Notes on the ancient indian settlements of the upper Trombetas and Mapuera rivers, Pará, Brazil

A 'Relação' de 1728 de frei Francisco de São Manços, com a narrativa da primeira exploração da bacia Trombetas-Mapuera, no noroeste do Estado do Pará, embora publicada há mais de cem anos, é aqui, pela primeira vez, objeto de análise e de interpretação geográfica e etno-histórica. A importância do documento está em nomear e em localizar com aproximação cerca de 50 'nações' indígenas, quase todas ignoradas pelas fontes históricas e etnográficas posteriores, além de mencionar muitas de suas aldeias e de seus chefes. A reconstituição do itinerário permitiu concluir que a viagem do 'descobridor do Trombetas' transcorreu, na verdade, em grande parte, pelo Mapuera, seu afluente, até o planalto das Guianas. A informação etnográfica, embora limitada, inclui referências a dois níveis de chefia política e à guerra como meio de obter escravos destinados ao escambo por mercadorias.This is the first geographical and ethnohistorical analysis of the 1728 narrative of friar Francisco de São Manços on the first expedition to the Trombetas and Mapuera rivers in Northwestern Pará. The relevance of this document consists in the naming and approximate location of near 50 Indian 'nations', most of them not mentioned by later historical and ethnographical sources, including many names of their villages and local chiefs. The reconstruction of the expedition's course showed that São Manços, known as the "Trombetas' discoverer", had in fact traveled mostly through the Mapuera, its western tributary, up to the Guyana highlands. Outstanding in the author's scarce ethnographic information, there are references to a two levels political chieftainship, and to war as means to capture slaves targeted to trade for goods

Art and shamanistic symbols in the Amazon

Os chamados ídolos de pedra amazônicos, apesar de conhecidos há mais de cem anos, constituem uma categoria de artefatos indígenas sem contexto arqueológico, histórico ou etnográfico. Este artigo apresenta uma primeira análise formal das peças conhecidas e algumas hipóteses sobre a sua função e finalidade. O estilo, os motivos simbólicos e o detalhe funcional de pares de furos idênticos em todos os exemplares sugerem que eles eram parte do instrumental usado nos rituais xamânicos de inalação do paricá e de outras substâncias alucinógenas.Although known for over a century, the so-called Amazonian stone idols still represent a category of indigenous artifacts without archaeological, historical and ethnographic context. This article represents the first formal assessment of the known samples and presents hypotheses about their function and purpose. The style, symbolic patterns, and functional details of paired holes existing in all samples suggest their association to the ritual snuff of paricá (yakee) and other hallucinogenic substances by ancient Amazonian shamans

The native Amazonia of George Catlin: little known pictures and travel accounts

Este artigo apresenta e discute, pela primeira vez com vistas à etnologia e à etno-história do Brasil, as narrativas de viagem e os trabalhos do pintor norte-americano George Catlin (1796-1872) na Amazônia, em 1852, e a contribuição de suas memórias e pinturas para o conhecimento de grupos indígenas da época. Catlin ficara famoso, nos Estados Unidos, pelas centenas de retratos e imagens de aldeias indígenas do seu país, mas as suas viagens e trabalhos na América do Sul nunca receberam a mesma atenção; nos estudos brasileiros sobre artistas e naturalistas viajantes do século XIX ele não é sequer mencionado. Além da tradução de trechos relevantes das suas memórias de viagem, algumas de suas muitas pinturas de índios e paisagens amazônicas são aqui reproduzidas.First presentation and Brazilian ethnohistory focused discussion of the 1852 Amazonian travels and pictures of George Catlin (1796-1872), and of their contribution to the knowledge of several Brazilian Indian tribes. The fame of Catlin in the U. S. depended on his previous North American hundreds of paintings, with no consideration of his later South American pictures and memoirs here described. Furthermore, Catlin is not even mentioned in Brazilian studies of XIXth century traveler artists. The relevant passages of his memoirs are here translated and some of his many Amazonian scenes and Indians portraits are reproduced

Haloglomus irregulare gen. nov., sp. nov., a New Halophilic Archaeon Isolated from a Marine Saltern

A halophilic archaeal strain, designated F16-60T, was isolated from Isla Cristina marine saltern in Huelva, Spain. Cells were pleomorphic, irregular, non-motile, and Gram-stain-negative. It produced red-pigmented colonies on agar plates. Strain F16-60T was extremely halophilic (optimum at 30% (w/v) NaCl) and neutrophilic (optimum pH 7.5). Phylogenetic tree reconstructions based on 16S rRNA and rpoB´ gene sequences revealed that strain F16-60T was distinct from species of the related genera Natronomonas, Halomarina, and Halomicrobium, of the order Halobacteriales. The polar lipids are phosphatidylglycerol (PG), phosphatidylglycerol phosphate methyl ester (PGP-Me), phosphatidylglycerol sulfate (PGS), and one glycolipid chromatographically identical to sulfated mannosyl glucosyl diether (S-DGD-1). The DNA G+C content is 68.0 mol%. The taxonomic study, based on a combination of phylogenetic, genomic, chemotaxonomic, and phenotypic analyses, suggest that strain F16-60T (= CECT 9635T = JCM 33318T), represents a novel species of a new genus within the family Haloarculaceae and the order Halobacteriales, for which the name Haloglomus irregulare gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. Metagenomic fragment recruitment analysis revealed the worldwide distribution of members of this genus and suggested the existence of other closely related species to be isolated.España, MINECO project CGL2017-83385-PEspaña, Junta de Andalucía (BIO-213, US-1263771

