Diversity across Seasons of Culturable Pseudomonas from a Desiccation Lagoon in Cuatro Cienegas, Mexico.

Cuatro Cienegas basin (CCB) is a biodiversity reservoir within the Chihuahuan desert that includes several water systems subject to marked seasonality. While several studies have focused on biodiversity inventories, this is the first study that describes seasonal changes in diversity within the basin. We sampled Pseudomonas populations from a seasonally variable water system at four different sampling dates (August 2003, January 2004, January 2005, and August 2005). A total of 70 Pseudomonas isolates across seasons were obtained, genotyped by fingerprinting (BOX-PCR), and taxonomically characterized by 16S rDNA sequencing. We found 35 unique genotypes, and two numerically dominant lineages (16S rDNA sequences) that made up 64% of the sample: P. cuatrocienegasensis and P. otitidis. We did not recover genotypes across seasons, but lineages reoccurred across seasons; P. cuatrocienegasensis was isolated exclusively in winter, while P. otitidis was only recovered in summer. We statistically show that taxonomic identity of isolates is not independent of the sampling season, and that winter and summer populations are different. In addition to the genetic description of populations, we show exploratory measures of growth rates at different temperatures, suggesting physiological differences between populations. Altogether, the results indicate seasonal changes in diversity of free-living aquatic Pseudomonas populations from CCB

Social inequality in the access to healthcare services in Brazil

healthcare services; Brazil; social inequality

Understanding the Evolutionary Relationships and Major Traits of \u3cem\u3eBacillus\u3c/em\u3e through Comparative Genomics

Background: The presence of Bacillus in very diverse environments reflects the versatile metabolic capabilities of a widely distributed genus. Traditional phylogenetic analysis based on limited gene sampling is not adequate for resolving the genus evolutionary relationships. By distinguishing between core and pan-genome, we determined the evolutionary and functional relationships of known Bacillus. Results: Our analysis is based upon twenty complete and draft Bacillus genomes, including a newly sequenced Bacillus isolate from an aquatic environment that we report for the first time here. Using a core genome, we were able to determine the phylogeny of known Bacilli, including aquatic strains whose position in the phylogenetic tree could not be unambiguously determined in the past. Using the pan-genome from the sequenced Bacillus, we identified functional differences, such as carbohydrate utilization and genes involved in signal transduction, which distinguished the taxonomic groups. We also assessed the genetic architecture of the defining traits of Bacillus, such as sporulation and competence, and showed that less than one third of the B. subtilis genes are conserved across other Bacilli. Most variation was shown to occur in genes that are needed to respond to environmental cues, suggesting that Bacilli have genetically specialized to allow for the occupation of diverse habitats and niches. Conclusions: The aquatic Bacilli are defined here for the first time as a group through the phylogenetic analysis of 814 genes that comprise the core genome. Our data distinguished between genomic components, especially core vs. pan-genome to provide insight into phylogeny and function that would otherwise be difficult to achieve. A phylogeny may mask the diversity of functions, which we tried to uncover in our approach. The diversity of sporulation and competence genes across the Bacilli was unexpected based on previous studies of the B. subtilis model alone. The challenge of uncovering the novelties and variations among genes of the non-subtilis groups still remains. This task will be best accomplished by directing efforts toward understanding phylogenetic groups with similar ecological niches

Evolutionary dynamics of insertion sequences in relation to the evolutionary histories of the chromosome and symbiotic plasmid genes of Rhizobium etli populations

Insertion sequences (IS) are mobile genetic elements that are distributed in many prokaryotes. In particular, in the genomes of the symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria collectively known as rhizobia, IS are fairly abundant in plasmids or chromosomal islands that carry the genes needed for symbiosis. Here, we report an analysis of the distribution and genetic conservation of the IS found in the genome of Rhizobium etli CFN42 in a collection of 87 Rhizobium strains belonging to populations with different geographical origins. We used PCR to generate presence/absence profiles of the 39 IS found in R. etli CFN42 and evaluated whether the IS were located in consistent genomic contexts. We found that the IS from the symbiotic plasmid were frequently present in the analyzed strains, whereas the chromosomal IS were observed less frequently. We then examined the evolutionary dynamics of these strains based on a population genetic analysis of two chromosomal housekeeping genes (glyA and dnaB) and three symbiotic sequences (nodC and the two IS elements). Our results indicate that the IS contained within the symbiotic plasmid have a higher degree of genomic context conservation, lower nucleotide diversity and genetic differentiation, and fewer recombination events than the chromosomal housekeeping genes. These results suggest that the R. etli populations diverged recently in Mexico, that the symbiotic plasmid also had a recent origin, and that the IS elements have undergone a process of cyclic infection and expansion

Is There an Interspecific Diversity of the Thymic Microenvironment?

Thymic epithelial cells (TEC) heterogeneity suggests the existence of functional subsets. Anti-cytokeratin (Anti-CK) monoclonal antibodies (MAb), markers of epithelial differentiation, have been used to detect TEC subsets in rodents and humans. These MAb revealed a different topography of CK-defined TEC subsets in mice and humans, leading us to carry out a comparative study of mammalian thymuses. Our study showed that the distribution pattern of cytokeratins in the thymic epithelium is complex and unique, with coexpression of CK typical of simple and stratified epithelia. Moreover, we demonstrated an interspecific diversity of CK expression within the thymic lobules. Interestingly, such diversity was not a general phenomenon for the expression of any thymic microenvironmental proteins, because the location of extracellular matrix components was essentially similar in the mammalian species studied

