Intelligence, age and schooling : data from Battery of Reasoning Tests (BRT-5)

Intelligence is commonly divided into two distinctive areas: fluid intelligence (Gf), which is understood as the skill of reasoning or intelligence as a process, and crystallized intelligence (Gc) that involves skills that are more related to learning and experience (knowledge-based skills). The objective of the present work was to investigate the effects that schooling and age exert on fluid and crystallized intelligence measuring students’ results in sub-tests of the Battery of Reasoning Test (BRT-5). This study considered a sample composed of 1,722 students – 603 were assessed with Form A of the battery and 1,119 with Form B. The results show that intelligence is systematically associated with schooling and age. Some difficulties in separating the effects of cognitive development from the effects of formal learning on students’ cognitive performance are also emphasized.A inteligência é comumente dividida em fluida (Gf), entendida como habilidade de raciocínio ou inteligência como um processo, e cristalizada (Gc) como as habilidades mais associadas à aprendizagem e experiência (habilidades associadas aos conhecimentos). No presente trabalho, o objetivo foi investigar os efeitos que a escolarização e a idade exercem sobre Gf e Gc tomando os resultados dos alunos nos subtestes da Bateria de Provas de Raciocínio (BPR-5). Este estudo considerou uma amostra composta por 1722 estudantes respondendo 603 à forma A dessa bateria e 1119 à sua forma B. Os resultados apontam relações sistemáticas entre inteligência, escolaridade e idade. Também se enfatiza a dificuldade em se separar os efeitos do desenvolvimento cognitivo e da aprendizagem formal no desempenho cognitivo dos alunos.MCT/CNPqMEC/CAPESABENEPI - Associação Brasileira de Neurologia e Psiquiatria InfantilIBICITPPG - Psicologia - UFRGSPró-Reitoria de Pesquisa da UFRGS/Programa de Apoio à Edição de Periódico

Differences in the Prevalence of Non-Communicable Disease between Slum Dwellers and the General Population in a Large Urban Area in Brazil.

Residents of urban slums are at greater risk for disease than their non-slum dwelling urban counterparts. We sought to contrast the prevalences of selected non-communicable diseases (NCDs) between Brazilian adults living in a slum and the general population of the same city, by comparing the age and sex-standardized prevalences of selected NCDs from a 2010 survey in Pau da Lima, Salvador Brazil, with a 2010 national population-based telephone survey. NCD prevalences in both populations were similar for hypertension (23.6% (95% CI 20.9⁻26.4) and 22.9% (21.2⁻24.6), respectively) and for dyslipidemia (22.7% (19.8⁻25.5) and 21.5% (19.7⁻23.4)). Slum residents had higher prevalences of diabetes mellitus (10.1% (7.9⁻12.3)) and of overweight/obesity (46.5% (43.1⁻49.9)), compared to 5.2% (4.2⁻6.1) and 40.6% (38.5⁻42.8) of the general population in Salvador. Fourteen percent (14.5% (12.1⁻17.0)) of slum residents smoked cigarettes compared to 8.3% (7.1⁻9.5) of the general population in Salvador. The national telephone survey underestimated the prevalence of diabetes mellitus, overweight/obesity, and smoking in the slum population, likely in part due to differential sampling inside and outside of slums. Further research and targeted policies are needed to mitigate these inequalities, which could have significant economic and social impacts on slum residents and their communities

Impacts of land-use and land-cover change on stream hydrochemistry in the Cerrado and Amazon biomes

