Avaliação dos efeitos da adição de sal e da densidade no transporte de tambaqui.

Os objetivos deste trabalho foram testar a eficiência do sal como redutor de estresse e verificar a melhor densidade de transporte de juvenis de tambaqui em caixas de plástico adaptadas

Comparing Mobile Laser Scanner and manual measurements for dendrometric variables estimation in a black pine (Pinus nigra Arn.) plantation

The growing demand of ecosystem services provided by forests increased the need for fast and accurate field survey. The recent technological innovations fostered the application of geomatic tools and processes to different fields of the forestry sector. In this study we compared the efficiency and the accuracy of Mobile Laser Scanner (MLS), combined with Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) technology, and traditional field survey for the mensuration of main forest dendrometric variables like stem diameter at breast height (DBH), individual tree height (H), crown base height (CBH) and branch-free stem volume (VOL). With ground truth measurements taken from 50 felled trees, we tested the applicability of MLS technology for individual tree parameters esti-mation in a conifer plantation in central Italy. Our results showed no bias of DBH estimates and the corre-sponding RMSE was equal to 10.8% (2.7 cm). H and CBH measured with MLS were underestimated compared to the ground truth (bias of-8.6% for H and-13.3% for CBH). VOL values showed a bias and a RMSE of-4.1% (-0.01 m(3)) and 12.4% (0.04 m3) respectively. Tree height is not perfectly estimated due to laser obstruction by crowns layer, but the acquisition speed of this survey, joined with a suitable accuracy of parameters extraction, suggests sufficient suitability of the method for operational applications in simple forest structures (e.g. one-layered stands)

Millennium-long summer temperature variations in the European Alps as reconstructed from tree rings

This paper presents a reconstruction of the summer temperatures over the Greater Alpine Region (44.05A degrees-47.41A degrees N, 6.43A degrees-13A degrees E) during the last millennium based on a network of 38 multi-centennial larch and stone pine chronologies. Tree ring series are standardized using an Adaptative Regional Growth Curve, which attempts to remove the age effect from the low frequency variations in the series. The proxies are calibrated using the June to August mean temperatures from the HISTALP high-elevation temperature time series spanning the 1818-2003. The method combines an analogue technique, which is able to extend the too short tree-ring series, an artificial neural network technique for an optimal non-linear calibration including a bootstrap technique for calculating error assessment on the reconstruction. About 50% of the temperature variance is reconstructed. Low-elevation instrumental data back to 1760 compared to their instrumental target data reveal divergence between (warmer) early instrumental measurements and (colder) proxy estimates. The proxy record indicates cool conditions, from the mid-11th century to the mid-12th century, related to the Oort solar minimum followed by a short Medieval Warm Period (1200-1420). The Little Ice Age (1420-1830) appears particularly cold between 1420 and 1820 with summers that are 0.8 A degrees C cooler than the 1901-2000 period. The new record suggests that the persistency of the late 20th century warming trend is unprecedented. It also reveals significant similarities with other alpine reconstructions

Cutting edge: extracellular high mobility group box-1 protein is a proangiogenic cytokine.

The chromosomal high mobility group box-1 (HMGB1) protein acts as a proinflammatory cytokine when released in the extracellular environment by necrotic and inflammatory cells. In the present study, we show that HMGB1 exerts proangiogenic effects by inducing MAPK ERK1/2 activation, cell proliferation, and chemotaxis in endothelial cells of different origin. Accordingly, HMGB1 stimulates membrane ruffling and repair of a mechanically wounded endothelial cell monolayer and causes endothelial cell sprouting in a three-dimensional fibrin gel. In keeping with its in vitro properties, HMGB1 stimulates neovascularization when applied in vivo on the top of the chicken embryo chorioallantoic membrane whose blood vessels express the HMGB1 receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE). Accordingly, RAGE blockade by neutralizing Abs inhibits HMGB1-induced neovascularization in vivo and endothelial cell proliferation and membrane ruffling in vitro. Taken together, the data identify HMGB1/RAGE interaction as a potent proangiogenic stimulus