Charmed hadron signals of partonic medium

We present a short review of our results on the collectivity and the suppression pattern of charmed mesons in heavy-ion collisions based on the microscopic Hadron-String Dynamics (HSD) transport approach for different scenarios of charm interactions with the surrounding matter - the 'comover' dissociation by mesons with further recreation by D+Dbar channels and 'pre-hadronic' interaction scenarios. While at SPS energies the hadronic 'comover' absorption scenario is found to be compatible with the experimental data, the dynamics of c and cbar quarks at RHIC are dominated by partonic or 'pre-hadronic' interactions in the strongly coupled quark-gluon plasma stage and cannot be modeled by pure hadronic interactions. We find that the collective flow of charm in the purely hadronic scenario appears compatible with the data at SPS energies but underestimates the data at top RHIC energies. Thus, the large elliptic flow v2 of D mesons and the low R_AA(pT) of J/Psi seen experimentally at RHIC have to be attributed to early interactions of non-hadronic degrees of freedom. Simultaneously, we observe that non-hadronic interactions are mandatory in order to describe the narrowing of the J/Psi rapidity distribution from p+p to central Au+Au collisions at the top RHIC energy. We demonstrate additionally that the strong quenching of high-pT J/Psi's in central Au+Au collisions indicates that a fraction of final J/Psi mesons is created by a coalescence mechanism close to the phase boundary.Comment: Talk given at International Conference on Strangeness in Quark Matter (SQM 2008), Beijing, China, 6-10 Oct 200

κ-statistics approach to optimal transport waveform inversion

Extracting physical parameters that cannot be directly measured from an observed data set remains a great challenge in several fields of science and physics. In many of these problems, the construction of a physical model from waveforms is hampered by the phase ambiguity of the recorded wave fronts. In this work, we present an approach for mitigating the effect of phase ambiguity in waveform-driven issues. Our proposal combines the optimal transport theory with the κ-statistical thermodynamics approach. We construct an energy function from the most probable state of a system described by a finite-variance κ-Gaussian distribution to introduce an optimal transport metric. We demonstrate that our proposal outperforms the classical frameworks by considering a nonlinear geophysical data-driven problem based on a wave equation numerical solution. The κ-generalized optimal transport metric is easily adapted to various inverse problems, from estimating power-law exponents to machine learning approaches in quantum mechanics

Contribuições da Copa da Inclusão para a consolidação do campo psicossocial

Este é um estudo descritivo e analítico de caráter qualitativo, cujo objeto é a ação dos trabalhadores na Copa da Inclusão (seus processos de trabalho). Busca compreender se tal ação considera a vida real do usuário de serviços de saúde mental e, para tal, adotou como categorias teóricas os elementos constitutivos do processo de trabalho, tecnologias em saúde e os pressupostos do campo psicossocial. Os dados empíricos foram coletados por meio de entrevista semi-estruturada e analisados segundo a técnica de análise de enunciação. Os resultados apontam transformações na vida dos usuários, dos serviços e da sociedade coerentes com os pressupostos da Reforma Psiquiátrica brasileira. A Copa da Inclusão prova que atividades intersetoriais são trabalhos vivos em ato, utilizam instrumentos de intervenção potentíssimos no resgate e construção da cidadania das pessoas portadoras de transtornos mentais. As transformações (finalidades dos processos de trabalho) podem estar ocorrendo porque o projeto de intervenção não é mais centrado na doença.This is a descriptive, analytical qualitative study, which looks at workers' action in the Inclusion Cup (their work processes). It aims to understand if that action considers mental health service users' real life and, to do this, it adopted the following theoretical categories: the elements constituting the work process, health technologies and the premises of the psychosocial field. The empirical data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews and analyzed according to the discourse analysis technique. Results point at changes in the users' lives, in services and in the society coherent with the premises of the Brazilian Psychiatric Reform. The Inclusion Cup proves that intersectorial activities are living work in their action, use intervention instruments that are very strong in terms of rescuing and building the citizenship of people with mental disorders. The changes (purposes of the work processes) may be occurring because the intervention project is no longer centered on the disease.Este es un estudio descriptivo y analítico, de carácter cualitativo, cuyo objeto es la acción de los trabajadores en la Copa da Inclusión (sus procesos de trabajo). Busca comprender si tal acción considera la vida real del usuario de los servicios de salude mental y, para esto, adoptó como categorías teóricas los elementos constitutivos del proceso de trabajo, tecnologías en salud y los conceptos del campo psicosocial. Los datos empíricos fueron recolectados por medio de entrevistas semiestructuradas y analizados según la técnica de análisis de enunciado. Los resultados apuntan transformaciones en la vida de los usuarios de los servicios y de la sociedad, coherentes con los conceptos de la Reforma Psiquiátrica brasileña. La Copa de la Inclusión prueba que las actividades intersectoriales son trabajos vivos en acto, utiliza instrumentos de intervención muy potentes en el rescate y construcción de la ciudadanía de las personas portadoras de trastornos mentales. Las trasformaciones (finalidades de los procesos de trabajo) pueden estar ocurriendo porque el proyecto de intervención no está más centrado en la enfermedad

