Comportamento e controle do gafanhoto RHAMMATOCERUS SCHISTOCERCOIDES (REHN, 1906) no Mato Grosso.

- Ern setembro de 1984, verificou-se uma explosão populacional da especie do gafanhoto Rhammatocerus schistocercoides (Rehn, 1906) no estado de Mato Grosso. 0 estudo da biologia em condicoes de laboratorio, casa de vegetario e campo revelou que a postura ocorre ern outubro-novembro e as ninfas emergern ern novembro-dezembro. Cada instar tem, em media, 26 dias, havendo cinco instares nas condicoes de Mato Grosso e seis instares nas condicoes do Distrito Federal. Transformarn-se ern adultos ern abril, n-ligratn ern agosto-setembro, e o acasalamento ocorre em setembro-outubro. Preferência alimentar: 0 R. schistocercoides prefere, ern primeiro lugar, gramineas nativas do cerrado e campo sujo, seguindo-se as culturas de arroz, cana-de-acucar, milho, sorgo, pastagens e, por firn, soja e feijão. Controle quimico: Foram testados para, o Controle do gafanhoto adulto os inseticidas: fenitrothion, malathion, carbaril, esfenvarelate e fenvarelate. 0 carbaril e os piretroides não foram eficientes nas clonagens testadas. 0 fenitrothion e o malathion mostraram acima de 98% da eficiencia nas dosagens de 300 g do i.a. e 800 g do i.a. por ha, respectivamente. Posteriormente se testou o fenitrothion dflufdo ern 61eo de algodão (50%), mostrando uma eficiência de 95% na dosagern de 150 g do La. por ha.Título em inglês: Behavior and control of the locust RHAMMATOCERUS SCHISTOCERCOIDES (REHN, 1906) in Mato Grosso, Brazil

Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA

Drosophila Polycomb group (PcG) and Trithorax group (TrxG) proteins are responsible for the maintenance of stable transcription patterns of many developmental regulators, such as the homeotic genes. We have used ChIP-on-chip to compare the distribution of several PcG/TrxG proteins, as well as histone modifications in active and repressed genes across the two homeotic complexes ANT-C and BX-C. Our data indicate the colocalization of the Polycomb repressive complex 1 (PRC1) with Trx and the DNA binding protein Pleiohomeotic (Pho) at discrete sequence elements as well as significant chromatin assembly differences in active and inactive regions. Trx binds to the promoters of active genes and noncoding transcripts. Most strikingly, in the active state, Pho covers extended chromatin domains over many kilobases. This feature of Pho, observed on many polytene chromosome puffs, reflects a previously undescribed function. At the hsp70 gene, we demonstrate in mutants that Pho is required for transcriptional recovery after heat shock. Besides its presumptive function in recruiting PcG complexes to their site of action, our results now uncover that Pho plays an additional role in the repression of already induced genes

An integrated gene annotation and transcriptional profiling approach towards the full gene content of the Drosophila genome

BACKGROUND: While the genome sequences for a variety of organisms are now available, the precise number of the genes encoded is still a matter of debate. For the human genome several stringent annotation approaches have resulted in the same number of potential genes, but a careful comparison revealed only limited overlap. This indicates that only the combination of different computational prediction methods and experimental evaluation of such in silico data will provide more complete genome annotations. In order to get a more complete gene content of the Drosophila melanogaster genome, we based our new D. melanogaster whole-transcriptome microarray, the Heidelberg FlyArray, on the combination of the Berkeley Drosophila Genome Project (BDGP) annotation and a novel ab initio gene prediction of lower stringency using the Fgenesh software. RESULTS: Here we provide evidence for the transcription of approximately 2,600 additional genes predicted by Fgenesh. Validation of the developmental profiling data by RT-PCR and in situ hybridization indicates a lower limit of 2,000 novel annotations, thus substantially raising the number of genes that make a fly. CONCLUSIONS: The successful design and application of this novel Drosophila microarray on the basis of our integrated in silico/wet biology approach confirms our expectation that in silico approaches alone will always tend to be incomplete. The identification of at least 2,000 novel genes highlights the importance of gathering experimental evidence to discover all genes within a genome. Moreover, as such an approach is independent of homology criteria, it will allow the discovery of novel genes unrelated to known protein families or those that have not been strictly conserved between species

Seleção de isolados de vírus e determinação da concentração letal média (CL50) para controle de S. Eridania, S. Cosmioides e S. frugiperda.

