A completely randomized experiment was designed to evaluate the effects of α-amylase (AMY) and glucoamylase (GLU) on total losses, fermentative profile, chemical composition and amylolytic activity of rehydrated maize. Eighty-four experimental silos of rehydrated maize [0.33 litres/kg ground maize, 4-mm theoretical particle size, and 625 g/kg dry matter (DM)] were assigned to the following treatments: (1) control (CON), no enzyme addition; (2) GLU added at 300 µl/kg of ground maize (as-fed); and (3) AMY added at 300 µl/kg of ground maize. Seven silos from each treatment were opened after 7, 14, 21 and 28 days. Differences among treatments were evaluated through orthogonal contrasts (CON v. enzymes, and AMY v. GLU). Time effects were decomposed using polynomial regression. Glucoamylase silage exhibited greater total losses than AMY. Enzymes increased acetate and lactic acid concentrations and decreased ethanol concentration. Regardless of treatment, gas, effluent and total fermentative losses linearly increased, whereas DM recovery linearly decreased with higher storage length. Glucoamylase silage had lower ammonia nitrogen and higher lactic acid concentrations than AMY. Enzyme treatments decreased silage neutral detergent fibre content and increased in vitro DM degradation. Glucoamylase silage exhibited a more moderate starch content and greater in vitro DM degradation than AMY. Storage time linearly decreased DM, starch and fibre content of rehydrated maize. In vitro degradation of DM linearly increased as the storage length increased. This study showed evidence that enzymes with amylolytic activity, particularly GLU, improve the fermentative profile and DM degradation of rehydrated maize silage.

Differences in forage nutritive value between morning and afternoon are related to patterns of dehydration and carbohydrate accumulation throughout the day. In this way, management strategies that maximize grazing time during the afternoon could increase forage nutritive value and consequently nutrient intake. The aim of the current experiment was to evaluate the effect of the time of day (06.00 h [designated AM] or 15.00 h [PM]) that cattle are moved to a new paddock on forage nutritive value, grazing behaviour and animal performance of beef cattle on rotationally stocked Marandu palisadegrass (Brachiaria brizantha cv. Marandu Syn. Urochloa brizantha cv. Marandu) pastures. A spring and summer study was conducted in Pirassununga, SP, Brazil from October 2012 to March 2013 (182 days). Treatments were distributed in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Herbage mass, morphological composition, herbage allowance and stocking rates were similar between treatments during spring and summer. Moving animals to a new paddock, regardless of the time of day – 06.00 h (AM) or 15.00 h (PM) – stimulated grazing, modifying the distribution of meals throughout the day. However, compensatory mechanisms among grazing time, bite rate and forage nutritive value throughout the day operated in order to generate similar performance between animals offered a new paddock in the morning or in the afternoon.

Forage is the primary feed source for livestock in tropical regions and energy is one of the most important nutrients for ruminant nutrition. The effects of harvest management of Marandu palisade grass (Brachiaria brizantha cv. Marandu Syn. Urochloa brizantha cv. Marandu) on non-structural carbohydrate (NSC) concentrations were evaluated. A plot (Experiment 1) and a greenhouse study (Experiment 2) were conducted in 2013–14. In Experiment 1, treatments were the factorial arrangement of two harvest times and two vertical canopy layers (upper and intermediate), distributed in a completely randomized design with five replicates. In Experiment 2, treatments were the factorial arrangement of six harvest times and two morphological fractions (leaf blade and pseudostem). In both experiments, NSC concentration increased during the day. Upper and intermediate canopy layers had greater NSC concentration at 15.00 than 06.00 h during spring and summer. In addition, the magnitude of NSC increase was greater in the upper than intermediate canopy layer and in spring than summer. Marandu palisade grass shows greater digestibility in the afternoon than morning, representing an opportunity to optimize energy concentration through harvest management.

This study aimed to evaluate the risk factors for tuberculosis (TB) treatment default in a priority city for disease control in Brazil. A cohort of TB cases diagnosed from 2008 to 2009 was followed up from patients’ entry into three outpatient sites, in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais (Brazil), until the recording of the outcomes. Drug addiction, alcoholism and treatment site appeared to be independently associated with default. Current users of crack as the hardest drug (odds ratio (OR) 12·25, 95% confidence interval (CI) 3·04–49·26) were more likely to default than other hard drug users (OR 5·67, 95% CI 1·34–24·03), former users (OR 4·12, 95% CI 1·11–15·20) and those not known to use drugs (reference group). Consumers at high risk of alcoholism (OR 2·94, 95% CI 1·08–7·99) and those treated in an outpatient hospital unit (OR 8·22, 95% CI 2·79–24·21%) also were more likely to default. Our results establish that substance abuse was independently associated with default. National TB programmes might be more likely to achieve their control targets if they include interventions aimed at improving adherence and cure rates, by diagnosing and treating substance abuse concurrently with standard TB therapy.

Pertussis is a worldwide acute respiratory disease caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis. Despite high vaccine coverage, the bacterium continues to circulate in populations and is still one of the most common vaccine-preventable diseases. In Brazil, pertussis incidence has presented a significant decrease since 1990 but since 2011 a sudden increase in incidence has been observed. Thus, the aim of this study was to perform a molecular epidemiological characterization of B. pertussis strains isolated in the Central-Western region (specifically in Distrito Federal) of Brazil from August 2012 to August 2014. During this period, 92 B. pertussis strains were isolated from the outbreaks. All strains were characterized by serotyping and XbaI pulsed-field gel electrophoresis profiles. From August to December 2012, the most prevalent serotype observed was 1,3 (13/17). During 2013 the prevalence of serotype 1,3 decreased (13/30) and from January 2014 to August 2014 the most prevalent serotype was 1,2 (33/45). Fourteen PFGE profiles were identified. Of these, BP-XbaI0039 prevalence increased from 3/17 in 2012 to 10/30 in 2013, and 35/45 in 2014. These results evidence the selection of a specific genetic profile during this period, suggesting the occurrence of a bacterial genomic profile with high circulation potential.

