The cerebellum was investigated in different mouse models for neurodegenerative diseases Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). Cerebellar pathology was detected in SMA mouse models.

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No description available.

Graphite epoxy composites lack effective mechanisms for absorbing local impact energy often resulting in penetration and a structural strength reduction. The effect of adding small amounts of two types of high strain hybrid components on the impact resistance of graphite epoxy composites subjected to projectiles traveling at ballistic velocities (greater than 900 ft/sec) has been studied. The hybrid components tested include superelastic shape memory alloy (SMA), a material having an unusually high stra in to failure (15 - 20%), and a high performance extended chain polyethylene (ECPE) known as Spectra™, a polymer fiber traditionally used in soft and hard body armor applications. 1.2% volume fraction superelastic SMA fiber layer was embedded on the specimens front, middle, and backface to determine the best location for a hybrid component in the graphite composite. From visual observation and energy absorption values, it was concluded that the backface is the most suitable location for a high strain hybrid component. Unlike the front and middle locations, the hybrid component is not restricted from straining by surrounding graphite material. However, no significant increases in energy absorption were found when two perpendicular SMA layers and an SMA-aramid weave configuration were tested on the backface. In all cases, the embedded SMA fibers were pulled through the graphite without straining to their full potential. It is believed that this is due to high strain rate effects coupled with a strain mismatch between the tough SMA and the brittle epoxy resin. However, a significant increase in energy absorption was found by adding ECPE layers to the backface of the composite . With only a 12% increase in total composite mass, a 99% increase in energy absorption was observed. / Master of Science

AgÃncia Nacional do PetrÃleo / A tecnologia de materiais asfÃlticos e de misturas evoluiu muito nas Ãltimas trÃs dÃcadas na Europa e na AmÃrica do Norte. Para a camada de rolamento, em paÃses desenvolvidos vem crescendo a utilizaÃÃo de misturas asfÃlticas mais resistentes e mais durÃveis, sendo que algumas destas soluÃÃes envolvem o emprego de graduaÃÃo descontÃnua, tal como o SMA (Stone Matrix Asphalt â Matriz PÃtrea AsfÃltica). O objetivo desta pesquisa à avaliar a viabilidade da incorporaÃÃo de fibras de coco, devido à abundÃncia deste material na regiÃo Nordeste, em misturas asfÃlticas do tipo SMA, como alternativa em substituiÃÃo à incorporaÃÃo das fibras de celulose, atravÃs das metodologias Marshall e Superpave. Os procedimentos de dosagem utilizados apresentam como maiores diferenÃas: (i) determinaÃÃo da densidade mÃxima teÃrica; (ii) metodologia de compactaÃÃo; e (iii) envelhecimento de curto prazo das misturas. As misturas selecionadas foram todas densas, tendo volume de vazios em torno de 4%, variando-se o teor e os tipos de fibras utilizadas nas misturas asfÃlticas. A determinaÃÃo da densidade mÃxima teÃrica (DMT) foi realizada atravÃs da aplicaÃÃo do vÃcuo, pelo mÃtodo Rice. O envelhecimento de curto prazo foi considerado apenas na dosagem Superpave, onde foi adotado um tempo de 2h das misturas em estufa, na temperatura de compactaÃÃo. Os resultados dos teores de projeto obtidos, com variaÃÃo do tipo de fibra, seguindo as metodologias Marshall e Superpave, apresentaram-se semelhantes. A caracterizaÃÃo mecÃnica das misturas foi realizada atravÃs dos ensaios de resistÃncia à traÃÃo estÃtica por compressÃo diamentral (RT), mÃdulo de resiliÃncia (MR), vida de fadiga por compressÃo diametral a tensÃo controlada e resistÃncia à traÃÃo retida por umidade induzida (RRT). Os resultados encontrados mostram que a fibra de coco atende Ãs exigÃncias. A anÃlise da viabilidade do uso da fibra local à importante para a regiÃo Nordeste, devido à valorizaÃÃo do material regional e tambÃm por ser economicamente viÃvel quando comparado à fibra de celulose, devido a sua abundÃncia na regiÃo. / The technology of asphalt materials and mixtures evolves very in these last three decades in the Europe and the North America. To the rolling layer, it comes growing the use in developed countries of more resistant and more durable asphalt mixtures, being that some of these solutions involve the job of discontinous graduation, as the SMA (Stone Matrix Asphalt). The main objective of this research presents the evaluation of the potential use of coconut fibers in the mixture SMA with different aggregate gradations using both the Marshall and Superpave (level 1) desing method. The differences between these two design methods are: (i) theoretical maximum specific gravity (Gmm) determination; (ii) compaction method and (iii) short-term aging of the mixtures. It was selected to this research dense mixtures with 4% air voids. The Gmm was determined indirectly from the mixture composition and the relative densities of the constituents of the mixes, and through the uses of a vacuum pump (Rice method). Short-term aging was considered just in the Superpave design, with 2 hours in the oven at the compaction temperature. The design results showed the same optimum asphalt content for Marshall and Superpave mixtures. The mechanical behavior of the mixtures was evaluated by: the indirect tensile strenght, resilient modulus, fatigue life (stress controlled) and resistance to moisture damage. The results show that the coconut fibers meet current requirements. This analysis of the viability of the use of the local fiber is important for the Northeast region, due to valuation of regional material e, also, for economically viable when being compared with the fiber of cellulose due its abundance in the region.

