Periodontal disease characterization in dogs with normal renal function or chronic renal failure

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

Genetics of anthracnose panel canker disease resistance and its relationship with yield and growth characters in half-sib progenies of rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis)

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

Respiratory muscle strength in obese individuals and influence of upper-body fat distribution

CONTEXTO E OBJETIVO: A disfunção pulmonar no obeso pode estar associada a comprometimento muscular respiratório e também pode ser influenciada pelo predomínio de distribuição de gordura corporal na região toraco-abdominal. O objetivo foi avaliar a força dos músculos respiratórios em obesos e analisar a influência da distribuição do tecido adiposo. TIPO DE ESTUDO E LOCAL: Estudo transversal no período pré-operatório de Cirurgia Bariátrica. Estudo desenvolvido no Programa de Pós-Graduação em Bases Gerais da Cirurgia da Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp) - Faculdade de Medicina de Botucatu. MÉTODO: Mensuração da força dos músculos respiratórios através das medidas das pressões inspiratórias e expiratórias máximas (PImax e PEmax) em obesos candidatos à cirurgia bariátrica. Avaliar a distribuição do tecido adiposo através da relação entre as circunferências da cintura e quadril (RC/Q). Comparar esses atributos com os valores de referência de normalidade e também entre grupos com diferentes índices de massa corpórea (IMC). RESULTADOS: Foram avaliados 23 homens e 76 mulheres. Todos foram submetidos à avaliação de PImax e 86 realizaram a PEmax. O IMC médio foi de 44,42 kg/m². Os valores de PImax e de PEmax estavam dentro dos padrões de normalidade, a relação cintura-quadril mostrou distribuição do tecido adiposo na porção superior corporal e não houve correlação entre as variáveis estudadas. CONCLUSÃO: Na população de obesos estudada, o excesso de peso não provocou alterações na força dos músculos respiratórios, e as modificações não foram influenciadas pela distribuição de gordura predominante em porção superior corporal.

A comparative-analysis of glycosaminoglycans from human umbilical arteries in normal subjects and in pathological conditions affecting pregnancy

BACKGROUND: Vascular cells express different phenotypes in adult and fetal vessels, and the extracellular matrix they synthesize should reflect these differences. Alterations of vascular proteoglycan/glycosaminoglycan is verified in disorders such as hypertension and diabetes, and when occurring during pregnancy, they bring about structural changes to fetal vessels that often lead to impaired fetus growth. Yet there is little data about the extracellular matrix of an important human fetal vessel, the umbilical artery.EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: This study involved the biochemical characterization of the extracellular matrix of normal umbilical arteries, umbilical arteries from complicated pregnancies (maternal hypertension and diabetes and intrauterine growth retardation syndrome), and, for purpose of comparison, normal adult arteries (aorta and iliac and pulmonary arteries). Although the collagen types I:III ratio was determined in some cases, emphasis was placed on analysis of glycosaminoglycans.RESULTS: Normal umbilical arteries differ from normal adult arteries in that they contain greater concentrations of hyaluronic acid and lesser concentrations of heparan sulfate and chondroitin 4-and 6-sulfate. The umbilical artery also differs from adult arteries in the disaccharide composition of its chondroitin and heparan sulfates and in the molecular weight of this latter glycosaminoglycan. The glycosaminoglycan distribution in umbilical arteries derived from complicated pregnancies is roughly similar to that of controls. However, total glycosaminoglycan and collagen were significantly reduced, and the collagen I:III ratio was increased in the umbilical arteries from hypertension-complicated pregnancies.CONCLUSIONS: the glycosaminoglycan composition of the normal umbilical artery, a fully differentiated tissue, differs in many aspects from that of normal adult arteries. of the cases of complicated pregnancies studied, the extracellular matrix of umbilical arteries was altered only in maternal hypertension. The changes, notably a mild fibrosis, were not very pronounced and should not impair hemodynamic properties of the vessel.

