A 2-D delaunay refinement algorithm using an initial prerefinement from the boundary mesh

An improvement to the quality bidimensional Delaunay mesh generation algorithm, which combines the mesh refinement algorithms strategy of Ruppert and Shewchuk is proposed in this research. The developed technique uses diametral lenses criterion, introduced by L. P. Chew, with the purpose of eliminating the extremely obtuse triangles in the boundary mesh. This method splits the boundary segment and obtains an initial prerefinement, and thus reducing the number of necessary iterations to generate a high quality sequential triangulation. Moreover, it decreases the intensity of the communication and synchronization between subdomains in parallel mesh refinement. © 2008 IEEE.

Effects of atrazine on female Wistar rats: Morphological alterations in ovarian follicles and immunocytochemical labeling of 90 kDa heat shock protein

Fertility in female mammals may be affected by a variety of endocrine disrupters present in the environment. Herbicide atrazine is an example of endocrine disrupter employed in agriculture, which disrupts estrous cyclicity in rats. Aiming to characterize morphologically the effect of low and sublethal doses of atrazine on the ovaries of Wistar rats, in an effort to determine the possible intrafollicular target site through which this herbicide acts adult females were submitted to both subacute and subchronic treatments. Additionally, immunocytochemical labeling of 90 kDa heat shock protein (HSP90) was performed in order to evaluate the role played by this protein in the ovary, under stressed conditions induced by herbicide exposure. The results indicated that atrazine induced impaired folliculogenesis, increased follicular atresia and HSP90 depletion in female rats submitted to subacute treatment, while the subchronic treatment with low dose of atrazine could compromise the reproductive capacity reflected by the presence of multioocytic follicle and stress-inducible HSP90. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Eficiência do protocolo Ovsynch em ovelhas da raça Santa Inês

Twenty six Santa Inês ewes were asigned to three treatments to evaluate the efficiency of the Ovsynch protocol. In the treatment 1 - control (n=8), the estrus was synchronized with sponges containing 60 mg MAP for 14 days. On D14, 300 IU eCG were administered. In treatment 2 (n=9) the Ovsynch protocol was used: 25 μg of GnRH (D0), 37.5 μg of PGF2α (D7) and 25 μg of GnRH (D9). In treatment 3 (n=9) the modified Ovsynch protocol was used: the administration of PGF2α and second GnRH as two days early. Estrus detection was accomplished using teaser. All ewes were mated twice with 12 hours of interval. Pregnancy rate (PR) was evaluated by ultrasonography 30 days after the end of mating. Estrus response was of 88.46% on average, and without differences among treatments (p>0.05). The interval for onset of estrus was greater (p<0.05) in T1, when compared with T2 and T3 (41.31±7.2, 13.37±8.42 and 6.75±5.2 h, respectively). The time of receptivity was greater (p<0.05) in females of T1 and T3 (40.5±6.49 h and 53.68±10.27 h, respectively), compared to females of T2 (34.56±7.2 h). The duration of the induced estrus did not differ significant among treatments (p>0.05). Pregnancy rate was significantly greater (p<0.05) in ewes synchronized with Ovsynch protocol (37.5%, 62.5% and 25% for treatment 1, 2 and 3, respectively). The results show superior efficiency of the Ovsynch protocol, under the experimental conditions.

Avaliaçãeo ultrassonográfica da dinâmica folicular ovariana de jumenta (equus asinus) durante o ciclo estral

