EFFECTS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION ON THE INTERNATIONAL TRADE PATTERN FOR AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS

Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, International Relations/Trade,

Environmental regulation and international trade patterns for agro-industrial under a South-North Perspective

This paper aims at examining the relation between the international trade and the environment, particularly focused on sensitive agribusiness sectors. It consists on an empirical test to the conflicting positions supported by economists, some following the traditional approach (trade-off or neoclassical), while others supporting the Porter’s hypothesis, which considers that impacts of the stricter environmental regulation can benefit the trade competitiveness. A Heckscher-Ohlin- Vanek model was applied to net exports as the dependent variable. The agricultural products analyzed were total agriculture, rice, maize, soybean, wheat, dairy and swine; run for 97 countries, divided as developing and developed, in a cross-section approach. This modeling allows including the environmental endowment as explanatory variables. Moreover the Environmental Performance Index (Esty et al, 2008) was also tried as explanatory variables in order to catch any effect of the environmental regulation on the trade patterns. Results were not conclusively as they show that the net exports of the selected products, considered environmentally sensitive, can be affected even positively or negatively (neoclassical approach) by the environmental regulation. The results depend on the products. A remarkable outcome to highlight is that the dummy for developing countries and developed countries was significant, pointing that for rice, for example, it makes difference being a developing country, as well as it does for wheat, being a developed country.Trade, environmental regulation, agribusiness, Environmental Economics and Policy, International Relations/Trade,

Single Er3+, Yb3+: KGd3F10 Nanoparticles for Nanothermometry

Among several optical non-contact thermometry methods, luminescence thermometry is the most versatile approach. Lanthanide-based luminescence nanothermometers may exploit not only downshifting, but also upconversion (UC) mechanisms. UC-based nanothermometers are interesting for biological applications: they efficiently convert near-infrared radiation to visible light, allowing local temperatures to be determined through spectroscopic investigation. Here, we have synthesized highly crystalline Er3+, Yb3+ co-doped upconverting KGd3F10 nanoparticles (NPs) by the EDTA-assisted hydrothermal method. We characterized the structure and morphology of the obtained NPs by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and dynamic light scattering. Nonlinear spectroscopic studies with the Er3+, Yb3+: KGd3F10 powder showed intense green and red emissions under excitation at 980 and 1,550 nm. Two- and three-photon processes were attributed to the UC mechanisms under excitation at 980 and 1,550 nm. Strong NIR emission centered at 1,530 nm occurred under low 980-nm power densities. Single NPs presented strong green and red emissions under continuous wave excitation at 975.5 nm, so we evaluated their use as primary nanothermometers by employing the Luminescence Intensity Ratio technique. We determined the temperature felt by the dried NPs by integrating the intensity ratio between the thermally coupled H-2(11/2)-> I-4(15/2) and S-4(3/2)-> I-4(15/2) levels of Er3+ ions in the colloidal phase and at the single NP level. The best thermal sensitivity of a single Er3+, Yb3+: KGd3F10 NP was 1.17% at the single NP level for the dry state at 300 K, indicating potential application of this material as accurate nanothermometer in the thermal range of biological interest. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first promising thermometry based on single KGd3F10 particles, with potential use as biomarkers in the NIR-II region

Relationship Between Eccentric Hip Torque and Lower-Limb Kinematics: Gender Differences

The purposes of this study were to compare lower-limb kinematics between genders, and determine the relationships among eccentric hip abductor and lateral rotator torques and lower-limb kinematics. The movements of the pelvis, femur, and knee were calculated for 16 women and 16 men during the single-leg squat. Eccentric hip abductor and lateral rotator torques were measured using an isokinetic dynamometer. The results showed that women had greater contralateral pelvic depression, femur adduction, and knee abduction than men. The eccentric hip abductor and lateral rotator torques were correlated with coronal plane femur and knee movements in the overall sample. When the genders were analyzed separately, it was observed that women with greater eccentric hip abductor torque exhibited less femur adduction and femur medial rotation, and greater knee adduction excursion. No significant relationship was observed between the isokinetic and kinematic variables in the male group. The differences between the genders help to explain the greater rate of knee disorders observed in women. Moreover, the eccentric hip abduction action seemed to be more important in women to control the lower-limb movements.Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq)Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP)Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES

Rickettsial Infection in Animals and Brazilian Spotted Fever Endemicity

Surveys of horse serum are a useful method of surveillance for Brazilian spotted fever in areas where humans are exposed to Amblyomma cajennense ticks

