Search

Aim: to know the benefits and challenges experienced by health professionals in relation to the kangaroo care method. Method: exploratory, descriptive and of a qualitative nature study that used the Social Representation Theory, and the Collective Subject's Speech as an analytical method. It was carried out with 22 health professionals from a Neonatal and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit through semi-structured interviews held during the period of November and December 2012. Results: eight speeches of the collective subject emerged, four signaled the benefits of the method to the newborn and to the family, while the others showed the challenges encountered from the experience of the method. Conclusion: adjustments in the physical structure, improvement of human resources and commitment of the managers are key aspects for the consolidation of the method. This study may contribute to health professional insights, including the nursing order to improve their care practices

Abstract Plant pathogenic bacteria exerts their pathogenicity through the injection of large repertoires of type III effectors (T3Es) into plant cells, a mechanism controlled in part by type III chaperones (T3Cs). In Ralstonia solanacearum, the causal agent of bacterial wilt, little is known about the control of type III secretion at the post-translational level. Here, we provide evidence that the HpaB and HpaD proteins do act as bona fide R. solanacearum class IB chaperones that associate with several T3Es. Both proteins can dimerize but do not interact with each other. After screening 38 T3Es for direct interactions, we highlighted specific and common interacting partners, thus revealing the first picture of the R. solanacearum T3C-T3E network. We demonstrated that the function of HpaB is conserved in two phytopathogenic bacteria, R. solanacearum and Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria (Xcv). HpaB from Xcv is able to functionally complement a R. solanacearum hpaB mutant for hypersensitive response elicitation on tobacco plants. Likewise, Xcv is able to translocate a heterologous T3E from R. solanacearum in an HpaB-dependent manner. This study underlines the central role of the HpaB class IB chaperone family and its potential contribution to the bacterial plasticity to acquire and deliver new virulence factors.

The aim of this experiment was to quantify the stained areas of coffee seeds submitted to the LERCAFE test using image analysis. The seeds used were of the Catuaí Vermelho IAC 99 and Paradise cultivars. The physiological quality of the lots was assessed using germination tests, moisture content and a germination speed index. The LERCAFE test was conducted using seeds without parchment immersed in a solution of 3% sodium hypochlorite for 3 hours. Color photographs (RGB) with a resolution of 5 MPx were taken of each seed. The seeds were visually evaluated, and the functions generated from the analyses of the stained and non-stained regions were quantified by the Matlab R2009b program. Classification models were developed based on the Fisher Linear Discriminant Function and the evaluation of the adequacy of the models confusion matrix between the visual references and the classification generated by the linear functions. The image analysis for the creation of Fisher’s linear discriminant function in the development of classifiers for the coffee seeds submitted to the LERCAFE test is potentially efficient; however, it remains necessary to test other discriminant functions and quantification methodologies.