Crescimento e nutrição mineral de mudas de cedro Australiano (toona ciliata) sob omissão de nutrientes.

Com o objetivo de se avaliar as exigências nutricionais e o efeito da omissão de nutrientes no crescimento de mudas de cedro australiano (Toona ciliata M. Roem var. australis), foi realizado um experimento em casa de vegetação. Utilizou-se como substrato um Latossolo Vermelho Distroférrico, com baixa disponibilidade de nutrientes, utilizando-se 15 tratamentos, sob a técnica do elemento faltante. Foram aplicados dois tratamentos completos (um com fornecimento de N, P, K, S, B, Cu, Zn e aplicação de calcário e outro com o fornecimento de N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S, B, Cu e Zn, sem a aplicação de calcário), além da omissão de cada nutriente (-N, -P, -K, -Ca, -Mg, -S, -B, -Cu e -Zn), um tratamento com omissão conjunta de B, Cu e Zn, um tratamento com aplicação apenas de calcário, um tratamento com aplicação de N, P, K, S, B, Cu e Zn, sem aplicação de calcário e uma testemunha absoluta (solo natural). Foram avaliadas as seguintes características: altura, diâmetro, matéria seca da parte aérea e das raízes, e teor de nutrientes na matéria seca da parte aérea, ao final de 150 dias. As plantas de cedro australiano apresentam elevada exigência nutricional, sendo que os nutrientes P, N, S, Ca, K, Mg e Cu, nessa ordem, foram limitantes ao crescimento das plantas. A omissão de B e Zn não afetou o crescimento das plantas. A aplicação de calcário foi essencial para o desenvolvimento das plantas de cedro australiano. O aparecimento dos primeiros sintomas de deficiência foi decorrente da omissão de: S, calcário e N

Agrominerais como fontes de fósforo e potássio para a cultura do milheto.

A elevada demanda pelas plantas e conseqüente consumo de fertilizantes fosfatados e potássicos ocasionam a dependência brasileira sempre crescente da importação de fertilizantes, e alertam para a necessidade do uso de fontes alternativas de nutrientes. Objetivando avaliar o efeito de cinco rochas potássicas e uma rocha fosfática na produção de matéria seca do milheto foi conduzido um experimento em casa de vegetação no Departamento de Ciência do Solo da Universidade Federal de Lavras (UFLA). Foram utilizados dois solos (textura argilosa e textura arenosa) e os tratamentos consistiram de: tratamento completo, com (T1) e sem calagem (T2), completo sem cálcio (Ca) e magnésio (Mg) (T3), testemunha absoluta (T4), tratamentos com cinco rochas potássicas (com e sem calagem) e tratamento com rocha fosfática com e sem calagem (T5 a T16). Nos tratamentos com calagem, utilizou-se calcário dolomítico, visando elevar a saturação por bases para 55%. As doses de rochas foram ecomendadas baseadas na aplicação de 10 ton ha-1. A semeadura do milheto foi realizada após o período de incubação da mistura solo + calcário + rochas (20 dias) mantendo-se 15 plantas por vaso. O delineamento experimental foi inteiramente casualizado, com 4 repetições. Para os dois solos, os tratamentos T1, T2 e T3 apresentaram maior produção de matéria seca da parte aérea, sendo que no solo argiloso, o tratamento com rocha fosfática com e sem calagem foi superior aos demais tratamentos com rochas

Dinâmica de frações de fósforo em latossolos de cerrado com diferentes históricos de uso.

