Mean motion resonances and the stability of a circumbinary disk in a triple stellar system

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Thermal and mechanical behaviour of sisal/phenolic composites

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

A novel nanostructured composite formed by interaction of copper octa(3-aminopropyl)octasilsesquioxane with azide ligands: Preparation, characterization and a voltammetric application

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

Healing process in anastomosis of homologous venous grafts preserved in glutaraldehyde implanted aorta of rabbits

Aim. Autologous vein (AV) is sometimes not suitable or present for a vascular restoration. Homologous vein preserved in glutaraldehyde may be an alternative to AV, but little is yet known about this graft and its healing process after implantation in arteries. The purpose of this study was to compare the initial healing process of glutaraldehyde-tanned homologous venous grafts (group 1) with fresh autologous venous grafts (group 2), at 4 or 15 days.Methods. Forty Norfolk rabbits were allocated in 2 groups of 20 animals each. The grafts was interposed in the infra-renal aorta of the rabbit. Anastomotic tensile strength (TS), hydroxyproline (HP) determination, and histology (HA) were performed.Results. TS increased in both groups, from the 4th to 15th day, (p < 0.01) in both proximal (G1: from 364.5 &PLUSMN; 98.3 g to 491.8 &PLUSMN; 107.3 g; G2: from 366.26 &PLUSMN; 85.15 g to 518.46 &PLUSMN; 82.79 g) and distal anastomosis (GI: from 363.53 &PLUSMN; 96.26 g to 507.32 &PLUSMN; 91.01 g; G2: from 352.30 &PLUSMN; 102.41 g to 528.67 &PLUSMN; 48.58 g), with no difference between the groups. HP did not change (p > 0.10) in this same period and was similar in both groups, in the proximal (GI: from 677.99 +/- 153.98 mug/100 mg to 914.92 +/- 459.83 mug/100 mg; G2: from 668.65 +/- 170.28 mug/100 mg to 669.46 +/- 319.80 mug/100 mg) as well as in the distal anastomosis (G1:from 740.07 +/- 213.53 mug/100 mg to 923.52 +/- 270.57 mug/100 mg; G2: from 737.66 +/- 266.76 mug/100 mg to 707.68 +/- 171.25 mug/100 mg). Initial inflammatory and reparative features of the anastomosis were similar in both groups.Conclusion. We can conclude that the healing process of the glutaraldehyde-tanned homologous vein graft was similar to that of the fresh autologous venous graft.

Um serviço de certificação digital para plataformas de middleware

Nowadays due to the security vulnerability of distributed systems, it is needed mechanisms to guarantee the security requirements of distributed objects communications. Middleware Platforms component integration platforms provide security functions that typically offer services for auditing, for guarantee messages protection, authentication, and access control. In order to support these functions, middleware platforms use digital certificates that are provided and managed by external entities. However, most middleware platforms do not define requirements to get, to maintain, to validate and to delegate digital certificates. In addition, most digital certification systems use X.509 certificates that are complex and have a lot of attributes. In order to address these problems, this work proposes a digital certification generic service for middleware platforms. This service provides flexibility via the joint use of public key certificates, to implement the authentication function, and attributes certificates to the authorization function. It also supports delegation. Certificate based access control is transparent for objects. The proposed service defines the digital certificate format, the store and retrieval system, certificate validation and support for delegation. In order to validate the proposed architecture, this work presents the implementation of the digital certification service for the CORBA middleware platform and a case study that illustrates the service functionalities

QualiAB: desenvolvimento e validação de uma metodologia de avaliação de serviços de atenção básica

Este artigo apresenta o desenvolvimento, validação e utilização de uma metodologia de avaliação da qualidade dos serviços de atenção primária do Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS), o Questionário de Avaliação da Qualidade de Serviços de Atenção Básica (QualiAB). Destina-se aos serviços de atenção básica, organizados segundo diferentes modelos de atenção, incluindo a Saúde da Família. Contém 50 indicadores sobre oferta e organização do trabalho assistencial e programático e 15 sobre gerenciamento, na forma de questões de múltipla escolha, autorespondidas via web pela equipe local do serviço. Confere a cada resposta valor zero, um ou dois; a média geral atribui ao serviço um grau de qualidade expresso pela distância do melhor padrão correspondente à média dois. Foi construído por processo de consenso interativo, que incluiu metodologias qualitativas, teste-piloto, aplicação em 127 serviços, validação de construto e confiabilidade. Respondido, em 2007, por 598 (92%) dos serviços de 115 municípios paulistas, mostrou bom poder para discriminar níveis de qualidade. Adotado em 2010 como parte de um programa de apoio à Atenção Básica da Secretaria de Estado da Saúde de São Paulo, foi respondido por 95% (2.735) dos serviços de 586 municípios (90,8% do Estado). Os resultados foram encaminhados aos municípios. O QualiAB fornece uma avaliação válida, simples e com a possibilidade de retorno imediato para gerentes e profissionais. Mostrou factibilidade, aceitabilidade, bom poder de discriminação e utilidade para auxiliar a gestão da rede de atenção básica do SUS em São Paulo. A experiência indica aplicabilidade nas redes de atenção básica do Brasil.

