Propagação in vitro da baunilheira (Orchidaceae)

Foram realizados dois experimentos com os objetivos de avaliar os efeitos de diferentes concentrações de sacarose no crescimento in vitro de mudas de Vanilla planifolia, e analisar as variáveis morfológicas de mudas de V. planifolia cultivadas em diferentes recipientes e diferentes substratos. Para isso, no experimento 1, mudas provenientes da proliferação de gemas axilares foram cultivadas in vitro em cinco concentrações de sacarose (0, 15, 30, 45 e 60 g L-1), com quatro repetições de dez mudas, em delineamento inteiramente casualizado. Variáveis morfológicas, fluorescência da clorofila a, teor de amido, taxa de perda de água e o pH do meio de cultura foram avaliados 60 dias após a inoculação das mudas. As diferentes concentrações de sacarose influenciaram todas as características morfológicas e os parâmetros fisiológicos estudados. Os dados relativos aos aspectos morfofisiológicos de mudas de V. planifolia provenientes de micropropagação sugerem a viabilidade técnica para a propagação em larga escala de mudas dessa espécie. No experimento 2, estudou-se as variáveis morfológicas de mudas de V. planifolia provenientes da proliferação de gemas axilares e da propagação seminífera in vitro, cultivadas em diferentes recipientes e diferentes substratos. O experimento foi realizado em esquema de parcelas subsubdivididas, constituídas pelas combinações entre os fatores: recipiente (sacola e bandeja), substrato (preparado I e preparado II) e muda (micropropagada e plântula), num delineamento inteiramente casualizado, com quatro repetições de oito mudas. A combinação de recipiente sacola, substrato II (solo, areia, esterco de galinha e serrapilheira de mata) e muda micropropagada de gema axilar pode ser usada na produção de mudas de V. planifolia. Palavras-chave: Vanilla planifolia. Carboidrato. Gema axilar. Substrato

Retirement and the Poverty of the Elderly in Portugal

The effect of retirement on economic welfare, indirectly measured by income, has not been studied widely, namely due to the lack of longitudinal data. A large literature exists about poverty in old age, mainly based on cross sectional survey data, but usually those studies are not able to study the transitional effect of retirement on income as they do not observe the workers who do retire before and after their retirement. The knowledge of this phenomenon is, however, of crucial relevance given the growing number of elderly people, the trend towards earlier retirement, and continuing relatively high poverty rates among the elderly. This paper analyses the association between transitions into retirement and the probability of becoming poor, considering different definitions of low income and of retirement, following what has been proposed in the literature. It is based on longitudinal data from the European Community Household Panel (ECHP) for Portugal survey waves 1-8 covering 1994-2001. Taking advantage of the longitudinal nature of the data used, we consider how the process of becoming retired is associated with an increased risk of having a low income, focusing on changes in the years immediately before and immediately after retirement for people who retire. The analysis is then focused on a sample of people who do retire during the analysed period. The paper starts by presenting evidence comparing low income incidence among retired people and the rest of the population on each of the waves of ECHP. Afterwards it analyses some factors associated with the changes in individuals’ income over a number of years around retirement. The dynamics of household income changes for people who retire are studied and which personal and household characteristics are associated with a higher risk of having low income in the years around retirement are explored. Finally, a multivariate probit model of the probability of entering low income at the time of retirement conditional on not having a low income before retirement is estimated.Retirement; poverty dynamics; Portugal; old-age social protection; income mobility.

How do work and public policies interact with child poverty?

Child poverty is a problem firmly recognized in the industrialized world. In the EU nearly one in every five children was poor in 2008 (for the population as a whole the risk of poverty was around 17 per cent). The dimension of the problem and its consequences point out for the importance of knowing the processes behind it. This paper aims to investigate how labour market issues and public policies have been impact on child poverty, over recent years. Based on microdata gathered by the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU_SILC) for the period 2004-08 we give a portrait of child income poverty in European Southern countries such as: Italy, Portugal and Spain and also in Poland. Moreover, we investigate the major changes in social policies that could impact on child poverty such benefits target on family and child allowances. The international comparison will allow the identification of children’s poverty profile and pattern across the countries analysed and also design the different compositions between labour market elements / public policies in such countries. This exercise of comparison also enables a first test of the efficiency of these policies. The methodological framework used varies from descriptive methods to econometric models in order to sustain the discussion of the subject under study

Retirement and the Poverty of the Elderly in Portugal

The effect of retirement on economic welfare, indirectly measured by income, has not been studied widely, namely due to the lack of longitudinal data. A large literature exists about poverty in old age, mainly based on cross sectional survey data, but usually those studies are not able to study the transitional effect of retirement on income as they do not observe the workers who do retire before and after their retirement. The knowledge of this phenomenon is, however, of crucial relevance given the growing number of elderly people, the trend towards earlier retirement, and continuing relatively high poverty rates among the elderly. This paper analyses the association between transitions into retirement and the probability of becoming poor, considering different definitions of low income and of retirement, following what has been proposed in the literature. It is based on longitudinal data from the European Community Household Panel (ECHP) for Portugal survey waves 1-8 covering 1994-2001. Taking advantage of the longitudinal nature of the data used, we consider how the process of becoming retired is associated with an increased risk of having a low income, focusing on changes in the years immediately before and immediately after retirement for people who retire. The analysis is then focused on a sample of people who do retire during the analysed period. The paper starts by presenting evidence comparing low income incidence among retired people and the rest of the population on each of the waves of ECHP. Afterwards it analyses some factors associated with the changes in individuals' income over a number of years around retirement. The dynamics of household income changes for people who retire are studied and which personal and household characteristics are associated with a higher risk of having low income in the years around retirement are explored. Finally, a multivariate probit model of the probability of entering low income at the time of retirement conditional on not having a low income before retirement is estimated

