Modelagem conceitual de banco de dados geográfico aplicado ao sistema de dados georreferenciados para os campos experimentais da Embrapa Tabuleiros Costeiros.

A Embrapa Tabuleiros Costeiros diante da necessidade de utilizar uma ferramenta que auxilie o planejamento espacial dos campos experimentais, e tendo em vista as diversas possibilidades de mapeamento, associações, conexões e visualização dinâmica proporcionadas pelos Sistemas de Informações Geográficas (SIGs), iniciou o desenvolvimento de um projeto de SIG a ser disponibilizado pela internet (WebGis). Dentre as etapas do projeto está a modelagem conceitual de Banco de Dados Geográficos (BDG), considerada entre as principais atividades que contribuem para o sucesso de um SIG. Essa técnica auxilia tanto os desenvolvedores quanto aos usuários na definição e entendimento do escopo, da estrutura e do comportamento desejado do sistema, garantindo assim que as funcionalidades e informações disponibilizadas atenderão as necessidades do público-alvo do projeto. Nessa perspectiva, esse trabalho apresenta o modelo conceitual inicial do Sistema de Dados Geográficos dos Campos Experimentais, elaborado em conformidade com o ML-Geo-Frame e implementado no ArgoCaseGeo

Actividad ovárica y tasa de gestación en novillas suplementadas en el Trópico Húmedo de Costa Rica

Se determinó el efecto de la suplementación sobre la actividad ovárica y tasa de gestación en novillas Bosindicus (n=41) nulíparas de dos a tres años, divididas aleatoriamente en dos grupos: el suplementado (GS n=21) con un concentrado comercial (13,5% PC, 2,850 Mcal ED/kg MS) a razón del 1% del peso; con un periodo de 15 días de adaptación más 30 de suplementación y el testigo (GNS n=20). Ambos pastando Estrella Africana (Cynodonplestostachium), Ratana (Ischaemumindicum) y Tanzania (Panicummaximum); agua y sales minerales ad libitum). Las hembras se sincronizaron con Crestar® y servidas con dos toros de fertilidad probada. El diseño experimental fue al azar utilizando el programa estadístico JMP 10® de SAS Institute Inc. para el análisis. La condición corporal (CC) y grasa dorsal (GD) no son diferentes (P>0.05) así como los porcentajes entre grupos para actividad ovárica (ciclicidad y estructuras ováricas), tasa de preñez, los eventos de ciclicidad y gestación a lo largo del tiempo (P>0.05). La estimación de ocurrencia de la gestación en función del suplemento y la ciclicidad, según el modelo: Gest = f(GEST, CYC, TRAT) no mostró efecto del tratamiento (P>0.05) pero si significancia en los momentos de detección de la gestación (día 33 y día 45 respectivamente) entre grupos (P< 0.0001). En conclusión, el método de suplementación ensayado no tuvo mayor efecto sobre las variables estudiadas

Classificação multi-temporal de imagens orbitais de média resolução espacial para o município de Simão Dias (SE).

O objetivo do presente trabalho foi a elaboração de uma análise exploratória de dados espectrais e tabulares, a partir da classificação supervisionada e não-supervisionada de imagens orbitais advindas do Programa Landsat (L5, L7 e L8), da USGS, e de dados tabulares referente à produção agropecuária municipal, por meio de métodos e técnicas vinculadas às geotecnologias. A área de estudo compreendeu o município de Simão Dias (SE), em função de sua posição de destaque quanto à produção de grãos no estado e, portanto área de interesse para avaliação das modificações da cobertura da terra. Também foram utilizados dados vetoriais provindos do IBGE e da Secretaria de Estado do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Hídricos de Sergipe (SEMARH). No processo de classificação das cenas orbitais foram empregados os algoritmos: Iterative Self-Organizing Data analysisTechnique e Redes Neurais, com o intuito de identificar os padrões dos dados espectrais, por meio da classificação percebeu-se que para o período analisado (2002 à 2013), houve uma redução de vegetação natural em relação ao solo exposto, foi observado ainda que a classificação por redes neurais para o tipo de dado espectral utilizado apresenta melhores resultados

Expression of the elastolytic cathepsins S and K in human atheroma and regulation of their production in smooth muscle cells

Formation of the atherosclerotic intima must involve altered metabolism of the elastin-rich arterial extracellular matrix. Proteases potentially involved in these processes remain unclear. This study examined the expression of the potent elastases cathepsins S and K in human atheroma. Normal arteries contained little or no cathepsin K or S. In contrast, macrophages in atheroma contained abundant immunoreactive cathepsins K and S. Intimal smooth muscle cells (SMC), especially cells appearing to traverse the internal elastic laminae, also contained these enzymes. Extracts of atheromatous tissues had approximately twofold greater elastase-specific activity than extracts of uninvolved arteries, mostly due to cysteine proteases. Cultured human SMC displayed no immunoreactive cathepsins K and S and exhibited little or no elastolytic activity when incubated with insoluble elastin. SMC stimulated with the atheroma-associated cytokines IL-1beta or IFN-gamma secreted active cathepsin S and degraded substantial insoluble elastin (15-20 microg/10(6) cells/24 h). A selective inhibitor of cathepsin S blocked > 80% of this elastolytic activity. The presence of cathepsins K and S at sites of vascular matrix remodeling and the ability of SMC and macrophages to use these enzymes to degrade elastin supports a role for elastolytic cathepsins in vessel wall remodeling and identifies novel therapeutic targets in regulating plaque stability

Reference recalibration repairs: adjusting the precision of formulations for the task at hand

This report examines what is involved when a speaker overtly selects one formulation over another by employing a repair operation that reformulates a reference in a way that adjusts or recalibrates it, rather than abandons the original reference altogether. Focusing primarily on references to persons, we show that beyond the narrowing of a reference – increasing its precision – that results in an improved fit between a person reference and other components of a turn-at-talk, these reference recalibration repairs can be used to do such things as meeting the requirements of a story’s telling, upgrading the credibility of an information source, and justifying a rejection. This ties speakers’ overt concern with calibrating a categorical reference to the formation of action in their turn-at-talk. By contrast, we then show how broadening a reference – decreasing its precision – can be used as a method for displaying uncertainty and thereby recalibrating a reference to fit the manifest knowledge state of the speaker (or a recipient)

Structure-Based Mechanism for Early PLP-Mediated Steps of Rabbit Cytosolic Serine Hydroxymethyltransferase Reaction

Serine hydroxymethyltransferase catalyzes the reversible interconversion of L-serine and glycine with transfer of one-carbon groups to and from tetrahydrofolate. Active site residue Thr254 is known to be involved in the transaldimination reaction, a crucial step in the catalytic mechanism of all pyridoxal 5′-phosphate- (PLP-) dependent enzymes, which determines binding of substrates and release of products. In order to better understand the role of Thr254, we have expressed, characterized, and determined the crystal structures of rabbit cytosolic serine hydroxymethyltransferase T254A and T254C mutant forms, in the absence and presence of substrates. These mutants accumulate a kinetically stable gem-diamine intermediate, and their crystal structures show differences in the active site with respect to wild type. The kinetic and crystallographic data acquired with mutant enzymes permit us to infer that conversion of gem-diamine to external aldimine is significantly slowed because intermediates are trapped into an anomalous position by a misorientation of the PLP ring, and a new energy barrier hampers the transaldimination reaction. This barrier likely arises from the loss of the stabilizing hydrogen bond between the hydroxymethyl group of Thr254 and the ε-amino group of active site Lys257, which stabilizes the external aldimine intermediate in wild type SHMTs

Proteolytic cleavage of pertussis toxin S1 subunit is not essential for its activity in mammalian cells

BACKGROUND: Pertussis toxin (PT) is an exotoxin virulence factor produced by Bordetella pertussis, the causative agent of whooping cough. PT consists of an active subunit (S1) that ADP-ribosylates the alpha subunit of several mammalian G proteins, and a B oligomer (S2–S5) that binds glycoconjugate receptors on cells. PT appears to enter cells by endocytosis, and retrograde transport through the Golgi apparatus may be important for its cytotoxicity. A previous study demonstrated that proteolytic processing of S1 occurs after PT enters mammalian cells. We sought to determine whether this proteolytic processing of S1 is necessary for PT cytotoxicity. RESULTS: Protease inhibitor studies suggested that S1 processing may involve a metalloprotease, and processing does not involve furin, a mammalian cell protease that cleaves several other bacterial toxins. However, inhibitor studies showed a general lack of correlation of S1 processing with PT cellular activity. A combination of replacement, insertion and deletion mutations in the C-terminal region of S1, as well as mass spectrometry data, suggested that the cleavage site is located around residue 203–204, but that cleavage is not strongly sequence-dependent. Processing of S1 was abolished by each of 3 overlapping 8 residue deletions just downstream of the putative cleavage site, but not by smaller deletions in the same region. Processing of the various mutant forms of PT did not correlate with cellular activity of the toxin, nor with the ability of the bacteria producing them to infect the mouse respiratory tract. In addition, S1 processing was not detected in transfected cells expressing S1, even though S1 was fully active in these cells. CONCLUSIONS: S1 processing is not essential for the cellular activity of PT. This distinguishes it from the processing of various other bacterial toxins, which has been shown to be important for their cytotoxicity. S1 processing may be mediated primarily by a metalloprotease, but the cleavage site on S1 is not sequence-dependent and processing appears to depend on the general topology of the protein in that region, indicating that multiple proteases may contribute to this cleavage

Complexity in Prefix-Free Regular Languages

We examine deterministic and nondeterministic state complexities of regular operations on prefix-free languages. We strengthen several results by providing witness languages over smaller alphabets, usually as small as possible. We next provide the tight bounds on state complexity of symmetric difference, and deterministic and nondeterministic state complexity of difference and cyclic shift of prefix-free languages.Comment: In Proceedings DCFS 2010, arXiv:1008.127