Through the Looking-Glass: reflection of ant-diversity in ant-mimics

Trabalho final de mestrado integrado em Medicina, apresentado à Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Coimbra.Todos os anos nascem cerca de 15 milhões de crianças prematuras em todo o mundo e mais de 1 milhão morre no primeiro mês devido a várias complicações. A sobrevivência de um prematuro é cada vez maior devido aos avanços nos cuidados perinatais, contudo estas crianças sofrem frequentemente de morbilidade respiratória crónica. Os recém-nascidos prematuros têm um risco aumentado de possuírem alterações na função pulmonar durante a infância, adolescência e idade adulta, bem como um risco aumentado de infeções respiratórias, asma e doença pulmonar obstrutiva crónica. Estes problemas respiratórios são particularmente evidentes quando estas crianças prematuras desenvolvem displasia broncopulmonar. O objetivo deste trabalho passa deste modo por destacar quais as principais complicações a nível do sistema respiratório dos nascimentos pré-termo, salientando a importância de um correto desenvolvimento do aparelho respiratório na fase pré-natal e pósnatal.An estimated 15 million of babies are born too early every year around the world and over 1 million die in the first month due to various complications. Recent advances in perinatal care have increased the survival rates of preterm birth however, this improved survival has led to an increase in significant chronic respiratory morbidity. The children born preterm have an increased risk of abnormal lung function during childhood, adolescence and adulthood, as well as respiratory infections, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. These respiratory problems are particularly evident when these preterm birth develop bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BDP). The purpose of this work is thus to highlight what are the main complications in the respiratory system due to preterm birth emphasizing the importance of a correct development of the respiratory system in prenatal and postnatal phase

Reprocessable Aliphatic Polydithiourethanes Based on the Reversible Addition Reaction of Diisothiocyanates and Dithiols

Aliphatic polydithiourethanes (PDTUs) were successfully synthesized from diisothiocyanates and dithiols having different values of the carbon atom number. The thermal properties and hydrogen-bonding behavior of PDTUs were studied in detail by using differential scanning calorimetry, thermal gravimetric analysis, temperature dependence nuclear magnetic resonance, Fourier transform infrared-attenuated total reflection, and density functional theory and semiempirical molecular orbital methods. In this work, we demonstrated that the thermal decomposition of PDTUs happened from the cleavage of the C–S bond of the dithiocarbamate moiety in the main chain and also that the active isothiocyanate and thiol groups were reprepared in the terminal of the decomposed polymer (i.e., oligomer). Furthermore, we found that the thermal depolymerization of PDTUs and the repolymerization of dithiourethane oligomers at room temperature proceeded repeatedly a few times

Synthesis and decrosslinking of networked polymers having zwitterion structure consisted by cyclic amidine and isothiocyanate

We have already found that the polymers, which are obtained by the polymerization of 4‐vinylphenyl isothoiocyanate after the zwitterion formation with cyclic amidines, are networked through the ionic interaction among the zwitterions becoming insoluble to various solvents. We report here on the results of the reaction of nucleophilic reagents such as amines and alcohols with the zwitterionic adduct to investigate about the decrosslinking through the resolution of ionic interactions. In the model reactions of amines and alcohols with the zwitterion compounds, which were consisted of the phenyl isothiocyanate and cyclic amidines, the reaction of nucleophilic reagents and zwitterionic adducts having methyl group at the 2‐position of the amidine proceed quantitatively. Based on the model reaction, such nucleophilic addition was applicable to decrosslinking reaction of the networked polymers containing the zwitterion structure in the side‐chain

Measuring the Beam Polarizations and the Luminosity at Photon-Photon Colliders

We present methods to measure the beam polarizations and the luminosity of $\gamma \gamma$ colliders at TeV energy scale. The beam polarizations of a $\gamma \gamma$ collider can easily be monitored by comparing the numbers of events of the processes $\gamma \gamma$ $\rightarrow$ $\ell^+ \ell^-$ and $\gamma \gamma$ $\rightarrow$ $W^+ W^-$, where $\ell$ means $e$ or $\mu$. The luminosity of a $\gamma \gamma$ collider is also measurable by the event rate of $W$ boson pair productions and the light lepton pair productions.Comment: 16 pages and 7 figures attached as PostScript files, LaTeX, HUPD-9217 (Revised for 4 points: 2 are important, see the top of the file for details.