Matemal separation affects cocaine-induced locomotion and response to novelty in adolescent, but not in adult rats

Maternal separation is known to exert long-term effects on both behavior and the neuroendocrine system. We investigated cocaine-induced locomotor activation as well as the locomotor and corticosterone response to forced novelty in maternally separated adolescent and adult rats. Maternal separation consisted of separating litters from their darns daily during 5 h from postnatal days 2 to 6. Control animals were subjected only to regular cage changes. Cocaine- (10 mg/kg, i.p.) and novelty-induced locomotion were recorded in an activity cage. After the animals were tested for behavioral response to novelty, trunk blood samples were collected and plasma corticosterone levels were determined by radioimmunoassay. Adolescent rats exposed to maternal separation exhibited an increased locomotor response to novelty and cocaine; corticosterone levels were lower in these adolescent animals, after exposure to the novel environment. These effects of materrial separation were not observed in rats that were tested as adults. Thus the maternal separation protocol produced enduring but transient changes in the behavioral response to cocaine and in the stress response to novelty. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Development of practical HPLC methods for the separation and determination of eggplant steroidal glycoalkaloids and their aglycones

A practical set of HPLC methods was developed for the separation and determination of the eggplant steroidal glycoalkaloids, solanine, chaconine, solasonine, solamargine, and their aglycones, solasodine and solanidine. A gradient method was initially developed, but proved to be neither robust nor practical. Three separate isocratic methods using acetonitrile and ammonium dihydrogen phosphate were developed and shown to be more repeatable, less subject to fluctuations in mobile phase composition, and less time consuming. The effect of adjusting buffer pH, column temperature, and buffer type (triethylammonium phosphate vs. ammonium dihydrogen phosphate) were evaluated. It was also discovered that, by addition of 10% methanol to the acetonitrile portion of the mobile phase, more control over the separations was possible. The use of methanol as a mobile phase entrainer greatly improved separations in some cases and its effectiveness was also dependent upon column temperature. Assessments of the method recovery, limit of detection, and limit of quantitation were made using extracts from S. melongena and S. linnaeanum.

Rheological, mechanical and mucoadhesive properties of thermoresponsive, bioadhesive binary mixtures composed of poloxamer 407 and carbopol 974P designed as platforms for implantable drug delivery systems for use in the oral cavity

This study described the formulation and characterisation of the viscoelastic, mechanical and mucoadhesive properties of thermoresponsive, binary polymeric systems composed of poloxamer (P407) and poly(acrylic acid, C974P) that were designed for use as a drug delivery platform within the oral cavity. Monopolymeric and binary polymeric formulations were prepared containing 10, 15 and 20% (w/w) poloxamer (407) and 0.10-0.25% (w/w) poly(acrylic acid, 934P). The flow theological and viscoelastic properties of the formulations were determined using controlled stress and oscillatory rheometry, respectively, the latter as a function of temperature. The mechanical and mucoadhesive properties (namely the force required to break the bond between the formulation and a pre-hydrated mucin disc) were determined using compression and tensile analysis, respectively. Binary systems composed of 10% (w/w) P407 and C934P were elastoviscous, were easily deformed under stress and did not exhibit mucoadhesion. Formulations containing 15 or 20% (w/w) Pluronic P407 and C934P exhibited a sol-gel temperature T(sol/gel), were viscoelastic and offered high elasticity and resistance to deformation at 37 degrees C. Conversely these formulations were elastoviscous and easily deformed at temperatures below the sol-gel transition temperature. The sol-gel transition temperatures of systems containing 15% (w/w) P407 were unaffected by the presence of C934P; however, increasing the concentration of C934P decreased the T(sol/gel) in formulations containing 20%(w/w) P407. Rheological synergy between P407 and C934P at 37 degrees C was observed and was accredited to secondary interactions between these polymers, in addition to hydrophobic interactions between P407 micelles. Importantly, formulations composed of 20% (w/w) P407 and C934P exhibited pronounced mucoadhesive properties. The ease of administration (below the T(sol/gel)) in conjunction with the viscoelastic (notably high elasticity) and mucoadhesive properties (at body temperature) render the formulations composed of 20% (w/w) P407 and C934P as potentially useful platforms for mucoadhesive, controlled topical drug delivery within the oral cavity. (c) 2009 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Effect of cocaine on periadolescent rats with or without early maternal separation

Cocaine-induced behavioral sensitization and weight loss were investigated in periadolescent Wistar rats kept with their mothers or subjected to repeated maternal separation. Litters allocated to the separation procedure were placed in a temperature-controlled (33ºC) chamber for 3 h per day from postnatal day 6 (P6) to P20. Non-handled rats were left undisturbed until weaning. Treatments were started on P30-31 and the test was performed on P36-37. Animals received injections of saline or cocaine (10 mg/kg, sc) twice daily for 5 days. on day 6 all animals received saline. on day 7 animals were challenged with 10 mg/kg cocaine and their locomotion was evaluated in activity cages. A third group received saline throughout the 7-day period. Body weights were recorded on P30-31 and P36-37. Two-way ANOVA on body weights showed a main effect of treatment group (F(1,35) = 10.446, P = 0.003; N = 10-12). Non-handled rats treated with cocaine for 5 days gained significantly less weight, while no significant effect was observed in maternally separated rats. Two-way ANOVA revealed a main effect of drug treatment on locomotor activity (F(2,32) = 15.209, P<0.001; N = 6-8), but not on rearing condition (F(1,32)<0.001, P = 0.998). Animals pretreated with cocaine showed a clear behavioral sensitization relative to the saline group. No difference in the magnitude of sensitization was found between separated and non-handled animals. Only the effect of cocaine on weight gain was significantly affected by repeated episodes of early maternal separation during the pre-weaning period.

Maternal separation stress in male mice: long-term increases in alcohol intake

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Influence of Heat Treatment and Oxygen Doping on the Mechanical Properties and Biocompatibility of Titanium-Niobium Binary Alloys

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Influence of the Substitutional Solute on the Mechanical Properties of Ti-Nb Binary Alloys for Biomedical Use

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Photoinduced hole-transfer in semiconducting polymer/low-bandgap cyanine dye blends: evidence for unit charge separation quantum yield

Power-conversion efficiencies of organic heterojunction solar cells can be increased by using semiconducting donor-acceptor materials with complementary absorption spectra extending to the near-infrared region. Here, we used continuous wave fluorescence and absorption, as well as nanosecond transient absorption spectroscopy to study the initial charge transfer step for blends of a donor poly(p-phenylenevinylene) derivative and low-band gap cyanine dyes serving as electron acceptors. Electron transfer is the dominant relaxation process after photoexcitation of the donor. Hole transfer after cyanine photoexcitation occurs with an efficiency close to unity up to dye concentrations of similar to 30 wt%. Cyanines present an efficient self-quenching mechanism of their fluorescence, and for higher dye loadings in the blend, or pure cyanine films, this process effectively reduces the hole transfer. Comparison between dye emission in an inert polystyrene matrix and the donor matrix allowed us to separate the influence of self-quenching and charge transfer mechanisms. Favorable photovoltaic bilayer performance, including high open-circuit voltages of similar to 1 V confirmed the results from optical experiments. The characteristics of solar cells using different dyes also highlighted the need for balanced adjustment of the energy levels and their offsets at the heterojunction when using low-bandgap materials, and accentuated important effects of interface interactions and solid-state packing on charge generation and transport.

On line extraction and separation of bendiocarb, methomyl, methylparathion, and pentachlorophenol pesticides from raw milk

A high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for extraction and determination of pesticides from raw milk was developed. The method involves direct injection of raw milk samples on a bovine serum albumin-dimethyl-octyl-silica gel (BSA-Si-Cs) column. The mobile phase 0.05 mol.L-1 phosphate buffer pH6.0 in acetonitrile (70:30 v/v) was employed for extraction and separation of bendiocarb, methylparathion, pentachlorophenol, and methomyl pesticides. The method shows good results of recovery in the pesticides studied, higher than 99.6%.