The ovarian activity was accessed by ultrasound throughout 10 estrous cycles from Jennies (Marchador Brasileira). Daily ultrasound examinations were performed and the dada was retrospectively studied based on daily identification of each follicle detected. Blood samples were collected every 24 hours from ovulation (D0) until the next identified ovulation. The follicles measuring 11mm were detected and their mean diameter was registered daily using an ovarian map and permitting a retrospective evaluation of the dada, which represented the follicular growth dynamics. One and two major follicular waves were detected in six (60%) and four (40%) cycles respectively from ten estrous cycles in the present study. The primary wave emergency and follicle deviation from the cycles observed during the present study with one major follicular wave occurred at day 10.2 ± 0.75 and at day14.1 ± 0.81 and for cycles with two major waves, those events occurred at 9.0 ± 2.0 and 14.0 ± 1.15 days after ovulation. The maximum diameter of the dominant follicle at the cycles with one and two follicular waves were 37.2 ± 3.35 mm and 37.3 ± 1.1, respectively. The mean intervals from two ovulations were 23.0 ± 1.79 and 22.3 ± 1.26 days when observed in cycles with one and two major follicular waves. The maximum diameter of the dominant follicle was slightly smaller when double ovulations were observed if compared with the single ovulations (P > 0.05). It can be concluded that wave emergency period is observed around 9.6 days of the estrous cycle and the occurrence of deviation can be observed on day 14 of the estrous cycle.

Concentraçãeo plasmática de progesterona durante o ciclo estral de jumentas (equus asinus) com ovulaçõees simples e duplas

Ten estrous cycles of seven Machador Brasileiro jennies located at Estaçãeo Experimental de Zootecnia - Colina - Sãeo Paulo were monitored and the plasmatic progesterone concentration determined by the radioimmunoassay method in solid phase, employing commercial kits (DPC). For progesterone concentration determination and CL diameter there were excluded the animals which presented diestrus ovulations. The corpora lutea formed from single ovulations or double ovulations presented a mean diameter of 26.2 ± 4.4 and 22.1 ± 2.7 mm, respectively, which represented 66.1% and 64.1% of the preovulatory follicle diameter. The presence of two CLs from double ovulations was not reflected by a significant increase on progesterone concentrations.

Sincronização do estro e da ovulação utilizando protocolos de curta duração durante a pré- estação reprodutiva em ovelhas Suffolk

This study was carried out with the objective of examining the effect of the short-term estrus synchronization protocol. Ewes were divided in four groups: Control Group (MAP sponges for 12 days, and eCG at withdrawal); Groups I, II and III used the sponge for four days, and 100 μg of PGF was applied at withdrawal; and additionally, Group I (0.1 mg of Estradiol benzoate - EB, in the sponge placement, and in the withdrawn 400 UI of eCG and 50 μg of GnRH 48h later); Group II (35 mg of injectable progesterone and 0.1 mg of EB in the sponge placement, and 400 UI of eCG at withdrawal, and 50 μg of GnRH 48h after); Group III (35 mg of injectable progesterone and 0.2 mg of EB in the sponge placement, and 400 UI of eCG at withdrawal, and 50 ?g of GnRH 56h after). Exams were accomplished for ultrasound and determine the plasmatic concentrations of progesterone and observations of the beginning the estrus and the ovulation. The lack of eCG in Group I caused this protocol to be less efficacious in induction and synchronization of estrus and ovulation. The Control Group had a greater synchronization of estrus and ovulation.

Time reconstruction and performance of the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter

The resolution and the linearity of time measurements made with the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter are studied with samples of data from test beam electrons, cosmic rays, and beam-produced muons. The resulting time resolution measured by lead tungstate crystals is better than 100 ps for energy deposits larger than 10 GeV. Crystal-to-crystal synchronization with a precision of 500 ps is performed using muons produced with the first LHC beams in 2008. © 2010 IOP Publishing Ltd and SISSA.

Synchronizing Brazilian Sign Language (LIBRAS) on videos for Open Digital TV with educational purposes

The TV is a potential midia of communication that affects all social classes and it is available in 98% of Brazilian homes. It has been used as a distributor of educational materials since the 1950s. By 2016 the Open Digital TV (ODTV) in Brazil might cover the entire national territory, replacing the TV with analog signals. Concerns about accessibility for People with Special Needs (PSN) in that media have become more intense since the 1990s worldwide. In Brazil, it is estimated 24.6 million of PSN, 23% of them having some type of hearing loss. Of these, 2.9% are reported as deafs. Brazilian Sign Language (LIBRAS) is considered the first literacy language for deaf people in Brazil. In this context, this paper presents a proposal to facilitate the generation of educational content for ODTV based on two components. One is called SynchrLIBRAS and allows subtitles synchronization in Portuguese and a LIBRAS translator window of videos downloaded from the Web. The second component allows the visualization of this content through the Brazilian System of Digital TV and IPTV - environments that implement the middleware Ginga-NCL. The main focus of this paper is the presentation of the first component: SynchrLIBRAS. This proposal has educational purposes, contributing to teach LIBRAS to people who may collaborate with social inclusion of the deaf people.

