Modelagem e simulação de um separador bifásico com inversão de fases induzida

The present work has the main goal to study the modeling and simulation of a biphasic separator with induced phase inversion, the MDIF, with the utilization of the finite differences method for the resolution of the partial differencial equations which describe the transport of contaminant s mass fraction inside the equipment s settling chamber. With this aim, was developed the deterministic differential model AMADDA, wich was admensionalizated and then semidiscretizated with the method of lines. The integration of the resultant system of ordinary differential equations was realized by means of a modified algorithm of the Adam-Bashfort- Moulton method, and the sthocastic optimization routine of Basin-Hopping was used in the model s parameter estimation procedure . With the aim to establish a comparative referential for the results obtained with the model AMADDA, were used experimental data presented in previous works of the MDIF s research group. The experimental data and those obtained with the model was assessed regarding its normality by means of the Shapiro-Wilk s test, and validated against the experimental results with the Student s t test and the Kruskal-Wallis s test, depending on the result. The results showed satisfactory performance of the model AMADDA in the evaluation of the MDIF s separation efficiency, being possible to determinate that at 1% significance level the calculated results are equivalent to those determinated experimentally in the reference works

Comparison of the properties of compacted and porous lamellar chitosan-xanthan membranes as dressings and scaffolds for the treatment of skin lesions

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

Anxiety-induced antinociception in mice: effects of systemic and intra-amygdala administration of 8-OH-DPAT and midazolam

Rationale: Mice exhibit antinociception after a single experience in the elevated plus maze (EPM), an animal model of anxiety. Objective: This study investigated the mechanisms involved in this form of anxiety-induced antinociception. Methods: Nociception was evaluated by means of the writhing test in mice confined either to the open or enclosed arms of the EPM. The effects of systemic (naloxone, midazolam and 8-OH-DPAT) or intra-amygdala (8-OH-DPAT. NAN-190 and midazolam) drug infusions were investigated in mice previously treated i.p. with 0.6% acetic acid, an algic stimulus that induces abdominal contortions. The effects of these drugs on conventional measures of anxiety (% entries and % time in open arms) in a standard EPM test were also independently investigated. Results: Open-arm confinement resulted in a high-magnitude antinociception (minimum 85%, maximum 450%) compared with enclosed arm confinement. The opiate antagonist naloxone (1 mg/kg and 10 mg/kg) neither blocked this open arm-induced antinociception (OAIA) nor modified indices of anxiety in EPM. Administration of midazolam (0.5-2 mg/kg, s.c.) increased OAIA and produced antinociception in enclosed confined animals, as well as attenuating anxiety in the EPM. The 5-HT(1A) receptor agonist 8-OH-DPAT (0.05-1 mg/kg, s.c.) had biphasic effects on OAIA, antagonising the response at the lowest dose and intensifying it at the highest dose. In addition, low doses of this agent reduced anxiety in the EPM. Although bilateral injections of 8-OH-DPAT (5.6 nmol/0.4 mu l) or NAN-190 (5.6 nmol and 10 nmol/0.4 mu l) into the amygdala did not alter OAIA, increased anxiety was observed in the EPM. In contrast, intra-amygdala administration of midazolam (10 nmol and 30 nmol/0.4 mu l) blocked both OAIA and anxiety. Conclusions: These results with systemic and intracerebral drug infusion suggest that 5-HT(1A) receptors localised in the amygdala are not involved in the pain inhibitory processes that are recruited during aversive situations. However, activation of these receptors does phasically increase anxiety. Although the intrinsic antinociceptive properties of systemically administered midazolam confounded interpretation of its effects on OAIA, intra-amygdala injections of this compound suggest that benzodiazepine receptors in this brain region modulate both the antinociceptive and behavioural (anxiety) responses to the EPM.

The contribution of 700,000 ORF sequence tags to the definition of the human transcriptome

open reading frame expressed sequences tags (ORESTES) differ from conventional ESTs by providing sequence data from the central protein coding portion of transcripts. We generated a total of 696,745 ORESTES sequences from 24 human tissues and used a subset of the data that correspond to a set of 15,095 full-length mRNAs as a means of assessing the efficiency of the strategy and its potential contribution to the definition of the human transcriptome. We estimate that ORESTES sampled over 80% of all highly and moderately expressed, and between 40% and 50% of rarely expressed, human genes. In our most thoroughly sequenced tissue, the breast, the 130,000 ORESTES generated are derived from transcripts from an estimated 70% of all genes expressed in that tissue, with an equally efficient representation of both highly and poorly expressed genes. In this respect, we find that the capacity of the ORESTES strategy both for gene discovery and shotgun transcript sequence generation significantly exceeds that of conventional ESTs. The distribution of ORESTES is such that many human transcripts are now represented by a scaffold of partial sequences distributed along the length of each gene product. The experimental joining of the scaffold components, by reverse transcription-PCR, represents a direct route to transcript finishing that may represent a useful alternative to full-length cDNA cloning.

Comparison of caffeine-induced locomotor activity between adolescent and adult rats

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

Transferência de oxigênio em reatores de leito fluidizado com circulação em tubos concêntricos em meios bifásico e trifásico com variação da relação entre diâmetros

A eficiência do reator de leito fluidizado com circulação em tubos concêntricos depende das condições hidrodinâmicas que influem na transferência de oxigênio ao biofilme. Este trabalho investigou a influência da relação entre diâmetros dos tubos e da concentração de meio suporte (areia), sobre o coeficiente global de transferência de oxigênio (K La). Os ensaios - em reatores de 2,6 m de altura, com diâmetro externo de 250 mm e internos de 100, 125, 150 e 200 mm - empregaram vazões de ar até 2.500 L.h-1 e concentrações de até 150 g.L-1 de areia. O K La aumentou ligeiramente com 30 g.L-1 e diminuiu para concentrações maiores, confirmando relatos da literatura em condições semelhantes. Um modelo para K La em meio bifásico foi ajustado para as diversas relações ensaiadas entre a área externa e a interna, postulando-se uma redução na razão entre a transferência na fase líquida e o diâmetro da bolha com o aumento da vazão de ar.

Estudo da digestão de sedimento de curtume visando a extração do cromo por microemulsão

Leather tanneries generate effluents with high content of heavy metals, especially chromium, which is used in the mineral tanning process. Microemulsions have been studied in the extraction of heavy metals from aqueous solutions. Considering the problems related with the sediment resulting from the tanning process, due to its high content in chromium, in this work this sediment was characterized and microemulsion systems were applied for chromium removal. The extraction process consists in the removal of heavy metal ions present in an aqueous feeding solution (acid digestion solution) by a microemulsion system. First three different solid sludge digestion methods were evaluated, being chosen the method with higher digestion capacity. For this digestion method, seeking its optimization, was evaluated the influence of granule size, temperature and digestion time. Experimental results showed that the method proposed by USEPA (Method A) was the most efficient one, being obtained 95.77% of sample digestion. Regarding to the evaluated parameters, the best results were achieved at 95°C, 14 Mesh granule size, and 60 minutes digestion time. For chromium removal, three microemulsion extraction methods were evaluated: Method 1, in a Winsor II region, using as aqueous phase the acid digestion solution; Method 2, in a Winsor IV region, being obtained by the addition of the acid digestion solution to a microemulsion phase, whose aqueous phase is distilled water, until the formation of Winsor II system; and Method 3, in a Winsor III region, consisting in the formation of a Winsor III region using as aqueous phase the acid digestion solution, diluted in NaOH 0.01N. Seeking to optimize the extraction process only Method 1 (Systems I, II, and VIII) and Method 2 (System IX) were evaluated, being chosen points inside the interest regions (studied domains) to study the influence of contact time and pH in the extraction percentiles. The studied systems present the following compositions: System I: Surfactant Saponified coconut oil, Cosurfactant 1-Butanol, Oil phase Kerosene, Aqueous phase 2% NaCl solution; System II: Aqueous phase Acid digestion solution with pH adjusted using KOH (pH 3.5); System VIII: Aqueous phase - Acid digestion solution (pH 0.06); and System IX Aqueous phase Distilled water (pH 10.24), the other phases of Systems II, VIII and IX are similar to System I. Method 2 showed to be the more efficient one regarding chromium extraction percentile (up to 96.59% - pH 3.5). Considering that with Method 2 the microemulsion region only appears in the Winsor II region, it was studied Method 3 (System X) for the evaluation and characterization of a triphasic system, seeking to compare with a biphases system. System X is composed by: Surfactant Saponified coconut oil, Cosurfactant 1-Butanol, Oil phase Kerosene, Aqueous phase Acid digestion solution diluted with water and with its pH adjusted using 0.01N NaOH solution. The biphasic and triphasic microemulsion systems were analyzed regarding its viscosity, extraction efficiency and drop effective diameter. The experimental results showed that for viscosity studies the obtained values were low for all studied systems, the diameter of the drop is smaller in the Winsor II region, with 15.5 nm, reaching 46.0 nm in Winsor III region, being this difference attributed to variations in system compositions and micelle geometry. In chromium extraction, these points showed similar results, being achieved 99.76% for Winsor II system and 99.62% for Winsor III system. Winsor III system showed to be more efficient due to the obtaining of a icroemulsion with smaller volume, with the possibility to recover the oil phase in excess, and the use of a smaller proportion of surfactant and cosurfactant (C/S)