Assessment of apoptosis in epidermal lamellar cells in clinically normal horses and those with laminitis

Objective - To determine and compare the number, type, location, and distribution of apoptotic epidermal cells in the laminae of clinically normal horses and horses with laminitis.Sample Population - Formalin-fixed samples of digital lamellar tissue from 47 horses (including clinically normal horses [controls; n = 7], horses with acurte [4] and chronic [7] naturally acquired laminitis, and horses with black walnut extract-induced [11] or carbohydrate overload-induced [18] laminitis).Procedure - Blocks of paraffin-embedded lamellar tissues were stained for DNA fragmentation with the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) technique. Differential immunohistochemical staining for caspases 3 and 14 were used to confirm apoptosis.Results - the number of TUNEL-positive epidermal cells per 0.1 mm of primary laminae was significantly greater in the acute laminitis group than in the other groups. In the acute laminitis group, there were 17 and 1,025 times as many TUN EL-positive basal layer cells and keratinocytes, respectively, compared with the control group. Apoptosis of TUNEL-positive basal layer cells was confirmed by results of caspase 3 immunohistochemical staining. The TUNEL-positive keratinocytes did not stain for caspases 3 or 14.Conclusions and Clinical Relevance - the large number of apoptotic basal layer cells detected in the lamellar tissue of horses with acute naturally acquired laminitis suggests that apoptosis may be important in the development of acute laminitis. The role of the large number of TUNEL-positive keratinocytes detected in the interface of primary and secondary epidermal laminae of horses with acute laminitis remains to be elucidated.

The IFUSP race-track microtron booster accelerator end magnets antisymmetric perturbations

We will present measurements and calculations related to the antisymmetric perturbations, and comparisons with the symmetric ones, of the IFUSP race-track microtron booster accelerator end magnets. These perturbations were measured in planes situated at +/-12 mm of the middle plane, in a gap height of 4 cm, for a field distribution of about 0.1 T. The measurements were done in 1170 points, separated by a distance of 8 mm, using an automated system with a +/-1.5 mu T differential Hall probe. The race-track microtron booster is the second stage of the 30.0 MeV electron accelerator under construction at the Linear Accelerator Laboratory in which the required uniformity for the magnetic field is of about 10(-3). The method of correction employed to homogenize the IFUSP race-track microtron booster accelerator magnets assures uniformity of 10(-5) in an average field of 0.1 T, over an area of 700 cm(2). This method uses the principle of attaching to the pole pieces correction coils produced by etching techniques, with copper leads shaped like the isofield lines of the normal component of the magnetic field measured. The ideal planes, in which these measurements are done, are calculated and depend on the behavior of the magnetic field perturbations: symmetric or antisymmetric with reference to the middle plane of the magnet gap. These calculations are presented in this work and show that for antisymmetric perturbations there is no ideal plane for the correction of the magnetic field; for the symmetric one, these planes are at +/-60% of the half gap height, from the middle plane. So this method of correction is not feasible for antisymmetric perturbations, as will be shown. Besides, the correction of the symmetric portion of the field distribution does not influence the antisymmetric one, which almost does not change, and corroborates the theoretical predictions. We found antisymmetric perturbations of small intensity only in one of the two end magnets. However, they are not detected at +/- 1 mm of the middle plane and will not damage the electron beam.

Spatial distribution of solutes and water in sucrose solution dehydrated apples

Half-fresh apples were immersed in sucrose solution (50% w/w, 27 degrees C) during different times of exposition (2, 4, and 8 h). Then each fruit was sliced from the transversal exposed surface. Density, water, and sugar content were determined for each slice. A mathematical model was fitted to experimental data of water and sucrose content considering the global flux and the tissue shrinkage. By numerical analysis, the binary effective diffusion coefficients as a function of concentration were calculated, using material coordinates and integrating simultaneously two differential equations (for water and sucrose). The coefficients obtained are one or even two orders of magnitude lower than the ones for pure solutions and present an unusual concentration dependence. This comparison shows the influence of the tissue resistance to the diffusion.

