Universidade Federal de Santa Maria

About: Universidade Federal de Santa Maria is a education organization based out in Santa Maria, Brazil. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 21178 authors who have published 35632 publications receiving 371665 citations.

Monoaminergic agents modulate antidepressant-like effect caused by diphenyl diselenide in rats.

Abstract: In this study, the antidepressant-like effect caused by diphenyl diselenide on rat forced swimming test (FST) was investigated. The involvement of the monoaminergic system in the antidepressant-like effect was also evaluated. Diphenyl diselenide (0.1-30 mg/kg), given by oral route (p.o.), 30 min earlier, reduced the immobility time in the FST, without accompanying changes in ambulation when assessed in an open field. The anti-immobility effect of diphenyl diselenide (1 mg/kg, p.o.) on the FST was prevented by pretreatment of rats with p-chlorophenylalanine methyl ester (PCPA; 100 mg/kg, i.p., an inhibitor of serotonin synthesis, given once a day, for 3 consecutive days), WAY100635 (0.1 mg/kg, s.c., a selective 5-HT(1A) receptor antagonist), ketanserin (1 mg/kg, i.p., a 5-HT(2A)/(2C) receptor antagonist), ondasentron (1 mg/kg, i.p., a 5-HT(3) receptor antagonist), haloperidol (1 mg/kg, i.p., a D(1), D(2) and D(3) receptor antagonist), SCH233390 (0.05 mg/kg, s.c., a D(1) receptor antagonist), sulpiride (50 mg/kg, i.p., a D(2) receptor antagonist), prazosin (1 mg/kg, i.p., an alpha(1)-adrenoceptor antagonist), yohimbine (1 mg/kg, i.p., an alpha(2)-adrenoceptor antagonist). However, the anti-immobility effect caused by diphenyl diselenide (1 mg/kg, p.o.) on the FST was not affected by pretreatment with propanolol (2 mg/kg, i.p., a beta-adrenoceptor antagonist). Furthermore, monoamine oxidase (MAO) activity was inhibited (39%) in the animals treated with diphenyl diselenide (30 mg/kg, p.o.) when compared to the control group. Taken together these data demonstrated that the antidepressant-like effect caused by diphenyl diselenide seems to be mediated by involvement of the central monoaminergic system.

NGC 2579 and the carbon and oxygen abundance gradients beyond the solar circle

Abstract: We present deep echelle spectrophotometry of the Galactic Hii region NGC 2579. The data have been taken with the Very Large Telescope Ultraviolet-Visual Echelle Spectrograph in the 3550–10400 u range. This object, which has been largely neglected, shows however a rather high surface brightness, a high ionization degree and is located at a galactocentric distance of 12.4 ± 0.7 kpc. Therefore, NGC 2579 is an excellent probe for studying the behaviour of the gas phase radial abundance gradients in the outer disc of the Milky Way. We derive the physical conditions of the nebula using several emission line-intensity ratios as well as the abundances of several ionic species from the intensity of collisionally excited lines. We also determine the ionic abundances of C 2+ , O + and O 2+ – and therefore the total O abundance – from faint pure recombination lines. The results for NGC 2579 permit to extend our previous determinations of the C, O and C/O gas phase radial gradients of the inner Galactic disc (Esteban et al. 2005) to larger galactocentric distances. We find that the chemical composition of NGC 2579 is consistent with flatten gradients at its galactocentric distance. In addition, we have built a tailored chemical evolution model that reproduces the observed radial abundance gradients of O, C and N and other observational constraints. We find that a levelling out of the star formation efficiency about and beyondthe isophotal radius can explain the flattening of chemical gradients observed in the outer Galactic disc.

Grau de compactação, propriedades físicas e rendimento de culturas em Latossolo e Argissolo

Abstract: The objective of this work was to evaluate soil physical parameters and soybean (Glycine max) and black bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) yields as affected by the degree of compactness of an Oxisol and Alfisol. For the two soils, soil macroporosity, soil penetration resistance (PR), degree of compaction (DC), height and yield of the crops were determined, while for Alfisol saturated hydraulic conductivity (Kqs) was also evaluated. As the DC increases, there is a linear reduction in macroporosity and in Kqs and an increase in PR. Values of DC corresponding to the critical values of macroporosity and PR depend on soil. In the Oxisol, critical values of macroporosity and PR are reached with a smaller DC than in the Alfisol. An intermediate DC in the Oxisol is favorable to the soybean, and the optimum DC for soybean is 86%. To define an optimum DC for soybean and black bean in the Alfisol was not possible due to high levels of soil compaction in this soil.