Sequencing and expression analysis of hepcidin mRNA in donkey (Equus asinus) liver

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

Influence of experimental inflammatory response on hepatic hepcidin gene expression and plasma iron concentration in sheep

Hepcidin is a highly conserved disulfide-bonded peptide that plays a central role in iron homeostasis. During systemic inflammation, hepcidin up-regulation is responsible for hypoferremia. This study aimed to analyze the influence of the inflammatory process induced by complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) or lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on the liver expression of hepcidin mRNA transcripts and plasma iron concentration of sheep. The expression levels of hepcidin transcripts were up-regulated after CFA or LPS. Hypoferremic response was observed at 12 h (15.46 +/- 6.05 mu mol/L) or 6 h (14.59 +/- 4.38 mu mol/L) and iron reached its lowest level at 96 h (3.08 +/- 1.18 mu mol/L) or 16 h (4.06 +/- 1.58 mu mol/L) after CFA administration or LPS infusion, respectively. This study demonstrated that the iron regulatory hormone hepcidin was up-regulated in sheep liver in response to systemic inflammation. These findings extend our knowledge on the relationship between the systemic inflammatory response, hepcidin and iron, and provide a starting point for additional studies on iron metabolism and the inflammatory process in sheep. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Larval development of Apiomithrax violaceus (A. Milne Edwards, 1868) (Decapoda : Brachyura : Majoidea : Pisidae) reared in laboratory conditions, and a review of larval characters of Pisidae

Apiomithrax violaceus (A. Milne Edwards, 1868 ) is a pisid majoid crab occurring in tropical and subtropical coastal waters of the eastern and western South Atlantic. Larval development consists of two zoeal stages and a megalopa. Beginning with the first zoea, the duration of each larval stage at 24degreesC was 3-8 (5+/-1), 3-5 (4+/-0.5) and 9-15 (11+/-2) days, the megalopa and first crab instar appearing 9-11 (10+/-1) and 20-27 (23+/-2) days after hatching, respectively. Larval characters agree with those proposed for the Majoidea, in having nine or more setae on the scaphognathite in the first zoea and well-developed pleopods in the second zoea. However, larvae of A . violaceus do not fit larval pisid features. Zoeal stages differ from most other Pisidae in having lateral spines, a long rostral spine extending beyond the antenna, two spines per telson fork and a dorsolateral process on the third abdominal somite. The megalopa differs in having a spine dorsally on the carapace and on the basial segment of the second pereiopod. Two characters that are potentially unique to Apiomithrax include a zoeal antenna with an exopod that is much longer than the protopod, and a rostral spine that is longer than the dorsal spine. These characters should facilitate the identification of this taxon and could also be useful for phylogenetic studies. A review of larvae of 28 species among 14 genera indicated that there is no apparent single larval character that differentiates the Pisidae, with more limited phylogenetic analyses suggesting that this is a paraphyletic group. Apiomithrax , Eurynolambrus , Pisoides , Rochinia and Scyra have the most divergent morphological characters within the family. The analysis and inclusion of additional taxa is likely to shed more light on the sister-group relationships of the Pisidae. However, based on the extent of morphological interspecific variability of known larvae it is likely that the group, as presently defined by adult morphology, is not monophyletic.

Human granulocyte colony stimulating factor (hG-CSF): cloning, overexpression, purification and characterization

