Avaliação da longevidade de grãos de pólen de de Manihot esculenta spp. flabellifolia por teste colorimétrico e fluorescência.

O conhecimento sobre a longevidade e viabilidade polínica é crucial para o melhoramento genético de uma espécie. Este trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar a longevidade do pólen de Manihot esculenta spp flabellifolia por meio de teste colorimétrico e pelo método de reação fluorocromática. Como material vegetal foram utilizados grãos de pólen do acesso FLA 029V-01. Para avaliação da longevidade polínica foram utilizadas flores estaminadas em quatro estádios distintos: 1 ? pré-antese; 2 ? antese; 3 ? 24 horas após antese e 4 ? período superior a 24 horas da antese. Para avaliação da viabilidade polínica foram utilizados os métodos de fluorescência e colorimétrico com o uso do corante carmim acético 1%. A viabilidade nos testes colorimétricos variou de 90% no pólen em antese a 75% nos grãos após um período superior a 24 horas à antese. Já nos testes por reação fluocromática a porcentagem de pólen viável foi de 81% para o pólen avaliado na antese e 50% no pólen na pré-antese, não ocorrendo germinação quando se utilizou de grãos de pólen 24 horas após a antese. Os resultados indicam que a perda de viabilidade em Manihot esculenta parece ser bem marcante 24 horas após a antese e o teste colorimétrico superestimou a viabilidade polínica não sendo recomendado para este tipo de avaliação

Perfilhamento de capim-mombaça após a desfolha, sob irrigação.

o perfilho é a unidade básica de produção das gramíneas forrageiras (Hodgson, 1990). O estudo do padrão de perfilhamento das plantas auxilia na definição de práticas de manejo como, por exemplo, a adubação. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a demografia de perfilhos de capim-mombaça, durante o período de rebrota, para definir o período de maior aparecimento de perfi lhos e sua contribuição para a produção de forragem

Magnetic Instabilities and Phase Diagram of the Double-Exchange Model in Infinite Dimensions

Dynamical mean-field theory is used to study the magnetic instabilities and phase diagram of the double-exchange (DE) model with Hund's coupling J_H >0 in infinite dimensions. In addition to ferromagnetic (FM) and antiferromagnetic (AF) phases, the DE model supports a broad class of short-range ordered (SRO) states with extensive entropy and short-range magnetic order. For any site on the Bethe lattice, the correlation parameter q of a SRO state is given by the average q=, where theta_i is the angle between any spin and its neighbors. Unlike the FM (q=0) and AF (q=1) transitions, the transition temperature of a SRO state (T_{SRO}) with 0<q<1 cannot be obtained from the magnetic susceptibility. But a solution of the coupled Green's functions in the weak-coupling limit indicates that a SRO state always has a higher transition temperature than the AF for all fillings p<1 and even than the FM for 0.26\le p \le 0.39. For 0.39<p<0.73, where both the FM and AF phases are unstable for small J_H, a SRO phase has a non-zero T_{SRO} except close to p=0.5. As J_H increases, T_{SRO} eventually vanishes and the FM dominates. For small J_H, the T=0 phase diagram is greatly simplified by the presence of the SRO phase. A SRO phase is found to have lower energy than either the FM or AF phases for 0.26\le p0 but appears for J_H\neq 0. For p near 1, PS occurs between an AF with p=1 and either a SRO or a FM phase. The stability of a SRO state at T=0 can be understood by examining the interacting DOS,which is gapped for any nonzero J_H in an AF but only when J_H exceeds a critical value in a SRO state.Comment: 38 pages, 11 figures, submitted to New Journal of Physic

Desempenho de cultivares de girassol no Nordeste brasileiro nos anos agrícolas de 2010 e 2011.

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Apple phytochemicals and their health benefits

Evidence suggests that a diet high in fruits and vegetables may decrease the risk of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and cancer, and phytochemicals including phenolics, flavonoids and carotenoids from fruits and vegetables may play a key role in reducing chronic disease risk. Apples are a widely consumed, rich source of phytochemicals, and epidemiological studies have linked the consumption of apples with reduced risk of some cancers, cardiovascular disease, asthma, and diabetes. In the laboratory, apples have been found to have very strong antioxidant activity, inhibit cancer cell proliferation, decrease lipid oxidation, and lower cholesterol. Apples contain a variety of phytochemicals, including quercetin, catechin, phloridzin and chlorogenic acid, all of which are strong antioxidants. The phytochemical composition of apples varies greatly between different varieties of apples, and there are also small changes in phytochemicals during the maturation and ripening of the fruit. Storage has little to no effect on apple phytochemicals, but processing can greatly affect apple phytochemicals. While extensive research exists, a literature review of the health benefits of apples and their phytochemicals has not been compiled to summarize this work. The purpose of this paper is to review the most recent literature regarding the health benefits of apples and their phytochemicals, phytochemical bioavailability and antioxidant behavior, and the effects of variety, ripening, storage and processing on apple phytochemicals