Larval food quantity affects development time, survival and adult biological traits that influence the vectorial capacity of Anopheles darlingi under laboratory conditions

BACKGROUND: The incidence of malaria in the Amazon is seasonal and mosquito vectorial capacity parameters, including abundance and longevity, depend on quantitative and qualitative aspects of the larval diet. Anopheles darlingi is a major malaria vector in the Amazon, representing >95% of total Anopheles population present in the Porto Velho region. Despite its importance in the transmission of the Plasmodium parasite, knowledge of the larval biology and ecology is limited. Studies regarding aspects of adult population ecology are more common than studies on larval ecology. However, in order develop effective control strategies and laboratory breeding conditions for this species, more data on the factors affecting vector biology is needed. The aim of the present study is to assess the effects of larval food quantity on the vectorial capacity of An. darling under laboratory conditions. METHODS: Anopheles darlingi was maintained at 28°C, 80% humidity and exposed to a daily photoperiod of 12 h. Larvae were divided into three experimental groups that were fed either a low, medium, or high food supply (based on the food amounts consumed by other species of culicids). Each experiment was replicated for six times. A cohort of adults were also exposed to each type of diet and assessed for several biological characteristics (e.g. longevity, bite frequency and survivorship), which were used to estimate the vectorial capacity of each experimental group. RESULTS: The group supplied with higher food amounts observed a reduction in development time while larval survival increased. In addition to enhanced longevity, increasing larval food quantity was positively correlated with increasing frequency of bites, longer blood meal duration and wing length, resulting in greater vectorial capacity. However, females had greater longevity than males despite having smaller wings. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, several larval and adult biological traits were significantly affected by larval food availability. Greater larval food supply led to enhance larval and production and larger mosquitoes with longer longevity and higher biting frequency. Thus, larval food availability can alter important biological traits that influence the vectorial capacity of An. darlingi

Soluções hipertônicas para reanimação de pacientes em choque

Small volume hypertonic resuscitation is a relatively new conceptual approach to shock therapy. It was originally based on the idea that a relatively large blood volume expansion could be obtained by administering a relatively small volume of fluid, taking advantage of osmosis. It was soon realized that the physiological vasodilator property of hypertonicity was a useful byproduct of small volume resuscitation in that it induced reperfusion of previously ischemic territories, even though such an effect encroached upon the malefic effects of the ischemia-reperfusion process. Subsequent research disclosed a number of previously unsuspected properties of hypertonic resuscitation, amongst them the correction of endothelial and red cell edema with significant consequences in terms of capillary blood flow. A whole set of actions of hypertonicity upon the immune system are being gradually uncovered, but the full implication of these observations with regard to the clinical scenario are still under study. Small volume resuscitation for shock is in current clinical use in some parts of the world, in spite of objections raised concerning its safety under conditions of uncontrolled bleeding. These objections stem mainly from experimental studies, but there are few signs that they may be of real clinical significance. This review attempts to cover the earlier and the more recent developments in this field.O uso de soluções hipertônicas para reanimação de pacientes em choque é um conceito relativamente novo. Baseou-se originalmente na idéia de que uma expansão volêmica significativa podia ser obtida às custas de um volume relativamente diminuto de infusão, aproveitando a propriedade física de osmose. Logo ficou claro que a capacidade fisiológica de produzir vasodilatação, compartilhada por todas as soluções hipertônicas, seria valiosa para reperfundir territórios tornados isquêmicos pelo choque, embora os malefícios da seqüência isquemia - reperfusão devessem ser considerados. Pesquisa subseqüente revelou propriedades antes insuspeitadas da reanimação hipertônica. Verificou-se que este procedimento revertia instantaneamente o edema endotelial e de hemácias, com importantes conseqüências em termos de circulação capilar. Mais recentemente, um conjunto de efeitos da hipertonicidade sobre o sistema imune vem sendo estudado, mas as possíveis implicações destas descobertas em relação ao cenário clínico ainda suscitam discussão. As soluções hipertônicas estão em uso em algumas partes do mundo, apesar de objeções levantadas contra tal uso, em virtude de dados experimentais derivados de experimentos de hemorragia não controlada. Tais objeções não parecem se justificar em face dos resultados obtidos numa série de ensaios clínicos e no uso corrente destas soluções. Esta revisão procura cobrir um pouco da história, remota e recente, deste campo do conhecimento