Chronic consumption of fructose rich soft drinks alters tissue lipids of rats

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

Dielectric properties of soft chemical method derived CaCu3Ti4O12 thin films onto Pt/TiO2/Si(100) substrates

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Alcohol-induced alterations in the palate epithelium of the rat fetus.

Maternal alcoholism (ethanol and sugar cane brandy) during gestation induces delayed cellular growth and differentiation in fetal rat palate epithelium, with increased nuclear, cytoplasmic and cellular volumes, increased epithelial and keratin thickness and decreased cellular numerical density.

Soft superweak CP violation in a 3-3-1 model

We show that it is possible to implement soft superweak CP violation in the context of a 3-3-1 model with only three triplets. All CP violation effects come from the exchange of singly and doubly charged scalars. We consider the implication of this mechanism in the quark and lepton sectors. In particular it is shown that, in this model, as in most of those which incorporate scalar mediated CP violation, it is possible to have large electric dipole moments for the muon and the tau lepton while keeping small those of the electron and neutron. The CKM mixing matrix is real at the tree level but gets a phase at the 1-up loop level. ©1999 The American Physical Society.

Soft supcrweak CP violation in a 3-3-1 model

We show that it is possible to implement soft superweak CP violation in the context of a 3-3-1 model with only three triplets. All CP violation effects come from the exchange of singly and doubly charged scalars. We consider the implication of this mechanism in the quark and lepton sectors. In particular it is shown that, in this model, as in most of those which incorporate scalar mediated CP violation, it is possible to have large electric dioole moments for the muon and the tau lepton while keeping small those of the electron and neutron. The CKM mixing matrix is real at the tree level but gets a phase at the 1-up loop level. ©1999 The American Physical Society.

Quantum section method for the soft stadium

The soft stadium is defined by a monomial potential with exponent α as a parameter, such that α → ∞ corresponds to the billiard. The practical use of the quantum section method depends only on the partial separability of the system on both sides of the section, which holds for all α's. In particular, for α = 1.0, the system becomes globally separable, allowing for a general test of the method. For various values of the parameter, we also tested the use of the asymptotic WKB-type approximation in the construction of Green's functions and asymptotic overlap integrals to obtain higher energy eigenvalues. We show these approximations to be reliable. © 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of isotretinoin on tooth germ and palate development in mouse embryos.

Vitamin A and its derivatives, retinoic acid, tretinoin and isotretinoin, are currently used in dermatological treatments. The administration of high doses of this vitamin provokes congenital malformations in mice: cleft palate, maxillary and mandibular hypoplasia and total or partial fusion of the maxillary incisors. This study compares the tooth germs of the first maxillary and mandibular molars of fetal mice submitted to isotretinoin during organogenesis. Twelve 60-day-old female Mus musculus were divided into two groups on the 7th day of pregnancy: treated group--1 mg isotretinoin per kg body weight, dissolved in vegetable oil, was administered from the 7th to the 13th day of pregnancy; control group--vegetable oil in equivalent volume was administered orally for the same period. On the 16th day of pregnancy, the females were sacrificed, the fetuses were removed and their heads amputated. After standard laboratory procedures, 6-micron thick serial slices were stained with hematoxylin and eosin for optical microscopy examination. The results showed that both groups had closed palates with no reminiscence of epithelial cells; however, the first molar germs of the isotretinoin-treated animals showed delayed development compared to the control animals.

Structural phase evolution of strontium-doped lead titanate thin films prepared by the soft chemical technique

Strontium-modified lead titanate thin films with composition Pb1-xSrxTiO3 were grown on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrates using the polymeric precursor method. The structural phase evolution as a function of the Sr contents was studied using micro-Raman scattering, specular reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy, and x-ray diffraction. The results showed a gradual change from tetragonal to cubic structure, the transition occurring at about x = 0.58. The infrared reflectance spectra showed that the frequency of several peaks decreases as the strontium concentration increases. These features are correlated with a decrease in the tetragonal distortion of the TiO6 octahedra as the strontium concentration increases.

Comparison between polyurethanes containing castor oil (Soft Segment) and cancellous bone autograft in the treatment of segmental bone defect induced in rabbits

The aim of this study is to compare polyurethanes containing castor oil (soft segment) in granular form compared to cancellous bone autograft applied to a segmental bone defect. Norfolk adult female rabbits - approximately 13 months of age with a mean body weight of 4.5 kg - are used. In both radial diaphyses, 1 cm osteoperiosteal segmental defects are created. The defect in the left radius is filled with the castor-oil-based polyurethane, and the right one, filled with cancellous bone autograft, collected from the left proximal humerus. The rabbits are euthanazed at 15, 30, 60, and 120 days postsurgery (5 animals/ period), for histological analyses. By radiographic analyses, at these time points, the bone regeneration is more evident and accelerated in the bone defects treated with the cancellous bone autograft. At 120 days postsurgery, the segmental bone defects treated with the cancellous bone autograft are totally reconstituted and remodeled, while the bone defects treated with polyurethane polymer have bone formation of 79%. Histological study shows that the polyurethane acts as a space filler, minimizing the local production of fibrous tissue. No granule degradation, resorption or any inflammatory reaction is detected. Thus, it is possible to conclude that the castor-oil-plant-based polyurethane - in the granule presentation - is biocompatible and osteointegrated, but does not show the same bone regeneration capacity as the cancellous bone autograft. © 2007 SAGE Publications.

