Chitosan and poly(Methyl methacrylate-co-butyl methacrylate) bioclends: a compatibility study.

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Equilibrium and Disorder-induced behavior in Quantum Light-Matter Systems

We analyze equilibrium properties of coupled-doped cavities described by the Jaynes-Cummings- Hubbard Hamiltonian. In particular, we characterize the entanglement of the system in relation to the insulating-superfluid phase transition. We point out the existence of a crossover inside the superfluid phase of the system when the excitations change from polaritonic to purely photonic. Using an ensemble statistical approach for small systems and stochastic-mean-field theory for large systems we analyze static disorder of the characteristic parameters of the system and explore the ground state induced statistics. We report on a variety of glassy phases deriving from the hybrid statistics of the system. On-site strong disorder induces insulating behavior through two different mechanisms. For disorder in the light-matter detuning, low energy cavities dominate the statistics allowing the excitations to localize and bunch in such cavities. In the case of disorder in the light- matter coupling, sites with strong coupling between light and matter become very significant, which enhances the Mott-like insulating behavior. Inter-site (hopping) disorder induces fluidity and the dominant sites are strongly coupled to each other.Comment: about 10 pages, 12 figure

Ancient Dna Sequence Revealed By Error-correcting Codes

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)A previously described DNA sequence generator algorithm (DNA-SGA) using error-correcting codes has been employed as a computational tool to address the evolutionary pathway of the genetic code. The code-generated sequence alignment demonstrated that a residue mutation revealed by the code can be found in the same position in sequences of distantly related taxa. Furthermore, the code-generated sequences do not promote amino acid changes in the deviant genomes through codon reassignment. A Bayesian evolutionary analysis of both code-generated and homologous sequences of the Arabidopsis thaliana malate dehydrogenase gene indicates an approximately 1 MYA divergence time from the MDH code-generated sequence node to its paralogous sequences. The DNA-SGA helps to determine the plesiomorphic state of DNA sequences because a single nucleotide alteration often occurs in distantly related taxa and can be found in the alternative codon patterns of noncanonical genetic codes. As a consequence, the algorithm may reveal an earlier stage of the evolution of the standard code.5Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)FAPESP [2008/52067-3, 2008/04992-0, 2011/00417-3]CNPq [303059/2010-9, 503891/2011-8

Frequência do gênero de Stylosanthes e atributos físicos do solo no Semiárido baiano-Ba.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a frequência de ocorrência do gênero de Stylosanthes e os atributos físicos do solo na mircrorregião de Juazeiro (Mrg-Jz) e no Território do Sisal (Tr-Ss) no Estado da Bahia - BA, em 30 municípios nestas duas regiões supracitadas, aonde foram realizados o levantamento florístico dos acessos do gênero de Stylosanthes nativo, seguido por coleta de solo na profundidade 0-20 em, apenas nos locais de coleta com presença de acessos. Foram verificados a ocorrência do gênero em 77,34% (Mrg-Jz) e 89,00% (Tr-Ss) dos pontos georeferenciados e, destes, com a predominância.de um ou dois acessos por ponto de coleta, numa altitude entre 300 a 499m, em ambas a regiões. Quanto aos atributos do solo, a textura predominante o tipo de solos arenoso, com a densidade do solo (Ds) classificado como crítico e com baixa porosidade total (PT) e teor de matéria orgânica (MO), aquém do ideal, indicando características de solos degradados. Já para densidade de partícula (Dp), em ambas as regiões de estudo, estão dentro do esperado para solos arenosos. A vegetação predominante no local de coleta dos acessos do Stylosanthes foi a Caatinga. Constatou-se uma elevada presença do gênero Stylosanthes na região Semiárida da Bahia vegetando em solos com atributos físicos com elevada, limitação e/ou já degradados

Probing Yukawian Gravitational Potential by Numerical Simulations. II. Elliptical Galaxies

Since the Newtonian gravitation is largely used to model with success the structures of the universe, such as galaxies and clusters of galaxies, for example, a way to probe and constrain alternative theories, in the weak field limit, is to apply them to model the structures of the universe. We then modified the well known Gadget-2 code to probe alternative theories of gravitation through galactic dynamics. In particular, we modified the Gadget-2 code to probe alternatives theories whose weak field limits have a Yukawa-like gravitational potential. As a first application of this modified Gadget-2 code we simulate the evolution of elliptical galaxies. These simulations show that galactic dynamics can be used to constrain the parameters associated with alternative theories of gravitation.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures - To appear in General Relativity and Gravitatio

IL18 gene polymorphism and its influence on CD4+ T-cell recovery in HIV-positive patients receiving antiretroviral therapy

Background: Pyroptosis has been reported to be critical in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) pathogenesis and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) progression. Even after achieving viral suppression to undetectable levels during antiretroviral therapy (ART), exacerbated CD4+ T-cell death by pyroptosis has been suggested as one of the main causes of immunological non-response. Thus, variants in genes of pyroptosis pathway were studied in individuals with poor CD4+ T-cell reconstitution under antiretroviral therapy against HIV-1. Methods: 248 virologically suppressed ART-treated patients, 126 immunological non-responders (INR) and 122 immunological responders (IR) were recruited. Genotyping was performed using TaqMan probe-based realtime PCR platform. Genotype-guided flow cytometry analysis with general and recent thymic emigrant (RTE) CD4+ T-cells in pyroptosis was performed based on associated polymorphisms. Results: Both IL18 rs187238 G allele and GG genotype were associated as protection factors against poor CD4+ T-cell recovery (OR = 0.22; 95%CI = 0.50\u20130.77; P =.010 and OR = 0.58; 95%CI = 0.36\u20130.93; P =.022, respectively). It was demonstrated a statistical association between IL18 rs187238 genotypes of ART-treated patients and death by Caspase-1 levels (P =.020). The GG genotype showed lower pyroptotic RTE CD4+ T-lymphocytes levels in the ART-treated groups comparing with CC (P =.029) and CG (P =.018) genotypes, suggesting that the G allele presence may be related to a lower IL-18 production and thus reduced dead CD4+ T-cells levels by Caspase-1. Conclusion: We observed that IL18 G variant allele and genotype were associated with a better immunological response, which may influence on immunological recovery of HIV-positive patients receiving antiretroviral therapy, and low Caspase-1 activity levels was observed on GG genotype when compared CC genotypes