A geological and geophysical study of the Sergipe-Alagoas Basin

Extensional stresses caused Africa and South America to break up about 130 Million Years. When Africa rifted away from South America, a large onshore triple junction began at about 13° S and propagated northward. This triple junction failed and created the Reconcavo-Tucano-Jupato rift (R-T-J), located in northeastern Brazil (north of Salvador). The extensional stress that created this rift was caused by a change in the force acting on the plate during the Aptian. A series of offshore rifts also opened at this time, adjacent to the R-T-J rift; this series of basins are referred to as Jacuipe, Sergipe, and Alagoas (J-S-A). The basins are separated by bathymetric highs to the north and the south of the Sergipe-Alagoas basin. The Sergipe-Alagoas basin has a Bouguer gravity anomalies more negative than -35 mGal, and the other two basins have values more negative than -100 mGal; the total magnetic intensity is also about 60-80 nT higher in the Sergipe-Alagoas basin than the surrounding basins. The gravity and magnetic values in the Sergipe-Alagoas basin, when compared to the Jacuipe and the Sergipe-Alagoas basins, indicate that the depositional history and/or the formation of the Sergipe-Alagoas basin is different from the other two basins. This study was done by analyzing the gravity and magnetic anolamies in the region, and comparing these anomalies to the stratigraphy of the basin. This research has allowed the stratigraphy and structures of the Sergipe-Alagoas basin to be better understood - the location of the Sergipe fracture zone will also be outlined. This study provides a comprehensive view of the Sergipe-Alagoas basin and outlines a method for using Gravity and Magnetics to better understand the stratigraphy and structure of the Sergipe-Alagoas basin

Rheumatoid arthritis, cardiovascular disease and physical exercise: a systematic review

This systematic review investigates the effectiveness of exercise interventions in improving disease-related characteristics in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). It also provides suggestions for exercise programmes suitable for improving the cardiovascular profile of RA patients and proposes areas for future research in the field. Six databases (Medline, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, Google Scholar, EMBASE and PEDro) were searched to identify publications from 1974 to December 2006 regarding RA and exercise interventions. The quality of the studies included was determined by using the Jadad scale. Initial searches identified 1342 articles from which 40 met the inclusion criteria. No studies were found investigating exercise interventions in relation to cardiovascular disease in RA. There is strong evidence suggesting that exercise from low to high intensity of various modes is effective in improving disease-related characteristics and functional ability in RA patients. Future studies are required to investigate the effects of exercise in improving the cardiovascular status of this patient population

Biomedical Informatics : Computer Applications in Health Care and Biomedicine

Biomedical Informatic

\u3ci\u3eDrosophila\u3c/i\u3e Muller F Elements Maintain a Distinct Set of Genomic Properties Over 40 Million Years of Evolution

The Muller F element (4.2 Mb, ~80 protein-coding genes) is an unusual autosome of Drosophila melanogaster; it is mostly heterochromatic with a low recombination rate. To investigate how these properties impact the evolution of repeats and genes, we manually improved the sequence and annotated the genes on the D. erecta, D. mojavensis, and D. grimshawi F elements and euchromatic domains from the Muller D element. We find that F elements have greater transposon density (25–50%) than euchromatic reference regions (3–11%). Among the F elements, D. grimshawi has the lowest transposon density (particularly DINE-1: 2% vs. 11–27%). F element genes have larger coding spans, more coding exons, larger introns, and lower codon bias. Comparison of the Effective Number of Codons with the Codon Adaptation Index shows that, in contrast to the other species, codon bias in D. grimshawi F element genes can be attributed primarily to selection instead of mutational biases, suggesting that density and types of transposons affect the degree of local heterochromatin formation. F element genes have lower estimated DNA melting temperatures than D element genes, potentially facilitating transcription through heterochromatin. Most F element genes (~90%) have remained on that element, but the F element has smaller syntenic blocks than genome averages (3.4–3.6 vs. 8.4–8.8 genes per block), indicating greater rates of inversion despite lower rates of recombination. Overall, the F element has maintained characteristics that are distinct from other autosomes in the Drosophila lineage, illuminating the constraints imposed by a heterochromatic milieu