Microencapsulation Yield Assessment Using TGA

In this study, microcapsules containing different contents of different kinds of fragrances and with a regular spherical shape, 2,0–8,0 µm diameter, were synthesized in various core:shell ratios. Mint and cuir fragrances were successfully encapsulated in poly(urea-formaldehyde) (PUF) shell via in-situ polymerization. This was confirmed by optical microscope, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) studies. By observation from thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), it was found a relation between thermal gravimetric curves and the amount of fragrance encapsulated, which was later contrasted by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy. In this way, comparatively, the yield percentage values can be quantitatively defined with a sufficient degree of accuracy by TGA methodPostprint (author's final draft

En busca del ciudadano Kane : los dueños de medios de comunicación y su utilización política

Aquesta recerca té com a objecte d'estudi la utilització dels mitjans de comunicació per a finalitats polítiques i intenta analitzar la relació que els polítics professionals mantenen amb els mitjans i com aquests poden ser importants dins d'un procés polític-electoral i per a la formació de l'opinió pública. El nostre objectiu general és, entre d'altres, analitzar l'estructura d'aquests mitjans i grups polítics i descriure com estan situats, utilitzant com a exemple l'estat del Rio Grande do Norte (RN), al Nord-est de Brasil. Partint de les preguntes, ¿a qui pertanyen els mitjans de comunicació i qui té el poder d'informar en l'aquest Estat? anem construïm el marc teòric, analitzant el monopoli i oligopoli en la comunicació a Brasil, especialment a la radiodifusió, en la qual hi ha una gran concentració de concessions públiques en propietat dels polítics professionals amb mandats electius i/o de grups partidaris, què pot ser anomenat de 'coronelismo electrònic'Ésta investigación tiene como objeto de estudio la utilización de los medios de comunicación para fines políticos e intenta analizar la relación que los políticos profesionales mantienen con los medios y como estos pueden ser importantes dentro de un proceso político-electoral y para la formación de la opinión pública. Nuestro objetivo general es, entre otros, analizar la estructura de estos medios y grupos políticos y describir como están situados, utilizando como ejemplo el estado del Rio Grande do Norte (RN), en el Nordeste de Brasil. Partiendo de las preguntas, ¿a quién pertenecen los medios de comunicación y quien tiene el poder de informar en el dicho Estado?, vamos construyendo el marco teórico, analizando el monopolio y oligopolio en la comunicación en Brasil, especialmente en la radiodifusión, en la cual hay una gran concentración de concesiones públicas en propiedad de los políticos profesionales con mandatos electivos y/o de grupos partidarios, qué puede ser llamado de 'coronelismo electrónico'The object of study for this investigation is constituted by the means of communication for political purposes. It intends to analyze how politicians interact with the media vehicles and its importance as part of a electoral process and to shape the public opinion. Amongst other issues, our main objective is to analyze the structure of such media and political groups and describe how they're established, using as reference the state of Rio Grande do Norte (RN), located in the Northeast of Brazil. We will seek to answer the following questions: To whom the means of communication in RN belong and who has the power to inform in this Brazilian state? We will build up our theoretical basis, analyze the monopoly and oligopoly in the Brazilian communication, specially Radio and Television, in which there is a great concentration of public concessions in the hands of politicians serving mandates and/or part of political parties, what we could call "electronic coronelism

Application of Plant Surfactants as Cleaning Agents in Shampoo Formulations

With the increased demand for sustainable, hypoallergenic products, plant surfactants are a promising, eco-friendly option for cleaning products due to their low toxicity or even the absence of toxicity. In the present study, surfactant-rich extracts from Chenopodium quinoa, Glycine max, and Malpighia emarginata were assessed for their stability, antioxidant capacity, toxic potential, and cleaning potential in shampoo formulations. The surfactants in the extracts were isolated and characterized by NMR, UV-Vis, and FTIR spectroscopy. The results demonstrated that the extracts remained stable within the temperature and pH ranges tested. The antioxidant properties were also determined. In the analysis of irritation potential, G. max and C. quinoa exhibited low toxicity and no toxicity, respectively. The cleaning potential analysis confirmed that the extracts could be used as primary surfactants. Seven shampoo formulations were developed, which showed potential to reduce surface tension to the range of 27.1-31.7 mN/m and interfacial tension to the range of 5.4-7.3 mN/m. The wettability, percentage of solids, density, pH, and dirt dispersion of the formulas were within standard ranges, and the sebum removal capacity of the seven formulations was similar to or even better than that of a commercial shampoo