Os lepidópteros desfolhadores principalmente do gênero Spodoptera são atualmente um dos mais importantes problemas entomológicos em várias culturas de expressão econômica. Como alternativa ao controle químico, podem ser utilizados microrganismos entomopatogênicos, incluindo bactérias, vírus, fungos e protozoários. Este trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar isolados de vírus para as espécies de S. cosmioides, S. eridania e S. frugiperda. Lagartas de 3º instar (n=50), foram inoculadas com uma suspensão viral [1,0 x 107 corpos poliédricos de inclusão do vírus (CPI/mL)] incorporada na dieta artificial a fim de analisar a mortalidade causada por diferentes isolados de vírus. Para a determinação da CL50 seguiu-se a mesma metodologia, porém utilizando 80 lagartas por concentração (concentrações de 4.000; 8.000; 16.000; 32.000; 64.000 e 128.000 CPI/mL). Os dados de mortalidade foram submetidos à análise Probit, para a estimação CL50, bem como dos parâmetros associados (Intervalo de confiança (IC 95%) e ?2). Para a espécie S. cosmioides o isolado VPN 72 isolado desta mesma espécie resultou em mortalidade de 20%. Os isolados VNP 143, 144 e 152 obtidos de outros hospedeiros, mataram 24, 100 e 80% respectivamente. As lagartas de S. frugiperda apresentaram mortalidade de 100% somente com os isolados obtidos da mesma espécie VPN 76 e VG 89. S. eridania teve 20% de mortalidade com o isolado VPN 144, sendo este isolado o único que provocou mortalidade nas duas espécies. Os valores de ?2 calculados não foram significativos, indicando a homogeneidade dos dados e, principalmente, que os dados adaptaram-se ao modelo de análise Probit. O VPN 144 de A. californica inoculado em S. albula, testado em S. cosmioides apresentou a menor CL50, caracterizando-se como o mais virulento, quando comparado ao VPN 152 que resultou em CL50 de 49,13 CPI/mL ou seja foi duas vezes menos virulento que o VPN 144. Esse mesmo isolado testado em S. eridania foi 67 vezes menos virulento quando comparado com a espécie de S. cosmioides. Esta espécie apresentou-se a mais suscetível a isolados de vírus provenientes de outros hospedeiros.SICONBIOL 2011

What do medical students think about their quality of life? A qualitative study

Background: Medical education can affect medical students’ physical and mental health as well as their quality of life. The aim of this study was to assess medical students’ perceptions of their quality of life and its relationship with medical education.\ud \ud \ud Methods\ud First- to sixth-year students from six Brazilian medical schools were interviewed using focus groups to explore what medical student’s lives are like, factors related to increases and decreases of their quality of life during medical school, and how they deal with the difficulties in their training.\ud \ud \ud Results\ud Students reported a variety of difficulties and crises during medical school. Factors that were reported to decrease their quality of life included competition, unprepared teachers, excessive activities, and medical school schedules that demanded exclusive dedication. Contact with pain, death and suffering and harsh social realities influence their quality of life, as well as frustrations with the program and insecurity regarding their professional future. The scarcity of time for studying, leisure activities, relationships, and rest was considered the main factor of influence. Among factors that increase quality of life are good teachers, classes with good didactic approaches, active learning methodologies, contact with patients, and efficient time management. Students also reported that meaningful relationships with family members, friends, or teachers increase their quality of life.\ud \ud \ud Conclusion\ud Quality of teachers, curricula, healthy lifestyles related to eating habits, sleep, and physical activity modify medical students’ quality of life. Lack of time due to medical school obligations was a major impact factor. Students affirm their quality of life is influenced by their medical school experiences, but they also reframe their difficulties, herein represented by their poor quality of life, understood as necessary and inherent to the process of becoming doctors

Relationship among medical student resilience, educational environment and quality of life

Resilience is a capacity to face and overcome adversities, with personal transformation and growth. In medical education, it is critical to understand the determinants of a positive, developmental reaction in the face of stressful, emotionally demanding situations. We studied the association among resilience, quality of life (QoL) and educational environment perceptions in medical students. We evaluated data from a random sample of 1,350 medical students from 22 Brazilian medical schools. Information from participants included the Wagnild and Young's resilience scale (RS-14), the Dundee Ready Educational Environment Measure (DREEM), the World Health Organization Quality of Life questionnaire - short form (WHOQOL-BREF), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). Full multiple linear regression models were adjusted for sex, age, year of medical course, presence of a BDI score >= 14 and STAI state or anxiety scores >= 50. Compared to those with very high resilience levels, individuals with very low resilience had worse QoL, measured by overall (beta=-0.89; 95% confidence interval =-1.21 to -0.56) and medical-school related (beta=-0.85; 95% CI=-1.25 to -0.45) QoL scores, environment (beta=-6.48; 95% CI=-10.01 to -2.95), psychological (beta=-22.89; 95% CI=-25.70 to -20.07), social relationships (beta=-14.28; 95% CI=-19.07 to -9.49), and physical health (beta=-10.74; 95% CI=-14.07 to -7.42) WHOQOL-BREF domain scores. They also had a worse educational environment perception, measured by global DREEM score (beta=-31.42; 95% CI=-37.86 to -24.98), learning (beta=-7.32; 95% CI=-9.23 to -5.41), teachers (beta=-5.37; 95% CI=-7.16 to -3.58), academic self-perception (beta=-7.33; 95% CI=-8.53 to -6.12), atmosphere (beta=-8.29; 95% CI=-10.13 to -6.44) and social self-perception (beta=-3.12; 95% CI=-4.11 to -2.12) DREEM domain scores. We also observed a dose-response pattern across resilience level groups for most measurements. Medical students with higher resilience levels had a better quality of life and a better perception of educational environment. Developing resilience may become an important strategy to minimize emotional distress and enhance medical training106CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO - CNPQCOORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL DE NÍVEL SUPERIOR - CAPE