Thrombin Inhibitors from Different Animals

Venous and arterial thromboembolic diseases are still the most frequent causes of death and disability in high-income countries. Clinical anticoagulants are inhibitors of enzymes involved in the coagulation pathway, such as thrombin and factor Xa. Thrombin is a key enzyme of blood coagulation system, activating the platelets, converting the fibrinogen to the fibrin net, and amplifying its self-generation by the activation of factors V, VIII, and XI. Thrombin has long been a target for the development of oral anticoagulants. Furthermore, selective inhibitors of thrombin represent a new class of antithrombotic agents. For these reasons, a number of specific thrombin inhibitors are under evaluation for possible use as antithrombotic drugs. This paper summarizes old and new interests of specific thrombin inhibitors described in different animals

Changing patterns of cardiovascular diseases and cancer mortality in Portugal, 1980-2010

Cardiovascular diseases and cancer are jointly responsible for more than half all deaths in Portugal. They also share some important risk factors and act as mutual competing risks. We aimed firstly to describe time trends in death rates and years of life lost due to cardiovascular diseases and cancer in the Portuguese population from 1980 to 2010; and secondly to quantify the contribution of the variation in population and age structure, and age-independent "risk" by cardiovascular or oncological causes to the change in the corresponding number of deaths. We estimated the annual percent change in age-standardized mortality rates from cardiovascular diseases and cancer, in each sex. The specific contribution of demographic changes (due to changes in population size and in population age structure) and the variation in the age-independent "risk" of dying from the disease to the observed trends in the number of deaths was quantified using the tool RiskDiff. Years of life lost were computed using the Global Burden of Disease method. Among men, the mortality rate from all cardiovascular diseases was more than two-fold higher than cancer mortality in 1980. However, three decades later mortality from cancer surpassed cardiovascular diseases. After 2005, the years of life lost from cancer were also higher than from cardiovascular diseases. Among women, despite the decrease in death rates, cardiovascular diseases remained the leading cause of death in 2010 and their absolute burden was higher than that of cancers across the whole period, mainly due to more events in older women. In Portugal, the 20th century witnessed a dramatic decrease in the cardiovascular disease mortality and YLL, and the transition towards cancer. In more recent years, the highest burdens of disease came from cancers in men and from cardiovascular diseases in women.This study was funded by two grants from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (PIC/IC/83006/2007 and PTDC/SAU-EPI/122460/2010)

Status of the 80Mbit/s Receiver for the CMS digital optical link

The first prototype of the 80Mbit/s optical receiver ASIC for the CMS digital optical link has been manufactured in a 0.25µm commercial CMOS process. The circuit design has been made using radiation tolerant layout techniques. Its performance satisfies the low power, wide dynamic range, sensitivity and speed specifications. The radiation hardness of the receiver has been verified irradiating the diode with 6 MeV neutrons (up to 6.5·1014 n/cm2) and the receiver circuit with 10KeV X-rays (up to 20 Mrad). A second prototype has been submitted for fabrication in the same commercial CMOS process. I

Produção de limas ácidas, tangerineira e híbridos sobre diferentes porta-enxertos no Estado do Acre.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi de avaliar o comportamento das limas ácidas 'Tahiti' (Citrus latifólia Tanaka) e 'Galego' (Citrus aurantifolia Swingle), da tangerina (Citrus reticulata Blanco) 'Cravo', e dos híbridos tangelo 'Lee' e tangor 'Murcott', enxertadas sobre quatro porta-enxertos: limão 'Cravo' (Citrus limonia Osb.), citrange 'Carrizo' (Citrus sinensis (L.) Osb. x Poncirus trifoliata Raf.) e tangerinas 'Sunki' (Citrus sunki Hort. Ex Tan.) e 'Cleópatra' (Citrus reshni ex Hort. Tan.). Os experimentos foram conduzidos no campo experimental da Embrapa Acre, Amazônia, Brasil. A lima ácida 'Tahiti' apresentou a maior produção média de frutos (115,14 kg/planta), produção por volume de copa (2,49 kg m-3) e número de frutos (836,80/planta), quando enxertada sobre a tangerina 'Sunki'. A lima ácida 'Galego' apresentou a maior produção média de frutos (126,81 e 85,80 kg/planta), produção por volume de copa (1,82 e 1,28 kg m-3) e número de frutos (2.619,93 e 1.810,80/planta) quando enxertada, respectivamente, sobre o citrange 'Carrizo' e limão 'Cravo'. O porta-enxerto limão 'Cravo' induziu uma maior produção média (90,65 kg/planta) em todas as cultivares de tangerina e híbridos. Apesar das copas apresentarem comportamentos semelhantes para todas as características avaliadas, com exceção do índice de conformação, a cultivar 'Murcott' apresentou uma boa produção média (69,67 kg/planta) e número médio de frutos (500,94/planta) sobre a tangerina 'Sunki'

Monitoramento de mastite e determinação da composição do leite em ovelhas Santa Inês de primeiro parto.

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THGEM-based detectors for sampling elements in DHCAL: laboratory and beam evaluation

We report on the results of an extensive R&D program aimed at the evaluation of Thick-Gas Electron Multipliers (THGEM) as potential active elements for Digital Hadron Calorimetry (DHCAL). Results are presented on efficiency, pad multiplicity and discharge probability of a 10x10 cm2 prototype detector with 1 cm2 readout pads. The detector is comprised of single- or double-THGEM multipliers coupled to the pad electrode either directly or via a resistive anode. Investigations employing standard discrete electronics and the KPiX readout system have been carried out both under laboratory conditions and with muons and pions at the CERN RD51 test beam. For detectors having a charge-induction gap, it has been shown that even a ~6 mm thick single-THGEM detector reached detection efficiencies above 95%, with pad-hit multiplicity of 1.1-1.2 per event; discharge probabilities were of the order of 1e-6 - 1e-5 sparks/trigger, depending on the detector structure and gain. Preliminary beam tests with a WELL hole-structure, closed by a resistive anode, yielded discharge probabilities of <2e-6 for an efficiency of ~95%. Methods are presented to reduce charge-spread and pad multiplicity with resistive anodes. The new method showed good prospects for further evaluation of very thin THGEM-based detectors as potential active elements for DHCAL, with competitive performances, simplicity and robustness. Further developments are in course.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures, MPGD2011 conference proceedin