Determining the origin of sound sources in space plays a key role in a variety of tasks including orientation of attention, disentangling of complex acoustic patterns reaching our ears in noisy environments. Following brain damage, auditory spatial processing can be disrupted, resulting in severe handicaps. Complaints of patients with sound localization deficits include the inability to locate their crying child or being over-loaded by sounds in crowded public places. Yet, the brain bears a large capacity for reorganization following damage and/or learning. This phenomenon is referred as plasticity and is believed to underlie post-lesional functional recovery as well as learning-induced improvement. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the organization and plasticity of different aspects of auditory spatial functions. Overall, we report the outcomes of three studies: In the study entitled "Learning-induced plasticity in auditory spatial representations" (Spierer et al., 2007b), we focused on the neurophysiological and behavioral changes induced by auditory spatial training in healthy subjects. We found that relatively brief auditory spatial discrimination training improves performance and modifies the cortical representation of the trained sound locations, suggesting that cortical auditory representations of space are dynamic and subject to rapid reorganization. In the same study, we tested the generalization and persistence of training effects over time, as these are two determining factors in the development of neurorehabilitative intervention. In "The path to success in auditory spatial discrimination" (Spierer et al., 2007c), we investigated the neurophysiological correlates of successful spatial discrimination and contribute to the modeling of the anatomo-functional organization of auditory spatial processing in healthy subjects. We showed that discrimination accuracy depends on superior temporal plane (STP) activity in response to the first sound of a pair of stimuli. Our data support a model wherein refinement of spatial representations occurs within the STP and that interactions with parietal structures allow for transformations into coordinate frames that are required for higher-order computations including absolute localization of sound sources. In "Extinction of auditory stimuli in hemineglect: space versus ear" (Spierer et al., 2007a), we investigated auditory attentional deficits in brain-damaged patients. This work provides insight into the auditory neglect syndrome and its relation with neglect symptoms within the visual modality. Apart from contributing to a basic understanding of the cortical mechanisms underlying auditory spatial functions, the outcomes of the studies also contribute to develop neurorehabilitation strategies, which are currently being tested in clinical populations.

Ear acupuncture and fMRI: a pilot study for assessing the specificity of auricular points.

In recent years research explored different acupuncture stimulation techniques but interest has focused primarily on somatic acupuncture and on a limited number of acupoints. As regards ear Acupuncture (EA) there is still some criticism about the clinical specificity of auricular points/areas representing organs or structures of the body. The aim of this study was to verify through (Functional magnetic resonance imaging) fMRI the hypothesis of EA point specificity using two auricular points having different topographical locations and clinical significance. Six healthy volunteers underwent two experimental fMRI sessions: the first was dedicated to the stimulation of Thumb Auricular Acupoint (TAA) and the second to the stimulation of Brain Stem Auricular Acupoint (BSAA). The stimulation of the needle placed in the TAA of the left ear produced an increase in activation bilaterally in the parietal operculum, region of the secondary somatosensory area SII. Stimulation of the needle placed in the BSAA of the left ear showed a pattern that largely overlapped regions belonging to the pain matrix, as shown to be involved in previous somatic acupuncture studies but with local differences in the left amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex, and cerebellum. The differences in activation patterns between TAA and BSAA stimulation support the specificity of the two acupoints. Moreover, the peculiarity of the regions involved in BSAA stimulation compared to those involved in the pain matrix, is in accordance with the therapeutic indications of this acupoint that include head pain, dizziness and vertigo. Our results provide preliminary evidence on the specificity of two auricular acupoints; further research is warranted by means of fMRI both in healthy volunteers and in patients carrying neurological/psychiatric syndromes.

Representation of motor habit in a sequence of repetitive reach and grasp movements performed by macaque monkeys: evidence for a contribution of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.

