Targeting Plasmodium ligands on mosquito salivary glands and midgut with a phage display peptide library

Despite vast efforts and expenditures in the past few decades, malaria continues to kill millions of persons every year, and new approaches for disease control are urgently needed. To complete its life cycle in the mosquito, Plasmodium, the causative agent of malaria, has to traverse the epithelia of the midgut and salivary glands. Although strong circumstantial evidence indicates that parasite interactions with the two organs are specific, hardly any information is available about the interacting molecules. By use of a phage display library, we identified a 12-aa peptide-salivary gland and midgut peptide 1 (SM1)-that binds to the distal lobes of the salivary gland and to the luminal side of the midgut epithelium, but not to the midgut surface facing the hemolymph or to ovaries. The coincidence of the tissues with which parasites and the SM1 peptide interact suggested that the parasite and peptide recognize the same surface ligand. In support of this hypothesis, the SM1 peptide strongly inhibited Plasmodium invasion of salivary gland and midgut epithelia. These experiments suggest a new strategy for the genetic manipulation of mosquito vectorial capacity.

Preheating in quintessential inflation

We perform a numerical study of the preheating mechanism of particle production in models of quintessential inflation and compare it with the usual gravitational production mechanism. We find that even for a very small coupling between the inflaton field and a massless scalar field, g ≳ 10 -6, preheating dominates over gravitational particle production. Reheating temperatures in the range 10 4 ≲ T rh ≲ 10 15 GeV can be easily obtained. © 2003 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Quintessential inflation and non-oscillatory reheating model

A numerical study of the non-oscillatory reheating mechanism in a quintessential inflation context shows that high reheating temperature can be achieved compared with the usual reheating mechanism in which particles are produced gravitationally. We find that even for a very small coupling between the inflaton field and a massless scalar field, the non-oscillatory reheating production of particles dominates over the gravitational production mechanism. © 2004 Published by Elsevier B.V.

In vitro targeting of Polo-like kinase 1 in bladder carcinoma: Comparative effects of four potent inhibitors

Despite the improvements in neoadjuvant chemotherapy, the outcome of patients with advanced bladder cancer has changed very little over the past 30 years. In the present study we tested and compared the in vitro antitumor activities of four different inhibitors of Polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1) (BI 2536, BI 6727, GW843682X, and GSK461364), against 3 bladder carcinoma cell lines RT4, 5637 and T24. The impact on radiosensitivity and drug interactions in simultaneous treatments with cisplatin, methotrexate, and doxorubicin were also investigated. Our results showed that PLK1 inhibition prevented cell proliferation and clonogenicity, causing significant inhibition of invasion of tumor cells, though modest differences were observed between drugs. Moreover, all PLK1 inhibitors induced G2/M arrest, with the subsequent induction of death in all 3 cell lines. Drug interactions studies showed auspicious results for all PLK1 inhibitors when combined with the commonly used cisplatin and methotrexate, though combinations with doxorubicin showed mostly antagonistic effects. Comparably, the four PLK1 inhibitors efficiently sensitized cells to ionizing radiation. Our findings demonstrate that irrespective of the inhibitor used, the pharmacological inhibition of PLK1 constrains bladder cancer growth and dissemination, providing new opportunities for future therapeutic intervention. However, further laboratorial and preclinical tests are still needed to corroborate the usefulness of using them in combination with other commonly used chemotherapeutic drugs. © 2013 Landes Bioscience.

Chameleonic inflation

We attempt to incorporate inflation into a string theory realization of the chameleon mechanism. Previously, it was found that the volume modulus, stabilized by the supersymmetric potential used by Kachru, Kallosh, Linde and Trivedi (KKLT) and with the right choice of parameters, can generically work as a chameleon. In this paper, we ask whether inflation can be realized in the same model. We find that we need a large extra dimensions set-up, as well as a semi-phenomenological deformation of the Kähler potential in the quantum region. We also find that an additional KKLT term is required so that there are now two pieces to the potential, one which drives inflation in the early universe, and one which is responsible for chameleon screening at late times. These two pieces of the potential are separated by a large flat desert in field space. The scalar field must dynamically traverse this desert between the end of inflation and today, and we find that this can indeed occur under the right conditions. © 2013 SISSA, Trieste, Italy.

Energetic efficiency of an agricultural tractor in function of tire inflation pressure

The tire inflation pressure, among other factors, determines the efficiency in which a tractor can exert traction. It was studied the effect of using two tire inflation pressures, 110.4 kPa in the front and rear wheels, 124.2 kPa in the front wheel and 138 kPa in the rear wheels, the energetic efficiency of an agricultural tractor of 147 kW of engine power, in the displacement speed of 6.0 km.h-1, on track with firm surface, with the tractor engine speed of 2000 rpm. For each condition of the tire pressure, the tested tractor was subjected to constant forces in the drawbar of 45 kN and 50 kN, covering 30 meters. It was used a randomized complete block with a 2x2 factorial arrangement (tire pressure and drawbar power) with four replications, totaling 16 experimental units. Data were subjected to analysis of variance, using the Tukey test at 5% probability for comparison averages. The lowest hourly and specific fuel consumption, the lowest slippage of the wheelsets and the highest efficiency in the drawbar was obtained with the tire inflation pressure of 110.4 kPa in the front and rear tires of the tractor, highlighting that lower pressures improve energetic and operational performance of the tractor.

Conformal inflation from the Higgs

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

MicroRNAs targeting the immunomodulatory HLA-G gene: a new survey searching for microRNAs with potential to regulate HLA-G

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Antibacterial activity of alkyl gallates is a combination of direct targeting of FtsZ and permeabilization of bacterial membranes

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Inflation in supergravity and the volume modulus

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Tractor perfomance as a function of speed and seeder s tire inflation pressure

O desempenho de tratores agrícolas em condições de campo resulta da interação entre pneu e rodado, influenciado pela velocidade de deslocamento. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o desempenho de um trator agrícola sob diferentes pressões de inflação dos pneus da semeadora (518, 483, and 414kPa) e em duas marchas que proporcionaram velocidades de 3,0 e 6,0km h-1. O experimento foi realizado no campus de Jaboticabal da Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). O delineamento experimental utilizado foi fatorial inteiramente casualizado (3x2), com quatro repetições. A força de tração foi influenciada pela marcha e pela potência exigida; no entanto, a pressão de inflação do pneu da semeadora não alterou esses parâmetros. Além disso, o consumo de combustível foi influenciado apenas pela marcha do trator. O consumo de energia foi maior com o aumento da velocidade, ocasionada pela mudança de marcha. A velocidade de deslocamento foi maior para a pressão de 518kPa, em razão da menor patinagem da semeadora promovida por essa pressão. A patinagem do trator não foi alterada pelos fatores testados.