Cell Walls of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Differentially Modulated Innate Immunity and Glucose Metabolism during Late Systemic Inflammation

BACKGROUND: Salmonella causes acute systemic inflammation by using its virulence factors to invade the intestinal epithelium. But, prolonged inflammation may provoke severe body catabolism and immunological diseases. Salmonella has become more life-threatening due to emergence of multiple-antibiotic resistant strains. Mannose-rich oligosaccharides (MOS) from cells walls of Saccharomyces cerevisiae have shown to bind mannose-specific lectin of Gram-negative bacteria including Salmonella, and prevent their adherence to intestinal epithelial cells. However, whether MOS may potentially mitigate systemic inflammation is not investigated yet. Moreover, molecular events underlying innate immune responses and metabolic activities during late inflammation, in presence or absence of MOS, are unknown. METHODS AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using a Salmonella LPS-induced systemic inflammation chicken model and microarray analysis, we investigated the effects of MOS and virginiamycin (VIRG, a sub-therapeutic antibiotic) on innate immunity and glucose metabolism during late inflammation. Here, we demonstrate that MOS and VIRG modulated innate immunity and metabolic genes differently. Innate immune responses were principally mediated by intestinal IL-3, but not TNF-α, IL-1 or IL-6, whereas glucose mobilization occurred through intestinal gluconeogenesis only. MOS inherently induced IL-3 expression in control hosts. Consequent to LPS challenge, IL-3 induction in VIRG hosts but not differentially expressed in MOS hosts revealed that MOS counteracted LPS's detrimental inflammatory effects. Metabolic pathways are built to elucidate the mechanisms by which VIRG host's higher energy requirements were met: including gene up-regulations for intestinal gluconeogenesis (PEPCK) and liver glycolysis (ENO2), and intriguingly liver fatty acid synthesis through ATP citrate synthase (CS) down-regulation and ATP citrate lyase (ACLY) and malic enzyme (ME) up-regulations. However, MOS host's lower energy demands were sufficiently met through TCA citrate-derived energy, as indicated by CS up-regulation. CONCLUSIONS: MOS terminated inflammation earlier than VIRG and reduced glucose mobilization, thus representing a novel biological strategy to alleviate Salmonella-induced systemic inflammation in human and animal hosts

Untreated severe dental decay: a neglected determinant of low Body Mass Index in 12-year-old Filipino children

Contains fulltext : 98500.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)BACKGROUND: Dental decay is the most common childhood disease worldwide and most of the decay remains untreated. In the Philippines caries levels are among the highest in the South East Asian region. Elementary school children suffer from high prevalence of stunting and underweight.The present study aimed to investigate the association between untreated dental decay and Body Mass Index (BMI) among 12-year-old Filipino children. METHODS: Data collection was part of the National Oral Health Survey, a representative cross-sectional study of 1951 11-13-year-old school children using a modified, stratified cluster sampling design based on population classifications of the Philippine National Statistics Office. Caries was scored according to WHO criteria (1997) and odontogenic infections using the PUFA index. Anthropometric measures were performed by trained nurses. Some socio-economic determinants were included as potential confounding factors. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of caries (DMFT + dmft > 0) was 82.3% (95%CI; 80.6%-84.0%). The overall prevalence of odontogenic infections due to caries (PUFA + pufa > 0) was 55.7% (95% CI; 53.5%-57.9%) The BMI of 27.1% (95%CI; 25.1%-29.1%) of children was below normal, 1% (95%CI; 0.5%-1.4%) had a BMI above normal. The regression coefficient between BMI and caries was highly significant (p 0) as compared to those without odontogenic infections had an increased risk of a below normal BMI (OR: 1.47; 95% CI: 1.19-1.80). CONCLUSIONS: This is the first-ever representative survey showing a significant association between caries and BMI and particularly between odontogenic infections and below normal BMI. An expanded model of hypothesised associations is presented that includes progressed forms of dental decay as a significant, yet largely neglected determinant of poor child development