Dendrochronology and growth of Copaifera langsdorffii wood in the vegetation dynamics of the Pirapitinga Ecological Station, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil

This study aims to build a chronology of the growth rings of Copaifera langsdorffii (copaíba) in order to understand the dynamics of vegetation types that occur on a river island in the Cerrado biome. For this purpose, we selected 30 trees of copaíba established in a vegetation of Mata Seca Sempre-Verde in the Pirapitinga Ecological Station (EEP), state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Two radial samples from each tree were collected by an auger. The samples were treated by mechanical polishing for better visualization of the growth rings, and consequently further delineation and measurement. Later, the width of the growth rings was verified in order to generate a master time series of the specie. To check the influence of meteorological factors, we used the Pearson correlation (p < 0.05). The results showed that the population of copaíba in the EEP presented dendrochronologyc potential, which was confirmed by the high values of wide growth rings correlation within and between trees. The dendrochronologyc analysis revealed that copaíba trees were already present before the dam filling, but with lower population density than today. It was also possible to infer that the development of the vegetation type Mata Seca Sempre-Verde occurred since the decade of the 1970. The average sensitivity was enough to consider the species sensitive to environmental variations. Precipitation and temperature only influenced positively the growth rings in the transition from dry to wet seasons. The results revealed information about the dynamics of the local vegetation, elucidating the changes that occurred in the environment in which the population of copaíba is established

Surface Morphology Alterations In Bovine Dentin Exposed To Different Bleaching Agents

Aim: This study evaluated the morphological changes caused by internal bleaching agents on dentin surface. Methods: Twenty crowns of bovine incisors were cut into slabs that were randomly distributed in six experimental groups (n = 5), according to the bleaching agent used: G1 – sodium perborate + water, G2 – sodium perborate + 2% chlorhexidine gel, G3 – sodium perborate + 30% hydrogen peroxide, G4 – 30% hydrogen peroxide, G5 – 37% carbamide peroxide and G6 – gel base without carbamide. Two Control Groups were used: C1 with distilled water and C2 with 2% chlorhexidine gel. The specimens were immersed in the respective test bleaching agent and incubated at 37 °C for seven days. Following, they were prepared for scanning electron microscopy and five images from each tooth segment were recorded and analyzed for surface morphological alterations, by three previously calibrated examiners. Inter-examiner agreement was verified using the Kappa test. The rank averages obtained for the groups were subjected to Kruskal-Wallis analysis of variance at 5% significance level. Results: The analysis of the scores obtained indicated that all tested materials caused some morphological alteration on dentin, except for sodium perborate + water (G1) and Control Groups 1 and 2. Hydrogen peroxide and carbamide peroxide caused significantly more severe alterations (p < 0.05) to dentin structure, than the other bleaching agents evaluated. Conclusions: Sodium perborate-based pastes seemed to be the most harmless agent to dentin structures in non-vital tooth bleaching, while hydrogen peroxide solutions and carbamide peroxide agents caused the greatest alterations.8125-2

Assessment of Renal Functions and Lesions in Dogs with Serological Diagnosis of Canine Visceral Leishmaniasis