Crescimento inicial de eucalipto consorciado com feijão-caupi

Objetivou-se com o presente trabalho avaliar o crescimento inicial de eucalipto consorciado em diferentes arranjos espaciais de feijão-caupi, no estado do Tocantins. O experimento foi conduzido na Fazenda Experimental da Universidade Federal do Tocantins ? UFT Campus Universitário de Gurupi - TO. Foram utilizadas mudas do clone VM-01 (Eucalyptus urophylla x Eucalyptus camaldulensis) e a implantação foi em janeiro de 2013, utilizando o espaçamento de 6 x 1,5 m. O feijoeiro foi instalado no espaçamento 20 x 50 cm, 15 dias após o plantio do eucalipto. O consórcio foi realizado com 08, 06, 04 e 0 linhas de feijão-caupi variedade fradinho. Foram realizadas avaliações de altura (cm) e diâmetro (mm) do eucalipto aos 60, 90, 120 e 150 dias após o plantio do eucalipto. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi em blocos ao acaso com nove repetições. Os dados coletados foram submetidos à análise de variância e, quando significativos pelo teste F, foi aplicada a análise de regressão com auxílio do programa SigmaPlot 10.0. Observou-se que a maior altura e o maior diâmetro foram obtidos com o consórcio do eucalipto com 8 linhas de feijão-caupi. Pode-se concluir que o consórcio foi benéfico para a cultura do eucalipto, que teve maior crescimento inicial em altura e diâmetro de caule, com efeito linear para as épocas de avaliação

Identification of strain-specific B-cell epitopes in Trypanosoma cruzi using genome-scale epitope prediction and high-throughput immunoscreening with peptide arrays

BACKGROUND: The factors influencing variation in the clinical forms of Chagas disease have not been elucidated; however, it is likely that the genetics of both the host and the parasite are involved. Several studies have attempted to correlate the T. cruzi strains involved in infection with the clinical forms of the disease by using hemoculture and/or PCR-based genotyping of parasites from infected human tissues. However, both techniques have limitations that hamper the analysis of large numbers of samples. The goal of this work was to identify conserved and polymorphic linear B-cell epitopes of T. cruzi that could be used for serodiagnosis and serotyping of Chagas disease using ELISA. METHODOLOGY: By performing B-cell epitope prediction on proteins derived from pair of alleles of the hybrid CL Brener genome, we have identified conserved and polymorphic epitopes in the two CL Brener haplotypes. The rationale underlying this strategy is that, because CL Brener is a recent hybrid between the TcII and TcIII DTUs (discrete typing units), it is likely that polymorphic epitopes in pairs of alleles could also be polymorphic in the parental genotypes. We excluded sequences that are also present in the Leishmania major, L. infantum, L. braziliensis and T. brucei genomes to minimize the chance of cross-reactivity. A peptide array containing 150 peptides was covalently linked to a cellulose membrane, and the reactivity of the peptides was tested using sera from C57BL/6 mice chronically infected with the Colombiana (TcI) and CL Brener (TcVI) clones and Y (TcII) strain. FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS: A total of 36 peptides were considered reactive, and the cross-reactivity among the strains is in agreement with the evolutionary origin of the different T. cruzi DTUs. Four peptides were tested against a panel of chagasic patients using ELISA. A conserved peptide showed 95.8% sensitivity, 88.5% specificity, and 92.7% accuracy for the identification of T. cruzi in patients infected with different strains of the parasite. Therefore, this peptide, in association with other T. cruzi antigens, may improve Chagas disease serodiagnosis. Together, three polymorphic epitopes were able to discriminate between the three parasite strains used in this study and are thus potential targets for Chagas disease serotyping

Recuperaçao aguda da funçao ventricular sistólica após ajuste do intervalo atrioventricular

Paciente do sexo masculino, com 85 anos de idade, portador de marcapasso dupla-câmara há 6 meses em decorrência de bradicardia sintomática, vem evoluindo com episódios de descompensaçao da insuficiência cardíaca iniciados após o implante de marcapasso. Na última internaçao foi solicitada avaliaçao para realizaçao de upgrade para terapia de ressincronizaçao cardíaca. Após avaliaçao clínico-eletrocardiográfica triaxial, decidiu-se pelo ajuste do intervalo atrioventricular, pois apresentava bloqueio de ramo esquerdo induzido pela estimulaçao ventricular direita exclusiva com 120 ms de duraçao. O paciente evoluiu com melhora clínico-ecocardiográfica após prolongamento do intervalo atrioventricular de 200 ms para 300 ms, sem necessidade de implante de eletrodo de ventrículo esquerdo