The role of evolutive elastic properties in the performance of a sheet formed spring applied in multimedia car industry

The manufacturing process and the behavior of a sheet formed spring manufactured from an aluminum sheet is described and investigated in this work considering the specifications for the in-service conditions. The sheet formed spring is intended to be applied in car multimedia industry to replace bolted connections. Among others, are investigated the roles of the constitutive parameters and the hypothesis of evolutive elastic properties with the plastic work in the multi-step forming process and in working conditions.This research was sponsored by:a) Portugal Incentive System for Research and Technological Development. Project in co-promotion no 36265/2013 (Project HMIExcel - 2013-2015), andb) FCT with the reference project UID/EEA/04436/2013, by FEDER funds through the COMPETE 2020 - Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalizacao (POCI) with the reference project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006941.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Fimose e Circuncisão

A circuncisão é um procedimento cirúrgico muito frequente, por vezes com indicações clínicas pouco esclarecidas. Apesar de um método simples, tem riscos e complicações, pelo que deve ser bem ponderada a necessidade da sua realização, sobretudo em crianças e recém-nascidos. Torna-se necessário saber distinguir entre fimose fisiológica e fimose patológica. Nesta revisão pretende-se abordar as indicações cirúrgicas da circuncisão, as suas técnicas de execução e os diversos tratamentos alternativos

Carcinoma Sarcomatóide da Bexiga

Os carcinomas sarcomatóides da bexiga são neoplasias raras e extremamente agressivas, contendo componentes malignos epiteliais e mesenquimatosos. Afectam predominantemente homens de meia idade, sendo a maioria das vezes localmente avançados aquando o diagnóstico. Apresentamos o caso de um doente com um carcinoma sarcomatóide da bexiga, com o diagnóstico prévio de carcinoma urotelial, submetido a cistectomia radical e quimioterapia complementar. Revemos os aspectos mais importantes da epidemiologia, etiologia, diagnóstico e terapêutica deste tipo de neoplasias

An insight into the sialome of Glossina morsitans morsitans

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Blood feeding evolved independently in worms, arthropods and mammals. Among the adaptations to this peculiar diet, these animals developed an armament of salivary molecules that disarm their host's anti-bleeding defenses (hemostasis), inflammatory and immune reactions. Recent sialotranscriptome analyses (from the Greek <it>sialo </it>= saliva) of blood feeding insects and ticks have revealed that the saliva contains hundreds of polypeptides, many unique to their genus or family. Adult tsetse flies feed exclusively on vertebrate blood and are important vectors of human and animal diseases. Thus far, only limited information exists regarding the Glossina sialome, or any other fly belonging to the Hippoboscidae.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>As part of the effort to sequence the genome of <it>Glossina morsitans morsitans</it>, several organ specific, high quality normalized cDNA libraries have been constructed, from which over 20,000 ESTs from an adult salivary gland library were sequenced. These ESTs have been assembled using previously described ESTs from the fat body and midgut libraries of the same fly, thus totaling 62,251 ESTs, which have been assembled into 16,743 clusters (8,506 of which had one or more EST from the salivary gland library). Coding sequences were obtained for 2,509 novel proteins, 1,792 of which had at least one EST expressed in the salivary glands. Despite library normalization, 59 transcripts were overrepresented in the salivary library indicating high levels of expression. This work presents a detailed analysis of the salivary protein families identified. Protein expression was confirmed by 2D gel electrophoresis, enzymatic digestion and mass spectrometry. Concurrently, an initial attempt to determine the immunogenic properties of selected salivary proteins was undertaken.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The sialome of <it>G. m. morsitans </it>contains over 250 proteins that are possibly associated with blood feeding. This set includes alleles of previously described gene products, reveals new evidence that several salivary proteins are multigenic and identifies at least seven new polypeptide families unique to <it>Glossina</it>. Most of these proteins have no known function and thus, provide a discovery platform for the identification of novel pharmacologically active compounds, innovative vector-based vaccine targets, and immunological markers of vector exposure.</p

Lulo cell line derived from Lutzomyia longipalpis (Diptera: Psychodidae) : A novel model to assay Leishmania spp. and vector interaction

Background: Leishmania (Vianna) braziliensis, Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis and Leishmania (Leishmania) chagasi are important parasites in the scenario of leishmaniasis in Brazil. During the life cycle of these parasites, the promastigote forms adhere to the midgut epithelial microvillii of phlebotomine insects to avoid being secreted along with digestive products. Lulo cells are a potential model that will help to understand the features of this adhesion phenomenon. Here, we analyze the interaction between Leishmania spp. promastigotes and Lulo cells in vitro, specifically focusing on adhesion events occurring between three Leishmania species and this cell line. Methods. Confluent monolayers of Lulo cells were incubated with promastigotes and adhesion was assessed using both light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Findings. The results indicate that species from the subgenera Leishmania and Viannia have great potential to adhere to Lulo cells. The highest adherence rate was observed for L. (L.) chagasi after 24 h of incubation with Lulo cells (27.3 1.8% of cells with adhered promastigotes), followed by L. (L.) amazonensis (16.0 0.7%) and L. (V.) braziliensis (3.0 0.7%), both after 48 h. In the ultrastructural analysis, promastigote adherence was also assessed by scanning electron microscopy, showing that, for parasites from both subgenera, adhesion occurs by both the body and the flagellum. The interaction of Lulo cells with Leishmania (L.) chagasi showed the participation of cytoplasmic projections from the former closely associating the parasites with the cells. Conclusions: We present evidence that Lulo cells can be useful in studies of insect-parasite interactions for Leishmania species. © 2011 Côrtes et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd

Contribution of ULF Wave Activity to the Global Recovery of the Outer Radiation Belt During the Passage of a High-Speed Solar Wind Stream Observed in September 2014

Energy coupling between the solar wind and the Earth's magnetosphere can affect the electron population in the outer radiation belt. However, the precise role of different internal and external mechanisms that leads to changes of the relativistic electron population is not entirely known. This paper describes how ultralow frequency (ULF) wave activity during the passage of Alfvénic solar wind streams contributes to the global recovery of the relativistic electron population in the outer radiation belt. To investigate the contribution of the ULF waves, we searched the Van Allen Probes data for a period in which we can clearly distinguish the enhancement of electron fluxes from the background. We found that the global recovery that started on 22 September 2014, which coincides with the corotating interaction region preceding a high-speed stream and the occurrence of persistent substorm activity, provides an excellent scenario to explore the contribution of ULF waves. To support our analyses, we employed ground- and space-based observational data and global magnetohydrodynamic simulations and calculated the ULF wave radial diffusion coefficients employing an empirical model. Observations show a gradual increase of electron fluxes in the outer radiation belt and a concomitant enhancement of ULF activity that spreads from higher to lower L-shells. Magnetohydrodynamic simulation results agree with observed ULF wave activity in the magnetotail, which leads to both fast and Alfvén modes in the magnetospheric nightside sector. The observations agree with the empirical model and are confirmed by phase space density calculations for this global recovery period