Estradiol-17β altera expressão proteica endometrial em fêmeas bovinas tratadas no 17 o dia do ciclo estral

In bovine females the release of prostaglandin F 2α (PGF 2α) is induced in vivo by estradiol (E 2). It is believed that E 2 stimulates the synthesis of essential proteins for the production of PGF 2α. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of E 2 in increasing the concentration of total protein and modifying the protein composition of endometrial explants from bovine females treated with E 2 at the 17 th day of estrous cycle. Crossbred heifers were treated at 17 th day of estrous cycle intravenously with 0 mg (Control Group; n = 6) or 3 mg of E 2 (E 2 Group; n = 6) and killed two hours after. Endometrial explants were isolated, subjected to extraction of total protein, quantified and were analyzed by onedimensional electrophoresis on polyacrylamide gel 10% SDS-PAGE. The concentration of total protein did not differ between groups, 6296.10 + 439.90 μg/mL for the Control Group and 8426.56 + 1156.00 μg/mL for E 2 Group (p = 0.1158). There was no significant difference (p > 0.05) in the protein profile of endometrial explants in gels stained with Coomasie Blue. In gels stained with Silver Nitrate it was verified in E 2 Group greater relative percentage of the bands referring to the molecular weight of 75 to 76 kDa (8.40% vs. 4.89% in E 2 Group and Control respectively; p < 0.05) and 108 to 110 Kda (6.85% vs. 3.84% in E 2 Group and Control respectively, p < 0.05). It was observed in E 2 Group lower relative percentage of the band referring to the molecular weight of 90 kDa (5.78% vs. 9.83% in E 2 Group and control respectively; p < 0.05). We concluded that the E 2 does not increase the protein concentration in the endometrium, however, it modifies the proteinic composition in the endometrial explants, indicating that E 2 alters the expression of specific proteins.

Estimação de frequência usando sensores de erro com atrasos adaptativos

This paper proposes a solution to improve the performance of the first order Early Error Sensing (EES) Adaptive Time Delay Tanlock Loops (ATDTL) presented in (Al-Zaabi, Al-Qutayri e Al-Araji, 2005), regarding to frequency estimation and tracking time. The EES-ATDTL are phaselocked-loops (PLL) used to hardware implementations, due to their simple structure. Fixed-points theorems are used to determine conditions for rapid convergence of the estimation process and a estimative of the frecuency input is obtained with a Gaussian filter that improves the gain adaptation. The mathematical models are the presented by (Al-Araji, Al-Qutayri e Al-Zaabi, 2006). Simulations have been performed to evaluate the theoretical results.

Germinação e vigor de sementes de crambe sob estresse hídrico

This study aimed to evaluate crambe seeds germination and vigor under water stress conditions induced by polyethylene glycol solutions. The seeds were germinated on substrate moistened with polyethylene glycol solutions, using the osmotic potentials of 0 (control), -0.2, -0.4, -0.6, -0.8, -1.0, -1.2 and -1.4 MPa. The seeds germination was evaluated by normal seedlings and root emission percentages. Vigor was evaluated by germination average time, relative frequency, velocity and synchronization index. It was observed that more negative osmotic potential caused significant reduction in crambe seed germination and vigor, and no normal seedlings was observed at potentials below -0.6 MPa.

