Um estudo sobre a rela??o entre a arrecada??o pr?pria e seus efeitos nos indicadores sociais no munic?pio de Campina Grande.

? medida que a arrecada??o tribut?ria cresce, tornam-se necess?rios maiores investimentos em diversas fun??es governamentais a fim de proporcionar melhorias nas condi??es de vida das pessoas. Nesse sentido, o presente estudo objetiva avaliar se o aumento da arrecada??o pr?pria melhora os indicadores sociais do munic?pio de Campina Grande-PB. Metodologicamente o artigo se caracteriza como uma pesquisa de campo, com abordagem quantitativa e do tipo documental e bibliogr?fica. Foram levantados os dados que retratam a situa??o fiscal e social do munic?pio referentes ao per?odo de 2013 a 2017. Os resultados evidenciaram que o aumento da arrecada??o teve rela??o positiva com a melhoria dos indicadores da educa??o b?sica em toda a s?rie analisada, mostrando que existiu proporcionalidade direta entre arrecada??o, gasto e indicador; j? com os indicadores da sa?de, houve uma discreta propor??o, mas n?o o suficiente para apontar um efeito na melhoria dos mesmos. Os dados da ?rea habitacional oscilaram e mostraram que n?o h? uma rela??o constante e pertinente destes com o volume de arrecada??o. Constatou-se que nem sempre o aumento da arrecada??o e dos gastos p?blicos melhoram os indicadores sociais e que outros fatores podem afetar na condu??o das pol?ticas p?blicas e na qualidade da aplica??o dos recursos

Effect of the dual endothelin receptor antagonist bosentan on untreatable skin ulcers in a patient with diabetes: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Refractory skin ulcers are a major burden in patients with diabetes. Their pathogenesis is multifactorial, and data increasingly implicate endothelin as a mediator of diabetic macro- and microvasculopathy. Here we describe the first reported case of an endothelin receptor antagonist being used to successfully treat refractory skin ulcers in a patient with diabetes.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>An 85-year-old Caucasian man with a 30-year history of type 2 diabetes developed multiple skin ulcerations, including a right heel ulcer. Despite appropriate treatment, the ulcer showed little improvement and the risk of amputation was high. The patient was treated with the dual endothelin receptor antagonist bosentan. After three weeks of treatment, major improvements were observed, and after 21 weeks, all ulcers had healed. No abnormalities were observed during monitoring of blood pressure, erythrocyte sedimentation rate or serum aminotransferase levels.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In patients with refractory ulceration associated with diabetes, bosentan may be of real benefit, especially in terms of amputation prevention. This case supports the proposed role for endothelin in the pathogenesis of skin ulceration in diabetes and is suggestive of a potential benefit of bosentan in this patient type. This case report is of interest to diabetologists and dermatologists.</p

Norepinephrine Controls Both Torpor Initiation and Emergence via Distinct Mechanisms in the Mouse

Some mammals, including laboratory mice, enter torpor in response to food deprivation, and leptin can attenuate these bouts of torpor. We previously showed that dopamine β-hydroxylase knockout (Dbh −/−) mice, which lack norepinephrine (NE), do not reduce circulating leptin upon fasting nor do they enter torpor. To test whether the onset of torpor in mice during a fast requires a NE-mediated reduction in circulating leptin, double mutant mice deficient in both leptin (ob/ob) and DBH (DBL MUT) were generated. Upon fasting, control and ob/ob mice entered torpor as assessed by telemetric core Tb acquisition. While fasting failed to induce torpor in Dbh −/− mice, leptin deficiency bypassed the requirement for NE, as DBL MUT mice readily entered torpor upon fasting. These data indicate that sympathetic activation of white fat and suppression of leptin is required for the onset of torpor in the mouse. Emergence from torpor was severely retarded in DBL MUT mice, revealing a novel, leptin-independent role for NE in torpor recovery. This phenotype was mimicked by administration of a β3 adrenergic receptor antagonist to control mice during a torpor bout. Hence, NE signaling via β3 adrenergic receptors presumably in brown fat is the first neurotransmitter-receptor system identified that is required for normal recovery from torpor

Population analysis of vitamin D receptor polymorphisms and the role of genetic ancestry in an admixed population

The vitamin D receptor (VDR) is an essential protein related to bone metabolism. Some VDR alleles are differentially distributed among ethnic populations and display variable patterns of linkage disequilibrium (LD). In this study, 200 unrelated Brazilians were genotyped using 21 VDR single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 28 ancestry informative markers. The patterns of LD and haplotype distribution were compared among Brazilian and the HapMap populations of African (YRI), European (CEU) and Asian (JPT+CHB) origins. Conditional regression and haplotype-specific analysis were performed using estimates of individual genetic ancestry in Brazilians as a quantitative trait. Similar patterns of LD were observed in the 5′ and 3′ gene regions. However, the frequency distribution of haplotype blocks varied among populations. Conditional regression analysis identified haplotypes associated with European and Amerindian ancestry, but not with the proportion of African ancestry. Individual ancestry estimates were associated with VDR haplotypes. These findings reinforce the need to correct for population stratification when performing genetic association studies in admixed populations

The waters of São Tomé: a calving ground for West African humpback whales?