Classical and quantal aspects of resonant normal forms

The Birkhoff-Gustavson normal form is employed to study separately chaos and resonances in a system with two degrees of freedom. In the integrable regime, tunnelling effects are appreciable when the nearest level spacings show oscillations. Tunnelling among states in the libration and rotation tori regions is also observed. The regularity of avoided crossings due to tunnelling indicates a collective effect and is associated with an isolated resonance. The spectral fluctuations also show a strong level correlation. The Husimi distribution, on the other hand, is insensitive to avoided crossings. An integrable approximation to the overlap of resonances is obtained and a theoretical description is given for an isolated cubic resonance plus a complex orbit. In the non-integrable regime chaos is stronger after overlapping and preferentially at low energies.

Robust linear mixed models with normal/independent distributions and Bayesian MCMC implementation

Linear mixed effects models have been widely used in analysis of data where responses are clustered around some random effects, so it is not reasonable to assume independence between observations in the same cluster. In most biological applications, it is assumed that the distributions of the random effects and of the residuals are Gaussian. This makes inferences vulnerable to the presence of outliers. Here, linear mixed effects models with normal/independent residual distributions for robust inferences are described. Specific distributions examined include univariate and multivariate versions of the Student-t, the slash and the contaminated normal. A Bayesian framework is adopted and Markov chain Monte Carlo is used to carry out the posterior analysis. The procedures are illustrated using birth weight data on rats in a texicological experiment. Results from the Gaussian and robust models are contrasted, and it is shown how the implementation can be used for outlier detection. The thick-tailed distributions provide an appealing robust alternative to the Gaussian process in linear mixed models, and they are easily implemented using data augmentation and MCMC techniques.

Microscopic, morphometric and ultrastructural analysis of anastomotic healing in the intestine of normal and diabetic rats

The purpose of this study was to investigate if experimental alloxanic diabetes could cause qualitative changes in intestinal anastomoses of the terminal ileum and distal colon in rats, as compared to controls. 192 male Wistar rats, weighing ± 300g were split into four experimental groups of 48 animals each, after 3 months of follow-up: a control group with ileum anastomoses (G1), a control group with colon anastomoses (G2), a diabetic group with ileum anastomoses (G3) and a diabetic group with colon anastomoses (G4). Animals were evaluated and sacrificed on days 4, 14, 21 and 30 after surgery, and fragments of the small and large intestine where the anastomoses were performed were removed. Samples from 6 animals from each sacrifice moment were submitted to ultrastructural analysis of the collagen fibers using a scanning electron microscope and samples from another 6 animals were submitted to histopathology and optical microscopy studies using picrosirius red-staining. Histopathological analysis of picrosirius red-stained anastomosis slides using an optical microscope at 40x magnification showed that the distribution of collagen fibers was disarranged and also revealed a delay in scar tissue retraction. The morphometric study revealed differences in the collagen filled area for the ileum anastomoses 14 days post surgery whereas, in the case of colon anastomoses, differences were observed at days 4 and 30 post surgery, with higher values in the diabetic animals. Ultrastructure analysis of the ileum and colon anastomoses using a scanning electron microscope revealed fewer wide collagen fibers, the presence of narrower fibers and a disarranged distribution of the collagen fibers. We conclude that diabetes caused qualitative changes in scar tissue as well as in the structural arrangement of collagen fibers, what could explain the reduced wound strength in the anastomosis of diabetic animals. © J. A. Barth Verlag in Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart.

Improving the grid operation and reliability cost of distribution systems with dispersed generation

In this work, a mathematical model to analyze the impact of the installation and operation of dispersed generation units in power distribution systems is proposed. The main focus is to determine the trade-off between the reliability and operational costs of distribution networks when the operation of isolated areas is allowed. In order to increase the system operator revenue, an optimal power flow makes use of the different energy prices offered by the dispersed generation connected to the grid. Simultaneously, the type and location of the protective devices initially installed on the protection system are reconfigured in order to minimize the interruption and expenditure of adjusting the protection system to conditions imposed by the operation of dispersed units. The interruption cost regards the unsupplied energy to customers in secure systems but affected by the normal tripping of protective devices. Therefore, the tripping of fuses, reclosers, and overcurrent relays aims to protect the system against both temporary and permanent fault types. Additionally, in order to reduce the average duration of the system interruption experienced by customers, the isolated operation of dispersed generation is allowed by installing directional overcurrent relays with synchronized reclose capabilities. A 135-bus real distribution system is used in order to show the advantages of using the mathematical model proposed. © 1969-2012 IEEE.

