Tensor3D: A computer graphics program to simulate 3D real-time deformation and visualization of geometric bodies

Tensor3D is a geometric modeling program with the capacity to simulate and visualize in real-time the deformation, specified through a tensor matrix and applied to triangulated models representing geological bodies. 3D visualization allows the study of deformational processes that are traditionally conducted in 2D, such as simple and pure shears. Besides geometric objects that are immediately available in the program window, the program can read other models from disk, thus being able to import objects created with different open-source or proprietary programs. A strain ellipsoid and a bounding box are simultaneously shown and instantly deformed with the main object. The principal axes of strain are visualized as well to provide graphical information about the orientation of the tensor's normal components. The deformed models can also be saved, retrieved later and deformed again, in order to study different steps of progressive strain, or to make this data available to other programs. The shape of stress ellipsoids and the corresponding Mohr circles defined by any stress tensor can also be represented. The application was written using the Visualization ToolKit, a powerful scientific visualization library in the public domain. This development choice, allied to the use of the Tcl/Tk programming language, which is independent on the host computational platform, makes the program a useful tool for the study of geometric deformations directly in three dimensions in teaching as well as research activities. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Blood serum components and serum protein test of Hybro-PG broilers of different ages

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

Attraction of the cutaneous leishmaniasis vector Nyssomyia neivai (Diptera: Psychodidae) to host odour components in a wind tunnel

Background: Laboratory studies of host-seeking olfactory behaviour in sandflies have largely been restricted to the American visceral leishmaniasis vector Lutzomyia longipalpis. In comparison, almost nothing is known about the chemical ecology of related species, which transmit American cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL), due in part to difficulties in raising these insects in the laboratory. Understanding how ACL vectors locate their hosts will be essential to developing new vector control strategies to combat this debilitating disease.Methods: This study examined host-odour seeking behaviour of the ACL vector Nyssomyia neivai (Pinto) (=Lutzomyia neivai) using a wind tunnel olfactometer. The primary aim was to determine whether field-collected female N. neivai would respond to host odours in the laboratory, thereby eliminating the need to maintain colonies of these insects for behavioural experiments. Responses to two key host odour components, 1-octen-3-ol and lactic acid, and a commercially-available mosquito lure (BG-Lure (TM)) were assessed and compared relative to an air control. We also tested whether trials could be conducted outside of the normal evening activity period of N. neivai without impacting on fly behaviour, and whether the same flies could be used to assess baseline responses to air without affecting responses to octenol, thereby reducing the number of flies required for experiments.Results: Octenol was found to both activate host-seeking behaviour and attract female N. neivai in the wind tunnel, while lactic acid elicited weaker responses of activation and attractiveness under identical conditions. The BG-Lure did not activate or attract N. neivai under test conditions. Further experiments showed that sandfly behaviour in the wind tunnel was not affected by time of day, such that experiments need not be restricted to nocturnal hours. Moreover, using the same flies to measure both baseline responses to air and attraction to test compounds did not affect odour-seeking behaviour.Conclusions: The results of this study demonstrate that N. neivai taken from the field are suitable for use in laboratory olfactometer experiments. It is hoped this work will facilitate further research into chemical ecology of this species, and other ACL vectors.

Estudo de simulação de modelos lineares mistos com distribuição normal contaminada no melhoramento genético animal

Objetivou-se com esse trabalho comparar estimativas de componentes de variâncias obtidas por meio de modelos lineares mistos Gaussianos e Robustos, via Amostrador de Gibbs, em dados simulados. Foram simulados 50 arquivos de dados com 1.000 animais cada um, distribuídos em cinco gerações, em dois níveis de efeito fixo e três valores fenotípicos distintos para uma característica hipotética, com diferentes níveis de contaminação. Exceto para os dados sem contaminação, quando os modelos foram iguais, o modelo Robusto apresentou melhores estimativas da variância residual. As estimativas de herdabilidade foram semelhantes em todos os modelos, mas as análises de regressão mostraram que os valores genéticos preditos com uso do modelo Robusto foram mais próximos dos valores genéticos verdadeiros. Esses resultados sugerem que o modelo linear normal contaminado oferece uma alternativa flexível para estimação robusta em melhoramento genético animal.

