N-Relaxion: Large Field Excursions from a Few Site Relaxion Model

Relaxion models are an interesting new avenue to explain the radiative stability of the Standard Model scalar sector. They require very large field excursions, which are difficult to generate in a consistent UV completion and to reconcile with the compact field space of the relaxion. We propose an N-site model which naturally generates the large decay constant needed to address these issues. Our model offers distinct advantages with respect to previous proposals: the construction involves non-abelian fields, allowing for controlled high energy behaviour and more model building possibilities, both in particle physics and inflationary models, and also admits a continuum limit when the number of sites is large, which may be interpreted as a warped extra dimension.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures; v2: version to appear in PR

Nutrition, metabolic hormones, and sexual development in bulls

A series of experiments was conducted to evaluate the effects of nutrition during calfhood (defined as the period from 10 to 26-30 wk of age) and peripubertal period (defined as the period from 27-31 to 70-74 wk of age) on sexual development and reproductive function in beef bulls. The overall objective of these experiments was to evaluate the effects of nutrition on endogenous metabolic hormones (leptin, insulin, GH, and IGF-I), gonadotropins and testosterone concentrations, sexual development, sperm production, and semen quality in bulls. The results of these experiments demonstrated that nutrition affected GnRH secretion and sexual development in bulls. Increased nutrition during calfhood resulted in a more sustained increase in LH pulse frequency during the early gonadotropin rise and greater testicular development at maturity. On the other hand, low nutrition during calfhood suppressed LH secretion during the early gonadotropin rise and resulted in delayed puberty and reduced testicular development at maturity. When low nutrition was accomplished by restricted feed intake, hypothalamic and pituitary function were compromised and LH secretion was more severely affected. Temporal associations between LH secretion patterns and circulating IGF-I concentrations implied that IGF-I is a possible signal to the central “metabolic sensor” involved in translating body nutritional status to the GnRH pulse generator. Nutrition also affected testicular steroidogenesis (testosterone concentrations), indicating effects on the number or function of Leydig cells, or both. Age-related increases in physiological and GnRH-stimulated circulating testosterone concentrations were hastened in bulls receiving high nutrition and delayed in bulls receiving low nutrition; these effects were probably mediated by both LH secretion and IGF-I concentrations. Circulating leptin and insulin may have only permissive roles on GnRH secretion, but may enhance testicular development. Growth hormone concentrations decreased concomitantly with increasing IGF-I concentrations during sexual development in bulls, suggesting that the testes could contribute considerable amounts of circulating IGF-I. In conclusion, management strategies to optimize reproductive function in bulls should focus on increasing nutrition during calfhood

Morfofunctional changes caused by viral agents associated with teratogenicity, inflammatory biomarcators and arboviroses

Introduction: In the second half of the 20th century, many anomalous effects and individuals were examined, arousing concern in the medical community at the time.The rubella syndrome in the 1930s showed that the placenta was not a barrier for all exogenous agents. In 2015 an increase in the prevalence of microcephaly cases has been reported in twenty times in Brazil, and this malformation is associated with the vertical transmission of the Zika virus (ZIKV) by the Ministry of Health. Based on these data, ZIKV-related microcephaly as well as other comorbidities associated with arboviruses have been discussed in several scientific events. Therefore, it is not yet known exactly how the ZIKV can cause microcephaly. To date, there are still controversial results on (1) the risk of spontaneous abortion and teratogenesis induced by treatment with intereferon (inflammatory biomarker) with the development of diseases caused by arbovirosis; (2) the profile of the inflammatory response to arvoviroses. Objectives: Evaluate inflammatory biomarkers and morphofunctional changes caused by viral agents associated with teratogenicity. Methods and Procedures: For the accomplishment of this scientific article, a bibliographical review was used consulting the information bases like SciELO, Pubmed, base LILACs, Periódicos CAPES and CNPq and Annals of Scientific Initiation and Research of the University of Ribeirão Preto. Results: Studies show that in the active phase of viral replication in pregnant women with positive serology for Zika virus, for example, increased IL-2, IL-4, IL-9, IL-12, IL-13, IL-17 and IFN -gamma. In contrast, IL-23 did not change at the same stage. The relationship between elevation of IL-4, IL-10, MCP-1, TNF-ALFA, TNF-beta and MCP-1 in the amniotic fluid of pregnant women correlated with Autistic Spectrum Disorder was also enhanced. As for the findings on biological materials from animals immunodeficiated with the Zika virus, was observed that the trophoblasts were able to reduce the replication of the viral agent and the transfer time in the placental barrier. Conclusions: Inflammatory biomarkers have a great relationship and potential for detection of teratogenic events. As for the blocking ability of viral replication, it is observed that placental precursor cells slow the transfer of the viral to the fetus, but does not prevent

Potencial antioxidante do extrato de campomanesia sessiliflora (guabiroba verde) e modulação sobre a hidrólise de nucleotídeos em soro de ratos

CNPq - Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e TecnológicoTrabalho de Conclusão de Curso (Graduação)A hipertensão arterial sistêmica (HAS) é um problema mundial de saúde. A sinalização purinérgica tem se demonstrado bastante promissora como alvo de tratamento dessa patologia, uma vez que regula processos importantes que podem ser modulados a fim de restabelecer a homeostase do fluxo sanguíneo. A Campomanesia sessiliflora, pertence à família Myrtaceae, a qual já tem sido vastamente empregada na medicina popular. Objetivos: obter o extrato metanólico das folhas de Campomanesia sessiliflora, determinar sua atividade antioxidante, o conteúdo de flavonoides e de fenóis totais e avaliar o efeito do extrato sobre as hidrólises de ATP, ADP e AMP em soro de ratos. O extrato das folhas de guabiroba foi obtido utilizando-se metanol como solvente. O conteúdo de fenóis totais, flavonoides e a determinação da atividade antioxidante foram realizados por métodos colorimétricos, bem como a determinação da atividade enzimática. O rendimento do extrato metanólico foi de 12,6%, o conteúdo de fenóis totais resultou em 62,30 ± 2,42 mg Eq AG/ g e o de flavonoides foi de 16,74 ± 1,3 mg Eq quercetina/ g. Além disso, o extrato exibiu alta atividade antioxidante, sendo capaz de inibir o radical DPPH• em 57,12%, 69,37% e 90,2% nas concentrações de 200, 250 e 500 µg/ mL, respectivamente. Não foram observados resultados significativos para a modulação das atividades de hidrólise dos nucleotídeos pelo extrato. Embora a Campomanesia sessiliflora não tenha demonstrado modulação significativa na sinalização purinérgica em soro, ela exibiu potente atividade antioxidante e grande conteúdo de flavonoides, cujo potencial farmacológico deve ser melhor aprofundado tendo em vista as ações terapêuticas atribuídas a essas moléculas

Associação entre índice de estresse térmico e internações de idosos por infarto agudo do miocárdio e insuficiência renal no estado de São Paulo em 2010: Estudo de uma série histórica de 2001 a 2010.

O objetivo desse estudo ecológico foi verificar a associação entre as morbidades hospitalares de idosos, com 60 anos ou mais, por Infarto Agudo do Miocárdio (IAM) e Insuficiência Renal (IR) com Índice de Estresse Térmico (IET) em 71 municípios do Estado de São Paulo. Para a coleta dos dados de morbidades nos idosos foi realizado um levantamento por meio de uma série histórica de internações no período de 2001 a 2010, com auxílio do banco de dados do DATASUS. Dados meteorológicos para a construção do IET de cada município envolvido no estudo foram obtidos pelo Instituto Agronômico de Campinas (IAC). As características sociodemográficas foram eleitas como variáveis explanatórias, podendo estar associadas ao padrão de morbimortalidade de idosos. Para a série histórica analisada foram calculados os coeficientes de internações por IAM e IR pela faixa etária considerada no ano de 2010, em todo o estado de São Paulo para se calcular a Razão de Morbidade (internações) Padronizada (RMP) para cada município. Nos 71 municípios, dotados dos valores de IET, houve a categorização segundo o valor de RMP encontrado, maior ou igual à unidade ou inferior a esta. Foram utilizadas as médias anuais dos valores mensais do IET (mínimo, médio e máximo) em 2010. Com o fim de descrever a associação entre variável dependente e o conjunto de variáveis explanatórias foi empregada a técnica de regressão logística multivariada não condicional. As análises univariadas foram realizadas com o auxílio do Epi-Info 3.5.1™ (CDC, 2008), visando identificar as variáveis significantes para a ocorrência do agravo com valor de p < 0,25, fundamentado no teste da razão da máxima verossimilhança, utilizado do mesmo modo para testar as variáveis mais significantes no modelo final, com p < 0,05. Não foi possível encontrar um modelo ajustado entre as internações por IAM. O modelo ajustado foi encontrado para a ocorrência de internações por IR, tendo como variáveis significantes o valor do Índice de Desenvolvimento Humano (IDH), Índice de Envelhecimento (IE) e IET Mínimo. Os valores das Razões de Chances encontradas para as variáveis presentes no modelo foram 0,0755, 4,3409, 1,2761 respectivamente. Pelo modelo, observou-se que as probabilidades de internação por IR são maiores no verão entre os municípios que apresentam menores valores de IDH e IE elevado. Recomenda-se, a partir deste estudo, que outras pesquisas sejam desenvolvidas em nível individual, estimulando assim a elucidação da significância de variáveis climáticas e socioambientais associadas com eventos importantes de saúde na terceira idade

Extreme Learning Machine combined with a Differential Evolution algorithm for lithology identification

Lithology identification, obtained through the analysis of several geophysical properties, has an important role in the process of characterization of oil reservoirs. The identification can be accomplished by direct and indirect methods, but these methods are not always feasible because of the cost or imprecision of the results generated. Consequently, there is a need to automate the procedure of reservoir characterization and, in this context, computational intelligence techniques appear as an alternative to lithology identification. However, to acquire proper performance, usually some parameters should be adjusted and this can become a hard task depending on the complexity of the underlying problem. This paper aims to apply an Extreme Learning Machine (ELM) adjusted with a Differential Evolution (DE) to classify data from the South Provence Basin, using a previously published paper as a baseline reference. The paper contributions include the use of an evolutionary algorithm as a tool for search on the hyperparameters of the ELM. In addition, an  activation function recently proposed in the literature is implemented and tested. The  computational approach developed here has the potential to assist in petrographic data classification and helps to improve the process of reservoir characterization and the production development planning