Lateral asymmetry of voluntary attention orienting

We recently demonstrated that automatic attention favors the right side of space and, in the present study, we investigated whether voluntary attention also favors this side. Six reaction time experiments were conducted. In each experiment, 12 new 18-25-year-old male right-handed individuals were tested. In Experiments 1, 2, 3 (a, b) and 4 (a, b), tasks with increasing attentional demands were used. In Experiments 1, 2, 3a, and 4a, attention was oriented to one or both sides by means of a central spatially informative visual cue. A left or right side visual target appeared 100, 300, or 500 ms later. Attentional effects were observed in the four experiments. In Experiments 2, 3a and 4a, these effects were greater when the cue indicated the right side than when it indicated the left side (respectively: 16 ± 10 and 44 ± 6 ms, P = 0.015, for stimulus onset asynchrony of 500 ms in Experiment 2; 38 ± 10 and 70 ± 7 ms, P = 0.011, for Experiment 3a, and 23 ± 11 and 61 ± 10 ms, P = 0.009, for Experiment 4a). In Experiments 3b and 4b, the central cue pointed to both sides and was said to be non-relevant for task performance. In these experiments right and left reaction times did not differ. The most conservative interpretation of the present findings is that voluntary attention orienting favors the right side of space, particularly when a difficult task has to be performed

Differences between the nutritional status of children in public preschools and nutritional transition

OBJECTIVE: to verify if there are different patterns of nutritional status among preschool children, and if these patterns deserve special interventions. METHODS: this cross-sectional study included 1,200 children from public preschools in Cosmópolis, a small town in the state of São Paulo. The z scores indices for height/age, weight/age, and weight/height were analyzed in terms of age, sex, type of school, and school location. RESULTS: anthropometric indices were similar to those of the reference population (NCHS). Males had lower indices than females. Important differences in anthropometric indices were found among children from different schools. Higher prevalence of moderate deficits in height and weight was observed in children from non-downtown areas, while higher prevalence of obesity was found in children from downtown areas. However, the prevalence of obesity was higher than the prevalence of malnutrition even in schools located in non-downtown areas. CONCLUSIONS: we concluded that even in a small city and in a relatively homogeneous group, it is possible to detect different nutritional patterns in subgroups of the population. The differences related to nutritional status, and the high prevalence of obesity among children from public schools, point out the need for different approaches and interventions.OBJETIVO: verificar a existência de diferenças de perfis nutricionais em pré-escolares de rede pública que justifiquem intervenções diferenciadas. MÉTODOS: trata-se de estudo seccional, realizado em 1.200 pré-escolares da rede pública de Cosmópolis, SP. Foram calculados escores de desvio-padrão para os índices altura/idade, peso/idade e peso/altura em relação aos da população do NCHS. Os índices foram analisados segundo sexo, idade, escola freqüentada e localização da escola nos setores urbanos do município. RESULTADOS: observou-se que as distribuições dos índices foram semelhantes às da população de referência. Os meninos apresentaram médias de escore z mais baixas que as meninas. Houve diferença significativa entre as médias de escore z em relação à escola freqüentada. Verificou-se prevalência maior de crianças com déficits moderados de altura e peso nas escolas fora do centro e maior prevalência de obesidade nas escolas do centro. Entretanto, mesmo nas escolas fora do centro, a prevalência de obesidade foi superior à de deficiência nutricional. CONCLUSÕES: conclui-se que também em município de pequeno porte e em segmento da população relativamente homogêneo, é possível verificar a existência de diferentes padrões nutricionais em subgrupos da população. As diferenças observadas nos perfis nutricionais, conforme a escola freqüentada e a localização da escola, apontam a necessidade de atenção e intervenções distintas.381386Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES

Caracterización tecnológica de las explotaciones ovinas y caprinas en los departamentos de la Guajira, César y Magdalena

Durante 4 años consecutivos (1990-1994) se llevó a cabo el presenta trabajo con el objetivo de caracterizar los sistemas de producción de ovinos de pelo y caprinos. Por medio de la metodología de estudio de casos se estimaron los parámetros productivos y reproductivos en 16 explotaciiones de los departamentos de La Guajira, Cesar y Magdalena, los aspectos socioeconómicos se tomaron de resultados de 159 encuestas realizadas en 93 veredas ubicadas en las 4 subregiones seleccionadas. El sistema está localizado en pisos térmicos cálido árido (18 por ciento) y cálido subhúmedo (49.1 por ciento). Se identificaron los subsistemas caprinos asociados a ovinos, ovinos asociados a caprinos y bovinos asociados a ovinos. Predomina el sistemas de explotación tradicional, extensivo (90.4 por ciento), de manejo simple, siendo el objetivo la venta de animales en pie (64.1 por ciento) autoconsumo (32.1 por ciento) y venta de leche (3.8 por ciento). La falta de asistencia técnica (31.2 por ciento), la inseguridad (17.1 por ciento) y la falta de crédito (17.1 por ciento) fueron señaladas como los principales limitantes. La prolificidad obtenida para ambas especies fue mayor de 1.40.Caprinos-Capra hircu

