Mechanical resistance to penetration of an Ultisol in livestock-forestry system at Northeast of Brazil.

Soil mechanical resistance is a good soil physical indicator of its compaction. The animal component of the livestock-forestry system may make some pression on soil surface due to the trampling, which may lead the soil compaction and then negative impacts on its productive capacity

Mechanical resistance to penetration of an ultisol in livestock-forestry system at northeast of Brazil.

Soil mechanical resistance is a good soil physical indicator of its compaction. The animal component of the livestock-forestry system may make some pression on soil surface due to the trampling, which may lead the soil compaction and then negative impacts on its productive capacity

Goat farm variability affects milk Fourier-transform infrared spectra used for predicting coagulation properties

Driven by the large amount of goat milk destined for cheese production, and to pioneer the goat cheese industry, the objective of this study was to assess the effect of farm in predicting goat milk-coagulation and curd-firmness traits via Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Spectra from 452 Sarda goats belonging to 14 farms in central and southeast Sardinia (Italy) were collected. A Bayesian linear regression model was used, estimating all spectral wavelengths' effects simultaneously. Three traditional milk-coagulation properties [rennet coagulation time (min), time to curd firmness of 20 mm (min), and curd firmness 30 min after rennet addition (mm)] and 3 curd-firmness measures modeled over time [rennet coagulation time estimated according to curd firmness change over time (RCTeq), instant curd-firming rate constant, and asymptotical curd firmness] were considered. A stratified cross validation (SCV) was assigned, evaluating each farm separately (validation set; VAL) and keeping the remaining farms to train (calibration set) the statistical model. Moreover, a SCV, where 20% of the goats randomly taken (10 replicates per farm) from the VAL farm entered the calibration set, was also considered (SCV80). To assess model performance, coefficient of determination (R2VAL) and the root mean squared error of validation were recorded. The R2VAL varied between 0.14 and 0.45 (instant curd-firming rate constant and RCTeq, respectively), albeit the standard deviation was approximating half of the mean for all the traits. Although average results of the 2 SCV procedures were similar, in SCV80, the maximum R2VAL increased at about 15% across traits, with the highest observed for time to curd firmness of 20 mm (20%) and the lowest for RCTeq (6%). Further investigation evidenced important variability among farms, with R2VAL for some of them being close to 0. Our work outlined the importance of considering the effect of farm when developing Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy prediction equations for coagulation and curd-firmness traits in goats

Avaliação de genótipos de capim-elefante para uso forrageiro e produção de biomassa energética no Estado de Sergipe.

Atualmente, a biomassa responde por cerca de 30% da matriz energética nacional, representada pelo consumo de bagaço de cana, lenha e carvão vegetal, álcool e outras fontes primárias renováveis. São várias as formas de energia que se pode obter a partir da biomassa. Os principais usos da biomassa como insumo energético são a produção de energia térmica, produção de energia mecânica, produção de energia. No entanto, nos últimos anos, vem sendo desenvolvida uma nova técnica para substituição do carvão mineral, pelo carvão derivado de biomassa seca de capim elefante. O presente trabalho teve como objetivo geral selecionar clones de capim elefante para obtenção e registro de novas cultivares, que apresentem elevada produção de biomassa energética e com adaptação às diferentes condições edafoclimáticas dos Tabuleiros Costeiros. Esta sendo realizada a seleção massal estratifi cada em uma população de capim-elefante no município de Nossa Senhora das Dores, SE. Foram selecionados 79 genótipos, que foram clonados, onde foram avaliados em ensaio utilizando delineamento simples, considerando-se os cortes como repetições. Os genótipos serão avaliados pelo período mínimo de dois anos. Foi avaliada a produção de matéria seca e verde de planta inteira; altura da planta; número de perfi lhos. Os melhores genótipos serão enviados para avaliação no plano de ação da Renace. As médias das variáveis de altura de planta, número de perfi lhos, produção de massa verde e produção de massa seca por corte, referente às avaliações efetuadas nos meses de novembro de 2013 e maio de 2014. Para altura obtivemos de 240 a 440 cm, número de perfi lhos de 61 a 86 perfi lhos/m, massa verde variou de 37.774 193.314 kg/ha e massa seca de 8.920 a 54.547 kg/há. No geral pode-se dizer que a partir da análise dos dados dos dois cortes os resultados foram promissores, apesar da necessidade de mais avaliações e estudos para que possamos obter resultados mais significativos. Apesar de haver indícios de clones onde o desempenho foi consideravelmente expressivo é necessário a continuidade das avaliações para a obtenção de resultados mais significativos

Obtenção e difusão de cultivares de arroz irrigado para o estado de Goiás: relatório técnico 2002/2003 a 2004/2005.

Introdução; Objetivo; Equipe do projeto; Atividades de pesquisa; Ano agrícola 2002/03; Ano agrícola 2003/04; Ano agrícola 2004/05; Lançamento de cultivares; Atividades de difusão de tecnologia; Considerações gerais.bitstream/CNPAF/25047/1/doc_183.pd

Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016

Neuropeptide S Receptor as an Innovative Therapeutic Target for Parkinson Disease

Parkinson disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease mainly characterized by the loss of nigral dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta. Patients suffering from PD develop severe motor dysfunctions and a myriad of non-motor symptoms. The treatment mainly consists of increasing central dopaminergic neurotransmission and alleviating motor symptoms, thus promoting severe side effects without modifying the disease’s progress. A growing body of evidence suggests a close relationship between neuropeptide S (NPS) and its receptor (NPSR) system in PD: (i) double immunofluorescence labeling studies showed that NPSR is expressed in the nigral tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-positive neurons; (ii) central administration of NPS increases spontaneous locomotion in naïve rodents; (iii) central administration of NPS ameliorates motor and nonmotor dysfunctions in animal models of PD; (iv) microdialysis studies showed that NPS stimulates dopamine release in naïve and parkinsonian rodents; (v) central injection of NPS decreases oxidative damage to proteins and lipids in the rodent brain; and, (vi) 7 days of central administration of NPS protects from the progressive loss of nigral TH-positive cells in parkinsonian rats. Taken together, the NPS/NPSR system seems to be an emerging therapeutic strategy for alleviating motor and non-motor dysfunctions of PD and, possibly, for slowing disease progress