The expansion of the brazilian winter corn crop and Its impact on price transmission

sem informaçãoThe purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of the growth of the Brazilian winter corn crop on the dynamics between domestic Brazilian prices and international prices as well as spot and futures prices in Brazil. Econometric time-series methods tes62117sem informaçãosem informaçãosem informaçã

The Expansion of the Brazilian Winter Corn Crop and Its Impact on Price Transmission

The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of the growth of the Brazilian winter corn crop on the dynamics between domestic Brazilian prices and international prices as well as spot and futures prices in Brazil. Econometric time-series methods tests were applied using Brazilian spot and futures prices and U.S. futures prices. The statistical analysis found evidence that a long-run relationship between Brazilian and U.S. prices had developed, and the Brazilian futures market developed a more dominant role in the relationship between spot and futures prices domestically. These findings were particularly noticeable after 2002, when expanding corn production in Brazil was leading to greater participation in the international market (exports) and increasing trading in the Brazilian futures market

Emergence of Exotic Spin Texture in Supramolecular Metal Complexes on a 2D Superconductor

Designer heterostructures, where the desired physics emerges from the controlled interactions between different components, represent one of the most powerful strategies to realize unconventional electronic states. This approach has been particularly fruitful in combining magnetism and superconductivity to create exotic superconducting states. In this work, we use a heterostructure platform combining supramolecular metal complexes (SMCs) with a quasi-2D van der Waals (vdW) superconductor NbSe$_2$. Our scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) measurements demonstrate the emergence of Yu-Shiba-Rusinov (YSR) bands arising from the interaction between the SMC magnetism and the NbSe$_2$ superconductivity. Using X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) measurements, we show the presence of antiferromagnetic coupling between the SMC units. These result in the emergence of an unconventional $3\times3$ reconstruction in the magnetic ground state that is directly reflected in real space modulation of the YSR bands. The combination of flexible molecular building blocks, frustrated magnetic textures, and superconductivity in heterostructures establishes a fertile starting point to fabricating tunable quantum materials, including unconventional superconductors and quantum spin liquids

The ocean sampling day consortium

Ocean Sampling Day was initiated by the EU-funded Micro B3 (Marine Microbial Biodiversity, Bioinformatics, Biotechnology) project to obtain a snapshot of the marine microbial biodiversity and function of the world’s oceans. It is a simultaneous global mega-sequencing campaign aiming to generate the largest standardized microbial data set in a single day. This will be achievable only through the coordinated efforts of an Ocean Sampling Day Consortium, supportive partnerships and networks between sites. This commentary outlines the establishment, function and aims of the Consortium and describes our vision for a sustainable study of marine microbial communities and their embedded functional traits

Análise da superfície e osseointegração de implantes dentários com superfícies biomiméticas contedo Ca, Mg e F

Os tratamentos das superfícies dos implantes dentários osseointegráveis sofreram modificações significativas com o objetivo de melhorar a estabilidade primária e secundária. Entre as modificações destaca-se a deposição de íons, como flúor, cálcio e magnésio. Estes íons possuem baixa taxa de degradação no meio corpóreo e ótima interação biológica com as células e com os tecidos ósseos. No presente trabalho, para avaliar os efeitos do F, Ca e do Mg na osseointegração foram realizados ensaios in vitro e in vivo. Implantes foram inseridos em tíbias de coelhos e determinou-se os torques de inserção e remoção após 2, 4 e 8 semanas. Os ensaios in vivo foram complementados pela medida da rugosidade, molhabilidade e análise da superfície em microscopia eletrônica de varredura. Os resultados foram comparados com os obtidos com implantes com a superfície tratada com ácido (superfície Porous) e com deposição de flúor (superfície Porous Nano). Os resultados obtidos mostraram que o torque para remover os implantes Porous 8 semanas após a cirurgia foi de 16,96 + 1,32 N.cm, o tratado com flúor apresentou melhores resultados (17,93 ± 4,47 N.cm) e a superfície com Ca e Mg foi a que apresentou a interface osso-implante com menor resistência (10,83 + 1,20 N.cm). O maior torque indica que a adição de flúor facilita os mecanismos envolvidos na osseointegração dos implantes e permite o carregamento da prótese em tempos menores

Reduced SLIT2 is Associated with Increased Cell Proliferation and Arsenic Trioxide Resistance in Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia

Simple Summary In solid tumors, the altered expression of embryonic genes such as the SLIT-ROBO family has been associated with poor prognosis, while little is known about their role in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Previous studies reported frequent hypermethylation of SLIT2 mediated by the methyltransferase enzyme EZH2 and more recently the PML protein, which are commonly found to be aberrantly expressed in AML. Here, we aim to assess retrospectively the clinical relevance of the SLIT2 gene in acute promyelocytic leukemia, a homogenous subtype of AML. We demonstrated that reduced SLIT2 expression was associated with high leukocyte counts and reduced overall survival in different APL cohorts. STLI2 treatment decreased APL growth, while SLIT2 knockdown accelerated cell cycle progression and proliferation. Finally, reduced expression of SLIT2 in murine APL blasts resulted in fatal leukemia associated with increased leukocyte counts in vivo. These findings demonstrate that SLIT2 can be considered as a prognostic marker in APL, and a potential candidate for clinical studies of a more heterogeneous disease, such as AML. The SLIT-ROBO axis plays an important role in normal stem-cell biology, with possible repercussions on cancer stem cell emergence. Although the Promyelocytic Leukemia (PML) protein can regulate SLIT2 expression in the central nervous system, little is known about SLIT2 in acute promyelocytic leukemia. Hence, we aimed to investigate the levels of SLIT2 in acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) and assess its biological activity in vitro and in vivo. Our analysis indicated that blasts with SLIT2(high) transcript levels were associated with cell cycle arrest, while SLIT2(low) APL blasts displayed a more stem-cell like phenotype. In a retrospective analysis using a cohort of patients treated with all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) and anthracyclines, high SLIT2 expression was correlated with reduced leukocyte count (p = 0.024), and independently associated with improved overall survival (hazard ratio: 0.94; 95% confidence interval: 0.92-0.97; p <0.001). Functionally, SLIT2-knockdown in primary APL blasts and cell lines led to increased cell proliferation and resistance to arsenic trioxide induced apoptosis. Finally, in vivo transplant of Slit2-silenced primary APL blasts promoted increased leukocyte count (p = 0.001) and decreased overall survival (p = 0.002) compared with the control. In summary, our data highlight the tumor suppressive function of SLIT2 in APL and its deteriorating effects on disease progression when downregulated

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