Background: Visceral leishmaniasis is a complex vector-borne disease caused by the protozoan Leishmania infantum. In urban centers of South America, where this zoonotic cycle occurs, dogs seem to be the main reservoirs and infection sources. Animals with canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL) may have a wide clinical spectrum, and dogs are usually classified as asymptomatic, oligosymptomatic, and symptomatic. Several organs are affected in canine CVL, and renal involvement is often a determining factor in dog prognosis. Nevertheless, serum markers are slow to indicate loss of renal function. The aim of this studywas to evaluate kidney impairment in dogs diagnosed with CVL.Material, Methods & Results: Blood and urine samples were collected from 45 dogs from Barra Mansa-RJ, and used for urinalysis, urine protein/creatinine (UPC) ratio, and serum concentrations of urea and creatinine. The animals were classified as symptomatic (42.2%), oligosymptomatic (37.8%), and asymptomatic (20.0%). Some alterations were found in the urine samples; pale-yellow color in 17.8%, low specific gravity in 6.7%, turbidity in 51.1%, proteinuria in 80%, occult blood in 46.7%, bilirubin in 8.89%, and glucose in 6.7% of the samples. According to the UPC ratio, 60% of dogs were proteinuric, and UPC > 2.0 was high in symptomatic dogs. Azotemia was observed only in three dogs with CVL.Discussion: The majority of dogs presented one or more symptoms of CVL, as expected in an endemic area from Brazil. Pale-yellow urine was observed in some samples, and this change, when accompanied by the decreased urine specific gravity in dogs with CVL, suggests some degree of kidney disease. The presence of epithelial and red blood cells, leukocytes, bacteria, suspended mucus, and phosphate crystals that precipitate in alkaline urines could be associated, to some degree, with the urine turbidity found in the present study. The alkaline urine identified in some dogs could be related to the animals’ diet, but renal tubular acidosis (RTA) is another possible cause when referring to animals with CVL. The abnormal presence of bilirubin and glycosuria can be justified by liver damage and glomerular and tubular damage, respectively. Occult blood was found in the urine of almost half of the tested dogs, which occurred because of the presence of red blood cells in the urine sediment and hematuria in some animals, could be caused by tubular and glomerular lesions. The presence of granular and hyaline casts found in the samples reinforce the possibility of tubular injury. We found different levels of proteinuria; it was an important result, possibly caused by immune complex deposition in addition to tubular disease. Most tested dogs, including animals without clinical manifestation, were classified as proteinuric or borderline proteinuric, showing that the renal disease could be the only clinical manifestation of CVL and that it could progress from slight proteinuria to end-stage renal disease, resulting in chronic renal failure, which is the main cause of death. The UPC ratio > 2.0 was significantly the more frequent finding in this study, mainly in symptomatic dogs. This result indicates a glomerular disease in these animals, reinforcing that the progression of renal disease follows the clinical progression of CVL. A few serum samples showed increased urea and creatinine levels, proving that azotemia is an uncommon finding in CVL-infected dogs. In conclusion, urinalysis helped in the early identification of renal injury in CVL-infected dogs, highlighting elements that reinforce the presence of tubular or glomerular lesions, or both, even in non-azotemic dogs. The high frequency of symptomatic dogs with UPC ratio > 2.0 suggests a relationship between the progression of renal disease and the clinical progression of CVL

Evaluation of cytotoxicity, antimicrobial activity and physicochemical properties of a calcium aluminate-based endodontic material

A calcium aluminate-based endodontic material, EndoBinder, has been developed in order to reduce MTA negative characteristics, preserving its biological properties and clinical applications. Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the cytotoxicity, antimicrobial activity, pH, solubility and water sorption of EndoBinder and to compare them with those of white MTA (WMTA). Material and Methods: Cytotoxicity was assessed through a multiparametric analysis employing 3T3 cells. Antimicrobial activity against Enterococcus faecalis (ATCC 29212), Staphylococcus aureus. (ATCC 25923) and Candida albicans (ATCC 10556) was determined by the agar diffusion method. pH was measured at periods of 3, 24, 72 and 168 hours. Solubility and water sorption evaluation were performed following ISO requirements. Data were statistically analyzed by ANOVA and Tukey's test with a significance level of 5%. Results: EndoBinder and WMTA were non-cytotoxic in all tested periods and with the different cell viability parameters. There was no statistical differences between both materials (P>.05). All tested materials were inhibitory by direct contact against all microbial strains tested. EndoBinder and WMTA presented alkaline pH in all tested times with higher values of pH for WMTA (P.05). Conclusion: Under these experimental conditions, we concluded that the calcium aluminate-based endodontic material EndoBinder demonstrated suitable biological and physicochemical properties, so it can be suggested as a material of choice in root resorption, perforations and root-end filling221616

Evaluation of cytotoxicity, antimicrobial activity and physicochemical properties of a calcium aluminate-based endodontic material

A calcium aluminate-based endodontic material, EndoBinder, has been developed in order to reduce MTA negative characteristics, preserving its biological properties and clinical applications. Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the cytotoxicity, antimicrobial activity, pH, solubility and water sorption of EndoBinder and to compare them with those of white MTA (WMTA). Material and Methods: Cytotoxicity was assessed through a multiparametric analysis employing 3T3 cells. Antimicrobial activity against Enterococcus faecalis (ATCC 29212), Staphylococcus aureus. (ATCC 25923) and Candida albicans (ATCC 10556) was determined by the agar diffusion method. pH was measured at periods of 3, 24, 72 and 168 hours. Solubility and water sorption evaluation were performed following ISO requirements. Data were statistically analyzed by ANOVA and Tukey`s test with a significance level of 5%. Results: EndoBinder and WMTA were non-cytotoxic in all tested periods and with the different cell viability parameters. There was no statistical differences between both materials (P>;.05). All tested materials were inhibitory by direct contact against all microbial strains tested. EndoBinder and WMTA presented alkaline pH in all tested times with higher values of pH for WMTA (

