Diagnose visual de macronutrientes primários em sorgo sacarino.

2014

Sintomas de deficiência tardia de fósforo em soja

Foi notado, em área de cultivo experimental em Botucatu (SP), que a soja, na época de enchimento das vagens, apresentava folhas com cor amarelada, que evoluía para palha, com tons arroxeados no limbo foliar e nos pecíolos. Esses sintomas eram compatíveis com as descrições mais genéricas de deficiência de P para outras espécies, apesar de não estarem descritos para soja. Foi conduzido um experimento em vasos com areia lavada e solução nutritiva, com o objetivo de reproduzir os sintomas observados em condição de campo. Foram cultivadas três plantas de soja por vaso, em ambiente aberto. Os sintomas de deficiência de P apareceram inicialmente nas folhas mais velhas, que ficaram amareladas, conservando algumas nervuras verdes. O tom amarelado foi-se intensificando, adquirindo tons avermelhados e, posteriormente, arroxeados. Notou-se ainda colapso do pecíolo das folhas com sintomas de deficiência. A fase de pegamento de vagens de soja mostrou-se mais sensível à deficiência de P do que a fase de enchimento de grãos podendo ocorrer recuperação de parte da produtividade pela produção de menor número de grãos e vagens chochas e aumento no tamanho de grão, se a deficiência ocorrer tardiamente e não for muito severa.

Limitações nutricionais de mudas de mangostãozeiro

Este trabalho teve o objetivo de avaliar, por meio da análise foliar, as limitações nutricionais para produção de mudas de mangostãozeiro. Após 12 meses do plantio, em condições de viveiro, com sombreamento no início do desenvolvimento, foi observado amarelecimento progressivo das folhas novas, com diminuição significativa dos teores foliares de Fe e Mn. A aplicação de sulfato de manganês (0,8 mg L-1 de Mn) + 2,5 g L-1 de uréia, via foliar, não ocasionou recuperação da tonalidade verde do limbo foliar. Entretanto, com sulfato de ferro, na concentração de 0,8 mg L-1 de Fe + 2,5 g L-1 de uréia, houve aumento da pigmentação verde nas folhas, o que mostra a baixa eficiência do mangostãozeiro na absorção de Fe, apesar da alta concentração desse nutriente no terriço (223,7 mg dm-3). Isto indica a necessidade de aplicação suplementar de Fe, no substrato ou nas folhas, na fase de viveiro do mangostãozeiro.

Sintomas visuais de deficiências nutricionais em pinhão-manso

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o crescimento e caracterizar os sintomas de deficiências de macro e micronutrientes em mudas de pinhão-manso (Jatropha curcas). As mudas foram cultivadas em solução nutritiva completa e, também, em soluções com omissão de N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S, B, Cu, Fe, Mn ou Zn, pelo uso da técnica do elemento faltante. Foram avaliados os sintomas visuais de deficiência de nutrientes e a massa de matéria seca da parte aérea e das raízes, respectivamente aos 90 e 120 dias após a aplicação dos tratamentos. As omissões de macro e micronutrientes provocaram sintomas visuais de deficiência nutricional comuns a outras espécies. As deficiências limitaram a produção de massa de matéria seca na seguinte ordem: Ca>Mg>K>N>P>S, para macronutrientes; e Fe>Cu>Zn>Mn>B, para micronutrientes.

Sintomas de deficiência tardia de fósforo em soja

Foi notado, em área de cultivo experimental em Botucatu (SP), que a soja, na época de enchimento das vagens, apresentava folhas com cor amarelada, que evoluía para palha, com tons arroxeados no limbo foliar e nos pecíolos. Esses sintomas eram compatíveis com as descrições mais genéricas de deficiência de P para outras espécies, apesar de não estarem descritos para soja. Foi conduzido um experimento em vasos com areia lavada e solução nutritiva, com o objetivo de reproduzir os sintomas observados em condição de campo. Foram cultivadas três plantas de soja por vaso, em ambiente aberto. Os sintomas de deficiência de P apareceram inicialmente nas folhas mais velhas, que ficaram amareladas, conservando algumas nervuras verdes. O tom amarelado foi-se intensificando, adquirindo tons avermelhados e, posteriormente, arroxeados. Notou-se ainda colapso do pecíolo das folhas com sintomas de deficiência. A fase de pegamento de vagens de soja mostrou-se mais sensível à deficiência de P do que a fase de enchimento de grãos podendo ocorrer recuperação de parte da produtividade pela produção de menor número de grãos e vagens chochas e aumento no tamanho de grão, se a deficiência ocorrer tardiamente e não for muito severa.