A IMPORTÂNCIA DA SAÚDE COMO UM DOS DETERMINANTES DA DISTRIBUIÇÃO DE RENDIMENTOS E POBREZA NO BRASIL

One of the main social economic problems observed in the majority of countries, in particularly, in the less developed countries, is the high level of income inequality and poverty. In Brazil, these facts are especially important because our country presents one of the worst income distributions in the world that results in a gini coefficient around 0,607. The aim of this paper is to study the relationship between health status, income distribution and the level of poverty in Brazil. Specifically, we are interested in evaluate how health status impacts income distribution and the level of poverty. The methodology used in this work is an adaptation of the micro simulation method proposed by Bourguignon, Ferreira e Lusting (2001). To analyse health effects over income distribution and the level of poverty we used two inequality indexes (Gini coefficient and T-Theil index) and three poverty measures - poor proportion, income gap and quadratic income gap. Our database is PNAD 98 (National Household Survey) that presents a special survey about health status and other related subjects. Our main findings points that health status affects both income distribution and level of poverty.

Desigualdades sociais em saúde: evidências empíricas sobre o caso brasileiro

The aim of this paper is to measure the socioeconomic health inequality in Brazil considering the differences among the federal states. We estimate the health concentration index. This work has two main contributions: first, it considers the differences in the health level of population among the federal states and second, it measures the socioeconomic health inequality considering all socioeconomic groups. The socioeconomic variables used are years of formal schooling and familiar income per capita. Even though, the majority of papers in the literature estimate health inequality using mortality as health indicator, in this paper we use morbidity measures. Morbidity measures are advantageous because they capture differences in the life quality of individuals in spite of only considering the cause of death. The data base used is PNAD (Pesquisa Nacional de Amostra Domiciliar), a National Household Survey accomplished by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The main findings of this work is to perceive the existence of social health inequality in Brazil. Almost all health concentration indexes estimated showed a health inequality favoring the higher income groups. This result was robust for almost all health indicators except when the criteria used was the proportion of individuals in the whole population that presented chronic disease. This result was verified in all regions except the Northeastern region when we used familiar income per capita to classify social economic groups.healthcare services; Brazil; social inequality

Supporting Non-functional Requirements in Services Software Development Process: An MDD Approach

International audienceThis paper presents the π-SODM method an extension to the Service Oriented Development Method (SOD-M) to support the develop- ment of services software considering their functional and non-functional requirements. Specifically, π-SODM proposes: (i) meta-models for rep- resenting non-functional requirements in different abstraction levels; (ii) model-to-model transformation rules, useful to semi-automatically re- fine Platform Independent Models into Platform Specific Models; and (iii) rules to transform Platform Specific Models into concrete imple- mentations. In order to illustrate the use of this methodology the paper describes how its use to develop a proof-of-concept

Data Transmissions using Hub Nodes in Vehicular Social Networks

© 2020 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.[EN] Vehicular Social Networks (VSNs) consist of groups of individuals (i.e., people) who may share common interests, preferences and needs in the context of temporal spatial proximity on roads. In this environment, the impact of human social factors, such as mobility, willingness to cooperate and personal preferences, on vehicular connectivity is taken under consideration, thus extending the concept of Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks. In VSNs, vehicles are classified based on their social degree, a vehicle considered to be a ¿social¿ one if it accesses the vehicular social network and posts messages with a frequency higher than a given threshold. Therefore, to speed up the data dissemination process within a vehicular social network, a packet should be forwarded to those vehicles showing high social activity. In a previous paper, we introduced a new probabilistic-based broadcasting scheme called SCARF (SoCial-Aware Reliable Forwarding Technique for Vehicular Communications), and we analytically demonstrated its effectiveness in packet transmission reduction while guaranteeing network dissemination. In this paper, we assess SCARF in more realistic scenarios with real traffic traces, and we compare it with other similar techniques. We show that SCARF outperforms other approaches in terms of delivery ratio, while guaranteeing acceptable time delay values and average number of forwardings.Vegni, AM.; Souza, C.; Loscrí, V.; Hernández-Orallo, E.; Manzoni, P. (2020). Data Transmissions using Hub Nodes in Vehicular Social Networks. IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing. 19(7):1570-1585. https://doi.org/10.1109/TMC.2019.2928803S1570158519

Diatribes viperinas e digressões quixotescas : debates intelectuais e projetos educacionais na década de 1950

Orientadora: Profa. Dra. Maria Tarcisa Silva BégaTese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Ciencias Humanas, Letras e Artes, Programa de Pós-Graduaçao em Sociologia. Defesa: Curitiba, 07/07/2009Bibliografia: fls. 191-212Resumo: A partir de um conflito que, primeiramente, se manifestou entre os professores da Faculdade de Filosofia da Universidade do Paraná e das decorrentes posições assumidas, pretendeu-se identificar os espaços ocupados no campo intelectual, reveladores de diferentes encaminhamentos frente a um projeto nacional de educação. Neste sentido, a formação de grupos na Faculdade de Filosofia da Universidade do Paraná, e os conflitos daí decorrentes, revelam não apenas os embates internos, mas também, e principalmente, a inserção destes em determinado campo intelectual. A participação em associações, em grupos de estudos, em revistas literárias ou em espaços de circulação de idéias, indicam as relações que os atores estabeleceram no campo intelectual local e nacional, uma vez que, se pode dizer, as publicações de artigos em revistas de circulação nacional, apontam para concepções teóricas e políticas que se constituíram em elementos de diferenciação entre os grupos.Neste sentido, analisa-se o papel dos intelectuais e suas tomadas de posições frente aos debates educacionais, na década de 1950, e que culminaram nas discussões em torno do projeto de Lei das Diretrizes e Bases da Educação