Práticas educativas em saúde do enfermeiro com a família da criança hospitalizada

As reflexões de como os enfermeiros estão realizando as ações educativas em saúde na assistência infantil levaram a questão norteadora deste estudo: Como o enfermeiro tem desenvolvido as ações de educação em saúde com a família da criança hospitalizada? O presente trabalho teve como objetivo caracterizar as práticas educativas em saúde do enfermeiro com a família da criança hospitalizada. Trata-se de um estudo descritivo, exploratório, de abordagem qualitativa, cujos sujeitos foram nove enfermeiros que trabalham na unidade de pacientes internos de um hospital universitário pediátrico localizado no município do Rio de Janeiro. O instrumento para produção dos dados foi a entrevista semi-estruturada, aplicada aos sujeitos entre os meses de setembro a novembro de 2006. A partir da Análise Temática dos dados, emergiu a seguinte categoria: Práticas educativas em saúde: preparando as famílias de crianças dependentes de tecnologia para o cuidado domiciliar. Verificou-se que as ações educativas encontram-se voltadas principalmente para as crianças dependentes de tecnologia. Recomenda-se a criação de serviços de atenção domiciliar para as crianças que necessitam de cuidados especializados de forma tal que suas famílias tenham uma rede de apoio para cuidar de seus filhos e a criação de grupos educativos com as famílias das crianças hospitalizadas

A concepção de educação em saúde do enfermeiro no cuidado à criança hospitalizada

Trata de investigação sobre a educação em saúde no cuidado infantil. O trabalho teve como objetivo identificar a concepção de educação em saúde que norteia a prática educativa do enfermeiro junto à família da criança hospitalizada. Trata-se de um estudo descritivo, exploratório, de abordagem qualitativa, cujos sujeitos foram nove enfermeiros que trabalham na unidade de pacientes internos de um hospital universitário pediátrico localizado no município do Rio de Janeiro. O instrumento para produção dos dados foi a entrevista semi-estruturada, aplicada aos sujeitos entre os meses de setembro a novembro de 2006. A partir da Análise Temática dos dados, emergiu a seguinte categoria: A concepção de educação em saúde na ótica dos enfermeiros. Constatou-se que a concepção de educação em saúde está pautada na transmissão de conhecimentos e no modelo biologicista do processo saúde-doença, onde o saber das famílias, a sua realidade social e a existência de práticas populares foram pouco valorizados. Recomenda-se a formação de grupos de discussão com os enfermeiros nas unidades hospitalares acerca da educação em saúde e a criação de grupos educativos com as famílias das crianças hospitalizadas

Vacuum fluctuations and topological Casimir effect in Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmologies with compact dimensions

We investigate the Wightman function, the vacuum expectation values of the field squared and the energy-momentum tensor for a massless scalar field with general curvature coupling parameter in spatially flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universes with an arbitrary number of toroidally compactified dimensions. The topological parts in the expectation values are explicitly extracted and in this way the renormalization is reduced to that for the model with trivial topology. In the limit when the comoving lengths of the compact dimensions are very short compared to the Hubble length, the topological parts coincide with those for a conformal coupling and they are related to the corresponding quantities in the flat spacetime by standard conformal transformation. In the opposite limit of large comoving lengths of the compact dimensions, in dependence of the curvature coupling parameter, two regimes are realized with monotonic or oscillatory behavior of the vacuum expectation values. In the monotonic regime and for nonconformally and nonminimally coupled fields the vacuum stresses are isotropic and the equation of state for the topological parts in the energy density and pressures is of barotropic type. In the oscillatory regime, the amplitude of the oscillations for the topological part in the expectation value of the field squared can be either decreasing or increasing with time, whereas for the energy-momentum tensor the oscillations are damping.Comment: 20 pages, 2 figure

Atheromas that cause fatal thrombosis are usually large and frequently accompanied by vessel enlargement

Several lines of clinical evidence show that AMI frequently occurs at sites with mild to moderate degree of coronary stenosis. The degree of luminal stenosis depends on plaque deposition and degree of vessel remodeling, features poorly assessed by coronary angiography. This postmortem study tested the hypothesis that the size of coronary atheroma and the type of remodeling distinguish culprit lesion responsible for fatal AMI from equi-stenotic nonculprit lesion in the same coronary tree. The main coronary branches from 36 consecutive patients with fatal AMI were studied. The culprit lesion (Group 1) and an equi-stenotic nonculprit segment (Group 2) obtained in measurements of another coronary branch from the same patient were compared. Morphometry and plaque composition was assessed in both groups. Compared to Group 2, Group 1 had larger areas of: plaque $9.6 vs. 4.7 mm^2$, vessel $12.7 vs. 7.4 mm^2$ and lumen $1.7 vs. 1.2 mm^2$; (P<.01). Positive remodeling was more frequent in Group 1 than Group 2: 21/30 (70%) vs. 8/26 (31%). Plaque area correlated positively with lipid core and macrophages and negatively with fibrosis and smooth muscle cells. Atherosclerotic plaques that cause fatal thrombosis are more frequently positively remodeled and tend to be larger than nonculprit plaques with the same degree of cross-sectional stenosis. We tested whether arterial remodeling and plaque size vary between segments containing a fatal thrombosed plaque versus an equi-stenotic nonculprit plaque. Culprit vessel segments had higher cross-sectional areas of intimal plaque and of vessel wall than equi-stenotic nonculprit plaques. The cross-sectional area of the vessel correlated positively with both the lipid core area and $CD68^+$ macrophage content, and negatively with fibrosis area and smooth muscle cell content. These results add elements explaining limitations of angiography in identifying plaques and provide new insights into the role of remodeling in plaque instability.Other Research Uni

Algebraic and Geometric Characterizations Related to the Quantization Problem of the C2,8C_{2,8} Channel

In this paper, we consider the steps to be followed in the analysis and interpretation of the quantization problem related to the $C_{2,8}$ channel, where the Fuchsian differential equations, the generators of the Fuchsian groups, and the tessellations associated with the cases $g=2$ and $g=3$, related to the hyperbolic case, are determined. In order to obtain these results, it is necessary to determine the genus $g$ of each surface on which this channel may be embedded. After that, the procedure is to determine the algebraic structure (Fuchsian group generators) associated with the fundamental region of each surface. To achieve this goal, an associated linear second-order Fuchsian differential equation whose linearly independent solutions provide the generators of this Fuchsian group is devised. In addition, the tessellations associated with each analyzed case are identified. These structures are identified in four situations, divided into two cases $(g=2$ and $g=3)$, obtaining, therefore, both algebraic and geometric characterizations associated with quantizing the $C_{2,8}$ channel.Comment: 31 pages, 9 figure

Cell walls of the dimorphic fungal pathogens Sporothrix schenckii and Sporothrix brasiliensis exhibit bilaminate structures and sloughing of extensive and intact layers

This work was supported by the Fundação Carlos Chagas de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ), grants E-26/202.974/2015 and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), grants 229755/2013-5, Brazil. LMLB is a senior research fellow of CNPq and Faperj. NG acknowledged support from the Wellcome Trust (Trust (097377, 101873, 200208) and MRC Centre for Medical Mycology (MR/N006364/1). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The potential role of polyelectrolyte complex nanoparticles based on cashew gum, tripolyphosphate and chitosan for the loading of insulin

Polyelectrolytic complexation has stood out due to its application in the development of drug delivery systems using biopolymers as raw materials. The formation of complexes between cashew gum and chitosan can be intermediated by cross-links, mediated by the action of the sodium tripolyphosphate crosslinking agent. These polymers have been used in the nanotechnological development of formulations to protect peptide drugs, such as insulin, allowing their oral administration. In this work, we describe the development of polyelectrolytic complexes from cashew gum and chitosan as biopolymers for oral administration of insulin. The obtained complexes showed a mean particle size of 234 nm and polydispersity index of 0.2. The complexes were 234 nm in size, PDI 0.2, zeta potential 4.5 mV and 22% trapping. The obtained complexes demonstrated considerable and promising characteristics for use as oral insulin delivery systems.e Fundação de Amparo à Ciência e Tecnologia do Estado de Pernambuco (FACEPE), Banco do Nordeste (grant FUNDECI/2016.0015), Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (FCT/MCT) and from European Funds (PRODER/COMPETE) through the project UIDB/04469/2020 (strategic fund), co-financed by FEDER, under the Partnership Agreement PT2020info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio