Fatores de influência no preço do milho no Brasil.

Introdução; Revisão Bibliográfica; O mercado da soja; Resultados e discussão; Conclusões

Produtividade da agricultura: resultados para o Brasil e estados selecionados.

Este trabalho analisa a produtividade da agricultura nos anos recentes, em especial no período de 2000 a 2012. O artigo estima indicadores de produtividade não apenas para o Brasil, mas também para uma seleção de estados. Estes foram escolhidos pela sua relevância na produção nacional de grãos e carnes. Para isso, foram escolhidos os estados da Bahia, Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, Mato Grosso e Goiás. Utilizou-se o conceito de produtividade total dos fatores (PTF) porque ele oferece uma definição mais abrangente de produtividade do que medidas que comparam o produto a apenas um insumo, como trabalho ou terra. Esta última forma de mensuração da produtividade é chamada produtividade parcial. A PTF considera, em sua definição, a reunião de todos os produtos das lavouras e da pecuária e os relaciona com todos os insumos usados na produção

Local political leadership and the modernisation of local government

Political leadership has been a key element of central government’s attempts to ‘modernise’ local government over the past decade, within a discourse that emphasised ‘strong’ and ‘visible’ leadership and the role of leaders and leadership in driving change within local authorities. In the context of such an approach, and also taking account of academic discourse, this article draws upon interviews with nearly thirty individuals in leadership positions in local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales to assess their experiences of leadership and their views of some aspects of the role and work of councils. It suggests that whilst there is broad convergence between the aspirations of government and the narratives that emerge from these leaders on some aspects of local political leadership, there are also differences, perhaps most notably over the relationship between changes to decision making structures and the loci of political power

Antigenic expression in human choroid plexus carcinoma : report of two cases

Neoplasias provenientes do epitélio de revestimento do plexo coróide são inco-muns, tendo sido descritos 6 padrões morfológicos. O padrão anaplásico, também denominado carcinoma do plexo coróide, é o de menor freqüência e pode dar metastases fora do SNC. A distinção histológica desses tumores, particularmente da variedade anaplásica, com outras neoplasias primárias e metastáticas no SNC pode ser difícil. O uso de técnicas imunocitoquimicas em parafina tem-se mostrado útil no esclarecimento das linhagens tumorais. Os papilomas do plexo coróide têm, no entanto, sido objeto de controvérsia, por sua complexa expressão antigênica. Usando a técnica de imunoperoxidase (sistema avidina-biotina-peroxidase) pesquisaram-se, em dois casos da variedade anaplásica, os seguintes marcadores: proteína glial fibrilar ácida (GFAP) com anticorpo monoclonal e policlonal; ceratinas de 40-50kDa, ceratinas de 60-70kDa (callus ceratina), enolase neuronal específica (NSE) e proteína S-100, com anticorpos monoclonais. Os dois tumores mostraram positividade para NSE, proteína S-100 e ceratina de 40-50kDa; uma das duas neoplasias mostrou diferenciação glial, revelando positividade para GFAP tanto com anticorpo monoclonal quanto policlonal.Primary neoplasms of choroid plexus are rare. Six morphological variants have been described: papillary, cystic, acinar, mucus-secreting, oncocytic, and anaplastic. The anaplastic variant, the so-called choroid plexus carcinoma, is the rarest of all and can metastasize. The differential diagnosis of the anaplastic variant of choroid plexus neoplasms with adenocarcinomas, melanomas and indifferentiated neoplasms can be troublesome chiefly in adults. The now large use of immunocytochemical techniques in tissue section has become a powerful tool in the analysis of cell lineages, tumoral and non-tumoral. Nevertheless, the choroid plexus neoplasms have shown a complex and a somewhat confusing pattern of antigenic expression. In two choroid plexus carcinomas (one localized in the right lateral ventricle from a boy of 1 year and 9 months old, and the other localized in the left lateral ventricle from a girl of 3 years old) the following antigens were searched (using the avidin-biotin-peroxydase complex): glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) with monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies; cytokeratins of 40-50kDa, cytokeratins of 60-70kDA (callus cytokeratin), neuronal specific enolase (NSE) and S-100 protein with monoclonal antibodies. The two neoplasms showed immunoreactivity against NSE, S-100 protein and cytokeratin of 40-50kDA The neoplasm of the boy exhibited glial differentiation having immunoreactivity against GFAP with monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies

Validação de 3 Equipamentos de TDR (Reflectometria no Domínio do Tempo) para a Medida da Umidade de Solos.

