Showing papers by "Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto published in 1989"

Effects of floor surface and environmental illumination on exploratory activity in the elevated plus-maze.

Abstract: We determined the effects of floor surface (wire mesh, WM+, or smooth wood, WM-) and environmental light intensity (20 or 1200 lux) on the exploratory activity of rats in an elevated plus-maze using 15 rats in each group. Rats tested on the wire-mesh floor under low environmental light intensity presented a two-fold increase in the total number of arm entries compared to WM+/high light, WM-/high light or WM-/low light. The relative frequency of open arm entries was greater under WM+/low light (38 +/- 3% vs 20 +/- 5%, 19 +/- 3% and 13 +/- 3% for WM-/low light, WM+/high light and WM-/high light, respectively), as was the percent of time spent in the open arms (27 +/- 4% vs 9 +/- 3%, 8 +/- 2% and 5 +/- 1% for WM-/low light, WM+/high light and WM-/high light, respectively). These behaviors are associated with "aversiveness" as measured with this test. The present results demonstrate that baseline values for drug studies may be decreased or increased by selecting the appropriate type of floor surface and intensity of environmental illumination, thereby permitting more sensitivity, and thus selectivity, for measuring anxiolytic or anxiogenic drug effects, respectively.

Social Organization in reactivated nests of three species of Xylocopa (Hymenoptera, Anthophoridae) in southeastern Brasil

Abstract: We have investigated the occurrence of cohabitation of several females in the same nest ofXylocopa suspecta, X. frontalis andX. grisescens which are the most common species in the region of Ribeirao Preto, S.P., Brazil. The study of social behaviour of these species involved, as a general procedure, the identification of each associated female in relation to its foraging and reproductive activity. It was observed that in each species the association of females started at the final phase of the biological cycle, when the reactivation of the nests began. Initially the association was observed to occur among mother and daughters. Subsequently only daughters remained in the nest and in the first phase of this association only one female (generally the eldest), was able to realize oviposition. Next, two ore more females were in the same condition, provisioning and ovipositing in only one cell. In the third phase the females had all the same condition, each one of them provisioning and ovipositing in their own cells. So, in the first and second phases the social behaviour corresponds to the semisocial and quasisocial levels, respectively. Nevertheless, this behaviour was transitory and the final pattern attained was communal.

Nest architecture and distribution of the primitive stingless bee, Mourella caerulea (hymenoptera, apidae, meliponinae): Evidence for the origin of plebeia (s. lat.) on the gondwana continent∗

Abstract: The stingless bee Mourella caerulea is distributed in the subtropical parts of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguai. In the Serra do Sudeste of Rio Grande do Sul, on the southern part of the Brazilian shield, this species is one of the most abundant meliponine bees. Nests of M. caerulea are built in the soil and exhibit architectural characters typical to all other genera of obligatory ground nesting species, like Schwarziana, and the African genera Meliple‐beia, Plebeiella and Plebeina. The possibility that the similar solutions for the construction of subterranean nests in these genera did not evolve by convergence or parallelism is discussed. The occurence of Mourella together with other more primitive representatives of the Plebeia group on the southern parts of the Brazilian Shield cannot be explained by biogeographic models proposed by some authors. Adopting an alternative model we suggest that, during the lower Cretaceous, ancestor populations of the Pleibeia‐ line inhabiting the meridional shields of We...

Behavioral effects of neurotensin applied to periventricular structures of rats.

Abstract: Neurotensin (NT), an active neuropeptide, and bicuculline, a GABA-A receptor antagonist, were microinjected into the rat medial hypothalamus (MH) or the dorsal periaqueductal gray matter (DPAG). Bicuculline (80 pmol) produced behavioral activation which included jumping and NT (1-20 nmol) caused a dose-dependent behavioral activation accompanied by catalepsy rather than jumping. These results suggest that the behavioral activation produced by NT may be due to an interaction of the neuropeptide with specific receptors while its cataleptic effect may be attributed to the blockade of dopamine receptors.

Indicadores para reestruturação do currículo de graduação em enfermagem : expectativas dos profissionais e apreciação do currículo por ex-alunos

Abstract: Para orientar a reestruturacao curricular da Escola de Enfermagem de Ribeirao Preto — Universidade de Sao Paulo, foram utilizados como indicadores: 1) levantamento das expectativas dos profissionais de enfermagem quanto a profissao, funcoes, outros membros da equipe e docentes da Escola; 2) apreciacao do curriculo por esses profissionais (ex-alunos). Foram consultados 115 enfermeiros dos 5 hospitais gerais de Ribeirao Preto, sendo respondidos 49 questionarios (42,6%). O questionario entregue pessoalmente ao profissional (juntamente com orientacao quanto ao preenchimento e ao prazo de devolucao), compunha-se de 9 perguntas abertas. A categorizacao das respostas permite afirmar que: a funcao assistencial e mais enfatizada; as expectativas do individuo enquanto aluno se modificam com o exercicio da profissao; 60% dos entrevistados consideram adequado o conteudo das disciplinas de Graduacao e 69,4% consideram dispensaveis as habilitacoes.

Swimming escape learning in rats with telencephalic lesions.

Abstract: Experiments were conducted to determine whether rats having unilateral or bilateral ablation of either the neocortex or telencephalon can learn to escape from a tank of water by climbing a platform. Hemi- or bilaterally decorticated rats were able to learn the swimming escape task, the same being observed for hemidetelencephalated rats. Fully detelencephalated rats, however, did not exhibit this capability. These results show that integrity of one of the cerebral hemispheres is necessary in order to allow swimming escape learning.

A new method for the study of feeding behavior in the fly Ceratitis capitata

Abstract: A simple new method for the study of feeding behavior in the fly Ceratitis capitata is presented, consisting of 22 h of food deprivation and 2 h of food availability. During the latter period the number of flies feeding is counted every 5 min. Results showed that the animals learned to ingest all the food they needed during the 2 h, with a feeding pattern in which the number of flies feeding on a white diet increased in the beginning of the 2-h period and gradually decreased towards the end of it. They also showed that the flies demonstrated a preference for feeding on a red diet (with the same pattern as for the white diet) rather than on a green diet (which did not result in the feeding pattern of an increased number of flies feeding at the beginning of the session and a decreased number at the end). The data suggest this method can be used in a variety of situations in which ingestion is involved.