Undernutrition fetal programming: effects on kidney morphology, renal steroid and angiotensin receptors expression and urinary sodium excretion

Maternal undernutrition affects the foetal development, promoting renal alterations and adult hypertension. The present study investigates, in adult male rats, the effect of food restriction in utero on arterial blood pressure changes (AP), and its possible association with the number of nephrons, renal function and angiotensin II (AT1R/AT2R), glucocorticoid (GR) and mineralocorticoid (MCR) receptors expression. The daily food supply to pregnant rats was measured and one group (n=5) received normal quantity of food (NF) while the other group received 50% of that (FR50) (n=5). The AP was measured weekly. At 16 weeks of life, fractionator’s method was used to estimate glomeruli number in histological slices. The renal function was estimate by creatinine and lithium clearances. Blood and urine samples were collected to biochemical determination of creatinine, sodium, potassium and lithium. At 90th and 23rd days of life, kidneys were also processed to AT1R, AT2R, GR and MCR immunolocalization and for western blotting analysis. FR50 offspring shows a significant reduction in BW (FR50: 5.67 ± 0.16 vs. 6.84 ± 0.13g in NF, P<0.001) and increased AP from 6th to 12nd week (6thwk FR50: 149.1 ± 3.4 vs. 125.1 ± 3.2mmHg in NF, P<0.001and, 12ndwk FR50: 164.4 ± 4.9 vs. 144.0 ± 3.3 mmHg in NF, P=0.02). Expression of AT1R and AT2R were significantly decreased in FR50 (AT1, 59080 ± 2709 vs. 77000 ± 3591 in NF, P=0.05; AT2, 27500 ± 95.50 vs. 67870 ± 1509 in NF, P=0.001) while the expression of GR increased in FR50 (36090 ± 781.5 vs. 4446 ± 364.5 in NF, P=0.0007). The expression of MCR did not change significantly. We also verified a pronounced decrease in fractional urinary sodium excretion in FR50 offspring (0.03 ± 0.02 vs. 0.06 ± 0.04 in NF, p=0.03). This occurred despite unchanged creatinine clearance. The study led us to suggest that fetal undernutrition, with increased fetal exposure... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Automatic classification of prostate stromal tissue in histological images using Haralick descriptors and Local Binary Patterns

In this paper we presente a classification system that uses a combination of texture features from stromal regions: Haralick features and Local Binary Patterns (LBP) in wavelet domain. The system has five steps for classification of the tissues. First, the stromal regions were detected and extracted using segmentation techniques based on thresholding and RGB colour space. Second, the Wavelet decomposition was applied in the extracted regions to obtain the Wavelet coefficients. Third, the Haralick and LBP features were extracted from the coefficients. Fourth, relevant features were selected using the ANOVA statistical method. The classication (fifth step) was performed with Radial Basis Function (RBF) networks. The system was tested in 105 prostate images, which were divided into three groups of 35 images: normal, hyperplastic and cancerous. The system performance was evaluated using the area under the ROC curve and resulted in 0.98 for normal versus cancer, 0.95 for hyperplasia versus cancer and 0.96 for normal versus hyperplasia. Our results suggest that texture features can be used as discriminators for stromal tissues prostate images. Furthermore, the system was effective to classify prostate images, specially the hyperplastic class which is the most difficult type in diagnosis and prognosis.

Integrated cutting machine programming and lot sizing in furniture industry

In this paper a mathematical model that combines lot-sizing and cutting-stock problems applied to the furniture industry is presented. The model considers the usual decisions of the lot sizing problems, as well as operational decisions related to the cutting machine programming. Two sets of a priori generated cutting patterns are used, industry cutting patterns and a class of n-group cutting patterns. A strategy to improve the utilization of the cutting machine is also tested. An optimization package was used to solve the model and the computational results, using real data from a furniture factory, show that a small subset of n-group cutting patterns provides good results and that the cutting machine utilization can be improved by the proposed strategy.

Stability of curcumin microencapsulated by spray and freeze drying in binary and ternary matrices of maltodextrin, gum arabic and modified starch

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

Fetal kidney programming by severe food restriction: effects on structure, hormonal receptor expression and urinary sodium excretion in rats

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

Deriving vegetation indices for phenology analysis using genetic programming

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

Microencapsulation of turmeric oleoresin in binary and ternary blends of gum arabic, maltodextrin and modified starch

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

Evolution of Goldstone mode in binary condensate mixtures

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

Short-term expansion planning of radial electrical distribution systems using mixed-integer linear programming

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Poloxamer-based binary hydrogels for delivering tramadol hydrochloride: sol-gel transition studies, dissolution-release kinetics, in vitro toxicity, and pharmacological evaluation

