Writing a Children Story Book: Rosaline the Beautiful Rose

This project brings up an issue about beauty concept in a form of children's story book with fantasy genre for children at the ages of 12 to 15. The story shows some beauty concepts in the world through the main character's fantastical adventure. The main character of this story is a beautiful little girl who always wants to be the most beautiful girl wherever she is. The main character thinks that beauty will help her to gain attention from everybody, and she loves to be the center of attention. The beauty concept obsesses her very much because of the beauty hegemony that appears in her society. Then through the magical journey in the four countries, the main character learns that beauty is not something as simple as the way she knows about it before. The main character experiences the false consciousness of beauty concepts from the society conditioning. In the end of the story, the main character then realizes that inner beauty is far more important than physical beauty

A comunicação da Embrapa Trigo em um dia de campo de inverno 2013.

Editores técnicos: Joseani Mesquita Antunes, Ana Lídia Variani Bonato, Márcia Barrocas Moreira Pimentel

De l’art d’éditer les fabliaux. Quelques observations à propos d’un compte rendu concernant l’édition du fabliau De cele qui se fist foutre sur la fosse son mari

With a little delay, the authors answer to a not very objective review of the edition of the fabliau De celle qui se fist foutre sur la la fosse son mari. At the same time, they propose some brief reflections on the following general theme: how to propose a critical edition of the fabliaux

On the uniqueness of paths for spin-0 and spin-1 quantum mechanics

The uniqueness of the Bohmian particle interpretation of the Kemmer equation, which describes massive spin-0 and spin-1 particles, is discussed. Recently the same problem for spin-1/2 was dealt with by Holland. It appears that the uniqueness of boson paths can be enforced under well determined conditions. This in turn fixes the nonrelativistic particle equations of the nonrelativistic Schrodinger equation, which appear to correspond with the original definitions given by de Broglie and Bohm only in the spin-0 case. Similar to the spin-1/2 case, there appears an additional spin-dependent term in the guidance equation in the spin-1 case. We also discuss the ambiguity associated with the introduction of an electromagnetic coupling in the Kemmer theory. We argue that when the minimal coupling is correctly introduced, then the current constructed from the energy-momentum tensor is no longer conserved. Hence this current can not serve as a particle probability four-vector.Comment: 19 pages, no figures, LaTex, shortened version for Phys. Lett.

Description of superdeformed nuclei in the interacting boson model

The interacting boson model is extended to describe the spectroscopy of superdeformed bands. Microscopic structure of the model in the second minimum is discussed and superdeformed bosons are introduced as the new building blocks. Solutions of a quadrupole Hamiltonian are implemented through the $1/N$ expansion method. Effects of the quadrupole parameters on dynamic moment of inertia and electric quadrupole transition rates are discussed and the results are used in a description of superdeformed bands in the Hg-Pb and Gd-Dy regions.Comment: 18 pages revtex, 9 figures available upon reques

Effects due to a scalar coupling on the particle-antiparticle production in the Duffin-Kemmer-Petiau theory

The Duffin-Kemmer-Petiau formalism with vector and scalar potentials is used to point out a few misconceptions diffused in the literature. It is explicitly shown that the scalar coupling makes the DKP formalism not equivalent to the Klein-Gordon formalism or to the Proca formalism, and that the spin-1 sector of the DKP theory looks formally like the spin-0 sector. With proper boundary conditions, scattering of massive bosons in an arbitrary mixed vector-scalar square step potential is explored in a simple way and effects due to the scalar coupling on the particle-antiparticle production and localization of bosons are analyzed in some detail

Ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin attenuate microglia inflammatory response via TLR4/NF-kB pathway

BACKGROUND: Neuroinflammation is the response of the central nervous system to events that interfere with tissue homeostasis and represents a common denominator in virtually all neurological diseases. Activation of microglia, the principal immune effector cells of the brain, contributes to neuronal injury by release of neurotoxic products. Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), expressed on the surface of microglia, plays an important role in mediating lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced microglia activation and inflammatory responses. We have previously shown that curcumin and some of its analogues harboring an α,β-unsaturated 1,3-diketone moiety, able to coordinate the magnesium ion, can interfere with LPS-mediated TLR4-myeloid differentiation protein-2 (MD-2) signaling. Fluoroquinolone (FQ) antibiotics are compounds that contain a keto-carbonyl group that binds divalent ions, including magnesium. In addition to their antimicrobial activity, FQs are endowed with immunomodulatory properties, but the mechanism underlying their anti-inflammatory activity remains to be defined. The aim of the current study was to elucidate the molecular mechanism of these compounds in the TLR4/NF-κB inflammatory signaling pathway. METHODS: The putative binding mode of five FQs [ciprofloxacin (CPFX), levofloxacin (LVFX), moxifloxacin, ofloxacin, and delafloxacin] to TLR4-MD-2 was determined using molecular docking simulations. The effect of CPFX and LVFX on LPS-induced release of IL-1β and TNF-α and NF-κB activation was investigated in primary microglia by ELISA and fluorescence staining. The interaction of CPFX and LVFX with TLR4-MD-2 complex was assessed by immunoprecipitation followed by Western blotting using Ba/F3 cells. RESULTS: CPFX and LVFX bound to the hydrophobic region of the MD-2 pocket and inhibited LPS-induced secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines and activation of NF-κB in primary microglia. Furthermore, these FQs diminished the binding of LPS to TLR4-MD-2 complex and decreased the resulting TLR4-MD-2 dimerization in Ba/F3 cells. CONCLUSIONS: These results provide new insight into the mechanism of the anti-inflammatory activity of CPFX and LVFX, which involves, at least in part, the activation of TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway. Our findings might facilitate the development of new molecules directed at the TLR4-MD-2 complex, a potential key target for controlling neuroinflammation