Multiplicação in vitro de abacaxi ornamental (Ananas comosus).

O abacaxi ornamental Ananas comosus é uma espécie vegetal pertencente à família Bromeliaceae, de grande interesse para paisagistas e floricultores, a utilização da cultura de tecidos proporciona a obtenção de milhares de mudas a partir de uma gema em um pequeno espaço e em um intervalo de tempo relativamente curto.Titulo: Multiplicação [i.e. e enraizamento] in vitro de abacaxi ornamental (Ananas comosus)

Habitat Factors Affecting Trap Success of Swamp Rabbits in Southeastern Arkansas During a Flooding Event

Swamp rabbits (Sylvilagus aquaticus) are found in bottomland hardwood ecosystems that have canopy gaps dispersed throughout. During annual flooding of these ecosystems, swamp rabbits often are displaced to adjacent uplands or higher ground within the bottomlands. Trapping of swamp rabbits is reported to be best during times of flooding. We examined habitat characteristics at trap sites to identify the best suits of habitat characters to target when trapping for swamp rabbits during flooding conditions. We conducted trapping for swamp rabbits during a flooding event from 2 January 2007 to 3 February 2007. A total of 511 trap nights yielded 16 swamp rabbit captures, or an overall capture rate of 3.1%. We reduced the habitat data set using principal component analysis and identified habitat characteristics most important to trapping success using stepwise discriminant function analysis. Variables important for successful trapping of swamp rabbits were canopy cover, percent ground cover of leaves, distance to trees (i.e., tree density), number and stage of decomposition of stumps, diameter at breast height of trees, and distance to temporary water sources. Because some states list swamp rabbits as a species of concern, knowledge of habitat variables most often selected by swamp rabbits during a flooding event may assist with trapping for future studies concerning the species

Multiplicação in vitro de duas cultivares de bananeira.

A banana, Musa spp., é uma das frutas mais consumidas no mundo e na maioria dos países tropicais, a micropropagação de ápices caulinares constitui-se em importante ferramenta para obtenção de mudas de banana com alto padrão de qualidade, bem como para clonagem em massa de genótipos-elites. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a eficiência da multiplicação in vitro de duas cultivares de bananeira (Caipira e Pioneira) em cinco subcultivos, em meio MS (Murashige & Skoog, 1962), suplementado com 30 g L-1 de sacarose, 3 g L-1 de gelrite, 2 mg L-1 de BAP e pH 5,8 em sala de crescimento a 25ºC ± 2ºC, com iluminação artificial com intensidade luminosa de 2000 lux e fotoperíodo de 16 horas. As cultivares Caipira e Pioneira apresentam taxas de multiplicação absoluta e acumulada similares. Contudo, a cultivar Caipira, em média, mostra taxas de multiplicação absoluta mais uniforme ao longo dos subcultivos. Em média, a eficiência da multiplicação, especialmente da cultivar Caipira, é crescente até o subcultivo 4

Equilibrium Chemical Engines

An equilibrium reversible cycle with a certain engine to transduce the energy of any chemical reaction into mechanical energy is proposed. The efficiency for chemical energy transduction is also defined so as to be compared with Carnot efficiency. Relevance to the study of protein motors is discussed. KEYWORDS: Chemical thermodynamics, Engine, Efficiency, Molecular machine.Comment: 5 pages, late

Gestação Gemelar Monocoriónica com Morte de Um dos Fetos: Prognóstico do Co-Gémeo Sobrevivente e Desfecho Neonatal

The incidence of single fetal death in twin pregnancy varies from 0.5% - 6.8%, leaving the surviving fetus with increased morbi-mortality. The prognosis is worse in monochorionic pregnancies. In addressing these cases it should be noted referral to tertiary center with differentiated perinatal support, induction of fetal lung maturation and termination of pregnancy if there's loss of fetal well-being or possibility of maternal complications and suspected neurological sequelae in the surviving fetus. The risk of iatrogenic prematurity should always be weighed with the possible consequences arising from the fetus staying in a hostile uterine environment. The authors describe a case of a 32-year-old pregnant woman with monochorionic/diamniotic twin pregnancy diagnosed with death of one of the fetuses due to fetal growth restriction and velamentous insertion of the umbilical cord at 30 weeks of gestation. The couple opted for termination of pregnancy at 33 weeks after documentation of brain changes in the surviving fetus.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Vegetation and the importance of insecticide-treated target siting for control of Glossina fuscipes fuscipes

Control of tsetse flies using insecticide-treated targets is often hampered by vegetation re-growth and encroachment which obscures a target and renders it less effective. Potentially this is of particular concern for the newly developed small targets (0.25 high × 0.5 m wide) which show promise for cost-efficient control of Palpalis group tsetse flies. Consequently the performance of a small target was investigated for Glossina fuscipes fuscipes in Kenya, when the target was obscured following the placement of vegetation to simulate various degrees of natural bush encroachment. Catches decreased significantly only when the target was obscured by more than 80%. Even if a small target is underneath a very low overhanging bush (0.5 m above ground), the numbers of G. f. fuscipes decreased by only about 30% compared to a target in the open. We show that the efficiency of the small targets, even in small (1 m diameter) clearings, is largely uncompromised by vegetation re-growth because G. f. fuscipes readily enter between and under vegetation. The essential characteristic is that there should be some openings between vegetation. This implies that for this important vector of HAT, and possibly other Palpalis group flies, a smaller initial clearance zone around targets can be made and longer interval between site maintenance visits is possible both of which will result in cost savings for large scale operations. We also investigated and discuss other site features e.g. large solid objects and position in relation to the water's edge in terms of the efficacy of the small targets

Prospects for the development of odour baits to control the tsetse flies Glossina tachinoides and G. palpalis s.l.

