Boletim agrometeorológico: ano agrícola 1976-77.

bitstream/item/43277/1/1976-77.pd

New version of the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI-CAT): translation, cultural adaptation to Brazil and analyses of psychometric properties

BACKGROUND: The Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory-Computer Adaptive Test (PEDI-CAT), developed with innovative measurement methodologies, evaluates functioning of children and youth, from 0 to 21 years, with different health conditions. It is a revision of an earlier instrument (PEDI) that has been used in national and international clinical practice and research. It was felt to be necessary to make this new version (PEDI-CAT) available in Brazil. OBJECTIVES: Translate and culturally adapt the PEDI-CAT to the Brazilian-Portuguese language and test its psychometric properties. METHOD: This methodological study was developed through the following stages: (1) translation, (2) synthesis, (3) back-translation, (4) revision by an expert committee, (5) testing of the pre-final version, and (6) evaluation of the psychometric properties. The 276 translated PEDI-CAT items were divided into three age groups (0-7, 8-14, and 15-21 years). RESULTS: The PEDI-CAT translation followed all six stages. The adaptations incorporated cultural and socioeconomic class specificities. The PEDI-CAT/Brazil showed good indices of inter-examiner (intraclass correlation coefficient-ICC=0.83-0.89) and test-retest (ICC=0.96-0.97) reliability, good internal consistency (0.99) and small standard error of measurement in all three age groups (0.12-0.17). Factor analyses grouped the items from the three functional skills domains into one factor, and items from the responsibility scale into three factors, supporting the adequacy of these factor solutions to the conceptual structure of the instrument and the developmental model. CONCLUSION: The PEDI-CAT/Brazil is a theoretically consistent, culturally appropriate, and reliable instrument. Its availability in Brazil will contribute to the evaluation and measurement of functional outcomes from clinical interventions, longitudinal follow-up, and rehabilitation research

Extracytoplasmic function (ECF) sigma factor ^F is involved in Caulobacter crescentus response to heavy metal stress

Background: The -proteobacterium Caulobacter crescentus inhabits low-nutrient environments and can tolerate certain levels of heavy metals in these sites. It has been reported that C. crescentus responds to exposure to various heavy metals by altering the expression of a large number of genes.Results: In this work, we show that the ECF sigma factor F is one of the regulatory proteins involved in the control of the transcriptional response to chromium and cadmium. Microarray experiments indicate that F controls eight genes during chromium stress, most of which were previously described as induced by heavy metals. Surprisingly, F itself is not strongly auto-regulated under metal stress conditions. Interestingly, F-dependent genes are not induced in the presence of agents that generate reactive oxygen species. Promoter analyses revealed that a conserved F-dependent sequence is located upstream of all genes of the F regulon. In addition, we show that the second gene in the sigF operon acts as a negative regulator of F function, and the encoded protein has been named NrsF (Negative regulator of sigma F). Substitution of two conserved cysteine residues (C131 and C181) in NrsF affects its ability to maintain the expression of F-dependent genes at basal levels. Furthermore, we show that F is released into the cytoplasm during chromium stress and in cells carrying point mutations in both conserved cysteines of the protein NrsF.Conclusion: A possible mechanism for induction of the F-dependent genes by chromium and cadmium is the inactivation of the putative anti-sigma factor NrsF, leading to the release of F to bind RNA polymerase core and drive transcription of its regulon.</p

Functional Diversity of the Schistosoma mansoni Tyrosine Kinases

Schistosoma mansoni, one of the causative agents of schistosomiasis, has a complex life cycle infecting over 200 million people worldwide. Such a successful and prolific parasite life cycle has been shown to be dependent on the adaptive interaction between the parasite and hosts. Tyrosine kinases (TKs) play a key role in signaling pathways as demonstrated by a large body of experimental work in eukaryotes. Furthermore, comparative genomics have allowed the identification of TK homologs and provided insights into the functional role of TKs in several biological systems. Finally, TK structural biology has provided a rational basis for obtaining selective inhibitors directed to the treatment of human diseases. This paper covers the important aspects of the phospho-tyrosine signaling network in S. mansoni, Caenorhabditis elegans, and humans, the main process of functional diversification of TKs, that is, protein-domain shuffling, and also discusses TKs as targets for the development of new anti-schistosome drugs

Comparison between FT-NIR and Micro-NIR in the evaluation of Acerola fruit quality, using PLS and SVM regression algorithms.

The aim of this work is to estimate in a non-destructive manner, in acerola fruit, titratable acidity and ascorbic acid content