Quantificação da desintegração de comprimidos por fluxo ótico em seqüências de imagens de biosusceptometria AC

AC Biosusceptometry (ACB) is a low-cost biomagnetic tool that has been successfully applied on pharmaceutical research to evaluate performance of solid dosage forms. The aim of this work was to evaluate the Horn & Shunck method to access tablet disintegration. To evaluate the HS results was record on video a test with a objet moving in a rail with a constant velocity. The desintegration was recorded on video and ACB, which used have seven pairs of detection coils and a pair of excitation coils to mensure the magnetic ux variation. The signals were ampli ed and digitalized to create images, which were restored by Wiener lter, while the video images are converted to gray scale, both are normalized and binarized and had the optical ow estimation calculated by Horn & Schunck (HS) algorithm. All signals and images are processed and developed algorithm on Matlab. During the tests the ve tablets (500mg ferrite, 375mg excipients, compression 10 to 50 kN) were on a becker between of the ACB system and of the video system, and only touching the surface of the water. With all OF maps calculated was realized the sum of the resultants of each, to get a disintegration process resultant for each compression. Whit that was possible observed the disintegration behaves. For the compression force study the HS components of each sequence was sum, take mean and normalized for sequence's max modulo, therefore can be observed a high growing on less compression tablets. We can conclude the HS algorithm is viable to tablets disintegration data collection and whit that was possible to create a tablets disintegration analyzes protocol, which would be useful on desintegration kinetics study

Transformações de Lorentz e seus invariantes

In this paper, we will show the types of Lorentz transformations, from the most described in books, special Lorentz transformation that relates two inertial systems whose relative velocities are directed along an axis of the respective bases systems. However, we will see a peculiarity that goes unnoticed in this transformation, although they have reported in many books a parallel between the transformation inertial systems, due to the fact that the speed is parallel to an axis, it is actually a semi-parallel processing. The next transformation that we will see is one in which a system moves with a relative speed that has arbitrary direction with respect to a given system, we will show that this transformation may be appointed as non-rotational Lorentz transformation. Before obtain, the later type of transformation, the rotational Lorentz transformation, which is the interface between Special Relativity and General Relativity, we will describe the systems to be rotated, not just inertial systems, show what the characteristics are that define the non-rotational and rotational transformations. The in last topic of this chapter we will also show how the idea of Thoma’s theorythat uses this transformation to create what he defines as the proper coordinate axes of the particleused to obtain the factor 1/2 electron spin. In the last chapter we show how the Lorentz invariants are obtained, quantities measures that are also in different Lorentz reference, with the focus on mass that has erroneously been described in many books, that varies according to the agreement reference system

Determinação de genes mórbidos e drogáveis a partir da construção e análise da rede integrada de interações moleculares entre genes humanos

The discovering process of new morbid genes and new target proteins for drugs have been shown to be very costly and laborious. Having in view cutting costs and speeding up this process, we propose, in this work, a new method to determine the gene druggability score and morbidity score, the probabilities of the protein encoded by the gene have the characteristics that make it a new target for drugs and in case of an alteration in that gene, we observed a phenotype that characterizes a genetic based illness. To determine these characteristics, we built, analyzed and determined the characteristics of the topology of the integrated molecular interactions network among human genes containing physical interactions between proteins, metabolic interactions and interactions of transcriptional regulation, and included other data such as level of gene transcription and cellular localization of the protein encoded by the gene. We tested our model in training sets and achieved results equal or better than the ones achieved by similar methods in the literature. Finally, with the purpose of investigating whether the assigned scores resembles the potential druggabilities and morbities of the previously unclassi ed genes, we looked for evidences in biomedical literature supporting the potential druggability and morbidity status of genes with the 10 highest scores. We found clear evidences for 73% and 90% of potential druggable and morbid genes respectively

