Is the BCG Vaccine Safe for Undernourished Individuals?

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

Neonatal BCG Immunization Followed by DNAhsp65 Boosters: Highly Immunogenic but not Protective Against Tuberculosis - a Paradoxical Effect of the Vector?

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

Saponins, IL12 and BCG adjuvant in the FML-vaccine formulation against murine visceral leishmaniasis

The FML antigen of Leishmania donovani, in combination with either Riedel de Haen (R), QuilA, QS21 saponins, IL12 or BCG, was used in vaccination of an outbred murine model against visceral leishmaniasis (VL). Significant and specific increases in anti-FML IgG and IgM responses were detected for all adjuvants, and in anti-FML IgG1, IgG2a and IgG2b and delayed type of hypersensitivity to L. donovani lysate (DTH), only for all saponins and IL12. The QS21-FML and QuilA-FML groups achieved the highest IgG2a response. QuilA-FML developed the strongest DTH and QS21-FML animals showed the highest serum IFN-gamma concentrations. The reduction of parasitic load in the liver in response to each FML-vaccine formulation was: 52% (P < 0.025) for BCG-FML, 73% (P < 0.005) for R-FML, 93% (P < 0.005) for QuilA-FML and 79.2% (P < 0.025) for QS21-FML treated animals, respectively. Protection was specific for R-FML and QS21-FML while the QuilA saponin treatment itself induced 69% of LDU reduction. The FML-saponin vaccines promote significant, specific and strong protective effects against murine visceral leishmaniasis. BCG-FML induced minor and non-specific protection while IL 12-FML, although enhancing the specific antibody and IDR response, failed to reduce the parasitic load of infected animals. (C) 2002 Elsevier B.V. Ltd. All rights reserved.

Efeito da desnutrição experimental na resposta imune induzida por BCG e DNAhsp65

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

BCG and BCG/DNAhsp65 Vaccinations Promote Protective Effects without Deleterious Consequences for Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis

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

Response of splenic melanomacrophage centers of Oreochromis niloticus (Linnaeus, 1758) to inflammatory stimuli by BCG and foreign bodies

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

Efeito modulador da estratégia vacinal BCG/DNAhsp65 na encefalite autoimune experimental(EAE)

Tanto o BCG (Bacilo de Calmette-Guérin) quanto a DNAhsp65 são vacinas contra tuberculose, porém além da atividade protetora desejável ambas apresentam atividade imunomoduladora. Seguindo a linha de pesquisa de nosso laboratório que investiga a atividade da DNAhsp65 sobre doenças autoimunes, avaliamos o efeito da associação destas vacinas sob a forma de uma estratégia vacinal tipo prime-boost (priming com BCG seguida de booster com DNAhsp65), sobre o desenvolvimento da Encefalite Autoimune Experimental (EAE), que é modelo animal de esclerose múltipla. Ratos Lewis fêmeas foram divididos em grupos de 5 a 6 animais (salina, BCG, EAE, BCG/EAE, BCG/vetor/EAE e BCG/vacina/EAE) e imunizados em intervalos de 15 dias. Os animais receberam um primming com 2 - 10 x 105 unidades formadoras de colônias de BCG subcutâneo seguido de dois boosters com 300 g de pVAXhsp65 numa solução de sacarose 25% por via intramuscular. A EAE foi induzida 15 dias após a última imunização, por inoculação de 25 g de proteína básica de mielina (MBP) associada ao Adjuvante Completo de Freund contendo Mycobacterium butyricum. Aqueles que não receberam os inóculos descritos foram injetados com salina, exceto o grupo BCG/vetor/EAE que recebeu 300 g de pVAX (vetor plasmidial vazio) também em solução de sacarose. Os animais foram acompanhados diariamente até serem submetidos à eutanásia, 3 semanas mais tarde, durante a fase de recuperação da doença para avaliação da resposta imune, escore clínico e presença de infiltrado inflamatório no SNC. A evolução clínica da EAE foi similar entre animais vacinados e não vacinados, mas a análise histopatológica revelou que a imunização prévia com BCG ou BCG/DNAhsp65 diminui o processo inflamatório. No cérebro foi observada redução acentuada do processo inflamatório nos grupos BCG/EAE, ...(Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo)

