Papel imunorregulador das dietas ricas em ?cidos graxos em tecidos adiposo e card?aco de camundongos infetados pelo Trypanosoma cruzi.

Programa de P?s-Gradua??o em Ci?ncias Biol?gicas. N?cleo de Pesquisas em Ci?ncias Biol?gicas, Pr?-Reitoria de Pesquisa de P?s Gradua??o, Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto.A resposta imune do indiv?duo infectado pelo protozo?rio Trypanosoma cruzi ? determinante para o curso cl?nico da doen?a card?aca, sendo este quadro dependente de prote?nas inflamat?rias. Fatores ex?genos, como a composi??o das dietas, t?m se mostrado importantes na regula??o/intensifica??o deste estado inflamat?rio do hospedeiro, principalmente relacionados ?s dietas ricas em ?cidos graxos. Na presente proposta, camundongos C57BL/6 foram infectados, ou n?o, com a cepa Colombiana do T. cruzi e submetidos a diferentes fontes de ?cidos graxos: saturados (dieta com banha de porco - BP) e monoinsaturados (dieta com azeite de oliva - AO), sendo a resposta inflamat?ria sist?mica e card?aca avaliadas na fase inicial (30 dias) e na fase cr?nica recente (100 dias) da infec??o. Ap?s a eutan?sia dos animais, o sangue, cora??o, f?gado, ba?o e tecido adiposo epididimal foram coletados para ensaios imunoenzim?ticos (CCL-2 e IL-10), para avalia??o de marcadores de processos redox (catalase, super?xido dismutase, glutationa total, reduzida e oxidada, prote?na carbonilada) e para quantifica??o relativa do RNA em tempo real - qPCR (Foxp3, Irak-1, Smad?s -2 e -3, Ppar?s -alfa e -gama, Stat-6, TLR -2, -4, -9, al?m do parasitismo tecidual). Os resultados mostram que a ?natureza lip?dica? das dietas e a infec??o alteram a massa do ba?o, do f?gado e do tecido adiposo epididimal, mas n?o do cora??o. As dietas BP e AO favoreceram a perman?ncia do parasito no tecido card?aco, a inflama??o no tecido adiposo e o aumento de gordura no f?gado, principalmente aos 100 dias de infec??o. Ambas as dietas induziram aumento de catalase e redu??o de super?xido dismutase nos ?rg?os avaliados, sendo a dieta AO respons?vel pela eleva??o das prote?nas carboniladas, em associa??o ao T. cruzi, na fase aguda e a dieta BP mostrou esta a??o na fase cr?nica recente. Al?m disso, a dieta AO, nas fases aguda e cr?nica recente da infec??o, mostrou-se associada ao aumento de TLR-2, -4, -9, Irak-1, Ppar, Stat6 e Smads e Foxp3 no tecido card?aco, enquanto a dieta BP induziu este perfil no tecido adiposo. Nossos resultados sugerem que o processo inflamat?rio induzido pelo T. cruzi ?, em parte, dependente da fonte lip?dica da dieta, o que sustenta a hip?tese de uma rela??o direta entre a natureza das dietas lip?dicas e o quadro imunopatol?gico induzido pelo T. cruzi.The host immune response against Trypanosoma cruzi is a determinant key for the cardiac clinical course and it appears to be dependent on the inflammatory mediators. Exogenous factors, such as diet composition, have been pointed to regulate immune response and, in this context, high fat diets have received highlight. In the present study, C57BL/6 mice were infected with the Colombian strain of the T. cruzi and submitted to different sources of fatty acids: saturated (diet with lard - DL); and monounsaturated (diet with olive oil - DOO). Systemic and cardiac inflammatory responses were studied during initial phase (30 days) and recent chronic phase (100 days) of the infection. After euthanasia of the animals, blood, heart, liver, spleen and epididymal adipose tissue were collected for immunoenzymatic assays (CCL-2 and IL-10), to evaluation of redox process markers (catalase, superoxide dismutase, total glutathione, reduced and oxidized, and carbonylated protein) and to the RNA quantification - qPCR (Foxp3, Irak-1, Smad's -2 and -3, Ppar's -alpha and gamma, Stat-6, TLR -2, -4 , -9, and parasitism). The results show that the "lipid nature" of diets and the parasite increase the mass of the spleen, liver and epididymal fat, but not the heart. The diets DL and DOO favored the permanence of the parasite in the cardiac tissue, the inflammation in the adipose tissue and caused an increase of fat in the liver, especially at 100 days of infection. Both diets induced catalase increase and superoxide dismutase reduction in the evaluated organs. The DOO was related to the increase of the carbonylated proteins in association with the parasite in the acute phase while the DL diet showed this pattern in the recent chronic phase. In addition, the DOO during acute and chronic phases of infection was responsible for the increase of TLR-2, -4, -9, Irak-1, Ppar, Stat-6, Smads and Foxp3 in the cardiac tissue, while DL induced this same profile in the adipose tissue. Our results suggest that the T. cruzi-induced inflammatory process is partly dependent on the dietary lipid source, which supports the hypothesis of a direct relationship between the nature of lipid diets and the parasite-induced immunopathology

Expression and production of cardiac angiogenic mediators depend on the Trypanosoma cruzi-genetic population in experimental C57BL/6 mice infection.