Estudo da descelularização tecidual na produção de arcabouços biológicos para enxertos

The regeneration of bone defects with loss of substance remains as a therapeutic challenge in the medical field. There are basically four types of grafts: autologous, allogenic, xenogenic and isogenic. It is a consensus that autologous bone is the most suitable material for this purpose, but there are limitations to its use, especially the insufficient amount in the donor. Surveys show that the components of the extracellular matrix (ECM) are generally conserved between different species and are well tolerated even in xenogenic recipient. Thus, several studies have been conducted in the search for a replacement for autogenous bone scaffold using the technique of decellularization. To obtain these scaffolds, tissue must undergo a process of cell removal that causes minimal adverse effects on the composition, biological activity and mechanical integrity of the remaining extracellular matrix. There is not, however, a conformity among researchers about the best protocol for decellularization, since each of these treatments interfere differently in biochemical composition, ultrastructure and mechanical properties of the extracellular matrix, affecting the type of immune response to the material. Further down the arsenal of research involving decellularization bone tissue represents another obstacle to the arrival of a consensus protocol. The present study aimed to evaluate the influence of decellularization methods in the production of biological scaffolds from skeletal organs of mice, for their use for grafting. This was a laboratory study, sequenced in two distinct stages. In the first phase 12 mice hemi-calvariae were evaluated, divided into three groups (n = 4) and submitted to three different decellularization protocols (SDS [group I], trypsin [Group II], Triton X-100 [Group III]). We tried to identify the one that promotes most efficient cell removal, simultaneously to the best structural preservation of the bone extracellular matrix. Therefore, we performed quantitative analysis of the number of remaining cells and descriptive analysis of the scaffolds, made possible by microscopy. In the second stage, a study was conducted to evaluate the in vitro adhesion of mice bone marrow mesenchymal cells, cultured on these scaffolds, previously decellularized. Through manual counting of cells on scaffolds there was a complete cell removal in Group II, Group I showed a practically complete cell removal, and Group III displayed cell remains. The findings allowed us to observe a significant difference only between Groups II and III (p = 0.042). Better maintenance of the collagen structure was obtained with Triton X-100, whereas the decellularization with Trypsin was responsible for the major structural changes in the scaffolds. After culture, the adhesion of mesenchymal cells was only observed in specimens deccelularized with Trypsin. Due to the potential for total removal of cells and the ability to allow adherence of these, the protocol based on the use of Trypsin (Group II) was considered the most suitable for use in future experiments involving bone grafting decellularized scaffolds

Cultura de condrócitos em arcabouço tridimensional: hidrogel de alginato

OBJETIVOS: O presente estudo teve como objetivo cultivar condrócitos retirados da articulação do joelho de coelhos encapsulados em hidrogel de alginato (HA) e caracterizar a produção de matriz extracelular (ECM). MÉTODOS: A cartilagem articular foi removida do joelho de coelhos, com três a seis meses, fragmentada em pedaços de 1mm e submetida à digestão enzimática. Uma concentração de 1x106 céls/mL foram ressuspensas em uma solução de alginato de sódio a 1,5% (w/v), em seguida fez-se o processo de gelatinização em CaCl2 (102 mM), permitindo a formação do HA e cultivo em meio DMEM-F12 durante quatro semanas. A distribuição das células e a ECM foram acessadas através das secções histológicas coradas com e azul de toluidina hematoxilina e eosina (HE). RESULTADOS: Houve um aumento no número e na viabilidade dos condrócitos durante as quatro semanas de cultura. Através das análises histológicas dos HAs corados com azul de toluidina e HE foi possível observar a distribuição definida dos condrócitos no hidrogel, assemelhando-se a grupos isógenos e formação de matriz territorial. CONCLUSÃO: Este estudo demonstrou a eficiência do HA como arcabouço para ser usado na cultura de condrócitos, constituindo uma alternativa no reparo de lesões na cartilagem articular.

In vivo and in vitro evaluation of an Acetobacter xylinum synthesized microbial cellulose membrane intended for guided tissue repair

Background: Barrier materials as cellulose membranes are used for guided tissue repair. However, it is essential that the surrounding tissues accept the device. The present study histologically evaluated tissue reaction to a microbial cellulose membrane after subcutaneous implantation in mice. Furthermore, the interaction between mesenchymal stem cells and the biomaterial was studied in vitro to evaluate its ability to act as cellular scaffold for tissue engineering.Methods: Twenty-five Swiss Albino mice were used. A 10 x 10 mm cellulose membrane obtained through biosynthesis using Acetobacter xylinum bacteria was implanted into the lumbar subcutaneous tissue of each mouse. The mice were euthanatized at seven, 15, 30, 60, and 90 days, and the membrane and surrounding tissues were collected and examined by histology.Results: A mild inflammatory response without foreign body reaction was observed until 30 days post-surgery around the implanted membrane. Polarized microscopy revealed that the membrane remained intact at all evaluation points. Scanning electron microscopy of the cellulose membrane surface showed absence of pores. The in vitro evaluation of the interaction between cells and biomaterial was performed through viability staining analysis of the cells over the biomaterial, which showed that 95% of the mesenchymal stem cells aggregating to the cellulose membrane were alive and that 5% were necrotic. Scanning electron microscopy showed mesenchymal stem cells with normal morphology and attached to the cellulose membrane surface.Conclusion: The microbial cellulose membrane evaluated was found to be nonresorbable, induced a mild inflammatory response and may prove useful as a scaffold for mesenchymal stem cells.

Evaluation of castor oil-based polyurethane membranes in rat bone-marrow cell culture

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Serum Iron Parameters and Acute Experimental EHV-1 Infection in Horses

Background Research in humans has demonstrated that high serum iron (sFe) concentration can predispose to infection, and many infections subsequently result in alterations of host sFe. A decrease in sFe concentration is an early and sensitive indicator of systemic inflammation caused by tissue necrosis, bacterial infections, or endotoxemia in horses. Serum iron parameters in acute equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) infection have not been evaluated previously. Objectives To document the sFe response to EHV-1 infection and to determine whether or not significant differences in sFe concentration exist between EHV-1 infected horses that develop neurologic disease and those that do not. Animals A total of 14 horses experimentally infected with EHV-1. Methods Data were collected as an ancillary data set during a blinded experimental EHV-1 infection. Horses were infected with the rAb4 strain of EHV-1. Temperature, neurologic score, packed cell volume (PCV), and sFe parameters (sFe concentration, % saturation, and total iron-binding capacity) were recorded daily for 2weeks. Data were evaluated using Wilcoxon signed rank tests and Wilcoxon rank sum tests with Bonferroni corrections. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance Serum iron concentration decreases significantly in a biphasic pattern after EHV-1 infection. There was no significant difference in sFe concentration in horses that developed neurologic disease and those that did not in these experimentally infected animals. Serum iron parameters may be useful in monitoring the clinical course of viral infections such as EHV-1.

Fatores genéticos e de meio na produção de leite de caprinos leiteiros

Objetivou-se, no presente estudo, avaliar a produção de leite de caprinos leiteiros da região sudeste do Brasil, com intuito de verificar os fatores de meio e estimar os parâmetros genéticos pelo método dos mínimos quadrados (MMQ). Os controles de 1336 lactações foram inicialmente ajustados pela função multifásica (difásica) e calculou-se a produção de leite total (PLT). Os dados foram provenientes de sete propriedades e três raças (Parda Alpina, Saanen e Toggenburg). A média e o erro-padrão da PLT estimados pelo MMQ foram de 635,31 ±39,75 kg. A interação ano x estação do parto influenciou a PLT. em um dos anos estudados, a PLT foi menor para as cabras paridas no final da estação. Nas três estações de parto, observou-se comportamento quadrático da PLT, em função dos anos de parto. Para as três estações, a PLT aumentou de 1986 até meados de 1990, decrescendo em seguida. A idade de máxima PLT foi observada aos 46,65 meses. Das três raças estudadas, observou-se que as raças Parda Alpina e Saanen apresentaram alternância de superioridade na PLT em algumas fazendas, porém maiores que a Toggenburg. Os coeficientes de herdabilidade e repetibilidade da PLT estimados pelo MMQ foram de 0,296 ± 0,079 e 0,277 ± 0,033, respectivamente. Estes resultados revelam baixa confiabilidade em poucas observações dessas características ou na inconsistência das estimativas da função multifásica. Como a PLT é uma característica limitada ao sexo, sugere-se o teste de progênie como método de seleção mais eficiente para os reprodutores e uso de inseminação artificial como processo de disseminação do material genético selecionado.

Periodontal Tissue Engineering After Tooth Replantation

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

Influence of root-surface conditioning with acid and chelating agents on clot stabilization

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)