In the context of an autologous cell transplantation study, a unilateral biopsy of cortical tissue was surgically performed from the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) in two intact adult macaque monkeys (dlPFC lesioned group), together with the implantation of a chronic chamber providing access to the left motor cortex. Three other monkeys were subjected to the same chronic chamber implantation, but without dlPFC biopsy (control group). All monkeys were initially trained to perform sequential manual dexterity tasks, requiring precision grip. The motor performance and the prehension's sequence (temporal order to grasp pellets from different spatial locations) were analysed for each hand. Following the surgery, transient and moderate deficits of manual dexterity per se occurred in both groups, indicating that they were not due to the dlPFC lesion (most likely related to the recording chamber implantation and/or general anaesthesia/medication). In contrast, changes of motor habit were observed for the sequential order of grasping in the two monkeys with dlPFC lesion only. The changes were more prominent in the monkey subjected to the largest lesion, supporting the notion of a specific effect of the dlPFC lesion on the motor habit of the monkeys. These observations are reminiscent of previous studies using conditional tasks with delay that have proposed a specialization of the dlPFC for visuo-spatial working memory, except that this is in a different context of "free-will", non-conditional manual dexterity task, without a component of working memory.

Shaping fission yeast with microtubules.

For cell morphogenesis, the cell must establish distinct spatial domains at specified locations at the cell surface. Here, we review the molecular mechanisms of cell polarity in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. These are simple rod-shaped cells that form cortical domains at cell tips for cell growth and at the cell middle for cytokinesis. In both cases, microtubule-based systems help to shape the cell by breaking symmetry, providing endogenous spatial cues to position these sites. The plus ends of dynamic microtubules deliver polarity factors to the cell tips, leading to local activation of the GTPase cdc42p and the actin assembly machinery. Microtubule bundles contribute to positioning the division plane through the nucleus and the cytokinesis factor mid1p. Recent advances illustrate how the spatial and temporal regulation of cell polarization integrates many elements, including historical landmarks, positive and negative controls, and competition between pathways.

Spatial modelling of biodiversity at the community level

1. Statistical modelling is often used to relate sparse biological survey data to remotely derived environmental predictors, thereby providing a basis for predictively mapping biodiversity across an entire region of interest. The most popular strategy for such modelling has been to model distributions of individual species one at a time. Spatial modelling of biodiversity at the community level may, however, confer significant benefits for applications involving very large numbers of species, particularly if many of these species are recorded infrequently. 2. Community-level modelling combines data from multiple species and produces information on spatial pattern in the distribution of biodiversity at a collective community level instead of, or in addition to, the level of individual species. Spatial outputs from community-level modelling include predictive mapping of community types (groups of locations with similar species composition), species groups (groups of species with similar distributions), axes or gradients of compositional variation, levels of compositional dissimilarity between pairs of locations, and various macro-ecological properties (e.g. species richness). 3. Three broad modelling strategies can be used to generate these outputs: (i) 'assemble first, predict later', in which biological survey data are first classified, ordinated or aggregated to produce community-level entities or attributes that are then modelled in relation to environmental predictors; (ii) 'predict first, assemble later', in which individual species are modelled one at a time as a function of environmental variables, to produce a stack of species distribution maps that is then subjected to classification, ordination or aggregation; and (iii) 'assemble and predict together', in which all species are modelled simultaneously, within a single integrated modelling process. These strategies each have particular strengths and weaknesses, depending on the intended purpose of modelling and the type, quality and quantity of data involved. 4. Synthesis and applications. The potential benefits of modelling large multispecies data sets using community-level, as opposed to species-level, approaches include faster processing, increased power to detect shared patterns of environmental response across rarely recorded species, and enhanced capacity to synthesize complex data into a form more readily interpretable by scientists and decision-makers. Community-level modelling therefore deserves to be considered more often, and more widely, as a potential alternative or supplement to modelling individual species.

Evidence for transcript networks composed of chimeric RNAs in human cells.

The classic organization of a gene structure has followed the Jacob and Monod bacterial gene model proposed more than 50 years ago. Since then, empirical determinations of the complexity of the transcriptomes found in yeast to human has blurred the definition and physical boundaries of genes. Using multiple analysis approaches we have characterized individual gene boundaries mapping on human chromosomes 21 and 22. Analyses of the locations of the 5' and 3' transcriptional termini of 492 protein coding genes revealed that for 85% of these genes the boundaries extend beyond the current annotated termini, most often connecting with exons of transcripts from other well annotated genes. The biological and evolutionary importance of these chimeric transcripts is underscored by (1) the non-random interconnections of genes involved, (2) the greater phylogenetic depth of the genes involved in many chimeric interactions, (3) the coordination of the expression of connected genes and (4) the close in vivo and three dimensional proximity of the genomic regions being transcribed and contributing to parts of the chimeric RNAs. The non-random nature of the connection of the genes involved suggest that chimeric transcripts should not be studied in isolation, but together, as an RNA network.