Mammalian cardiac cells are important targets to the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi. The inflammatory reaction in the host aims at eliminating this parasite, can lead to cell destruction, fibrosis and hypoxia. Local hypoxia iswelldefined stimulus to the production of angiogenesis mediators. Assuming that different genetic T. cruzi populations induce distinct inflammation and disease patterns, the current study aims to investigate whether the production of inflammatory and angiogenic mediators is a parasite strain-dependent condition. C57BL/6 mice were infectedwith the Y and Colombian strains of T. cruzi and euthanized at the 12th and 32nd days, respectively. The blood and heart tissue were processed in immune assays and/or qPCR (TNF, IL-17, IL-10, CCL2, CCL3, CCL5, CCR2, CCR5 and angiogenic factors VEGF, Ang-1, Ang-2) and in histological assays. The T. cruzi increased the inflammatory and angiogenicmediators in the infectedmicewhen theywere compared to non-infected animals.However, the Colombian strain has led to higher (i) leukocyte infiltration, (ii) cardiac TNF and CCL5 production/expression, (iii) cardiac tissue parasitism, and to higher (iv) ratio between heart/body weights. On the other hand, the Colombian strain has caused lower production and expression VEGF, Ang-1 and Ang-2, when it was compared to the Y strain of the parasite. The present study highlights that the T. cruzi-genetic population defines the pattern of angiogenic/inflammatory mediators in the heart tissue, and that itmay contribute to themagnitude of the cardiac pathogenesis. Besides, such assumption opens windows to the understanding of the angiogenic mediator's role in association with the experimental T. cruzi infection

Different source of commercial vegetable oils may regulate metabolic, inflammatory and redox status in healthy rats.

Our goal was to carry out a comparative study to evaluate the metabolic and inflammatory effects and the redox status of commercial vegetable oils supplementation [linseed (LO), coconut (VCO), and sunflower (SO)] in metabolically healthy rats. The results found in this study showed that the LO group decreased the HOMA-IR and hepatic cholesterol, and increased the serum levels of IL-6. Supplementation with VCO increased glucose and HOMA-IR, cholesterol concentration and serum triacylglycerol (TAG). In this group, there was also an increase in TBARS. In the SO group there was a decrease in serum concentrations of cholesterol and TAG and an increase in hepatic concentration of these lipids. In addition, in the SO group there was a decrease in hepatic and s?rum concentrations of IL-6 and hepatic levels of TNF, as well as a decrease in the GSH/GSSG ratio, suggesting changes in glutathione metabolism and inflammatory mediators

In vivo antileishmanial efficacy of a naphthoquinone derivate incorporated into a Pluronic? F127-based polymeric micelle system against Leishmania amazonensis infection.

New therapeutic strategies against leishmaniasis are desirable, since the treatment against disease presents problems, such as the toxicity, high cost and/or parasite resistance. As consequence, new antileishmanial compounds are necessary to be identified, as presenting high activity against Leishmania parasites, but low toxicity in mammalian hosts. Flau-A is a naphthoquinone derivative recently showed to presents an in vitro effective action against Leishmania amazonensis and L. infantum species. In the present work, the in vivo efficacy of Flau-A, which was incorporated into a Poloxamer 407-based micelle system, was evaluated in a murine model against L. amazonensis infection. Amphotericin B (AmB) and Ambisome? were used as controls. The animals were infected and later treated with the compounds. Thirty days after the treatment, parasitological and immunological parameters were evaluated. Results showed that AmB, Ambisome? , Flau-A or Flau-A/M-treated animals presented significantly lower average lesion diameter and parasite burden in tissue and organs evaluated, when compared to the control (saline and micelle) groups. Flau-A or Flau-A/M-treated mice were those presenting the most significant reductions in the parasite burden, when compared to the others. These animals developed also a more polarized antileishmanial Th1 immune response, which was based on significantly higher levels of IFN-?, IL-12, TNF-?, GM-CSF, and parasite-specific IgG2a isotype; associated with low levels of IL-4, IL10, and IgG1 antibody. The absence of toxicity was found in these animals, although mice receiving AmB have showed high levels of renal and hepatic damage markers. In conclusion, results suggested that the Flau-A/M compound may be considered as a possible therapeutic target to be evaluated against human leishmaniasis

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good

Search for stop and higgsino production using diphoton Higgs boson decays

Results are presented of a search for a "natural" supersymmetry scenario with gauge mediated symmetry breaking. It is assumed that only the supersymmetric partners of the top-quark (stop) and the Higgs boson (higgsino) are accessible. Events are examined in which there are two photons forming a Higgs boson candidate, and at least two b-quark jets. In 19.7 inverse femtobarns of proton-proton collision data at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV, recorded in the CMS experiment, no evidence of a signal is found and lower limits at the 95% confidence level are set, excluding the stop mass below 360 to 410 GeV, depending on the higgsino mass

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI

Search for heavy resonances decaying to two Higgs bosons in final states containing four b quarks

A search is presented for narrow heavy resonances X decaying into pairs of Higgs bosons (H) in proton-proton collisions collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC at root s = 8 TeV. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 fb(-1). The search considers HH resonances with masses between 1 and 3 TeV, having final states of two b quark pairs. Each Higgs boson is produced with large momentum, and the hadronization products of the pair of b quarks can usually be reconstructed as single large jets. The background from multijet and t (t) over bar events is significantly reduced by applying requirements related to the flavor of the jet, its mass, and its substructure. The signal would be identified as a peak on top of the dijet invariant mass spectrum of the remaining background events. No evidence is observed for such a signal. Upper limits obtained at 95 confidence level for the product of the production cross section and branching fraction sigma(gg -> X) B(X -> HH -> b (b) over barb (b) over bar) range from 10 to 1.5 fb for the mass of X from 1.15 to 2.0 TeV, significantly extending previous searches. For a warped extra dimension theory with amass scale Lambda(R) = 1 TeV, the data exclude radion scalar masses between 1.15 and 1.55 TeV