Copaiba oil-resin treatment is neuroprotective and reduces neutrophil recruitment and microglia activation after motor cortex excitotoxic injury.

The oil-resin of Copaifera reticulata Ducke is used in the Brazilian folk medicine as an anti-in?ammatory and healing agent. However, there are no investigations on the possible anti-in?ammatory and neuroprotective roles of copaiba oil-resin (COR) after neural disorders. We have investigated the anti-in?ammatory and neuroprotective e?ects of COR following an acute damage to the motor cortex of adult rats. Animals were injected with the neurotoxin N-Methyl-D-Aspartate (NMDA) (n = 10) and treated with a single dose of COR (400 mg/kg, i.p.) soon after surgery (Group 1) or with two daily doses (200 mg/kg, i.p.) during 3 days (Group 2) alter injury. Control animals were treated with vehicle only. COR treatment induced tissue preservation and decreased the recruitment of neutrophils and microglial activation in the injury site compared to vehicle animals. The results suggest that COR treatment induces neuroprotection by modulating in?ammatory response following an acute damage to the central nervous system

Emergent social NPC interactions in the Social NPCs Skyrim mod and beyond

This work presents an implementation of a social architecture model for authoring Non-Player Character (NPC) in open world games inspired in academic research on agentbased modeling. Believable NPC authoring is burdensome in terms of rich dialogue and responsive behaviors. We briefly present the characteristics and advantages of using a social agent architecture for this task and describe an implementation of a social agent architecture CiF-CK released as a mod Social NPCs for The Elder Scrolls V: SkyrimComment: Originally a chapter for Game AI Pro, contains 14 pages, 3 figure

Why do people subtitle movies? A survey research of the subtitler motivations and practices

In this paper we investigate the reasons why enthusiasts dedicate time and effort to create subtitles for third-party videos shared on-line. Based on results obtained from a survey research with a community of Brazilian subtitlers, we highlight basic features of these enthusiasts as well as their motivations and main objectives. Our observations suggest that this is a volunteering and collaborative activity after all.CNPq (#312148/2014-3); FAPES (#67927378/2015

Investigating the collaborative process of subtitles creation and sharing for videos on the Web

In this paper we concentrate on the study of the collaborative practices of enthusiasts that create and share subtitles for third party videos. Based on preliminary results from interviews with some volunteers, we formalize the subtitles creation and sharing process using a business process management model and compare it with other collaborative and crowdsourcing models. We expect that our initial observations can bring a new understanding of the process and, thus, help in the design of next generation video enriching tools

Potential of macrophytes for removing atrazine from aqueous solution.

The potential of three macrophytes, Azolla caroliniana, Salvinia minima, and Lemna gibba was assessed in this study to select plants for use in environmental remediation contaminated with atrazine. Experiments were carried out in a greenhouse over six days in pots containing Hoagland 0.25 strength nutritive solution at the following atrazineconcentrations: 0; 0.01; 0.1; 1.0; 10.0 mg L -1. Decrease in biomass accumulation was observed in the three macrophytes, as well as toxic effects evidenced by the symptomatology developed by the plants which caused their deaths. The chlorosis and necrosis allowed to observe in the plants the high sensitivity of the three species to the herbicide. Plants presented low potential for removal of atrazine in solution when exposed to low concentrations of the herbicide. However, at the 10.0 mg L-1 atrazine concentration, L. gibba and A. caroliniana showed potential to remove the herbicide from the solution (0.016 and 0.018 mg atrazine per fresh mass gram, respectively). This fact likely resulted from the processes of atrazine adsorption by the dead material. The percentage of atrazine removed from the solution by the plants decreased when the plants were exposed to high concentrations of the pollutant. Azolla caroliniana, S. minima, and L. gibba were not effective in removing the herbicide from solution. The use of these species to remedy aquatic environments was shown to be limitedNúmero especial

Hyperhomocysteinemia in Renal Transplantation: Preliminary Results

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality after renal transplantation (RT).[1] and [2] The excess risk of CVD in RT is due in part to a higher prevalence of established atherosclerotic risk factors, including hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes, obesity, and physical inactivity.[1] and [2] However, some renal-related risk factors like immunosuppressive medication and residual renal insufficiency also contribute to this excess CVD risk and may complicate the management of dyslipidemia and hypertension in this population.[1] and [2] Accordingly, there is a compelling need to identify and safely manage other putative CVD risk factors among RT patients. Elevated plasma homocysteine is emerging as an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease in general populations.[3] and 4 R Clarke, L Daly and K Robinson et al., N Engl J Med 324 (1991), p. 1149. View Record in Scopus | Cited By in Scopus (1372)[4] Some studies have demonstrated that hyperhomocysteinemia is present in patients with impaired renal function and is associated with CVD.[5], [6] and [7] Only a small number of studies are available on the prevalence and determinants of hyperhomocysteinemia in renal transplant recipients.[8], [9], [10], [11], [12], [13], [14] and [15] We undertook this study to 1. estimate the prevalence of hyperhomocysteinemia in renal transplant recipients; 2. examine the relationships between plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) and its metabolic determinants vitamin B6, vitamin B12, and folic acid; and 3. identify other determinants of tHcy