Effect of disinfection treatments on the hardness of soft denture liner materials

Purpose: To evaluate the effects of disinfection treatments with chemical solutions (2% glutaraldehyde, 5% sodium hypochlorite, and 5% chlorhexidine) and microwave energy on the hardness of four long-term soft denture liners. Materials and Methods: Forty rectangular specimens of four soft lining materials (Molloplast-B, Ufi Gel P, Eversoft, and Mucopren soft) were made for each material. Ten samples of each material were immersed in different disinfectant solutions for 10 minutes or placed in a microwave oven for 3 minutes at 500 W. The hardness values were obtained with a Shore A durometer, before the first disinfection cycle (control), and also after two cycles of disinfection. Data were submitted to analysis of variance and Tukey's test (p < 0.01). Results: The highest value of hardness was obtained for Molloplast-B, independent of the disinfection technique. Mucopren soft demonstrated intermediate values and Ufi Gel P and Eversoft the lowest values of Shore A hardness. For Molloplast-B, the disinfection using glutaraldehyde demonstrated the highest value of hardness. The number of disinfections had no effect on the hardness values for all the materials studied and disinfection techniques. Conclusions: The application of two disinfection cycles did not change the Shore A hardness values for all the materials. The glutaraldehyde solution demonstrated the highest values of Shore A hardness for the Molloplast-B, Mucopren soft, and Ufi Gel P materials, while Eversoft did not present any differences in hardness when submitted to different disinfection treatments. Copyright © 2007 by The American College of Prosthodontists.

Unusual wooden foreign body in the palate

We report a case of a palatal calcified foreign body simulating an odontogenic lesion. Surgical exploration revealed a calcified mass that was analysed under light microscopy and identified as a vegetal foreign body. Further scanning electron microscopy analysis revealed that the foreign body was a piece of wood. Hard palate foreign bodies have been reported previously, however, it seems that this is the first case of its kind. © 2007 Nature Publishing Group.

Excision of an atypical case of palatal bone exostosis: a case report.

Bone exostosis has long been described in the literature, appearing in most cases as a torus palatinus or mandibularis. These two variations are relatively common and affect approximately 30% of the world's population. Incidence is even higher when human skulls are examined post mortem, indicating that in some cases the exostosis is small and cannot be seen under the soft tissue. Removal of an exostosis is usually associated with the construction of a prothesis, but in rare cases such as the present, the lesion enlarges enough to affect speech and feeding. Few studies have reported the removal of such a large exostosis, and all were conducted in a hospital environment. In this case, complete removal was successfully conducted in an ambulatory clinic under local anesthesia.

Heuristics and meta-heuristics for lot sizing and scheduling in the soft drinks industry: A comparison study

This chapter studies a two-level production planning problem where, on each level, a lot sizing and scheduling problem with parallel machines, capacity constraints and sequence-dependent setup costs and times must be solved. The problem can be found in soft drink companies where the production process involves two interdependent levels with decisions concerning raw material storage and soft drink bottling. Models and solution approaches proposed so far are surveyed and conceptually compared. Two different approaches have been selected to perform a series of computational comparisons: an evolutionary technique comprising a genetic algorithm and its memetic version, and a decomposition and relaxation approach. © 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Meta-heuristic approaches for a soft drink industry problem

The present paper evaluates meta-heuristic approaches to solve a soft drink industry problem. This problem is motivated by a real situation found in soft drink companies, where the lot sizing and scheduling of raw materials in tanks and products in lines must be simultaneously determined. Tabu search, threshold accepting and genetic algorithms are used as procedures to solve the problem at hand. The methods are evaluated with a set of instance already available for this problem. This paper also proposes a new set of complex instances. The computational results comparing these approaches are reported. © 2008 IEEE.

Biological response to wollastonite doped α-tricalcium phosphate implants in hard and soft tissues in rats

The biological response following subcutaneous and bone implantation of β-wollastonite(β-W)-doped α-tricalcium phosphate bioceramics in rats was evaluated. Tested materials were: tricalcium phosphate (TCP), consisting of a mixture of α- and β-polymorphs; TCP doped with 5 wt. % of β-W (TCP5W), composed of α-TCP as only crystalline phase; and TCP doped with 15 wt. % of β-W (TCP 15), containing crystalline α-TCP and β-W. Cylinders of 2×1 mm were implanted in tibiae and backs of adult male Rattus norvegicus, Holtzman rats. After 7, 30 and 120 days, animals were sacrificed and the tissue blocks containing the implants were excised, fixed and processed for histological examination. TCP, TCP5W and TCP15W implants were biocompatible but neither bioactive nor biodegradable in rat subcutaneous tissue. They were not osteoinductive in connective tissue either. However, in rat bone tissue β-W-doped α-TCP implants (TCP5W and TCP 15W) were bioactive, biodegradable and osteoconductive. The rates of biodegradation and new bone formation observed for TCP5W and TCP15W implants in rat bone tissue were greater than for non-doped TCP.