Resistivity of non-Fermi liquid U2Pt2In under pressure

Non-Fermi liquid behaviour in single-crystalline U2Pt2In has been studied by means of resistivity experiments (I||c) under hydrostatic pressure (P<1.5 GPa). At ambient pressure the resistivity rho(T) follows a power law rho~T^alpha with alpha~0.5. Upon applying pressure alpha increases. For P>1 GPa a minimum develops in rho(T). A study of the field dependence of the minimum confirms its magnetic origin. The ratio c/a is proposed as the effective control parameter, rather than the unit cell volume.Comment: 5 pages (incl. 2 figures), submitted to SCES'99, Nagan

Role of fine-needle aspiration biopsy in the diagnosis of metastatic desmoplastic melanoma to the parotid and submandibular region

SummaryMelanomas are malignant tumors prone to develop in regional and distant metastatic foci. Desmoplastic melanoma is an uncommon melanoma variant that commonly affects the head and neck and can promote early regional metastasis through both lymphatic and neural routes. We report an uncommon case of metastatic desmoplastic melanoma from the scalp to submandibular and parotid lymph nodes in a 79-year-old male, diagnosed through fine-needle aspiration biopsy. This report reinforces the importance of considering melanoma metastasis on the differential diagnosis of asymptomatic salivary gland swellings and the utility of fine needle aspiration biopsy in their early diagnosis

Gravitational anomaly and fundamental forces

I present an argument, based on the topology of the universe, why there are three generations of fermions. The argument implies a preferred gauge group of SU(5), but with SO(10) representations of the fermions. The breaking pattern SU(5) to SU(3)xSU(2)xU(1) is preferred over the pattern SU(5) to SU(4)xU(1). On the basis of the argument one expects an asymmetry in the early universe microwave data, which might have been detected already.Comment: Contribution to the 2nd School and Workshop on Quantum Gravity and Quantum Geometry. Corfu, september 13-20 2009. 10 page

EFICÁCIA DE DOIS SISTEMAS DE TRATAMENTO ANTI-HELMÍNTICO EM FILHOTES DE CÃES COM INFECÇÃO NATURAL

O objetivo do presente trabalho foi testar dois esquemas de tratamento para o combate da parasitose gastrintestinal em filhotes de cães recém-desmamados. Foram estabelecidos dois grupos de tratamento, ambos tratados com uma suspensão pamoato de pirantel e oxantel: grupo 1 - quatro desverminações com intervalos de 15 dias e grupo 2 -três desverminações, nos dias 0, 5 e 25 pós desmame. O primeiro tratamento apresentou redução de 98,2 % no número de ovos por grama de fezes (opg) de Toxocara canis, após a primeira desverminação. Cem por cento de redução de opg foi obtido após o segundo tratamento. No tratamento 2, foi obtido um resultado semelhante após três tratamentos. Para ovos de Ancylostoma sp. a formulação mostrou eficácia após a primeira dose para ambos os tratamentos preconizados. Estes resultados indicam que os esquemas de tratamento propostos poderiam ser adotados para combate das infecções por estes parasitas em animais recém-desmamados. Comparison of the efficacy of two systems of antihelminthic treatment in puppies with natural infection Abstract This work was developed to test two treatment outlines for gastrointestinal parasitosis control in weaned puppies. Two treatment groups were established, both treated with oxantel and pyrantel pamoate suspension: group 1 (four doses with 15-days intervals) and group 2 (three doses, at zero, 5th and 25th days). The first treatment presented reduction of 98.2 % on the number of eggs of Toxocara canis per gram of feces (epg) after the first dose. Complete epg reduction was observed after the second treatment, 15 days later. Similar result was obtained after the third dose for the treatment 2. Both treatment protocols showed effectiveness for eggs of Ancylostoma sp. after the first dose. These results indicate that both treatment outlines could be applied for the roundworm and the hookworm control in recently-weaned puppies

The Use of 3D Optical Coherence Tomography to Analyze the Architecture of Cyanobacterial Biofilms Formed on a Carbon Nanotube Composite

The development of environmentally friendly antifouling strategies for marine applications is of paramount importance, and the fabrication of innovative nanocomposite coatings is a promising approach. Moreover, since Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is a powerful imaging technique in biofilm science, the improvement of its analytical power is required to better evaluate the biofilm structure under different scenarios. In this study, the effect of carbon nanotube (CNT)-modified surfaces in cyanobacterial biofilm development was assessed over a long-term assay under controlled hydrodynamic conditions. Their impact on the cyanobacterial biofilm architecture was evaluated by novel parameters obtained from three-dimensional (3D) OCT analysis, such as the contour coefficient, total biofilm volume, biovolume, volume of non-connected pores, and the average size of non-connected pores. The results showed that CNTs incorporated into a commercially used epoxy resin (CNT composite) had a higher antifouling effect at the biofilm maturation stage compared to pristine epoxy resin. Along with a delay in biofilm development, a decrease in biofilm wet weight, thickness, and biovolume was also achieved with the CNT composite compared to epoxy resin and glass (control surfaces). Additionally, biofilms developed on the CNT composite were smoother and presented a lower porosity and a strictly packed structure when compared with those formed on the control surfaces. The novel biofilm parameters obtained from 3D OCT imaging are extremely important when evaluating the biofilm architecture and behavior under different scenarios beyond marine applications

Issues on Generating Primordial Anisotropies at the End of Inflation

We revisit the idea of generating primordial anisotropies at the end of inflation in models of inflation with gauge fields. To be specific we consider the charged hybrid inflation model where the waterfall field is charged under a U(1) gauge field so the surface of end of inflation is controlled both by inflaton and the gauge fields. Using delta N formalism properly we find that the anisotropies generated at the end of inflation from the gauge field fluctuations are exponentially suppressed on cosmological scales. This is because the gauge field evolves exponentially during inflation while in order to generate appreciable anisotropies at the end of inflation the spectator gauge field has to be frozen and scale invariant. We argue that this is a generic feature, that is, one can not generate observable anisotropies at the end of inflation within an FRW background.Comment: V3: new references added, JCAP published versio

Potentiation of 5-fluorouracil encapsulated in zeolites as drug delivery systems for in vitro models of colorectal carcinoma

The studies of potentiation of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), a traditional drug used in the treatment of several cancers, including colorectal (CRC), were carried out with zeolites Faujasite in the sodium form, with different particle sizes (NaY, 700nm and nanoNaY, 150nm) and Linde type L in the potassium form (LTL) with a particle size of 80nm. 5-FU was loaded into zeolites by liquid-phase adsorption. Characterization by spectroscopic techniques (FTIR, 1H NMR and 13C and 27Al solid-state MAS NMR), chemical analysis, thermal analysis (TGA), nitrogen adsorption isotherms and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), demonstrated the successful loading of 5-FU into the zeolite hosts. In vitro drug release studies (PBS buffer pH 7.4, 37°C) revealed the release of 80-90% of 5-FU in the first 10min. To ascertain the drug release kinetics, the release profiles were fitted to zero-order, first-order, Higuchi, Hixson-Crowell, Korsmeyer-Peppas and Weibull kinetic models. The in vitro dissolution from the drug delivery systems (DDS) was explained by the Weibull model. The DDS efficacy was evaluated using two human colorectal carcinoma cell lines, HCT-15 and RKO. Unloaded zeolites presented no toxicity to both cancer cells, while all DDS allowed an important potentiation of the 5-FU effect on the cell viability. Immunofluorescence studies provided evidence for zeolite-cell internalization.RA is recipient of fellowship SFRH/BI/51118/2010 from Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal). This work was supported by the FCT projects refs. PEst-C/QUI/UI0686/2011 and PEst-C/CTM/LA0011/2011 and the Centre of Chemistry and Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (University of Minho, Portugal). The NMR spectrometer is part of the National NMR Network (RNRMN), supported with funds from FCT/QREN (Quadro de Referencia Estrategico Nacional)