La vérification est un comportement volontaire mis en place à la suite d’un doute ou de la détection d’une erreur au cours d’une prise de décision. De très rares études se sont intéressées aux bases physiologiques de ce comportement, la majorité des travaux étant basés sur l’analyse des comportements pathologiques, comme les vérifications associées au trouble obsessionnel compulsif. Ces travaux de thèse ont consisté à déterminer les bases neurobiologiques du comportement de vérification chez le primate non-humain, un modèle de choix dans l’étude de la physiopathologie humaine. Pour cela deux singes macaque rhésus ont été entrainés à la tâche « Check-or-Go » permettant aux sujets de vérifier et éventuellement modifier la disponibilité d’une récompense avant de confirmer la décision afin d’accéder à cette même récompense. A l’aide d’une analyse comportementale, de dosages d’un biomarqueur de l’anxiété, d’enregistrements EEG du cortex préfrontal et d’enregistrements extracellulaires unitaires au niveau de CMAr et pré-SMA, nous avons pu montrer que : (i) les singes ont les capacités métacognitives d’exprimer un comportement volontaire de vérification similaire à celui observé chez l’Homme, (ii) ce comportement est sous tendu par l’émergence du doute, (iii) est corrélé au niveau d’anxiété, et (iv) est associé à des mécanismes cognitifs mettant en jeu le cortex préfrontal, et plus spécifiquement CMAr et pré-SMA. / Checking behavior is essential to maximizing gain and/or minimizing loss in our daily lives and relies on a normal action monitoring process. Although several studies have explored the neurobiological basis of doubt and uncertainty, both the physiology and physiopathology of checking, its most manifest behavioral consequence, remain poorly understood. This PhD project aims at characterizing physiological doubt and checking behavior in non-human primates. To do so, we trained two rhesus monkeys at a newly designed Check-or-Go task that allows the animal to multiple-check and change the availability of a reward before taking the final decision leading to that reward. During the task, we recorded frontal EEG activity and single neuronal activity in the rostral part of the ACC (CMAr), and the pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA), and quantified salivary cortisol in order to correlate this biological marker of anxiety with checking behavior. Our results show that, as humans, monkeys have the metacognitive ability to express voluntary checking behavior that depends on uncertainty monitoring, relates to anxiety and involves brain frontal areas.

