Can photobiomodulation therapy be an alternative to pharmacological therapies in decreasing the progression of skeletal muscle impairments of mdx mice?

OBJECTIVE:To compare the effects of photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT) and pharmacological therapy (glucocorticoids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) applied alone and in different combinations in mdx mice. METHODS:The animals were randomized and divided into seven experimental groups treated with placebo, PBMT, prednisone, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAIDs), PBMT plus prednisone and PBMT plus NSAID. Wild type animals were used as control. All treatments were performed during 14 consecutive weeks. Muscular morphology, protein expression of dystrophin and functional performance were assessed at the end of the last treatment. RESULTS:Both treatments with prednisone and PBMT applied alone or combined, were effective in preserving muscular morphology. In addition, the treatments with PBMT (p = 0.0005), PBMT plus prednisone (p = 0.0048) and PBMT plus NSAID (p = 0.0021) increased dystrophin gene expression compared to placebo-control group. However, in the functional performance the PBMT presented better results compared to glucocorticoids (p<0.0001). In contrast, the use of NSAIDs did not appear to add benefits to skeletal muscle tissue in mdx mice. CONCLUSION:We believe that the promising and optimistic results about the PBMT in skeletal muscle of mdx mice may in the future contribute to this therapy to be considered a safe alternative for patients with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) in a washout period (between treatment periods with glucocorticoids), allowing them to remain receiving effective and safe treatment in this period, avoiding at this way periods without administration of any treatment

Projeto Memória e Novas Formas de Habitar a Cidade de São Luiz do Paraitinga

Projeto de Intervenção da frente Novas Formas de Habitar apresentado ao Programa UNESP de apoio emergencial a São Luiz do Paraiting

Sociología de la cultura, arte e interculturalidad

Este libro compila investigaciones sociales sobre diversas manifestaciones culturales y artísticas latinoamericanas. muchas de estas experiencias estudiadas fueron posibles, en parte, por la movilización social, la creatividad y las transformaciones en la legislación internacional, ratificadas en varios estados. A partir de las investigaciones presentadas en este volumen se visualizan nuevas disputas por la distribución de recursos materiales y simbólicos de actores comunitarios otrora invisibilizados. Se muestran avances a la vez que persisten desigualdades económicas y prácticas de discriminación. En este sentido, y a la luz de la vigente amenaza a nivel regional y mundial de retroceso de los derechos adquiridos , cobra aún más vigor la pregunta orientadora de este libro: ¿cuál es el lugar de la cultura (valores, creencias, expresiones artísticas y simbólicas atravesadas por múltiples tecnologías) en los procesos de transformación actual

ATLANTIC ANTS: a data set of ants in Atlantic Forests of South America

International audienc

Design and implementation of the AMIGA embedded system for data acquisition

International audienceThe Auger Muon Infill Ground Array (AMIGA) is part of the AugerPrime upgrade of the Pierre Auger Observatory. It consists of particle counters buried 2.3 m underground next to the water-Cherenkov stations that form the 23.5 km2 large infilled array. The reduced distance between detectors in this denser area allows the lowering of the energy threshold for primary cosmic ray reconstruction down to about 1017 eV. At the depth of 2.3 m the electromagnetic component of cosmic ray showers is almost entirely absorbed so that the buried scintillators provide an independent and direct measurement of the air showers muon content. This work describes the design and implementation of the AMIGA embedded system, which provides centralized control, data acquisition and environment monitoring to its detectors. The presented system was firstly tested in the engineering array phase ended in 2017, and lately selected as the final design to be installed in all new detectors of the production phase. The system was proven to be robust and reliable and has worked in a stable manner since its first deployment