Constraints on the cosmic string loop collapse fraction from primordial black holes

A small fraction, f , of cosmic string loops can collapse to form Primordial Black Holes (PBHs). Constraints on the abundance of PBHs can therefore be used to constrain f. We update these calculations, taking into account the PBH extended mass function, and find f < 10 −31 (Gµ/c 2) ^−3/2. This is roughly one order of magnitude tighter than previous constraints. The improvement from the tighter constraints on the abundance of PBHs is partly offset by refinements to the theoretical calculation of the cosmic string loop formation rate

Novo equipamento desenvolvido no HCPA para cirurgia otológica (microcautério).: Parte II – Estudo em seres humanos

OBJECTIVE: To describe the evaluation, in middle ear surgeries in human beings, of the Lavinsky/HCPA otologic microcautery .MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-four patients with indication for unilateral or bilateral stapedoctomies and tympanoplasties were selected. Patients presentingsystemic diseases, non controlled systemic arterial hypertension and blood dyscrasia were excluded. Patients were divideded into two groups: 12 were operated with the microcautery and 12 without it. Surgeries were videotaped and evaluated by two otologic surgeries, blind to the kind of procedure used. Surgeries were classified as excellent, good, regular and poor. Hemostasis was the parameter considered in the evaluation.RESULTS: The evaluators considered as excellent the overall outcome of all surgeries performed with the microcautery. In the control group, one evaluator qualified 42% of surgeries as poor and 58% as regular.CONCLUSIONS: The utilization of the microcautery had concrete benefits in comparison with conventional methods.OBJETIVO: Descrever a avaliação, em cirurgias de ouvido médio em seres humanos, do microcautério otológico Lavinsky/HCPA.MATERIAIS E MÉTODOS: Vinte e quatro pacientes com indicação para estapedectomias e timpanoplastias unilaterais ou bilaterais foram selecionados. Foramexcluídos pacientes com doenças sistêmicas, como hipertensão arterial sistêmica não controlada e discrasia sangüíneas. Os pacientes foram divididos em dois grupos: 12 foram operados com o microcautério e 12, sem. As cirurgias foram gravadas emvídeo e avaliadas por dois cirurgiões otológicos, cegos para o tipo de procedimento utilizado. Os resultados foram qualificados como ótimo, bom, regular ou ruim. Oparâmetro utilizado na avaliação foi hemostasia. RESULTADOS: Os avaliadores qualificaram como ótimo o resultado global de todas as cirurgias realizadas com o microcautério. No grupo controle, um avaliador qualificou 42% das cirurgias como ruim e 58% como regular.CONCLUSÕES: O uso do microcautério demonstrou benefícios concretos emcomparação com métodos convencionais

Clerodane diterpenes from casearia corymbosa as allosteric GABAA receptor modulators

An EtOAc extract of Casearia corymbosa leaves led to an allosteric potentiation of the GABA signal in a fluorometric imaging plate reader (FLIPR) assay on Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells stably expressing GABAA receptors with an α1β2γ2 subunit composition. The activity was tracked by HPLC-based activity profiling, and four known (2, 3, 4, and 8) and five new clerodane-type diterpenoids (1, 5−7, and 9) were isolated. Compounds 1−8 were obtained from the active time window. The absolute configuration of all compounds was established by ECD. Compounds 3, 7, and 8 exhibited EC50 values of 0.5, 4.6, and 1.4 μM, respectively. To explore possible binding sites at the receptor, the most abundant diterpenoid 8 was tested in combination with diazepam, etazolate, and allopregnanolone. An additive potentiation of the GABA signal was observed with these compounds, while the effect of 8 was not inhibited by flumazenil, a negative allosteric modulator at the benzodiazepine binding site. Finally, the activity was validated in voltage clamp studies on Xenopus laevis oocytes transiently expressing GABAA receptors of the α1β2γ2S and α1β2 subtypes. Compound 8 potentiated GABA-induced currents with both receptor subunit compositions [EC50 (α1β2γ2S) = 43.6 μM; Emax = 809% and EC50 (α1β2) = 57.6 μM; Emax = 534%]. The positive modulation of GABA-induced currents was not inhibited by flumazenil, thereby confirming an allosteric modulation independent of the benzodiazepine binding site

How to design a complex behaviour change intervention: experiences from a nutrition-sensitive agriculture trial in rural India