Efeito da imunização com BCG no diabetes experimental induzido por estreptozotocina

O Bacilo de Calmette e Guérin (BCG) é utilizado em muitos países como profilaxia contra a tuberculose. Tem sido sugerido que esta vacina possa determinar, através de atividade imunomoduladora, proteção também contra outras patologias como alergia e doenças autoimunes. Entretanto, este assunto é ainda bastante controverso. A proposta desta investigação foi avaliar o efeito da imunização prévia com BCG no desenvolvimento do diabetes experimental do tipo I em camundongos C57BL/6. Para isto foram realizados três protocolos objetivando caracterizar a resposta imune desencadeada por BCG, padronizar o diabetes experimental tipo I e avaliar o efeito do BCG neste modelo de diabetes. A imunização desta cepa de camundongos com BCG determinou produção discreta de IFN- mas produção significativa de IL-10 após estímulo in vitro das culturas com hsp65 recombinante (rhsp65). Os ensaios de padronização indicaram que o protocolo de inoculação de streptozotocina adotado determinou um quadro de diabetes típico caracterizado por glicemia elevada e graus variáveis de insulite. A imunização com BCG antes da indução do diabetes não alterou de forma significativa o peso, os níveis glicêmicos e a intensidade do processo inflamatório. Os resultados obtidos sugerem que nas condições experimentais adotadas, o BCG não alterou o desenvolvimento do diabetes tipo I induzido por STZ em camundongos C57BL/6

Caracterização espectral da água do reservatório de Itupararanga, SP, a partir de imagens hiperespectrais hyperion e análise derivativa

The current accessibility to hyperspectral images of Hyperion/EO1 orbital sensor has brought new perspectives for studies of aquatic environments for allowing the remote estimative of several optically active constituents (OACs) in water body. The changes in the composition and concentration of OACs cause different patterns of absorption and scattering of electromagnetic radiation, likely to be detected using hyperspectral data. Therefore, an investigation was conducted taking into account the spectral characterization of water of a reservoir intended for public supply (Itupararanga Reservoir), from Hyperion/EO1 images and derivative analysis technique applied to spectral curves generated. Simultaneously to the acquisition of a Hyperion/EO1 image, a field campaign was carried out to collect limnological data in situ in georeferenced points. After radiometric correction of the image, reflectance curves of pixels were extracted for each station and the curves obtained were subjected to the technique of derivative analysis, which revealed features of absorption and scattering mainly associated to the presence of algal pigments. The results obtained show the presence of phytoplankton and algal activity, matching the field observation.

Análise de séries temporais de coordenadas estimadas com GPS: uma proposta metodológica para detecção, remoção e recuperação de efeitos sazonais

GPS active networks are more and more used in geodetic surveying and scientific experiments, as water vapor monitoring in the atmosphere and lithosphere plate movement. Among the methods of GPS positioning, Precise Point Positioning (PPP) has provided very good results. A characteristic of PPP is related to the modeling and/or estimation of the errors involved in this method. The accuracy obtained for the coordinates can reach few millimeters. Seasonal effects can affect such accuracy if they are not consistent treated during the data processing. Coordinates time series analyses have been realized using Fourier or Harmonics spectral analyses, wavelets, least squares estimation among others. An approach is presented in this paper aiming to investigate the seasonal effects included in the stations coordinates time series. Experiments were carried out using data from stations Manaus (NAUS) and Fortaleza (BRFT) which belong to the Brazilian Continuous GPS Network (RBMC). The coordinates of these stations were estimated daily using PPP and were analyzed through wavelets for identification of the periods of the seasonal effects (annual and semi-annual) in each time series. These effects were removed by means of a filtering process applied in the series via the least squares adjustment (LSQ) of a periodic function. The results showed that the combination of these two mathematical tools, wavelets and LSQ, is an interesting and efficient technique for removal of seasonal effects in time series.

Acurácia e precisão: revendo os conceitos de forma acurada

Accuracy concepts that involve systematic and random effects and precision, that involves only random ones, are reviewed in this paper. An objective discussion is presented based on the definitions that appear in the literature, followed by examples that may be enough to clarify some concepts and allow the extension for other applications. The discussion presented aims at raising eventual inconsistencies in the interpretations so as to provide better possibilities of use for those involved with this topic, which is fundamentally important in the quality analysis of cartographic, geodetic and remote sensing or photogrammetric products.

Modelagem de distorções entre sad 69 e sirgas 2000 pelo método de shepard e grades regulares

Brazil follows the tendency of some countries to update and/or review their fundamental geodetic network. The adoption of geocentric referentials like SIRGAS 2000, the new official reference system of the Geodetic Brazilian System has been an advance. Changes in referential implies in coordinates changes on the network stations as well as the network geometry. To make use of analogical and digital products which are already known in the old referentials are necessary approaches to the coordinate conversion, which minimize the distortions between the used reference frames. This paper presents a distortion modeling approach between reference frames, based on distortion grid generation by using the Shepard's method. To analyze the approach some experiments were performed with the generation of a 1 degrees x1 degrees distortion grid to model the distortions between SAD 69 (1996) and SIRGAS (2000) frames. The results in the test stations were promising, with an average reduction of 50% in the RMS coordinates after the distortions modeling.

Análise do modelo troposférico empregado na geração de uma estação de referência virtual utilizando o posicionamento por ponto preciso

In the past few years the interest is accomplishing a high accuracy positioning increasing. One of the methods that has been applied by the scientific community is the network based on positioning. By using multiple reference station data, it is possible to obtain centimetric positioning in a larger coverage area, in addition to gain in reliability, availability and integrity of the service. Besides, using this concept, it is possible to model the atmospheric effects (troposphere refraction and ionosphere effect). Another important question concerning this topic is related to the transmission of the network corrections to the users. There are some possibilities for this fact and an efficient one is the Virtual Reference Station (VRS) concept. In the VRS concept, a reference station is generated near to the rover receiver (user). This provides a short baseline and the user has the possibility of using a single frequency receiver to accomplish the relative positioning. In order to test this kind of positioning method, a software has been developed at São Paulo State University. In this paper, the methodology applied to generate the VRS data is described and the VRS quality is analyzed by using the Precise Point Positioning (PPP) method.

Projeto cartográfico e implementação de um protótipo de atlas escolar interativo

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Período de mínima atividade solar: melhora no desempenho do posicionamento relativo

In the relative positioning, even considering that part of the errors due to ionosphere is canceled with the double-difference observations, strong ionospheric effects can occur in maximum solar activity period. However, in minimum solar activity period, the ionospheric effects decrease significantly and therefore an improvement of the relative positioning performance takes place. In this paper we aim at showing that improvement for the scientific and GPS community users. So, have been experiments by using GPS data of two stations of the Brazilian Network for Continuous Monitoring of GPS, forming a baseline of 430 km. The processing were use accomplished with interval of two hours, and only L1 carrier data have been used. The analysis of the obtained results has been carried out from the discrepancies between the "true" coordinates and corresponding ones obtained in the processing. In maximum solar activity period the discrepancy value reached 25 m. on the other hand, in minimum solar activity period, the discrepancy value reached 5,5 m. It is important to emphasize that the majority of the discrepancy values didn't exceed 0,50 m, and in some cases only reached 0,10 m. This shows the increase of application possibilities of the relative positioning using single-frequency GPS receivers in minimum solar activity period.