Two-branes with variable tension model and the effective Newtonian constant

It is shown that, in the two brane time variation model framework, if the hidden brane tension varies according to the phenomenological Eotvos law, the visible brane tension behavior is such that its time derivative is negative in the past and positive after a specific time of cosmological evolution. This behavior is interpreted in terms of a useful mechanical system analog and its relation with the variation of the Newtonian (effective) gravitational constant is explored.

Traveling solitons in Lorentz and CPT breaking systems

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Fermion localization on a split brane

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Spin-1 duality in D dimensions

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Five-dimensional f(R) braneworld models

After incorporating f(R) gravity into the general braneworld sum rules scope, it is shown that some particular class of warped five-dimensional nonlinear braneworld models, which may be interesting for the hierarchy problem solution, still require a negative tension brane. For other classes of warp factors (suitable and not suitable for approaching the hierarchy problem) any negative brane tension in the compactification scheme is not necessary. In this vein, it is argued that, in the bulk f(R) gravity context, some types of warp factors may be useful for approaching the hierarchy problem and for evading the necessity of a negative brane tension in the compactification scheme.

Black string corrections in variable tension braneworld scenarios

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Model to localize gauge and tensor fields on thick branes

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Spin and pseudospin symmetries in the Dirac equation with central Coulomb potentials

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Nonuniqueness of the Fierz-Pauli mass term for a nonsymmetic tensor

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Scanning tunneling microscope operating as a spin diode

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Non-Zeeman splitting for a spin-resolved STM with a Kondo adatom in a spin-polarized two-dimensional electron gas

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Crossover between macroscopic and mesoscopic regimes of vortex interactions in type-II superconductors

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

Estirpes de Rhizobium tropici na inoculação do feijoeiro

Avaliando o comportamento do feijoeiro inoculado com cinco estirpes de Rhizobium tropici e a adubação mineral com nitrogênio, sobre alguns fatores relacionados à sua produtividade, utilizou-se um delineamento experimental de blocos ao acaso, com oito tratamentos constituídos pela inoculação do feijoeiro cultivar IAC Carioca com cinco estirpes de Rhizobium tropici (CIAT 899 - estirpe referência; F35; F54; F81 e CM255), dois controles sem inoculação sendo um adubado com N na semeadura e em cobertura e outro sem adubação e um cultivar não nodulante (NORH 54) adubado; com seis repetições. Avaliaram-se: número de nódulos por planta; massa de material seco da parte aérea; teor de N nas folhas; número de vagens por planta; número de grãos por planta; número de grãos por vagem; peso de 100 grãos e produtividade de grãos. A inoculação de estirpes eficientes de Rhizobium em cultivar nodulante de feijoeiro, ou o cultivo deste em solos com população nativa eficiente, pode possibilitar a não utilização de nitrogênio em cobertura na cultura do feijoeiro, sem afetar a produtividade.

COX-2 Inhibitors for Cancer Treatment in Dogs

Cancer is one of the main causes of death in canines and felines, and this fact is probably related to the increase in the longevity of these species. The longer the animals live, the higher the exposure to carcinogenic agents will be. With the high incidence of cancer in companion animals, new studies are currently being performed with the aim of finding therapeutic options which make the complete inhibition of the development of neoplasms in animals possible in the future. The correlation of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) whith the development of cancer opens the way for the use of new therapeutic approaches. This relationship has been suggested based on various studies which established an association between the chronic use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) and a decrease in the incidence of colon carcinoma. As cancer progresses, COX-2 participates in the arachidonic acid metabolism by synthesizing prostaglandins which can mediate various mechanisms related to cancer development such as: increase in angiogenesis, inhibition of apoptosis, suppression of the immune response, acquisition of greater invasion capacity and metastasis. Accordingly, overexpression of this enzyme in tumors has been associated with the most aggressive, poor-prognosis cancer types, especially carcinomas. Therefore, treatments which use COX-2 inhibitors such as coxibs, whether administered as single agents or in combination with conventional antineoplastic chemotherapy, are an alternative for extending the survival of our cancer patients.

Effects of castration on alpha(1)-adrenoceptor subtypes in the rat aorta

The expression of alpha(1)-adrenoceptor subtypes in several tissues is regulated by gonadal hormones. In this study, we investigated whether castration regulates the alpha(1)-adrenoceptor subtypes mediating the contractions of the aorta from male rats to noradrenaline. Noradrenaline induced similar concentration-dependent contractions in the aorta from control and castrated rats. Treatment of the aorta from both control and castrated rats with the alpha(1B)/alpha(1D)-adrenoceptor alkylating agent chloroethylclonidine resulted in approximate to1600-fold rightward shift in the concentration-response curves to noradrenaline. The pA(2) values found for WB 4101, benoxathian (alpha(1A)-selective) and BMY 7378 (alpha(1D)-selective) indicate that alpha(1D)-adrenoceptors are involved in the contractions of the aorta from control and castrated rats to noradrenaline. However, there was a 15-fold difference between the pK(B) estimated through the lowest effective concentrations of the alpha(1A)-adrenoceptor selective antagonist 5-methyl-urapidil in the aorta from control and castrated rats. The pK(B) estimated in aorta from control rats is consistent with the interaction with alpha(1D)-adrenoceptors (7.58 +/- 0.06), while that calculated in organs from control rats is consistent with alpha(1A)-adrenoceptors (8.76 +/- 0.09). These results suggest that castration induces plasticity in the alpha(1)-adrenoceptor subtypes involved in the contractions of the aorta to noradrenaline. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.