Texture analysis of cold rolled and annealed aluminum alloy produced by twin-roll casting

A 7.4 mm thick strip of 3003 aluminum alloy produced by the industrial twin-roll casting (TRC) process was homogenized at 500 °C for 12 hours, after which it was cold rolled in two conditions: 1) to reduce the strip's thickness by 67%, and 2) to reduce it by 91%. The alloy was annealed at 400 °C for 1 hour in both conditions. The results revealed that a rotated cube texture, the {001}<110&gt; component, predominated in the as-cast condition and was transformed into brass, copper and S type textures during the cold rolling process. There was practically no difference between the deformation textures at the two thickness reductions

Development and validation of a method for the determination of valproic acid in pharmaceutical formulations by high performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection (HPLC-DAD)

Valproic acid (VA) is used as an anticonvulsant and is used in the treatment of bipolar disorder and depression. The official analytical method for this drug in the compendia is gas chromatography, which is unavailable in many quality control laboratories. Here, we report a validated alternative method using high performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection (HPLC-DAD). The optimized parameters and conditions were as follows: C18 column (5 µm; 250 x 4 mm d.i.); flow 1.0 mL.min-1; wavelength: 210 nm; mobile phase: 55% acetonitrile (ACN) in water containing 0.05% v/v trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) (v/v). The analytical parameters that were validated included the selectivity and matrix effects, linearity, repeatability and intermediate, precision, accuracy, recovery and robustness. This method identifies VA unambiguously. In validation, the following results were obtained: good linearity in concentrations between 0.7 and 1.3 mg.mL-1 (r2 = 0.9998), relative standard deviations (RSDs) of 0.68% for repeatability and 1.23% for intermediate precision, a recovery of 99.42 to 101.55% (RSD 0.14 to 0.74%) and an accuracy of 100.68% (RSD = 0.79%). This method is robust to small variations in procedure.Título em português: Desenvolvimento e validação de um método para a determinação de ácido valpróico em formulações farmacêuticas por cromatografia líquida de alta eficiência acoplada com detector de conjunto de fotodiodosO ácido valpróico (VA) é utilizado como anticonvulsivante e também na terapêutica da desordem bipolar e depressão. O método de análise deste medicamento nos compêndios oficiais é por cromatografia gasosa e muitos laboratórios oficiais de controle de qualidade não possuem tal equipamento. A proposta deste estudo foi desenvolver e validar um método analítico por cromatografia líquida de alta eficiência acoplada com detector de conjunto de fotodiodos para a análise deste fármaco. Os parâmetros e condições otimizados foram: coluna C18 (5 µm; 250 x 4 mm d.i.), fluxo de 1,0 mL min-1, comprimento de onda 210 nm, fase móvel 55% ACN e 45% solução 0,05% v/v de ácido trifluoracético (v/v). Os parâmetros analíticos avaliados na validação foram: seletividade e efeito matriz, linearidade, repetitividade e precisão intermediária, exatidão e robustez. A metodologia desenvolvida mostrou identificar de forma inequívoca o analito de interesse. No que concerne aos parâmetros de validação foram obtidos: faixa linear nas concentrações de 0,7 a 1,3 mg mL-1 (r2 = 0,9998), repetitividade: desvio padrão relativo (DPR) = 0,68%, precisão intermediária: DPR = 1,23%, recuperação de 99,42 a 101,55% (DPR de 0,14 a 0,74%) e exatidão de 100,68% (DPR = 0,79%). Quando submetido a pequenas variações, a metodologia mostrou-se robusta

INFLUÊNCIA DA IDADE DE OVOS DE TRICHOPLUSIA NI (LEPIDOPTERA: NOCTUIDAE) EM FÊMEAS DE TRICHOGRAMMA PRETIOSUM (HYMENOPTERA: TRICHOGRAMMATIDAE) EM DIFERENTES TEMPERATURAS

Objetivamos avaliar a influência da idade dos ovos de Trichoplusia ni (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) em fêmeas de Trichogramma pretiosum (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae), em diferentes temperaturas. Assim, ovos de T. ni com idade ≤ 12, ≤ 24, ≤ 36, ≤ 48, ≤ 60 e ≤ 72 horas de desenvolvimento embrionário, separados a temperaturas de 20, 25 e 30 ºC, foram oferecidos para fêmeas de T. pretiosum com até 24 horas de idade. O parasitismo foi inversamente proporcional ao desenvolvimento embrionário do ovo, com maiores taxas de parasitismo observadas para ovos com até 24 horas de desenvolvimento embrionário nas três temperaturas. A viabilidade do parasitismo foi influenciada pela idade dos ovos. Os ovos, com até 36 horas de idade, apresentaram viabilidade superior a 85% nas três temperaturas. A proporção sexual a 25ºC apresentou a melhor taxa dentro da faixa de desenvolvimento embrionário. O número de descendentes do parasitoide por ovo foi influenciado pela temperatura e pela idade dos ovos, sendo a combinação ovos com 60-72 horas à temperatura de 30ºC, a que apresentou o maior quantitativo de descendentes parasitoides por ovo. Esses resultados indicaram que a idade do hospedeiro e a temperatura ambiente podem alterar as características biológicas dos parasitoides

Pediatric tuberculosis in the metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro

Aim: To evaluate the clinical characteristics, diagnostic approach, and treatment outcomes of tuberculosis (TB) in children living in a high-burden metropolitan area. Methods: This was a retrospective study, based on a medical chart review, involving children under 15 years old treated for TB between 2007 and 2016, in four primary health units (PHU) and three reference centers (RC) in five cities of Rio de Janeiro metropolitan area. Factors associated with TB treatment setting, microbiological diagnosis, and treatment outcomes were evaluated. Results: A total of 544 children were enrolled; 71% were treated in PHU, 36% were under 5 years old, and 72% had pulmonary TB (PTB). The HIV prevalence was 10% (31/322). Fifty-three percent had at least one microbiological test for TB, 68% of them (196/287) had TB confirmed. Among 222 children with previous TB contact, information on LTBI was available for 78 (35%), and only 17% (13/78) were treated. Extrapulmonary TB (56% vs 32%), microbiologically confirmed TB (77% vs 60%), and HIV positivity (18.5% vs 4.0%) were significantly more frequent in RC. Treatment in RC (odds ratio (OR) 3.08, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.74–5.44) and PTB (OR 2.47, 95% CI 1.34–4.56) were independently associated with a microbiological diagnosis of TB. The treatment success rate was 85%. In the logistic regression analysis, HIV-infected children had a 2.5-fold higher risk of an unfavorable outcome (OR 2.53, 95% CI 1.0–6.38; p = 0.05). Conclusions: Opportunities for TB prevention and early TB treatment are missed due to suboptimal close contact screening. Microbiological diagnosis of TB and drug susceptibility testing in children should be made available through more sensitive and accessible tests

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016

ATLANTIC-PRIMATES: a dataset of communities and occurrences of primates in the Atlantic Forests of South America

Primates play an important role in ecosystem functioning and offer critical insights into human evolution, biology, behavior, and emerging infectious diseases. There are 26 primate species in the Atlantic Forests of South America, 19 of them endemic. We compiled a dataset of 5,472 georeferenced locations of 26 native and 1 introduced primate species, as hybrids in the genera Callithrix and Alouatta. The dataset includes 700 primate communities, 8,121 single species occurrences and 714 estimates of primate population sizes, covering most natural forest types of the tropical and subtropical Atlantic Forest of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina and some other biomes. On average, primate communities of the Atlantic Forest harbor 2 ± 1 species (range = 1–6). However, about 40% of primate communities contain only one species. Alouatta guariba (N = 2,188 records) and Sapajus nigritus (N = 1,127) were the species with the most records. Callicebus barbarabrownae (N = 35), Leontopithecus caissara (N = 38), and Sapajus libidinosus (N = 41) were the species with the least records. Recorded primate densities varied from 0.004 individuals/km 2 (Alouatta guariba at Fragmento do Bugre, Paraná, Brazil) to 400 individuals/km 2 (Alouatta caraya in Santiago, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil). Our dataset reflects disparity between the numerous primate census conducted in the Atlantic Forest, in contrast to the scarcity of estimates of population sizes and densities. With these data, researchers can develop different macroecological and regional level studies, focusing on communities, populations, species co-occurrence and distribution patterns. Moreover, the data can also be used to assess the consequences of fragmentation, defaunation, and disease outbreaks on different ecological processes, such as trophic cascades, species invasion or extinction, and community dynamics. There are no copyright restrictions. Please cite this Data Paper when the data are used in publications. We also request that researchers and teachers inform us of how they are using the data. © 2018 by the The Authors. Ecology © 2018 The Ecological Society of Americ