O histórico de uso e a mineralogia do solo podem modificar a dinâmica das formas de P, em função de diferenças na energia de ligação com os colóides do solo. No presente estudo objetivou-se quantificar frações lábeis de P e avaliar a participação dessas no crescimento do feijoeiro em Latossolos com diferentes históricos de uso. Os solos foram coletados na profundidade de 0-20 cm em áreas cultivadas por longos períodos, com calagem e adubações fosfatadas periódicas e, também, em áreas adjacentes não cultivadas (cerrado nativo). Foi conduzido um experimento com cada solo concomitantemente, obedecendo a um delineamento inteiramente casualizado, num esquema fatorial 2 x 4 (duas condições de histórico de uso do solo e quatro doses de P) com quatro repetições. Os tratamentos foram constituídos por duas condições de histórico de uso do solo (não cultivado ou cultivado) e quatro doses de P (0, 120, 240 e 480 mg dm-3), na fonte superfosfato triplo. Amostras de solo foram tomadas antes e após o cultivo do feijão, e o fósforo no solo foi quimicamente fracionado. A adição de doses crescentes de P aos solos promove aumento das frações orgânicas e inorgânicas de P bicarbonato. A fração de Po constituiu em fonte de P para o crescimento do feijão e, sendo a magnitude de uso dessa fração dependente da interação entre tipo de solo, histórico de uso e manejo do solo

Estimating Hispanic-White Wage Gaps Among Women: The Importance of Controlling for Cost of Living

Despite concern regarding labor market discrimination against Hispanics, previously published estimates show that Hispanic women earn higher hourly wages than white women with similar observable characteristics. This estimated wage premium is likely biased upwards because of the omission of an important control variable: cost of living. We show that Hispanic women live in locations (e.g., cities) with higher costs of living than whites. After we account for cost of living, the estimated Hispanic-white wage differential for non-immigrant women falls by approximately two-thirds. As a result, we find no statistically significant difference in wages between Hispanic and white women in the NLSY97

Combining Shapley value and statistics to the analysis of gene expression data in children exposed to air pollution

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In gene expression analysis, statistical tests for differential gene expression provide lists of candidate genes having, individually, a sufficiently low <it>p</it>-value. However, the interpretation of each single <it>p</it>-value within complex systems involving several interacting genes is problematic. In parallel, in the last sixty years, <it>game theory </it>has been applied to political and social problems to assess the power of interacting agents in forcing a decision and, more recently, to represent the relevance of genes in response to certain conditions.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this paper we introduce a Bootstrap procedure to test the null hypothesis that each gene has the same relevance between two conditions, where the relevance is represented by the Shapley value of a particular coalitional game defined on a microarray data-set. This method, which is called <it>Comparative Analysis of Shapley value </it>(shortly, CASh), is applied to data concerning the gene expression in children differentially exposed to air pollution. The results provided by CASh are compared with the results from a parametric statistical test for testing differential gene expression. Both lists of genes provided by CASh and t-test are informative enough to discriminate exposed subjects on the basis of their gene expression profiles. While many genes are selected in common by CASh and the parametric test, it turns out that the biological interpretation of the differences between these two selections is more interesting, suggesting a different interpretation of the main biological pathways in gene expression regulation for exposed individuals. A simulation study suggests that CASh offers more power than t-test for the detection of differential gene expression variability.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>CASh is successfully applied to gene expression analysis of a data-set where the joint expression behavior of genes may be critical to characterize the expression response to air pollution. We demonstrate a synergistic effect between coalitional games and statistics that resulted in a selection of genes with a potential impact in the regulation of complex pathways.</p

Electroweak corrections to W-boson pair production at the LHC

Vector-boson pair production ranks among the most important Standard-Model benchmark processes at the LHC, not only in view of on-going Higgs analyses. These processes may also help to gain a deeper understanding of the electroweak interaction in general, and to test the validity of the Standard Model at highest energies. In this work, the first calculation of the full one-loop electroweak corrections to on-shell W-boson pair production at hadron colliders is presented. We discuss the impact of the corrections on the total cross section as well as on relevant differential distributions. We observe that corrections due to photon-induced channels can be amazingly large at energies accessible at the LHC, while radiation of additional massive vector bosons does not influence the results significantly.Comment: 29 pages, 15 figures, 4 tables; some references and comments on \gamma\gamma -> WW added; matches version published in JHE

Combination of electroweak and QCD corrections to single W production at the Fermilab Tevatron and the CERN LHC