Treatments to optimize the use of artificial insemination and reproductive efficiency in beef cattle under tropical environments

Bos indicus cattle, the preferred genetic group in tropical climates, are characterized by having a lower reproductive efficiency than Bos taurus. The reasons for the poorer reproductive efficiency of the Bos indicus cows include longer lengths of gestation and postpartum anestrus, a short length of estrous behavior with a high incidence of estrus occurring during the dark hours, and puberty at older age and at a higher percentage of body weight relative to mature body weight. Moreover, geography, environment, economics, and social traditions are factors contributing for a lower use of reproductive biotechnologies in tropical environments. Hormonal protocols have been developed to resolve some of the reproductive challenges of the Bos indicus cattle and allow artificial insemination, which is the main strategy to hasten genetic improvement in commercial beef ranches. Most of these treatments use exogenous sources of progesterone associated with strategies to improve the final maturation of the dominant follicle, such as temporary weaning and exogenous gonadotropins. These treatments have caused large impacts on reproductive performance of beef cattle reared under tropical areas. Copyright © 2011 O. G. Sá Filho and J. L. M. Vasconcelos.

How FTAI and FTET impact reproductive efficiency of Brazilian dairy herds

Background: Throughout dairy cows evolution, milk production was always the key point to select the superior animal. Currently, several evidences has shown that high milk production have intensively contributed to the decline of dairy cattle fertility. Beyond milk production, dairy cows have their reproductive performance impaired by another factors, heat stress and repeat-breeding. Methods like fixed time artificial insemination and embryo transfer were developed to minimize the effects of these factors, and improve dairy herds profitability. This review aims to show some key-point experiments conducted to improve the efficiency of the self-appointed protocols for artificial insemination and embryo transfer in Brazil, overcoming several reproductive problems. Our goal is to develop cheap and easy self-appointed programs that facilitate animal handling and maximize their reproductive outcomes all over the year. Review: Failure in estrus detection is the mainly limiting factor for the use of artificial insemination in high-production dairy herd. An excellent alternative to overcome the need of estrus detection is fixed time artificial insemination. Many protocols with and without the use of estradiol have been developed to that end. Among the protocols for fixed time artificial insemination without estradiol, DoubleOvsynch has been extensively used recently in American dairy herds. In Brazil, similar pregnancy rate was obtained compared to progesterone-estradiol based protocols for fixed time artificial insemination. Particularities of progesterone-estradiol based protocols as (1) new progesterone device or devices previously used for eight days; (2) different doses of eCG; and (3) the use of estradiol cypionate for fixed time artificial insemination have been studied in Brazil. The use of self-appointed artificial insemination also enabled the reduction of the interval calving-conception compared to cows inseminated following the standing estrus. Regarding the low fertility of repeat breeders and the effect of heat stress at early pregnancy, other methods like embryo transfer became important tools to enhance reproductive efficiency of Brazilian dairy herds. Protocols were also developed to allow fixed time embryo transfer, eliminating the need of estrus detection and improving the reproductive efficiency of lactating recipients. As well as described for fixed time artificial insemination treatments, there is a large variety of hormone combination for fixed time embryo transfer (with and without estradiol). An experiment conducted in Brazil demonstrated that protocols for fixed time embryo transfer without estradiol can be as good as with estradiol to synchronize high-producing Holstein recipients, essentially during summer. Particularities related to embryos cryopreservation, synchronization of the estrus cycle of donors and recipients and the site of embryo release into the uterine horn were also investigated. Greater conception rates were achieved when fresh embryos were transferred compared to frozen-thawed ones. Also, the tight synchronization between donor and recipient (same day of estrus) resulted more pregnancies than when recipients were one day later or in advantage in relation to donors. Moreover, the site of embryo release into the uterine horn (ipsilateral to the corpus luteum) had no effect on pregnancy rates after in vivo produced embryo transfer. Conclusion: Both fixed time artificial insemination and fixed time embryo transfer are important tools to improve reproductive efficiency of high-producing dairy cows. These biotechnologies help bypassing some of the greatest challenges of dairy cattle reproduction: the difficulties of estrus detection, and the low fertility associated to heat stress and repeat breeding.