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

Transmission network expansion planning considering repowering and reconfiguration

Transmission expansion planning (TEP) is a classic problem in electric power systems. In current optimization models used to approach the TEP problem, new transmission lines and two-winding transformers are commonly used as the only candidate solutions. However, in practice, planners have resorted to non-conventional solutions such as network reconfiguration and/or repowering of existing network assets (lines or transformers). These types of non-conventional solutions are currently not included in the classic mathematical models of the TEP problem. This paper presents the modeling of necessary equations, using linear expressions, in order to include non-conventional candidate solutions in the disjunctive linear model of the TEP problem. The resulting model is a mixed integer linear programming problem, which guarantees convergence to the optimal solution by means of available classical optimization tools. The proposed model is implemented in the AMPL modeling language and is solved using CPLEX optimizer. The Garver test system, IEEE 24-busbar system, and a Colombian system are used to demonstrate that the utilization of non-conventional candidate solutions can reduce investment costs of the TEP problem. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Local order and magnetic field effects on the electronic properties of disordered binary alloys in the quantum site percolation limit

Electronic properties of disordered binary alloys are studied via the calculation of the average Density of States (DOS) in two and three dimensions. We propose a new approximate scheme that allows for the inclusion of local order effects in finite geometries and extrapolates the behavior of infinite systems following finite-size scaling ideas. We particularly investigate the limit of the Quantum Site Percolation regime described by a tight-binding Hamiltonian. This limit was chosen to probe the role of short range order (SRO) properties under extreme conditions. The method is numerically highly efficient and asymptotically exact in important limits, predicting the correct DOS structure as a function of the SRO parameters. Magnetic field effects can also be included in our model to study the interplay of local order and the shifted quantum interference driven by the field. The average DOS is highly sensitive to changes in the SRO properties and striking effects are observed when a magnetic field is applied near the segregated regime. The new effects observed are twofold: there is a reduction of the band width and the formation of a gap in the middle of the band, both as a consequence of destructive interference of electronic paths and the loss of coherence for particular values of the magnetic field. The above phenomena are periodic in the magnetic flux. For other limits that imply strong localization, the magnetic field produces minor changes in the structure of the average DOS. © World Scientific Publishing Company.

The use of nonlinear programming as a tool for maximum profit feed formulation of broilers

The purpose of this study was to compare linear and nonlinear programming models for feed formulation, for maximum profit, considering the real variation in the prices of the corn, soybean meal and broilers during the period from January of 2008 to October of 2009, in the São Paulo State, Brazil. For the nonlinear formulation model, it was considered the following scenarios of prices: a) the minimum broiler price and the maximum prices of the corn and soybean meal during the period, b) the mean prices of the broiler, corn and soybean meal in the period and c) the maximum broiler price and the minimum prices of the corn and soybean meal, in the considered period; while for the linear formulation model, it was considered just the prices of the corn and the soybean. It was used the Practical Program for Feed Formulation 2.0 for the diets establishment. A total of 300 Cobb male chicks were randomly assigned to the 4 dietary treatments with 5 replicate pens of 15 chicks each. The birds were fed with a starter diet until 21 d and a grower diet from 22 to 42 d of age, and they had ad libitum access to feed and water, on floor with wood shavings as litter. The broilers were raised in an environmentally-controlled house. Body weight, body weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio and profitability (related to the prices variation of the broilers and ingredients) were obtained at 42 d of age. It was found that the broilers fed with the diet formulated with the linear model presented the lowest feed intake and feed conversion ratio as compared with the broilers fed with diets from nonlinear formulation models. There were no significant differences in body weight and body weight gain among the treatments. Nevertheless, the profitabilities of the diets from the nonlinear model were significantly higher than that one from the linear formulation model, when the corn and soybean meal prices were near or below their average values for the studied period, for any broiler chicken price.

Diffusion of oxygen in some binary Ti-Based alloys used as biomaterials

Ti and its alloys are widely used as biomaterials. Their main properties are excellent corrosion resistance, relatively low elastic modulus, high specific strength, and good biocompatibility. The development of new Ti alloys with properties favorable for use in the human body is desired. To this end, Ti alloys with Mo, Nb, Zr, and Ta are being developed, because these elements do not cause cytotoxicity. The presence of interstitial elements (such as oxygen and nitrogen) induces strong changes in the elastic properties of the material, which leads to hardening or softening of the alloy. By means of anelastic spectroscopy, we are able to obtain information on the diffusion of these interstitial elements present in the crystalline lattice. In this paper, the effect of oxygen on the anelastic properties of some binary Ti-based alloys was analyzed with anelastic spectroscopy. The diffusion coefficients, pre-exponential factors, and activation energies were calculated for oxygen and nitrogen in these alloys.