Background: Biopharmaceutical drugs are mainly recombinant proteins produced by biotechnological tools. The patents of many biopharmaceuticals have expired, and biosimilars are thus currently being developed. Human granulocyte colony stimulating factor (hG-CSF) is a hematopoietic cytokine that acts on cells of the neutrophil lineage causing proliferation and differentiation of committed precursor cells and activation of mature neutrophils. Recombinant hG-CSF has been produced in genetically engineered Escherichia coli ( Filgrastim) and successfully used to treat cancer patients suffering from chemotherapy-induced neutropenia. Filgrastim is a 175 amino acid protein, containing an extra N-terminal methionine, which is needed for expression in E. coli. Here we describe a simple and low-cost process that is amenable to scaling-up for the production and purification of homogeneous and active recombinant hG-CSF expressed in E. coli cells.Results: Here we describe cloning of the human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor coding DNA sequence, protein expression in E. coli BL21(DE3) host cells in the absence of isopropyl-beta-D-thiogalactopyranoside ( IPTG) induction, efficient isolation and solubilization of inclusion bodies by a multi-step washing procedure, and a purification protocol using a single cationic exchange column. Characterization of homogeneous rhG-CSF by size exclusion and reverse phase chromatography showed similar yields to the standard. The immunoassay and N-terminal sequencing confirmed the identity of rhG-CSF. The biological activity assay, in vivo, showed an equivalent biological effect (109.4%) to the standard reference rhG-CSF. The homogeneous rhG-CSF protein yield was 3.2 mg of bioactive protein per liter of cell culture.Conclusion: The recombinant protein expression in the absence of IPTG induction is advantageous since cost is reduced, and the protein purification protocol using a single chromatographic step should reduce cost even further for large scale production. The physicochemical, immunological and biological analyses showed that this protocol can be useful to develop therapeutic bioproducts. In summary, the combination of different experimental strategies presented here allowed an efficient and cost-effective protocol for rhG-CSF production. These data may be of interest to biopharmaceutical companies interested in developing biosimilars and healthcare community.

IL-1ra anti-inflammatory cytokine polymorphism is associated with risk of gastric cancer and chronic gastritis in a Brazilian population, but the TNF-beta pro-inflammatory cytokine is not

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

Polyurethane and PTFE membranes for guided bone regeneration: Histopathological and ultrastructural evaluation

Objective: The purpose of this study was to research a membrane material for use in guided bone regeneration. Study design: In this study, 25 male Wistar rats were used to analyze the biocompatibility and degradation process of biomembranes. The morphological changes in subcutaneous implantations were assessed after 7, 14, 21, 28 and 70 days. The materials were made of polyurethane polymer (AUG) obtained from vegetal oil (Ricinus communis) and polytetrafluoroethylene membrane (PTFE). The surface characteristics of the physical barriers in scanning electronic microscopic (SEM) were also evaluated. Results: In both groups, the initial histological analysis showed moderate inflammatory infiltrate, which was predominantly polymorphonuclear. There was also a presence of edema, which was gradually replaced by granulation tissue, culminating in a fibrous capsule. In the AUG group, some multinucleated giant cells were present in the contact interface, with the space previously occupied by the material. However, membrane degradation was not observed during the period studied. According to the present SEM findings, porosity was not detected in the AUG or PTFE membranes. Conclusion: The researched material is biocompatible and the degradation process is extremely slow or may not even occur at all.

Growth mechanism of octahedron-like BaMoO4 microcrystals processed in microwave-hydrothermal: Experimental observations and computational modeling

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Structural and Spectroscopic Studies of Pr3+-Doped GdAlO3

In this work, GdAlO3:Pr3+ was successfully prepared by the Pechini method at lower temperatures when compared to others methods such as solid-state synthesis and sol-gel process. In accordance to the XRD data, the fully crystalline single-phase GdAlO3 could be obtained at 900 degrees C. Luminescence measurements indicate Gd -> Pr3+ energy transfer. In the emission spectra, the P-3(0) ->(3) H-4 (blue emission) and D-1(2) ->(3) H-4 (red emission) transitions of Pr3+ ions can be observed and the ratio between their intensities depends on the Pr3+ content due to the cross-relaxation phenomenon.

Structural and optical properties of GdAlO3:RE3+ (RE = Eu or Tb) prepared by the Pechini method for application as X-ray phosphors

In this work, GdAlO3:RE3+ (RE = Eu or Tb) was successfully prepared by the Pechini method at lower temperatures when compared to others methods as solid-state synthesis and sol-gel process. In accordance to the XRD data, the fully crystalline single-phase GdAlO3 could be obtained at 900 degrees C. The differential thermal analysis (DTA) shows a crystallization peak at 850 degrees C. The samples are composed by monocrystalline particles (50-120 nm) exhibiting the formation of aggregates among them, which indicates the beginning of the sinterization process. This feature indicates a strong tendency to the formation of aggregates, which is a suitable ability for the close-packing of particles, and hence a potential application in X-ray intensifying screens. Luminescence measurements indicate Gd3+ -> RE3+ energy transfer. The Eu3+ emission spectra exhibit all the characteristics D-5(0) -> F-7(j) transitions and the observed profile suggests that RE3+ ions occupy at least one site without center of symmetry. For terbium-doped samples, the D-5(3) -> F-7(j) (blue emission) and D-5(4) -> F-7(j) (green emission) transitions were observed and the ratio between them may depend on the Tb3+ content due to cross-relaxation processes. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.