Uterine and luteal hemodynamic evaluation of the non pregnant mare

Background: Studies with Doppler ultrassonography started at the end of the 90s for the determination of physiological and pathological alterations in the reproductive tract of the mare. Uterine alterations caused by inflammation, response from seminal plasma infusion, hormonal variations during estrous and diestrus, pregnancy and action of various vasoactive factors influence on the vascular perfusion detected by Doppler ultrasound. The development of efficient methods for uterine quality evaluation is of big importance for field equine reproduction veterinarians, once uterine environment is responsible for pregnancy maintenance. Review: Nowadays, the most used methods of uterine evaluation are the mode B ultrassonography, cytology, culture and biopsy. Hemodynamic evaluation of the uterus can be done by spectral data collected from large vessels, as A. uterine and its ramifications, or from subjective or objective evaluations from endometrium, miometrium and mesometrium attachment, which provide data referent to local and specific alterations of the evaluated area. Alterations in uterine vascular perfusion has been detected during estrous cycle, during pregnancy and in cases of infusion of inflammatory substances. These alterations happen because of vasoactive substances that act in the uterus during these events, however, most of these vasoactive substances are probably not even known. Also, important hemodynamic alterations in old mares, as an increase in vascular resistance, have been described. This increase might result from fibrosis of the uterus and in women it is considered to be a cause of infertility. In mares, periglandular fibrosis of the endometrium is considered to be the major diagnosable cause of embryonic and fetal loss in older mares. For the CL, ovarian artery of the mare supplies the ovary as well as the oviduct and therefore can be used for evaluation of these areas. The CL evaluation can also be done by the percentage of luteum area with colored signals as an indicator of the extent of blood flow. The percentage of the CL area with colored signals is determined subjectively by images observations in real time and/or by a freezing Power Doppler cross-section image with the maximum number of color pixels taped and the total number of color pixels is assessed by a computer analysis system. Therefore, a high correlation between plasmatic progesterone and CL vascularization also allows the CL evalution by this technique. In a first report, CL circulation reached its maximum on D5, the progesterone concentration in peripheral blood increased until D7 and in a posterior report, maximum perfusion was achieved two days after the maximum progesterone concentration (D8). Blood flow reduced between D10-D14 some days before the plasma progesterone decrease and, during the luteolytic period (D15-D17), the decline in CL blood-flow area was greater than blood flow decrease. Conclusion: Doppler ultrassonography add knowledge about uterine viability and CL functionality can be easily used by veterinarians in the field. It is a noninvasive method that provides real time results. However, because of the short time studies in this area have been done, many other answers still need to be found until normal and pathological patterns will be established.

Use of cooled bull semen as a strategy to increase the pregnancy rate in fixed-time artificial insemination programs-case report

Semen cryopreservation is still considered suboptimal due to lower fertility when compared to fresh semen. The reasons for the loss of fertility are various and related to irreversible damage caused to the cells during the freeze-thaw process. An alternative to conventional cryopreservation represents the use of chilled bull semen, preventing the damage associated with freezing, thereby guaranteeing greater sperm viability. The aim of this study was to describe the use of cooled bull semen as a strategy to increase the pregnancy for Fixed-Time Artificial Insemination (FTAI) of Nellore (Bos indicus) cows. One ejaculate of a select Nellore bull obtained by electroejaculation was used; the semen sample was fractioned into two aliquots: one diluted in Botu-Bov® extender containing 6.4% glycerol for cryopreservation (BB-F, frozen group) and one diluted in the same extender, free from cryoprotectants and used for cooling (BB-C, cooled semen group). The samples in the BB-C group were chilled to 5°C using an isothermic box and maintained for 24 h prior to use. A total of 349 lactating Nellore cows (70-90 days after birth) were synchronized by the insertion of a progesterone releasing device (1.0 g) and estradiol benzoate (2.0 mg i.m.) on a random day of the estrous cycle (Day 0); FTAI was performed 44-48 h after the removal of the device. The pregnancy rates were 45.71 and 61.49% (P<0.05), respectively, for the cryopreserved or chilled bovine semen groups. In conclusion, the use of bull semen cooled for 24 h represents an alternative to conventionally cryopreserved semen, as determined by the increase the pregnancy per artificial insemination in bovine herds. © 2012 Science Publication.