12,179 research outputs found
Antimicrobial peptides and complement in neonatal hypoxia-ischemia induced brain damage
Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) is a clinical condition in the neonate, resulting from oxygen deprivation around the time of birth. HIE affects 1-5/1000 live births worldwide and is associated with the development of neurological deficits, including cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and cognitive disabilities. Even though the brain is considered as an immune-privileged site, it has innate and adaptive immune response and can produce complement (C) components and antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). Dysregulation of cerebral expression of AMPs and C can exacerbate or ameliorate the inflammatory response within the brain. Brain ischemia triggers a prolonged inflammatory response affecting the progression of injury and secondary energy failure and involves both innate and adaptive immune systems, including immune-competent and non-competent cells. Following injury to the central nervous system (CNS), including neonatal hypoxia-ischemia (HI), resident microglia, and astroglia are the main cells providing immune defense to the brain in a stimulus-dependent manner. They can express and secrete pro-inflammatory cytokines and therefore trigger prolonged inflammation, resulting in neurodegeneration. Microglial cells express and release a wide range of inflammation-associated molecules including several components of the complement system. Complement activation following neonatal HI injury has been reported to contribute to neurodegeneration. Astrocytes can significantly affect the immune response of the CNS under pathological conditions through production and release of pro-inflammatory cytokines and immunomodulatory AMPs. Astrocytes express β-defensins, which can chemoattract and promote maturation of dendritic cells (DC), and can also limit inflammation by controlling the viability of these same DC. This review will focus on the balance of complement components and AMPs within the CNS following neonatal HI injury and the effect of that balance on the subsequent brain damage
Futuros designers como agentes de mudança : exploração do ensino do design focado em inovação social e sustentabilidade
ABSTRACT : This paper, part of a Ph.D. in Design research, focused on
discussing the role of Design Education on training future designers to be
actors of change. It describes the methodology of a workshop for design
students during the Design Week of Mérida, at Universidad de
Extremadura – Spain. The workshop discussed the point of view of
students in problem-solving, and what they believe to be the skills,
methods, and partnerships for design to achieve such a change in its
approach and how Design Education plays a part in preparing the future
genera_on of designers to tackle social innovation and sustainability
problems. The results showed how these particular group of future
designers see as crucial in the given context and the possibilities for
improvement on a system that struggles to be resilient and respond at a
faster pace.O presente trabalho é parte do projeto de investigação para o
programa de Doutoramento em Design e foca em discutir o papel do
Ensino do Design na educação de futuros designers como agentes de
mudança. O artigo descreve a metodologia aplicada a um workshop
facilitado para alunos de design durante a Semana de Design de Mérida,
na Universidad de Extremadura, em Espanha. A atividade discutiu os
pontos de vista dos estudantes no tocante à resolução de problemas
complexos e suas crenças sobre as habilidades, métodos e parcerias
necessárias ao Design para que alcance as mudanças necessárias, para
além de discutir o papel do Ensino do Design na preparação da futura
geração de profissionais focados na resolução de problemas de
sustentabilidade e inovação social. O resultado demonstra o que este
particular grupo de futuros designers entendem como sendo crucial neste
contexto e as possibilidades para melhorias em um sistema que sofre para
se tornar resiliente e responder às questões sociais de maneira mais ágil.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
SOCIAL EXCHANGE RATES, MERCOSUR AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
The path towards a common market requires an alignment of macroeconomic policies. In the case of the MERCOSUL member countries, the observed disparities in the exchange, tax and monetary policies constitute major imbalances and impede future international economic integration. Apart from residual differences on trade policies among the member countries, macroeconomic policy disparities also reflect populism and the resulting lack of political will and mutual commitment with the regional goals. There is general professional agreement that, under a fixed exchange rate regimen with trade protection, the social exchange rate exceeds the official and/or market rate. Accordingly, the adoption of an exchange regimen with flexible exchange rates certeris paribus should significantly reduce the difference between the official exchange or market rate and the social exchange rate. The general purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of the changes of exchange policies in Brazil against the backdrop of the MERCOSUR economic integration process. To do this, an appropriate measure for the social exchange rate is developed and estimated. This measure also has an immediate practical relevance, as it is suitable for use in the economic analysis of investment projects in Brazil. By using a model of opportunity cost for foreign exchange to estimate the social exchange rate, the study concludes that there was no relevant alteration in the order of economic activities according to the degree of effective protection. The exchange policy changes effects will only be felt in the medium and long run, but their reflections can already be clearly perceived through the declining tendency of the social exchange rate.International Development, International Relations/Trade,
Transition on the entropic elasticity of DNA induced by intercalating molecules
We use optical tweezers to perform stretching experiments on DNA molecules
when interacting with the drugs daunomycin and ethidium bromide, which
intercalate the DNA molecule. These experiments are performed in the low-force
regime from zero up to 2 pN. Our results show that the persistence length of
the DNA-drug complexes increases strongly as the drug concentration increases
up to some critical value. Above this critical value, the persistence length
decreases abruptly and remains practically constant for larger drug
concentrations. The contour length of the molecules increases monotonically and
saturates as drugs concentration increases. Measured in- tercalants critical
concentrations for the persistence length transition coincide with reported
values for the helix-coil transition of DNA-drug complexes, obtained from
sedimentation experiments.Comment: This experimental article shows and discuss a transition observed in
the persistence length of DNA molecules when studied as a function of some
intercalating drug concentrations, like daunomycin and ethidium bromide. It
has 15 pages and 4 figures. The article presented here is in preprint forma
The extended minimal geometric deformation of SU() dark glueball condensates
The extended minimal geometric deformation (EMGD) procedure, in the
holographic membrane paradigm, is employed to model stellar distributions that
arise upon self-interacting scalar glueball dark matter condensation. Such
scalar glueballs are SU() Yang-Mills hidden sectors beyond the Standard
Model. Then, corrections to the gravitational wave radiation, emitted by
SU() EMGD dark glueball stars mergers, are derived, and their respective
spectra are studied in the EMGD framework, due to a phenomenological brane
tension with finite value. The bulk Weyl fluid that drives the EMGD is then
proposed to be experimentally detected by enhanced windows at the eLISA and
LIGO.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure
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