Tumor necrosis factor, interleukin-1 and interleukin-8 mediate the nociceptive activity of the supernatant of LPS-stimulated macrophages

It has been suggested that the supernatant of LPSstimulated macrophages (macrophage nociceptive factor, MNF) promotes nociception in mice. Intraperitoneal administration of MNF induced dose-related writhing, which reached a plateau between 18 and 26 min after injection and decreased within 60 min. The release of MNF was inhibited by the pretreatment of the macrophages with cycloheximide, a protein synthesis inhibitor, or with the glucocorticoid dexamethasone. Cyclooxygenase inhibitors, such as indomethacin or paracetamol, had no effect. The MNF-induced nociception was inhibited in a dose-related manner by pretreatment of the animals with indomethacin, paracetamol or dexamethasone. Pretreatment of the animals with the sympatholytics guanethidine and atenolol partially reduced the MNF nociception, which was abolished by the combination of guanethidine or atenolol with indomethacin. The preincubation of MNF with antisera against TNF-α, IL-1 or IL-8 partially inhibited its nociceptive effect. Intraperitoneal injection of a mixture of the recombinants cytokines TNF-α, IL-1 and IL-8 mimicked MNF nociception. The individual injection of these cytokines was unable to induce the nociceptive effect. In conclusion, our data suggest that the nociceptive activity of the supernatant of LPSstimulated macrophages is explained by the presence of TNF-α, IL-1 and IL-8, the nociceptive activity of which (in mice) seems to be due to the release of cyclooxygenase and sympathetic metabolites

Prototipagem rápida de ambientes ubíquos

A experiência de utilização de ambiente ubíquos é um factor determinante no seu sucesso. As características de tais sistemas devem ser exploradas o mais cedo possível para antecipar potenciais problemas de utilização por parte do utilizador e para reduzir custos de re-design. No entanto, o desenvolvimento antecipado de protótipos a serem avaliados no ambiente final pode ser disruptivo e tornar-se inaceitável. O desenvolvimento de protótipos de ambientes ubíquos pode ajudar, fornecendo indicações de como o utilizador irá reagir perante os ambientes. Este artigo descreve o APEX, uma plataforma de prototipagem rápida de ambientes ubíquos que junta a CPN Tools com um servidor de aplicações 3D existente. Os protótipos desenvolvidos com o APEX permitem que os utilizadores naveguem num mundo virtual, podendo experimentar muitas das características do design proposto. A arquitectura do APEX e a modelação baseada em CPN são descritas. Um exemplo ilustra a abordagem

The enthalpies of dissociation of the N-O bonds in two quinoxaline derivatives

The present work reports the first experimental thermochemical study of mono-N-oxides derived from quinoxaline, namely, 3-methoxycarbonyl-2-methyl-quinoxaline N-oxide and 3-ethoxycarbonyl-2-methyl-quinoxaline N-oxide. The values of the enthalpies of formation, in the condensed state, and of the enthalpies of sublimation, derived from static bomb calorimetry and Calvet microcalorimetry measurements, respectively, are combined to derive the standard molar enthalpies of formation in the gaseous phase for these two compounds. From the latter values, the first and second N-O bond dissociation enthalpies for the corresponding di-N-oxides have been obtained. The gas-phase experimental results are also compared with calculated data obtained with a density functional theory approach. Copyright (c) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Measurement of the degree of Polarization Entanglement Through Position Interference

We produce polarization entangled states with variable degree of entanglement for twin photons. Entanglement in polarization is coupled to entanglement in position that produces transverse coincidence interference fringes. We show both theoretically and experimentally that, due to this coupling, we can use the interference pattern to measure the polarization degree of entanglement.Comment: 5 figure