Food restriction and refeeding induces changes in lipid pathways and fat deposition in the adipose and hepatic tissues in rats with diet-induced obesity

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Effect of fermented soy product on the fecal microbiota of rats fed on a beef-based animal diet

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

Soy beta-Conglycinin (7S Globulin) Reduces Plasma and Liver Cholesterol in Rats Fed Hypercholesterolemic Diet

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

beta-Conglycinin (7S) and glycinin (11S) exert a hypocholesterolemic effect comparable to that of fenofibrate in rats fed a high-cholesterol diet

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Low protein diet confers resistance to the inhibitory effects of interleukin1 beta on insulin secretion in pancreatic islets

High protein content in the diet during childhood and adolescence has been associated to the onset insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. We investigated the effect of interleukin-1 beta (IL-I beta) on insulin secretion, glucose metabolism, and nitrite formation by islets isolated from rats fed with normal protein (NP, 17%) or low protein (LP, 6%) after weaning. Pretreatment of islets with IL-1 beta for 1 h or 34 h inhibited the insulin secretion induced by glucose in both groups, but it was less marked in LP than in NP group. Islets from LP rats exhibited a decreased IL-1 beta -induced nitric oxide (NO) production, lower inhibition of D-[(UC)-C-14]-glucose oxidation to (CO2)-C-14, and less pronounced effect of IL-1 beta on alpha -ketoisocaproic acid-induced insulin secretion than NP islets. However, when the islets were stimulated by high concentrations of K+ the inhibitory effect of IL-1 beta on insulin secretion was not different between groups. In conclusion, protein restriction protects beta -cells of the deleterious effect of IL-1 beta, apparently, by decreasing NO production. The lower NO generation in islets from protein deprived rats may be due to increased free fatty acids oxidation and consequent alteration in Ca2+ homeostasis. (C) 2001 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Estudo sistemático de estrelas variáveis na era dos grandes surveys

The interest in the systematic analysis of astronomical time series data, as well as development in astronomical instrumentation and automation over the past two decades has given rise to several questions of how to analyze and synthesize the growing amount of data. These data have led to many discoveries in the areas of modern astronomy asteroseismology, exoplanets and stellar evolution. However, treatment methods and data analysis have failed to follow the development of the instruments themselves, although much effort has been done. In present thesis, we propose new methods of data analysis and two catalogs of the variable stars that allowed the study of rotational modulation and stellar variability. Were analyzed the photometric databases fromtwo distinctmissions: CoRoT (Convection Rotation and planetary Transits) and WFCAM (Wide Field Camera). Furthermore the present work describes several methods for the analysis of photometric data besides propose and refine selection techniques of data using indices of variability. Preliminary results show that variability indices have an efficiency greater than the indices most often used in the literature. An efficient selection of variable stars is essential to improve the efficiency of all subsequent steps. Fromthese analyses were obtained two catalogs; first, fromtheWFCAMdatabase we achieve a catalog with 319 variable stars observed in the photometric bands Y ZJHK. These stars show periods ranging between ∼ 0, 2 to ∼ 560 days whose the variability signatures present RR-Lyrae, Cepheids , LPVs, cataclysmic variables, among many others. Second, from the CoRoT database we selected 4, 206 stars with typical signatures of rotationalmodulation, using a supervised process. These stars show periods ranging between ∼ 0, 33 to ∼ 92 days, amplitude variability between ∼ 0, 001 to ∼ 0, 5 mag, color index (J - H) between ∼ 0, 0 to ∼ 1, 4 mag and spectral type CoRoT FGKM. The WFCAM variable stars catalog is being used to compose a database of light curves to be used as template in an automatic classifier for variable stars observed by the project VVV (Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy) moreover it are a fundamental start point to study different scientific cases. For example, a set of 12 young stars who are in a star formation region and the study of RR Lyrae-whose properties are not well established in the infrared. Based on CoRoT results we were able to show, for the first time, the rotational modulation evolution for an wide homogeneous sample of field stars. The results are inagreement with those expected by the stellar evolution theory. Furthermore, we identified 4 solar-type stars ( with color indices, spectral type, luminosity class and rotation period close to the Sun) besides 400 M-giant stars that we have a special interest to forthcoming studies. From the solar-type stars we can describe the future and past of the Sun while properties of M-stars are not well known. Our results allow concluded that there is a high dependence of the color-period diagram with the reddening in which increase the uncertainties of the age-period realized by previous works using CoRoT data. This thesis provides a large data-set for different scientific works, such as; magnetic activity, cataclysmic variables, brown dwarfs, RR-Lyrae, solar analogous, giant stars, among others. For instance, these data will allow us to study the relationship of magnetic activitywith stellar evolution. Besides these aspects, this thesis presents an improved classification for a significant number of stars in the CoRoT database and introduces a new set of tools that can be used to improve the entire process of the photometric databases analysis

Effects of swim training on liver carcinogenesis in male Wistar rats fed a low-fat or high-fat diet

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

Misclassification probability as obese or lean in hypercaloric and normocaloric diet

The aim of the present study was to determine the classification error probabilities, as lean or obese, in hypercaloric diet-induced obesity, which depends on the variable used to characterize animal obesity. In addition, the misclassification probabilities in animals submitted to normocaloric diet were also evaluated. Male Wistar rats were randomly distributed into two groups: normal diet (ND; n=3 1; 3,5 Kcal/g) and hypercaloric diet (HD; n=31; 4,6 Kcal/g). The ND group received commercial Labina rat feed and HD animals a cycle of five hypercaloric diets for a 14-week period. The variables analysed were body weight, body composition, body weight to length ratio, Lee index, body mass index and misclassification probability A 5% significance level was used. The hypercaloric pellet-diet cycle promoted increase of body weight, carcass fat, body weight to length ratio and Lee index. The total misclassification probabilities ranged from 19.21 % to 40.91 %. In Conclusion, the results of this experiment show that rnisclassification probabilities Occur when dietary manipulation is used to promote obesity in animals. This misjudgement ranges from 19.49% to 40.52% in hypercaloric diet and 18.94% to 41.30% in normocaloric diet.

Could a high-fat diet rich in unsaturated fatty acids impair the cardiovascular system?

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

Diet-induced obesity in rats leads to a decrease in sperm motility

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

Long-term high-fat diet-induced obesity decreases the cardiac leptin receptor without apparent lipotoxicity

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Does toxoplasmosis cause DNA damage? An evaluation in isogenic mice under normal diet or dietary restriction

Toxoplasmosis is an anthropozoonotic widespread disease, caused by the coccidian protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii. Since there are no data regarding the genotoxicity of the parasite in vivo, this study was designed to evaluate the genotoxic potential of the toxoplasmosis on isogenic mice with normal diet or under dietary restriction and submitted to a treatment with sulfonamide (375 mug/kg per day). DNA damage was assessed in peripheral blood, liver and brain cells using the comet assay (tail moment). The results for leucocytes showed increases in the mean tail moment in mice under dietary restriction; in infected mice under normal diet; in infected, sulfonamide-treated mice under normal diet; in infected mice under dietary restriction and in infected sulfonamide-treated mice under dietary restriction. In liver and brain cells, no statistically significant difference was observed for the tail moment. These results indicated that dietary restriction and T. gondii were able to induce DNA damage in peripheral blood cells, as detected by the comet assay. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Study of the evolution of the placenta and fetal pancreas in the pathophysiology of growth retardation intrauterine due to restricted maternal diet

CONTEXTO: O retardo do crescimento intra-uterino (RCIU) continua sendo importante problema em perinatologia neste final de século. A natureza do agente etiológico, o período da gestação em que ocorreu o insulto e a sua duração influenciam o tipo de RCIU. OBJETIVO: Estudar a fisiopatologia do retardo de crescimento intrauterino (RCIU) em ratas, decorrente da restrição protéico-calórica materna, em relação à evolução do pâncreas fetal e placenta entre o 18o e 21o dias de prenhez. TIPO DE ESTUDO: Ensaio clínico randomizado em animal de laboratório. PARTICIPANTES: 41 ratas prenhes, normoglicêmicas, da raça Wistar. INTERVENÇÃO: Constituíram-se seis grupos experimentais: controle, com dieta ad libitum e cesárea, respectivamente, no 18º e 21º dias; grupos dieta restritiva a 25% introduzida no 1o dia da prenhez e cesárea no 18o e 21o dias; grupos com a mesma restrição, porém iniciada no 3o dia, com cesárea no 18o e 21o dias. VARIÁVEIS ESTUDADAS: Os recém-nascidos foram classificados, em relação à média mais ou menos um desvio padrão do grupo controle, em peso pequeno (PIP), adequado (AIP) e grande (GIP) para a idade de prenhez; as placentas foram pesadas e processadas para estudo histopatológico, incluindo morfologia e histoquímica, e os pâncreas fetais, para estudo morfológico. RESULTADOS: A desnutrição protéico-calórica materna causou RCIU após o 18o dia da prenhez. Antes desse período não ocorreu RCIU, porque a desnutrição materna diminuiu o número da prole e a placenta tornou-se vicariante. A restrição alimentar não interferiu com a morfologia do pâncreas fetal, e o estudo imunohistoquímico da placenta mostrou que, quando a restrição é introduzida no 1o dia de prenhez, os estoques de glicogênio também não sofrem alterações, diminuindo entre o 18o e 21o dias, como na prenhez normal. A restrição no 3o dia cursou com baixas concentrações de glicogênio placentário no 18o dia e desaparecimento no 21o dia. CONCLUSÃO: A fisiopatologia do RCIU, decorrente da restrição protéico-calórica materna em ratas, está relacionada com menor peso placentário e baixos estoques de glicogênio placentário.