Soil load-bearing capacity and development of root system in area under sugarcane with traffic control in Brazil

Attempts to achieve reduced traffic area and favorable conditions for sugarcane field durability have been made increasingly necessary to use traffic control techniques in areas of sugarcane production. Our goal was to assess the benefits of traffic control for sugarcane cultivation areas by using a load-bearing capacity modeling and developing a root system. Our experiment was conducted in a sugarcane cultivation area in the region of Nova Europa, SAo Paulo, Brazil, by assessing the following treatments: T1=sugarcane planted with row spacing of 1.50m managed without autopilot; T2=sugarcane planted with row spacing of 1.50m managed with autopilot; T3=sugarcane planted with row spacing of 1.5x0.90m managed with autopilot. Soil sampling occurred at layers of 0.00-0.15 and 0.15-0.30m in inter-row center and seedbed region. Our results reveal that the use of autopilot in the seedbed area is less influenced by machinery traffic, which guarantees preserved soil structure maintenance in the plant row region. Mathematical models of the inter-row center presented higher load-bearing capacity values than the seedbed region for all treatments, layers, and cycles assessed. Additionally, load-bearing capacity increases as the sugarcane cultivation cycles evolve, including higher soil load-bearing capacity at the first ratoon cane cycle in relation to the cane-plant cycle. Finally, the sugarcane crop root system has good distribution during the cane-plant cycle; however, the first ratoon cane cycle has a downward trend for the plant rows in the inter-row center because of intensive machine traffic211153161FAPESP – Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa Do Estado De São Paulo2012/21094-0; 2012/14412-

Oral mucosa alterations in a socioeconomically deprived region: prevalence and associated factors

This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence and factors associated with oral mucosa alterations in patients from Vale do Jequiti-nhonha, Brazil. The sample consisted of 511 patients of both genders. Questionnaires were used to obtain information about patient gender, age, race, systemic disease state, medication use, cigarette use and alcohol consumption. Physical examinations were then performed to identify lesions of the oral mucosa. Descriptive analyses, Chi-squared tests and logistic regressions were then used to analyze the results (p < 0.05, 95% CI). In this population, 84.9% (434/511) of patients were found to have alterations in their oral mucosa. The most common alterations were melanotic maculae (36.0%), linea alba (33.9%), traumatic ulcers (21.5%), Fordyce's granules (20.4%), coated tongue (12.5%) and fissured tongue (10.0%). Melanotic maculae were more frequently observed in black patients, with an odds ration (OR) of 7.51. Being female was a statistically significant predictive factor for having a visible linea alba (OR: 1.90) and a fissured tongue (OR: 2.11). No statistically significant association was found between the presence of oral lesions and systemic disease, medication use, alcohol use and smoking. The high observed prevalence of melanotic maculae and Fordyce's granules suggests that these alterations could be considered typical characteristics of the population of the Vale do Jequitinhonha. Coated tongue may be related to the socioeconomic deprivation in the region. Furthermore, the high prevalence of traumatic ulcers may be associated with the traumatic agents that caused patients to seek dental care