Perfil dos constituintes do sangue no puerpério imediato de ovelhas submetidas a cesariana eletiva e de ovelhas com parto normal

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

Effects of myenteric denervation on extracellular matrix fibers and mast cell distribution in normal stomach and gastric lesions

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

Heritability Estimate and Genetic Correlations of Reproductive Features in Nellore Bulls, Offspring of Super Precocious, Precocious and Normal Cows Under Extensive Farming Conditions

The present work aimed to estimate heritability and genetic correlations of reproductive features of Nellore bulls, offspring of mothers classified as superprecocious (M1), precocious (M2) and normal (M3). Twenty one thousand hundred and eighty-six animals with average age of 21.29 months were used, evaluated through the breeding soundness evaluation from 1999 to 2008. The breeding soundness features included physical semen evaluation (progressive sperm motility and sperm vigour), semen morphology (major, minor and total sperm defects), scrotal circumference (SC), testicular volume (TV) and SC at 18 months of age (SC18). The components of variance, heritability and genetic correlations for and between the features were estimated simultaneously by restricted maximum likelihood, with the use of the vce software system vs 6. The heritability estimates were high for SC18, SC and TV (0.43, 0.63 and 0.54; 0.45, 0.45 and 0.44; 0.42, 0.45 and 0.41, respectively for the categories of mothers M1, M2 and M3) and low for physical and morphological semen aspects. The genetic correlations between SC18 and SC were high, as well as between these variables with TV. High and positive genetic correlations were recorded among SC18, SC and TV with the physical aspects of the semen, although no favourable association was verified with the morphological aspects, for the three categories of mothers. It can be concluded that the mothers sexual precocity did not affect the heritability of their offspring reproduction features.

Components of the acoustic swallowing signal: Preliminary study

Purpose: To analyze the components of the acoustic signal of swallowing using a specific software. Methods: Fourteen healthy subjects ranging in age from 20 to 50 years (mean age 31±10 years), were evaluated. Data collection consisted on the simultaneous capture of the swallowing audio with a microphone and of the swallowing videofluoroscopic image. The bursts of the swallowing acoustic signal were identified and their duration and the interval between them were later analyzed using a specific software, which allowed the simultaneous analyses between the acoustic wave and the videofluoroscopic image. Results: Three burst components were identified in most of the swallows evaluated. The first burst presented mean time of 87.3 milliseconds (ms) for water and 78.2 for the substance. The second burst presented mean time of 112.9 ms for water and 85.5 for the pasty substance. The mean interval between first and second burst was 82.1 ms for water and 95.3 ms for the pasty consistency, and between second and third burst was 339.8 ms for water and 322.0 ms for the pasty consistency. Conclusion: The software allowed the visualization of three bursts during the swallowing of healthy individuals, and showed that the swallowing signal in normal subjects is highly variable.

Involutions whose fixed set has three or four components: a small codimension phenomenon

Let T : M → M be a smooth involution on a closed smooth manifold and F = n j=0 F j the fixed point set of T, where F j denotes the union of those components of F having dimension j and thus n is the dimension of the component of F of largest dimension. In this paper we prove the following result, which characterizes a small codimension phenomenon: suppose that n ≥ 4 is even and F has one of the following forms: 1) F = F n ∪ F 3 ∪ F 2 ∪ {point}; 2) F = F n ∪ F 3 ∪ F 2 ; 3) F = F n ∪ F 3 ∪ {point}; or 4) F = F n ∪ F 3 . Also, suppose that the normal bundles of F n, F 3 and F 2 in M do not bound. If k denote the codimension of F n, then k ≤ 4. Further, we construct involutions showing that this bound is best possible in the cases 2) and 4), and in the cases 1) and 3) when n is of the form n = 4t, with t ≥ 1.

Key participants of the tumor microenvironment of the prostate: An approach of the structural dynamic of cellular elements and extracellular matrix components during epithelial-stromal transition

Cancer is a multistep process that begins with the transformation of normal epithelial cells and continues with tumor growth, stromal invasion and metastasis. The remodeling of the peritumoral environment is decisive for the onset of tumor invasiveness. This event is dependent on epithelial–stromal interactions, degradation of extracellular matrix components and reorganization of fibrillar components. Our research group has studied in a new proposed rodent model the participation of cellular and molecular components in the prostate microenvironment that contributes to cancer progression. Our group adopted the gerbil Meriones unguiculatus as an alternative experimental model for prostate cancer study. This model has presented significant responses to hormonal treatments and to development of spontaneous and induced neoplasias. The data obtained indicate reorganization of type I collagen fibers and reticular fibers, synthesis of new components such as tenascin and proteoglycans, degradation of basement membrane components and elastic fibers and increased expression of metalloproteinases. Fibroblasts that border the region, apparently participate in the stromal reaction. The roles of each of these events, as well as some signaling molecules, participants of neoplastic progression and factors that promote genetic reprogramming during epithelial–stromal transition are also discussed.