Reduction of diameter of the left ventricle of dogs by plication of the left ventricular free wall

Objective - To determine effects of reducing the diameter of the left ventricle of dogs by plication of the left ventricular free wall. Animals - 8 healthy adult mixed-breed dogs. Procedure - Left lateral thoracotomy and a T-shaped pericardiotomy were performed. The free wall of the left ventricle was imbricated with 3 interrupted transfixing sutures applied in a horizontal mattress pattern, using 3-0 polypropylene suture assembled on a straight cutting needle. Surgeons were careful to avoid the coronary vessels. Echocardiography was performed 24 hours before and 48 hours after surgery. Electrocardiography was performed before and 1, 2, 7, 15, 21, 30, and 60 days after surgery. Results - Echocardiographic measurements revealed that the diameter of the left ventricle was reduced by a mean of 23.5%. Electrocardiography revealed ventricular premature complexes 24 hours after surgery that regressed without treatment during the first week after surgery. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance - Plication of the left ventricular free wall of dogs can reduce end-diastolic and end-systolic dimensions of the left ventricle. The technique is simple and does not require cardiopulmonary bypass. According to Laplace's law, the reduction of cardiac diameter leads to reduction on free-wall tension and may improve left ventricular function in dilatated hearts. Thus, additional studies involving dogs with dilated cardiomyopathy should be conducted.

Cloning, overexpression, and purification of functional human purine nucleoside phosphorylase

Purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP) catalyzes the phosphorolysis of the N-ribosidic bonds of purine nucleosides and deoxynucleosides. A genetic deficiency due to mutations in the gene encoding for human PNP causes T-cell deficiency as the major physiological defect. Inappropriate activation of T-cells has been implicated in several clinically relevant human conditions such as transplant tissue rejection, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and T-cell lymphomas. Human PNP is therefore a target for inhibitor development aiming at T-cell immune response modulation. In addition, bacterial PNP has been used as reactant in a fast and sensitive spectrophotometric method that allows both quantitation of inorganic phosphate (Pi) and continuous assay of reactions that generate P i such as those catalyzed by ATPases and GTPases. Human PNP may therefore be an important biotechnological tool for P i detection. However, low expression of human PNP in bacterial hosts, protein purification protocols involving many steps, and low protein yields represent technical obstacles to be overcome if human PNP is to be used in either high-throughput drug screening or as a reagent in an affordable P i detection method. Here, we describe PCR amplification of human PNP from a liver cDNA library, cloning, expression in Escherichia coli host, purification, and activity measurement of homogeneous enzyme. Human PNP represented approximately 42% of total soluble cell proteins with no induction being necessary to express the target protein. Enzyme activity measurements demonstrated a 707-fold increase in specific activity of cloned human PNP as compared to control. Purification of cloned human PNP was achieved by a two-step purification protocol, yielding 48 mg homogeneous enzyme from 1 L cell culture, with a specific activity value of 80 U mg -1. © 2002 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.

Léxico e gramática no Diccionario da Lingua Portugueza (1813) de António de Morais Silva

António de Morais Silva publicou em 1789 a 1ª edição de seu Diccionario da Lingua Portugueza e em 1813, a sua 2ª edição, ambas em Lisboa. Partindo da relação entre gramática e dicionário, obras que se completam no ensino e aprendizagem de uma língua, estudamos neste trabalho a projeção gramatical do autor na elaboração dos verbetes da 2ª edição do Diccionario, numa tentativa de demonstrar que Morais, influenciado pelas idéias reformistas do Século das Luzes em Portugal, inovou em termos lexicográficos e gramaticais, registrando essas inovações e também algumas críticas às gramáticas de seu tempo, no interior dos verbetes de sua obra lexicográfica.

Narrativas de professoras que ensinam matemática na região de Blumenau (SC): sobre as feiras catarinenses de matemática e as práticas e e concepções sobre ensino e aprendizagem de matemática

Pós-graduação em Educação para a Ciência - FC

Ciências humanas em debate

Fruto de um arrojado projeto coletivo, este livro representa o trabalho de um grupo de docentes da Unesp e também de outras universidades, que impuseram-se o desafio de refletir sobre a pesquisa em subáreas das Humanidades. Entre as inúmeras questões que eles debateram ganharam destaque as relativas a demandas vitais para o fortalecimento das Ciências Humanas, como a necessidade de estimular linhas de pesquisa integradoras de projetos; compreender a especificidade da área com suas metodologias de divulgação científica e temporalidades; valorizar e incentivar redes de pesquisa estimulando o compartilhamento de competências; desenvolver espaços de convívio entre os pesquisadores. A pró-reitora de pesquisa da Unesp, Maria José Soares Mendes Giannini, pontua, na apresentação da obra, que a pesquisa em Ciências Humanas, desenvolve-se, em geral, a partir do esforço individual de um professor, que isolado, dedica-se à sua investigação. No entanto, afirma ela, as pesquisas dessa área do saber podem e devem estar abertas para novos modos de organização: “Um projeto de pesquisa, por exemplo, pode envolver vários professores de diferentes universidades e o compartilhamento de informações em um fórum on-line. Um professor pode colaborar com um colega de outra área de estudo para ter uma perspectiva alternativa sobre seu próprio objeto de pesquisa”. Entre os temas abordados no livro estão o caráter interdisciplinar da pesquisa em Ciências Humanas, pesquisa em grupo e “produtivismo”, a experiência de uma rede de pesquisa e reflexões sobre a prática interdisciplinar, entre outros.

A contribuição de um dicionário histórico: o dicionário histórico do Português do Brasil

This article presents the theoretical and methodological road used to construct the Historical Dictionary of Brazilian Portuguese in the XVI, XVII and XVIII centuries (sponsored by CNPq). Starting with some examples and models of historical and diachronic dictionaries we set the model that structures the Dictionary; it has the purpose of assembling in a single book the Portuguese language lexicon responsible for the construction of the Portuguese language in Brazil. Our reference basis is a data bank with many sorts of sources existing along the three centuries of the Brazilian colonial history. This data bank provides the nomenclature of the historical dictionary and allows the construction of the lexicographical definition through its lexical context that is followed by consecrated examples. This article also presents the contributions of the dictionary to future studies of the Brazilian Portuguese.