Exploring “Everyday Experience Methods” as a means to assess the (social-)psychological comfort of clothing

One of the main challenges for the Science of Clothing Comfort, is to uncover the intricacies and complexities of the psychological aspects of the clothing comfort perception. The concept and the parameters of this comfort dimension are still in the process of maturing, and the methods and tools to assess this component are still underdeveloped. One of the main drawbacks of the research on the psychological comfort of clothing resides in the dependency of the context and situational information, to elaborate a psychological comfort or discomfort perception. In the realm of the psychological or social-psychological comfort, it’s primordial that the context variables are considered. This pilot study aims at examining the feasibility of assessing the perception of (social-)psychological comfort of clothing, using an everyday experience method. For this purpose, the PACO application (pacoapp.com) was the chosen platform.This work is supported by FEDER funds through the Competitivity Factors Operational Programme - COMPETE and by national funds through FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology within the scope of the project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007136. The first author would also like to gratefully acknowledge the support from the Federal University of Technology, especially, the Fashion Design Department and the Office of Research and Graduate Studies.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The evaluation of (social-)psychological comfort in clothing, a possible approach

This paper presents the first results of a PhD research on psychological comfort of clothing. In order to understand and conceptualize the psychological aspects of clothing comfort, a variation of the Delphi Method was used to seek opinions from experts. This method was chosen because of its consensus-building features. The results were obtained from a qualitative text analysis, conducted over the experts’ responses to the first round of questions. The analytic process shed some light on the formation of the psychological comfort concept as well as the potential attributes to be evaluated when assessing this comfort dimension.This work is supported by FEDER funds through the Competitivity Factors Operational Programme - COMPETE and by national funds through FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology within the scope of the project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007136. The first author would also like to gratefully acknowledge the support from the Araucaria Foundation of Paraná State and the Federal University of Technology, specially, the Fashion Design Department and the Office of Research and Graduate Studies.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Impairment of energy metabolism in hippocampus of rats subjected to chemically-induced hyperhomocysteinemia

AbstractHomocystinuria is an inherited metabolic disease biochemically characterized by tissue accumulation of homocysteine (Hcy). Mental retardation, ischemia and other neurological features, whose mechanisms are still obscure are common symptoms in homocystinuric patients. In this work, we investigated the effect of Hcy administration in Wistar rats on some parameters of energy metabolism in the hippocampus, a cerebral structure directly involved with cognition. The parameters utilized were 14CO2 production, glucose uptake, lactate release and the activities of succinate dehydrogenase and cytochrome c oxidase (COX). Chronic hyperhomocysteinemia was induced by subcutaneous administration of Hcy twice a day from the 6th to the 28th day of life in doses previously determined in our laboratory. Control rats received saline in the same volumes. Rats were killed 12 h after the last injection. Results showed that Hcy administration significantly diminished 14CO2 production and glucose uptake, as well as succinate dehydrogenase and COX activities. It is suggested that impairment of brain energy metabolism may be related to the neurological symptoms present in homocystinuric patients

Supplementation with green tea and oregano extracts on productive characteristics, blood metabolites, and antioxidant status of Jersey cows during the transition period.

Plant extracts have been recognized as beneficial to human health and have been evaluated as feed additive for domestic and companion animals. This study evaluated oregano and green tea extracts fed to Jersey cows from approximately 21 d before calving to 21 d after calving on milk production, milk composition, and blood metabolites as well as investigated immunological and antioxidant attributes. Twenty-four Jersey cows with 441 ± 27 kg of BW, 3.5 ± 0.3 of body condition score (BCS), and 2.7 ± 1.8 lactations were selected at approximately 28 d before the expected parturition date and were randomly assigned to three treatments with eight cows each: without plant extracts in diet (control ? CON), addition of 10 g per day of oregano extract (OR), and addition of 5 g per day of green tea extract (GT). Feed intake, BW, BCS, blood metabolites, hemogram as well as oxidative stress biomarkers were evaluated from approximately 3 weeks prepartum to 3 weeks postpartum (transition period) while milk production and composition were evaluated during the first 3 weeks of lactation. Plant extracts did not change BW, BCS, and DM intake (DMI) throughout the transition period, but OR increased in approximately 20% total digestive nutrients and metabolizable energy intake on days 15 and 16 postpartum compared with CON. In the prepartum, OR increased in 48% platelets count compared to the CON, while GT augmented in 142% eosinophils compared with CON. Oregano extract reduced the levels of reactive species in the erythrocytes in 40% during prepartum and postpartum compared with CON, while GT reduced its levels in 24 and 29% during prepartum and postpartum, respectively, when compared with CON. In the postpartum period, OR increased in 60% the carbonylated protein content compared with CON, while GT reduced in 45% the levels of reactive species in plasma compared with CON. During the postpartum, both extracts increased in 33% the concentration of reduced glutathione when compared with CON. Moreover, GT tended to decrease feed efficiency in 11% when compared with CON; OE reduced milk pH and somatic cell count when compared with CON. In conclusion, OE and GT did not expressively affect immunological attributes in blood but reduce some oxidative stress biomarkers without compromising productive traits of Jersey cows during the transition period