Caracterização hidráulica do microaspersor Eden Twister em posição normal e invertida

Pós-graduação em Agronomia (Ciência do Solo) - FCAV

The employment situation in Latin America and the Caribbean: Labour productivity and distribution issues

Although the economies of Latin America and the Caribbean grew more slowly in 2011 than in 2010, there were some improvements on the employment front. Workers benefited from the region’s satisfactory economic performance in an increasingly complex international setting. The unemployment rate fell from 7.3% in 2010 to 6.7% in 2011 thanks to a halfpercentage- point gain in the urban employment rate. Both rates are at levels that have not been seen for a long time. The proportion of formal jobs with social benefits rose as well, and underemployment declined. The average wage and the minimum wage both increased in real terms, albeit only moderately. Economic performance and the employment situation varied widely among the subregions. The unemployment rate dropped by 0.6 percentage points in South America but 0.4 percentage points in the countries of the northern part of Latin America. In the countries of the Caribbean, the employment rate was up by 0.2 percentage points. The data show that substantial labour market gaps and serious labour-market insertion issues remain. This is especially the case for women and young people, for whom unemployment rates and other labour indicators are still unfavourable. The second part of this report looks at whether the fruits of economic growth and rising productivity have been distributed equitably between workers and companies. Between 2002 and 2008 (the most recent expansionary economic cycle), wages as a percentage of GDP fell in 13 of the 21 countries of the region for which data are available and rose in just 8. This points to redistribution that is unfavourable to workers, which is worrying in a region which already has the most unequal distribution of income in the world. Underlying this trend is the fact that, worldwide, wages have grown less than productivity. Beyond the ethical dimension of this issue, it jeopardizes the social and economic sustainability of growth. For example, one of the root causes of the recent financial crisis was that households in the United States responded to declining wage income by borrowing more to pay for consumption and housing. This turned out to be unsustainable in the long run. Over time, it undermines the labour market’s contribution to the efficient allocation of resources and its distributive function, too, with negative consequences for democratic governance. Among the triggers of this distributive worsening most often cited in the global debate are market deregulation and its impact on financial globalization, technological change that favours capital over labour, and the weakening of labour institutions. What is needed here is a public policy effort to help keep wage increases from lagging behind increases in productivity. Some countries of the region, especially in South America, saw promising developments during the second half of the 2000s in the form of a positive trend reversal in wages as a percentage of GDP. One example is Brazil, where a minimum wage policy tailored to the dynamics of the domestic market is considered to be one of the factors behind an upturn in the wage share of GDP. The region needs to grow more and better. Productivity must grow at a steady pace, to serve as the basis for sustained improvements in the well-being of the populace and to narrow the gap between the economies of Latin America and the Caribbean and the more advanced economies. And inequality must be decreased; this could be achieved by closing the productivity gap between upgraded companies and the many firms whose productivity is low. As set out in this report, the region made some progress between 2002 and 2010, with labour productivity rising at the rate of 1.5% a year. But this progress falls short of that seen in other regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa (2.1%) and, above all, East Asia (8.3%, not counting Japan and the Republic of Korea). Moreover, in many of the countries of the region these gains have not been distributed equitably. Therein lies a dual challenge that must be addressed: continue to increase productivity while enhancing the mechanisms for distributing gains in a way that will encourage investment and boost worker and household income. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimate that the pace of economic growth in the region will be slightly slower in 2012 than in 2011, in a global economic scenario marked by the cooling of several of the main economic engines and a high degree of uncertainty concerning, above all, prospects for the euro zone. The region is expected to continue to hold up well to this worsening scenario, thanks to policies that leveraged more favourable conditions in the past. This will be felt in the labour markets, as well, so expectations are that unemployment will edge down by as much as two tenths of a decimal point.

