549 research outputs found
Water Crisis In SĂŁo Paulo Evaluated Under The Disaster's Point Of View
Brazil's Southeast region has been facing water supply challenges, especially concerning the metropolitan region of SĂŁo Paulo, since 2014. We adressed the water crisis from the disaster's point of view, considering that one of the guiding features to characterize a disaster is the amount of affected people and the losses associated. In the situation under review, there are people directly affected, because of intermittent house water supply, and indirectly affected by the increase of prices for goods, since their production and manufacturing depend on the availability of water. We presented each of the stages of a disaster risk management: prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. The risk of water scarcity in SĂŁo Paulo is only one aspect of the discussion involving the effectiveness of management processes and the need for investments in the area, especially in reducing wasteful distribution.191214
Assessing the impact of rice cultivation and off-season period on dynamics of soil enzyme activities and bacterial communities in two agro-ecological regions of Mozambique
Soil ecosystem perturbation due to agronomic practices can negatively impact soil productivity
by altering the diversity and function of soil health determinants. Currently, the influence
of rice cultivation and off-season periods on the dynamics of soil health determinants is unclear.
Therefore, soil enzyme activities (EAs) and bacterial community compositions in rice-cultivated fields
at postharvest (PH) and after a 5-month off-season period (5mR), and fallow-fields (5-years-fallow,
5YF; 10-years-fallow, 10YF and/or one-year-fallow, 1YF) were assessed in two agroecological regions
of Mozambique. EAs were mostly higher in fallow fields than in PH, with significant (p < 0.05)
differences detected for -glucosidase and acid phosphatase activities. Only -glucosidase activity
was significantly (p < 0.05) different between PH and 5mR, suggesting that -glucosidase is responsive
in the short-term. Bacterial diversity was highest in rice-cultivated soil and correlated with
NO3
, NH4
+ and electrical conductivity. Differentially abundant genera, such as Agromyces, Bacillus,
Desulfuromonas, Gaiella, Lysobacter, Micromonospora, Norcadiodes, Rubrobacter, Solirubrobacter and
Sphingomonas were mostly associated with fallow and 5mR fields, suggesting either negative effects
of rice cultivation or the fallow period aided their recovery. Overall, rice cultivation and chemical
parameters influenced certain EAs and shaped bacterial communities. Furthermore, the 5-month
off-season period facilitates nutrient recovery and proliferation of plant-growth-promoting bacteriainfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Protective Effect of Breastfeeding against Overweight Can Be Detected as Early as the Second Year of Life: A Study of Children from One of the Most Socially-deprived Areas of Brazil
Millions of children live in Brazil\u2019s semi-arid region, one of
the most socially-deprived areas of the country, where undernutrition
co-exists with obesity as a consequence of the nutrition transition.
There is evidence that childhood obesity predisposes adult obesity and,
thus, that obesity should be prevented as early as possible. Some
studies have shown that breastfeeding is a protective factor against
overweight and obesity while other studies have not found this
association. There have been few studies on this association in
developing countries and of children below two years of age. The
present study aimed to investigate whether children exposed to
exclusive breastfeeding for 656 months showed a lower prevalence
of overweight in the second year of life, based on a probability sample
of 2,209 children (aged 12 to 24 months). The dependent variable was
overweight, defined as weight-for-length z-scores of >2, based on
the WHO 2006 standard while the independent variable was exclusive
breastfeeding ( 656 months). The prevalence ratio (PR) and its 95%
CI were estimated using Poisson regression with robust adjustment of
variance. After adjusting for potential confounding factors
(socioeconomic, demographic and health-related variables), children on
exclusive breastfeeding for 656 months showed a lower prevalence
of overweight (5.7% vs 9.1%, PR 0.62, 95% CI 0.45-0.89). It was found
that exclusive breastfeeding for six months or more is a protective
factor against overweight in children in the second year of life living
in the Brazilian semi-arid region
Cations extraction of sandy-clay soils from Cavado valley, Portugal, using sodium salts solutions
Cases of contamination by metals in the water wells of the Cavado Valley in north-west Portugal can be attributed to the heavy leaching of clay soils due to an excess of nitrogen resulting from the intensive use of fertilisers in agricultural areas. This work focuses on the natural weathering characteristics of soils, particularly the clay material, through the study of samples collected near the River Cavado. Samples taken from various sites, after physico-chemical characterisation, were subjected to clay dissolution tests, using sodium salts of different ionic forces, to detect the relationship between certain physico-chemical parameters of water, such as pH, nitrate, chloride and sulphate content, in the dissolution of clay and the subsequent
extraction of such cations as Al, Fe and K. In acidic sandy clay soils, the mineralogical composition of which was characterised by a predominance of quartz, micas, kaolinite and K-feldspars, decreases of the clay
