Angiotensin II and VEGF are Involved in Angiogenesis Induced by Short-Term Exercise Training

Results from our laboratory have suggested a pathway involving angiotensin II type 1 (AT1) receptors and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in angiogenesis induced by electrical stimulation. The present study investigated if similar mechanisms underlie the angiogenesis induced by short-term exercise training. Seven days before training and throughout the training period, male Sprague-Dawley rats received either captopril or losartan in their drinking water. Rats underwent a 3-day treadmill training protocol. The tibialis anterior and gastrocnemius muscles were harvested under anesthesia and lightly fixed in formalin (vessel density) or frozen in liquid nitrogen (VEGF expression). In controls, treadmill training resulted in a significant increase in vessel density in all muscles studied. However, the angiogenesis induced by exercise was completely blocked by either losartan or captopril. Western blot analysis showed that VEGF expression was increased in the exercised control group, and both losartan and captopril blocked this increase. The role of VEGF was directly confirmed using a VEGF-neutralizing antibody. These results confirm the role of angiotensin II and VEGF in angiogenesis induced by exercise

A classification method based on a cloud of spheres

Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s)In this article we propose a binary classification model to distinguish a specific class that corresponds to a characteristic that we intend to identify (fraud, spam, disease). The classification model is based on a cloud of spheres that circumscribes the points of the class to be identified. It is intended to build a model based on a cloud and not on a disjoint set of clouds, establishing this condition on the connectivity of a graph induced by the spheres. To solve the problem, designed by a Cloud of Connected Spheres, a quadratic model with continuous and binary variables (MINLP) is proposed with the minimization of the number of spheres. The issue of connectivity implies in many models the imposition of an exponential number of constraints. However, because of the specific conditions of the problem under study, connectivity is enforced with linear constraints that scale quadratically with K, which serves as an upper bound on the number of spheres. This classification model is effective when the structure of the class to be identified is highly non-linear and non-convex, also adapting to the case of linear separation. Unlike neural networks, the classification model is transparent, with the structure perfectly identified. No kernel functions are used and it is not necessary to use meta-parameters unless it is intended also to maximize the separation margin as it is done in SVM. Finding the global optima for large instances is quite challenging, and to address this, a heuristic is proposed. The heuristic demonstrates nice results on a set of frequently tested real problems when compared to state-of-the-art algorithms.publishersversionpublishe

Professores de ciências de ensino médio e a educação inclusiva no DF : expectativas, dificuldades e caminhos de superação

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Instituto de Física, Instituto de Química, Faculdade UnB Planaltina, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ensino de Ciências, Mestrado Profissional em Ensino de Ciências, 2014.Este estudo, de cunho qualitativo, foi desenvolvido com professores de Ciências do Ensino Médio, das redes pública e particular de ensino do Distrito Federal, que trabalham com estudantes com necessidades educacionais especiais em classes inclusivas. Traz como aporte teórico o papel da prática reflexiva (Pimenta, 2006), o diálogo de Paulo Freire (1987), que aparece tanto na teoria quanto na metodologia e adefectologia de Vygotsky (1997). O estudo objetiva identificar as principais dificuldades dos docentes ao trabalharem no contexto da Educação Inclusiva nesta etapa de ensino, a que atribuem à existência desses obstáculos no cotidiano profissional e quais as suas propostas para a superação dos problemas encontrados. Utilizou-se como metodologia um curso de formação contínua para professores. O curso foi locus de construção de dados, com foco no diálogo freireano e na perspectiva do professor reflexivo, e busca ouvir esses profissionais a respeito do tema e discutir sobre os desafios e conflitos que surgem na prática pedagógica na realidade da educação inclusiva. Os dados da pesquisa foram construídos a partir dos diálogos advindos do curso e analisados segundo pressupostos da Análise de Conteúdo (Bardin, 1977). A análise das falas dos professores de Ciências indica que eles se sentem inseguros ao trabalhar no contexto da educação inclusiva. Muitos discursos expressam medo diante da inclusão escolar e os professores se mostram perdidos na prática pedagógica com estudantes com necessidades educacionais especiais. Além disso, os professores parecem não reconhecer sua autonomia no processo de ensino-aprendizagem destes.Frente a tal quadro, os resultados denotam a necessidade de uma formação que privilegie uma reflexão a respeito da inclusão escolar e que estimule o desenvolvimento de um olhar diferenciado do professor para os estudantes com necessidades educacionais especiais, de modo que o docente possa enxergar esses estudantes como sujeito social, constituído de sua subjetividade, singularidade e diversidade acima de sua deficiência. Acredita-se que dessa forma, os professores de Ciências do Ensino Médio se sentirão a vontade para atuarem de maneira segura e autônoma no contexto da Educação Inclusiva. _________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACTThis study, a qualitative approach was developed with Science teachers of High School,from public and private school of the Distrito Federal, working with students withspecial needs in inclusive classes. It’s brings as the theoretical role of reflective practice(Pimenta, 2006), the dialogue of Paulo Freire (1987), which appears both in theory andmethodology and defectology of Vygotsky (1997). The study aims to identify the maindifficulties of teachers to work in the context of Inclusive Education at this stage ofeducation, denoted by the existence of these barriers to professional practice and whattheir proposals to overcome the problems encountered. The methodology was used as acourse of continuing education for teachers. The course was built locus data, focusingon freireano dialogue and reflective perspective of the teacher, and I try to listen to theseprofessionals about the topic and discuss the challenges and conflicts that arise in thepedagogical practice of inclusive education in reality. The survey data were constructedfrom the dialogues arising from course and analyzed using assumptions of ContentAnalysis (Bardin, 1977). The analysis of the discourse of science teachers indicates thatthey feel insecure when working in the context of inclusive education. Many discoursesexpress fear at the school inclusion and teachers show lost in pedagogical practice withpupils with special educational needs. In addition, teachers do not seem to recognizetheir autonomy in the teaching-learning process of these. Faced with this situation, theresults denote the need for training that is focused on a reflection about school inclusionand fosters the development of a differentiated view of the teacher for students withspecial educational needs, so that the teacher can see these students as a social subject,which consists of his subjectivity, uniqueness and diversity above his disability. It isbelieved that in this way, the science teachers of high school feel the urge to work safelyand autonomously in the context of Inclusive Education

Collection technique and sample processing for impression cytology of the ocular surface

Introduction: The impression cytology of ocular surface is a minimally invasive technique that allows the analysis of conjunctival and corneal cells, as an alternative to smears and punch biopsies. These specific guidelines will help health professionals, such as nurses and doctors, to ensure better samples of ocular surface without hurting patients, and will provide a new method of fixation for impression cytology of ocular specimens. Objective: The aim of this study was to present a technique for collecting, fixing, and staining for impression cytology of ocular specimens. Materials and Methods: 50 samples of bulbar conjunctiva taken from 50 ESTeSL volunteers were analyzed. The material was collected on a strip of cellulose acetate from Millipore Corporation, then fixed on SureThin and stained with a Papanicolaou stain. The slides were analyzed by three independent evaluators, using an evaluation grid with the following parameters: cell size, detail and nuclear membrane, detail and cytoplasmic membrane, ratio N / C, and tinctorial affinity. Results: The filter paper with apex helped to correctly position the paper in the eye and the procedure that was applied allowed an effective collection of cells with 50-70% of the filter surface being filled without the need for topical anesthesia. The SureThin fixative presented quality in cell preservation, in addition to being more economical. The Papanicolaou technique proved to be ideal in the coloring of ocular epithelial cells. This developed methodology presented a response of 80, 9% to a maximum score of 2. Conclusions: The presented method proved to be very effective in evaluating ocular cell samples, while simultaneously proving to be a very cheap and comfortable technique for the patient.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Using weight aggregation in tabu search for multiobjective exams timetabling problem

EnExams timetabling is a difficult task in many educational institutions. We can distinct two major sets of constraints when defining exams timetabling problems, categorized in soft and hard constraints. Guaranteing that any student as a non overlapping exams schedule and that necessary requirements like rooms and teacher are available are consider hard constraints. An evenly distributed schedule, a short duration of the overall exams period can be regarded as soft constraints. To handle soft constraints under the hard constraints verification we adopted a multiobjective optimization approach. This problem is NP-hard for which we have developed an heuristic tabu search method to find a solution. Tabu search comprises an iterative local search defined as a neighborhood inspection of a certain point in the search space. To find an improved solution we have to evaluate points in this neighborhood which can be considered a multiple attribute decision problem. In this context we have used multicriteria methods in order to rank the solutions

Nutritional risk and survival in cancer patients undergoing percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy in the Instituto Português de Oncologia do Porto Francisco Gentil, EPE.

[resumo][abstract

Extended-release niacin increases anti-apolipoprotein A-I antibodies that block the antioxidant effect of high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol: the EXPLORE clinical trial.

Extended-release niacin (ERN) is the most effective agent for increasing high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C). Having previously identified anti-HDL antibodies, we investigated whether ERN affected the antioxidant capacity of HDL and whether ERN was associated with the production of antibodies against HDL (aHDL) and apolipoprotein A-I (aApoA-I). METHODS: Twenty-one patients older than 18 years, with HDL-C ≤40 mg dl-1 (men) or ≤50 mg dl-1 (women) were randomly assigned to receive daily ERN (n = 10) or placebo (n = 11) for two sequential 12-week periods, with 4 weeks of wash-out before cross-over. Primary outcome was change of paraoxonase-1 (PON1) activity and secondary outcomes were changes in aHDL and aApoA-I antibodies. Clinical Trial Unique Identifier: EudraCT 2006-006889-42. RESULTS: The effect of ERN on PON1 activity was nonsignificant (coefficient estimate 20.83 U l-1 , 95% confidence interval [CI] -9.88 to 51.53; P = 0.184). ERN was associated with an increase in HDL-C levels (coefficient estimate 5.21 mg dl-1 , 95% CI 1.16 to 9.25; P = 0.012) and its subclasses HDL2 (coefficient estimate 2.46 mg dl-1 , 95% CI 0.57 to 4.34; P = 0.011) and HDL3 (coefficient estimate 2.73 mg dl-1 , 95% CI 0.47 to 4.98; P = 0.018). ERN was significantly associated with the production of aApoA-I antibodies (coefficient estimate 0.25 μg ml-1 , 95% CI 0.09-0.40; P = 0.001). aApoA-I titres at baseline were correlated with decreased PON activity. CONCLUSIONS: The rise in HDL-C achieved with ERN was not matched by improved antioxidant capacity, eventually hampered by the emergence of aApoA-I antibodies. These results may explain why Niacin and other lipid lowering agents fail to reduce cardiovascular risk.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Highly skilled portuguese professionals: who are they and what moves them out of the country? profiles, factors and motivations

In the context of the financial and social-economic crisis, Portugal has recently been the scene of massive outflow of professionals who seek/find employment alternatives in other countries. Also the young-adults most skilled are being affected by this lack of opportunities. Who they are and what moves this highly skilled population out of the country? Based on the outputs of an online inquiry applied to a wide network of these emigrants with higher education degree, we propose both the understanding of conditions – pull and push factors – as the knowledge of the characteristics, motivations, trajectories, strategies and ways of life of the emigrants` profile

Evaluación de proyectos en la enseñanza de la arquitectura y el urbanismo

Abstracts aceptados sin presentacion / Accepted abstracts without presentatio