NADPH-diaphorase activity in area 17 of the squirrel monkey visual cortex: neuropil pattern, cell morphology and laminar distribution

We studied the distribution of NADPH-diaphorase activity in the visual cortex of normal adult New World monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) using the malic enzyme "indirect" method. NADPH-diaphorase neuropil activity had a heterogeneous distribution. In coronal sections, it had a clear laminar pattern that was coincident with Nissl-stained layers. In tangential sections, we observed blobs in supragranular layers of V1 and stripes throughout the entire V2. We quantified and compared the tangential distribution of NADPH-diaphorase and cytochrome oxidase blobs in adjacent sections of the supragranular layers of V1. Although their spatial distributions were rather similar, the two enzymes did not always overlap. The histochemical reaction also revealed two different types of stained cells: a slightly stained subpopulation and a subgroup of deeply stained neurons resembling a Golgi impregnation. These neurons were sparsely spined non-pyramidal cells. Their dendritic arbors were very well stained but their axons were not always evident. In the gray matter, heavily stained neurons showed different dendritic arbor morphologies. However, most of the strongly reactive cells lay in the subjacent white matter, where they presented a more homogenous morphology. Our results demonstrate that the pattern of NADPH-diaphorase activity is similar to that previously described in Old World monkeys.

A Escola Normal do Pará e a introdução do ensino das Ciências Naturais no Pará (1870 a 1930)

A presente pesquisa tem o objetivo de analisar o currículo da Escola Normal do Pará, mais especificamente no que se refere às Ciências Naturais que constaram em sua estrutura, desde 1870 até 1930. Esta instituição foi criada em 1871 com o fim de formar professores para atuarem na instrução primária. Situada em Belém, que era o centro mais urbanizado da região, a Escola Normal estava entre as principais instituições da instrução pública paraense. As Ciências Naturais fizeram parte do primeiro currículo da Escola Normal do Pará, sendo elas a Física e a Química, contudo deixaram de fazer parte em 1874. O retorno das Ciências da Natureza se deu durante a Primeira República, por meio da Física, da Química e da História Natural, as quais se consolidaram ao longo deste período. A pesquisa analisa esta trajetória partindo do pressuposto que o currículo é um artefato social e histórico, sujeito a flutuações e que refletiu e continua a refletir as relações de poder envolvidas nos processos de seleção e transmissão cultural. Outra perspectiva analítica deste estudo considera o currículo como um meio de difusão científica, que também determina os modos que esta deve ocorrer. Sobre a difusão científica, parte-se do princípio que este processo não é simétrico, que os saberes científicos são criados em centros mais fortes e que ao serem difundidos para a periferia tem que interagir com a cultura que os recebe, os quais são conformados e modificados, sendo-lhes agregados valores diferentes dos que possuem nos países de centro. Assim, a pesquisa divide-se em três capítulos. O primeiro tem o objetivo de ver o desenvolvimento das Ciências Naturais no currículo do município do Rio de Janeiro, entre 1850 e 1890, que era a sede do governo central e o principal centro difusor de idéias para outras localidades do país, tanto em termos de educação quanto em outras áreas da administração pública. Com isso, analisa-se o desenvolvimento curricular do ensino primário, secundário e normal do Rio, mais especificamente em relação as Ciências Naturais, a partir das Reformas Coutto Ferraz (1854), Leôncio de Carvalho (1879) e Benjamin Constant (1890), as quais determinaram mudanças no currículo e na educação de modo geral. O segundo capítulo faz um resgate do desenvolvimento curricular da instrução pública primária e secundária paraense (1840-1870), isto para ver qual era o cenário curricular da instrução pública as vésperas da criação da Escola Normal, o que permite perceber e analisar que mudanças foram introduzidas por esta instituição neste contexto. O terceiro capítulo, num primeiro momento, revê a trajetória da Escola Normal do Pará e, num segundo momento, analisa-se o desenvolvimento do currículo normalista do Pará em relação as Ciências Naturais, de modo que é evidenciado a emergência e solidificação dos saberes científicos, tal como a distribuição de carga-horária em relação aos outros saberes e as próprias ciências constituintes do currículo.