Stream Fish Fauna From The Tributaries Of The Upper Itapetininga River, Upper Paranapanema River Basin, State Of São Paulo, Brazil

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)The study area, which is located in urban and rural areas within the upper Paranapanema River basin, is undergoing several types of anthropogenic and non-anthropogenic impacts, such as chemical alterations, habitat disruption, and biological invasions. The aim of this study is to describe the fish faunal composition from tributaries of the Itapetininga River, upper Paranapanema River basin, state of São Paulo, Brazil. Herein, we include a list of 49 fish species, belonging to seven orders, 19 families and 35 genera, captured from September 2009 to November 2013. Thus, the present study fills part of the knowledge gap about the fish fauna from tributaries of the Paranapanema basin by adding data from small tributaries not studied so far. Moreover, our findings can help inform future conservational and/or management strategies within the upper Paranapanema basin. © 2016 Check List and Authors.12207/50981-7, FAPESP, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo07/50982-3, FAPESP, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo2012/09346-4, FAPESP, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São PauloFundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP

Estimation of cancer and hereditary effect risks in a patient and in a physician after cardiac catheterization procedure

Cateterismo cardíaco é uma prática muito comum que utiliza radiação X para gerar as imagens necessárias das estruturas do paciente para diagnóstico de algumas doenças do coração. Durante o procedimento, pacientes e médicos são expostos a radiação X por longos períodos de tempo, que podem ser suficientes para causar lesões de pele e, até mesmo, aumentar o risco de aparecimento de efeitos tardios da radiação, como o desenvolvimento de câncer ou o aparecimento de efeitos hereditários. O objetivo desse estudo foi estimar, para um exame de cateterismo cardíaco, utilizando método Monte Carlo, os coeficientes de conversão de doses equivalente e efetiva e as probabilidades de desenvolvimento de câncer e do aparecimento de efeitos hereditários tanto na paciente e quanto na médica. Considerando apenas a realização de um procedimento, os riscos d e desenvolvimento de câncer e de aparecimento de efeitos hereditários, como esperado, foram maiores para a paciente. Além disso, os resultados comprovaram que o aumento da diferença de potencial no tubo, já que gera um aumento da dose em órgãos e tecidos, aumenta os riscos associados ao procedimento, tanto de desenvolvimento de câncer quanto de aparecimento de efeito hereditário. ______________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT: Cardiac catheterization is a common practice that uses X-rays to create images of structures necessary for the patient's diagnosis of certain diseases of the heart. During the procedure, patients and physicians are exposed to X-rays for long periods of time, which may be sufficient to cause skin lesions and even increase the risk of developing late effects of radiation, such as the development of cancer or onset of hereditary effects. The aim of this study was to estimate, for an examination of cardiac catheterization, using Monte Carlo method, the conversion coefficients of effective and equivalent doses and the probability of developing cancer or hereditary effects in both patient and physician. Considering only the performance of a procedure, the risks of developing cancer and hereditary effects appear, as expected, were higher for the patient. In addition, the results showed that increasing the potential difference across the tube, since it generates an increase in dose to organs and tissues, increases the risks associated with the procedure

Asymptomatic Phytoplasma Reveal a Novel and Troublesome Infection

Asymptomatic infections are by their nature challenging to study and even more difficult to monitor across broad geographical ranges, particularly as methods are reliant on expensive molecular techniques. The plant pathogen that causes Witches’ Broom disease of lime (Candidatus Phytoplasma aurantifolia) is a major limiting factor in lime production across the Middle East and was recently detected in Brazil, but without the typical symptoms from the Middle East. Here, we discuss the difficulty of monitoring asymptomatic infections and highlight the threat posed by highlight future outbreaks. Asymptomatic infections have important implications for understanding the evolution of pathogens within perennial hosts. We use three model systems of asymptomatic infections: (i) a Phytoplasma and (ii) a bacterial infection of lime (Citrus aurantifolia) and (iii) an “out-group” Phytoplasma of Cassava (Manihot esculenta) to demonstrate consistency across divergent hosts. We found that although all plants in the study were intentionally infected, assays typically did not confirm this diagnosis. Emergent technologies monitoring gene expression could be used to both study novel biology associated with asymptomatic infections and develop monitoring technologies. We highlight the difficulty of monitoring asymptomatic infections in possible future outbreaks and have important implications for understanding the evolution of pathogens within perennial hosts

Capacity challenges in water quality monitoring: understanding the role of human development

Monitoring the qualitative status of freshwaters is an important goal of the international community, as stated in the Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) indicator 6.3.2 on good ambient water quality. Monitoring data are, however, lacking in many countries, allegedly because of capacity challenges of less-developed countries. So far, however, the relationship between human development and capacity challenges for water quality monitoring have not been analysed systematically. This hinders the implementation of fine-tuned capacity development programmes for water quality monitoring. Against this background, this study takes a global perspective in analysing the link between human development and the capacity challenges countries face in their national water quality monitoring programmes. The analysis is based on the latest data on the human development index and an international online survey amongst experts from science and practice. Results provide evidence of a negative relationship between human development and the capacity challenges to meet SDG 6.3.2 monitoring requirements. This negative relationship increases along the course of the monitoring process, from defining the enabling environment, choosing parameters for the collection of field data, to the analytics and analysis of five commonly used parameters (DO, EC, pH, TP and TN). Our assessment can be used to help practitioners improve technical capacity development activities and to identify and target investment in capacity development for monitoring

Radiative decays of light vector mesons in a quark level linear sigma model

We calculate the P0 to gamma gamma, V0 to P0 gamma and V0to V'0 gamma gamma decays in the framework of a U(3)xU(3) linear sigma model which includes constituent quarks. For the first two decays this approach improves results based on the anomalous Wess-Zumino term, with contributions due to SU(3) symmetry breaking and vector mixing. The phi to (omega,rho) gamma gamma decays are dominated by resonant eta' exchange . Our calculation for the later decays improves and update similar calculations in the -closely related- framework of vector meson dominance. We obtain BR(phi to rho gamma gamma)=2.5x10^{-5} and BR(phi to omega gamma gamma)=2.8x10^{-6} within the scope of the high-luminosity phi factories.Comment: 8 pages, submitted to Phys. Rev.