O uso da PCR em tempo real para o estudo da carga parasitária e dos níveis transcricionais durante a infecção experimental por Trypanosoma cruzi

Trypanosoma cruzi is causative agent of Chagas disease, one of most neglected tropical diseases. Estimated that about 11 million people worldwide are infected by T. cruzi and about 6 to 7 million people are at risk in endemic areas. During the process of invasion of host and parasite interact enabling signal transduction and gene expression modulation in response to invasion. The diversity of activated proteins and pathways to repair the damage by disruption of the plasma membrane interest to us and thus present study developed a new form of detection and quantitation by polymerase chain reaction in real time (qPCR) of parasitic load T. cruzi and quantified transcriptional levels relative (RT-qPCR) of dysferlin, Sphingomyelin acid esferase (ASM), transcription factor EB (TFEB) Galectins 1 and 3 and Annexin A2. This study demonstrated that quantification by real time PCR using primers P21fw and P21rv was specific and sensitive for detection of T. cruzi in vivo and in vitro, as well as transcriptional levels of genes related to cytoskeletal organization and repair plasma membrane are modulated in response to damage generated by parasite.

ToPI - uma abordagem online para identificar locais de interesse utilizando fotografias geo-referenciadas

Due to the growing use of social networks people no longer just consume data, they also produce and share it. Geo-tagged information, i.e., data with geographical location, have been used in many attempts to identify popular places and help tourists that will visit unfamiliar cities. This Master Thesis presents an online strategy that uses geo-tagged photos and their metadata in order to identify places of interest inside a given geographical area and retrieve relevant related information. The whole process runs automatically in real time, returning updated information about places. The proposed strategy takes into account the inherent dynamism of social media, and thus is robust under inconsistencies and/or outdated information, a common issue in solutions that rely on previously stored data. The analysis of the results showed that our approach is very promising, returning places that present high agreement with those from a popular travel website.

Uma metodologia para geração otimizada de ambientes virtuais baseados em usinas hidrelétricas

Based on the possibility of real-time interaction with three-dimensional environments through an advanced interface, Virtual Reality consist in the main technology of this work, used in the design of virtual environments based on real Hydroelectric Plants. Previous to the process of deploying a Virtual Reality System for operation, three-dimensional modeling and interactive scenes settings are very importante steps. However, due to its magnitude and complexity, power plants virtual environments generation, currently, presents high computing cost. This work aims to present a methodology to optimize the production process of virtual environments associated with real hydroelectric power plants. In partnership with electric utility CEMIG, several HPPs were used in the scope of this work. During the modeling of each one of them, the techiniques within the methodologie were addressed. After the evaluation of the computional techniques presented here, it was possible to confirm a reduction in the time required to deliver each hydroelectrical complex. Thus, this work presents the current scenario about development of virtual hydroelectric power plants and discusses the proposed methodology that seeks to optimize this process in the electricity generation sector.