In silico phylogenetic and virulence gene profile analyses of avian pathogenic Escherichia coli genome sequences.

Avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC) infections are responsible for significant losses in the poultry industry worldwide. A zoonotic risk has been attributed to APEC strains because they present similarities to extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC) associated with illness in humans, mainly urinary tract infections and neonatal meningitis. Here, we present in silico analyses with pathogenic E. coli genome sequences, including recently available APEC genomes. The phylogenetic tree, based on multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) of seven housekeeping genes, revealed high diversity in the allelic composition. Nevertheless, despite this diversity, the phylogenetic tree was able to cluster the different pathotypes together. An in silico virulence gene profile was also determined for each of these strains, through the presence or absence of 83 well-known virulence genes/traits described in pathogenic E. coli strains. The MLST phylogeny and the virulence gene profiles demonstrated a certain genetic similarity between Brazilian APEC strains, APEC isolated in the United States, UPEC (uropathogenic E. coli) and diarrheagenic strains isolated from humans. This correlation corroborates and reinforces the zoonotic potential hypothesis proposed to APEC

DRIS standards for nutritional evaluation of Phaseolus vulgaris in Cerrado, Goiás State, Brazil.

The knowledge of nutritional requirements of beans, the efficiency of soil acidity correction and the fertilization programs are essential to increase productivity. The Integrated Recommendation and Diagnosis System (DRIS) assists with nutritional diagnosis of cultivated plants based on existing interactions between nutrients and the hierarchizing of limitations. This study aimed at establishing standards using the DRIS method for areas of production of irrigated common beans and at determining the most limiting nutritional factors to production using leaf analyses interpreted by concentration ranges and DRIS. Eighteen different beanproducing areas were selected in a central pivot irrigation system, from which 82 sampling points were established to collect leaves of crop and determine their nutritional contents. The reference population had productivity of over 3,000 kg ha- 1. Using DRIS, we determined that phosphorus is the most limiting nutrient regarding its deficiency, with great sensitivity to diagnose nutritional problems of plants, especially micronutrients. Phosphorus (68.3%), molybdenum (65.9%), iron (64.6 %) and sodium (63.4%) and are nutrients with highest percentage of samples presenting levels below adequate according to sufficiency ranges for plants. Using DRIS, we can evaluate interactions among nutrients and determine of the magnitude of crop nutritional limitation whether due to deficiency or excess. These results may indicate which nutrients are limiting the crop productive capacity, allowing greater efficiency in its correction in soil

Avaliação do conteúdo de carotenóides e compostos cianogênicos em híbridos da mandioca da geração 2008.

Este trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar o teor de carotenóides totais e compostos cianogênicos de híbridos de mandioca da Geração 2008. Foram avaliados 64 híbridos sendo que 14 apresentaram teor de carotenóides totais acima de 10 µg g-1 de mandioca fresca e conteúdo de compostos cianogênicos abaixo de 100 µg de HCN g-1. Dos 14 acessos, cinco possuem concentração de carotenoides totais entre 12,5 a 15,5 µg g-1 de mandioca fresca, com baixo conteúdo de compostos cianogênicos, entre 59,9 à 93,5 µg de HCN g-1 de mandioca fresca. Tais híbridos podem ser considerados promissores como fontes de carotenoides, podendo ser indicados aos agricultores como mandioca de mesa.PDF .T92

Índices de crescimento em capim-paraíso sob diferentes idades durante três ciclos de crescimento no litoral cearense.

Resumo: As forrageiras apresentam variação ao longo do seu crescimento, em razão de variação na idade fisiológica e das condições de meio e manejo. Objetivou-se avaliar os índices de crescimento em capim-paraíso em diferentes idades de crescimento (14; 21; 28; 35; 42; 49; 56; 63 e 70 dias) e durante três ciclos (chuvoso, seco 1 e seco 2), num delineamento inteiramente casualizado com medidas repetidas no tempo e duas repetições. Avaliaram-se a taxa de crescimento relativo (TCR), a razão de área foliar (RAF), a razão de peso foliar (RPF) e a área foliar específica (AFE). A interação entre idades de crescimento e ciclos foi significativa para todas as variáveis analisadas, exceto para a AFE. A TCR decresceu com as idades em ambos os ciclos, exceto no ciclo seco 2, com média de 0,0512 g?g-1?dia-1. A RAF e a RPF decresceram com o avanço nas idades. A AFE respondeu positivamente às idades. As idades de crescimento influenciam a dinâmica dos componentes morfofisiológicos do capim-paraíso. [Growth index in paraiso grass under different ages during three growth cycles in coastal Ceara]. Abstract: The forage plants show variation along their growth due to changes in physiological age, environment and management conditions. One aimed to analyze the growth index of paraiso grass, in different growth ages (14; 21; 28; 35; 42; 49; 56; 63 e 70 days) and cycles (rainy, dry 1 and dry 2). A completely randomized design in a split-plot layout with repeated measures and two replicates was adopetd. The relative growth rate (RGR), the leaf area ratio (LAR), the leaf weight ratio (LWR) and the specific leaf area (SLA) were evaluated. An interaction between growth ages and cycles was observed for all variable analyzed, except for SLA. The RGR showed a linear decreased effect in the cycles, except in dry 2 cycles, with an average of 0,0512 g?g-1?day-1. The LAR and LWR decreased along the ages. The SLA presented positive linear effect. The different growth ages influenced the morphofisiological components in paraiso grass

Capacidade de retenção de água em amostras de diferentes horizontes de solo na Bacia do Rio Urucu - Amazonas.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a retenção de água em sete potenciais, estimar a água disponível e avaliar a densidade do solo nos horizontes de cinco perfis em áreas de floresta primária na Base de Operações Geólogo Pedro de Moura - Urucu - AM

Stress response function of a two-dimensional ordered packing of frictional beads

We study the stress profile of an ordered two-dimensional packing of beads in response to the application of a vertical overload localized at its top surface. Disorder is introduced through the Coulombic friction between the grains which gives some indeterminacy and allows the choice of one constrained random number per grain in the calculation of the contact forces. The so-called `multi-agent' technique we use, lets us deal with systems as large as $1000\times1000$ grains. We show that the average response profile has a double peaked structure. At large depth $z$, the position of these peaks grows with $cz$, while their widths scales like $\sqrt{Dz}$. $c$ and $D$ are analogous to `propagation' and `diffusion' coefficients. Their values depend on that of the friction coefficient $\mu$. At small $\mu$, we get $c_0-c \propto \mu$ and $D \propto \mu^\beta$, with $\beta \sim 2.5$, which means that the peaks get closer and wider as the disorder gets larger. This behavior is qualitatively what was predicted in a model where a stochastic relation between the stress components is assumed.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, accepted version to Europhys. Let