Growth patterns and scaling laws governing AIDS epidemic in Brazilian cities

Brazil holds approximately 1/3 of population living infected with AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) in Central and South Americas, and it was also the first developing country to implement a large-scale control and intervention program against AIDS epidemic. In this scenario, we investigate the temporal evolution and current status of the AIDS epidemic in Brazil. Specifically, we analyze records of annual absolute frequency of cases for more than 5000 cities for the first 33 years of the infection in Brazil. We found that (i) the annual absolute frequencies exhibit a logistic-type growth with an exponential regime in the first few years of the AIDS spreading; (ii) the actual reproduction number decaying as a power law; (iii) the distribution of the annual absolute frequencies among cities decays with a power law behavior; (iv) the annual absolute frequencies and the number of inhabitants have an allometric relationship; (v) the temporal evolution of the annual absolute frequencies have different profile depending on the average annual absolute frequencies in the cities. These findings yield a general quantitative description of the AIDS infection dynamics in Brazil since the beginning. They also provide clues about the effectiveness of treatment and control programs against the infection, that has had a different impact depending on the number of inhabitants of cities. In this framework, our results give insights into the overall dynamics of AIDS epidemic, which may contribute to select empirically accurate models.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure

Antibiotic susceptibility of enterococci isolated from traditional fermented meat products

Antibiotic susceptibility was evaluated for 182 Enterococcus spp. isolated from Alheira, Chouriça de Vinhais and Salpica˜o de Vinhais, fermented meat products produced in the North of Portugal. Previously, a choice was made from a group of 1060 isolates, using phenotypic and genotypic tests. From these, 76 were previously identified as Enterococcus faecalis, 44 as Enterococcus faecium, one as Enterococcus casseliflavus and 61 as Enteroccocus spp. In order to encompass several of the known chemical and functional classes of antibiotics, resistance to ampicillin, penicillin G, ciprofloxacin, chloramphenicol, erythromycin, nitrofurantoin, rifampicin, tetracycline and vancomycin was evaluated. All the isolates were sensitive to antibiotics of clinical importance, such as penicillins and vancomycin. Some differences in Minimal Inhibitory Concentrations (MICs) of antibiotics, could be associated with the enterococcal species.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

The deflocculation of kaolin suspensions : the effect of various electrolytes

The deflocculation effect of conventional additives to kaolin suspensions is evaluated from the results standard rheological measurements. Several widely used electrolytes (NaOH, Na2C03, Na2Si03, SHMP = sodium hexametaphosphate, and CMC = sodium salts of carboxymethylcellulose) have been tested. The optimal concentrations of these deffloculants, in respect to reaching the maximum reduction of initial suspension viscosity, are found. The stability of deflocculated kaolin suspensions against sedimentation is evaluated and different aspects of the observed flow enhancement discussed. Inorganic electrolytes are found to be more effective in viscosity reduction, but on the other hand, low-molecular organic CMC additives produce more stable final suspensions.Czech Science Foundation GACR through the contract P101/12/058

Deflocculation of kaolin suspensions - The effect of various electrolytes

Viscosity reduction of aqueous kaolin suspensions by conventional additives (deflocculation) is studied, using standard viscosity measurements. Apparent viscosity at 100 s-1, and flow behavior index n give complex information about changes of viscosity and flow character of deflocculated suspensions. Several widely used deflocculants - electrolytes and polyelectrolytes - are tested in a wide range of concentrations. The optimum concentrations of these deflocculants, which result in minimum apparent viscosity of suspension, are found. Sedimentation stability of deflocculated suspensions is monitored. Inorganic electrolytes are found to be more effective in viscosity reduction. On the other hand, low-molecular-weight polyelectrolytes produce more stable final suspensions.The support by Czech Science Foundation GACR through the contract P101/12/0585 is gratefully acknowledged

Future dynamics in f(R) theories

The $f(R)$ gravity theories provide an alternative way to explain the current cosmic acceleration without invoking dark energy matter component. However, the freedom in the choice of the functional forms of $f(R)$ gives rise to the problem of how to constrain and break the degeneracy among these gravity theories on theoretical and/or observational grounds. In this paper to proceed further with the investigation on the potentialities, difficulties and limitations of $f(R)$ gravity, we examine the question as to whether the future dynamics can be used to break the degeneracy between $f(R)$ gravity theories by investigating the future dynamics of spatially homogeneous and isotropic dust flat models in two $f(R)$ gravity theories, namely the well known $f(R) = R + \alpha R^{n}$ gravity and another by A. Aviles et al., whose motivation comes from the cosmographic approach to $f(R)$ gravity. To this end we perform a detailed numerical study of the future dynamic of these flat model in these theories taking into account the recent constraints on the cosmological parameters made by the Planck team. We show that besides being powerful for discriminating between $f(R)$ gravity theories, the future dynamics technique can also be used to determine the fate of the Universe in the framework of these $f(R)$ gravity theories. Moreover, there emerges from our numerical analysis that if we do not invoke a dark energy component with equation-of-state parameter $\omega < -1$ one still has dust flat FLRW solution with a big rip, if gravity deviates from general relativity via $f(R) = R + \alpha R^n$. We also show that FLRW dust solutions with $f''<0$ do not necessarily lead to singularity.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures. V2: Generality and implications of the results are emphasized, connection with the recent literature improved, typos corrected, references adde