Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais / Chagas disease, caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, is ranked as the most serious parasitic disease in Latin America and has become a worldwide problem. A bulk of studies substantiates that Th1-associated cytokines are essential elements in early resistance against the parasite and are associated with the development of the chronic cardiac form. Although cytokines have a key role in the immune response against T. cruzi, little is known about IL-3, IL-7 and IL-9 in this context. Then the aim of this study was to analyze the role of IL-3, IL-7 and IL-9 in the acute phase of T. cruzi experimental infection. For this purpose, parameters indicative of improvement in clinical status of the animals both infected and treated as just treated were studied, such as: morbidity, mortality and histopathology. The amount of cardiac mast cells and the serum cytokines profile were also evaluated. Our data revealed that the treatment with IL-3, IL-7 or IL-9 did not alter the clinical parameters analyzed or the amount of cardiac mast cells in mice infected with T. cruzi. However the treatment with IL-3 decreased the cardiac T. cruzi-induced inflammation and the treatment with IL-7 increased serum levels of IL-5 in infected animals. In addition, the treatment with IL-9 increased the serum levels of Th1 cytokine profile (IL-2, IFN-y and TNF-α) and decreased cardiac fibrosis in infected animals, suggesting a possible protective role of this cytokine in this context. Taken together, our results underline the importance of these cytokines in modulation of T. cruzi infection. Since studies involving IL-3, IL-7 and IL-9 activity during Chagas disease are critical in understanding the parasite control process and the protective and/or harmful action of these cytokines in the host. In addition, understanding of the immunological mechanisms mediated by these cytokines that are involved in disease development may contribute to the establishment of new therapeutic interventions to prevent Chagas disease and treat their symptomatic forms. / A Doença de Chagas, causada pelo protozoário Trypanosoma cruzi, é classificada como a doença parasitária mais grave da América Latina e tornou-se um problema mundial. A maior parte dos estudos confirma que as citocinas de perfil Th1 são elementos essenciais na resistência precoce contra o parasita e estão associadas ao desenvolvimento da forma cardíaca crônica. Embora as citocinas tenham um papel chave na resposta imune contra T. cruzi, pouco se sabe a respeito da função de IL-3, IL-7 e IL-9 neste contexto. Assim, o objetivo deste estudo foi analisar o papel destas citocinas na fase aguda da infecção experimental com T. cruzi. Para isto, parâmetros indicativos de melhora clínica dos animais tanto infectados e tratados como apenas tratados foram estudados, tais como: morbidade, mortalidade e histopatologia. A quantidade de mastócitos cardíacos e o perfil de citocinas séricas também foram avaliados. Os dados revelaram que o tratamento com IL-3, IL-7 ou IL-9 não alterou os parâmetros clínicos analisados nem a quantidade de mastócitos cardíacos nos camundongos infectados com T. cruzi. No entanto, o tratamento com IL-3 diminuiu a inflamação cardíaca T. cruzi-induzida e o tratamento com IL-7 aumentou os níveis séricos de IL-5 nos animais infectados. Além disso, o tratamento com IL-9 aumentou os níveis séricos das citocinas de perfil Th1 (IL-2, IFN-y e TNF-α) e diminuiu a fibrose cardíaca nos animais infectados, sugerindo um possível papel protetor desta citocina neste contexto. Em suma, os nossos resultados demonstram a importância destas citocinas na modulação da infecção por T. cruzi. Já que estudos envolvendo a atividade de IL-3, IL-7 e IL-9 durante a doença de Chagas são fundamentais na compreensão sobre o processo de controle parasitário e da ação protetora e/ou prejudicial dessas citocinas no hospedeiro. Além disso, o entendimento dos mecanismos imunológicos mediados por estas citocinas que estão envolvidos no desenvolvimento da doença pode contribuir para o estabelecimento de novas intervenções terapêuticas a fim de prevenir a doença de Chagas e tratar suas formas sintomáticas / Doutor em Imunologia e Parasitologia Aplicadas

Après un état de l’art sur l’ensemble des fluxmètres thermiques existants, il a été mis en évidence qu’aucun n’est capable d’analyser le couplage des transferts thermiques et hydriques à cause de leurs imperméabilités. De plus leur semi rigidité les contraint à être utilisés sur des surfaces planes et statiques. Ainsi, l’objectif de cette étude est d’élaborer un fluxmètre thermique à gradient tangentiel de température à paroi auxiliaire textile (ou fluxmètre thermique textile). Grâce à sa porosité et souplesse, ce fluxmètre thermique textile est capable de mesurer le couplage des transferts thermiques et hydriques avec une perturbation minimale et également d’épouser des formes gauches et déformables. Trois procédés ont été utilisé pour la production des fluxmètres thermiques textiles : une thermopile a été réalisée avec la technologie des électrodes plaquées avec deux méthodes différentes, à savoir additive ou soustractive, et celui-ci a été inséré dans la paroi auxiliaire textile pendant le tissage de cette paroi avec deux orientations différents, à savoir en chaine ou en trame. De plus, l’influence de la paroi auxiliaire textile sur la performance du fluxmètre thermique textile a été étudiée. Deux matériaux différents, à savoir un hydrophile et un hydrophobe, et deux armures différentes, à savoir l’une avec des aspérités et l’autre avec une surface lisse, ont été comparés. Parmi tous les fluxmètres thermiques textiles et références, le fluxmètre thermique conçu avec un matériau hydrophile et une surface lisse donne une sensibilité plus importante. Celle-ci peut être expliquée par sa résistance thermique élevée et son contact optimisé avec la surface de mesure. Il a été observé que le fluxmètre thermique textile avec un matériau hydrophobe est moins influencé par la mesure du couplage des transferts. / After a state of the art on existing heat fluxmeters, it has been demonstrated that they aren’t able to measure the coupling between heat and mass transfers because of their impermeability. Moreover, they can be used just for flat and static surfaces because of their semi rigidity. Thus, the objective of this study is to develop a heat flow meter tangential temperature gradient with a textile auxiliary wall (textile heat fluxmeter). It is able to measure the coupling between heat and mass transfers with a minimum perturbation and it can be used for complex surfaces due to its porosity and flexibility. Three different processes were used to develop textile heat fluxmeters: a thermopile was realized with electroplating technology with two different methods, i.e. additive or subtractive, and it was inserted into the textile auxiliary wall during the weaving process with two different orientations, i.e. weft and warp. Moreover, the influence of the textile auxiliary wall on the textile heat fluxmeters’ performance was studied. Two different materials, i.e. a hydrophilic and a hydrophobic, and two different weaving structures, i.e. with a rough surface and with a flat surface, were compared. Among all the textile and reference heat fluxmeters, the textile heat fluxmeter with hydrophilic material and flat surface gives the highest sensitivity. This can be explained by its higher thermal resistance and optimized contact with the measuring unite. It was observed that the textile heat fluxmeter with hydrophobic material is less influenced by the measurement of the coupling between heat and mass transfers: its behavior is less modified by humidity.

abstract: This work demonstrated a novel microfluidic device based on direct current (DC) insulator based dielectrophoresis (iDEP) for trapping individual mammalian cells in a microfluidic device. The novel device is also applicable for selective trapping of weakly metastatic mammalian breast cancer cells (MCF-7) from mixtures with mammalian Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMC) and highly metastatic mammalian breast cancer cells, MDA-MB-231. The advantage of this approach is the ease of integration of iDEP structures in microfliudic channels using soft lithography, the use of DC electric fields, the addressability of the single cell traps for downstream analysis and the straightforward multiplexing for single cell trapping. These microfluidic devices are targeted for capturing of single cells based on their DEP behavior. The numerical simulations point out the trapping regions in which single cell DEP trapping occurs. This work also demonstrates the cell conductivity values of different cell types, calculated using the single-shell model. Low conductivity buffers are used for trapping experiments. These low conductivity buffers help reduce the Joule heating. Viability of the cells in the buffer system was studied in detail with a population size of approximately 100 cells for each study. The work also demonstrates the development of the parallelized single cell trap device with optimized traps. This device is also capable of being coupled detection of target protein using MALDI-MS. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Chemistry 2013

Este trabalho investiga os elementos que caracterizam a escrita pianística da Paulistana nº 7 de Claudio Santoro. Examina como a escrita pianística desenvolveu-se em decorrência dos eventos sócio-culturais desde os seus primórdios até meados do século XX. Contextualiza historicamente a obra, expõe a análise formal e harmônica da peça e exibe as conexões entre os elementos que caracterizam a escrita pianística da Paulistana nº 7 e os de outras obras do repertório pianístico brasileiro.

Orientador: Karina Gottardello Zecchin / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Odontologia de Piracicaba / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-19T22:07:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Gomes_CamillaBorgesFerreira_M.pdf: 2172456 bytes, checksum: 5dd9bb49385077ce4213db57e518b145 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / Resumo: O comprometimento ósseo em pacientes com câncer é responsável por significativas morbidade e redução da qualidade de vida, principalmente quando se trata de câncer de mama, no qual o esqueleto é o principal sítio de desenvolvimento das metástases. Bisfosfonatos (BPs) contendo ou não nitrogênio são os principais agentes usados no combate à perda óssea como na osteoporose, uma vez que induzem apoptose de osteoclastos. Recentemente foram demonstradas ações antitumoral e antiangiogência dos BPs, in vitro e in vivo. Desse modo, o objetivo deste trabalho foi analisar e comparar os efeitos antitumorais e antiangiogênicos de BP que não contêm nitrogênio (clodronato, CLO) e BP contendo nitrogênio (ácido zoledrônico, ZOL), em linhagem celular derivada de câncer de mama, MCF-7, e em culturas de células endoteliais. Os resultados mostram que ZOL reduziu a proliferação das MCF-7 de maneira dose-dependente, com aumento do número de células nas fases G0/G1, sem alterar a viabilidade. Paralemamente, CLO não mostrou nenhum efeito sobre as células tumorais. O tratamento de células endoteliais de coelho, RAEC, com ZOL ou CLO reduziu a proliferação celular derivada, sem alterar sua viabilidade. Células endoteliais humanas HUVEC mostraram 15% de redução da viabilidade quando tratadas com ZOL, enquanto CLO não mostrou efeitos citotóxicos. A incubação de células HUVEC com meio condicionado por células MCF-7 tratadas com ZOL culminou na redução da proliferação das células endoteliais e na redução da formação de estruturas semelhantes a vasos, in vitro. Esse mesmo meio condicionado pelas células tumorais tratadas com ZOL resultou em menor proliferação de células provenientes de aorta murina, em ensaio ex vivo. Ensaios de imunoabsorbância revelaram diminuição nos níveis de VEGFA total nesse meio condicionado, assim como aumento da quantidade da isoforma antiangiogênica VEGFA165b, após tratamento das MCF-7 com ZOL. Por último, o tratamento das células MCF-7 com ZOL modulou a expressão de VEGFA total e de suas isoformas. Em conjunto, estes achados mostram que ZOL exibe ação antitumoral e antiangiogênica em células de câncer de mama e em células endoteliais. Tais dados contribuem para um maior esclarecimento sobre os mecanismos de ação dos BPs, permitindo buscas por melhorias no uso desses agentes como coadjuvantes na quimioterapia, a fim de minimizar a morbidade decorrente de metástases ósseas em tumores malignos / Abstract: Patients with cancer frequently develop bone metastasis, resulting in considerable morbidity and affecting quality of life. This is particularly important considering breast cancer, in which skeletal is the main site for metastasis. Non-nitrogen-containing and nitrogen-containing bisphosphonates (BPs) are the mainly agents to treat bone loss due to osteoporosis, Paget disease, bone metastasis, multiple myeloma, hypercalcemia and osteogenesis imperfecta. BPs impair bone loss by inducing apoptosis in osteoclasts. Recently it was shown anti-tumoral and anti-angiogenic effects of BPs, in vitro and in vivo. The present study aim to analyze and compare the anti-angiogenic pathway of the non-nitrogen-containing BP, clodronate (CLO), and the nitrogen-containing BP, zoledronic acid (ZOL), using estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer cell line, MCF-7, and endothelial cells. ZOL treatment reduced MCF-7 cell proliferation and induced cell cycle arrest in a dose-dependent manner, while CLO did not affect these cells. Treatment with ZOL or CLO also reduced RAEC cells proliferation, without changes in cell viability. HUVEC cells showed reduced viability after incubation with ZOL, but not with CLO. The conditioned medium by MCF-7 ZOL-treated cells reduced the formation of blood vessels in vitro and proliferation of HUVEC cells, together with lower endothelial cells proliferation derived from mouse aortic rings. Enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay showed reduction of ~25% in VEGFA levels, and increased amount of VEGFA165b isoform in the conditioned medium by ZOL-treated MCF-7 cells. The nitrogen-containing BP also modulated the expression of mRNAs for VEGF in MCF-7 treated cells. In all assays, CLO showed less anti-angiogenic properties when compared with ZOL. Data provided from this study amplify the knowledge of BPs actions, contributing for new approaches of bone metastases in malignant tumors / Mestrado / Estomatologia / Mestre em Estomatopatologia

Performance is the driving force for the effective network utilization in the current telecommunication world. The thesis aims to define suitable performance measurement methodologies for communication over stack based Signalling System No 7 (SS7). This thesis also throws a quick glance on open source SS7 and Ericsson proprietary SS7 protocols, to devise performance measurement approach that can be adopted to develop sophisticated tools. We adopt a scientific experimental approach for numerical measurement of throughput and latency of the protocol stack. Our current work finishes experimentation with open source SS7 protocol (SCTP) in Fedora based two identical servers. SCTP (Stream Control Transmission Protocol) is an important transport layer protocol for communication of SS7 message over an IP network. Message communication using SCTP protocol over an IP/Ethernet network between these two identical servers has been measured and analyzed using the IPerf tool. TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) being another important transport layer protocol of TCP/IP stack, the performance of TCP is compared with SCTP. The results prove that under normal circumstances TCP gains over SCTP and our analysis support that under multi homing support, SCTP should gain over TCP when throughput is measured

Last year, the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground (YPG) faced a short suspense requirement to instrument an Apache's Ethernet bus. YPG was able to implement an effective method to satisfy this requirement; however, more capable and effective methodologies could not be developed and utilized due to time constraints. While continuing to support ongoing Apache testing, YPG is working to implement more efficient methods to capture and utilize the Ethernet data. This paper will discuss YPG’s initial implementation and the follow-on efforts being pursued.

Studien har syftat till att undersöka elevers attityd till läsning av skönlitteratur. Jag har jämfört enkät- och intervjumaterial från två olika skolor som arbetar med skönlitteratur i undervisningen på olika sätt. Den ena har sedan flera år tillbaka ett läsprojekt på skolan där skönlitteraturläsning inkluderas i, och ges undervisningstid i flera ämnen, och den andra arbetar mer traditionellt med läsning ungefär en lektion i veckan inom svenskämnet. Då underlaget i undersökningen är litet kan inga generella slutsatser dras, men det verkar som om eleverna som deltagit i läsprojektet, skola Ett, läser något mer på fritiden än eleverna på skola Två.

M.A.

Denna studie ämnar undersöka hur styrsystem från Siemens som inte ingår i ordinarie produktbibliotek till deras processkontrollsystem PCS 7 kan integreras. Integreringen kommer utföras med hjälp av ett tilläggspaket till PCS 7, SIMATIC PCS7/Open OS. Styrsystemen som ska integreras i detta arbete är vanligt förekommande på industrier idag, SIMATIC S7-300/1500. Dessa styrs normalt inte via processkontrollsystem, mer vanligt är att de styrs lokalt via en operatörspanel intill maskinen. Genom att integrera dessa till processkontrollsystem kommer de att kunna styras från större kontrollrum, samtidigt som fördelarna med att integrera moderna styrsystem med ny teknik erhålls i produktionen. En annan del av studien har för avsikt att jämföra tidigare fall av liknande integreringar där andra typer av tekniker har använts. Dessa fall har visat att det finns idag standardiserade tekniker för att integrera enstaka fältenheter så att dessa kan hanteras av övergripande kontrollsystem. I en av studierna som undersöks, där det har gjorts försök att integrera funktionen av ett styrsystem som kontrollerar flertalet fältenheter, finns det enligt studien begränsningar i tekniken som används. Enligt Siemens AG ska dock tillägget SIMATIC PCS 7/Open OS klara att integrera ett styrsystem med dess fulla funktionalitet till processkontrollsystemet PCS 7. Resultatet av arbetet visar att integrering av styrsystemen till PCS 7 genom att använda tillägget är möjlig och styrsystemets fulla funktion kunde erhållas från ett PCS7-HMI. För att integreringen med tilläggspaketet ska ske smidigare rekommenderas att förberedelser, såsom att skapa bibliotek både i PCS 7 och i styrsystemet utförs innan integreringsarbetet påbörjas. Biblioteken bör innehålla funktionsblock förexempelvis motordrifter i styrsystemet och grafikelement som motsvarar dessa i PCS7. / This study will focus on how Siemens controllers that are not listed in the productlibrary of the process control system PCS 7, can be integrated. The integration willbe performed using an option for PCS 7 (SIMATIC PCS 7/Open OS). The controllers to be integrated in this work are commonly found in industries today, the Siemens controllers SIMATIC S7-300/1500. These are usually not controlled from a processcontrol system, they are more commonly controlled via an operator panel next to the machine. By integrating these controllers into the process control system, they can be controlled from larger control rooms, and the production will acquire the benefits of using modern controllers. Previous cases with similar components, where other integration techniques was used has been evaluated. In these cases the integration have shown that there are today standardized techniques for integrating single field devices so that they can be managed by process control systems. In another study investigated, where attempts have been made to integrate the function of a controller that is controlling several field devices, the study showed limitations in the technique used. According to Siemens AG however, SIMATIC PCS 7/Open OS will be able to integrate acontroller with its complete functionality into the process control system PCS 7. The result of the work shows that integration of the controllers to PCS 7 by using the option package is possible, and the controller could be fully operated from a PCS 7-HMI. In order to make the integration with the optional package more user-friendly, it is recommended that preparations be made before integrating. Such as preparing a library in both PCS 7 and in the controller to be integrated, which are containing for example function blocks in the controller side and graphic elements corresponding to these function blocks in the PCS 7-HMI side.