"Global emblems" and "Transmission and intermediality: the impact of the emblematic culture on the early Americas"

Este libro blanco esboza brevemente dos iniciativas de investigación codependientes: “Emblemas globales” y “Transmisión e intermediación: el impacto de la cultura emblemática en Iberoamérica”. Ambos proyectos se encuentran en su etapa inicial de desarrollo, en la Brown University. “Global emblems” está diseñado para mapear, documentar y estudiar la presencia de emblemas en la cultura material, en todo el mundo, y vincular estos sucesos con colecciones digitales preexistentes de libros de emblemas. La base de datos será alimentada por una red internacional de especialistas, que ya está activa, con miembros en más de diez países y el apoyo de la Society for Emblem Studies. La plataforma permitirá búsquedas por conceptos (utilizando el sistema de clasificación Iconclass) y varias ubicaciones permitirán a los usuarios "visitarlas" a través de Realidad Virtual (360 fotos anotadas). La base de datos se estudiará sistemáticamente a través de "grupos temáticos". Si bien a primera vista el enfoque en los emblemas puede parecer estrecho, los emblemas tienen una amplia extensión geográfica e histórica, que se puede rastrear, y que proporciona los datos necesarios para el tipo de estudio analítico e interpretativo requerido en la segunda iniciativa de investigación, que ilustra la importancia de los emblemas en el marco más amplio de la historia cultural latinoamericana. “Transmisión e intermediación: el impacto de la cultura emblemática en las Américas tempranas” analizará los datos de “Emblemas globales” para comprender el papel de los emblemas en el proceso colonial en las Américas. Más concretamente, este proyecto abordará la “disputa pictórica” en el Nuevo Mundo, examinando el “giro pictórico” de los “catecismos jeroglíficos” a los emblemas exhibidos en el siglo XVII (muchos de ellos resultantes de la remediación de los grabados), y las implicaciones ideológicas, políticas y sociológicas en torno a la presencia de estos emblemas en edificios y festivales de principios de la era moderna.This white paper briefly outlines two co-dependent research initiatives: “Global Emblems” and “Transmission and Intermediality: the impact of the emblematic culture in Ibero-America”. Both projects are in their initial stage of development, at Brown University. “Global Emblems” is set to map, document and study the presence of emblems in material culture, around the world, and cross-link these occurrences with pre-existing digital collections of emblem books. The database will be fed by an international network of specialists, which is already active, with members in over ten countries and the support of the Society for Emblem Studies. The platform will allow searches by concepts (using Iconclass classification system) and a number of locations will allow users to ‘visit’ them through Virtual Reality (360 annotated photos). The database will be systematically studied through “thematic clusters”. Although at first glance the focus on emblems may seem narrow, emblems have a broad geographical and historical spread, which can be traced, and that provides the necessary data for the kind of analytical and interpretative study required in the second research initiative, which illustrates the importance of emblems within the wider frame of Latin American cultural history. “Transmission and Intermediality: the impact of the emblematic culture on the Early Americas” will analyse the data from “Global Emblems” in order to understand the role of emblems in the colonial process in the Americas. More specifically, this project will look at the “pictorial dispute” in the New World, by examining the “pictorial turn” from the “catecismos jeroglíficos” to the displayed emblems in the 17th-century (many of them resulting from the remediation of European prints), and the ideological, political and sociological implications around the presence of these emblems in buildings and early-modern festivals.peerReviewe

Avanços na pesquisa da raiva

Recent advances in research into rabies, based on the technological process of the biological sciences mainly molecular biology and genetic engineering, are mentioned. The current knowledge of the characteristics, properties pathogeny and immunology of the rabies views is presented, as well as the development of new diagnostic and vaccine evaluation techniques. The epidemiological importance of the identification of different immunogenic rabies virus strains and the role in immunoprophylaxis of the production of highly immunogenic vaccines, are set out.Fez-se revisão sobre os recentes avanços na pesquisa da raiva resultantes do progresso tecnológico das ciências biológicas, em especial a biologia molecular e a engenharia genética. Enfatizam-se os novos conhecimentos sobre as características e propriedades do virus rábico, sobre a patogenia e imunologia da infecção, bem como o desenvolvimento de novas técnicas de diagnóstico e de avaliação de imunógenos. Destacam-se, na epidemiologia, a importância da identificação de cepas imunogenicamente distintas do virus rábico, e na imunoprofilaxia, a produção de vacinas altamente imunogênicas

Avaliação da resposta imunitária da vacina anti-rábica preparada em cérebros de camundongos lactentes aplicadas em cães primo vacinados, em condições naturais

The evaluation of a suckling-mouse-brain rabies vaccine in unvaccinated dogs was made using two different approaches. When the serum-neutralization technic was employed it was observed a slow and small rise in the median antibodies tittles being this increased followed by a fast decline as early as 45 days after vaccination. Further, was observed that immunitary reaction was more sensitive to the 2nd procedure employed: the immunofluorescence method. Using this technic the median antibodies tittles declined only after 60 days of vaccination.A avaliação do comportamento da vacina antirrábica, preparada em cérebros de camundongos lactentes e aplicada em cães nunca antes vacinados, revelou pela prova de soroneutralização (SN) uma ascensão lenta e de pequena magnitude e um declínio rápido das curvas das medianas dos títulos de anticorpos antirrábicos, já aos 45 dias de vacinação. Relativamente à prova de imunofluorescência indireta (IFI), a resposta imunitária revelou-se mais intensa, e o declínio da curva das medianas dos títulos de anticorpos ocorreu aos 60 dias de vacinação

The invention of hieroglyphs: a theory for the transmission of hieroglyphs in early-modern Europe

The present dissertation investigates the process of transmission of hieroglyphs from Egypt to Early-Modern Europe. This phenomenon has been studied by Egyptologists and Art Historians, mostly from a historical and descriptive standpoint, but here an original theoretical perspective was adopted: Grammatology or the study of writing. In order to understand this process of stimuli diffusion, and its outcome, it was deemed necessary to delve into both the Egyptian writing-system and the hieroglyphic phenomenon in the Renaissance, which led the dissertation to be divided into two parts. The First Part is devoted to The Ancient Hieroglyph: Chapter One addresses the mechanics of Egyptian hieroglyphs, their grammatological functions and the outline of a theory for the text-image dynamics in this context; Chapter Two examines the terminology of “hieroglyph” in Egypt, and its conceptual difference from the Greek and Contemporary views on the matter; Chapter Three describes the historical development of the Egyptian writing and a hypothesis for the emergence of a “hieroglyphic hermeneutics”; Chapter Four is dedicated to Horapollon’s Hieroglyphica, which is regarded as the main vector of diffusion between Ancient and Modern hieroglyphic traditions. The Second Part focuses on The Early-Modern Hieroglyph: Chapter Five outlines the early process of diffusion and the first ideas of hieroglyph in the Renaissance; Chapter Six discusses the creation of new hieroglyphic codes; Chapter Seven tackles the role of hieroglyphs in the birth of the emblematic tradition and its continuous relationship on different culture levels; Chapter Eight look into the Spanish jeroglificos, regarding it as a hybrid genre of hieroglyphs and emblems; Chapter Nine explores the impact of Renaissance hieroglyphs on the cultural perception of writing; and finally, in Chapter Ten, the process of convergence between hieroglyphs, alchemical iconography and emblems is analysed in the light of the previous chapters. It was found that there is an objective relationship between Ancient and Modern hieroglyphs, not easily perceptible and often downplayed as a result of a certain logocentrism, but of great importance – especially in terms of its impact on the establishment of a European text-image tradition. Another conclusion is that, if Renaissance scholars, artists and poets thought it possible to write through images, and in fact created speaking pictures, visual compositions can be considered as a form of writing - being therefore a potential subject of Grammatology. This finding does not exclude other instruments of analysis, but creates a number of theoretical solutions in the field of text-image studies that have been employed in the present study

Pesquisa de pigmentos biliares e urobilinogênio urinários e nível de bilirrubinas séricas em cães normais e com hepatopatias

An attempt was made at establishing a relationship between the presence of urinary liver pigments and/or urobilinogen and the rate of seric bilirrubine, in cases of hepatic diseases. The conclusion was that the presence of liver pigments, associated or not with urobilinogen in the urine indicates, hepatic involvement.Procurou-se relacionar a presença de pigmentos biliares e/ou urobilinogênio urinários, com a taxa de bilirrubina sérica em casos de hepatopatias, observando-se que a presença de pigmentos biliares associadas ou não à presença de urobilinogênio na urina, indica de modo geral comprometimento hepático

Eletroforese em acetato de celulose das proteinas séricas de cães normais e de cães com sarna demodécica

It was realized a comparative research about serum proteins from normal dogs and from dogs with demodetic mange by the method of eletrophoretic fractionation in "Cellogel’’. There is an individual difference in the number of protein fractions and for the percentage calculation it was considered 5 (five ) fractions, that are   albumin α 1, α 2, β e ϒ globulin. The α 2, β and ϒ fractions were obtained by the sum of their components. The animals with demodetic mange presented an increasing of α 2, β or ϒ on dependence of the skin lesion degree.Procedeu-se ao estudo do proteinograma de cães normais e de cães com sarna demodécica, pelo método do fracionamento eletroforético em “Cellogel. Há variações individuais no número das frações proteicas, e para o cálculo do valor relativo foram consideradas cinco (5) frações albumina, α 1, α 2, β e ϒ globulinas; o valor de α 2, β e ϒ foi obtido pela soma dos seus componentes. Nos animais com sarna demodécica há  um  aumento de α 2, β ou ϒ globulinas dependendo da gravidade da lesão da pele

Aflatoxins in foodstuffs: current concepts on mechanisms of toxicity and its involvement in the etiology of hepatocellular carcinoma

Current concepts derived from intensive research over the last decade, on biotransformation, mechanisms of toxicity and evidences for the involvement of aflatoxins in the etiolgy of human liver cancer are summarily presented. Aflatoxin B1(AFB1), the main metabolite produced by moulds of genus Aspergillus, exerts its effects after conversion to the reactive compound AFB1-epoxide, by the action of cytochrome P450-dependent enzymes. This epoxide can form derivatives with cellular macromolecules, including proteins, RNA and DNA. The reaction with DNA occurs with guanines in the códon 249 of tumor suppressor gene p53. Primary biotransformation of AFB1 also produces hydroxylated and less toxic derivatives, such as aflatoxins Q1 and P1. Differences intra and interspecies in the pathways of activation/detoxification are directly related to the susceptibility of animals to aflatoxin effects. In humans, studies of individual biomonitoring of AFB1 metabolites such as AFB1-N7-guanine have demonstrated that aflatoxins constitute an important risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in exposed populations. Some of these studies also show a synergistic action between aflatoxins and the hepatitis B virus in the development of human HCC. In view of these concepts, and taking into account the frequent detection of aflatoxins in Brazilian foodstuffs, the need for investigation into the level of exposure to these toxins and its impact on human health is stressed.Foram revistos os conceitos de maior relevância sobre mecanismos de toxicidade e evidências do envolvimento das aflatoxinas na etiologia do câncer hepático humano. A aflatoxina B1 (AFB1), principal metabólito produzido por fungos do gênero Aspergillus, manifesta seus efeitos tóxicos após conversão hepática em AFB1-epóxido, o qual reage com macromoléculas celulares, incluindo proteínas, RNA (ácido ribonucléico) e DNA (ácido desoxirribonucléico). A reação com o DNA ocorre através da ligação com guaninas, ao nível do códon 249, do gene supressor de tumores p53. Em seres humanos, estudos de biomonitoramento individual de derivados AFB1-N7-guanina tem demonstrado que as aflatoxinas constituem importantes fatores de risco, com uma provável interação sinergística com o vírus da hepatite B, para o desenvolvimento do carcinoma hepatocelular em populações expostas. Considerando-se a ocorrência freqüente das aflatoxinas em produtos alimentícios, no Brasil, ressalta-se a necessidade de estudos que avaliem criteriosamente o impacto dos níveis de exposição a estas toxinas sobre a saúde humana

Teste ELISA para diagnóstico da cisticercose suína usando antígenos de larvas de Taenia solium e Taenia crassiceps

Foi padronizado o teste ELISA para o diagnóstico da cisticercose suína. Após confirmação por exame post-mortem, os soros dos respectivos animais foram empregados como controles positivos e negativos. Soros de suínos portadores de infecções heterólogas foram ensaiados para determinação de reações cruzadas. Os quatro antígenos testados na fase de padronização foram líquido vesicular (VF) e extrato total (T) de larvas de Taenia crassiceps (Tcra) e de extrato de escólex (S) e de cisticercos (T) de Taenia solium (Tso). A titulação em bloco das ótimas concentrações de antígenos e diluições de soros e de conjugado, bem como o emprego de Tween-20 e de leite desnatado nas soluções bloqueadora e de lavagem exerceram nítida influência no desempenho do teste ELISA. Todos os antígenos revelaram bom desempenho na diferenciação entre soros positivos e negativos para cisticercose. O antígeno VF-Tcra apresentou as mais altas taxas de desempenho, seguido do T-Tcra. As taxas de desempenho para o antígeno VF-Tcra foram, respectivamente, para pontos de corte com 2sd e 3sd, de 96,0% e 80,0% para sensibilidade e de 97,5% e 100,0% para especificidade. Foi detectada reação cruzada com soros de hidatidose e de ascaridiose. Considerando o bom desempenho observado, o teste padronizado pode ser recomendado em matadouros no diagnóstico de animais suspeitos e no levantamento da ocorrência da doença nos segmentos de criação, sobretudo nos clandestinos, dando suporte às medidas de controle da cisticercose, integradas em toda a cadeia de produção da carne suína, exercendo efetiva contribuição à Saúde Pública.In the present study ELISA was standardized for the diagnosis of swine cysticercosis based on necropsy parameters and confirmed positive and negative control sera. Serum samples from pigs with other infections were also assayed to determine possible cross-reactions. Four antigens were assayed: from Taenia crassiceps vesicular fluid (VF-Tcra) and crude larvae extract (T-Tcra), and from Taenia solium extracts of scolex (S-Ts) and of larvae (T-Ts). A checkerboard evaluation of antigen, serum and conjugate dilutions, as well as the use of Tween-20 and skim cow milk in wash and blocking solution had a marked effect on improving ELISA performance. All the antigens showed a good performance, but VF-Tcra was the best, with 96.0% and 80.0% sensitivities for cut-offs respectively at 2sd and 3sd, and corresponding specificities of 97.5% and 100.0%. Cross-reactivity was observed only with hydatidosis and ascaridiosis. In view of the high performance observed, the ELISA test should be recommended for the diagnosis of cysticercosis in suspected swine in slaughterhouses and for the screening of cysticercosis in swine production. These results will support integrated measures of cysticercosis control throughout the chain of swine production, effectively contributing to public health

Serological study of canine toxoplasmosis through indirect immunofluorescent technique

A prevalência de infecção toxoplásmica em cães da cidade de Campinas, avaliada pela prova de imunofluorescência direta, revelou ser igual a 91% (88,8 ---- 93,2%). Não foram observadas diferenças estatisticamente significantes entre as proporções de reagentes,quando considerados os sexos. Os diferentes grupos etários mostraram-se iguiamente infectados e o nível de anticorpos anti-toxoplasma mais frequentemente observado foi igual a 1.000.The prevalence of canine toxoplasmosis in dogs of Campinas city, evaluated through the indirect immunofluorescent technique, was 91.0% (8 8 ,8 1-----193,2%). Considering the sex of theanimals, statistical significant differences were not observedamong the proportion of reagents; further animals of different agesrevealed the same infection rate. The most frequent value ofanti-toxoplasma antibody titer observed was 1.000