material/water pH ratio increases dissolution of the micaceous and K-feldspars phases. The presence of nitrates in the aqueous solution apparently advanced the extraction of all three cations Al, Fe and K. The specific surface area of the clay material showed a significant correlation with the main kinetic parameters of cation extraction.TĂȘm ocorrido casos de contaminaçÔes de ĂĄguas de poços, por metais, no vale do Rio CĂĄvado, regiĂŁo noroeste de Portugal. A princĂpio, poderiam ser explicĂĄveis pela elevada lixiviação dos solos arenoargilosos
da regiĂŁo, quando da prĂĄtica de adubaçÔes intensivas de nitrogĂȘnio em ĂĄreas agrĂcolas. Assim, estudaram-se as caracterĂsticas do intemperismo natural dos solos, particularmente da fração argila, caracterĂstica da margem norte do rio CĂĄvado. Coletaram-se amostras de vĂĄrios locais, que foram submetidas, apĂłs caracterização fĂsico-quĂmica, a ensaios de dissolução a partir de soluçÔes de sais de sĂłdio com diferentes
forças iĂŽnicas. O objetivo foi observar as relaçÔes de determinados parĂąmetros fĂsico-quĂmicos da ĂĄgua, tais
como: pH, nitratos, cloretos e sulfatos na dissolução das argilas e a conseqĂŒente extração de espĂ©cies quĂmicas tais como Al, K e Fe. Para solos areno-argilosos, ĂĄcidos, cuja composição mineralĂłgica se caracteriza
por um predomĂnio de quartzo, micas, caulinita e feldspato-K, o abaixamento do pH da suspensĂŁo solo/ĂĄgua promove a solubilização das fases micĂĄceas e feldspĂĄticas. A presença do nitrato nas soluçÔes aquosas promoveu aparentemente a extração de todos os trĂȘs cĂĄtions: Al, K e Fe. O efeito da ĂĄrea superfĂcial especĂfica
das partĂculas dos solos condicionou fortemente vĂĄrios dos parĂąmetros cinĂ©ticos estudados relativos Ă extração dos cĂĄtions.(undefined
Distribution of black flies (Diptera: Simuliidae) in the State of EspĂrito Santo, Brazil
Entre os anos de 2004 e 2008 foram realizadas coletas de Simuliidae em vĂĄrias localidades no Estado do EspĂrito Santo, Brasil. No total, 66 cĂłrregos e rios das doze principais bacias hidrogrĂĄficas do estado foram amostrados. Dezessete espĂ©cies foram coletadas, sendo que nove delas representam ocorrĂȘncias novas para o estado (Simulium pertinax, S. jujuyense, S. rubrithorax, S. subnigrum, S. travassosi, S. spinibranchium, S. hirtipupa, S. lutzianum e S. anamariae), duplicando o nĂșmero de espĂ©cies conhecidas no estado.We conducted a freshwater survey from 2004 to 2008 in several localities of EspĂrito Santo, Brazil. In total, 66 streams and rivers were sampled in the 12 hydrographic basins of the state. We collected and identified 17 species of which nine represent new records (Simulium pertinax, S. jujuyense, S. rubrithorax, S. subnigrum, S. travassosi, S. spinibranchium, S. hirtipupa, S. lutzianum e S. anamariae). These findings doubled the number of records of black fly species to the State of EspĂrito Santo, Brazil
Immune or genetic-mediated disruption of CASPR2 causes pain hypersensitivity due to enhanced primary afferent excitability
Human autoantibodies to contactin-associated protein-like 2 (CASPR2) are often associated with neuropathic pain, and CASPR2 mutations have been linked to autism spectrum disorders, in which sensory dysfunction is increasingly recognized. Human CASPR2 autoantibodies, when injected into mice, were peripherally restricted and resulted in mechanical pain-related hypersensitivity in the absence of neural injury. We therefore investigated the mechanism by which CASPR2 modulates nociceptive function. Mice lacking CASPR2 (Cntnap2(-/-)) demonstrated enhanced pain-related hypersensitivity to noxious mechanical stimuli, heat, and algogens. Both primary afferent excitability and subsequent nociceptive transmission within the dorsal horn were increased in Cntnap2(-/-) mice. Either immune or genetic-mediated ablation of CASPR2 enhanced the excitability of DRG neurons in a cell-autonomous fashion through regulation of Kv1 channel expression at the soma membrane. This is the first example of passive transfer of an autoimmune peripheral neuropathic pain disorder and demonstrates that CASPR2 has a key role in regulating cell-intrinsic dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neuron excitability
Measurement of the branching fraction
The branching fraction is measured in a data sample
corresponding to 0.41 of integrated luminosity collected with the LHCb
detector at the LHC. This channel is sensitive to the penguin contributions
affecting the sin2 measurement from The
time-integrated branching fraction is measured to be . This is the most precise measurement to
date
Model-independent search for CP violation in D0âKâK+ÏâÏ+ and D0âÏâÏ+Ï+Ïâ decays
A search for CP violation in the phase-space structures of D0 and View the MathML source decays to the final states KâK+ÏâÏ+ and ÏâÏ+Ï+Ïâ is presented. The search is carried out with a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fbâ1 collected in 2011 by the LHCb experiment in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. For the KâK+ÏâÏ+ final state, the four-body phase space is divided into 32 bins, each bin with approximately 1800 decays. The p-value under the hypothesis of no CP violation is 9.1%, and in no bin is a CP asymmetry greater than 6.5% observed. The phase space of the ÏâÏ+Ï+Ïâ final state is partitioned into 128 bins, each bin with approximately 2500 decays. The p-value under the hypothesis of no CP violation is 41%, and in no bin is a CP asymmetry greater than 5.5% observed. All results are consistent with the hypothesis of no CP violation at the current sensitivity
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