Arroz Irrigado em Roraima

O objetivo desta revisão temática foi apresentar a historiografia e os avanços tecnológicos obtidos com o agronegócio da cultura do arroz irrigado e as potencialidades das áreas disponíveis para a expansão da cultura em Roraima. O arroz irrigado cultivado em áreas de várzeas é o mais utilizado em todo mundo. Em Roraima a expansão da cultura do arroz deu-se a partir de 1981 por meio de incentivo de políticas agrícolas visando o aproveitamento das áreas de várzeas. Com a adoção de tecnologias no preparo da área, uso de cultivares melhoradas e a experiência dos agricultores provenientes do sul do Brasil, com a cultura do arroz irrigado, Roraima aumentou sua área plantada, alcançando a maior produtividade de arroz, tornando esta atividade agrícola a mais organizada do Estado

Pinhão-Manso: Uma Alternativa para Produção de Biodiesel na Agricultura Familiar da Amazônia Brasileira

O pinhão-manso (Jatropha curcas L.), da família Euforbiaceae, é uma espécie que pode ser cultivada em diferentes condições edafoclimáticas. Apresenta valor medicinal, ornamental e na produção de óleo. Atualmente tem aumentado o interesse no conhecimento agronômico desta cultura, visando à seleção e o aprimoramento de variedades mais produtivas e economicamente viáveis, principalmente devido ao alto potencial na produção de óleo para fabricar o biodiesel. Apesar de ainda não ser cultivada comercialmente no Brasil, mostra-se viável para a agricultura familiar das regiões Norte e Nordeste, pois tem alta resistência à seca e boa adaptação as altas temperaturas e insolação, além de produzir em solos ácidos e de baixa fertilidade como os do cerrado da Amazônia. Estudos estão sendo conduzidos com essa cultura no estado de Roraima visando desenvolver tecnologias viáveis de produção para serem adotadas pela agricultura familiar, como uma alternativa promissora na geração de emprego e renda, promovendo a recuperação e proteção de áreas alteradas ou degradadas e permitindo o consórcio com fruteiras nativas e culturas anuais

Pharmaceutical development of tablets containing a spray-dried optimized extract from Lippia origanoides H. B. K.: influence of excipients and toxicological assessment

Lippia origanoides is a honey shrub which has showed hypotensive potential assessed by in vivo studies. The aim of this work is the development of a pharmaceutical formulation composed by an optimized extract obtained from aerial parts of L. origanoides. The quantification of the naringenin marker in the dry extract and tablets developed was performed, as well as the assessment of the oral acute toxicity in rats. The hydroalcoholic extract of L. origanoides was spray-dried with the addition of colloidal silicon dioxide (Lo-HAE/CSD), and then applied in the preparation of eight different lots of tablets. The influence of the diluent (cellulose or babassu mesocarp), the presence of binder, and the percentage of lubricant, as well as organoleptic and physicochemical characteristics were screened. For the quantification of the marker content both in Lo-HAE/CSD and in the tablets, an analytical curve of the naringenin standard was fitted, and the samples were then analyzed in UFLC. The toxicological assessment was performed in female Wistar rats according to the Acute Toxic Class Method from OECD. The developed tablets produced meet acceptable macroscopic characteristics, and the presence of babassu as diluent provided improved physicochemical properties. The best content of Lo-HAE/CSD in the tablet (100.27%) was identified for the lot containing babassu, composed by 1.0% magnesium stearate, without PVP binder in its formulation. Moreover, Lo-HAE/CSD showed no signs of toxicity. Therefore, the babassu mesocarp powder is a promising pharmaceutical excipient for the development of herbal tablets containing the Lippia origanoides extract

Clonal chromosomal mosaicism and loss of chromosome Y in elderly men increase vulnerability for SARS-CoV-2

The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19) had an estimated overall case fatality ratio of 1.38% (pre-vaccination), being 53% higher in males and increasing exponentially with age. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, we found 133 cases (1.42%) with detectable clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations (mCA) and 226 males (5.08%) with acquired loss of chromosome Y (LOY). Individuals with clonal mosaic events (mCA and/or LOY) showed a 54% increase in the risk of COVID-19 lethality. LOY is associated with transcriptomic biomarkers of immune dysfunction, pro-coagulation activity and cardiovascular risk. Interferon-induced genes involved in the initial immune response to SARS-CoV-2 are also down-regulated in LOY. Thus, mCA and LOY underlie at least part of the sex-biased severity and mortality of COVID-19 in aging patients. Given its potential therapeutic and prognostic relevance, evaluation of clonal mosaicism should be implemented as biomarker of COVID-19 severity in elderly people. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, individuals with clonal mosaic events (clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations and/or loss of chromosome Y) showed an increased risk of COVID-19 lethality