Sôbre a descalcificação eletrolítica e sua aplicação no estudo histológico da cóclea

Sôbre a descalcificação eletrolítica e sua aplicação no estudo histológico da cócle

Effects of the consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids on the oxidative status of adult dogs

The present study evaluated the alterations of the oxidative stress markers in adult dogs fed with high levels of PUFA from the mixture of soybean oil enriched with docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and supplemented with a natural algae-based antioxidant (AOX). Twelve healthy adult (2 years old) Beagle dogs (6 males and 6 females, 11.20 ± 1.92 kg BW), were distributed in 2 completely randomized blocks design and fed with 4 experimental diets coated with 2 lipid sources: saturated (13% bovine tallow) or unsaturated (13% soybean oil enriched with DHA), supplemented or not with 500 mg of AOX for 4 wk, intercalated with a 4 wk adaptation period. Blood samples were collected on days 0, 15, and 30 of each block. Glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), superoxide dismutase (SOD), sulfhydryl group (SH), protein carbonylation, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), and total reactive antioxidant potential (TRAP) were evaluated in the serum, while GSH-Px, SOD, glutathione S-transferase (GST), catalase (CAT), SH, and TBARS were measured in erythrocytes. There was no significant difference in most of the oxidative markers evaluated. In contrast, GST activity in erythrocytes was greater in the animals that consumed the diets coated with bovine tallow compared to dogs that consumed diets coated with soybean oil enriched with DHA (P < 0.05). Serum from dogs fed on diets supplemented with AOX presented greater TRAP values (P < 0.05). These data demonstrate that the concentrations of unsaturated fatty acids used in the diets for dogs were not sufficient to cause large changes in the oxidative status. It was not possible to evaluate the efficiency of the natural antioxidant in maintaining the oxidative balance of the animals as it appears that the oxidative status of the dogs was not challenged by the unsaturated diets. Our findings also suggest that dogs, as descendants from carrion carnivores, may have some natural protection against oxidatio

The Role of Oxidative Stress in the Aging Process

The aging of organisms is characterized by a gradual functional decline of all organ systems. An appropriate theory must explain four main characteristics of aging: it is progressive, endogenous, irreversible, and deleterious for the individual. The aging of the immune system, or immunosenescence, is manifested by an increased susceptibility to infections with increased morbidity and mortality. Phagocytic capacity, synthesis of reactive oxygen intermediaries, and the intracellular killing efficiency of neutrophils are impaired in the elderly. Among all aging theories, the most updated one describes the free radicals. It implies that progressive aging is associated with higher levels of oxidative biomolecules reacted with free radicals. Although reactive oxygen species (ROS) are predominantly implicated in causing cell damage, they also play a major physiological role in several aspects of intracellular signaling and regulation. ROS include a number of chemically reactive molecules derived from oxygen. Not only oxygen, but also nitrogen can be deleterious species. The overproduction of reactive nitrogen species (RNS) is called nitrosative stress. ROS/RNS are known to play a dual role in biological systems since they can be either harmful or beneficial to living systems

Atividade antimicrobiana de subfrações padronizadas da planta Arrabidaea chica Verl.

Este estudo analisou o potencial terapêutico de extratos e subfrações padronizadas da planta amazônica Arrabidaea chica, visando seu uso tópico como medicamento e eficácia comprovada em doenças cutâneas

Sexual differences in depressive-like behaviours after juvenile and adult stress.

Early stress episodes affect brain development and is related to increased risk of developing stress-induced depression in adulthood. However, little is known about the sexual differences in this process. Our goal is to study how stress in different developmental periods affects depression-like behaviours in male and female mice. For this purpose, four experimental groups of both male and female mice of strain C57BL/6J were used: control (C) Juvenile (JE), adult (AE), and double stress JE+AE (DE). Depression-like behaviours were evaluated in the adult period. Nest building test was used to assess motivation and fatigue, the open field test to study exploratory behaviour, and the tail suspension test for learned helplessness. Taken together, the results suggest that male mice behaviours are more affected by adult stress (AE, DE), while female mice behaviours are more affected by juvenile stress (JE, DE). A PCA was performed to integrate the results. It revealed three principal components that account for 64,62% of the variance. The first is related to exploratory behavior, the second to active coping mechanisms and the third is the motivation for basic behaviors. Exploratory behaviour seems to be affected by all types of stress, while motivation is specially hindered in the female DE. Taken together, these results suggest that stress in different developmental periods affects differently male and female mice, with DE females exhibiting more depressive-like behaviours.Consejería de Conocimiento, Investigación y Universidades, Junta de Andalucía P20_00460-Co-financing by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF/FEDER) ; Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación-Plan Nacional I+D+I from Spain Grant PID2020-117464RB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10. 13039/501100011033 ; ERDF/Junta de Andalucía-Proyectos I+D+I en el marco del Programa Operativo FEDER Andalucía 2014-2020 (UMA20-FEDERJA-112). II plan propio de investigación, transferencia y divulgación científica de la Universidad de Málaga. Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Heat tolerance in common bean derived from interspecific crosses

Many Countries could experience unprecedented heat stress because of global climate change (Battisti and Naylor,2009). Heat sensitivity in common bean is a major limiting factor that can reduce yield, quality, and lead to restricted geographic adaptation (Beebeetal.,2011). Interspecific lines developed with crosses between P.vulgaris and P. acutifolius were evaluated for their tolerance to heat stress. Results from field and greenhouse evaluation confirmed that Phaseolus acutifolius is an important and useful genetic resource for improving heat tolerance in common bean. Results from genomic analysis indicated the introgression of P. acutifolious genes into interspecific INB line that was used as apparent for developing heat tolerant SEF lines

Optimization Algorithms for Large-Scale Real-World Instances of the Frequency Assignment Problem

Nowadays, mobile communications are experiencing a strong growth, being more and more indispensable. One of the key issues in the design of mobile networks is the Frequency Assignment Problem (FAP). This problem is crucial at present and will remain important in the foreseeable future. Real world instances of FAP typically involve very large networks, which can only be handled by heuristic methods. In the present work, we are interested in optimizing frequency assignments for problems described in a mathematical formalism that incorporates actual interference information, measured directly on the field, as is done in current GSM networks. To achieve this goal, a range of metaheuristics have been designed, adapted, and rigourously compared on two actual GSM networks modeled according to the latter formalism. In order to generate quickly and reliably high quality solutions, all metaheuristics combine their global search capabilities with a local-search method specially tailored for this domain. The experiments and statistical tests show that in general, all metaheuristics are able to improve upon results published in previous studies, but two of the metaheuristics emerge as the best performers: a population-based algorithm (Scatter Search) and a trajectory based (1+1) Evolutionary Algorithm. Finally, the analysis of the frequency plans obtained offers insight about how the interference cost is reduced in the optimal plans.Publicad

Aproximación a la síntesis de la música a través del análisis de Fourier

Se presenta una corta introducción a  la síntesis de la música mediante el uso de la transformada de Fourier asistida por computadora mediante Matlab®