Systemic Bone Mass Alterations and Ligature-Induced Periodontitis in Wistar Rats

Chronic inflammatory conditions have been associated with pathological outcomes, resulting in events responsible for abbreviation of life or decreasing life quality in elders. Periodontal diseases have been associated with systemic disorders, but there is a lack of evidence concerning the relationship between periodontal inflammation and systemic bone conditions. The aim of the present study was to analyze the relationship between ligature-induced periodontitis and generalized bone mass alterations in Wistar rats. Periodontal disease was induced by the placement of silk ligatures around the maxillary left second molar of each animal of the test group (n=14). The control group did not receive ligatures. Systemic bone mass was determined by bone densitometry (double energy X-ray). After 30 and 60 days of ligature placement, bone densitometry analysis did not reveal statistically significant differences between test and control groups both for bone mineral density and bone mineral content (BMC), but at 60 days BMC was slightly lower in the test group. Total bone area was, at 30 days, higher in the test group than in controls. However at 60 days this relationship was inverted, with a higher bone area in the control group. The control group exhibited progressive bone growth, as shown by comparison of BMC between 30 and 60 days; this bone growth was significantly higher than in the test group

Neutron spectrometer for fast nuclear reactors

In this paper we describe the development and first tests of a neutron spectrometer designed for high flux environments, such as the ones found in fast nuclear reactors. The spectrometer is based on the conversion of neutrons impinging on $^6$Li into $\alpha$ and $t$ whose total energy comprises the initial neutron energy and the reaction $Q$-value. The $^6$LiF layer is sandwiched between two CVD diamond detectors, which measure the two reaction products in coincidence. The spectrometer was calibrated at two neutron energies in well known thermal and 3 MeV neutron fluxes. The measured neutron detection efficiency varies from 4.2$\times 10^{-4}$ to 3.5$\times 10^{-8}$ for thermal and 3 MeV neutrons, respectively. These values are in agreement with Geant4 simulations and close to simple estimates based on the knowledge of the $^6$Li(n,$\alpha$)$t$ cross section. The energy resolution of the spectrometer was found to be better than 100 keV when using 5 m cables between the detector and the preamplifiers.Comment: submitted to NI

Unified theory for Goos-H\"{a}nchen and Imbert-Fedorov effects

A unified theory is advanced to describe both the lateral Goos-H\"{a}nchen (GH) effect and the transverse Imbert-Fedorov (IF) effect, through representing the vector angular spectrum of a 3-dimensional light beam in terms of a 2-form angular spectrum consisting of its 2 orthogonal polarized components. From this theory, the quantization characteristics of the GH and IF displacements are obtained, and the Artmann formula for the GH displacement is derived. It is found that the eigenstates of the GH displacement are the 2 orthogonal linear polarizations in this 2-form representation, and the eigenstates of the IF displacement are the 2 orthogonal circular polarizations. The theoretical predictions are found to be in agreement with recent experimental results.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figure

Gestão da qualidade na Embrapa Clima Temperado.

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Search for Neutron Flux Generation in a Plasma Discharge Electrolytic Cell

Following some recent unexpected hints of neutron production in setups like high-voltage atmospheric discharges and plasma discharges in electrolytic cells, we present a measurement of the neutron flux in a configuration similar to the latter. We use two different types of neutron detectors, poly-allyl-diglicol-carbonate (PADC, aka CR-39) tracers and Indium disks. At 95% C.L. we provide an upper limit of 1.5 neutrons cm^-2 s^-1 for the thermal neutron flux at ~5 cm from the center of the cell. Allowing for a higher energy neutron component the largest allowed flux is 64 neutrons cm^-2 s^-1. This upper limit is two orders of magnitude smaller than what previously claimed in an electrolytic cell plasma discharge experiment. Furthermore the behavior of the CR-39 is discussed to point our possible sources of spurious signals.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Quality of Life and psychopathology in adults who underwent Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) in childhood: a qualitative and quantitative analysis.

Background: Patients who undergo pediatric Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) may experience long-term psychological sequelae and poor Quality of Life (QoL) in adulthood. This study aimed to investigate subjective illness experience, QoL, and psychopathology in young adults who have survived pediatric HSCT. Method: The study involved patients treated with HSCT in the Hematology-Oncology Department between 1984 and 2007. Psychopathology and QoL were investigated using the SCL-90-R and SF-36. Socio-demographic and medical information was also collected. Finally, participants were asked to write a brief composition about their experiences of illness and care. Qualitative analysis of the texts was performed using T-LAB, an instrument for text analysis that allows the user to highlight the occurrences and co-occurrences of lemma. Quantitative analyses were performed using non-parametric tests (Spearman correlations, Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests). Results: Twenty-one patients (9 males) participated in the study. No significant distress was found on the SCL-90 Global Severity Index, but it was found on specific scales. On the SF-36, lower scores were reported on scales referring to bodily pain, general health, and physical and social functioning. All the measures were significantly (p < 0.05) associated with specific socio-demographic and medical variables (gender, type of pathology, type of HSCT, time elapsed between communication of the need to transplant and effective transplantation, and days of hospitalization). With regard to the narrative analyses, males focused on expressions related to the body and medical therapies, while females focused on people they met during treatment, family members, and donors. Low general health and treatment with autologous HSCT were associated with memories about chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and the body parts involved, while high general health was associated with expressions focused on gratitude (V-Test \ub1 1.96). Conclusion: Pediatric HSCT survivors are more likely to experience psychological distress and low QoL in adulthood compared with the general population. These aspects, along with survivors' subjective illness experience, show differences according to specific medical and socio-demographic variables. Studies are needed in order to improve the care and long-term follow-up of these families

High-resolution measurements of the exited states (n,pn), (n,dn) C-12 cross sections

Measurements of C12 cross sections for the excited states (n,p 0 ) up to (n,p 4 ) and (n,d 0 ), (n,d 1 ) have been carried out. The Van de Graaff neutron generator of the EC-JRC-IRMM laboratory has been used for these measurements. A very thin tritiated target (263 μg/cm 2 ) was employed with deuteron beams energies impinging on the target in the range 2.5–4.0 MeV. Neutrons in the range 18.9–20.7 MeV were produced with an intrinsic energy spread of 0.2–0.25% FWHM. With such narrow neutron energy spread, using a high energy resolution device such as a single crystal diamond detector, several peaks from the outgoing charged particles produced by the (n,p n ), (n,d n ) and also (n,α 0 ) reactions appear in the pulse height spectrum. The peaks can be identified using the reaction Q-values. The diamond detector used for these measurements has shown an intrinsic energy resolution lower than 0.9% FWHM. The analysis of the peaks has permitted to derive the partial carbon reaction cross sections for several excited states. The results are presented in this paper with the associated uncertainties and they are compared with different versions of TENDL compilation when these data are available (e.g. versions 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2015) and also with experimental results available in the EXFOR database

Diagnóstico preliminar de solos existentes na microbacia hidrográfica São Domingos, região da encosta do sudeste do RS.

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