Field studies were done of the responses of Glossina palpalis palpalis in Côte d'Ivoire, and G. p. gambiensis and G. tachinoides in Burkina Faso, to odours from humans, cattle and pigs. Responses were measured either by baiting (1.) biconical traps or (2.) electrocuting black targets with natural host odours. The catch of G. tachinoides from traps was significantly enhanced (~5×) by odour from cattle but not humans. In contrast, catches from electric targets showed inconsistent results. For G. p. gambiensis both human and cattle odour increased (>2×) the trap catch significantly but not the catch from electric targets. For G. p. palpalis, odours from pigs and humans increased (~5×) the numbers of tsetse attracted to the vicinity of the odour source but had little effect on landing or trap-entry. For G. tachinoides a blend of POCA (P = 3-n-propylphenol; O = 1-octen-3-ol; C = 4-methylphenol; A = acetone) alone or synthetic cattle odour (acetone, 1-octen-3-ol, 4-methylphenol and 3-n-propylphenol with carbon dioxide) consistently caught more tsetse than natural cattle odour. For G. p. gambiensis, POCA consistently increased catches from both traps and targets. For G. p. palpalis, doses of carbon dioxide similar to those produced by a host resulted in similar increases in attraction. Baiting traps with super-normal (~500 mg/h) doses of acetone also consistently produced significant but slight (~1.6×) increases in catches of male flies. The results suggest that odour-baited traps and insecticide-treated targets could assist the AU-Pan African Tsetse and Trypanosomiasis Eradication Campaign (PATTEC) in its current efforts to monitor and control Palpalis group tsetse in West Africa. For all three species, only ~50% of the flies attracted to the vicinity of the trap were actually caught by it, suggesting that better traps might be developed by an analysis of the visual responses and identification of any semiochemicals involved in short-range interaction

Trace anomaly and induced action for a metric-scalar background

The conformal anomaly and anomaly-induced effective action represent useful and economic ways to describe semiclassical contributions to the action of gravity. We discuss the anomaly in the case when the background is formed by metric and scalar fields and formulate the induced action in two standard covariant forms. The analysis of induced action at low energies reveals existing connection to the renormalization group and effective potential. The classification of anomalous terms is extended to the scalar background and ambiguities in the total derivative terms in the anomaly are considered using Pauli–Villars regularization

The role of microtubule movement in bidirectional organelle transport

We study the role of microtubule movement in bidirectional organelle transport in Drosophila S2 cells and show that EGFP-tagged peroxisomes in cells serve as sensitive probes of motor induced, noisy cytoskeletal motions. Multiple peroxisomes move in unison over large time windows and show correlations with microtubule tip positions, indicating rapid microtubule fluctuations in the longitudinal direction. We report the first high-resolution measurement of longitudinal microtubule fluctuations performed by tracing such pairs of co-moving peroxisomes. The resulting picture shows that motor-dependent longitudinal microtubule oscillations contribute significantly to cargo movement along microtubules. Thus, contrary to the conventional view, organelle transport cannot be described solely in terms of cargo movement along stationary microtubule tracks, but instead includes a strong contribution from the movement of the tracks.Comment: 24 pages, 5 figure

Pyrethroid treatment of cattle for tsetse control: Reducing its impact on dung fauna

Background: African trypansomiases of humans and animals can be controlled by attacking the vectors,various species of tsetse fly. Treatment of cattle with pyrethroids to kill tsetse as they feed is the most cost-effective method. However, such treatments can contaminate cattle dung, thereby killing the fauna which disperse the dung and so play an important role in soil fertility. Hence there is a need to identify cost-effective methods of treating cattle with minimal impact on dung fauna. Methodology/Principal Findings: We used dung beetles to field bioassay the levels of dung contamination following the use of spray and pour-on formulations of deltamethrin, applied to various parts of the body of cattle in Zimbabwe. Results suggested that dung was contaminated by contact with insecticide on the body surface as the cattle defecated, and by ingestion of insecticide as the cattle licked themselves. Death of dung beetles was reduced to negligible levels by using only the spray and applying it to the legs and belly or legs alone, i.e., places where most tsetse feed. Conclusion/Significance: The restricted applications suitable for minimising the impact on dung fauna have the collateral benefits of improving the economy and convenience of cattle treatments for tsetse control. The demonstration of collateral benefits is one of the surest ways of promoting environmentally friendly procedures