Analysis, design and "in silico" evaluation of e-selectin antagonists

E-selectin, is member of a family of cell-adhesion proteins, which plays a crucial role in many physiological processes and diseases [1], and in particular, in the early phases of the inflammatory response. Its role is to promote the tethering and the rolling of leukocytes along the endothelial surface [2]. These steps are then followed by integrin-mediated firm adhesion and final transendothelial migration. Therefore, control of the leukocyte-endothelial cell adhesion process may be useful in cases, where excessive recruitment of leukocytes can contribute to acute or chronic diseases such as stroke, reperfusion injury, psoriasis or rheumatoid arthritis [3]. In this work, efforts to develop in silico-based protocols to study the interaction between E-selectin and its ligands, are presented. Hence, different protocols had to be developed and validated. In particular, a new procedure for the analysis of the conformational preferences of E-selectin antagonists was established and the results compared to those obtained with the MC(JBW)/SD approach, which had already demonstrated its validity in the past [161,168]. Thus, the comparison between the two protocols permitted to recognize a different conformational preference of the two methods for the orientation of the sialic acid moiety of sLex (3) (torsions Φ3 and Ψ3, Figure A), which reflects the contrasting opinions existing for the conformation adopted by sLex (3) in solution [150–168]. A more detailed analysis revealed that probably both approaches deliver only a partially correct view and that in reality, in solution, sLex (3) exists as a mixture of low energy conformers and not as supposed to date [150–154,161–163] as a population of a single conformer. In addition, a docking routine was established and the impact of different partialcharge methods and of explicit solvation on the binding mode studied. MD simulations enabled to gain an insight into the dynamical character of the protein-ligand interactions. In particular, the observations done in an atomic-force microscopy study [350], describing the interactions between the carboxylic group of sLex and Arg97, and between the 3– and 4–hydroxyls of fucose and the calcium ion, as the two main energy barriers for the dissociation process of the protein-ligand complex, found confirmation in our MD-investigations. Thus, these two contacts always lasted longer than any other in the MD simulation. QSAR-models with Quasar [270–272,351] and Raptor [315,316,335] were successfully derived and will permit a semi-quantitative in silico estimation of the binding affinity for the ligands that will be designed in the future. Finally, the developed protocols and models were applied for the development of new E-selectin antagonists. Unfortunately, to date, only few biological data is available to evaluate our design strategies. However, the impact of the ligand’s pre-organization on the binding affinity could be established at least for the Lexcore of sLex (3). Hence, the importance of the exo-anomeric effect, of the steric compression, and of the hydrophobic interaction between the methyl group of fucose and the β-face of galactose was clearly demonstrated

Economics of payment cards: a status report

This article surveys the recent theoretical literature on payment cards (focusing on debit and credit cards) and studies this research's possible implications for the current public policy debate over payment card networks and the pricing of their services for both consumers and merchants.Payment systems ; Credit cards

Transpacific contacts between eastern Asia and precolumbian Mesoamerica: an open question.

Transpacific contacts between eastern Asia and precolumbian Mesoamerica are one of the big controversial issues in American archaeology. Oppositely to old and amateurish ideas on Egyptian or Phoenician travels to America, it broke out with scholarly status from comparative studies of similar iconographic and symbolic traits endeavored since 1950 by specialists of both areas. Notwithstanding lack of historical and archaeological evidences of contacts, several significant common elements suggest that they took place more than once, during the first millennium B.C. and the first millennium A.D.A tese dos contatos transpacíficos entre Ásia Oriental e Mesoamérica pré-colombiana é urna das mais controversas da Arqueologia americana. Ao contrário das antigas e amadorísticas hipóteses de navegações egípcias ou fenicias, ela surgiu com status acadêmico a partir do estudo comparativo de motivos iconográficos e simbólicos semelhantes, feito a partir de 1950 por especialistas de reconhecida competência nas duas áreas. Apesar de não haver evidências históricas ou arqueológicas desses contatos, uma série significativa de elementos comuns sugere que eles tenham ocorrido em diversos momentos, durante o primeiro milênio a. C. e o primeiro d.C

The unpublished 1719 Report of Jacinto de Carvalho on Amazonian ethnography

Depois de trabalhar por treze anos nas missões da Amazônia, o jesuíta português Jacinto de Carvalho (1677-1744) enviou ao superior da ordem uma relação descritiva do país e de alguns costumes da população indígena. Essa é a principal fonte etno-histórica da Amazônia na primeira metade do século XVIII, mas é conhecida somente por meio de uma tradução italiana coeva, até hoje inédita. Os trechos de interesse etnográfico foram aqui vertidos à língua portuguesa, precedidos de estudo