A utilização de diferentes configurações de molas T para a obtenção de sistemas de forças otimizados

OBJETIVO: determinar as características mecânicas de molas T e T com helicóides, quando da incorporação de variações na liga metálica (aço inoxidável e beta-titânio), na intensidade de dobras de pré-ativação (0º e 40º/180º) e na secção transversal do fio utilizado para a construção destas molas (0,017 x 0,025 e 0,019 x 0,025). METODOLOGIA: foram submetidas ao ensaio mecânico 80 molas para fechamento de espaços, sendo estas centralizadas em um espaço de 21mm. As magnitudes de força horizontal, proporção momento/força e relação carga/deflexão produzidas pelos corpos de prova foram quantificadas utilizando-se um transdutor de momentos acoplado ao módulo indicador digital para extensiometria e adaptado a uma máquina universal de ensaios Instron. As molas foram submetidas a uma ativação total de 5mm, sendo registrados os valores a cada 1mm de ativação. No tratamento estatístico dos dados obtidos, foi realizada a análise de variância, sendo esta complementada pelo teste de comparações múltiplas de Tukey, considerando o nível de significância de 5%. RESULTADOS E CONCLUSÕES: os resultados demonstraram que, de maneira geral, as molas T com helicóides produziram menores magnitudes de força horizontal e relação carga/deflexão do que as molas T. Na presença de pré-ativação, as molas produziram altas proporções momento/força, enquanto, na ausência de dobras de pré-ativação, as mesmas geraram baixas proporções momento/força. Dentre todas as variáveis analisadas, aquela que apresentou uma maior influência na força horizontal e na relação carga/deflexão produzidas pelas molas foi a liga metálica. Já a proporção momento/força mostrou ser influenciada em maior grau pela pré-ativação das molas de fechamento.

Bone healing in drill hole defects in spontaneously hypertensive male and female rats' femurs. A histological and histometric study

Objective: the aim of this study was to evaluate the bone healing in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and compare the results with normotensive rats, evaluating male and female animals.Methods: A bone drill defect was created in the left femur of 24 SHR (12 males and 12 females) and 24 normotensive rats (12 males and 12 females). The animals were divided into two groups and sacrificed 7 and 21 days after the surgical procedure. After the routine laboratory processing, histological and histometric analysis were carried out and data were submitted to ANOVA and Tukey's test (5%).Results: Males and females from the same group had similar histological characteristics. After seven days, all animals presented irregular bone trabeculae. The periosteal osteoblasts were flattened in SHR, and presented a cuboid shape in normotensive animals. After 21 days, the bone defects of all specimens showed a linear closure in all the superficial extension. In addition, SHR presented flattened osteoblasts surrounding the bone trabeculae, while normotensive ones showed cuboidal cells. Statistical analysis of the histometric data indicated similar means between the male and female groups, except for normotensive rats on day 7. In addition, a larger amount of new bone formation was observed in hypertensive when compared to normotensive rats on day 27, in males as well as females.Conclusion: We conclude that bone healing in SHR was more significant than in normotensive ones, as shown by the histological and histometric evaluation 21 days after surgery.

CLOSED SPACES IN COSMOLOGY

This paper deals with two aspects of relativistic cosmologies with closed spatial sections. These spacetimes are based on the theory of general relativity, and admit a foliation into space sections S(t), which are spacelike hypersurfaces satisfying the postulate of the closure of space: each S(t) is a three-dimensional closed Riemannian manifold. The topics discussed are: (i) a comparison, previously obtained, between Thurston geometries and Bianchi-Kantowski-Sachs metrics for such three-manifolds is here clarified and developed; and (ii) the implications of global inhomogeneity for locally homogeneous three-spaces of constant curvature are analyzed from an observational viewpoint.

On epidote fission track dating

The use of epidote in fission track dating was abandoned since the beginning of the 1980s due to difficulties like absence of a standard etching procedure, obtainment of different closure temperatures and the percentage of the datable samples. The results become much more reproducible when restricting fission track analysis to a peculiar kind of track. We are also studying confined track length, what makes possible to obtain information about fossil track annealing. Fission tracks in epidote were successfully etched with 48% HF at 35 degrees C for 12.5 min. Dating samples by the external detector method was not possible due to problems in measuring the efficiency factor held between the number of fossil fission tracks and tracks induced in mica. Dating a sample from Brejui, RN, Brazil with the population method gave a corrected age of 510 +/- 69Ma, in agreement with published U/Th-Pb ages. From the fact that the fossil track length histogram was bimodal, we were able to infer that this sample registered a thermal episode during its history.These preliminary results indicate that epidote deserves further studies to establish whether it can be employed as a thermochronological tool. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Simulação do comportamento não linear de materiais quase-frágeis via elementos finitos com fissura embebida

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Chemical Composition of Metapleural Gland Secretions of Fungus-Growing and Non-fungus-growing Ants

