Tergal glands in termite soldiers of the subfamily Syntermitinae (Isoptera: Termitidae)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Morphology, development and homologies of the perianth and floral nectaries in Croton and Astraea (Euphorbiaceae-Malpighiales)

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

Anatomy of smooth muscle cells in nonmalignant and malignant human prostate tissue

Differently graded areas of human prostate adenocarcinoma were examined after Masson's trichrome staining or immunohistochemistry for smooth muscle alpha-actin, type IV collagen and laminin. In addition, the ultrastructure of the prostatic smooth muscle cells (SMC) during glandular proliferation and epithelial invasion in selected tumors was studied. The SMC formed a thick layer below the epithelial structures in unaffected areas and were closely associated with each other in homotypic interactions. As the tumor grade increased, the SMC gradually lost interactions with each other and became atrophic. With the growth of the epithelial compartment, the SMC initially segregated to the tumor periphery and the intercellular spaces increased. In high grade tumors, the epithelial cancer cells invaded the spaces between the SMC. Immunohistochemical analysis of the basal membrane revealed increased disruption of the usually thick basal membrane, which became thinner and faintly stained with each of the antibodies used. We conclude that most SMC become atrophic following epithelial invasion in human tumors and that degradation of the basal membrane is an important factor in this process. At the ultrastructural level, different SMC phenotypes occur in prostatic tissues during epithelial invasion. Interconversion between these phenotypes is suggested and a probable relationship among them is proposed.

Macromolecular properties of cepacian in water and in dimethylsulfoxide

Cepacian is the exopolysaccharide produced by the majority of the so far investigated clinical strains of the Burkholderia cepacia complex. This is a group of nine closely related bacterial species that might cause serious lung infections in cystic fibrosis patients, in some cases leading to death. In this paper the aggregation ability and the conformational properties of cepacian chain were investigated to understand its role in biofilm formation. Viscosity and atomic force microscopy studies in water and in mixed (dimethylsulfoxide/water) solvent indicated the formation of double stranded molecular structures in aqueous solutions. Inter-residue short distances along cepacian chain were investigated by NOE NMR, which showed that two side chains of cepacian were not conformation ally free due to strong interactions with the polymer backbone. These interactions were attributed to hydrogen bonding and contributed to structure rigidity. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

CYCLIC CODES THROUGH B[X], B[X; 1/kp Z(0)] and B[X; 1/p(k) Z(0)]: A COMPARISON

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

On the periodic orbits and the integrability of the regularized Hill lunar problem

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Global dynamics of stationary solutions of the extended Fisher-Kolmogorov equation

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Identification of key microhabitats for fish assemblages in tropical Brazilian savanna streams

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

A model for Hopfions on the space-time S(3)xR

We construct static and time dependent exact soliton solutions for a theory of scalar fields taking values on a wide class of two dimensional target spaces, and defined on the four dimensional space-time S-3 X R. The construction is based on an ansatz built out of special coordinates on S3. The requirement for finite energy introduce boundary conditions that determine an infinite discrete spectrum of frequencies for the oscillating solutions. For the case where the target space is the sphere S-2, we obtain static soliton solutions with nontrivial Hopf topological charges. In addition, such Hopfions can oscillate in time, preserving their topological Hopf charge, with any of the frequencies belonging to that infinite discrete spectrum. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.

Prediction of R plus R-2 gravity for the deflection of a photon passing close to the Sun

The cross-section for the scattering of a photon by the Sun's gravitational field, treated as an external field, is computed in the framework of R + R-2 gravity. Using this result, we found that for a photon just grazing the Sun's surface the deflection is 1.75 which is exactly the same as that given by Einstein's theory. An explanation for this pseudo-paradox is provided.

Generalization of the Hamilton-Jacobi approach for higher-order singular systems

We generalize the Hamilton-Jacobi formulation for higher-order singular systems and obtain the equations of motion as total differential equations. To do this we first study the constraints structure present in such systems.

Light deflection and quadratic gravity

We study the bending of light caused by a static gravitational field generated by a localized material source in the context of quadratic gravity. Our calculation shows that for light rays passing close to the Sun the deflection Phi lies in the interval 0 < < 1.75. A tree-level approach to the same issue tells us that the vacuum concerning quadratic gravity is a dispersive medium. Nom Phi is energy dependent and ranges from 0(+) to 1.75(-) arcsec.

Generalized sine-Gordon/massive Thirring models and soliton/particle correspondences

We consider a real Lagrangian off-critical submodel describing the soliton sector of the so-called conformal affine sl(3)((1)) Toda model coupled to matter fields. The theory is treated as a constrained system in the context of Faddeev-Jackiw and the symplectic schemes. We exhibit the parent Lagrangian nature of the model from which generalizations of the sine-Gordon (GSG) or the massive Thirring (GMT) models are derivable. The dual description of the model is further emphasized by providing the relationships between bilinears of GMT spinors and relevant expressions of the GSG fields. In this way we exhibit the strong/weak coupling phases and the (generalized) soliton/particle correspondences of the model. The sl(n)((1)) case is also outlined. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.

Collective Perspective on Advances in Dyson-Schwinger Equation QCD

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

b-Jet identification in the D0 experiment

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)