Genetic diversity and antifungal susceptibility testing of Trichosporon asahii isolated of Intensive Care Units patients

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Knowledge and attitudes of health care workers from intensive care units regarding nosocomial transmission of influenza: a study on the immediate pre-pandemic period

The transmission of influenza in health care settings is a major threat to patients, especially those with severe diseases. The attitude of health care workers (HCWs) may influence the transmission of countless infections. The current study aimed to quantify knowledge and identify attitudes of HCWs involved in intensive care units (ICUs) regarding the risk of nosocomial influenza transmission. A questionnaire was applied through interviews to HCWs who worked in one of the five ICUs from a teaching hospital. Questions about influenza were deliberately dispersed among others that assessed several infectious agents. Forty-two HCWs were interviewed: nine physicians, ten nurses and 23 nursing technicians or auxiliaries. Among the 42 HCWs, 98% were aware of the potential transmission of influenza virus in the ICUs, but only 31% would indicate droplet precautions for patients with suspected infection. Moreover, only 31% of them had been vaccinated against influenza in the last campaign (2008). Nursing technicians or auxiliaries were more likely to have been vaccinated, both by univariate and multivariable analysis. When asked about absenteeism, only 10% of the study subjects stated that they would not go to work if they had an influenza-like illness. Those findings suggest that, in non-pandemic periods, influenza control in hospitals requires strategies that combine continuous education with changes in organizational culture.

Effects of intrapulpal temperature change induced by visible light units on the metabolism of odontoblast-like cells

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

Curing depth of composite resin light cured by LED and halogen light-curing units

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the polymerization effectiveness of a composite resin (Z-250) utilizing microhardness testing. In total, 80 samples with thicknesses of 2 and 4 mm were made, which were photoactivated by a conventional halogen light-curing unit, and light-curing units based on LED. The samples were stored in water distilled for 24 h at 37C. The Vickers microhardness was performed by the MMT-3 microhardness tester. The microhardness means obtained were as follows: G1, 72.88; G2, 69.35; G3, 67.66; G4, 69.71; G5, 70.95; G6, 75.19; G7, 72.96; and G8, 71.62. The data were submitted to an analysis of variance (ANOVA's test), adopting a significance level of 5%. The results showed that, in general, there were no statistical differences between the halogen and LED light-curing units used with the same parameters.

Effect of light-curing units on microleakage under dental composite resins

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of two light-curing units (QTH and LED) on microleakage of Class II composite resin restorations with dentin cavosurface margins. Twenty extracted mandibular first premolars, free of caries and fractures were prepared two vertical slot cavities in the occluso-mesial and -destal surfaces (2 mm buccal-lingually, 2 mm proximal-axially and cervical limit in enamel) and divided into 4 equal groups (n = 8): GI and GII: packable posterior composite light-activated with LED and QTH, respectively; GIII and GIV: micro-hybrid composite resin light-activated with LED and QTH, respectively. The composite resins were applied following the manufacturer's instructions. After 24 h of water storage specimens were subjected to thermocycling for a total of 500 cycles at 5 and 55A degrees C and the teeth were then sealed with impermeable material. Teeth were immersed in 0.5% Basic fuchsin during 24 h at room temperature, and zero to three levels of penetration score were attributed. The Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests showed significant statistically similar (P > 0.05) from GI to GII and GIII to GIV, which the GII (2.750) had the highest mean scores and the GIII and GIV (0.875) had lowest mean scores. The use of different light-curing units has no influence on marginal integrity of Class II composite resin restorations and the proprieties of composite resins are important to reduce the microleakage.

Dynamics of 5S rDNA in the tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) genome: repeat units, inverted sequences, pseudogenes and chromosome loci

In higher eukaryotes, the 5S ribosomal DNA (5S rDNA) is organized in tandem arrays with repeat units composed of a coding region and a non-transcribed spacer sequence (NTS). These tandem arrays can be found on either one or more chromosome pairs. 5S rDNA copies from the tilapia fish. Oreochromis niloticus, were cloned and the nucleotide sequences of the coding region and of the non-transcribed spacer were deter-mined. Moreover, the genomic organization of the 5S rDNA tandem repeats was investigated by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and Southern blot hybridization. Two 5S rDNA classes, one consisting of 1.4-kb repeats and another one with 0.5-kb repeats were identified and designated 5S rDNA type I and type II, respectively, An inverted 5S rRNA gene and a 5S rRNA putative pseudogene were also identified inside the tandem repeats of 5S rDNA type I. FISH permitted the visualization of the 5S rRNA genes at three chromosome loci, one of them consisting of arrays of the 5S rDNA type I, and the two others corresponding to arrays of the 5S rDNA type II. The two classes of the 5S rDNA. The presence of pseudogenes, and the inverted genes observed in the O. niloticus genome might be a consequence of the intense dynamics of the evolution of these tandem repeat elements. Copyright (C) 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Delimiting genetic units in Neotropical toads under incomplete lineage sorting and hybridization