Resposta da soqueira de cana-de-açúcar a aplicação de potássio sob o sistema de cultivo conservacionista e seus efeitos na fisiologia da planta

Pós-graduação em Agronomia (Ciência do Solo) - FCAV

Accuracy and consistency of the visual diagnosis of exposed dentine on worn occlusal/incisal surfaces

Most indices for the assessment of wear of various aetiologies include the distinction between 'enamel still present' and 'dentine exposed' for grading. Since the visual diagnosis of exposed dentine has not yet been validated, the present study is a first attempt to investigate its accuracy and consistency. Sixty-one examiners (23 scientists, 18 university dentists and 20 dental students) were asked to diagnose 49 tooth areas with different grades of wear and to decide whether dentine was exposed (positive test) or not (negative test). Afterwards, the teeth were histologically evaluated. In 44 areas, dentine (also in all cases with minor wear) was exposed, and in 5 areas enamel was present. Overall sensitivity was 0.65, specificity 0.88 and the proportion of correct diagnoses was 0.67. The diagnosis 'dentine is exposed' was about 5 times as likely and the diagnosis 'dentine is not exposed' half as likely to come from an area with exposed dentine than from an enamel-covered area. The closeness of the visual diagnosis to the histological findings was only fair (kappa=0.27), no significant impact of professional experience was found. For inter- and intra-examiner agreement, kappa was 0.28 and 0.55, respectively. It was concluded that the diagnosis of exposed dentine is difficult.

Visual signs and symptoms of progressive supranuclear palsy

Progressive supranuclear palsy is a rare, degenerative brain disorder and the second most common syndrome in which the patient exhibits 'parkinsonism', that is, a variety of symptoms involving problems with movement. General symptoms include difficulties with gait and balance; the patient walking clumsily and often falling backwards. The syndrome can be difficult to diagnose and visual signs and symptoms can help to separate it from closely related movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease, multiple system atrophy, dementia with Lewy bodies and corticobasal degeneration. A combination of the presence of vertical supranuclear gaze palsy, fixation instability, lid retraction, blepharospasm and apraxia of eyelid opening and closing may be useful visual signs in the identification of progressive supranuclear palsy. As primary eye-care practitioners, optometrists should be able to identify the visual problems of patients with this disorder and be expected to work with patients and their carers to manage their visual welfare.

Adapting The Sniffin' Sticks Olfactory Test To Diagnose Parkinson's Disease In Estonia.

The aim of the study was to develop a culturally adapted translation of the 12-item smell identification test from Sniffin' Sticks (SS-12) for the Estonian population in order to help diagnose Parkinson's disease (PD). A standard translation of the SS-12 was created and 150 healthy Estonians were questioned about the smells used as response options in the test. Unfamiliar smells were replaced by culturally familiar options. The adapted SS-12 was applied to 70 controls in all age groups, and thereafter to 50 PD patients and 50 age- and sex-matched controls. 14 response options from 48 used in the SS-12 were replaced with familiar smells in an adapted version, in which the mean rate of correct response was 87% (range 73-99) compared to 83% with the literal translation (range 50-98). In PD patients, the average adapted SS-12 score (5.4/12) was significantly lower than in controls (average score 8.9/12), p < 0.0001. A multiple linear regression using the score in the SS-12 as the outcome measure showed that diagnosis and age independently influenced the result of the SS-12. A logistic regression using the SS-12 and age as covariates showed that the SS-12 (but not age) correctly classified 79.0% of subjects into the PD and control category, using a cut-off of <7 gave a sensitivity of 76% and specificity of 86% for the diagnosis of PD. The developed SS-12 cultural adaption is appropriate for testing olfaction in Estonia for the purpose of PD diagnosis.

Advancing Bag-of-visual-words Representations For Lesion Classification In Retinal Images.

Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is a complication of diabetes that can lead to blindness if not readily discovered. Automated screening algorithms have the potential to improve identification of patients who need further medical attention. However, the identification of lesions must be accurate to be useful for clinical application. The bag-of-visual-words (BoVW) algorithm employs a maximum-margin classifier in a flexible framework that is able to detect the most common DR-related lesions such as microaneurysms, cotton-wool spots and hard exudates. BoVW allows to bypass the need for pre- and post-processing of the retinographic images, as well as the need of specific ad hoc techniques for identification of each type of lesion. An extensive evaluation of the BoVW model, using three large retinograph datasets (DR1, DR2 and Messidor) with different resolution and collected by different healthcare personnel, was performed. The results demonstrate that the BoVW classification approach can identify different lesions within an image without having to utilize different algorithms for each lesion reducing processing time and providing a more flexible diagnostic system. Our BoVW scheme is based on sparse low-level feature detection with a Speeded-Up Robust Features (SURF) local descriptor, and mid-level features based on semi-soft coding with max pooling. The best BoVW representation for retinal image classification was an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC-ROC) of 97.8% (exudates) and 93.5% (red lesions), applying a cross-dataset validation protocol. To assess the accuracy for detecting cases that require referral within one year, the sparse extraction technique associated with semi-soft coding and max pooling obtained an AUC of 94.2 ± 2.0%, outperforming current methods. Those results indicate that, for retinal image classification tasks in clinical practice, BoVW is equal and, in some instances, surpasses results obtained using dense detection (widely believed to be the best choice in many vision problems) for the low-level descriptors.

Visual Navigation In The Neotropical Ant Odontomachus Hastatus (formicidae, Ponerinae), A Predominantly Nocturnal, Canopy-dwelling Predator Of The Atlantic Rainforest.

