Osteopontin: A Novel Regulator at the Cross Roads of Inflammation, Obesity and Diabetes

Since its first description more than 20 years ago osteopontin has emerged as an active player in many physiological and pathological processes, including biomineralization, tissue remodeling and inflammation. As an extracellular matrix protein and proinflammatory cytokine osteopontin is thought to facilitate the recruitment of monocytes/macrophages and to mediate cytokine secretion in leukocytes. Modulation of immune cell response by osteopontin has been associated with various inflammatory diseases and may play a pivotal role in the development of adipose tissue inflammation and insulin resistance. Here we summarize recent findings on the role of osteopontin in metabolic disorders, particularly focusing on diabetes and obesity

Manufacturing and evaluation of low cost apparatus for non-human research in experimental analysis of behavior.

Equipamentos utilizados em pesquisas em Análise Experimental do Comportamento com sujeitos não humanos tiveram uma trajetória intrincada ao próprio estudo do comportamento. Um tipo de equipamento importante nessas pesquisas é a câmara de condicionamento operante. Diversos incrementos foram feitos nessas câmaras, com estes focados no aumento do controle de variáveis independentes e no registro mais preciso de variáveis dependentes. Uma característica de equipamentos atualmente disponíveis no mercado é o seu alto custo de aquisição e a necessidade do uso de software fechado utilizado pelos mesmos. Diante disso, apresenta-se a construção e avaliação de equipamentos não comerciais de baixo custo para pesquisas operantes. Foram construídas duas câmaras de condicionamento, uma para pombos e outra para ratos. Com o objetivo de avaliar o equipamento construído, submeteram-se dois pombos e dois ratos a esquemas de reforço de razão fixa (FR) e razão variável (VR), e dois pombos e dois ratos a esquemas de reforço de intervalo fixo (FI) e intervalo variável (VI). Replicou-se a maior parte dos aspectos da literatura de esquemas de reforço simples com o equipamento apresentado, o que indica sua adequação ao uso em pesquisas de condicionamento operante como uma alternativa viável de baixo custoApparatuses used non-human research in experimental analysis of behavior have had a parallel trajectory to the study of behavior itself. A type of apparatus used in behavioral studies is the operant conditioning chamber. Several improvements have been done to these chambers, focusing in the control of independent variables and more precise registry of dependent variables. A feature of apparatuses available in the market is their high acquisition costs and the need of usage of closed software. In light of this, it is shown the construction and evaluation of alternative low cost apparatuses for behavioral research. Two operant conditioning chambers were built, one for usage with pigeons and the other for the usage with rats. In order to evaluate the apparatus, two pigeons and two rats were submitted to fixed ratio (FR) and variable ratio (VR) schedules of reinforcement, while another two pigeons and two rats were submitted to fixed interval (FI) and variable interval (VI) schedules of reinforcement. The majority of features related to the responding under simple schedules of reinforcement were replicated using the presented apparatus, which indicates its adequacy for the usage in behavioral research as a low cost alternativ