Representatives of the Cactaceae subfamilies Pereskioideae and Opuntioideae from northeastern Brazil were studied using banding with the fluorochromes, CMA3 and DAPI, as well as with fluorescent in situ hybridization using 45S and 5S rDNA probes to identify the distributions of their heterochromatin and rDNA sites. Pereskia aculeata, P. bahiensis, P. grandifolia (Pereskioideae), Brasilopuntia brasiliensis, Tacinga funalis, and T. palmadora showed 2n = 22, while Opuntia dillenii showed 2n = 44, and O. ficus-indica 2n = 88. The karyotypes of all of the species were symmetric, with average chromosome lengths varying from 1.94 lm in O. dillenii to 3.17 lm in P. aculeata. One pair of terminal CMA? bands corresponding to NORs occurred in all of the diploid cytotypes (except O. ficus-indica, which has two pairs of terminal CMA? bands) as well as in O. dillenii (tetraploid). CMA? bands were also observed in the interstitial region of the long arm of a chromosome pair in B. brasiliensis, while a number of variable proximal bands were observed on three chromosome pairs in O. dillenii and on most of the chromosomes of O. ficus-indica. The 45S rDNA sites corresponded to the terminal CMA? bands, while the 5S rDNA sites were located in the interstitial regions of the long arms of the chromosome pairs of P. aculeata, P. bahiensis, P. grandifolia, and B. brasiliensis. Our data, and earlier publications, suggest that the subfamily Opuntioideae can be characterized as having proximal/interstitial CMA? heterochromatin in at least one chromosome pair (except in Tacinga). The absence of proximal heterochromatic bands, however, appears to be a synapomorphy of the basal lineages of Cactaceae (subfamily Pereskioideae ? Maihuenioideae), suggesting that karyotypes with heterochromatin restricted to the terminal region of a chromosome pair (45S rDNA) represent a plesiomorphic character of the family.

Cactaceae species are karyotypically well-known with x = 11 and chromosome number variation due mainly to polyploidization. However, both assumptions are based on descriptive observations without taking an evolutionary framework of Cactaceae into account. Aiming to confirm these hypotheses in an evolutionary context, we obtained chromosome numbers for 20 species of Cactoideae, performed an extensive review of chromosome number for the family, and analyzed these data using a phylogenetic approach. The karyotypes presented here were characterized by CMA/DAPI banding, and for six species 5S and 45S rDNA sites were located. Our data, along with a survey of the literature, reinforce the long-standing hypothesis of a x = 11 as the base chromosome number for Cactaceae. They also reinforce the relevance of polyploidy in karyotype evolution of cacti, although polyploidy was important just after the diversification of subfamilies Maihuenioideae and Pereskioideae. Despite the homogeneous chromosome complements observed among cacti, chromosome banding and FISH techniques revealed informative characteristics, allowing the identification of chromosome synapomorphies, such as proximal CMA + bands in Melocactus and proximal 5S rDNA in Pilosocereus, indicating the taxonomic potential of chromosome characterization in cacti.

http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/2175-7925.2009v22n4p225O objetivo deste trabalho foi caracterizar quimicamente os frutos de biri-biri (Averrhoa bilimbi L.) coletados em diferentes estádios de maturação. Foram avaliadas as seguintes características morfométricas e químicas do fruto: peso, número de sementes, comprimento, largura maior e menor, pH, sόlidos solúveis totais, acidez titulável e vitamina C. Os teores de sόlidos solúveis totais variaram de 2,35 a 3,23o. Brix, sendo maiores em frutas de biri-biri maduras, assim como os valores de acidez, que variam de 1,15 a 1,66g/100g-1, em frutos verdes e maduros, respectivamente. Entretanto os níveis de vitamina C foram mais elevados nos frutos verdes, porém não apresentaram diferença significativa entre os três níveis de maturação avaliados.

ABSTRACT. This work aimed to promote in vitro seed germination and disinfestation of the sweet cactus. Seeds were submerged in alcohol at 70% for 1 min. and then treated with sodium hypochlorite solution at different concentrations: 0.0; 0.5; 1.0 and 1.5%. After this treatment, the seeds were washed four times in distillated, deionized and autoclaved water. Seeds were inoculated in MS medium with different concentrations of sucrose (0.0, 2.5, 5.0, 7.5 and 10.0 g L -1). The experimental design was completely randomized in a factorial experiment 4 x 5, with five replicates for treatments. Contamination, germination and seedling growth were evaluated. The results of the analysis of variance indicate that there were no significant interactions among factors. There was no significance for sucrose concentrations on contamination but these treatments showed significant differences for seed germination and seedling growth (p ≤ 0.01). At higher sucrose concentrations there was lower germination and smaller seedlings. There were significant differences between the treatments with sodium hypochlorite for all traits analysed (p ≤ 0.01). There was low contamination with the increase in sodium hypochlorite concentrations with higher germination percentage and taller seedlings.Keywords: Cactaceae, forage, tissue culture. RESUMO. Desinfestação e germinação de sementes de palma doce (Nopalea cochenillifera (L.) Salm Dyck) in vitro.Este trabalho objetivou desinfestar e promover a germinação de sementes de palma doce "in vitro". As sementes foram mergulhadas em álcool a 70% por 1 min. e, posteriormente, imersas em solução de hipoclorito de sódio nas concentrações de 0,0; 0,5; 1,0 e 1,5% com três gotas de Tween 20 por 10 min. e lavadas em quatro águas bidestiladas estéreis. As sementes foram cultivadas em meio MS suplementado com 0,0; 2,5; 5,0; 7,5 e 10,0% de sacarose. O delineamento experimental foi inteiramente casualizado, em esquema fatorial 4 x 5 (quatro concentrações de hipoclorito de sódio e cinco concentrações de sacarose), com cinco repetições. Avaliou-se a contaminação, germinação e crescimento da plântula. Não houve interação significativa entre os fatores, havendo porém, diferenças significativas entre os tratamentos de hipoclorito e concentrações de sacarose (p ≤ 0,01). As concentrações de sacarose não tiveram efeito significativo na contaminação do meio, porém com o aumento dos teores de sacarose houve tendência ao decréscimo na germinação e crescimento da plântula (p ≤ 0,01). Quanto maior a concentração de hipoclorito no meio menor foi a contaminação e maior a germinação e comprimento da plântula (p ≤ 0,01).Palavras-chave: Cactaceae, forrageira, cultura de tecido.

Introduction: Health Technology Assessment (HTA) is a tool that assists in the management of health systems, in which economic assessments are frequently applied. It is possible that the use of multicriteria analysis (MCDA) increases the quality of decisions. Objective: Identify the potentialities of the application of Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) in studies that used this type of method for the selection of treatments. Methods: An integrative review was executed based on articles where MCDA methods had been applied for the selection of treatments between February and April 2017 in the following databases: Pubmed (MEDLINE), Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde (LILACS), Embase, Science Direct, Scopus, Web of Science and Wiley Online Library. Results: Eighteen studies published between 1998 and 2017 in which different MCDA techniques were applied were selected. Growth in the number of published studies was observed, showing increasing interest in the use of this type of method in health decision making. Conclusion: MCDA may guide more adequate decisions compared to the traditional Health Technology Assessment (HTA) methods and has the potential to help in the selection of treatments and the construction of medicines' lists.