Influence of cutting on rooting, budding and death of grafting stock grape cv. IAC 766.

In the San Francisco Valleu, the grape crop assumes great social and economic importance. Grape scion growers are greatly interested in any technique that results in maximum yield of scion per plant. This work aimed at evaluating the influence of kind of cutting with variable bud number on rooting, budding and death percentage of grape scions. A trial was carried out at Brazilian Agricultural Research Cooporation nursery at Petrolina,PE, Northeastern Brazil, in a randomized design, with four replications and four treatments: 1) herbaceous cutting with one bud, 2) herbaceous cutting with two buds, 3) ligneous cutting with one bud and 4) ligneous cutting with two buds. Each plot was composed of 25 cutting with two buds. Each plot was composed of 25 cutting and evaluations were performed at 15, 30, 45 and 60 days after planting. Significative differenes occured among treatments by the Tukey test (5% probability level) regarding rooting, budding and death of cuttings. At 60 days after planting, treatments 4, 3, 1 and 2 presented, respectively, 95.98; 95.81; 67.22 and 59.97% of rooting with significant differences between herbaceous (treatments 1 and 2) and ligneous cuttings and ligneour cuttings (treatments 3 and 4). BUdding (90.12; 88.85, 67.99 and 58.97% for treatments 4, 3, 1 and 2, respectively) was lower than rooting. Cutting death for herbaceous cuttings (40.30 and 37.60% in treatments 2 and 1, respectively) was statistically higher than that for ligneous cuttings (2.000% in treatments 3 and 4). Bud (...)

A lean case study in an oncological hospital: implementation of a telephone triage system in the emergency service

Abstract: Lean practices and thinking have increased substantially in the last few years. Applications of lean practices to health care are found worldwide. Despite that, new contributions are required because the application of lean thinking to hospitals has a long way to go. Lean practices and thinking do not include, in the literature or practice programs, any references to triage systems in health care units. The common triage systems require physical presence, but there are alternative methods to avoid the need to move patients: these alternative triage systems, given their characteristics, may be included in the spectrum of lean practices. Currently, patients that are already known to suffer from cancer are encouraged to go to hospital (public or private, with an oncological focus) when facing side effects from chemotherapy or radiation treatments; they are then submitted to a triage system (present themselves to the hospital for examination). The authors of this paper propose the introduction of telephone or email triage for impaired patients as a valid substitute for moving them physically, thereby often avoiding several unnecessary moves. This approach has, in fact, characteristics similar to a lean practice in that it reduces costs and maintains, if done properly, the overall service offered. The proposed ‘remote’ triage emerged from the results of a large survey sent to patients and also as the outcome of a set of semistructured interviews conducted with hospital nurses. With the results they obtained, the authors felt comfortable proposing this approach both to public and private hospitals, because the study was conducted in the most important, largest, and best-known oncological unit in Spain. As a final result, the health care unit studied is now taking the first steps to implement a remote triage system by telephone, and has begun to reduce the previously necessary movement of impaired patients

Spin-orbit induced mixed-spin ground state in RRNiO3_3 perovskites probed by XAS: new insight into the metal to insulator transition

We report on a Ni L$_{2,3}$ edges x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) study in $R$NiO$_3$ perovskites. These compounds exhibit a metal to insulator ($MI$) transition as temperature decreases. The L$_{3}$ edge presents a clear splitting in the insulating state, associated to a less hybridized ground state. Using charge transfer multiplet calculations, we establish the importance of the crystal field and 3d spin-orbit coupling to create a mixed-spin ground state. We explain the $MI$ transition in $R$NiO$_3$ perovskites in terms of modifications in the Ni$^{3+}$ crystal field splitting that induces a spin transition from an essentially low-spin (LS) to a mixed-spin state.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted as PRB - Rapid Comm. Dez. 200

Respostas fisiológicas e metabólicas de gramíneas ao alagamento.

Vários estudos têm mostrado que o alagamento do solo é capaz de interferir na capacidade fotossintética e, consequentemente, no desenvolvimento de gramíneas. Visando obter mais informações sobre a tolerância de plantas ao alagamento, estudou-se as respostas morfológicas e metabólicas em plantas de Brachiaria brizantha e Paspalum fasciculatum, submetidas a 21 dias de alagamento. Em B. brizantha, o alagamento reduziu significativamente a taxa fotossintética e alterou o padrão de alocação e translocação de componentes bioquímicos, com aumento significativo nos teores de açúcares solúveis totais nas folhas e raízes, açúcares redutores e amido nas folhas, e aminoácidos nas raízes. Nas plantas alagadas de P. fasciculatum não ocorreu diferença significativa na taxa fotossintética, amido e aminoácidos, apresentando acúmulo de açúcares solúveis totais somente nas raízes. As respostas apresentadas pelas plantas B. brizantha permitem afirmar que esta espécie é mais sensível ao alagamento, enquanto a espécie P. fasciculatum é mais tolerante

Cultivo in vitro de embriões zigóticos de pimenta-do-reino em meio contendo antibióticos.

A pimenteira-do-reino foi introduzida no Brasil no século XVII, assumindo cultivo comercial somente a partir da década de 30 quando introduzida no Pará por imigrantes japoneses. Objetivou-se avaliar a oxidação de embriões zigóticos de pimenta-do-reino em meio de cultura suplementado com diferentes antibióticos (Higromicina e Canamicina). Foram coletados frutos maduros da cultivar Bragantina, provenientes de matrizes do BAG da pimenteira-do-reino da Embrapa Amazônia Oriental para retirada dos embriões zigóticos. Nas diferentes concentrações de antibióticos, os embriões zigóticos respondem diferentemente quanto aos níveis de oxidação, evidenciando maior oxidação com o aumento da concentração desse reagente