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

The Rondonian-San Ignacio Province in the SW Amazonian Craton: An overview

The Rondonian-San Ignacio Province (1.56-1.30 Ga) is a composite orogen created through successive accretion of arcs, ocean basin closure and final oblique microcontinent-continent collision. The effects of the collision are well preserved mostly in the Paragua Terrane (Bolivia and Mato Grosso regions) and in the Alto Guapore Belt and the Rio Negro-Juruena Province (Rondonia region), considering that the province was affected by later collision-related deformation and metamorphism during the Sunsas Orogeny (1.25-1.00 Ga). The Rondonian-San Ignacio Province comprises: (1) the Jauru Terrane (1.78-1.42 Ga) that hosts Paleoproterozoic basement (1.78-1.72 Ga), and the Cachoeirinha (1.56-1.52 Ga) and the Santa Helena (1.48-1.42 Ga) accretionary orogens, both developed in an Andean-type magmatic arc; (2) the Paragua Terrane (1.74-1.32 Ga) that hosts pre-San Ignacio units (>1640 Ma: Chiquitania Gneiss Complex, San Ignacio Schist Group and Lomas Manechis Granulitic Complex) and the Pensamiento Granitoid Complex (1.37-1.34 Ga) developed in an Andean-type magmatic arc; (3) the Rio Alegre Terrane (1.51-1.38 Ga) that includes units generated in a mid-ocean ridge and an intra-oceanic magmatic arc environments; and (4) the Alto Guapore Belt (<1.42-1.34 Ga) that hosts units developed in passive marginal basin and intra-oceanic arc settings. The collisional stage (1.34-1.32 Ga) is characterized by deformation, high-grade metamorphism, and partial melting during the metamorphic peak, which affected primarily the Chiquitania Gneiss Complex and Lomas Manechis Granulitic Complex in the Paragua Terrane, and the Colorado Complex and the Nova Mamore Metamorphic Suite in the Alto Guapore Belt. The Paragua Block is here considered as a crustal fragment probably displaced from its Rio Negro-Juruena crustal counterpart between 1.50 and 1.40 Ga. This period is characterized by extensive A-type and intra-plate granite magmatism represented by the Rio Crespo Intrusive Suite (ca. 1.50 Ga), Santo Antonio Intrusive Suite (1.40-1.36 Ga), and the Teotonio Intrusive Suite (1.38 Ga). Magmatism of these types also occur at the end of the Rondonian-San Ignacio Orogeny, and are represented by the Alto Candeias Intrusive Suite (1.34-1.36 Ga), and the Sao Lourenco-Caripunas Intrusive Suite (1.31-1.30 Ga). The cratonization of the province occurred between 1.30 and 1.25 Ga. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Laser 904 nm action on bone repair in rats with osteoporosis

The aim of the present study was to determine the action of AsGA laser irradiation on bone repair in the tibia of osteopenic rats. The animals were randomly divided into eight experimental groups according to the presence of ovarian hormone (sham group) or the absence of the hormone (OVX group), as well as being irradiated or non-irradiated. Low-level 904-nm laser (50 mJ/cm(2)) accelerated the repair process of osteopenic fractures, especially in the initial phase of bone regeneration.Introduction The development of new techniques to speed the process of bone repair has provided significant advances in the treatment of fractures. Some attention recently focused on the effects of biostimulation on bone.Methods Forty-eight adult rats were randomly divided into eight experimental groups (six animals in each group) according to the presence of ovarian hormone (sham group) or absence of the hormone (ovariectomized (OVX) group) as well as being irradiated or non-irradiated. For the application of low-level laser therapy, the animals were anesthetized with one third of the dose sufficient to immobilize the animal and irradiated with AsGa laser (904 nm, 50 mJ/cm(2) for 2s, point form and in contact). The control animals received the same type of manipulation as the irradiated animals, but with the laser turned off. Half of the animals were killed 7 days following the confection of the bone defect, and the other half were killed 21 days after the surgery. After complete demineralization, the tibias were cut cross-sectionally in the central region of the bone defect and embedded in paraffin blocks. The blocks were then cut in semi-seriated slices and stained with hematoxylin and eosin.Results There was new bone formation in the animals in the OVX group with laser treatment killed after 7 days (p<0.001). The lowest percentage of bone formation was observed in the OVX without laser killed after 7 days (p>0.05). All animals killed after 21 days exhibited linear closure of the lesion.Conclusion Low-level 904-nm laser (50 mJ/cm(2)) accelerated the repair process of osteopenic fractures, especially in the initial phase of bone regeneration.

Reduced Insulin Secretion in Protein Malnourished Mice Is Associated with Multiple Changes in the beta-Cell Stimulus-Secretion Coupling

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

Comportamento dos tecidos periapicais de dentes de cães após a obturação de canal com Sealapex acrescido ou não de iodoformio.

Some endodontists use iodoform in Sealapex in order to rend it more radiopac. This procedure is empiric and for this reason we decided to observe, histologically, if the iodoform introduces some modification in the biological properties of Sealapex. Thirty root canals of dogs' teeth were overinstrumented and filled, by lateral condensation technique, with gutta percha points and Sealapex, with or without iodoform. The iodoform was added in two different proportions: 30 mg or 112 mg for one centimeter of the base and one centimeter of the catalyst of Sealapex. The pieces were removed for histological studies, 6 months after the treatment. The histological results showed that Sealapex encourages apical closure by cementum deposition and that the addition of iodoform does not change that biological property.