The State of SBo Paulo, located in the southeastern region of Brazil, covers an area of 247,320 km* and is inhabited by approximately 25 million persons distributed among 930 cities and towns. During the period 1827-1932 its population, which for almost 300 years had consisted basically of Portuguese colonists, African slaves, and mestizos, was supplemented by approximately 2.6 million immigran...

The discovery of hemoglobins in virtually all kingdoms of organisms has shown (1) that the ancestral gene for hemoglobin is ancient, and (2) that hemoglobins can serve additional functions besides transport of oxygen between tissues, ranging from intracellular oxygen transport to catalysis of redox reactions. These different functions of the hemoglobins illustrate the acquisition of new roles b...