Validade e reprodutibilidade de receptores para o GPS em relação à distância percorrida Validez y reproducibilidad de receptores GPS en relación de la distancia recorrida

ResumenObjetivoEl presente estudio evaluó la validez y reproducibilidad de dos modelos de receptores para el Global Positioning System (GPS). La validez fue evaluada comparando la distancia registrada por los receptores con la distancia conocida de estos trayectos.MétodoSeis jóvenes tenistas (177,6±6,2cm; 76,6±3,2kg) recorrieron tres trayectos: 1) 100m en la pista de atletismo (número de “disparos” = 120); 2) 400m en la pista de atletismo (número de “disparos” = 60) y 3) 100m con cambios de dirección (número de “disparos” = 120), utilizando los equipos Garmin© Forerunner 405 y Polar© RS800.ResultadosEn los trayectos sin cambios de dirección (100 y 400m), a través de la ANOVA two way (distancia y velocidad) no se detectaron diferencias entre la distancia conocida y las distancias registradas por los receptores analizados (p>0,05). En el trayecto de 100m con cambios de dirección, se observaron diferencias entre la distancia conocida y las registradas tanto por el Polar© RS800 como por el Garmin© Forerunner 405 (p<0,05). También se verificó la diferencia en las distancias registradas por el Polar® RS800 y por el Garmin© Forerunner 405 para el trayecto realizado con cambios de dirección (p<0,05).ConclusiónA través de los datos, se puede afirmar que los receptores para GPS evaluados presentaron un nivel aceptable de precisión para distancias recorridas sin cambios de dirección, sin embargo, la precisión de estos equipos en trayectos con cambios de dirección fue limitada.AbstractObjectiveThe present study evaluated the reproducibility and validity of two models of receivers for the Global Positioning System (GPS). Validity was assessed by comparing the distance recorded by the GPS receivers with the known distance.MethodSix young players (177.6±6.2cm; 76.6±3.2kg) performed three routes with different characteristics: 1) 100m in the athletics track (number of “sprints” = 120); 2) 400m in the athletics track (number of “sprints” = 60) and 3) 100m with changes of direction (number of “sprints” = 120), using equipment Garmin© Forerunner 405 and Polar© RS800.ResultsRegarding linear routes (100 and 400m), no differences were detected using ANOVA two-way (distance and speed) between the known distance and distance recorded by GPS receivers analyzed (p>0.05). Regarding non-linear route of, significant differences were observed between the known distance and recorded distance by the GPS receivers (p<0.05). There was also a significant difference between the distance recorded by Polar© RS800 and Garmin© Forerunner 405 for the non-linear route (p<0.05). Analysis of the limits of agreement reinforces the limitation of equipment in relation to accuracy for the non-linear route.ConclusionThese data suggest that the GPS receivers evaluated showed acceptable level of accuracy for linear routes, however, the accuracy of such devices on non-linear routes was limited

An overview of structural aspects and health beneficial effects of antioxidant oligosaccharides

Background: Non-digestible oligosaccharides are versatile sources of chemical diversity, well known for their prebiotic actions, found naturally in plants or produced by chemical or enzymatic synthesis or by hydrolysis of polysaccharides. Compared to polyphenols or even polysaccharides, the antioxidant potential of oligosaccharides is still unexplored. The aim of the present work was to provide an up-to-date, broad and critical contribution on the topic of antioxidant oligosaccharides. Methods: The search was performed by crossing the words oligosaccharides and antioxidant. Whenever possible, attempts at establishing correlations between chemical structure and antioxidant activity were undertaken. Results: The most representative in vitro and in vivo studies were compiled in two tables. Chitooligosaccharides and xylooligosaccharides and their derivatives were the most studied up to now. The antioxidant activities of oligosaccharides depend on the degree of polymerization and the method used for depolymerization. Other factors influencing the antioxidant strength are solubility, monosaccharide composition, the type of glycosidic linkages of the side chains, molecular weight, reducing sugar content, the presence of phenolic groups such as ferulic acid, and the presence of uronic acid, among others. Modification of the antioxidant capacity of oligosaccharides has been achieved by adding diverse organic groups to their structures, thus increasing also the spectrum of potentially useful molecules. Conclusion: A great amount of high-quality evidence has been accumulating during the last decade in support of a meaningful antioxidant activity of oligosaccharides and derivatives. Ingestion of antioxidant oligosaccharides can be visualized as beneficial to human and animal health.This work was funded by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientffico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Brazil; grants numbers 40898/2016-5 and 307944/2015-8).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Seleção de estirpes de Rhizobium para espécies leguminosas florestais

The objective of this study was to evaluate different strains of Rhizobium in sterile pots for the following forest species: Mimosa caesapiniaefolia Benth, Mimosa scabrella Benth, Dimorpandra exaltata Schott, Albizia falcataria (L.) Bacher, Bowdichia virgilioides HBK and Dalbergia nigra Fr. Allem and test the nodules using the acetylene reduction assay before the isolation of Rhizobium. An experiment was also performed to select strains for Mimosa scabrella Benth, using pots with soil. For all the species studied efficient Rhizobium strains were found, which gave well nodulated plants and good development of the aerial tissue. Isolation of Rhizobium from the most active nodules as selected by the acetylene reduction assay of individual nodules produced the most efficient strains.Avaliou-se, através de experimentos de seleções em vasos estereizados, a eficiência das estirpes de Rhizobium nas espécies florestais: Mimosa caesalpiniaefolia Benth, Mimosa scabrella Benth, Dimorphandra exaltata Schott, Albizia falcataria (L.) Bacher, Bowdichia virgilioides HBK e Dalbergia nigra Fr. Allen e, também, em solo para Mimosa scabrella. Estudou-se, também a vantagem de se pré-selecionar os nódulos através da atividade da nitrogenase (redução de acetileno), antes do isolamento do Rhizobium dos mesmos. Para todas as espécies florestais estudadas, foram encontradas estirpes eficientes que proporcionaram plantas bem noduladas e com desenvolvimento satisfatório das mudas. O isolamento de estirpes dos nódulos, com maior atividade da nitrogenase (redução de acetileno), resultou na obtenção das estirpes mais eficientes