High-performance liquid chromatographic separation and identification of polyphenolic compounds from the infusion of Davilla elliptica St. Hill

The isolation of polyphenolic compounds from an infusion of the Brazilian plant Davilla elliptica (Dilleniaceae), used as tea by virtue of its digestive properties, is described. An improved preparative HPLC method was used in order to isolate pure polyphenols from the complex mixture. Liquid-liquid extraction and solid-phase extraction were employed to minimise the interference of polymeric compounds and to provide an enriched fraction of the compounds of interest. The identification of the isolated compounds was performed using analytical HPLC as well as direct injection electrospray ionisation ion trap tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-IT-MS/MS). The high flavonoid content suggests that D. elliptica may be a promising source of compounds to produce natural phytomedicines. Copyright (C) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Binary integer programming formulations for scheduling in market-driven foundries

This paper describes the development and solution of binary integer formulations for production scheduling problems in market-driven foundries. This industrial sector is comprised of small and mid-sized companies with little or no automation, working with diversified production, involving several different metal alloy specifications in small tailor-made product lots. The characteristics and constraints involved in a typical production environment at these industries challenge the formulation of mathematical programming models that can be computationally solved when considering real applications. However, despite the interest on the part of these industries in counting on effective methods for production scheduling, there are few studies available on the subject. The computational tests prove the robustness and feasibility of proposed models in situations analogous to those found in production scheduling at the analyzed industrial sector. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Exploring S-type orbits in the Pluto-Charon binary system

This work generates, through a sample of numerical simulations of the restricted three-body problem, diagrams of semimajor axis and eccentricity which defines stable and unstable zones for particles in S-type orbits around Pluto and Charon. Since we consider initial conditions with 0 <= e <= 0.99, we found several new stable regions. We also identified the nature of each one of these newly found stable regions. They are all associated to families of periodic orbits derived from the planar circular restricted three-body problem. We have shown that a possible eccentricity of the Pluto-Charon system slightly reduces, but does not destroy, any of the stable regions.

Síntese e caracterização de membranas zeolíticas tipo mfi e aplicação em separação de aromáticos

The synthesis of MFI-type zeolite membranes was carried by the process in situ or hydrothermal crystallization. We studied the homogenization time of the room temperature and gel filtration just before the crystallization step performed out in an oven, thus obtaining a more uniform zeolite film. The powder synthesized zeolite (structure type MFI, Silicalite) was characterized by several complementary techniques such as Xray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermal analysis, temperature programmed desorption (TPD), Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and textural analysis by nitrogen adsorption (specific surface area). For the purpose of evaluating the quality of the layer supported on the ceramic support, N2 permeation tests were carried starting from room temperature to 600 °C, where values were observed values more appropriate permeation from 200 °C. With the data obtained, it was made into a graph of temperature versus permeation function, the curve of surface diffusion was found. For scanning electron microscopy, we observed the formation of homogeneous crystals and the zeolite film showed no fissures or cracks, indicating that the process of synthesis and subsequent treatments not damaged the zeolite layer on the support. Carried permeation studies were found values ranging from 3.64x10-6 to 3.78x10-6, 4.71x10-6 to 5.02x10-6, to pressures 20 and 25 psi, respectively. And the mixture xylenes/N2 values were between 5.39x10-6 to 5.67x10-6 and 8.13x10-6 to 8.36x10-6, also for pressures of 20 and 25 psi. The values found for the separation factor were 15.22 at 400 °C in the first experiment and 1.64 for the second experiment at a temperature of 150 °C. It is concluded that the Silicalite membrane was successfully synthesized and that it is effective in the separation of binary mixtures of xylenes