Evaluation of Penman-Piche method to estimate reference evapotranspiration in Uberaba, MG

Objetivou-se, no presente trabalho, realizar a comparação do método de determinação da evapotranspiração de referência, Penman-Monteith com o método de Penman-Piché, que utiliza medidas de evaporação pelo evaporímetro de piche. Analisou-se o período de janeiro de 2003 a dezembro de 2008, trabalhando-se com dados diários de temperatura do ar, radiação solar, umidade relativa e velocidade do vento, coletados em uma estação meteorológica automatizada, localizada na Fazenda Experimental da Uniube, MG. Para a comparação dos métodos de estimativa de evapotranspiração de referência foram utilizados: coeficientes de correlação (r), índice de concordância de Willmott (d) e o índice de confiança (c), que é o produto entre "r" e "d". Concluiu-se, no trabalho, que é possível estimar a evapotranspiração de referência de maneira satisfatória através da evaporação medida pelo evaporímetro de piche, quando se obtiveram coeficientes de correlação acima de 0,90. Nos meses de baixa umidade relativa do ar a ETo estimada pelo método que considera as medidas do evaporímetro de piche, apresenta redução na precisão, com valores de "r" de 0,70; 0,78 e 0,70, respectivamente para os meses de junho, agosto e setembro da série estudada.The present research aimed to accomplish a comparison between the reference method of estimation of evapotranspiration, Penman-Monteith, considered as the standard method by FAO, with Penman-Piché method, which uses measurements of the evaporation from the Piché's evaporimeter. The period from January 2003 to December 2008 was analyzed considering daily data of air temperature, solar radiation, relative humidity of air and wind speed, which were collected with an automatic weather station, located in the Experimental Farm of University of Uberaba, in Uberaba, in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Correlation coefficient (r), Willmott agreement index (d) and confidence index (c), which is the product between "r" and "d", were used in the comparison between reference evapotranspiration estimated by Penman-Monteith (ETpm) and Penman-Piche (ETpi). It was concluded that it is possible to estimate the reference evapotranspiration in a satisfactory manner through the evaporation measured by the Piche's evaporimeter. In the months of low relative humidity of air, the evapotranspiration estimated by the method which considers the measures of Piche's evaporimeter shows reduction in precision, with "r" values of 0,70; 0,78 and 0,70, respectively for the months of June, August and September of the studied series.Consórcio Brasileiro de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento do Caf

A novel architecture of a bidirectional bridgeless interleaved converter for EV battery chargers

This paper presents a novel architecture of a bidirectional bridgeless interleaved converter for battery chargers of electric vehicles (EVs). The proposed converter is composed by two power stages: an ac-dc converter that is used to interface the power grid and the dc-link, and a dc-dc converter that is used to interface the dc-link and the batteries. The ac-dc converter is an interleaved bridgeless bidirectional boost-type converter and the dc-dc converter is a bidirectional buck-boost-type converter. The proposed converter works with sinusoidal grid current and with high power factor for all operating power levels, and in both grid-to-vehicle (G2V) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) operation modes. In the paper is described in detail the proposed converter for EV battery chargers: the circuit topology, the principle of operation, the power control theory, and the current control strategy. Several simulation results for both G2V and V2G operation modes are presented.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT

Comparison of current-source and voltage-source shunt active power filters for harmonic compensation and reactive power control

This paper presents the comparison between two three-phase Shunt Active Power Filters (SAPFs), one with Current-Source Inverter (CSI) and the other with Voltage-Source Inverter (VSI), which are used to compensate current harmonics and to control reactive power. The control algorithm of both SAPFs is based on the Instantaneous Reactive Power Theory (p-q Theory). The comparison here presented focuses on the Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) and RMS values of the compensated currents, and in the Total Power Factor (TPF) of the installation.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

A novel concept of unidirectional bridgeless combined boost-buck converter for EV battery chargers

This paper presents a novel concept of unidirectional bridgeless combined boost-buck converter for electric vehicles (EVs) battery chargers. The proposed converter is composed by two power stages: an ac-dc front-end converter used to interface the power grid and the dc-link, and a dc-dc back-end converter used to interface the dc-link and the batteries. The ac-dc converter is a bridgeless boost-type converter and the dc-dc converter is an interleaved buck-type converter. The proposed converter operates with sinusoidal grid current and unitary power factor for all operating power levels. Along the paper is described in detail the proposed converter for EV battery chargers: the circuit topology, the different stages describing the principle of operation, the power control theory, and the current control strategy, for both converters. Along the paper are presented several simulation results for a maximum power of 3.5 kW.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT

Subchronical treatment with Fluoxetine modifies the activity of the MCHergic and hypocretinergic systems. Evidences from peptide CSF concentration and gene expression