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

GLOBAL DYNAMICS IN THE POINCARE BALL of THE CHEN SYSTEM HAVING INVARIANT ALGEBRAIC SURFACES

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Hardening of a dual-cure resin cement using QTH and LED curing units

Objective: This study evaluated the surface hardness of a resin cement (RelyX ARC) photoactivated through indirect composite resin (Cristobal) disks of different thicknesses using either a light- emitting diode (LED) or quartz tungsten halogen (QTH) light source. Material and Methods: Eighteen resin cement specimens were prepared and divided into 6 groups according to the type of curing unit and the thickness of resin disks interposed between the cement surface and light source. Three indentations (50 g for 15 s) were performed on the top and bottom surface of each specimen and a mean Vickers hardness number (VHN) was calculated for each specimen. The data were analyzed using two-way ANOVA and Tukey-Kramer test was used for post-hoc pairwise comparisons. Results: Increased indirect resin disk thickness resulted in decreased mean VHN values. Mean VHN values for the top surfaces of the resin cement specimens ranged from 23.2 to 46.1 (QTH) and 32.3 to 41.7 (LED). The LED curing light source produced higher hardness values compared to the QTH light source for 2- and 3-mm-thick indirect resin disks. The differences were clinically, but not statistically significant. Increased indirect resin disk thickness also resulted in decreased mean VHN values for the bottom surfaces of the resin cement: 5.8 to 19.1 (QTH) and 7.5 to 32.0 (LED). For the bottom surfaces, a statistically significant interaction was also found between the type of curing light source and the indirect resin disk thickness. Conclusions: Mean surface hardness values of resin cement specimens decreased with the increase of indirect resin disk thickness. The LED curing light source generally produced higher surface hardness values.

PT-invariant point interactions in one dimension

By using Wu and Yu's pseudo-potential, we construct point interactions in one dimension that are complex but conform to space-time reflection (PT) invariance. The resulting point interactions are equivalent to those obtained by Albeverio, Fei and Kurasov as self-adjoint extensions of the kinetic energy operator.

The two-loop massless (lambda/4!)phi(4) model in nontranslational invariant domain

We study the (lambda/4!)phi(4) massless scalar field theory in a four-dimensional Euclidean space, where all but one of the coordinates are unbounded. We are considering Dirichlet boundary conditions in two hyperplanes, breaking the translation invariance of the system. We show how to implement the perturbative renormalization up to two-loop level of the theory. First, analyzing the full two and four-point functions at the one-loop level, we show that the bulk counterterms are sufficient to render the theory finite. Meanwhile, at the two-loop level, we must also introduce surface counterterms in the bare Lagrangian in order to make finite the full two and also four-point Schwinger functions. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.

Conserved currents in gravitational models with quasi-invariant Lagrangians: Application to teleparallel gravity

Conservation laws in gravitational theories with diffeomorphism and local Lorentz symmetry are studied. Main attention is paid to the construction of conserved currents and charges associated with an arbitrary vector field that generates a diffeomorphism on the spacetime. We further generalize previous results for the case of gravitational models described by quasi-invariant Lagrangians, that is, Lagrangians that change by a total derivative under the action of the local Lorentz group. The general formalism is then applied to the teleparallel models, for which the energy and the angular momentum of a Kerr black hole are calculated. The subsequent analysis of the results obtained demonstrates the importance of the choice of the frame.

Measurement of the dijet invariant mass cross section in p(p)over-bar collisions at root s=1.96 TeV

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

The cohomology of superspace, pure spinors and invariant integrals

The superform construction of supersymmetric invariants, which consists of integrating the top component of a closed superform over spacetime, is reviewed. The cohomological methods necessary for the analysis of closed superforms are discussed and some further theoretical developments presented. The method is applied to higher-order corrections in heterotic string theory up to alpha'(3). Some partial results on N = 2, d = 10 and N = 1, d = 11 are also given.