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Comparative analysis of the diffuse radio emission in the galaxy clusters A1835, A2029, and Ophiuchus

We recently performed a study of a sample of relaxed, cooling core galaxy clusters with deep Very Large Array observations at 1.4 GHz. We find that in the central regions of A1835, A2029, and Ophiuchus the dominant radio galaxy is surrounded by a diffuse low-brightness radio emission that takes the form of a mini-halo. Here we present the results of the analysis of the extended diffuse radio emission in these mini-halos. In order to investigate the morphological properties of the diffuse radio emission in clusters of galaxies we propose to fit their azimuthally averaged brightness profile with an exponential, obtaining the central brightness and the e-folding radius from which the radio emissivity can be calculated. We investigate the radio properties of the mini-halos in A1835, A2029, and Ophiuchus in comparison with the radio properties of a representative sample of mini-halos and halos already known in the literature. We find that radio halos can have quite different length-scales but their emissivity is remarkably similar from one halo to the other. In contrast, mini-halos span a wide range of radio emissivity. Some of them, like the Perseus mini-halos, are characterized by a radio emissivity which is more than 100 times greater than that of radio halos. On the other hand, the new mini-halos in cooling core clusters analyzed in this work, namely A2029, Ophiuchus, and A1835, have a radio emissivity which is much more typical of halos in merging clusters rather than similar to that of the other mini-halos previously known.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures, A&A in press. For a version with high quality figures, see http://erg.ca.astro.it/preprints/mini_halo_2

The cognitive-spiritual dimension - an important addition to the assessment of quality of life: Validation of a questionnaire (SELT-M) in patients with advanced cancer

Questions of meaning and challenge by illness, i.e., the spiritual dimension of quality of life (QL) traditionally played an important role in anthroposophically oriented medicine and have gained importance in palliative medicine and supportive care. In the context of a research project on QL in patients with advanced cancer, we therefore investigated the psychometric properties of a questionnaire covering spiritual QL issues, with the aim of providing a module for the assessment of cognitive-spiritual QL. Patients and methods: We investigated 89 patients with advanced breast and gastro-intestinal cancer. Construct validity of a modified version of the SELT (Skalen zur Erfassung von Lebensqualitat bei Tumorkranken), the SELT-M was tested by multitrait scaling analysis. Discriminant and convergent validity were also tested. The EORTC QLQ-C30 was used as a standard for validation. Results showed the SELT-M as feasible in administration. Four of the five SELT-M subscales were internally consistent (Cronbach's Alpha = ≥0.7). The subscale on spiritual QL showed higher within than outside subscale correlations for six of its eight items. Association of the SELT-M with the EORTC QLQ-C30 was good for the items and subscales covering the same aspects of QL in both questionnaires: emotional (Spearman r = 0.61), physical functioning (r= −0.54) and fatigue (r= −0.75). In accordance with expectations, there was no association between spiritual QL with any EORTC QLQ-C30 subscales. Self-assessed spiritual QL in the SELT-M corresponded well with interviewer assessments (test for trend accross ordered groups, P = 0.0023). Conclusions. Overall there is confirming evidence for the hypothesised structure of the SELT-M, especially for the newly developed module on spiritual QL. This module may be used as a module together with other cancer specific QL questionnaire

Neuroendocrine tumors involving the gastroenteropancreatic tract: a clinicopathological evaluation of 773 cases

OBJECTIVE: Description of some of the clinical pathological characteristics of neuroendocrine tumors of the gastroenteropancreatic tract in Brazilian patients. INTRODUCTION: Neuroendocrine tumors arise in many organs and share common pathological features. In 2010, the World Health Organization published a new classification for neuroendocrine tumors using a three-tiered system that applies the terms neuroendocrine tumor Grade 1, neuroendocrine tumor Grade 2, and neuroendocrine carcinoma. The tumor grades are based on their mitotic rate and the Ki-67 index. In Brazil, information on neuroendocrine tumors of gastroenteropancreatic tract is scarce. METHODS: This study investigated clinicopathological features of 773 Brazilian gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumor cases from all the geographic regions of Brazil. All of the cases emerged from the files of a single institution (a large pathology reference laboratory) between 1997 and 2009. In addition, the gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors were graded according to the new 2010 World Health Organization classification. RESULTS: Overall there were a higher number of neuroendocrine tumors in female over male. The lower ages were seen in patients with appendiceal tumors. The most common anatomic location involved was stomach followed by small and large intestines. All cases involving the appendix were of grade 1 and 92.1% of the neuroendocrine tumors of the esophagus were neuroendocrine carcinomas (grade 3). CONCLUSIONS: In this series, the proportion of NET cases in the total number of surgical pathology cases at our institution over the past 12 years is increasing

Dangerous drugs, dangerous mothers: Gender, responsibility and the problematisation of parental substance use

If, as many would have it, the ‘drugs problem’ is among the more perilous and uncompromising challenges of our times, parental substance misuse represents one of its most insidious expressions. The past 15 years has seen the ‘hidden harms’ experienced by the children of drug users emerge as a principal concern for national policy actors and local service provision. However, there has been relatively little critique of the assumptions and epistemological foundations underscoring this policy shift, or of the preoccupation with the ‘family’ in drug policy in general. Through examination of seminal policy documents relating to parental substance misuse, and using Carol Bacchi’s ‘What’s the Problem Represented to Be?’ (WPR) approach, this article attends more closely to the formulation of parental drug use as a significant policy problem, and to the family as a principal site for the constitution of drug harms