Calves fed with milk from cows receiving plant extracts improved redox status.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the biomarkers of the redox state of pre-weaned Jersey dairy calves that consumed milk from cows supplemented with green tea (Camellia sinensis) or oregano extracts (Origanum vulgare). A completely randomized design was used with repeated measures in time. From their birth to 60 days of life, 8, 8 and 7 calves received milk from cows fed on a basal diet without addition of plant extracts (CON), with addition of 10.0 g of oregano extract (OE) per day and with 5.0 g of green tea extract (GT) per day, respectively. On days 1, 30, and 60 after birth redox state biomarkers were evaluated. Body weight was eval-uated every two weeks, rectal temperature and fecal score were accessed every two days and concentrate intake was measured every day. Statistical analyses for body weight, body weight gain, concentrate intake, rectal temperature, variables of redox status were performed using the procedure Mixed, evaluating the fixed effects of treatment, day of measurement and their interaction. Statistical analyses for the mean fecal score and the number of days to the first diarrhea occurrence were performed using the procedure Mixed, evaluating the fixed effect of treatment. On day 1, calves fed with milk from GT group had higher plasma glutathione peroxidase activity (GPx) than CON. However, the reverse occurred on day 60. On the day 1, calves in the CON group presented higher concentrations of thiol groups (also known as sulfhydryl groups) than those in GT and OE groups, with reverse occurring on day 30. Calves in the OE group had lower oxidation of dichlorofluorescein in the erythrocytes compared to the others; while calves in the GT group presented higher concentration of GSH and higher activity of the catalase enzyme compared to CON and OE, respectively. Pre-weaned calves fed with milk of cows supplemented with extracts of green tea and oregano did not change..

Milk production and hematological and antioxidant profiles of dairy cows supplemented with oregano and green tea extracts as feed additives.

We aimed to evaluate the effects of the addition of oregano (Origanum vulgare) or green tea (Camellia sinensis L.) extracts (separately and associated) on feed intake, milk production, and hematological and antioxidant profiles of dairy cows. For that purpose, 16 Holstein and 16 Holstein-Gyr cows with 526.3±10.2 kg and within the first third of lactation were distributed according to a complete block design with measurements repeated in time. Treatments were control (CON), addition of 0.056% of oregano extract (OR), addition of 0.028% of green tea extract (GT), addition of a mixture of OR and GT extract (0.056% each) in the diet (MIX). Hematological and antioxidant profiles were monitored. Data were subjected to ANOVA, with block, treatment, days, and their interactions considered as fixed effects and animal and the residue as random effects. In Holstein cows, GT increased feed intake and milk yield compared with CON; in Holstein-Gyr crossbred cows, OR showed increased intake and GT increased milk yield compared with CON. Compared with CON, GT and OR decreased eosinophils concentration; OR showed the highest neutrophils concentration and neutrophils to leukocyte ratio. Compared with CON, OR presented increased catalase (CAT) activity, while GT increased the reduced glutathione concentration. The MIX treatment reduced CAT activity compared with OR, presented the lowest concentration of oxidized dichlorofluorescein in the erythrocytes (DCFER) and plasma (DCFPLA), and increased eosinophils concentration compared with GT and OR. Extracts differently affected feed intake and milk yield depending on genetic group. Feeding green tea and oregano extracts separately or associated distinctly affects the antioxidant indicators of lactating dairy cows

When clothing comfort meets aesthetics

This study examines the results obtained in the first phase of a PhD research on the psychological comfort of clothing. At this initial stage, a variation of the Delphi Method was used to seek opinions from experts about the concept of psychological comfort and which factors would intervene in its perception. The results converge to suggest that aspects related to aesthetics are among the most important attributes to be considered in the process of assessing the psychological dimension of clothing comfort. Therefore, the present paper supports the hypothesis raised by the literary revision, which argues that the aesthetic dimension has great relevance for the comfort of clothing. It also corroborates that the investigations on the psychological comfort of clothing can benefit from considering the importance of aesthetics in the interaction between person-clothing-environment, both in terms of appearance (vision) and of pleasure aroused by clothing and perceived by the totality of the senses.This work is supported by FEDER funds through the Competitivity Factors Operational Program - COMPETE and by national funds through FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology within the scope of the project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007136. The first author would also like to gratefully acknowledge the support from the Araucaria Foundation of Paraná State and the Federal University of Technology, specially, the Fashion Design Department and the Office of Research and Graduate Studies.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Evaluation of Serum Lactate Dehydrogenase Activity in a Virtual Environment

Introduction: Lactate dehydrogenase is a citosolic enzyme involved in reversible transformation of pyruvate to lactate. It participates in anaerobic glycolysis of skeletal muscle and red blood cells, in liver gluconeogenesis and in aerobic metabolism of heart muscle. The determination of its activity helps in the diagnosis of various diseases, because it is increased in serum of patients suffering from myocardial infarction, acute hepatitis, muscular dystrophy and cancer. This paper presents a learning object, mediated by computer, which contains the simulation of the laboratory determination serum lactate dehydrogenase activity measured by the spectrophotometric method, based in the decrease of absorbance at 340 nm. Materials and Methods: Initially, pictures and videos were obtained recording the procedure of the methodology. The most representative images were selected, edited and inserted into an animation developed with the aid of the tool Adobe ® Flash ® CS3. The validation of the object was performed by the students of Biochemistry I (Pharmacy-UFRGS) from the second semester of 2009 and both of 2010. Results and Discussion: The analysis of students' answers revealed that 80% attributed the excellence of the navigation program, the display format and to aid in learning. Conclusion: Therefore, this software can be considered an adequate teaching resource as well as an innovative support in the construction of theoretical and practical knowledge of Biochemistry. Available at: http://www6.ufrgs.br/gcoeb/LD