Potential use of cellulose acetate butyrate and pluronic F68® blends in the modulation of the diclofenac sodium release from microspheres

Microspheres were prepared using the emulsion/solvent evaporation method with the aim of obtaining diclofenac sodium (DFS) prolonged release dosage forms. The effects of the drug:polymer ratio and addition of Pluronic F68® to the formulations on drug content, particle size and DFS release rate were evaluated using a 22 factorial design. The DFS encapsulation efficiency (%) and the drug content varied from 40 to 70 % and from 4.5 to 13 mg/100 mg, respectively. The mean particle diameter varied from 720 to 850 μm. The addition of Pluronic F68® to the formulations led to an increase in the roughness of the surface. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) studies indicated the presence of Pluronic F68® in the particles. The statistical analysis revealed that the drug content and the release rate of DFS were significantly increased when 1:4 drug:polymer ratio and Pluronic F68® was used to prepare the microspheres.Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire

FIRES INCIDENT OCCURRENCE IN PARQUE NACIONAL DA CHAPADA DOS VEADEIROS, GOI\uc1S

Esta pesquisa objetivou a an\ue1lise da ocorr\ueancia de inc\ueandios florestais no Parque Nacional da Chapada dos Veadeiros (PNCV), GO, no per\uedodo de 1992 a 2003. A metodologia utilizou mapas de focos de calor, dados dos relat\uf3rios de ocorr\ueancia de inc\ueandios na Unidade de Conserva\ue7\ue3o, entrevistas aos brigadistas e \ue0 comunidade do entorno. Com esses dados, foi poss\uedvel analisar as causas e a freq\ufc\ueancia de ocorr\ueancia de inc\ueandios florestais, as \ue1reas queimadas anualmente, os locais e \ue9pocas de incid\ueancia, o trabalho de preven\ue7\ue3o e combate desenvolvido pelos brigadistas e a opini\ue3o da popula\ue7\ue3o em rela\ue7\ue3o ao trabalho desenvolvido no Parque. Essas informa\ue7\uf5es possibilitaram analisar as ocorr\ueancias de fogo no PNCV e alguns dados importantes sobre preven\ue7\ue3o e combate aos inc\ueandios. Os inc\ueandios florestais no PNCV ocorreram praticamente em todos os anos, sendo que 1995 e 2002 foram os anos mais cr\uedticos. 88,2% dos inc\ueandios florestais foram de origem criminosa, por neglig\ueancia ou de causa desconhecida. A \ue9poca em que mais ocorreram os inc\ueandios foi a esta\ue7\ue3o seca, sendo o pico o m\ueas de agosto, seguido pelos meses de setembro e julho. As a\ue7\uf5es preventivas realizadas no PNCV s\ue3o a constru\ue7\ue3o de aceiros e a distribui\ue7\ue3o de cartazes educativos. A comunidade local salientou que falta est\uedmulo \ue0 utiliza\ue7\ue3o de t\ue9cnicas de substitui\ue7\ue3o ao uso do fogo nas propriedades rurais e campanhas educativas de preven\ue7\ue3o de inc\ueandios florestais.This work aimed at studying the fires in Parque Nacional da Chapada dos Veadeiros (PNCV) in Goi\ue1s, Brazil, from 1992 to 2003. The methodology included analysis of heat spots maps, reports and interviews with the fire crew members, besides interviews with the land owners who live close to the PNCV. The data showed the causes and the frequencies of fires annual burnt areas, seasons and origins of fire incident, and fire privation developed by the fire crew of PNCV. Furthermore, there was opinions by land owner related to the PNCV. Results showed that the fires in PNCV had annual frequency. The years 1995 and 2002 presented more fire occurrences. Most of the fires (88,2%) had criminal or unknown causes. The dry season caused more fire occurrences, mainly August, September and July. The prevention activities were break fires construction and instruction folders related to fires release. The local land owners did not know how to deal with land management techniques without fire and asked for environmental education

Depression and conservative surgery for breast cancer

BACKGROUND: Depression is prevalent among women and associated with reduced quality of life, and therefore it is important to determine its incidence in adult women, especially in those with breast cancer. OBJECTIVE: To determine the occurrence of depression in women who underwent conservative surgery for breast cancer with or without breast reconstruction. METHODS: Seventy-five women aged between 18 and 65 years were enrolled. Patients had undergone conservative surgery for breast cancer with immediate breast reconstruction (n = 25) or without breast reconstruction (n = 25) at least one year before the study. The control group consisted of 25 women without cancer, but of similar age and educational level distribution as the other two groups. The Beck Depression Inventory was used to measure depression. The collected data were assessed using analysis of variance and the χ2 test. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between groups in age (p = 0.72) or educational level (p = 0.20). A smaller number of patients had undergone the menopause (p = 0.02) in the control group than in other groups. There were no significant differences in occurrence of depression between groups (χ2=9.97; p = 0.126). CONCLUSÍON: Conservative surgery for breast cancer did not affect the occurrence of depression in women, regardless of whether breast reconstruction was performed

Effects of Mn1-xZnxFe2O4 Nanoparticles Concentration in a Silicone Matrix on Complex Permeability and Permittivity in the 1-10 GHz Range

Abstract Mn1-xZnxFe2O4 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.65) nanoferrite particles were used as filler in a silicone polymer matrix in order to obtain a composite material with the purpose of absorbing electromagnetic radiation. The composite was characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and force modulation microscopy (FMM) and the electromagnetic properties by means of network and impedance analyzers. It was observed that the composite with higher concentrations of Znx (x = 0.5 and 0.65) presented the lowest dispersion, due to the size of the zinc particles. This paper provides a framework for the practical application of absorbent composite materials of MnZn nanoferrite particles combined with silicone rubber to be used in 1-10 GHz frequency bands, with reflectivity values of -24 dB in the 6 GHz frequency range

Wavelet Analysis for Wind Fields Estimation

Wind field analysis from synthetic aperture radar images allows the estimation of wind direction and speed based on image descriptors. In this paper, we propose a framework to automate wind direction retrieval based on wavelet decomposition associated with spectral processing. We extend existing undecimated wavelet transform approaches, by including à trous with B3 spline scaling function, in addition to other wavelet bases as Gabor and Mexican-hat. The purpose is to extract more reliable directional information, when wind speed values range from 5 to 10 ms−1. Using C-band empirical models, associated with the estimated directional information, we calculate local wind speed values and compare our results with QuikSCAT scatterometer data. The proposed approach has potential application in the evaluation of oil spills and wind farms

Effect of the Decrease in Luminance Noise Range on Color Discrimination of Dichromats and Trichromats

Color vision assessment can be done using pseudoisochromatic stimuli, which has a luminance noise to eliminate brightness differences between the target and background of the stimulus. It is not clear the influence of the luminance noise on color discrimination. We investigated the effect of change in the luminance noise limits on color discrimination. Eighteen trichromats and ten congenital dichromats (eight protans, two deutans) had their color vision evaluated by the Cambridge Colour Test, and were genetically tested for diagnostic confirmation. The stimuli were composed of a mosaic of circles in a 5° circular field. A subset of the circles differed in chromaticity from the remaining field, forming a letter C. Color discrimination was estimated in stimulus conditions differing in luminance noise range: (i) 6–20 cd/m2; (ii) 8–18 cd/m2; (iii) 10–16 cd/m2; and (iv) 12–14 cd/m2. Six equidistant luminance values were used within the luminance noise limits with the mean stimulus luminance maintained constant under all conditions. A four-alternative, forced-choice method was applied to feed a staircase procedure to estimate color discrimination thresholds along eight chromatic axes. An ellipse model was adjusted to the eight color discrimination thresholds. The parameters of performance were threshold vector lengths and the ellipse area. Results were compared using the Kruskal-Wallis test with a significance level of 5%. The linear function model was applied to analyze the dependence of the discrimination parameters on the noise luminance limits. The first derivative of linear function was used as an indicator of the rate of change in color discrimination as a function of luminance noise changes. The rate of change of the ellipse area as a function of the luminance range in dichromats was higher than in trichromats (p < 0.05). Significant difference was also found for individual thresholds in half of the axes we tested. Luminance noise had a greater effect on color discrimination ability of dichromats than the trichromats, especially when the chromaticities were close to their protan and deutan color confusion lines

Geographic patterns of tree dispersal modes in Amazonia and their ecological correlates

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-MAim: To investigate the geographic patterns and ecological correlates in the geographic distribution of the most common tree dispersal modes in Amazonia (endozoochory, synzoochory, anemochory and hydrochory). We examined if the proportional abundance of these dispersal modes could be explained by the availability of dispersal agents (disperser-availability hypothesis) and/or the availability of resources for constructing zoochorous fruits (resource-availability hypothesis). Time period: Tree-inventory plots established between 1934 and 2019. Major taxa studied: Trees with a diameter at breast height (DBH) ≥ 9.55 cm. Location: Amazonia, here defined as the lowland rain forests of the Amazon River basin and the Guiana Shield. Methods: We assigned dispersal modes to a total of 5433 species and morphospecies within 1877 tree-inventory plots across terra-firme, seasonally flooded, and permanently flooded forests. We investigated geographic patterns in the proportional abundance of dispersal modes. We performed an abundance-weighted mean pairwise distance (MPD) test and fit generalized linear models (GLMs) to explain the geographic distribution of dispersal modes. Results: Anemochory was significantly, positively associated with mean annual wind speed, and hydrochory was significantly higher in flooded forests. Dispersal modes did not consistently show significant associations with the availability of resources for constructing zoochorous fruits. A lower dissimilarity in dispersal modes, resulting from a higher dominance of endozoochory, occurred in terra-firme forests (excluding podzols) compared to flooded forests. Main conclusions: The disperser-availability hypothesis was well supported for abiotic dispersal modes (anemochory and hydrochory). The availability of resources for constructing zoochorous fruits seems an unlikely explanation for the distribution of dispersal modes in Amazonia. The association between frugivores and the proportional abundance of zoochory requires further research, as tree recruitment not only depends on dispersal vectors but also on conditions that favour or limit seedling recruitment across forest types