Who are our masters and doctors? Graduate education and professional practice of occupational therapists in Brazil

Introdução: Uma das principais demandas da terapia ocupacional brasileira é a sua institucionalização acadêmica. Isso abrange, entre outros aspectos, a atividade de pesquisa, a formação e atuação dos profissionais em programas de pós-graduação. Objetivo: Caracterizar os terapeutas ocupacionais mestres e doutores no Brasil quanto a formação pós-graduada e a atuação profissional. Procedimentos Metodológicos: A pesquisa foi realizada a partir de informações coletadas em plataformas eletrônicas como a Plataforma Lattes e a Plataforma Sucupira, entre outras. Os dados foram analisados por meio da análise estatística descritiva. Resultados: 1188 currículos de terapeutas ocupacionais com mestrado e/ou doutorado foram analisados. Identificou-se um aumento na quantidade de mestres e doutores nas duas últimas décadas (2000-2017) e que encontra-se em curso uma mudança de perfil da formação pós-graduada desses profissionais, o que implica na produção de conhecimento e na institucionalização acadêmica da área. Conclusão: Esta pesquisa permitiu identificar algumas implicações dessa formação para o desenvolvimento da terapia ocupacional enquanto profissão e como área de conhecimento no país.Introduction: One of the main demands of Brazilian occupational therapy is its academic institutionalization. Such demand covers, among other aspects, the research activity, the education and performance of occupational therapists in graduate programs. Objective: To characterize the occupational therapists masters and doctors in Brazil as the graduate training, as well as the places of professional performance. Methodology: The research was based on information collected on electronic platforms such as the Lattes Platform and the Sucupira Platform, among others. Data were analyzed through descriptive statistical analysis. Results: 1,188 curricula of occupational therapists with masters and/or doctorates were analyzed. There has been an increase in the number of masters and doctors in the last two decades (2000-2017) and a change in the profile of the graduate training of these professionals is under way, which implies in the production of knowledge and in academic institutionalization of the area. Conclusion: This research allowed to identify some implications of this training for the development of occupational therapy as a profession and as an area of knowledge in the country

Maternal outcomes and risk factors for COVID-19 severity among pregnant women.

Pregnant women may be at higher risk of severe complications associated with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which may lead to obstetrical complications. We performed a case control study comparing pregnant women with severe coronavirus disease 19 (cases) to pregnant women with a milder form (controls) enrolled in the COVI-Preg international registry cohort between March 24 and July 26, 2020. Risk factors for severity, obstetrical and immediate neonatal outcomes were assessed. A total of 926 pregnant women with a positive test for SARS-CoV-2 were included, among which 92 (9.9%) presented with severe COVID-19 disease. Risk factors for severe maternal outcomes were pulmonary comorbidities [aOR 4.3, 95% CI 1.9-9.5], hypertensive disorders [aOR 2.7, 95% CI 1.0-7.0] and diabetes [aOR2.2, 95% CI 1.1-4.5]. Pregnant women with severe maternal outcomes were at higher risk of caesarean section [70.7% (n = 53/75)], preterm delivery [62.7% (n = 32/51)] and newborns requiring admission to the neonatal intensive care unit [41.3% (n = 31/75)]. In this study, several risk factors for developing severe complications of SARS-CoV-2 infection among pregnant women were identified including pulmonary comorbidities, hypertensive disorders and diabetes. Obstetrical and neonatal outcomes appear to be influenced by the severity of maternal disease

Particle-flow reconstruction and global event description with the CMS detector

The CMS apparatus was identified, a few years before the start of the LHC operation at CERN, to feature properties well suited to particle-flow (PF) reconstruction: a highly-segmented tracker, a fine-grained electromagnetic calorimeter, a hermetic hadron calorimeter, a strong magnetic field, and an excellent muon spectrometer. A fully-fledged PF reconstruction algorithm tuned to the CMS detector was therefore developed and has been consistently used in physics analyses for the first time at a hadron collider. For each collision, the comprehensive list of final-state particles identified and reconstructed by the algorithm provides a global event description that leads to unprecedented CMS performance for jet and hadronic tau decay reconstruction, missing transverse momentum determination, and electron and muon identification. This approach also allows particles from pileup interactions to be identified and enables efficient pileup mitigation methods. The data collected by CMS at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV show excellent agreement with the simulation and confirm the superior PF performance at least up to an average of 20 pileup interactions

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis