Use of fresh autogenous vaginal tunic in the experimental lamellar keratoplasty in dogs (Canis familiaris, LINNAEUS, 1758)

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

A deterministic simulation study of embryo marker-assisted selection for age at first calving in Nellore (Bos indicus) beef cattle

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

Quadro citológico vaginal, concentração plasmática de progesterona durante a gestação e medidas fetais em paca (Cuniculus paca Linnaeus, 1766)

Em 27 pacas (Cuniculus paca Linnaeus, 1766) objetivou-se descrever aos 30, 60 e 90 dias (D) de prenhez diagnosticada por ultrassonografia (US), os tipos celulares do epitélio vaginal em esfregaços vaginais, relatar as condições de abertura da vulva e as características do muco vaginal, determinar a concentração plasmática de progesterona (P4) por radioimunoensaio, e ainda, mensurar por ultrassonografia (US) o diâmetro biparietal (DBP) fetal aos 60 e 90 dias de prenhez. No D30, 40% das amostras exibiram células (com características estrogênicas) superficiais e presença de núcleos nus. Nos D60 e D90, células parabasais, intermediárias, superficiais e naviculares estavam presentes nas mesmas proporções, mas células endocervicais foram descritas em apenas 73,9% e 69% das amostras daqueles dias, respectivamente. No D30 a maior proporção de células naviculares e superficiais diferiu (p < 0,05) em relação aos outros tipos celulares presentes. O muco vaginal apresentou-se cristalino e fluido em 100% e em 70% das fêmeas nos D30 e D60, respectivamente. Observou-se o vestíbulo vaginal aberto em torno de 50% das fêmeas em todos os dias de exames. Valores mínimos detectáveis de P4 foram obtidos em 72% e em 83% das fêmeas, enquanto que as médias das medidas dos DBP foram 1,25 cm (± 0,16) e 2,34 cm (± 0,25) nos D60 e D90, respectivamente. O quadro citológico vaginal nos D30, D60 e D90 e o DBP fornecem elementos que contribuem para diagnóstico de gestação em pacas. A concentração de P4 demonstra a necessidade de maiores estudos da endocrinologia da gestação em pacas.

Analysis of the crown fractures and crown-root fractures due to dental trauma assisted by the Integrated Clinic from 1992 to 2002

The purpose of this study was to analyze crown fractures and crown-root fractures due to dentoalveolar trauma, treated in the Integrated Clinic comprehensive dental care at Aracatuba School of Dentistry (UNESP), from January 1992 to July 2002. The data were obtained from files of trauma cases. on the analysis period, 293 patients had crown fractures or crown-root fractures, in 605 teeth. Sixty-nine percent were males and 31% were females. Adolescents between 11 and 18 years old were the most prevalent group (41.6%) and the maxillary arch was the most commonly traumatized (83%). The most commonly affected tooth was the maxillary central incisor (58.3%). The most frequent causes were falls from bicycles (30.8%). It was concluded that the reality of the local service is similar to the published data.

Preparation and characterization of LiNi0.8Co0.2O2/PANI microcomposite electrode materials under assisted ultrasonic irradiation

A preparation method for a new electrode material based on the LiNi0.8Co0.2O2/polyaniline (PANI) composite is reported. This material is prepared by in situ polymerization of aniline in the presence of LiNi0.8Co0.2O2 assisted by ultrasonic irradiation. The materials are characterized by XRD, TG-DTA, FTIR, XPS, SEM-EDX, AFM, nitrogen adsorption (BET surface area) and electrical conductivity measurements. PANI in the emeraldine salt form interacts with metal-oxide particles to assure good connectivity. The dc electrical conductivity measurements at room temperature indicate that conductivity values are one order of magnitude higher in the composite than in the oxide alone. This behavior determines better reversibility for Li-insertion in charge-discharge cycles compared to the pristine mixed oxide when used as electrode of lithium batteries. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Influence of milling time on mechanically assisted synthesis of Pb0.91Ca0.1TiO3 powders

Pb0.91Ca0.1TiO3 powders (PCT) were prepared by mechanochemical synthesis from high-energy ball milling process. The influence of milling time on the phase formation, crystal structure, specific surface area, density and powder morphology was observed. We adopted the Rietveld refinement technique to investigate the crystal structure of the PCT powders. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis revealed that PCT powders milled for 5 h showed a wide distribution of particle agglomerates while milled for 35 h showed a decrease in agglomerates size. Further prolongation of milling time resulted in the agglomerates growth. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.

Spectrophotometric determination of formaldehyde with chromotropic acid in phosphoric acid medium assisted by microwave oven

In the present study. a spectrophotometric method for the determination of formaldehyde by using chromotropic acid was devised. in which the use of potentially hazardous and corrosive concentrated sulfuric acid was eliminated and advantageously C replaced by a mixture of H, concentrated H3PO4 and H2O2. The reaction between formaldehyde and chromotropic acid (CA) in a cone phosphoric acid medium was accelerate by irradiating the mixture with microwave energy for 35 s (1100 W), producing a violetred compound (lambda(max)=570 nm). Beer's Law is obeyed in a concentration range of 0.8-4.8 mg 1(-1) of formaldehyde with a good correlation coefficient (r = 0.9968). The proposed method was applied in the analysis of formaldehyde in commercial disinfectants. Recoveries were within 98.0-100.4%, with standard deviations ranging from 0.03 to 0.13%. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.

Fast ultrasound-assisted treatment of urine samples for chronopotentiometric stripping determination of mercury at gold film electrodes

This work describes an efficient, fast, and reliable analytical methodology for mercury determination in urine samples using stripping chronopotentiometry at gold film electrodes. The samples were sonicated in the presence of concentrated HCl and H2O2 for 15 min in order to disrupt the organic ligands and release the mercury. Thirty samples can be treated over the optimized region of the ultrasonic bath. This sample preparation was enough to allow the accurate stripping chronopotentiometric determination of mercury in the treated samples. No background currents and no passivation of the gold film electrode due to the sample matrix were verified. The samples were also analyzed by cold vapour atomic absorption spectrometry (CV-AAS) and good agreement between the results was verified. The analysis of NIST SRM 2670 (Toxic Metals in Freeze-Dried Urine) also validated the proposed electroanalytical method. Finally, this method was applied for mercury evaluation in urine of workers exposed to hospital waste incinerators. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Computer-assisted analysis of cell proliferation markers in oral lesions

Abnormalities in any component of the cell cycle regulatory machine may result in oral. cancer, and markers of cell proliferation have been used to determine the prognosis of tumor progression. The aim of this study was to determine whether silver-stained nucleolar organizer region (AgNOR) and Ki-67 measurements could improve the assessment of growth rates in oral lesions. Eighty-three oral biopsies were studied, 20 of which were classified as fibrous inflammatory hyperplasia (FIH), 40 as leukoplakia (LKP) and 23 as oral. squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Within the LKP group, 22 out of 29 biopsies were diagnosed as non-dysplastic leukoplakia (LK) and 18 as dysplastic teukoptakia (DLK), presenting discrete, moderate and severe dysplasia. Ki-67 immunotabeting of the lesions increased steadily in the following order: FIH, DLK, LK and OSCC, indicating that Ki-67 is a good marker for predicting the protiferative fraction among benign, premalignant and malignant oral lesions. The median values of AgNOR parameters indicate that the morphometric index gives better results regarding the proliferative rate than the numerical one. A series of linear regressions between AgNOR parameters and Ki-67 showed positive associations. We conclude that a combination of Ki-67 and morphometric AgNOR analyses could be used as an aid in the determination of the protiferative status of oral epithelial. cells in oral cancer. (C) 2007 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Degradation of Acid Blue 40 dye solution and dye house wastewater from textile industry by photo-assisted electrochemical process

In this paper, electrochemical and photo-assisted electrochemical processes are used for color, total organic carbon (TOC) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) degradation of one of the most abundant and strongly colored industrial wastewaters, which results from the dyeing of fibers and fabrics in the textile industry. The experiments were carried out in an 18L pilot-scale tubular low reactor with 70% TiO2/30% RuO2 DSA. A synthetic acid blue 40 solution and real dye house wastewater, containing the same dye, were used for the experiments. By using current density of 80 mA cm(-2) electrochemical process has the capability to remove 80% of color, 46% of TOC and 69% of COD. When used the photochemical process with 4.6 mW cm(-2) of 254nm UV-C radiation to assist the electrolysis, has been obtained 90% of color, 64% of TOC and 60% of COD removal in 90 minutes of processing; furthermore, 70% of initial color was degraded within the first 15 minutes. Experimental runs using dye house wastewater resulted in 78% of color, 26% of TOC and 49% of COD in electrolysis at 80 mA cm(-2) and 90 min; additionally, when photo-assisted, electrolysis resulted in removals of 85% of color, 42% of TOC and 58% of COD. For the operational conditions used in this study, color, TOC and COD showed pseudo-first-order decaying profiles. Apparent rate constants for degradation of TOC and COD were improved by one order of magnitude when the photo-electrochemical process was used.

Isolation and sequence determination of peptides in the venom of the spider wasp (Cyphononyx dorsalis) guided by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry

Micro-scale (sub-pmol) isolation and sequence determination of three peptides from the venom of the solitary spider wasp Cyphononyx dorsalis is described. We isolated two novel peptides Cd-125 and Cd-146 and a known peptide Thr(6)-bradykinin from only two venom sacs of solitary spider wasp Cyphononyx dorsalis without bioassay-guided fractionation. but instead guided by MALDI-TOF MS. The MALDI-TOF MS analysis of each fraction showed the purity and molecular weight of the components, which led to the isolation of the peptides virtually without loss of sample amount. The sequences of the novel peptides Cd-125 (Asp-Thr-Ala-Arg-Leu-Lys-Trp-His) and Cd-146 (Ser-Glu-Thr-Gly-Asn-Thr-Val-Thr-Val-Lys-Gly-Phe-Ser-Pro-Leu-Arg) were determined by Edman degradation together with mass spectrometry. and finally corroborated by solid-phase synthesis. The known peptide Thr(6)-bradykinin (Arg-Pro-Pro-Gly-Phe-Thr-Pro-Phe-Arg) was identified by comparison with the synthetic authentic specimen. This is the first example for any kinins to be found in Pompilidae wasp venoms. The procedure reported here can be applicable to studies on many other components of solitary wasp venoms with limited sample availability. (C) 2001 Elsevier B.V. Ltd. All rights reserved.

DFT study on the water-assisted mechanism for the reaction between VO+ and NH3 to yield VNH+ and H2O

On the basis of DFT calculations, an understanding on the catalytic effect of water in the dehydration reaction between VO+ and NH3 to yield VNH+ and H2O has been obtained. The Gibbs free energy profiles point out that the global process involves two consecutive hydrogen shifts from the nitrogen to the oxygen atom. The catalytic role is achieved by a water assisted mechanism in which water acts as proton donor and acceptor, via transition structures corresponding to a six-membered rings. The corresponding stationary points lie below both the entrance VO+ + NH3, and VNH+ + H2O, channels. (c) 2006 Elsevier B... All rights reserved.

Clinicopathological features influencing pelvic lymph node metastasis and vaginal and parametrial involvement in patients with carcinoma of the cervix

Purpose: This study was undertaken to evaluate clinical and pathologic findings that predicted pelvic lymph node metastasis and parametrial and vaginal involvement in patients with stage IB carcinoma of the cervix. Methods: 71 patients with diagnosis of stage IB (FIGO) cervical cancer were prospectively studied from December 1997 to August 2002. The patient's age, clinical stage (IB1 or IB2), histological classification, grade of differentiation, tumor volume, and lymphatic vascular space invasion (LVSI) were evaluated. Statistical methods included chi(2) test and Fisher's exact test to evaluate significant differences between the groups. The level of significance was set at p < 0.05. Results: the clinical stage was IB1 in 51 patients (71.8%) and IB2 in 20 patients (28.2%). The histological classification identified squamous cell carcinoma in 60 patients (84.5%) and adenocarcinoma in 11 patients (15.5%). The average tumoral volume was 22.8 &PLUSMN; 8 24.3 cm(3) (0.3-140.0 cm(3)). The tumor was well differentiated (G1) in 8 (11.3%), moderately differentiated (G2) in 40 (56.3%) and poorly differentiated in 23 (32.4%) of the cases. The presence of LVSI was detected in 14 patients (19.7%) and was associated with pelvic lymph node metastasis and vaginal and parametrial involvement (p = 0.002, p = 0.001 and p < 0.001; respectively). The average number of positive pelvic lymph nodes was significantly higher in the patients with LVSI compared with patients without LVSI (2.47 +/- 2.8 vs. 0.33 +/- 0.74; p = 0.001). There was no association of age, clinical stage, histological classification, grade of differentiation or tumor volume with pelvic lymph node metastasis and vaginal and parametrial involvement. Conclusion: the presence of LVSI is significantly associated with pelvic lymph node metastasis and vaginal and parametrial involvement in patients with stage IB cervical carcinoma. Copyright (C) 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel.