3,146 research outputs found

    Vertical positioning surveillance by magnetostrictive transducer

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    This work purpose is to create a positioning automated system of a tailstock to perform impact resistance tests on silicone mammary implants. This system is capable to measure and oversight the positioning through interrelation between three main components: programmable logic controller, human-machine interface and magnetostrictive transducer. Together, these components form an operational closed loop that ensures an appropriate positioning for the impact device. The paper describes how the closed loop works and also the algorithm implemented in the programmable logic controller which surveys the positioning. As a last topic, the paper presents the operator work on the machine’s operation in conjunction with human-machine interface. The results were satisfactory and in accordance with the limits determined on ABNT NBR ISO 14607 for this method of tests

    Antimicrobial and toxicity evaluation of imidazolium-based dicationic ionic liquids with dicarboxylate anions

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    Imidazolium-based dicationic ILs (DILs) presenting antimicrobial activity and relatively low toxicity are highly desirable and are envisioned for use in live tissue to prevent bacterial or fungal infections. In this context,we present here DILswith dicarboxylate anions [Cn(MIM)2[Cn(MIM)2][CO2- (CH2)mCO2], in which n = 4, 6, 8, and 10, and m = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. The results showed that DILs with an alkyl chain spacer of ten carbons were active against yeasts and the bacterial strains tested. However, most of the DILs were cytotoxic and toxic at 1 mM. By contrast, DILs with alkyl chains possessing less than ten carbons were active against some specific Candidas and bacteria (mainly S. aureus), and they showed moderate cytotoxicity. The best activity against Gram-positive bacteria was observed for [C4(MIM)2][Pim] toward MRSA. For the DILs described herein, their level of toxicity against C. elegans was lower than that of most of the mono- and dicationic IL analogs with other anions. Our results showed that the presence of carboxylate anions reduces the toxicity of DILs compared to DILs containing halide anions, which is particularly significant to the means of designing biologically active compounds in antimicrobial formulations

    Microscopic Image Segmentation to Quantification of Leishmania Infection in Macrophages

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    The determination of infection rate parameter from in vitro macrophages infected by Leishmania amastigotes is fundamental in the study of vaccine candidates and new drugs for the treatment of leishmaniasis. The conventional method that consists in the amastigotes count inside macrophages, normally is done by a trained microscope technician, which is liable to misinterpretation and sampling. The objective of this work is to develop a method for the segmentation of images to enable the automatic calculation of the infection rate by amastigotes. Segmentation is based on mathematical morphology in the context of a computer vision system. The results obtained by computer vision system presents a 95% accuracy in comparison to the conventional method. Therefore, the proposed method can contribute to the speed and accuracy of analysis of infection rate, minimizing errors from the traditional methods, especially in situations where exhaustive repetitions of the procedure are required from the technician.A determinação de parâmetros como taxa de infecção em monocultura de macrófagos cultivados in vitro com Leishmania é fundamental no estudo de candidatos vacinais e novos fármacos para o tratamento de leishmanioses. O método convencional que consiste na contagem de amastigotas no interior de macrófagos, normalmente é realizada por um especialista treinado em microscopia óptica, o que está sujeito a erros de interpretação e amostragem. O objetivo do trabalho é desenvolver um método para a segmentação de imagens como etapa preliminar para o cálculo automático da taxa de infecção por amastigotas. A segmentação é baseada em morfologia matemática no contexto de um sistema de visão computacional. Os resultados obtidos pelo método computacional demonstraram acerto de 95% quando comparados ao método convencional. Conclui-se que a metodologia computacional baseada na segmentação de imagem como pré-requisito para o cálculo de taxa de infecção, pode contribuir para a rapidez e a precisão na obtenção dos resultados e na minimização de erros cometidos no método tradicional, especialmente em situações em que exaustivas repetições do procedimento são exigidas ao observador

    Analise do impacto do ICQ e cc sobre o risco cardíaco em pessoas com baixos níveis de atividade física

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    Objetivo: Analisar o impacto do índice cintura/quadril (ICQ) e circunferência da cintura (CC) sobre o risco cardíaco (RC). Material e Métodos: Estudo descritivo, transversal e quantitative, composto por uma amostra selecionada voluntariamente, na adesão as academias de ginástica de 75 mulheres (M) e 47 homens (H), media de 30,03+11,33 anos, medidos na antropometria em instrumentos calibrados. Utilizou-se SPSS 13,0 para descritiva e "t"de Student. Significancia 5% . Resultados: 42,6% e 23,4% dos H apresentam-se na faixa de RC alto e muito alto para ICQ e 40,9% e 18,2%, risco aumentado e muito aumentado para o CC, respectivamente; 28,0% e 61,3% das M apresentam-se na faixa de risco alto e muito alto para ICQ e 59,1% e 30,6%, risco aumentado e muito aumentado para o CC, respectivamente; p=0,000, diferentes entre gêneros e ICQ e CC sao de independentes (r=0,460). Conclusao: O ICQ e CC representam impacto no risco cardíaco e ambos os gêneros estão propensos a desenvolver distúrbios cardiovasculares
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