Precision studies of the production of a high-transverse momentum lepton in association with missing energy at hadron colliders require that electroweak and QCD higher-order contributions are simultaneously taken into account in theoretical predictions and data analysis. Here we present a detailed phenomenological study of the impact of electroweak and strong contributions, as well as of their combination, to all the observables relevant for the various facets of the p\smartpap \to {\rm lepton} + X physics programme at hadron colliders, including luminosity monitoring and Parton Distribution Functions constraint, $W$ precision physics and search for new physics signals. We provide a theoretical recipe to carefully combine electroweak and strong corrections, that are mandatory in view of the challenging experimental accuracy already reached at the Fermilab Tevatron and aimed at the CERN LHC, and discuss the uncertainty inherent the combination. We conclude that the theoretical accuracy of our calculation can be conservatively estimated to be about 2% for standard event selections at the Tevatron and the LHC, and about 5% in the very high $W$ transverse mass/lepton transverse momentum tails. We also provide arguments for a more aggressive error estimate (about 1% and 3%, respectively) and conclude that in order to attain a one per cent accuracy: 1) exact mixed ${\cal O}(\alpha \alpha_s)$ corrections should be computed in addition to the already available NNLO QCD contributions and two-loop electroweak Sudakov logarithms; 2) QCD and electroweak corrections should be coherently included into a single event generator.Comment: One reference added. Final version to appear in JHE

Primary DNA damage and genetic polymorphisms for CYP1A1, EPHX and GSTM1 in workers at a graphite electrode manufacturing plant

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The results of a cross-sectional study aimed to evaluate whether genetic polymorphisms (biomarkers of susceptibility) for <it>CYP1A1</it>, <it>EPHX </it>and <it>GSTM1 </it>genes that affect polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) activation and detoxification might influence the extent of primary DNA damage (biomarker of biologically effective dose) in PAH exposed workers are presented. PAH-exposure of the study populations was assessed by determining the concentration of 1-hydroxypyrene (1OHP) in urine samples (biomarker of exposure dose).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The exposed group consisted of workers (n = 109) at a graphite electrode manufacturing plant, occupationally exposed to PAH. Urinary 1OHP was measured by HPLC. Primary DNA damage was evaluated by the alkaline comet assay in peripheral blood leukocytes. Genetic polymorphisms for <it>CYP1A1</it>, <it>EPHX</it> and <it>GSTM1</it> were determined by PCR or PCR/RFLP analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>1OHP and primary DNA damage were significantly higher in electrode workers compared to reference subjects. Moreover, categorization of subjects as normal or outlier highlighted an increased genotoxic risk OR = 2.59 (CI95% 1.32–5.05) associated to exposure to PAH. Polymorphisms in <it>EPHX</it> exons 3 and 4 was associated to higher urinary concentrations of 1OHP, whereas none of the genotypes analyzed (<it>CYP1A1</it>, <it>EPHX</it>, and <it>GSTM1</it>) had any significant influence on primary DNA damage as evaluated by the comet assay.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The outcomes of the present study show that molecular epidemiology approaches (i.e. cross-sectional studies of genotoxicity biomarkers) can play a role in identifying common genetic risk factors, also attempting to associate the effects with measured exposure data. Moreover, categorization of subjects as normal or outlier allowed the evaluation of the association between occupational exposure to PAH and DNA damage highlighting an increased genotoxic risk.</p

DNA damage in circulating leukocytes measured with the comet assay may predict the risk of death

The comet assay or single cell gel electrophoresis, is the most common method used to measure strand breaks and a variety of other DNA lesions in human populations. To estimate the risk of overall mortality, mortality by cause, and cancer incidence associated to DNA damage, a cohort of 2,403 healthy individuals (25,978 person-years) screened in 16 laboratories using the comet assay between 1996 and 2016 was followed-up. Kaplan-Meier analysis indicated a worse overall survival in the medium and high tertile of DNA damage (p < 0.001). The effect of DNA damage on survival was modelled according to Cox proportional hazard regression model. The adjusted hazard ratio (HR) was 1.42 (1.06-1.90) for overall mortality, and 1.94 (1.04-3.59) for diseases of the circulatory system in subjects with the highest tertile of DNA damage. The findings of this study provide epidemiological evidence encouraging the implementation of the comet assay in preventive strategies for non-communicable diseases