Genetic variability in five populations of Partamona helleri (Hymenoptera, Apidae) from Minas Gerais State, Brazil

Partamona is a Neotropical genus of stingless bees that comprises 33 species distributed from Mexico to southern Brazil. These bees are well-adapted to anthropic environments and build their nests in several substrates. In this study, 66 colonies of Partamona helleri from five localities in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais (São Miguel do Anta, Teixeiras, Porto Firme, Viçosa and Rio Vermelho) were analyzed using nine microsatellite loci in order to assess their genetic variability. Low levels of observed (Ho = 0.099-0.137) and expected (H e = 0.128-0.145) heterozygosity were encountered and revealed discrete genetic differentiation among the populations (F ST = 0.025). AMOVA further showed that most of the total genetic variation (94.24%) in P. helleri was explained by the variability within local populations

Distribuição espacial de hymenoptera parasitoides em uma reserva florestal na amazônia central, manaus, am, Brasil

Parasitoids are of great importance to forest ecosystems due to their ecological role in the regulation of the population of other insects. The species richness and abundance of parasitoids in the forest canopy and understory, both on the borders and in the interior of a tropical forest reserve in Central Amazonia were investigated. For a12-month period, specimen collections were made every 15days from suspended traps placed in the forest canopy and in the understory strata, both on the border and in the interior of forest areas. A total of 12,835Hymenoptera parasitoids from 23families were acquired. Braconidae, Diapriidae, Mymaridae, Eulophidae, and Scelionidae were the most represented in the area and strata samples. The results indicate that there were no significant differences in the species richness or abundance of Hymenoptera between the forest borders and the inner forest. The data does show that the presence of Hymenoptera is significantly greater in the understory in both the border and interior areas than in the canopy (vertical stratification). Aphelinidae and Ceraphronidae were significantly associated with the inner forest, while the other seven families with the border of the reserve. The abundance of Hymenoptera parasitoids presented seasonal variations during the year related to the rainy and dry seasons

Protecting Sensitive Zeros under the Multiplicative Noise Method

Perturbing sensitive data is one of the standard ways of protecting confidential data. The multiplicative noise method is one of these data perturbation methods and this method has attracted researchers\u27 attention in the recent decade. However, values close to zero in datasets cannot be well protected by using the multiplicative noise method directly. This paper proposes a method for safeguarding the values close to zero through noise-multiplied shifted data. We demonstrate that those values can be reasonably protected through noise-multiplied data by following the approach proposed in this paper. This paper also indicates that the density function of the original data can be reasonably reconstructed from the noise-multiplied shifted data by using the software MaskDensity14 or MaskDensityBM

Efetividade de diferentes estratégias de intervenção com ferro nos níveis de hemoglobina e ferritina em escolares de Teresina, Piauí, Brasil Effectiveness of different iron supplementation strategies on hemoglobin and ferritin levels among schoolchildren in Teresina, Piauí State, Brazil

O estudo avaliou o efeito das intervenções com sulfato ferroso e com ferro bisglicina quelato nas concentrações de hemoglobina e ferritina sérica em escolares de 7-11 anos, de ambos os sexos, de Teresina, Piauí, Brasil. Foi desenvolvido ensaio clínico-comunitário, randomizado, envolvendo 138 escolares, com níveis de hemoglobina < 11,5g/dL, alocados, individualmente, em dois grupos de tratamento. Um grupo (n = 71) recebeu 40mg de sulfato ferroso, uma vez/semana, e o outro (n = 67) 3,8mg de ferro bisglicina quelato, fracionados em biscoitos consumidos três vezes/semana, durante oito semanas. Houve um incremento (p < 0,01) médio, nas concentrações de hemoglobina, de 1,1g/dL entre os escolares que receberam sulfato ferroso e de 0,9g/dL para aqueles que receberam ferro bisglicina quelato, embora sem diferença (p > 0,05) na comparação intergrupos. Nenhum impacto foi observado (p > 0,05) nas reservas corporais de ferro. Entretanto, escolares que apresentaram depleção das reservas corporais de ferro (< 15ng/mL), no início dos tratamentos, tiveram aumento (p < 0,01) nas concentrações médias de ferritina sérica, após a intervenção, embora com efeito similar (p > 0,05) entre os grupos de tratamento. Os resultados confirmam a efetividade das intervenções e ratificam o uso do esquema semanal com sulfato ferroso e com ferro bisglicina quelato no tratamento da deficiência do mineral e da anemia ferropriva.<br>This study evaluated the effectiveness of supplementation with ferrous sulfate and iron bis-glycinate chelate on hemoglobin and serum ferritin levels among schoolchildren (7-11 years) of both sexes. A randomized community-based trial including 138 anemic children (hemoglobin < 11.5g/dL) was conducted in Teresina, Piauí State, Brazil. Children were assigned to two treatment groups on an individual basis. One group (n = 71) received 40mg iron as ferrous sulfate once weekly and the other group (n = 67) received 3.8mg of iron bis-glycinate chelate-enriched cookies, 3x/week, for 8 weeks. The interventions showed a significant increase (p < 0.01) in hemoglobin levels (1.1g/dL) for children who received ferrous sulfate and 0.9g/dl in those who received iron bis-glycinate chelate, although not significant in the inter-group comparison (p > 0.05). No effect was observed on body iron for either intervention (p > 0.05). Children with depleted iron stores (< 15ng/mL) at the beginning of interventions showed increased serum ferritin concentrations after 8 weeks (p < 0.01), although no difference between treatments (p > 0.05) was observed. The results confirm the effectiveness of the iron supplementation interventions and corroborate the use of iron salts or ferrous bisglycinate chelate on a weekly basis to overcome iron deficiency and anemia