Few-body correlations in the QCD phase diagram

From the viewpoint of statistical physics, nuclear matter is a strongly correlated many-particle system. Several regimes of the QCD phase diagram should exhibit strong correlations. Here I focus on three- and four-body correlations that might be important in the phase diagram.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figures, contribution to QNP200

Efeito da idade, aplicação do ácido indolbutírico e das quatro estações do ano na estaquia de araçazeiro

Orientador: Profª Dra. Giovana Bomfim de AlcantaraMonografia (graduação) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Ciências Agrárias, Curso de Graduação em Engenharia FlorestalInclui referênciasResumo : O Brasil é o terceiro maior produtor de frutas do mundo, ficando atrás da China e Índia, segundo a FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) em 2020. A produção se concentra principalmente no cultivo de plantas exóticas, pouco aproveitando a imensa variedade de frutíferas nativas do país. Uma das famílias englobadas pela frutíferas nativas de pouca visibilidade é a Myrtaceae, a qual apresenta diversas espécies com grande potencial exploratório, agroindustrial e farmacoindustrial. Psidium cattleyanum Sabine popularmente conhecida como araçá é uma das espécies de grande potencial, já possui produção em pequena escala, faltando desenvolvimento de técnicas silviculturais e produção de mudas clonais com qualidade para expansão da produção. Devido esta necessidade, este estudo visa aprimorar os conhecimentos de propagação vegetativa para Psidium cattleyanum, por meio de estaquia. Foram avaliados os tipos de tecidos para confecção das estacas, juvenis e adultos, sendo as juvenis com origem das mudas e adultas com origem de árvores, em quatro concentrações de Indole-3-butyric acid (0, 1000, 2000, 4000 mg L-1 ), nas quatro épocas do ano. Os experimentos foram conduzidos no viveiro anexo ao Laboratório de Biotecnologia Florestal da Universidade Federal do Paraná, campus Jardim Botânico. Os experimentos instalados nas estações de primavera, verão e outono foram conduzidos com 20 estacas por parcela, totalizando 640 estacas por estação, e o de inverno com 16 estacas por parcela totalizando 512 estacas, foi utilizado o delineamento de blocos ao acaso (DBC). As estacas foram plantadas em tubetes contendo Tropstrato® condicionadas em casa de vegetação com umidade relativa do ar em torno de 70 ± 5% e temperatura 25 ± 2°C. O resfriamento foi realizado por sistema "PAD" de refrigeração e sistema "FAN" de ventilação/exaustão. A umidade relativa do ar foi mantida com sistema de nebulização. Foram avaliadas as variáveis: enraizamento, sobrevivência, mortalidade, número de raízes por estacas e média do comprimento das três maiores raízes, após 60 dias da instalação. Somente estacas juvenis apresentaram enraizamento ao final do experimento e uso do IBA na concentração 4000 mg L-1 possibilitou as melhores porcentagens de enraizamento para as estações de verão (98,75%) e inverno (85,94%), não havendo diferenças estatísticas para número de raízes por estaca e comprimento das três maiores raízes. As estacas originarias de tecido juvenil apresentam viabilidade de enraizamento recomendando-se o uso da técnica para Psidium cattleyanum

Erythropoietin: Recent Developments in the Treatment of Spinal Cord Injury

Erythropoietin (EPO), originally identified for its critical function in regulating production and survival of erythrocytes, is a member of the type 1 cytokine superfamily. Recent studies have shown that EPO has cytoprotective effects in a wide variety of cells and tissues. Here is presented the analysis of EPO effects on spinal cord injury (SCI), considering both animal experiments concerning to mechanisms of neurodegeneration in SCI and EPO as a neuroprotective agent, and some evidences coming from ongoing clinical trials. The evidences underling that EPO could be a promising therapeutic agent in a variety of neurological insults, including trauma, are mounting. In particular, it is highlighted that administration of EPO or other recently generated EPO analogues such as asialo-EPO and carbamylated-EPO demonstrate interesting preclinical and clinical characteristics, rendering the evaluation of these tissue-protective agents imperative in human clinical trials. Moreover the demonstration of rhEPO and its analogues' broad neuroprotective effects in animal models of cord lesion and in human trial like stroke, should encourage scientists and clinicians to design clinical trials assessing the efficacy of these pharmacological compounds on SCI

Pathogenesis of Autoimmune Cytopenias in Inborn Errors of Immunity Revealing Novel Therapeutic Targets

Autoimmune diseases are usually associated with environmental triggers and genetic predisposition. However, a few number of autoimmune diseases has a monogenic cause, mostly in children. These diseases may be the expression, isolated or associated with other symptoms, of an underlying inborn error of immunity (IEI). Autoimmune cytopenias (AICs), including immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA), autoimmune neutropenia (AN), and Evans' syndrome (ES) are common presentations of immunological diseases in the pediatric age, with at least 65% of cases of ES genetically determined. Autoimmune cytopenias in IEI have often a more severe, chronic, and relapsing course. Treatment refractoriness also characterizes autoimmune cytopenia with a monogenic cause, such as IEI. The mechanisms underlying autoimmune cytopenias in IEI include cellular or humoral autoimmunity, immune dysregulation in cases of hemophagocytosis or lymphoproliferation with or without splenic sequestration, bone marrow failure, myelodysplasia, or secondary myelosuppression. Genetic characterization of autoimmune cytopenias is of fundamental importance as an early diagnosis improves the outcome and allows the setting up of a targeted therapy, such as CTLA-4 IgG fusion protein (Abatacept), small molecule inhibitors (JAK-inhibitors), or gene therapy. Currently, gene therapy represents one of the most attractive targeted therapeutic approaches to treat selected inborn errors of immunity. Even in the absence of specific targeted therapies, however, whole exome genetic testing (WES) for children with chronic multilineage cytopenias should be considered as an early diagnostic tool for disease diagnosis and genetic counseling

Grafted Neural Precursors Integrate Into Mouse Striatum, Differentiate and Promote Recovery of Function Through Release of Erythropoietin in MPTP-Treated Mice.

Erythropoietin-releasing neural precursor cells (Er-NPCs) are a subclass of subventricular zone-derived neural progenitors, capable of surviving for 6 hr after death of donor. They present higher neural differentiation. Here, Er-NPCs were studied in animal model of Parkinson's disease. Dopaminergic degeneration was caused by 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine intraperitoneal administration in C57BL/6 mice. The loss of function was evaluated by specific behavioral tests. Er-NPCs (2.5 × 105) expressing the green fluorescent protein were administered by stereotaxic injection unilaterally in the left striatum. At the end of observational research period (2 weeks), most of the transplanted Er-NPCs were located in the striatum, while several had migrated ventrally and caudally from the injection site, up to ipsilateral and contralateral substantia nigra. Most of transplanted cells had differentiated into dopaminergic, cholinergic, or GABAergic neurons. Er-NPCs administration also promoted a rapid functional improvement that was already evident at the third day after cells administration. This was accompanied by enhanced survival of nigral neurons. These effects were likely promoted by Er-NPCs-released erythropoietin (EPO), since the injection of Er-NPCs in association with anti-EPO or anti-EPOR antibodies had completely neutralized the recovery of function. In addition, intrastriatal administration of recombinant EPO mimics the effects of Er-NPCs. We suggest that Er-NPCs, and cells with similar properties, may represent good candidates for cellular therapy in neurodegenerative disorders of this kind

A New Selective PPARγ Modulator Inhibits Triglycerides Accumulation during Murine Adipocytes’ and Human Adipose-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells Differentiation

Understanding the molecular basis of adipogenesis is vital to identify new therapeutic targets to improve anti-obesity drugs. The adipogenic process could be a new target in the management of this disease. Our aim was to evaluate the effect of GMG-43AC, a selective peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor \u3b3 (PPAR\u3b3) modulator, during adipose differentiation of murine pre-adipocytes and human Adipose Derived Stem Cells (hADSCs). We differentiated 3T3-L1 cells and primary hADSCs in the presence of various doses of GMG-43AC and evaluated the differentiation efficiency measuring lipid accumulation, the expression of specific differentiation markers and the quantification of accumulated triglycerides. The treatment with GMG-43AC is not toxic as shown by cell viability assessments after the treatments. Our findings demonstrate the inhibition of lipid accumulation and the significant decrease in the expression of adipocyte-specific genes, such as PPAR\u3b3, FABP-4, and leptin. This effect was long lasting, as the removal of GMG-43AC from culture medium did not allow the restoration of adipogenic process. The above actions were confirmed in hADSCs exposed to adipogenic stimuli. Together, these results indicate that GMG-43AC efficiently inhibits adipocytes differentiation in murine and human cells, suggesting its possible function in the reversal of adipogenesis and modulation of lipolysis

The synaptic vesicle proteins synapsin I and synaptophysin (protein P38) are concentrated both in efferent and afferent nerve endings of the skeletal muscle

Synapsin I and synaptophysin (protein p38) are 2 major protein components of the membranes of small synaptic vesicles of virtually all presynaptic nerve endings. Synapsin I, a phosphoprotein regulated by both Ca2+ and cAMP, is a peripheral protein of the cytoplasmic surface of the vesicle membrane. It is thought to anchor the vesicle surface to the cytoskeleton of the terminal and to play a regulatory role in neurotransmitter release. Synaptophysin is an intrinsic transmembrane glycoprotein. We report here that both proteins are present and concentrated also in afferent nerve endings, which provide the sensory innervation of the skeletal muscle and of the tendon. The distribution of both antigens in sensory nerve endings is consistent with their localization on the microvesicles that have been described in such endings. Thus, our results suggest the existence of important biochemical, and possibly functional, similarities between small synaptic vesicles of presynaptic nerve endings and microvesicles of sensory endings. Such findings provide new clues to the understanding of the physiology of sensory endings

Medium corrections in the formation of light charged particles in heavy ion reactions

Within a microscopic statistical description of heavy ion collisions, we investigate the effect of the medium on the formation of light clusters. The dominant medium effects are self-energy corrections and Pauli blocking that produce the Mott effect for composite particles and enhanced reaction rates in the collision integrals. Microscopic description of composites in the medium follows the Dyson equation approach combined with the cluster mean-field expansion. The resulting effective few-body problem is solved within a properly modified Alt-Grassberger-Sandhas formalism. The results are incorporated in a Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck simulation for heavy ion collisions. The number and spectra of light charged particles emerging from a heavy ion collision changes in a significant manner in effect of the medium modification of production and absorption processes.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figure