Modelagem matemática de tumores e estequiometria biológica

Cancer biology is a complex and expanding field of science study. Due its complexity, there is a strong motivation to integrate many fields of knowledge to study cancer biology, and biological stoichiometry can make this. Biological stoichiometry is the study of the balance of multiple chemical elements in biological systems. A key idea in biological stoichiometry is the growth rate hypothesis, which states that variation in the carbon:nitrogen:phosphorus stoichiometry of living things is associated with growth rate because of the elevated demands for phosphorusrich ribosomal RNA and other elements necessary to protein synthesis. As tumor cells has high rate proliferation, the growth rate hypothesis can be used in cancer study. In this work the dynamic of two tumors (primary and secondary) and the chemical elements carbon and nitrogen are simulate and analyzed through mathematical models that utilize as central idea biological stoichiometry. Differential equations from mathematical model are solved by numerical method Runge-Kutta fourth order

Efeito do fornecimento de diferentes níveis de alumínio dietético na qualidade óssea de codornas poedeiras (Coturnix japonica)

O alumínio está presente de forma marcante em nosso cotidiano, com várias possibilidades de contaminação para o ser humano e animais, através da ingestão de alimentos ou aditivos presentes nos alimentos ou, também, através do uso de medicamentos. Por apresentar uma forte carga elétrica, um forte poder de polarização e características similares com elementos da hidroxiapatita, o alumínio age como um competidor de nutrientes na matriz óssea, Por isso, ele pode ser causa danos à saúde dos seres vivos, como a osteoporose. Diante disso, a presente pesquisa teve como objetivos estudar a influência de diferentes níveis de alumínio na dieta de codornas poedeiras, sobre as características físicas e químicas de seus ossos. A densidade e a porosidade óssea foram determinadas pelo método de imersão em água, utilizando o princípio de Arquimedes. Os resultados obtidos mostraram que concetrações até 20 mg de alumínio por kg de ração fornecida causa uma diminuição na densidade óssea e volta a aumentar para concetrações maiores que este limiar. A porosidade óssea, segue o inverso da densidade. Ela aumenta com concetrações até 20 mg de alumínio por kg de ração fornecida e volta a diminuir para concetrações menores

Estudo fotodinâmico da clorofila a, azul de metileno e rosa bengala como agente inseticida contra Aedes aegypti

Photodynamic therapy, term introduced by von Tapeiner in 1900, can be defined as the administration of a non toxic drug, i.e., a dye, known as photosensitizer (FS), which subsequently will be illuminated with light of specific wavelength. PDT is based on the interaction among FS, oxygen and light, which through photochemical reactions cause cell death. The FS molecules must have a high probability to form the singlet state after the excitation, which can induce chemical changes in the neighborhood in two ways, called reactions type I and type II. The type II reaction is based on the exchange of energy to molecular oxygen, exciting it to its state of higher energy (singlet), which is highly reactive. The proposed mechanisms for cell death are linked to damage to the DNA, mitochondria and to the cytoplasmic membrane. Several pre‐clinical and clinical trials have been carried out and the PDT is already used in many countries for treatment mainly against certain types of cancer. The therapy also has been gaining strength in antimicrobial control, since the microorganisms have appeared increasingly resistant to current antibiotics. Another attempt to use the PDT is for the inactivation of macro‐organisms, such as micro‐crustaceans and mosquitoes. To this end I tested whether the photosensitizers methylene blue, rose Bengal and the chlorophyll a has insecticidal activity against the yellow fever and dengue vector mosquito, Aedes aegypti. Since these diseases have no effective treatments, its control is linked to the vector control, which has shown resistance to chemical pesticides used. Based on this, this work shows its importance, because it is a new type of mosquito control since all the photosensitizers used are low cost, do not generate toxic products at the concentrations used and showed good results in mortality. The best photosensitizer was rose Bengal... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Controle de qualidade em radioterapia: dosimetria de fótons em acelerador linear – Mevatron MXT

The treatment of a tumor with ionizing radiation is an ongoing process with well differentiated stages. These ones include the tumor diagnosis and location, the decision on the treatment strategy, the absorbed dose planning and calculation, the treatment administration, the absorbed dose verification and the evaluation of results in short and long terms. The quality of a radiotherapy procedure is closely linked to factors that may be classified as clinical, such as the diagnosis, the tumor location, the treatment strategy chosen and the continuous treatment reassessment; dosimetric or physical, such as the uncertainty in the dose calculation, its optimization and verification, the suitability of the equipment to provide a radiation beam consistent with the treatment planning; finally, others which are related to the practical application of radiotherapy treatment and the handling of the patient. In order to analyze the radiotherapy quality, one should realize that the three aspects (medical, physical or dosimetric and practical application) should be considered in a combined way. This means that numerous actions of the radiotherapists, medical physicists and technicians in radiotherapy should be held jointly and their knowledge level will significantly affect the treatment quality. In this study, the main physical parameters used in dosimetry are defined as well as determined experimentally for a linear accelerator Mevatron - MXT. With this, it is intended to provide recommendations for the physical aspects of Quality Assurance (QA) in the radiotherapy treatments, and these will usually be applied by professionals in Medical Physics. In addition to these instructions, it is recommended that additional texts are prepared to address in detail the clinical aspects of the treatments QA

Método de pontos interiores no planejamento ótimo do tratamento de câncer por radioterapia

The Medical Physics has been developing very fast due to the progress of the technologies and to the increase of the concerns with cure of diseases. One of the Medical Physics main performances at the present time is the use of ionizing radiations for cancer treatment, especially, services as Radiotherapy. The radiotherapy technique uses ionizing radiation with therapeutic end of cancer controls, avoiding your proliferation and it worsens of the patient. For the treatment a radiation bunch is used, with rectangular form, that it passes through the different types of tissues of the patient's body, and depending on the attenuation and of the depth of the fabrics, a great amount of energy is deposited inside in different points of the body. Like this, to plan this treatment type it should be obtained the dimension of the distribution and dose absorption along the volume. For this, it is necessary in the planning of the treatment of the cancer for radiotherapy to build isodose curves, which are lines that represent points of same amount of dose to be deposited in the area to be treated. To aid the construction of the curves of form isodose to reach the best result in the planning of the treatment, in other words, a great planning, providing the maximum of dose in the tumor and saving the healthy and critical organs, it has been using mathematical tools and computational. A plan of cancer treatment for radiotherapy is considered great when all the parameters that involve the treatment, be them physical or biological, they were investigated and adapted individually for the patient. For that, is considered the type and the location of the tumor, worrying about the elimination of the cancer without damaging the healthy tissue of the treated area, mainly the risk organs, which are in general very sensitive to the radiations. This way, the optimization techniques... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Modelagem matemática para a dispersão de fungos fitopatogênicos via autômatos celulares

Brazil is a major world producer and exporter of agricultural products like soybeans, sugar, coffee, orange and tobacoo. However, the action of phytopathogenic fungi has been one of the largest challenges encountered in the field as they are responsible for approximately 25 to 50 per cent of losses in crops of fruits and vegetables. The presence of these pathogens is always a problem, because the damage on the tissues and organs promote lesions which decreses growth vegetation and often leads the individual (host) to death. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the process of spreading of these pathogens in the field to develop strategies which prevent the epidemics caused by them. In this study, the dispersal of fungi phytopathogenic in the field was modeled using the automata cellular formalism. The growth rate of infected plants population was measured by the radius of gyration and the influence of host different susceptibility degrees into the disease spread was assessed. The spatial anisotropy related to the plant-to-plant space and the system’s response to distinct seasonal patterns were also evaluated. The results obtained by a mean field model (spatially implicit models) emphasized the importance of the spatial structure on the spreading process, and dispersal patterns obtained by simulation (using a cellular automata) were in agreement with thse observed in data. All computational implementation was held in language Cl