Euclidean Approach to the Entropy for a Scalar Field in Rindler-like Space-Times

The off-shell entropy for a massless scalar field in a D-dimensional Rindler-like space-time is investigated within the conical Euclidean approach in the manifold C_\be\times\M^N, C_\be being the 2-dimensional cone, making use of the zeta-function regularisation. Due to the presence of conical singularities, it is shown that the relation between the zeta-function and the heat kernel is non trivial and, as first pointed out by Cheeger, requires a separation between small and large eigenvalues of the Laplace operator. As a consequence, in the massless case, the (naive) non existence of the Mellin transform is by-passed by the Cheeger's analytical continuation of the zeta-function on manifold with conical singularities. Furthermore, the continuous spectrum leads to the introduction of smeared traces. In general, it is pointed out that the presence of the divergences may depend on the smearing function and they arise in removing the smearing cutoff. With a simple choice of the smearing function, horizon divergences in the thermodynamical quantities are recovered and these are similar to the divergences found by means of off-shell methods like the brick wall model, the optical conformal transformation techniques or the canonical path integral method.Comment: 17 pages, LaTex. A sign error corrected and few comments adde

Laccases in food processing: Current status, bottlenecks and perspectives

Background: Laccases (benzenediol:oxygen oxidoreductases, EC 1.10.3.2) catalyze the oxidation of a wide variety of organic and inorganic substrates, typically p-diphenols with a concomitant reduction of oxygen (O2) to water. Several molecules naturally occurring in foods and beverages (e.g., phenols, carbohydrates, unsatured fatty acids and thiol-containing proteins) can be modified by laccases. Hence, the interaction between laccase and these molecules can and has been widely explored by the food industry for various technological purposes. Scope and approach: The present work aims at providing a critical review on the current uses of laccases in food processing, at discussing the main bottlenecks for its popularization, and at presenting future perspectives. Both scientific reports and patents, covering preferably the last five years, were considered. Key findings and conclusions: Several traditional uses of laccases in food processing including baking, beverage, and dairy industries were detailed. Special efforts were developed, however, in analyzing future perspectives. The latter includes the application of laccases in the synthesis of new compounds with functional properties, such as antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. No less attention was devoted to the recent developments in the field of crosslinking of polymers, such as proteins and polysaccharides. Scaling up of the production of the laccase itself and especially of the novel products derived from its applications in the food sector will be essential for cost reduction and, consequently, for market expansion.This work was supported by the National Council of Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq, Proc. 404898/2016-5). R.C.G. Corrêa is a research grant recipient of Cesumar Institute of Science Technology and Innovation (ICETI). C.G. Kato (Proc. 151189/2019-6), E. Backes (Proc. 304406/2019-8), R.M. Peralta, R.A. Peralta, R.F. Peralta Muniz Moreira and A. Bracht are research grant recipients from CNPq.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Diabetes mellitus worsens diastolic left ventricular dysfunction in aortic stenosis through altered myocardial structure and cardiomyocyte stiffness.

BACKGROUND: Aortic stenosis (AS) and diabetes mellitus (DM) are frequent comorbidities in aging populations. In heart failure, DM worsens diastolic left ventricular (LV) dysfunction, thereby adversely affecting symptoms and prognosis. Effects of DM on diastolic LV function were therefore assessed in aortic stenosis, and underlying myocardial mechanisms were identified. METHODS AND RESULTS: Patients referred for aortic valve replacement were subdivided into patients with AS and no DM (AS; n=46) and patients with AS and DM (AS-DM; n=16). Preoperative Doppler echocardiography and hemodynamics were implemented with perioperative LV biopsies. Histomorphometry and immunohistochemistry quantified myocardial collagen volume fraction and myocardial advanced glycation end product deposition. Isolated cardiomyocytes were stretched to 2.2-μm sarcomere length to measure resting tension (F(passive)). Expression and phosphorylation of titin isoforms were analyzed with gel electrophoresis with ProQ Diamond and SYPRO Ruby stains. Reduced LV end-diastolic distensibility in AS-DM was evident from higher LV end-diastolic pressure (21±1 mm Hg for AS versus 28±4 mm Hg for AS-DM; P=0.04) at comparable LV end-diastolic volume index and attributed to higher myocardial collagen volume fraction (AS, 12.9±1.1% versus AS-DM, 18.2±2.6%; P<0.001), more advanced glycation end product deposition in arterioles, venules, and capillaries (AS, 14.4±2.1 score per 1 mm(2) versus AS-DM, 31.4±6.1 score per 1 mm2; P=0.03), and higher F(passive) (AS, 3.5±1.7 kN/m2 versus AS-DM, 5.1±0.7 kN/m2; P=0.04). Significant hypophosphorylation of the stiff N2B titin isoform in AS-DM explained the higher F(passive) and normalization of F(passive) after in vitro treatment with protein kinase A. CONCLUSIONS: Worse diastolic LV dysfunction in AS-DM predisposes to heart failure and results from more myocardial fibrosis, more intramyocardial vascular advanced glycation end product deposition, and higher cardiomyocyte F(passive), which was related to hypophosphorylation of the N2B titin isoform

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