Many public health interventions aim to promote healthful behaviours, with varying degrees of success. With a lack of existing empirical evidence on the optimal number or combination of behaviours to promote to achieve a given health outcome, a key challenge in intervention design lies in deciding what behaviours to prioritise, and how best to promote them. We describe how key behaviours were selected and promoted within a multisectoral nutrition-sensitive agriculture intervention that aimed to address maternal and child undernutrition in rural India. First, we formulated a Theory of Change, which outlined our hypothesised impact pathways. To do this, we used the following inputs: existing conceptual frameworks, published empirical evidence, a feasibility study, formative research and the intervention team’s local knowledge. Then, we selected specific behaviours to address within each impact pathway, based on our formative research, behaviour change models, local knowledge and community feedback. As the intervention progressed, we mapped each of the behaviours against our impact pathways and the transtheoretical model of behaviour change, to monitor the balance of behaviours across pathways and along stages of behaviour change. By collectively agreeing on definitions of complex concepts and hypothesised impact pathways, implementing partners were able to communicate clearly between each other and with intervention participants. Our intervention was iteratively informed by continuous review, by monitoring implementation against targets and by integrating community feedback. Impact and process evaluations will reveal whether these approaches are effective for improving maternal and child nutrition, and what the effects are on each hypothesised impact pathway

Qualidade sanitária e fisiológica de sementes de abóbora variedade menina Brasileira.

O trabalho teve como objetivos avaliar e correlacionar a qualidade sanitária e fisiológica de sementes de abóbora, variedade Menina Brasileira (Cucurbita moschata.). Foram avaliados dois lotes de sementes de abóbora produzidas no sistema agroecológico e quatro no sistema convencional, com e sem tratamento químico. Os lotes foram submetidos aos testes de sanidade, seguindo a metodologia do “Blotter test”, com congelamento, germinação e vigor (primeira contagem, índice de velocidade de germinação, envelhecimento acelerado e emergência de plântulas). Os resultados indicaram a separação dos lotes de diferentes origens a partir da qualidade sanitária e fisiológica, onde as maiores incidências de fungos foram observadas nos lotes agroecológicos e o maior potencial fisiológico foi observado nos lotes de origem convencional não tratados. Foram encontrados os fungos Fusarium oxysporum, Alternaria alternata, Cladosporium cucumerinum, Aspergillus niger, Penicillium digitatum, Rhizopus stolonifer e Phoma terrestris. A qualidade sanitária não interferiu na qualidade fisiológica das sementes de abóbora, variedade Menina Brasileira

Agricultura e biodiversidade nas ciências sociais brasileiras: alimentando a comunicação entre ciência e políticas públicas.

O presente artigo decorre de uma reflexão sustentada em dois pressupostos: a) que as ciências e, em particular, as sociais, podem contribuir para informar as tomadas de decisão e a formulação de políticas públicas visando a melhoria da vida das pessoas no planeta e b) que o papel da agricultura na conservação da biodiversidade é uma questão atual de extrema relevância e que merece ser aprofundada. A relação entre a agricultura e a biodiversidade tem sido objeto de questionamentos recentes na sociedade e no campo das políticas públicas. Contudo, se os estudos relacionados à biodiversidade e à agricultura, separadamente, têm observado um considerável crescimento no Brasil, poucos são os investimentos de pesquisa sobre a relação entre esses dois grandes temas. A partir dessas considerações, seguimos dois objetivos principais: 1) investigar como o papel da agricultura familiar na preservação da biodiversidade tem sido abordado pelas Ciências Sociais no Brasil, particularmente nos artigos publicados em periódicos brasileiros nos últimos 20 anos; 2) testar uma metodologia de revisão bibliográfica, criteriosa, que possa ser útil aos tomadores de decisão em políticas públicas e demais interessados

Breeding systems in Tolpis (Asteraceae) in the Macaronesian islands: the Azores, Madeira and the Canaries

Plants on oceanic islands often originate from self-compatible (SC) colonizers capable of seed set by self fertilization. This fact is supported by empirical studies, and is rooted in the hypothesis that one (or few) individuals could find a sexual population, whereas two or more would be required if the colonizers were self-incompatible (SI). However, a SC colonizer would have lower heterozygosity than SI colonizers, which could limit radiation and diver sification of lineages following establishment. Limited evidence suggests that several species-rich island lineages in the family Asteraceae originated from SI colonizers with some ‘‘leakiness’’ (pseudo-self-compatibility, PSC) such that some self-seed could be produced. This study of Tolpis (Asteraceae) in Macaronesia provides first reports of the breeding system in species from the Azores and Madeira, and additional insights into variation in Canary Islands. Tolpis from the Azores and Madeira are predominately SI but with PSC. This study suggests that the breeding sys tems of the ancestors were either PSC, possibly from a single colonizer, or from SI colonizers by multiple dis seminules either from a single or multiple dispersals. Long distance colonists capable of PSC combine the advantages of reproductive assurance (via selfing) in the establishment of sexual populations from even a single colonizer with the higher heterozygosity resulting from its origin from an outcrossed source population. Evolution of Tolpis on the Canaries and Madeira has generated diversity in breeding systems, including the origin of SC. Macaronesian Tolpis is an excellent system for studying breeding system evolution in a small, diverse lineage.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio