Participation of alpha-1 and alpha-2 adrenoceptors of the lateral hypothalamic area in water intake, and renal sodium, potassium and urinary Volume excretion induced by central administration of angiotensin II

The circumventricular structures and the lateral hypothalamus (LH) have been shown to be important for the central action of angiotensin II (ANGII) on water and electrolyte regulation. Several anatomical findings have demonstrated neural connection between circumventricular structures and the LH, the present experiments were conducted to investigate the role of the alpha-adrenergic antagonists and agonistic injected into the LH on the water intake, sodium and potassium excretion elicited by injections of ANGII into the lateral ventricle (LV), the water intake was measured every 30 min over a period of 120 min. The sodium, potassium and urinary volume were measured over a period of 120 min in water-loaded rats. The injection of ANGII into the LV increased the water intake, which was reduced by previous injection of clonidine (an alpha-2-adrenergic agonist) into the LH. The injection of yohimbine (an alpha-2-adrenergic antagonist) and prazosin (an alpha-l-adrenergic antagonist) into the LH, which was done before injecting ANGII into the LV, also reduced the water intake induced by ANGII. The injection of ANGII into the LV reduced the sodium, potassium and urinary volume. Previous treatment with clonidine attenuated the action of ANGII in reducing the sodium, potassium and urinary volume, whereas previous treatment with yohimbine attenuated the effects of ANGII but with less intensity than that caused by clonidine. Previous treatment with prazosin increased the inhibitory effects of ANGII in those parameters. The injection of yohimbine and prazosin, which was done before the injection of clonidine, attenuated the effect of clonidine on the ANGII mechanism. The results of this study led us to postulate that when alpha-2-adrenergic receptors are blocked, the clonidine may act on the imidazoline receptors to produce its effects on the ANGII mechanism. We may also conclude that the LH is involved with circumventricular structures, which present excitatory and inhibitory mechanisms. Such mechanisms are responsible for regulating the renal excretion of sodium, potassium and water, (C) 2000 Elsevier B.V.

Organization of Repeated DNA Elements in the Genome of the Cichlid Fish Cichla kelberi and Its Contributions to the Knowledge of Fish Genomes

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

Structural and biological characterization of three novel mastoparan peptides from the venom of the neotropical social wasp Protopolybia exigua (Saussure)

The venom of the Neotropical social wasp Protopolybia exigua(Saussure) was fractionated by RP-HPLC resulting in the elution of 20 fractions. The homogeneity of the preparations were checked out by using ESI-MS analysis and the fractions 15, 17 and 19 (eluted at the most hydrophobic conditions) were enough pure to be sequenced by Edman degradation chemistry, resulting in the following sequences:Protopolybia MPI I-N-W-L-K-L-G-K-K-V-S-A-I-L-NH2 Protopolybia-MP II I-N-W-K-A-I-I-E-A-A-K-Q-A-L-NH2 Protopolybia-MP III I-N-W-L-K-L-G-K-A-V-I-D-A-L-NH2All the peptides were manually synthesized on-solid phase and functionally characterized. Protopolybia-MP I is a hemolytic mastoparan, probably acting on mast cells by assembling in plasma membrane, resulting in pore formation; meanwhile, the peptides Protopolybia-MP II and -MP III were characterized as a non-hemolytic mast cell degranulator toxins, which apparently act by virtue of their binding to G-protein receptor, activating the mast cell degranulation. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Measurement of the t(t)over-bar production cross section using dilepton events in p(p)over-bar collisions

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Commissioning and performance of the CMS silicon strip tracker with cosmic ray muons

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

The CMS experiment at the CERN LHC

The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector is described. The detector operates at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. It was conceived to study proton-proton (and lead-lead) collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 14 TeV (5.5 TeV nucleon-nucleon) and at luminosities up to 10(34)cm(-2)s(-1) (10(27)cm(-2)s(-1)). At the core of the CMS detector sits a high-magnetic-field and large-bore superconducting solenoid surrounding an all-silicon pixel and strip tracker, a lead-tungstate scintillating-crystals electromagnetic calorimeter, and a brass-scintillator sampling hadron calorimeter. The iron yoke of the flux-return is instrumented with four stations of muon detectors covering most of the 4 pi solid angle. Forward sampling calorimeters extend the pseudo-rapidity coverage to high values (vertical bar eta vertical bar <= 5) assuring very good hermeticity. The overall dimensions of the CMS detector are a length of 21.6 m, a diameter of 14.6 m and a total weight of 12500 t.

Search for flavor-changing-neutral-current D meson decays

We study the flavor-changing-neutral-current process c -> u mu(+)mu(-) using 1.3 fb(-1) of p (p) over bar collisions at root s = 1.96 TeV recorded by the D0 detector operating at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. We see clear indications of the charged-current mediated D(s)(+) and D(+)->phi pi(+)->mu(+)mu(-)pi(+) final states with significance greater than 4 standard deviations above background for the D(+) state. We search for the continuum neutral-current decay of D(+)->pi(+)mu(+)mu(-) in the dimuon invariant mass spectrum away from the phi resonance. We see no evidence of signal above background and set a limit of B(D(+)->pi(+)mu(+)mu(-))< 3.9 x 10(-6) at the 90% C.L. This limit places the most stringent constraint on new phenomena in the c -> u mu(+)mu(-) transition.

Measurement of the top quark mass in final states with two leptons

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

First Measurement of Bose-Einstein Correlations in Proton-Proton Collisions at root s=0.9 and 2.36 TeV at the LHC

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Search for Stopped Gluinos in pp Collisions at root s=7 TeV

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Search for Pair Production of First-Generation Scalar Leptoquarks in pp Collisions at root s=7 TeV

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Search for Pair Production of Second-Generation Scalar Leptoquarks in pp Collisions at root s=7 TeV

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Search for Supersymmetry in pp Collisions at root s=7 TeV in Events with Two Photons and Missing Transverse Energy

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Measurement of the B-0 Production Cross Section in pp Collisions at root s=7 TeV

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Observation and studies of jet quenching in PbPb collisions at root s(NN)=2.76 TeV

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)