Anisotropic flow of charged hadrons, pions and (anti-)protons measured at high transverse momentum in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN=2.76\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.76 TeV

The elliptic, $v_2$, triangular, $v_3$, and quadrangular, $v_4$, azimuthal anisotropic flow coefficients are measured for unidentified charged particles, pions and (anti-)protons in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76$ TeV with the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Results obtained with the event plane and four-particle cumulant methods are reported for the pseudo-rapidity range $|\eta|<0.8$ at different collision centralities and as a function of transverse momentum, $p_{\rm T}$, out to $p_{\rm T}=20$ GeV/$c$. The observed non-zero elliptic and triangular flow depends only weakly on transverse momentum for $p_{\rm T}>8$ GeV/$c$. The small $p_{\rm T}$ dependence of the difference between elliptic flow results obtained from the event plane and four-particle cumulant methods suggests a common origin of flow fluctuations up to $p_{\rm T}=8$ GeV/$c$. The magnitude of the (anti-)proton elliptic and triangular flow is larger than that of pions out to at least $p_{\rm T}=8$ GeV/$c$ indicating that the particle type dependence persists out to high $p_{\rm T}$.Comment: 16 pages, 5 captioned figures, authors from page 11, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/186

Centrality dependence of charged particle production at large transverse momentum in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN=2.76\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}} = 2.76 TeV

The inclusive transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) distributions of primary charged particles are measured in the pseudo-rapidity range $|\eta|<0.8$ as a function of event centrality in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}}=2.76$ TeV with ALICE at the LHC. The data are presented in the $p_{\rm T}$ range $0.15<p_{\rm T}<50$ GeV/$c$ for nine centrality intervals from 70-80% to 0-5%. The Pb-Pb spectra are presented in terms of the nuclear modification factor $R_{\rm{AA}}$ using a pp reference spectrum measured at the same collision energy. We observe that the suppression of high-$p_{\rm T}$ particles strongly depends on event centrality. In central collisions (0-5%) the yield is most suppressed with $R_{\rm{AA}}\approx0.13$ at $p_{\rm T}=6$-7 GeV/$c$. Above $p_{\rm T}=7$ GeV/$c$, there is a significant rise in the nuclear modification factor, which reaches $R_{\rm{AA}} \approx0.4$ for $p_{\rm T}>30$ GeV/$c$. In peripheral collisions (70-80%), the suppression is weaker with $R_{\rm{AA}} \approx 0.7$ almost independently of $p_{\rm T}$. The measured nuclear modification factors are compared to other measurements and model calculations.Comment: 17 pages, 4 captioned figures, 2 tables, authors from page 12, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/284

Measurement of charm production at central rapidity in proton-proton collisions at s=2.76\sqrt{s} = 2.76 TeV

The $p_{\rm T}$-differential production cross sections of the prompt (B feed-down subtracted) charmed mesons D$^0$, D$^+$, and D$^{*+}$ in the rapidity range $|y|<0.5$, and for transverse momentum $1< p_{\rm T} <12$ GeV/$c$, were measured in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 2.76$ TeV with the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The analysis exploited the hadronic decays D$^0 \rightarrow$K$\pi$, D$^+ \rightarrow$K$\pi\pi$, D$^{*+} \rightarrow$D$^0\pi$, and their charge conjugates, and was performed on a $L_{\rm int} = 1.1$ nb$^{-1}$ event sample collected in 2011 with a minimum-bias trigger. The total charm production cross section at $\sqrt{s} = 2.76$ TeV and at 7 TeV was evaluated by extrapolating to the full phase space the $p_{\rm T}$-differential production cross sections at $\sqrt{s} = 2.76$ TeV and our previous measurements at $\sqrt{s} = 7$ TeV. The results were compared to existing measurements and to perturbative-QCD calculations. The fraction of cdbar D mesons produced in a vector state was also determined.Comment: 20 pages, 5 captioned figures, 4 tables, authors from page 15, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/307