In the Southern Hemisphere, humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae feed in Antarctic waters during the austral summer and migrate to their breeding grounds in subtropical and tropical waters during the winter. Historical whaling records suggest that the Archipelago of Sao Tome and Principe, located in the Gulf of Guinea, serves as a possible breeding ground. In order to investigate the temporal occurrence and group composition of humpback whales around Sao Tome Island, annual surveys were conducted during the breeding season between 2002 and 2006. A total of 186 boat-based surveys took place during this period. Data collected during each sighting included geographical positions, group size, group composition and behavioural classifications. Of the 66 groups encountered, mother/calf pairs made up a large proportion (65.15%), followed by solitary individuals (15.15%). Mother/calf pairs were seen in the region into November and resightings of identified animals indicate periods of occupancy that extended over three weeks. Few behaviours typically associated with mating activity were observed. Given the high percentage of mother/calf pairs, sometimes with very young calves, and the low frequency of mating activity, the waters of Sao Tome may primarily serve as a calving and nursing or resting area for humpback whales.Projecto Delfim; Rolas Island Resort; ECOFAC (Conservation et utilisation rationnelle des Ecosystemes Forestiers en Afrique Centrale); Wildlife Conservation Society

Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of the Antifungal Activity of Allicin Alone and in Combination with Antifungal Drugs

The antifungal activity of allicin and its synergistic effects with the antifungal agents flucytosine and amphotericin B (AmB) were investigated in Candida albicans (C. albicans). C. albicans was treated with different conditions of compounds alone and in combination (allicin, AmB, flucytosine, allicin + AmB, allicin + flucytosine, allicin + AmB + flucytosine). After a 24-hour treatment, cells were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) to measure morphological and biophysical properties associated with cell death. The clearing assay was conducted to confirm the effects of allicin. The viability of C. albicans treated by allicin alone or with one antifungal drug (AmB, flucytosine) in addition was more than 40% after a 24-hr treatment, but the viability of groups treated with combinations of more than two drugs was less than 32%. When the cells were treated with allicin alone or one type of drug, the morphology of the cells did not change noticeably, but when cells were treated with combinations of drugs, there were noticeable morphological changes. In particular, cells treated with allicin + AmB had significant membrane damage (burst or collapsed membranes). Classification of cells according to their cell death phase (CDP) allowed us to determine the relationship between cell viability and treatment conditions in detail. The adhesive force was decreased by the treatment in all groups compare to the control. Cells treated with AmB + allicin had a greater adhesive force than cells treated with AmB alone because of the secretion of molecules due to collapsed membranes. All cells treated with allicin or drugs were softer than the control cells. These results suggest that allicin can reduce MIC of AmB while keeping the same efficacy

Impact of Deep Coalescence on the Reliability of Species Tree Inference from Different Types of DNA Markers in Mammals

An important challenge for phylogenetic studies of closely related species is the existence of deep coalescence and gene tree heterogeneity. However, their effects can vary between species and they are often neglected in phylogenetic analyses. In addition, a practical problem in the reconstruction of shallow phylogenies is to determine the most efficient set of DNA markers for a reliable estimation. To address these questions, we conducted a multilocus simulation study using empirical values of nucleotide diversity and substitution rates obtained from a wide range of mammals and evaluated the performance of both gene tree and species tree approaches to recover the known speciation times and topological relationships. We first show that deep coalescence can be a serious problem, more than usually assumed, for the estimation of speciation times in mammals using traditional gene trees. Furthermore, we tested the performance of different sets of DNA markers in the determination of species trees using a coalescent approach. Although the best estimates of speciation times were obtained, as expected, with the use of an increasing number of nuclear loci, our results show that similar estimations can be obtained with a much lower number of genes and the incorporation of a mitochondrial marker, with its high information content. Thus, the use of the combined information of both nuclear and mitochondrial markers in a species tree framework is the most efficient option to estimate recent speciation times and, consequently, the underlying species tree