Atividade espontânea e estimulação do inseto (T. molitor)

The heart of the insect is essentially myogenic, in others words, electrical activity and spontaneous contractions are generated by their muscle cells. However, the nature of pacemaker activity is not yet fully elucidated. One aspect that deserves attention, beyond the pacemaker activity, is the amplitude of heart contractions of the insect. For this, it is necessary that the heart to be stimulated electrically to the frequency to be controlled. In the present work, it was developed a method of stimulation (preparation and instrumentation). The contractile activity of the heart of the insect remained regular when stimulated at frequencies lightly above the spontaneous frequency. To characterize excitability of the preparation the intensity-duration curve was determined

Ação antiúlcera do citral em modelos experimentais in vivo: análise do envolvimento do óxido nítrico, muco aderido e grupamentos sulfidrílicos na proteção da mucosa

As úlceras gástricas, além de representarem eventos patológicos comuns na clínica médica, são atualmente consideradas importantes desafios para a terapêutica, à medida que o tratamento e/ou prevenção dessa doença ainda apresentam limitações, como os efeitos adversos e a baixa qualidade de cicatrização. Outro grande problema é a difícil acessibilidade às terapias disponíveis pela população de baixa renda, devido ao seu alto custo. Considerando a problemática abordada, e levando em consideração que estudos têm mostrado que terpenóides têm apresentado atividade antiúlcera bastante significativa, propusemos investigar o efeito gastroprotetor do monoterpeno Citral em úlceras gástricas experimentais induzidas tanto por etanol quanto por antiinflamatórios não esteroidais (utilizando a Indometacina como agente indutor das ulcerações), bem como avaliar seu efeito cicatrizante. O Citral mostrou ser gastroprotetor frente ao agente lesivo etanol, a partir da dose de 25 mg/kg, em uma relação dose-dependente quando administrado oralmente, sendo mais potente do que a Carbenoxolona, utilizada como controle positivo, a partir de uma dose duas vezes menor [dose de 50 mg/kg, na qual o Citral apresentou 98 % de proteção em relação ao controle negativo (Tween 80 a 8%), contra 85 % de proteção proporcionada pela Carbenoxolona na dose de 100 mg/kg]. No entanto, no modelo de indução de úlceras gástricas por Indometacina o Citral mostrou um efeito dual, ao passo que em doses intermediárias (25 e 50 mg/kg) apresentou efeito gastroprotetor, e em doses extremas (100 e 200 mg/kg) apresentou uma significativa potencialização das lesões, permitindo assim a hipótese de um possível efeito antiinflamatório e/ou antinociceptivo nessas doses. Também foi verificado seu efeito cicatrizante na dose de 25 mg/kg, sendo tão eficaz quanto o Lansoprazol (controle positivo)... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo)

Coleta de dados, modelagem e controle de qualidade do sistema de planejamento pinnacle3

Qualidade na coleta de dados do feixe de radiação, modelagem por meio do sistema de planejamento de tratamento (SPT) e controle da qualidade do processo envolvido são cruciais à fidedignidade do serviço de radioterapia de forma a contribuir à eficácia do tratamento e segurança do principal ente envolvido no final de toda essa sistemática, o paciente. Para isso foi proposto nesse presente trabalho a coleta de dados do feixe de raios-x de 6MV seguido da introdução desses dados ao SPT para processo de modelagem computacional que teve agregado, a todo esses processos, o controle da qualidade segundo critérios de aceitação

Caracterização topológica dos motivos das redes biológicas integradas da Escherichia coli e da Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The reducionism method has helped in the clari cation of functioning of many biological process. However, such process are extremely complex and have emergent properties that can not be explained or even predicted by reducionism methods. To overcome these limits, researchers have been used a set of methods known as systems biology, a new area of biology aiming to understand the interactions between the multiple components of biological processes. These interactions can be represented by a mathematical object called graph or network, where the interacting elements are represented by a vertex and the interactions by edges that connect a pair of vertexes. Into graphs it is possible to nd subgraphs, occurring in complex networks at numbers that are signi cantly higher than those in randomized networks, they are de ned as motifs. As motifs in biological networks may represent the structural units of biological processess, their detection is important. Therefore, the aim of this present work was detect, count and classify motifs present in biological integrated networks of bacteria Escherichia coli and yeast Saccharomyces cere- visiae. For this purpose, we implemented codes in MathematicaR and Python environments for detecting, counting and classifying motifs in these networks. The composition and types of motifs detected in these integrated networks indicate that such networks are organized in three main bridged modules composed by motifs in which edges are all the same type. The connecting bridges are composed by motifs in which the types of edges are diferent

Estudo de parâmetros radiométricos e legislação sobre radioproteção em equipamentos de radiodiagnóstico

O uso de radiações ionizantes (R.I.), nas mais variadas atividades tem aumentado nas últimas décadas. Com o avanço tecnológico, novos e sofisticados equipamentos emissores de R.I. tem surgido no cenário nacional, o que torna imperativo a difusão do conhecimento sobre os conceitos de proteção radiológica junto à comunidade em geral, e neste sentido, o curso de física médica desenvolve um importante papel, quer seja no aspecto informativo quanto formativo de cidadãos e profissionais críticos e politicamente corretos, que possam contribuir com as Políticas Públicos dos órgãos normatizadores e fiscalizadores das atividades de vigilância sanitária. Conforme a legislação atual (Resolução SS-625 de 14/12/1994, da Secretaria de Estado da Saúde, e Portaria 453 de 01/06/1998 da Vigilância Sanitária do Ministério da Saúde), todos os serviços que utilizam radiações ionizantes devem realizar testes de avaliação dos parâmetros radiométricos dos equipamentos emissores de R.I., sendo exigidos as medidas de Levantamento Radiométrico das instalações, o Teste de Radiação de Fuga do cabeçote emissor e a implementação de Programa de Garantia de Qualidade dos equipamentos e dos procedimentos radiológicos. Este procedimento tem como objetivo principal a obtenção de imagens radiográficas com qualidade e a segurança de pacientes e profissionais, evitando a exposição desnecessária à radiação de pacientes e profissionais. A correta realização de procedimentos radiológicos além de reduzir a dose nos pacientes também promove significativa diminuição nos custos, por não haver necessidade da repetição dos exames. No Brasil, conforme dados da Secretaria de Atenção à Saúde SAS/MS, atualmente existem instalados 4.469 mamógrafos, 25.930 aparelhos de raios-x médicos, 39.438 aparelhos de raios-x odontológicos e...(Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo)

Determinação de comunidades em redes biológicas integradas

To understand how biological phenomena emerge, the nonlinear interactions among the components envolved in these and the correspondent connected elements, like genes, proteins, etc., can be represented by a mathematical object called graph or network, where interacting elements are represented by edges connecting pairs of nodes. The analysis of various graph-related properties of biological networks has revealed many clues about biological processes. Among these properties, the community structure, i.e. groups of nodes densely connected among themselves, but sparsely connected to other groups, are important for identifying separable functional modules within biological systems for the comprehension of the high-level organization of the cell. Communities' detection can be performed by many algorithms, but most of them are based on the density of interactions among nodes of the same community. So far, the detection and analysis of network communities in biological networks have only been pursued for networks composed by one type of interaction (e.g. protein-protein interactions or metabolic interactions). Since a real biological network is simultaneously composed by protein-protein, metabolic and transcriptional regulatory interactions, it would be interesting to investigate how communities are organized in this type of network. For this purpose, we detected the communities in an integrated biological network of the Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae by using the Clique Percolation Method and we veri ed, by calculating the frequency of each type of interaction and its related entropy, if components of communities... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)