Carrier concentration and mobility were measured for intrinsic cubic InN and GaN, and for Si-doped cubic GaN as a function of temperature. Metallic n-type conductivity was found for the InN, while background p-type conductivity was observed for the intrinsic GaN layer. Doping the cubic GaN with Si two regimes were observed. For low Si-doping concentrations, the samples remain p-type. Increasing the Si-doping level, the background acceptors are compensated and the samples became highly degenerated n-type. From the carrier concentration dependence on temperature, the activation energy of the donor and acceptor levels was determined. Attempts were made to determine the scattering mechanisms responsible for the behavior of the mobility as a function of temperature.

We consider the problem of reducing the response time of fork-join systems by maintaining the workload balanced among the processing stations. The general problem of modeling and finding an optimal policy that reduces imbalance is quite difficult. In order to circumvent this difficulty, the heavy traffic approach is taken, and the system dynamics are approximated by a reflected diffusion process. This way, the problem of finding an optimal balancing policy that reduces workload imbalance is set as a stochastic optimal control problem, for which numerical methods are available. Some numerical experiments are presented, where the control problem is solved numerically and applied to a simulation. The results indicate that the response time of the controlled system is reduced significantly using the devised control.

Polymer/TiO2 composite solar cells (CSCs) are currently being investigated by academic research groups and industrial companies due to the prospect of achieving good power conversion efficiencies and lifetime stability at a low production cost. We present data of the initial period of operation (up to several hours) of such devices, which show that during this period the CSCs operate in a non-steady state regime. The transient behaviour is accounted for using an equivalent circuit model (ECM) of the photovoltaic device with time-dependent resistors.

Carrier concentration and mobility were measured for intrinsic cubic InN and GaN, and for Si-doped cubic GaN as a function of temperature. Metallic n-type conductivity was found for the InN, while background p-type conductivity was observed for the intrinsic GaN layer. Doping the cubic GaN with Si two regimes were observed. For low Si-doping concentrations, the samples remain p-type. Increasing the Si-doping level, the background acceptors are compensated and the samples became highly degenerated n-type. From the carrier concentration dependence on temperature, the activation energy of the donor and acceptor levels was determined. Attempts were made to determine the scattering mechanisms responsible for the behavior of the mobility as a function of temperature.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2011 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, August 7–August 11, 2011.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2010 in Portland, Oregon, USA, August 1 – August 5, 2010.

Proteins associated with the schistosome tegument are of great importance for the development of new intervention strategies since they may be exposed on the surface of the parasite. Herein, we have isolated a cDNA clone encoding for the Schistosoma mansoni SmIg and its recombinant protein was tested as a potential vaccine candidate. Initially, its amino acid sequence was analysed by bioinformatics and shown to possess an N-terminal signal peptide, a C-terminal transmembrane helix, 4 glycosylation sites, an immunoglobulin conserved domain and 73% similarity with a hypothetical S. japonicum protein of unknown function. SmIg was produced by E. coli as a recombinant protein (rSmIg) and its protective effectiveness was evaluated against S. mansoni infection with 100 cercariae in a murine model. Mice immunized with rSmIg induced an immune response characterized by dominant IgG1 isotype and significant levels of IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-10 and IL-4. Although immunogenic, the recombinant vaccine failed to induce worm burden reduction when compared to the infected control group. However, rSmIg-immunized mice had significant reductions of liver granuloma volume and fibrosis content by 31·8% and 49%, respectively. In conclusion, SmIg is a new tegument protein from S. mansoni that plays an important role in reducing pathology induced by parasite infection.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2008 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, August 3 – August 7, 2008

This paper is concerned with the characterization of weak-sense limits of state-dependent G-networks under heavy traffic. It is shown that, for a certain class of networks (which includes a two-layer feedforward network and two queues in tandem), it is possible to approximate the number of customers in the queue by a reflected stochastic differential equation. The benefits of such an approach are that it describes the transient evolution of these queues and allows the introduction of controls, inter alia. We illustrate the application of the results with numerical experiments.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is characterized by inattention and/or hyperactivity/impulsivity. Impulsivity persists in adults with ADHD and might be the basis of much of the impairment observed in the daily lives of such individuals. The objective of this study was to address the presence, and more importantly, the three dimensions of impulsivity: attentional, non-planning and motor, in how they may relate to neuropsychological mechanisms of impulse control. We studied a sample of 50 adults with ADHD and 51 healthy comparison controls using the Barratt Impulsivity Scale Version 11 (BIS), and neuropsychological tasks, namely the Continuous Performance Task (CPT-II) and the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). The ADHD group showed more signs of impulsivity on the three dimensions of BIS, committed more errors of omission and commission on the CPT-II, and made more disadvantageous choices on the IGT. These results support the existence of deficits related to three components of impulsivity: motor, cognitive, and attentional among adults with ADHD. Most importantly, this study also highlights the complementary nature of self-report questionnaires and neuropsychological tasks in the assessment of impulsivity in ADHD adults. (JINS, 2007, 13, 693–698.)

Zinc oxide varistors are very complex systems, and the dominant mechanism of voltage barrier formation in these systems has not been well established. Yet the MNDO quantum mechanical theoretical calculation was used in this work to determine the most probable defect type at the surface of a ZnO cluster. The proposed model represents well the semiconducting nature as well as the defects at the ZnO bulk and surface. The model also shows that the main adsorption species that provide stability at the ZnO surface are O-, O2-, and O2.