Modulation of amygdala response to task-irrelevant emotion

It has been shown that as cognitive demands of a non-emotional task increase, amygdala response to task-irrelevant emotional stimuli is reduced. However, it remains unclear whether effects are due to altered task demands, or altered perceptual input associated with task demands. Here, we present fMRI data from 20 adult males during a novel cognitive conflict task in which the requirement to scan emotional information was necessary for task performance and held constant across levels of cognitive conflict. Response to fearful facial expressions was attenuated under high (vs. low) conflict conditions, as indexed by both slower reaction times (RTs) and reduced right amygdala response. Psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analysis showed that increased amygdala response to fear in the low conflict condition was accompanied by increased functional coupling with middle frontal gyrus, a prefrontal region previously associated with emotion regulation during cognitive task performance. These data suggest that amygdala response to emotion is modulated as a function of task demands, even when perceptual inputs are closely matched across load conditions. PPI data also show that, in particular emotional contexts, increased functional coupling of amygdala with prefrontal cortex can paradoxically occur when executive demands are lower

Índice de vulnerabilidade socioeconômica e ecológica dos estabelecimentos agrários - IVA.

O presente estudo teve como objetivo investigar e elaborar instrumentos e procedimentos para a proposição de um índice que reflita as vulnerabilidades socioeconômica e ecológica dos municípios do Semiárido brasileiro (IVA). Este índice, baseado em um sistema de indicadores de sustentabilidade, tem o propósito de colocar em prática o conceito de desenvolvimento sustentável. As preocupações com os problemas e desafios socioeconômicos e ecológicos, relacionados ao uso dos recursos hídricos e a estrita dependência econômica da produção agropecuária de sobrevivência, nesta região, remetem a necessidades e proposições de oportunidades de desenvolvimento local, visando proporcionar melhores condições de vida aos habitantes desta região. O IVA construído, permitiu descobrir em qual dimensão de vida a população rural do semiárido é mais vulnerável, classificando-a em elevada, alta, média e baixa e, assim, focalizar as políticas públicas para melhor suprir essas necessidade

Evaluation of the Application of Double Taxation on International Services Transactions From Brazilian Airlines

Globalization tends to stimulate transactions between different countries by offering products and services with different quality and prices. During the negotiations, there is a tax over payment remitted abroad that involves agreements between countries. This research project aims to understand all the double taxation agreements between Brazil and foreign countries inserting them into the decision making process of hiring a service abroad. Using the Business Process Management methodology it could be seen that double taxation is not considered today on the study of hiring a service abroad, which can lead to an increase on company’s costs. This project proposes a change on the process done today by including the utilization of a new tool fed with all the different types of agreements valid in Brazil to simplify the decision of the procurement team. The tool is created and available to be implemented within companies with estimated saving around USD 33MM per year

Zoning edaphic for grapevines in the municipality of Santa Maria of Boa Vista-PE.

The goal of this edaphic zoning was to identify the areas with the greatest potential for grapevine growing, in the municipality of Santa Maria da Boa Vista, PE, and thus contribute with the geographical indication of origin for the wines produced in the mentioned municipality. In this zoning, an semi-detailed survey in the 1: 25,000 scale was used as the basic material

Increased Frequency of CD4 and CD8 Regulatory T Cells in Individuals under 15 Years with Multibacillary Leprosy

Background: Leprosy is a chronic disease, caused by Mycobacterium leprae, which poses a serious public health problem worldwide. Its high incidence in people under 15 years old in Ceara state, Brazil, reflects the difficulty of its control. the spectrum of clinical manifestations is associated with the immune response developed, with the Th1 and Th2 responses being related to the paucibacillary and multibacillary forms, respectively. Regulatory T cells (Treg), which can suppress Th1 and Th2 response, have received special attention in the literature and have been associated with development of chronic infections. However, their role in leprosy in individuals under 15 years old has not yet been elucidated. We evaluated the frequency of CD4(+)/CD8(+)CD25(high)FOXP3(+) and CD4(+)/CD8(+)CD25(high)FOXP3(high) cells in leprosy patients and household contacts, in both cases under 15 years old.Methodology/Principal Findings: PBMC from 12 patients and 17 contacts were cultured for 72 hours with anti-CD3 and anti-CD28 (activators) or with activators associated with total sonicated fraction of M. leprae. After culture, the frequency of CD4(+)/CD8(+) Treg was identified by flow cytometry. Cells stimulated by activators and antigen from multibacillary patients showed Treg frequencies almost two times that of the contacts: CD4(+)FOXP3(+) (21.93 +/- 8.43 vs. 13.79 +/- 8.19%, p = 0.0500), CD4(+)FOXP3(high) (10.33 +/- 5.69 vs. 5.57 +/- 4.03%, p = 0.0362), CD8(+)FOXP3(+) (13.88 +/- 9.19 vs. 6.18 +/- 5.56%, p = 0.0230) and CD8(+)FOXP3(high) (5.36 +/- 4.17 vs. 2.23 +/- 2.68%, p = 0.0461). Furthermore, the mean fluorescence intensity of FOXP3 in Treg was higher in multibacillary patients than in the contacts. Interestingly, there was a positive correlation of the bacillary index and number of lesions with the frequency of all Treg evaluated in patients.Conclusions/Significance: We have demonstrated for the first time that multibacillary leprosy patients under 15 years old have greater CD4(+) and CD8(+) Treg frequencies and these correlate with clinical and laboratorial aspects of disease. These findings suggest the involvement of these cells in the perpetuation of M. leprae infection.Fundacao Cearense de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Cientifico e TecnologicoPost-Graduation Program in Medical MicrobiologyUniv Fed Ceara, Dept Pathol & Legal Med, Med Lab Immunol, Fortaleza, Ceara, BrazilDermatol Ctr Dona Libania, Fortaleza, Ceara, BrazilWalter Cantidio Univ Hosp, Fortaleza, Ceara, BrazilUniv Fortaleza, Fortaleza, Ceara, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Pediat, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Pediat, São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

A HISTÓRICA CONCEPÇÃO DE DESENVOLVIMENTO FRENTE ÀS IDENTIDADES REGIONAIS: O CASO DO RINCÃO DOS MENDES NO MUNICÍPIO DE ROSÁRIO DO SUL/RS

O presente artigo propõe uma reflexão sobre o enfoque convencional de desenvolvimento da região denominada de Metade Sul do Rio Grande do Sul, tomando como referência uma comunidade situada na APA do Ibirapuitã, no município de Rosário do Sul. As abordagens atuais, apoiadas em indicadores como PIB per capta, Valor Adicionado Fiscal e geração de postos de trabalho, consideram a região como pouco desenvolvida. Entre as estratégias utilizadas para reversão desse quadro destacam-se a expansão das modernas lavouras empresarias de arroz e soja e o fomento aos empreendimentos no ramo florestal. Assim, a pergunta central desse artigo é sobre a capacidade dessas estratégias em promover verdadeiramente o “desenvolvimento” da metade sul do RS. O estudo destaca os possíveis impactos das estratégias convencionais de desenvolvimento na complexa situação sócio-ambiental da região e sugere a necessidade de aprofundar os conhecimentos sobre as especificidades locais, considerando os princípios de sustentabilidade.------------------------------------------------This paper proposes a reflection about the troubles with actual development approach used in the southern half region in the Rio Grande do Sul state. The case study use as reference a community located in the APA do Rio Ibirapuitã at Rosário do Sul County. The actual approaches using GDP per capita, Value Added Tax and job generation, consider the region as poorly developed. Among the strategies used to reversal of this framework the increase of rice and soybean crop production and forest crop are used. Thus, the central question of this article is these strategies in fact to support the "development" of the southern half of the RS. The study highlights the potential impact of conventional development strategies in the complex socio-environmental region situation and suggests more investigation to recognize specific location situation, considering the principles of sustainability.Desenvolvimento, Metade sul do RS, Identidade Territorial, Development, southern half of the RS, International Development,

Deriving phytoplankton size classes from satellite data: Validation along a trophic gradient in the eastern Atlantic Ocean

In recent years, the global distribution of phytoplankton functional types (PFT) and phytoplankton size classes (PSC) has been determined by remote sensing. Many of these methods rely on interpretation of phytoplankton size or type from pigment data, but independent validation has been difficult due to lack of appropriate in situ data on cell size. This work uses in situ data (photosynthetic pigments concentration and cell abundances) from the north-east Atlantic, along a trophic gradient, sampled from 2005 to 2010, as well as Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT) data for the same region, to test a previously developed conceptual model, which calculates the fractional contributions of pico-, nano- and micro-plankton to total phytoplankton chlorophyll biomass (Brewin et al., 2010). The application of the model proved to be successful, as shown by low mean absolute error between data and model fit. However, regional values obtained for the model parameters had some effect on the relative distribution of size classes as a function of chlorophyll-a, compared with the results according to the original model. The regional parameterisation yielded a dominance of micro-plankton contribution for chlorophyll-a concentrations greater than 0.5 mg m− 3, rather than from 1.3 mg m− 3 in the original model. Intracellular chlorophyll-a (Chla) per cell, for each size class, was computed from the cell enumeration results (microscope counts and flow cytometry) and the chlorophyll-a concentration for that size class given by the model. The median intracellular chlorophyll-a values computed were 0.004, 0.224 and 26.78 pg Chla cell− 1 for pico-, nano-, and micro-plankton respectively. This is generally consistent with the literature, thereby providing an indirect validation of the method based on pigments to assign size classes. Using a satellite-derived composite image of chlorophyll-a for the study area, a map of cell abundance was generated based on the computed intracellular chlorophyll-a for each size-class, thus extending the remote-sensing method for mapping size classes of phytoplankton from chlorophyll-a concentration to mapping cell numbers in each class. The map reveals the ubiquitous presence of pico-plankton, and shows that all size classes are more abundant in more productive areas

Metal-resistant rhizobacteria change soluble-exchangeable fraction in multi-metal-contaminated soil samples

There is a complex interaction between various components of the soil ecosystem, including microbial biomass and soil chemical contaminants such as heavy metals and radionuclides, which may greatly affect the efficiency of bioremediation techniques. The aim of this study was to investigate microbial capacity to change pH, changes in the metal soluble-exchangeable fraction, and effects of initial heavy metal contents on soil samples in microbial solubilization/immobilization capacity. The soil samples used in this study were collected at a known metal-contaminated site. Three highly metal-resistant bacteria were isolated from rhizosphere soil samples collected on weed species identified as Senecio brasiliensis, Senecio leptolobus, and Baccharis trimera. A completely randomized experimental design in a factorial arrangement was used, with three replicates. In general, with an acid pH, the isolates neutralized the contaminated growth media. In a neutral or basic initial pH, increases in pH were observed in the media, so these bacteria have an alkalizing effect on the growth media. Soluble metal contents were quite different and depend on the microbial species and heavy metal contents in the soil samples. The soluble-exchangeable fraction of metal such as Cu, Zn, Ni, Cr, Cd, Pb, and Ba may be unavailable after inoculation with heavy metalresistant rhizobacteria. A promising approach seems to be the application of inoculants with metal-resistant bacteria in bioremediation of multi-metal-polluted environments to improve the efficiency of this environmentally friendly technology