The arboreal ant Odontomachus hastatus nests among roots of epiphytic bromeliads in the sandy forest at Cardoso Island (Brazil). Crepuscular and nocturnal foragers travel up to 8m to search for arthropod prey in the canopy, where silhouettes of leaves and branches potentially provide directional information. We investigated the relevance of visual cues (canopy, horizon patterns) during navigation in O. hastatus. Laboratory experiments using a captive ant colony and a round foraging arena revealed that an artificial canopy pattern above the ants and horizon visual marks are effective orientation cues for homing O. hastatus. On the other hand, foragers that were only given a tridimensional landmark (cylinder) or chemical marks were unable to home correctly. Navigation by visual cues in O. hastatus is in accordance with other diurnal arboreal ants. Nocturnal luminosity (moon, stars) is apparently sufficient to produce contrasting silhouettes from the canopy and surrounding vegetation, thus providing orientation cues. Contrary to the plain floor of the round arena, chemical cues may be important for marking bifurcated arboreal routes. This experimental demonstration of the use of visual cues by a predominantly nocturnal arboreal ant provides important information for comparative studies on the evolution of spatial orientation behavior in ants. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Neotropical Behaviour.

Applications Of Visual Evoked Potentials And Fourier-domain Optical Coherence Tomography In Parkinson's Disease: A Controlled Study.

The goal of this cross-sectional observational study was to quantify the pattern-shift visual evoked potentials (VEP) and the thickness as well as the volume of retinal layers using optical coherence tomography (OCT) across a cohort of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients and age-matched controls. Forty-three PD patients and 38 controls were enrolled. All participants underwent a detailed neurological and ophthalmologic evaluation. Idiopathic PD cases were included. Cases with glaucoma or increased intra-ocular pressure were excluded. Patients were assessed by VEP and high-resolution Fourier-domain OCT, which quantified the inner and outer thicknesses of the retinal layers. VEP latencies and the thicknesses of the retinal layers were the main outcome measures. The mean age, with standard deviation (SD), of the PD patients and controls were 63.1 (7.5) and 62.4 (7.2) years, respectively. The patients were predominantly in the initial Hoehn-Yahr (HY) disease stages (34.8% in stage 1 or 1.5, and 55.8 % in stage 2). The VEP latencies and the thicknesses as well as the volumes of the retinal inner and outer layers of the groups were similar. A negative correlation between the retinal thickness and the age was noted in both groups. The thickness of the retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) was 102.7 μm in PD patients vs. 104.2 μm in controls. The thicknesses of retinal layers, VEP, and RNFL of PD patients were similar to those of the controls. Despite the use of a representative cohort of PD patients and high-resolution OCT in this study, further studies are required to establish the validity of using OCT and VEP measurements as the anatomic and functional biomarkers for the evaluation of retinal and visual pathways in PD patients.

Physical Activity Interventions For Children And Youth With Visual Impairments.

The authors conducted a systematic literature review on physical activity interventions for children and youth with visual impairment (VI). Five databases were searched to identify studies involving the population of interest and physical activity practices. After evaluating 2,495 records, the authors found 18 original full-text studies published in English they considered eligible. They identified 8 structured exercise-training studies that yielded overall positive effect on physical-fitness and motor-skill outcomes. Five leisure-time-physical-activity and 5 instructional-strategy interventions were also found with promising proposals to engage and instruct children and youth with VI to lead an active lifestyle. However, the current research on physical activity interventions for children and youth with VI is still limited by an absence of high-quality research designs, low sample sizes, use of nonvalidated outcome measures, and lack of generalizability, which need to be addressed in future studies.

Método para avaliação da conduta visual de lactentes

The purpose of this study is to introduce a method to evaluate visual functions in infants in the first three months of life. An adaptation of the Guide for the Assessment of Visual Ability in Infants (Gagliardo, 1997) was used. The instrument was a ring with string. It was implemented a pilot study with 33 infants, selected according to the following criteria: neonates well enough to go home within two days of birth; 1 to 3 months of chronological age; monthly evaluation with no absence; subjects living in Campinas/SP metropolitan area. In the first month we observed: visual fixation (93,9%); eye contact (90,9%); horizontal tracking (72,7%); inspects surroundings (97,0%). In the third month, we observed: inspects own hands (42,4%) and increased movements of arms (36,4%). This method allowed the evaluation of visual functions in infants, according to the chronological age. Alterations in this function will facilitate immediate referral to medical services for diagnoses.

Visual demonstration of the ionic strength effect in the classroom: the Debye-Hückel limiting law

The effects of ionic strength on ions in aqueous solutions are quite relevant, especially for biochemical systems, in which proteins and amino acids are involved. The teaching of this topic and more specifically, the Debye-Hückel limiting law, is central in chemistry undergraduate courses. In this work, we present a description of an experimental procedure based on the color change of aqueous solutions of bromocresol green (BCG), driven by addition of electrolyte. The contribution of charge product (z+|z-|) to the Debye-Hückel limiting law is demonstrated when the effects of NaCl and Na2SO4 on the color of BCG solutions are compared.