In the postero-lateral hypothalamus are located two neuronal systems that utilize the neuropeptides melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) and hypocretins (also called orexins) as neuromodulators. These systems have reciprocal connections between them, and project throughout the central nervous system. MCH has been involved in the generation of sleep, mainly REM sleep, while hypocretins have a critical role in the generation of wakefulness. MCHergic activity is also involved in the pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MD). In this regards, intracerebral administration of MCH promotes pro-depressive behaviors (i.e., immobility in the forced swimming test) and REM sleep hypersomnia, which is an important trait of depression. Furthermore, the antagonism of the MCHR-1 receptor has a reliable antidepressant effect, suggesting that MCH is a pro-depressive factor. Hypocretins have been also involved in mood regulation; however, their role in depression is still on debate. Taking these data into account, we explored whether systemic subchronical treatment with Fluoxetine (FLX), a serotonergic antidepressant, modifies the concentration of MCH in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), as well as the preproMCH mRNA expression. We also evaluated the hypocretinergic system by quantifying the hypocretin-levels in the CSF and the preprohypocretin mRNA expression. Compared to control, FLX increased the levels of preprohypocretin mRNA without affecting the hypocretin-1 CSF levels. On the contrary, FLX significantly decreased the MCH CSF concentration without affecting the preproMCH gene expression. This result is in agreement with the fact that MCH serum level diminishes during the antidepressant treatment in MD, and supports the hypothesis that an increase in the MCHergic activity could have pro-depressive consequences. (C) 2016 Brazilian Association of Sleep. Production and Hosting by Elsevier B.V.Proyecto de Cooperacion Bilateral Uruguay- Brasil, Dicyt-CNPqPrograma de Desarrollo de Ciencias Basicas (PEDECIBA)Associacao Fundo de Incentivo a Pesquisa (AFIP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq)Univ Fed Sao Paulo, Dept Psychobiol, Sao Paulo, BrazilUniv Republica, Dept Physiol, Sch Med, Montevideo, UruguayUniv Fed Sao Paulo, Dept Psychobiol, Sao Paulo, BrazilProyecto de Cooperacion Bilateral Uruguay- Brasil, Dicyt-CNPq: ANII-FCE-1-2011-1-5997Web of Scienc

Evaluation of an educational programme for socially deprived asthma patients

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an asthma education programme in moderate and severe asthma patients in a longitudinal, prospective and randomized study with a control group. Fifty-three asthmatic patients were studied, 26 of whom were assigned to the educational group and 27 to the control group.The educational group attended the programme regularly for a period of 6 months. the programme included information about asthma, instruction on the appropriate use of medication and training in the metered dose inhaler (MDI) technique, and information about the identification and control of asthma attacks and the recognition of early signs of exacerbation. the control group was submitted to the routine tare provided at the Asthma Clinic, with no formal instruction regarding asthma control. the groups were identical with regard to severity parameters, skills, lung function and quality of Life at the beginning of the trial.At the end of the study, the education group showed significant differences when compared with the control group education/control (mean values) with respect to: visits to the asthma emergency room over the previous 6 months, 0.7/2 (p=0.03); nocturnal symptoms, 0.3/0.7 (p=0.04); score of symptoms, 1.3/2 (p=0.04). Improvements were also observed in skills and quality of life, knowledge of how to deal with attacks and how to control the environmental triggering factors, 73/35 (<0.05); correct use of the MDI, 8/4 (0.001); understanding of the difference between relief and antiinflammatory medication, 86/20 (<0.05); and in the global limitation quality of life score, 28/50 (0.02).It is concluded that the educational programme led to a significant improvement in asthma morbidity and that the implantation of educational programmes is possible for special populations when these programmes are adapted to the socioeconomic profile of the patients, with a significant gain in terms of the reduction of symptoms and improved pulmonary function and quality of life of asthmatics.Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Med, Lund Div, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Med, Lund Div, São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Immunohistochemical expression of melan-A and tyrosinase in uveal melanoma

BACKGROUND: Melan-A and tyrosinase are new immunohistochemical markers that can be used in the diagnosis of melanocytic lesions. The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between radiotherapy or clinicohistopathological parameters and the expression of melan-A and tyrosinase in uveal melanoma. METHODS: Thirty-six enucleated cases of uveal melanoma were studied. The formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded specimens were immunostained with monoclonal antibodies against melan-A and tyrosinase. The samples were classified as either positive or negative. The chi-square or the Student-t tests were used to test for the correlation of the expression rates of melan-A and tyrosinase with clinico-pathological parameters. RESULTS: Melan-A and tyrosinase were positive in 33 (91.7%) and 35 (97.2%) of the specimens, respectively. There was no significant association between the expression of melan-A or tyrosinase and radiotherapy or any clinico-pathological parameter. All specimens were positive for at least one of the immunohistochemical markers. CONCLUSION: To the best of our knowledge this is the first study concluding that the expression of melanocytic markers such as melan-A and tyrosinase is not influenced by radiotherapy or any clinico-pathological parameter. Moreover, when tyrosinase and melan-A are used together, 100% of the formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded uveal melanoma samples tested positive for one of those markers

Clinical-histopathological correlation in a case of Coats' disease

Background: Coats' disease is a non-hereditary ocular disease, with no systemic manifestation, first described by Coats in 1908. It occurs more commonly in children and has a clear male predominance. Most patients present clinically with unilateral decreased vision, strabismus or leukocoria. the most important differential diagnosis is unilateral retinoblastoma, which occurs in the same age group and has some overlapping clinical manifestations.Case presentation: A 4 year-old girl presented with a blind and painful right eye. Ocular examination revealed neovascular glaucoma, cataract and posterior synechiae. Although viewing of the fundus was impossible, computed tomography disclosed total exsudative retinal detachment in the affected eye. the eye was enucleated and subsequent histopathological evaluation confirmed the diagnosis of Coats' disease.Conclusion: General pathologists usually do not have the opportunity to receive and study specimens from patients with Coats' disease. Coats' disease is one of the most important differential diagnoses of retinoblastoma. Therefore, It is crucial for the pathologist to be familiar with the histopathological features of the former, and distinguish it from the latter.McGill Univ, Ctr Hlth, Dept Ophthalmol & Pathol, Montreal, PQ, CanadaHenry C Witelson Ocular Pathol Lab, Montreal, PQ, CanadaUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, EPM, Dept Ophthalmol, UNIFESP, São Paulo, BrazilHosp Servidores Estado, Dept Ophthalmol, Rio de Janeiro, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, EPM, Dept Ophthalmol, UNIFESP, São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc