A nitric oxide synthase transgene ameliorates muscular dystrophy in mdx mice.

Dystrophin-deficient muscles experience large reductions in expression of nitric oxide synthase (NOS), which suggests that NO deficiency may influence the dystrophic pathology. Because NO can function as an antiinflammatory and cytoprotective molecule, we propose that the loss of NOS from dystrophic muscle exacerbates muscle inflammation and fiber damage by inflammatory cells. Analysis of transgenic mdx mice that were null mutants for dystrophin, but expressed normal levels of NO in muscle, showed that the normalization of NO production caused large reductions in macrophage concentrations in the mdx muscle. Expression of the NOS transgene in mdx muscle also prevented the majority of muscle membrane injury that is detectable in vivo, and resulted in large decreases in serum creatine kinase concentrations. Furthermore, our data show that mdx muscle macrophages are cytolytic at concentrations that occur in dystrophic, NOS-deficient muscle, but are not cytolytic at concentrations that occur in dystrophic mice that express the NOS transgene in muscle. Finally, our data show that antibody depletions of macrophages from mdx mice cause significant reductions in muscle membrane injury. Together, these findings indicate that macrophages promote injury of dystrophin-deficient muscle, and the loss of normal levels of NO production by dystrophic muscle exacerbates inflammation and membrane injury in muscular dystrophy

O escravo na justiça do Antigo Regime : o Tribunal da Relação do Rio de Janeiro

A documentação do Tribunal da Relação do Rio de Janeiro oferece diversos exemplos da presença de escravos em juízo. Numa sociedade na qual havia um percentual elevado de pessoas nesta condição, o fato não é surpreendente. Dada, porém, a condição jurídica de res, coisa, do escravo, cabe perguntar em que circunstâncias ele aparecia no tribunal e que papel desempenhava. No primeiro caso, havia diferença se a causa fosse no âmbito cível ou penal ? No segundo, poderia o escravo ser autor, réu e testemunha como qualquer homem livre ? Para responder a estas perguntas procuraremos identificar as disposições legislativas sobre o assunto e a prática do “direito vivo”, conforme ocorria naquele Tribunal no final do antigo regime colonial. [...

O carácter prismátio do oficio de julgar no Brasil do antigo regime

The present investigation proposes an analysis of the duty of judging in the luso-brazilian Ancient Regime. Because of the tripartite division of the functions of the State does not exist, the extra-judicial attributions de jure and de facto of the judges are studied, and, in a contrary sense, the judicial attributions of other office holders in the administration. It has been postulated, as a hypothesis, the "prismatic" character of such activities, chronologically, alongside with the introduction, in the XVIII century of "modem" or burocratic elements in the traditional structure, and also in a transversal way, as it happens with the reciprocal superposition of magistrates and other officials.    La presente investigación propone un análisis del ofício de juzgar en el Antiguo Régimen luso-brasileño. Dado que no existe la tripartición de las funciones del Estado, se estudian las atribuciones extra-judiciales de jure y de facto de los jueces y, en sentido contrario, las atribuciones judicialesde otros detentores de ofícios en la administración. Se ha planteado, como hipótesis, el caracter "prismatico" de tales actividades, tanto cronológicarnente, con la introducción en el siglo XVIII de elementos "modernos" o burocráticos en la estructura tradicional, como de modo transversal, cuando ocurre con la sobreposición recíproca de funciones de magistrados y otros oficiales.  

The Situated Materiality of Scientific Practices

For about 20 years, a rather wide range of conceptual approaches to the social study of science and technology have emerged which have occasionally been labelled "postconstructivist". Although these conceptions differ in various respects, they have in common a twofold opposition: against traditional representationalist realism as well as "classical" social constructivism established by the "sociology of scientific knowledge" (SSK). In order to escape the pitfalls of both these views (and to overcome the familiar, yet unfruitful opposition between them), postconstructivist perspectives understand and study the sciences primarily in term of their situated material and discursive practices. The present article starts with a brief retrospect on why and how since the mid-1980s postconstructivist trends have questioned not only rationalist and realist accounts but also the conceptual foundations and background assumptions of SSK s claim to explain sociologically the content of science. Subsequently, the central features of a postconstructivist perspective in science studies are outlined, referring to the key concepts of "knowledge", "practice", and "performativity". The fruitfulness of a theoretical approach focusing on scientific practices is illustrated using the example of the increasingly important issue of scientific non-knowledge: In the same way that knowledge is not to be comprehended as simply the mental "possession" of a knower, non-knowledge is not merely the lack thereof but an (unrecognised) implication of materially and socially situated research practices. Finally, it is emphasised that postconstructivist science studies should not be misunderstood as claiming (as do realism and constructivism) to provide a meta-theoretical explanation or legitimation of science. Instead, postconstructivism should be conceived as a situated critical effort to challenge one-sided accounts of scientific knowledge and foster more self-reflective research practices

First-principles studies of water adsorption on graphene: The role of the substrate

We investigate the electronic properties of graphene upon water adsorption and study the influence of the SiO2 substrate in this context using density functional calculations. Perfect suspended graphene is rather insensitive to H2O adsorbates, as doping requires highly oriented H2O clusters. For graphene on a defective SiO2 substrate, we find a strongly different behavior: H2O adsorbates can shift the substrate's impurity bands and change their hybridization with the graphene bands. In this way, H2O can lead to doping of graphene for much lower adsorbate concentrations than for free hanged graphene. The effect depends strongly on the microscopic substrate properties.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure