Diversity, floristic composition, and structure of the woody vegetation of the Cerrado in the Cerrado–Amazon transition zone in Mato Grosso, Brazil

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40415-015-0186-2We compared the diversity and species composition and the structure of the vegetation of three distinct Cerrado phytophysiognomies (Cerradão, Dense Cerrado, and Typical Cerrado) in the Cerrado–Amazon transition, Mato Grosso (Brazil). Species richness (observed and estimated) in the Cerradão and Dense Cerrado was higher than that recorded in the Typical Cerrado. Species diversity, based on a Rényi profile, was highest in the Dense Cerrado, in comparison with the other phytophysiognomies. We recorded a higher number of exclusive species in the Cerradão and a greater similarity (Morisita and Sørensen indices) between this vegetation type and the Dense Cerrado. While individuals were tallest in the Cerradão and Dense Cerrado and lowest in the Typical Cerrado, there was no difference among phytophysiognomies in mean diameter. A gradient in decreasing species richness and diversity (hypothesis 1) and vegetation vertical structure (hypothesis 3) was expected for the Cerradão–Dense Cerrado–Typical Cerrado; however, neither hypothesis was supported by the results. The Cerradão and Dense Cerrado were most similar in species composition not confirming hypothesis 2, which predicted that the two savanna vegetation types (Dense Cerrado and Typical Cerrado) were more similar to one another than either is to the woodland (Cerradão). Overall, the similarities among the three study communities depended on the type of parameter analyzed. While the species richness and the vertical and structure of the vegetation of the Cerradão and Dense Cerrado are closely similar, the Cerradão and Typical Cerrado are more similar in their species diversity. With regard to the floristic composition, Dense Cerrado occupies an intermediate position between Cerradão and Typical Cerrado.UNEMAT Graduate Program in Ecology and ConservationBrazilian Higher Education Training Program (CAPES)“Tropical Biomes in Transition – TROBIT”CAPES/Science without Borders ProgramPELD/CNPq (Long-Term Ecological Studies)PROCAD UnB/UNEMA

Functionalized polyester-based materials as UV curable adhesives

UV curable adhesives offer major advantages in comparison to other polymeric based adhesive systems, such as fast-curing rate and control of the polymerization heat evolution, being ideal for application on damaged tissues. Herein, functionalized polymers were prepared by modifying polycaprolactone diol (PCL) with an isocyanate-functional unsaturated acrylic ester, Laromer® 9000, using two different proportions. These functionalized materials were chemically/physically characterized and, after the addition of a biocompatible photoinitiator (Irgacure® 2959), were crosslinked by UV light irradiation. Such procedure allows the obtention of flexible transparent films. Films’ properties such as swelling, hydrolytic degradation, thermal stability, surface energy and adhesive capacity were evaluated. Furthermore, to assess the applicability of the films in biomedical applications, their haemocompatibility and biocompatibility were determined using human dermal fibroblasts as model.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Camperdown Hemoglobin Associated With β° Thalassemia In A Brazilian Child

We report the coexistence of Hb Camperdown [β 104 (G6) Arg → Ser] and β°-thalassemia [β39 (Gln → stop codon)] in a nine-month-old Brazilian boy. He had a relatively more severe hypochromic and microcytic anemia in comparison to his mother's β-thalassemia trait. His Hb Camperdown heterozygous father was clinically and hematologically normal. To our knowledge, this is the first description of an association of β°-thalassemia with Hb Camperdown. Copyright by the Brazilian Society of Genetics.283394396Araújo, A.S., Silva, W.A., Leao, S.A., Bandeira, F.C., Petrou, M., Modell, B., Zago, M.A., A different molecular pattern of β-thalassemia mutations in Northeast of Brazil (2003) Hemoglobin, 27, pp. 211-217Amone, A., X-ray diffraction study of binding of 2,3-diphosphoglycerate to human deoxyhemoglobin (1972) Nature, 237, pp. 146-149Bertuzzo, C.S., Sonati, M.F., Costa, F.F., Hematological phenotype and the type of β thalassemia mutation in Brazil (1997) Braz J Genet, 20, pp. 319-321Bianco, I., Graziani, B., Carboni, C., Genetic patterns in thalassemia intermedia (constitutional microcytic anemia). Familial hematological and biosynthetic studies (1977) Hum Hered, 27, pp. 257-272Blouquit, Y., Lacombe, C., Arous, N., Le Qurrec, A., Branconnier, F., Bonhomme, J., Soummer, A.M., Galacteros, F., Seven new cases of hemoglobin Camperdown alpha 2 beta 2 104 (G6) ARG → SER found in Malta, Sicily and Tunisia (1984) Hemoglobin, 8, pp. 613-619Chang, J.C., Kan, Y.W., β°-thalassemia, a nonsense mutation in man (1979) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 76, pp. 2886-2889Clarke, G.M., Higgins, T.N., Laboratory investigation of hemoglobinopathies and thalassemias: Review and update (2000) Clin Chem, 46, pp. 1284-1290Fonseca, S.F., Kerbauy, J., Escrivçao, C., Figueiredo, M.S., Cançado, R., Arruda, V.R., Saad, S.T.O., Costa, F.F., Genetic analysis of beta-thalassemia major and beta-thalassemia intermedia in Brazil (1998) Hemoglobin, 22, pp. 197-207Grignoli, C.R.E., Carvalho, M.H., Kimura, E.M., Sonati, M.F., Arruda, V.R., Saad, S.T.O., Costa, F.F., β°-thalassemia resulting from a novel mutation: β66/u → stop codon (2000) Eur J Haematol, 64, pp. 137-138Kimura, E.M., Grignoli, C.R.E., Pinheiro, V.R.P., Costa, F.F., Sonati, M.F., Thalassemia intermedia as a result of heterozygosis for β°-thallassemia and αααanti3.7/αα genotype in a Brazilian patient (2003) Braz J Med Biol Res, 36, pp. 699-701Kister, J., Barbadjian, J., Blouquit, Y., Bohn, B., Galacteros, F., Poyart, C., Inhibition of oxygen-linked anion binding in Hb Camperdown [α2β2 104 (G6) ARG → SER] (1989) Hemoglobin, 13, pp. 567-578Miranda, S.R.P., Kimura, E.M., Teixeira, R.C., Bertuzzo, C.S., Ramalho, A.A., Saad, S.T.O., Costa, F.F., Hb Camperdown [α2β2 104 (G6) ARG → SER] identified by DNA analysis in a Brazilian family (1996) Hemoglobin, 20, pp. 147-153Old, J.M., Screening arid genetic diagnosis of haemoglobin disorders (2003) Blood Rev, 17, pp. 43-53Olivieri, N.F., The β-thalassemias (1999) N Engl J Med, 341, pp. 99-109Thein, S.L., Genetic insights into the clinical diversity of beta thalassaemia (2004) Br J Haematol, 124, pp. 264-274Weatherall, D.J., Clegg, J.B., Inherited haemoglobin disorders: An increasing global health problem (2001) Bull World Health Organ, 79, pp. 704-712Wilkinson, T., Chua, C.G., Carrell, R.W., Robin, H., Exner, T., Lee, K.M., Kronenberg, H., Haemoglobin Camperdown β 104(G6) Arginine leads to serine (1975) Biochim Biophys Acta, 393, pp. 195-200Zago, M.A., Costa, F.F., Hereditary hemoglobin disorders in Brazil (1985) Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg, 79, pp. 385-38

Spectral method for the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation with a harmonic trap

We study the numerical resolution of the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation, a non-linear Schroedinger equation used to simulate the dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates. Considering condensates trapped in harmonic potentials, we present an efficient algorithm by making use of a spectral Galerkin method, using a basis set of harmonic oscillator functions, and the Gauss-Hermite quadrature. We apply this algorithm to the simulation of condensate breathing and scissors modes.Comment: 23 pages, 5 figure

Innovative moments and poor outcome in narrative therapy

To analyse a poor outcome case of narrative therapy with a woman victim of intimate violence. Method: The Innovative Moments Coding System: version 1 was applied to all sessions to track the innovative moments (i-moments) in the therapeutic process. I moments are the narrative details that occur in psychotherapeutic conversations that are outside the influence of the problematic narrative. This research aims to describe the processes involved in the stability of meanings in psychotherapy through a dialogical approach to meaning making. Findings: Contrarily to what usually occurs in good outcome cases, re-conceptualization i-moments are absent. Moreover, two specific types of i-moments emerged with higher duration: reflection and protest. Qualitative analysis showed that the potential meanings of these i-moments were surpassed by a return to the problematic narrative. Conclusion: The therapeutic stability seems to be maintained by a systematic return to the problematic narrative after the emergence of novelties. This process was referred from a dialogical perspective as a mutual in-feeding of voices, one that emerges in the i-moment and another one that supports the problematic narrative, which is maintained by an oscillation between these two types of voices during therapy.This article was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), by the Grant PTDC/PSI/72846/2006 (Narrative Processes in Psychotherapy, 2007-2010) and by the PhD Grant SFRH/BD/16995/2004

A Model for the Development of the Rhizobial and Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Symbioses in Legumes and Its Use to Understand the Roles of Ethylene in the Establishment of these two Symbioses

We propose a model depicting the development of nodulation and arbuscular mycorrhizae. Both processes are dissected into many steps, using Pisum sativum L. nodulation mutants as a guideline. For nodulation, we distinguish two main developmental programs, one epidermal and one cortical. Whereas Nod factors alone affect the cortical program, bacteria are required to trigger the epidermal events. We propose that the two programs of the rhizobial symbiosis evolved separately and that, over time, they came to function together. The distinction between these two programs does not exist for arbuscular mycorrhizae development despite events occurring in both root tissues. Mutations that affect both symbioses are restricted to the epidermal program. We propose here sites of action and potential roles for ethylene during the formation of the two symbioses with a specific hypothesis for nodule organogenesis. Assuming the epidermis does not make ethylene, the microsymbionts probably first encounter a regulatory level of ethylene at the epidermis–outermost cortical cell layer interface. Depending on the hormone concentrations there, infection will either progress or be blocked. In the former case, ethylene affects the cortex cytoskeleton, allowing reorganization that facilitates infection; in the latter case, ethylene acts on several enzymes that interfere with infection thread growth, causing it to abort. Throughout this review, the difficulty of generalizing the roles of ethylene is emphasized and numerous examples are given to demonstrate the diversity that exists in plants

Observing the First Stars and Black Holes

The high sensitivity of JWST will open a new window on the end of the cosmological dark ages. Small stellar clusters, with a stellar mass of several 10^6 M_sun, and low-mass black holes (BHs), with a mass of several 10^5 M_sun should be directly detectable out to redshift z=10, and individual supernovae (SNe) and gamma ray burst (GRB) afterglows are bright enough to be visible beyond this redshift. Dense primordial gas, in the process of collapsing from large scales to form protogalaxies, may also be possible to image through diffuse recombination line emission, possibly even before stars or BHs are formed. In this article, I discuss the key physical processes that are expected to have determined the sizes of the first star-clusters and black holes, and the prospect of studying these objects by direct detections with JWST and with other instruments. The direct light emitted by the very first stellar clusters and intermediate-mass black holes at z>10 will likely fall below JWST's detection threshold. However, JWST could reveal a decline at the faint-end of the high-redshift luminosity function, and thereby shed light on radiative and other feedback effects that operate at these early epochs. JWST will also have the sensitivity to detect individual SNe from beyond z=10. In a dedicated survey lasting for several weeks, thousands of SNe could be detected at z>6, with a redshift distribution extending to the formation of the very first stars at z>15. Using these SNe as tracers may be the only method to map out the earliest stages of the cosmic star-formation history. Finally, we point out that studying the earliest objects at high redshift will also offer a new window on the primordial power spectrum, on 100 times smaller scales than probed by current large-scale structure data.Comment: Invited contribution to "Astrophysics in the Next Decade: JWST and Concurrent Facilities", Astrophysics & Space Science Library, Eds. H. Thronson, A. Tielens, M. Stiavelli, Springer: Dordrecht (2008