production of a synthetic recombinant antigen for immunodetection of Pneumocystis jirovecii

Diagnosis of Pneumocystis pneumonia (PcP) relies on the detection of P. jirovecii in respiratory specimens obtained by invasive techniques. Thus, the development of a serological test is urgently needed as it will allow the diagnosis of PcP using blood, an inexpensive and non-invasive specimen. This study aims to combine the production of a multi-epitope synthetic recombinant antigen (RSA) and an ELISA test for detection of anti-P. jirovecii antibodies, in order to develop a new approach for PcP diagnosis. The RSA was selected and designed based on the study of the immunogenicity of the carboxyl-terminal domain of the major surface glycoprotein. This antigen was purified and used as an antigenic tool in an ELISA technique for detection of Ig, IgG and IgM antibodies anti-P. jirovecii (patent-pending no. PT109078). Serum specimens from 88 patients previously categorized in distinct clinical subgroups and 17 blood donors, were analysed. The IgM anti-P. jirovecii levels were statistically increased in patients with PcP (p = 0.001) and the ELISA IgM anti-P. jirovecii test presented a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 80.8%, when associated with the clinical diagnosis criteria. This innovative approach, provides good insights about what can be done in the future serum testing for PcP diagnosis.publishersversionpublishe

Pastejo precoce de bezerros de raca leiteira nascidos em duas estacoes do ano.

bitstream/item/142976/1/2013.pd

Avaliação de descritores em acessos do banco de germoplasma de maracujazeiro da Embrapa Mandioca e Fruticultura Tropical.

Algumas espécies de Passiflora silvestres têm grande potencial para contribuir com o melhoramento genético do maracujazeiro comercial por apresentarem, além da resistência a doenças e a algumas pragas, outras características interessantes, como longevidade, autocompatibilidade, maior adaptação a condições climáticas adversas, período de florescimento ampliado e androginóforo mais curto, que facilita a polinização por insetos menores, e maior concentração de componentes químicos (MELETTI et al. 2005 e JUNQUEIRA et al. 2005).pdf 102

hCG administration in Saanem goats inseminated following synchronized estrus.

Proceedings of the 28th Annual Meeting of The Brazilian Embryo Technology Society - SBTE, Natal, RN, Brasil, ago. 2014

Scalar Field Dark Matter: behavior around black holes

We present the numerical evolution of a massive test scalar fields around a Schwarzschild space-time. We proceed by using hyperboloidal slices that approach future null infinity, which is the boundary of scalar fields, and also demand the slices to penetrate the event horizon of the black hole. This approach allows the scalar field to be accreted by the black hole and to escape toward future null infinity. We track the evolution of the energy density of the scalar field, which determines the rate at which the scalar field is being diluted. We find polynomial decay of the energy density of the scalar field, and use it to estimate the rate of dilution of the field in time. Our findings imply that the energy density of the scalar field decreases even five orders of magnitude in time scales smaller than a year. This implies that if a supermassive black hole is the Schwarzschild solution, then scalar field dark matter would be diluted extremely fastComment: 15 pages, 21 eps figures. Appendix added, accepted for publication in JCA

Integration of risk and uncertainty on levelized cost of electricity calculation

The electric sector is still largely dependent on non-renewable energy sources. The importance of using renewable energies is increasingly recognized all across the world yet they are not fully ready to compete with the mature and ancient technologies that use non-renewable energies. The economic characteristics of different energy technologies can be compared by using the method of levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). LCOE represents the total cost of a power plant including investment and operation and maintenance costs over the assumed life-cycle and discounted to account for the time-value of money. In this paper, an analysis of the levelized costs is proposed for two renewable technologies in Portugal: wind power and solar photovoltaic. Firstly, a deterministic value of LCOE was computed for both technologies. Secondly, recognizing the uncertainty associated with all the assumed parameters, a probabilistic risk analysis was conducted with Monte Carlo simulation to complement the analysis. The results show the high variability of the obtained LCOE values, largely influenced by the investment values and load factors.INCT-EN - Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia para Excitotoxicidade e Neuroproteção(UID/CEC/00319/2013

Produção de mudas de abacaxi variedade BRS Imperial em função de tipos de seccionamento de talo.

A produção de mudas de qualidade fitossanitária de abacaxi é um grande gargalo para a expansão e crescimento da área produtiva desta cultura no país, principalmente para variedades novas. A propagação do abacaxizeiro se faz exclusivamente de forma vegetativa, ou seja, as mudas utilizadas no novo plantio são provenientes do cultivo anterior