The last dinosaurs of Brazil: The Bauru Group and its implications for the end-Cretaceous mass extinction

ABSTRACT The non-avian dinosaurs died out at the end of the Cretaceous, ~66 million years ago, after an asteroid impact. The prevailing hypothesis is that the effects of the impact suddenly killed the dinosaurs, but the poor fossil record of latest Cretaceous (Campanian-Maastrichtian) dinosaurs from outside Laurasia (and even more particularly, North America) makes it difficult to test specific extinction scenarios. Over the past few decades, a wealth of new discoveries from the Bauru Group of Brazil has revealed a unique window into the evolution of terminal Cretaceous dinosaurs from the southern continents. We review this record and demonstrate that there was a diversity of dinosaurs, of varying body sizes, diets, and ecological roles, that survived to the very end of the Cretaceous (Maastrichtian: 72-66 million years ago) in Brazil, including a core fauna of titanosaurian sauropods and abelisaurid and carcharodontosaurid theropods, along with a variety of small-to-mid-sized theropods. We argue that this pattern best fits the hypothesis that southern dinosaurs, like their northern counterparts, were still diversifying and occupying prominent roles in their ecosystems before the asteroid suddenly caused their extinction. However, this hypothesis remains to be tested with more refined paleontological and geochronological data, and we give suggestions for future work

Efeitos da Reeducação Postural Global em escolares com escoliose Global Posture Reeducation effects in students with scoliosis

O objetivo deste estudo foi analisar o efeito do método da Reeducação Postural Global (RPG) em escolares com diagnóstico de escoliose torácica não estrutural (ETNE). Os escolares com indicativo de ETNE ao exame postural e teste de Adams negativo foram encaminhados ao exame radiográfico para comprovação diagnóstica. Foram selecionados 20 participantes (11 meninos e 9 meninas, com 10±3 anos), divididos randomicamente em dois grupos homogêneos: o que realizou o RPG (GRPG) durante 12 semanas com duração de 25 a 30 minutos cada sessão, de acordo com o que aguentou permanecer na postura; e o grupo controle (GC), sem intervenção. Após três meses, os dois grupos repetiram a avaliação postural e o exame radiográfico. Para avaliação das estatísticas, foi utilizada análise de variância (ANOVA) univariada, com medidas repetidas, seguida do Post Hoc de Tukey para identificar as possíveis diferenças intra e intergrupos. O valor de &#945; foi de 0,05. O GRPG apresentou redução significativa no ângulo de Cobb na comparação intragrupo (&#916;%=-35,100; p=0,009), mas o GC não (&#916;%=9,520; p=0,789). Pode-se concluir que escolares submetidos ao método da RPG apresentaram melhora do quadro de escoliose torácica não estrutural.<br>The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of Global Reeducation Postural (RPG) method in scholars diagnosed with thoracic nonstructural scoliosis (ETNE). Scholars with indicative of ETNE to postural exam and Adams test negative were directed to radiographic exam to diagnostic. Twenty participants were selected (11 boys and 9 girls, 10±3 years old) and randomly divided in two homogeneous groups: group treated by RPG (GRPG) and control group (CG). The GRPG was submitted a RPG treatment during 12 weeks in sessions from 25 to 30 minutes in agreement with each student tolerance at posture. The CG didn't suffer intervention. After three months, both groups repeated the postural and radiographic exam. For statistics, it was used ANOVA univariated with repeated measures, followed by Tukey Post Hoc Test to identify the possible differences intra and intergroups. The &#945; value used was 0.05. The GRPG present significant reduction at Cobb angle between pre and posttest (&#916;%=-35.100; p=0.009), but the CG didn´t show (&#916;%=9.520; p=0.789). It was concluded that scholars submitted to RPG method presented improvement in thoracic nonstructural scoliosis

Wastewater reuse: modeling chloroform formation

The chloroform is a substance that presents a significant risk to or via the aquatic environment. Thus, the emissions, discharges and losses of this substance need to be controlled during wastewater disinfection for reclamation and reuse purposes. Due to its carcinogenetic potential, multiple studies have been carried out on drinking and surface/natural waters but less consideration has been directed to the wastewater disinfection. The focus of this work studied the formation of chloroform during chlorination in prepared waters or artificial matrices that intended to simulate wastewaters stored in landscape ponds for green areas irrigation. The relation between reaction time, chlorine dose, and chloroform formation and the variation of the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) content during the reaction was assessed. A two-variant model was proposed to simulate breakpoint chlorination practices (when chlorine dose is equal or lower than chlorine demand) and super chlorination techniques (when chlorine dose tends to surpass chlorine demand). The model was validated by the application of actual data from working conditions of six wastewater treatment plants located in Algarve, Portugal, including other data obtained in previous research studies that were not used in the model development, and by comparing the predicted values with real measured ones