High Titers ofChlamydia trachomatis Antibodies in Brazilian Women with Tubal Occlusion or Previous Ectopic Pregnancy

Objective. To evaluate serum chlamydia antibody titers (CATs) in tubal occlusion or previous ectopic pregnancy and the associated risk factors.Methods. The study population consisted of 55 women wih tubal damage and 55 parous women. CAT was measured using the whole-cell inclusion immunofluorescence test and cervical chlamydial DNA detected by PCR. Odds ratios were calculated to assess variables associated withC. trachomatis infection.Results. The prevalence of chlamydial antibodies and antibody titers in women with tubal occlusion or previous ectopic pregnancy was significantly higher (P < .01) than in parous women. Stepwise logistic regression analysis showed that chlamydia IgG antibodies were associated with tubal damage and with a larger number of lifetime sexual partners.Conclusions. Chlamydia antibody titers were associated with tubal occlusion, prior ectopic pregnancy, and with sexual behavior, suggesting that a chlamydia infection was the major contributor to the tubal damage in these women

Avaliação de carbono do solo sob diferentes sistemas de preparo do solo e rotação de culturas.

A crescente preocupação da sociedade com a degradação do ambiente e a utilização racional da água e do solo, nos leva a buscar manejos adequados visando obter qualidade dos mesmos. Os estoques de carbono (C) são entendidos como básicos nas questões relativas às mudanças. Dessa forma, seu estudo representa grande importância em sistemas de manejo do solo, uma vez que influencia na dinâmica dos nutrientes e na fertilidade do solo. Este trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar os teores de carbono do solo, em função de diferentes sistemas de preparo (PRT - preparo tradicional: uma operação com grade aradora e mais duas com grade niveladora; PRA - preparo alternativo: uma operação de subsolagem e uma com grade niveladora; PDA - plantio direto com um preparo alternativo a cada quatro anos e PDC ? plantio direto contínuo), submetido a diferentes combinações de culturas implantadas (SF: soja ? feijão; MF: milho ? feijão; SM: soja ? e milho e MM: milho ? milho). O experimento foi instalado em um LATOSSOLO VERMELHO-AMARELO com parcelas medindo 4,8 X 12 m em delineamento inteiramente casualizado em esquema de parcelas subdivididas, com três repetições, onde as avaliações de C foram realizadas em setembro de 2010 e fevereiro de 2011, pela oxidação dos compostos orgânicos do solo, por dicromato em meio ácido, segundo metodologia descrita em Tedesco et. al (1995). Os dados obtidos foram submetidos à análise estatística, onde observou significância para os preparos do solo e as profundidades, onde os preparos conservacionistas ainda não se mostram superiores aos convencionais. Quanto às profundidades, teores de C foram observados com maior frequência nas camadas superficiais de 0-10 cm

Post-hatching development of bovine embryos in vitro: the effects of tunnel preparation and gender.

The objective of this study was to compare morphological characteristics, kinetics of development, and gene expression ofmale and female IVP embryos thatwere cultured until day (D)15 (fertilization = D0), using either phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) or Milli-Q water (MQW) to dilute the agarose gel used for tunnel construction. On D11, embryos (n = 286) were placed in agarose gel tunnels diluted in PBS and MQW. Embryos were evaluated for morphology, and embryo size was recorded on D11, D12.5, D14 and D15. Then, embryos were sexed and used for gene expression analyses (G6PD, GLUT1, GLUT3, PGK1, PLAC8, KRT8, HSF1 and IFNT). The percentage of elongated embryos at D15 was higher (p < 0.05) in the PBS (54%) than in theMQW(42%) gel. However, embryos produced inMQWwere bigger (p < 0.05) and had a lower expression of GLUT1 (p = 0.08) than those cultured in PBS. There was a higher proportion of male than female embryos at D15 in both treatments, MQW(65% vs. 35%; p < 0.05) and PBS (67% vs. 33%; p < 0.05); however, embryo size was not signi?cantly different between genders. Moreover, D15 female embryos had greater expression of G6PD (p = 0.05) and KRT8 (p = 0.03) than male embryos. In conclusion, the diluent used for tunnel construction affected embryo development in the post-hatching development (PHD) system, and the use ofMQWwas the most indicative measure for the evaluation of embryo quality. Male and female embryos cultured from D11 to D15, either in an MQW or PBS agarose gel, demonstrated similar development but different gene expression

Metabolic engineering of fatty acids from soybean seeds.

Edição do Congress of the Brazilian Biotechnology Society, Florianópolis, 2013

A conformational study of hydroxylated isoflavones by vibrational spectroscopy coupled with DFT calculations

The conformational preferences of a series of hydroxylated isoflavones were studied by optical vibrational spectroscopy (FTIR and Raman) coupled with density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Special attention was paid to the effect of the hydroxyl substitution, due to the importance of this group in the biological activity of these systems. The isoflavones investigated – daidzein, genistein and formononetin – were shown to exist in distinct conformations in the solid state, namely regarding the orientation of the hydroxylic groups at C7 and within the catechol moiety, that are determinant factors for their conformational behaviour and antioxidant ability. In the light of the most stable conformers obtained for each molecule, a complete assignment of their experimental vibrational spectra was performed

Decay of metastable phases in a model for the catalytic oxidation of CO

We study by kinetic Monte Carlo simulations the dynamic behavior of a Ziff-Gulari-Barshad model with CO desorption for the reaction CO + O $\to$ CO$_2$ on a catalytic surface. Finite-size scaling analysis of the fluctuations and the fourth-order order-parameter cumulant show that below a critical CO desorption rate, the model exhibits a nonequilibrium first-order phase transition between low and high CO coverage phases. We calculate several points on the coexistence curve. We also measure the metastable lifetimes associated with the transition from the low CO coverage phase to the high CO coverage phase, and {\it vice versa}. Our results indicate that the transition process follows a mechanism very similar to the decay of metastable phases associated with {\it equilibrium} first-order phase transitions and can be described by the classic Kolmogorov-Johnson-Mehl-Avrami theory of phase transformation by nucleation and growth. In the present case, the desorption parameter plays the role of temperature, and the distance to the coexistence curve plays the role of an external field or supersaturation. We identify two distinct regimes, depending on whether the system is far from or close to the coexistence curve, in which the statistical properties and the system-size dependence of the lifetimes are different, corresponding to multidroplet or single-droplet decay, respectively. The crossover between the two regimes approaches the coexistence curve logarithmically with system size, analogous to the behavior of the crossover between multidroplet and single-droplet metastable decay near an equilibrium first-order phase transition.Comment: 27 pages, 22 figures, accepted by Physical Review