Probing the origin of the dark material on Iapetus

Among the icy satellites of Saturn, Iapetus shows a striking dichotomy between its leading and trailing hemispheres, the former being significantly darker than the latter. Thanks to the VIMS imaging spectrometer on-board Cassini, it is now possible to investigate the spectral features of the satellites in Saturn system within a wider spectral range and with an enhanced accuracy than with previously available data. In this work, we present an application of the G-mode method to the high resolution, visible and near infrared data of Phoebe, Iapetus and Hyperion collected by Cassini/VIMS, to search for compositional correlations. We also present the results of a dynamical study on the efficiency of Iapetus in capturing dust grains travelling inward in Saturn system to evaluate the viability of Poynting-Robertson drag as the physical mechanism transferring the dark material to the satellite. The results of spectroscopic classification are used jointly with the ones of the dynamical study to describe a plausible physical scenario for the origin of Iapetus' dichotomy. Our work shows that mass transfer from the outer Saturnian system is an efficient mechanism, particularly for the range of sizes hypothesised for the particles composing the newly discovered outer ring around Saturn. Both spectral and dynamical data indicate Phoebe as the main source of the dark material. However, we suggest a multi-source scenario where now extinct prograde satellites and the disruptive impacts that generated the putative collisional families played a significant role in supplying the original amount of dark material.Comment: 20 pages, 4 tables, 11 figures, major revision (manuscript extended and completed, figures added and corrected, new results added), minor revision and finalization of author list, moderate revision (update of the manuscript following reviewer's feedback and discovery of the new Saturnian outer ring

Long-term follow-up of elderly patients with operable breast cancer treated with surgery without axillary dissection plus adjuvant tamoxifen.

Between 1982 and 1990, 321 elderly patients (range 70-92 years, median age 77) with operable breast cancer (T1 in 219, T2 in 77, T3 in one and T4b in 24 patients) and clinically uninvolved axillary nodes underwent surgery without axillary dissection and received adjuvant tamoxifen. All patients had surgery performed under local anaesthesia. Tamoxifen was given after surgery at the dose of 20 mg daily, indefinitely. With a median follow-up of 67 months (range 42-141), 17 patients developed local relapse, 14 ipsilateral axillary recurrence, five ipsilateral breast cancer, five contralateral breast cancer, 13 second primary and 23 developed distant metastases. The cumulative probability of developing a local, axillary and distant recurrence at 72 months was estimated to be 5.4%, 4.3% and 6.2%, respectively. Out of 244 patients who did not develop any relapse, 83 (25.8%) died from intercurrent disease. The 72 month relapse-free survival rate was 76%. This experience suggests that elderly patients with small tumours without clinical axillary involvement may be satisfactorily treated with conservative surgery and tamoxifen. The importance of axillary dissection is controversial owing to a high response rate to hormonal therapy and an increased death rate due to concomitant diseases

Influência de estresse por déficit hídrico em acessos do gênero Paspalum.

Editado por Ana Rita de araújo Nogueira, Simone Cristina Méo Niciur

Vascular endothelial growth factor in node-positive breast cancer patients treated with adjuvant tamoxifen

In 212 postmenopausal women with node-positive oestrogen receptor-positive (ER(LBA)) breast cancer subjected to radical surgery and adjuvant tamoxifen, the risk of 6-year relapse increased with increasing values of intratumoral vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in patients whose tumours had a low/intermediate ER(LBA) content compared to patients with high-ER(LBA) tumours. These findings indicate that tumour progression, activated or sustained by high VEGF levels, may be counteracted in high-ER(LBA) cancers by tamoxifen, which in contrast fails to contrast the metastatic potential in low-ER(LBA) tumours

Avaliação da tolerância de acesso do gênero Paspalum ao sombreamento.

Editado por Ana Rita de Araújo Nogueira, Simone Cristina Meo Niciura

Contribution of vascular endothelial growth factor to the Nottingham prognostic index in node-negative breast cancer

The prognostic contribution of intratumour VEGF, the most important factor in tumour-induced angiogenesis, to NPI was evaluated by using flexible modelling in a series of 226 N-primary breast cancer patients in which steroid receptors and cell proliferation were also accounted for. VEGF provided an additional prognostic contribution to NPI mainly within ER-poor tumours. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaignhttp://www.bjcancer.co

Weed flora in rice areas under distinct cropping systems, herbicide and irrigation managements

We aimed to evaluate the incidence of weeds in the pre-planting of the summer crop as a function of planting system, herbicide use and irrigation management. The experiment was installed in field conditions, in RBD and 3 x 2 factorial scheme with eight replications. Treatments consisted in submitting rice to three management factors: water management – continuously flooded or intermittend irrigation (Factor A), coupled to the application (traditional control) or not (semi-ecological system) of herbicides (Factor B), and planting system – conventional soil tillage, minimum tillage and no till systems (Factor C). One year after rice cultivation, preceding the planting of the next cropping season, phytosociological evaluations of the weed communities were carried out. We assessed the overall infestation and weed species composition, which were classified by their respective density, frequency and dominance. We also estimated the diversity coefficients of Simpson and Shannon Weiner, and the sustainability coefficient of Shannon; treatments were also grouped by similarity in weed composition. In flood-irrigated rice, no till provides the lowest levels of weed infestation and, together with the conventional cropping system, results in values closer to the ecological sustainability; The application of herbicides in flooded rice crops reduces weed infestation, increases diversity and equalizes the ecological sustainability, compared to areas without the application of weed management methods. However, chemical control leads to the selection of resistant or tolerant species to herbicides, such as Polypogon sp.; Both continuous and intermittent water management systems did not cause changes in the level of infestation, composition or diversity coefficients