Linear Holographic Hard Wall Model for Glueballs and the Pomeron

In this work we propose a linear holographic hard wall model, modifying the original model by introducing anomalous dimensions for the glueball operators so that we obtain a linear Regge trajectory. We match this Regge trajectory with that of the pomeron with a precision better than $1\%$. The glueball masses obtained in this way are in good agreement with lattice data.Comment: 14 pages, 1 table, 2 figure

Experimental model of spinal cord injury in rats with a device for local therapeutic agents access

An experimental model of spinal cord injury at a precise and reproducible site is an extremely important tool for studying new therapies in spinal cord injuries. OBJECTIVES: To develop an experimental model of spinal cord injury in rats that is able to produce a complete injury (paraplegia) and placing a system enabling agents access close to injury site in order to test local therapeutic agents. METHODS: Fifteen Wistar rats were submitted to surgical transection of the spine, performed by using scissors at the level of T-13 to L-3 vertebral bodies, and, at the end of the procedure, to the insertion of a subdermal catheter intended to enable local therapeutic agents access to injury site. RESULTS: An experimental model of paraplegia was consistently developed by adding a supplementary catheter for local therapeutic agents access to injury site. CONCLUSION: An animal model of spinal cord injury and a system for local therapeutic agents access can be reproduced for the study of different modifiers of the regenerative response in a model of rats with spinal cord injury.Um modelo experimental de lesão raquimedular com localização precisa e reproduzível é uma ferramenta extremamente importante para o estudo de novas terapias em lesões raquimedulares. OBJETIVOS: Desenvolver um modelo experimental de lesão raquimedular em ratos que produza lesão completa (paraplegia) com o posicionamento de um sistema que permita o acesso de agentes próximo ao local da lesão para testar agentes terapêuticos locais. MÉTODOS: Quinze ratos Wistar foram submetidos à transecção cirúrgica da medula espinhal, realizada com o uso de tesoura ao nível dos corpos vertebrais de T-13 a L-3 e, ao final do procedimento, à implantação de um cateter subcutâneo para o acesso de agentes terapêuticos locais ao local da lesão. RESULTADOS: Um modelo experimental de paraplegia foi consistentemente desenvolvido com a adição suplementar de um cateter para o acesso de agentes terapêuticos locais ao local da lesão. CONCLUSÃO: Um modelo animal de lesão raquimedular e um sistema para o acesso de agentes terapêuticos locais pode ser reproduzido para o estudo de diferentes modificadores da resposta regenerativa em um modelo de ratos com lesão raquimedular.UNIFESPUNIFESPSciEL

The cholesterol 24-hydroxylase activates autophagy and decreases mutant huntingtin build-up in a neuroblastoma culture model of Huntington’s disease

Objective Compromised brain cholesterol turnover and altered regulation of brain cholesterol metabolism have been allied with some neurodegenerative diseases, including Huntington’s disease (HD). Following our previous studies in HD, in this study we aim to investigate in vitro in a neuroblastoma cellular model of HD, the effect of CYP46A1 overexpression, an essential enzyme in cholesterol metabolism, on huntingtin aggregation and levels. Results We found that CYP46A1 reduces the quantity and size of mutant huntingtin aggregates in cells, as well as the levels of mutant huntingtin protein. Additionally, our results suggest that the observed beneficial effects of CYP46A1 in HD cells are linked to the activation of autophagy. Taken together, our results further demonstrate that CYP46A1 is a pertinent target to counteract HD progression.This work was supported by Brainvectis and E.rare: E-Rare Joint Transnational Call for Proposals 2017 “Transnational Research Projects for Innovative Therapeutic Approaches for Rare Diseases”. CN laboratory is supported by the French Muscular Dystrophy Association (AFM-Téléthon), the Ataxia UK, and the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (project ALG-01-0145-FEDER-29480 “SeGrPolyQ”). AM is supported by a Ph.D. fellowship from FCT (SFRH/BD/133192/2017)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Dental approach of orofacial pain in head and neck cancer patients

Orofacial pain (OFP) is an undesirable sensation frequently associated with head and neck cancer (HNC) and its treatment. OFP negatively impacts the quality of life of oncological patients. The approach to OFP diagnosis and management can differ if the patient visits a dentist or physician. The aim of this study was to present a case series of HNC with OFP managed by a dentist team and to discuss its role in the management of OFP. We recruited twenty-two adult patients with OFP and previous diagnosis of HNC referred to an academic dental clinic from 2015 to 2017. Nociceptive was more frequent than mixed and neuropathic pain, however 54,4% of the cases showed a neurological component. All types of pain were managed by dentist through removal of pain?s cause and appropriated local and systemic treatment. The intensity of pain was reduced in 86,3% of patients, and 45,4% of them reported absence of pain at the end of treatment. Dentist?s assessment plays a distinct and crucial role in the diagnosis and management of OFP in HNC patients throughout the oncological treatment

Enhancing Energy Production with Exascale HPC Methods

High Performance Computing (HPC) resources have become the key actor for achieving more ambitious challenges in many disciplines. In this step beyond, an explosion on the available parallelism and the use of special purpose processors are crucial. With such a goal, the HPC4E project applies new exascale HPC techniques to energy industry simulations, customizing them if necessary, and going beyond the state-of-the-art in the required HPC exascale simulations for different energy sources. In this paper, a general overview of these methods is presented as well as some specific preliminary results.The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Programme (2014-2020) under the HPC4E Project (www.hpc4e.eu), grant agreement n° 689772, the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under the CODEC2 project (TIN2015-63562-R), and from the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation through Rede Nacional de Pesquisa (RNP). Computer time on Endeavour cluster is provided by the Intel Corporation, which enabled us to obtain the presented experimental results in uncertainty quantification in seismic imagingPostprint (author's final draft

Treliça de palitos de picolé: projeto, fabricação e ensaio / Popsicle stick lattice: design, fabrication and testing

Este trabalho trata da confecção de uma trelic?a feita de palitos de picole? da madeira Pinus, que foi apresentado na Primeira Competic?a?o de Trelic?as de Palito de Picole?, da Universidade Estadual de Goia?s. A competição se baseou na construção de uma estrutura que apresentasse a maior raza?o possi?vel entre a carga ma?xima suportada e o peso pro?prio da estrutura. O projeto foi desenvolvido atrave?s do software FTOOL, no qual foi possi?vel analisar os esforc?os de trac?a?o e compressa?o, que auxiliaram no dimensionamento da estrutura. Dessa maneira, foi necessário seguir algumas restric?o?es impostas pela competição, no que se referia ao tamanho ma?ximo, a magnitude, ao posicionamento dos carregamentos e ao tipo de apoio. A partir das propriedades fi?sicas e meca?nicas do palito de picole?, das propriedades qui?micas e meca?nicas da cola utilizada para fazer as ligac?o?es entre as barras, das propriedades meca?nicas dos parafusos utilizados nos no?s da estrutura, e das propriedades fi?sicas e meca?nicas do alumi?nio, utilizado na confecc?a?o dos apoios e aparatos de carga, dimensionou-se a estrutura, de modo a determinar a espessura mi?nima das barras para suportar a carga de projeto

A 46,XX testicular disorder of sex development caused by a Wilms’ tumour Factorâ 1 (WT1) pathogenic variant

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146930/1/cge13459_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146930/2/cge13459.pd

Design of innovative clothing for pressure injury prevention: end-user evaluation in a mixed-methods study

The global relevance of pressure injury (PI) prevention technologies arise from their impact on the quality of life of people with limited mobility and the costs associated with treating these preventable injuries. The purpose of this mixed methods study is to evaluate the design of a prototype integrating Smart Health Textiles for PI prevention based on feedback from specialist nurses who care for individuals who are prone to or have PIs. This is a mixed methods study. A structured questionnaire was conducted as part of an evaluation of a prototype garment for the prevention of PIs. This questionnaire was applied during the evaluation of the prototype and afterwards focus group discussions were held with experts. Descriptive statistics techniques were used to analyze the data and thematic and integrated content analysis was conducted through concomitant triangulation. Nineteen nurses took part, aged 30 to 39 years (52.6%) and with 12.31 ± 8.96 years of experience. Participants showed that the prototype required more manipulation and physical effort, which interfered its usefulness, in addition to presenting difficulties with the openings and the material of the closure system, which interfered with the ease of use and learning. Overall satisfaction with the product was moderate, with some areas for improvement found, such as satisfaction, recommendations to colleagues, and pleasantness of use. It is concluded that areas for improvement have been found in all dimensions, including in the design of openings and the choice of materials. These findings supply significant insights for improving clothing to meet the needs of healthcare professionals and patients.The 4NoPressure project was co-financed by the Operational Program for Competitiveness and Internationalization (COMPETE 2020) under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, with support from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), reference number POCI-01-0247- FEDER-039869

IFN-γ Production Depends on IL-12 and IL-18 Combined Action and Mediates Host Resistance to Dengue Virus Infection in a Nitric Oxide-Dependent Manner

Dengue is a mosquito-borne disease caused by one of four serotypes of Dengue virus (DENV-1–4). Severe dengue infection in humans is characterized by thrombocytopenia, increased vascular permeability, hemorrhage and shock. However, there is little information about host response to DENV infection. Here, mechanisms accounting for IFN-γ production and effector function during dengue disease were investigated in a murine model of DENV-2 infection. IFN-γ expression was greatly increased after infection of mice and its production was preceded by increase in IL-12 and IL-18 levels. In IFN-γ−/− mice, DENV-2-associated lethality, viral loads, thrombocytopenia, hemoconcentration, and liver injury were enhanced, when compared with wild type-infected mice. IL-12p40−/− and IL-18−/− infected-mice showed decreased IFN-γ production, which was accompanied by increased disease severity, higher viral loads and enhanced lethality. Blockade of IL-18 in infected IL-12p40−/− mice resulted in complete inhibition of IFN-γ production, greater DENV-2 replication, and enhanced disease manifestation, resembling the response seen in DENV-2-infected IFN-γ−/− mice. Reduced IFN-γ production was associated with diminished Nitric Oxide-synthase 2 (NOS2) expression and NOS2−/− mice had elevated lethality, more severe disease evolution and increased viral load after DENV-2 infection. Therefore, IL-12/IL-18-induced IFN-γ production and consequent NOS2 induction are of major importance to host resistance against DENV infection