Parametric Conductance Correlation for Irregularly Shaped Quantum Dots

We propose the autocorrelator of conductance peak heights as a signature of the underlying chaotic dynamics in quantum dots in the Coulomb blockade regime. This correlation function is directly accessible to experiments and its decay width contains interesting information about the underlying electron dynamics. Analytical results are derived in the framework of random matrix theory in the regime of broken time-reversal symmetry. The final expression, upon rescaling, becomes independent of the details of the system. For the situation when the external parameter is a variable magnetic field, the system-dependent, nonuniversal field scaling factor is obtained by a semiclassical approach. The validity of our findings is confirmed by a comparison with results of an exact numerical diagonalization of the conformal billiard threaded by a magnetic flux line.Comment: Minor corrections added to the text and references (36 pages RevTeX 3, epsf, 10 figure

DNA Barcoding Bromeliaceae: Achievements and Pitfalls

<div><h3>Background</h3><p>DNA barcoding has been successfully established in animals as a tool for organismal identification and taxonomic clarification. Slower nucleotide substitution rates in plant genomes have made the selection of a DNA barcode for land plants a much more difficult task. The Plant Working Group of the Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL) recommended the two-marker combination <em>rbcL</em>/<em>matK</em> as a pragmatic solution to a complex trade-off between universality, sequence quality, discrimination, and cost.</p> <h3>Methodology/Principal Findings</h3><p>It is expected that a system based on any one, or a small number of plastid genes will fail within certain taxonomic groups with low amounts of plastid variation, while performing well in others. We tested the effectiveness of the proposed CBOL Plant Working Group barcoding <em>markers</em> for land plants in identifying 46 bromeliad species, a group rich in endemic species from the endangered Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest. Although we obtained high quality sequences with the suggested primers, species discrimination in our data set was only 43.48%. Addition of a third marker, <em>trnH–psbA</em>, did not show significant improvement. This species identification failure in Bromeliaceaecould also be seen in the analysis of the GenBank's <em>matK</em> data set. Bromeliaceae's sequence divergence was almost three times lower than the observed for Asteraceae and Orchidaceae. This low variation rate also resulted in poorly resolved tree topologies. Among the three Bromeliaceae subfamilies sampled, Tillandsioideae was the only one recovered as a monophyletic group with high bootstrap value (98.6%). Species paraphyly was a common feature in our sampling.</p> <h3>Conclusions/Significance</h3><p>Our results show that although DNA barcoding is an important tool for biodiversity assessment, it tends to fail in taxonomy complicated and recently diverged plant groups, such as Bromeliaceae. Additional research might be needed to develop markers capable to discriminate species in these complex botanical groups.</p> </div

A interculturalidade e seus inúmeros começos comunitários Inteculturality and its inumerous communital beginnings

A problemática da interculturalidade contribui para a produção de um pensamento-ação da diversidade e visa proporcionar momentos às forças e formas residuais mais embrionárias de resistência ao sistema capitalista. Pretendemos percorrer caminhos da interculturalidade como práxis e com isso fornecer pistas para que se acompanhe alguns momentos de comunidade. Buscamos com a nossa discussão dar novos elementos para se pensar a temática da educação popular em saúde, desde a problemática intercultural, ou seja, como o encontro entre culturas diferentes, culturas dos que participam do processo de educação em saúde.<br>The problematical subject of interculturality contributes to the production of a thought-action based on diversity and aims at providing moments to the more embryonic forces and forms of resistance to the capitalist system. We propose to examine the paths of interculturality as praxis and with that offer clues so to follow some moments of community. With this discussion we seek to bring in new elements to analyze the theme of popular health education, beginning with the problematic subject of interculturality, in other words, with the encounter between different cultures, cultures that participate in the process of health education

Olfactory sensitivity to amino acids in the blackspot sea bream (Pagellus bogaraveo): a comparison between olfactory receptor recording techniques in seawater

The current study investigated the olfactory sensitivity of the blackspot sea bream to amino acids, odorants associated with food detection in fsh, and compared the efficacy of two different experimental methods: multiunit recording from the olfactory nerve and the electro-olfactogram (EOG). Twenty essential amino acids plus L-DOPA evoked clear, concentration-dependent olfactory responses using both methods, with estimated thresholds of 10-8.5 – 10-6.2 M (nerve recording) and 10-7.5 - 10-4.8 M (EOG). The most potent amino acids were L-cysteine, L-methionine (both sulphur-containing), L-alanine, L-leucine (both neutral), L-glutamine (amide-containing) and L-serine (hydroxyl-containing). The least potent were L-proline (secondary alpha-amino group), the aromatic amino acids and glycine (simplest). Although the rank order of olfactory potency was similar for the two methods used, and the calculated thresholds given by the two methods were positively correlated, the sensitivity of the EOG was consistently lower than multi-unit recording by approximately one order of magnitude, presumably due to the electrical shunting effect of seawater. As in freshwater, the EOG could be a valid method for comparing olfactory potency of different odorants in stenohaline marine fish; however, for absolute ‘biological’ thresholds, a more invasive recording technique, such as multi-unit recording from the olfactory nerve, should be used

The Impact of Nutritional and Environmental Stressors on the Immune Response, Oxidative Stress and Energy Use of Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus Mykiss)

International audienc

Association of <i>IL10</i> Polymorphisms and Leprosy: A Meta-Analysis

<div><p>Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease that depends on the interplay of several factors. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in host immune related genes have been consistently suggested as participants in susceptibility towards disease. Interleukin-10 (IL-10) is a crucial immunomodulatory cytokine in mycobacterial pathogenesis and especially the -819C>T SNP (rs1800871) has been tested in several case-control studies indicating association with leprosy risk, although a recent consensus estimate is still missing. In this study, we evaluated the association of the -819C>T SNP and leprosy in two new Brazilian family-based populations. Then, we performed meta-analysis for this polymorphism summarizing published studies including these Brazilian family-based groups. Finally, we also retrieved published studies for other distal and proximal <i>IL10</i> polymorphisms: -3575 T>A (rs1800890), -2849 G>A (rs6703630), -2763 C>A (rs6693899), -1082 G>A (rs1800896) and -592 C>A (rs1800872). Results from meta-analysis supported a significant susceptibility association for the -819T allele, with pooled Odds Ratio of 1.22 (CI = 1.11–1.34) and <i>P</i>-value = 3x10^–5 confirming previous data. This result remained unaltered after inclusion of the Brazilian family-based groups (OR = 1.2, CI = 1.10–1.31, <i>P-</i>value = 2x10^–5). Also, meta-analysis confirmed association of -592 A allele and leprosy outcome (OR = 1.24, CI = 1.03–1.50, <i>P</i>-value = 0.02). In support of this, linkage disequilibrium analysis in 1000 genomes AFR, EUR, ASN and AMR populations pointed to r² = 1.0 between the -592C>A and -819C>T SNPs. We found no evidence of association for the other <i>IL10</i> polymorphisms analyzed for leprosy outcome. Our results reinforce the role of the -819C>T as a tag SNP (rs1800871) and its association with leprosy susceptibility.</p></div