Studies on the impacts of land-use and land-cover change on stream hydrochemistry in active deforestation zones of the Amazon agricultural frontier are limited and have often used low-temporal-resolution datasets. Moreover, these impacts are not concurrently assessed in well-established agricultural areas and new deforestations hotspots. We aimed to identify these impacts using an experimental setup to collect high-temporal-resolution hydrological and hydrochemical data in two pairs of low-order streams in catchments under contrasting land use and land cover (native vegetation vs. pasture) in the Amazon and Cerrado biomes. Our results indicate that the conversion of natural landscapes to pastures increases carbon and nutrient fluxes via streamflow in both biomes. These changes were the greatest in total inorganic carbon in the Amazon and in potassium in the Cerrado, representing a 5.0- and 5.5-fold increase in the fluxes of each biome, respectively. We found that stormflow, which is often neglected in studies on stream hydrochemistry in the tropics, plays a substantial role in the carbon and nutrient fluxes, especially in the Amazon biome, as its contributions to hydrochemical fluxes are mostly greater than the volumetric contribution to the total streamflow. These findings demonstrate that assessments of the impacts of deforestation in the Amazon and Cerrado biomes should also take into account rapid hydrological pathways; however, this can only be achieved through collection of high-temporal-resolution data

Market design for a reliable ~100% renewable electricity system: Deliverable D3.5

Project TradeRES - New Markets Design & Models for 100% Renewable Power Systems: https://traderes.eu/about/ABSTRACT: The goal of this report is to identify in which respects the design and regulation of electricity markets needs to be improved in order facilitate a (nearly) completely decarbonized electricity system. It provides a basis for scoping the modeling analyses that are to be performed in subsequent work packages in the TradeRES project. These simulations will provide the basis for an update of this deliverable in the form of a more precise description of an all-renewable electricity market design. In this first iteration1 of deliverable 3.5, we analyze how the current design of electricity markets may fall short of future needs. Where there is a lack of certainty about the best market design choices, we identify alternative choices. Alternatives may concern a choice between policy intervention and no intervention or different intervention options. Section 2 outlines current European electricity market design and the key pieces of European legislation that underlie it. The European target model is zonal pricing with bidding zones that are defined as geographic areas within the internal market without structural congestion. That implies that within one bidding zone electricity can be traded without considering grid constraints and there are uniform wholesale prices in each zone. The main European markets are Nordpool, EPEX and MIBEL. Trading between zones in the European Price Coupling Region occurs through an implicit auction where price and quantity are computed for every hour of the next day, using EUPHEMIA, a hybrid algorithm for flowbased market coupling that is considered the best practice in Europe at this time.N/

Plasmodium vivax circumsporozoite genotypes: a limited variation or new subspecies with major biological consequences?

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Plasmodium vivax </it>circumsporozoite variants have been identified in several geographical areas. The real implication of the genetic variation in this region of the <it>P. vivax </it>genome has been questioned for a long time. Although previous studies have observed significant association between VK210 and the Duffy blood group, we present here that evidences of this variation are limited to the CSP central portion.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The phylogenetic analyses were accomplished starting from the amplification of conserved domains of <it>18 SSU RNAr </it>and <it>Cyt B</it>. The antibodies responses against the CSP peptides, MSP-1, AMA-1 and DBP were detected by ELISA, in plasma samples of individuals infected with two <it>P. vivax CS </it>genotypes: VK210 and <it>P. vivax</it>-like.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>These analyses of the two markers demonstrate high similarity among the <it>P. vivax CS </it>genotypes and surprisingly showed diversity equal to zero between VK210 and <it>P. vivax</it>-like, positioning these <it>CS </it>genotypes in the same clade. A high frequency IgG antibody against the N- and C-terminal regions of the <it>P. vivax </it>CSP was found as compared to the immune response to the R- and V- repetitive regions (<it>p </it>= 0.0005, Fisher's Exact test). This difference was more pronounced when the <it>P. vivax</it>-like variant was present in the infection (<it>p </it>= 0.003, Fisher's Exact test). A high frequency of antibody response against MSP-1 and AMA-1 peptides was observed for all <it>P. vivax CS </it>genotypes in comparison to the same frequency for DBP.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This results target that the differences among the <it>P. vivax CS </it>variants are restrict to the central repeated region of the protein, mostly nucleotide variation with important serological consequences.</p

Levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) among children with steady-state sickle cell disease

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The search for sickle cell disease (SCD) prognosis biomarkers is a challenge. These markers identification can help to establish further therapy, later severe clinical complications and with patients follow-up. We attempted to study a possible involvement of levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) in steady-state children with SCD, once that this lipid marker has been correlated with anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative, anti-aggregation, anti-coagulant and pro-fibrinolytic activities, important aspects to be considered in sickle cell disease pathogenesis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We prospectively analyzed biochemical, inflammatory and hematological biomarkers of 152 steady-state infants with SCD and 132 healthy subjects using immunochemistry, immunoassay and electronic cell counter respectively. Clinical data were collected from patient medical records.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of the 152 infants investigated had a significant positive association of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol with hemoglobin (P < 0.001), hematocrit (P < 0.001) and total cholesterol (P < 0.001) and a negative significant association with reticulocytes (P = 0.046), leukocytes (P = 0.015), monocytes (P = 0.004) and platelets (P = 0.005), bilirubins [total bilirubin (P < 0.001), direct bilirubin (P < 0.001) and indirect bilirubin (P < 0.001], iron (P < 0.001), aminotransferases [aspartate aminotransferase (P = 0.004), alanine aminotransferase (P = 0.035)], lactate dehydrogenase (P < 0.001), urea (P = 0.030), alpha 1-antitrypsin (P < 0.001), very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (P = 0.003), triglycerides (P = 0.005) and hemoglobin S (P = 0.002). Low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration was associated with the history of cardiac abnormalities (P = 0.025), pneumonia (P = 0.033) and blood transfusion use (P = 0.025). Lipids and inflammatory markers were associated with the presence of cholelithiasis.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We hypothesize that some SCD patients can have a specific dyslipidemic subphenotype characterized by low HDL-C with hypertriglyceridemia and high VLDL-C in association with other biomarkers, including those related to inflammation. This represents an important step toward a more reliable clinical prognosis. Additional studies are warranted to test this hypothesis and the probably mechanisms involved in this complex network of markers and their role in SCD pathogenesis.</p

Spatial flexibility options in electricity market simulation tools: Deliverable D4.3

Project TradeRES - New Markets Design & Models for 100% Renewable Power Systems: https://traderes.eu/about/ABSTRACT: Deliverable D4.3 addresses the spatial flexibility options that are being considered by TradeRES models. D4.3 presents a report describing the spatial flexibility-related modelling components that are already implemented and those that are being designed for integration in TradeRES agent-based models. This report includes the main definitions, concepts and terminology related to spatial flexibility, as means to support the presentation of the specific models that are being developed by the project, namely about flow based market coupling, market spliting, nodal pricing, dynamic line rating, cross border intraday market, cross border reserve market, cross border capacity market, consumer flexibility aggregation, renewable energy aggregation, storage aggregation, electric vehicle aggregation and grid capacity.N/

Supercritical fluid extraction of Eucalyptus globulus bark: a promising approach for triterpenoid production

Eucalyptus bark contains significant amounts of triterpenoids with demonstrated bioactivity, namely triterpenic acids and their acetyl derivatives (ursolic, betulinic, oleanolic, betulonic, 3-acetylursolic, and 3-acetyloleanolic acids). In this work, the supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) of Eucalyptus globulus deciduous bark was carried out with pure and modified carbon dioxide to recover this fraction, and the results were compared with those obtained by Soxhlet extraction with dichloromethane. The effects of pressure (100-200 bar), co-solvent (ethanol) content (0, 5 and 8% wt), and multistep operation were studied in order to evaluate the applicability of SFE for their selective and efficient production. The individual extraction curves of the main families of compounds were measured, and the extracts analyzed by GC-MS. Results pointed out the influence of pressure and the important role played by the co-solvent. Ethanol can be used with advantage, since its effect is more important than increasing pressure by several tens of bar. At 160 bar and 40 degrees C, the introduction of 8% (wt) of ethanol greatly improves the yield of triterpenoids more than threefold