Copolímeros à base de estireno e anidrido maleico (SMA) são materiais sintéticos comercialmente disponíveis, obtidos pela reação dos dois monômeros citados em diferentes proporções, resultando em materiais versáteis, e disponíveis em diferentes graus de massas e porcentagens molares de anidrido maleico. São considerados polímeros funcionais devido à reatividade do grupamento anidrido maleico presente na cadeia polimérica. Por este motivo, esses materiais possuem vasta gama de aplicações, e elevada importância em diversas áreas, principalmente por terem baixa toxicidade, boa resistência térmica e boa estabilidade dimensional. Dessa forma, para melhor aplicação desses copolímeros, é muito importante o conhecimento dos parâmetros relativos ao seu comportamento em solução. A viscosimetria, em especial, é um método simples, útil e apropriado para fornecer essas informações. Os parâmetros viscosimétricos podem ser matematicamente calculados por extrapolação gráfica, entretanto a geração dos dados experimentais é mais demorada. Em contrapartida, é possível que a determinação experimental seja feita de forma mais rápida, por um único ponto, procedimento esse que desperta tanto o interesse acadêmico quanto o industrial. Neste trabalho, foram empregados os dois métodos de cálculo, utilizando solventes puros, misturas de solventes e três amostras de copolímeros à base de SMA. As determinações foram conduzidas a 40C. Os copolímeros utilizados possuiam teores de anidrido maleico de 50%, 45% e 40%, sendo os dois últimos esterificados com butil-metil-éster e sec-butil-metil-éster, respectivamente. Os solventes utilizados foram: N-metil-pirrolidona (NMP), tetrahidrofurano (THF) e suas respectivas misturas 1:1 com metil-etil-cetona (MEK), ou seja, (NMP:MEK) e THF:MEK, sendo a MEK um não solvente para o copolímero não esterificado. As equações utilizadas para extrapolação gráfica foram as de Huggins, Kraemer e Schulz-Blaschke. As equações empregadas em um único ponto foram as de Solomon-Ciuta, Deb-Chanterjee e novamente Schulz-Blaschke. Os resultados obtidos foram comparados e avaliou-se a possibilidade da utilização do método mais rápido, por um único ponto, para os sistemas estudados através dos desvios percentuais tendo como padrão os resultados da equação de Huggins. A equação de Deb-Chanterjee foi a mais adequada aos sistemas em NMP, que foi também o melhor solvente para as amostras. Os resultados obtidos na mistura NMP:MEK sugeriram que a viscosimetria pode ter sido um método sensível às pequenas diferenças estruturais entre os grupos pendentes nas amostras esterificadas. Paralelamente, realizou-se análises de espectroscopia na região do infravermelho (FTIR), análise termogravimétrica (TGA) e ensaios dinâmico-mecânicos (DMA) para a caracterização estrutural e térmica das amostras. Somente os resultados obtidos a partir de DMA indicaram diferenças entre as amostras esterificadas / Styrene maleic anhydride copolymers (SMA) are synthetic materials commercially available, obtained by the reaction of styrene with maleic anhydride, resulting in very versatile products obtained in a wide range of molar masses and maleic anhydride proportions. The copolymers are considered to be functional due to maleic anhydride reactivity, that provides a very large range of applications, and major importance in different areas, mainly for the low toxicity, good thermal resistance and excellent dimensional stability. Thus, for improving the application of these materials, it is necessary and important to understand the behavior of the copolymers in solution. Therefore, viscosimetry can be a simple, helpful and suitable method to provide these informations. The viscosimetric parameters are generally mathematically calculated by graphic extrapolation. However, the experiments take too long. Indeed, it is possible to reduce the time of the execution by employing a single point determination. In this work, both calculation methods were performed, using pure solvents and mixtures and three different copolymers samples, based on SMA. The tests were carried out at 40oC. The copolymers contained 50%, 45% and 40% of maleic anhydride groups and the last two copolymers were esterified with butyl-methyl ester and sec-butyl-methyl ester. N-methyl-pyrrolidone (NMP), tetrahydrofuran (THF), and their mixtures (1:1) with methyl-ethyl-cetone (MEK) were employed as solvents. The latter was a non-solvent for the esterified copolymers. The equations applied for graphic extrapolation were Huggins, Kraemer and Schulz-Blaschke. The equations employed for a single point determination were Solomon-Ciuta, Deb-Chanterjee and again Schulz-Blaschke. The single point determination method values were compared with those obtained from Huggins equation, and the possibility of using the faster method was evaluated by analyzing percentage deviation. Deb-Chanterjee equation was the most adequate to the copolymers in NMP, which was the best solvent for the samples. The results obtained in NMP:MEK mixture suggested that viscosimetry could be a sensitive method to the small structural variations between the pendant groups in the esterified samples. The copolymers were structurally characterized by infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and thermally by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and dynamic-mecanical analysis (DMA). The results obtained from those techniques did not show significant differences between the esterified copolymers, except for DMA

Copolímeros à base de estireno e anidrido maleico (SMA) são materiais sintéticos comercialmente disponíveis, obtidos pela reação dos dois monômeros citados em diferentes proporções, resultando em materiais versáteis, e disponíveis em diferentes graus de massas e porcentagens molares de anidrido maleico. São considerados polímeros funcionais devido à reatividade do grupamento anidrido maleico presente na cadeia polimérica. Por este motivo, esses materiais possuem vasta gama de aplicações, e elevada importância em diversas áreas, principalmente por terem baixa toxicidade, boa resistência térmica e boa estabilidade dimensional. Dessa forma, para melhor aplicação desses copolímeros, é muito importante o conhecimento dos parâmetros relativos ao seu comportamento em solução. A viscosimetria, em especial, é um método simples, útil e apropriado para fornecer essas informações. Os parâmetros viscosimétricos podem ser matematicamente calculados por extrapolação gráfica, entretanto a geração dos dados experimentais é mais demorada. Em contrapartida, é possível que a determinação experimental seja feita de forma mais rápida, por um único ponto, procedimento esse que desperta tanto o interesse acadêmico quanto o industrial. Neste trabalho, foram empregados os dois métodos de cálculo, utilizando solventes puros, misturas de solventes e três amostras de copolímeros à base de SMA. As determinações foram conduzidas a 40C. Os copolímeros utilizados possuiam teores de anidrido maleico de 50%, 45% e 40%, sendo os dois últimos esterificados com butil-metil-éster e sec-butil-metil-éster, respectivamente. Os solventes utilizados foram: N-metil-pirrolidona (NMP), tetrahidrofurano (THF) e suas respectivas misturas 1:1 com metil-etil-cetona (MEK), ou seja, (NMP:MEK) e THF:MEK, sendo a MEK um não solvente para o copolímero não esterificado. As equações utilizadas para extrapolação gráfica foram as de Huggins, Kraemer e Schulz-Blaschke. As equações empregadas em um único ponto foram as de Solomon-Ciuta, Deb-Chanterjee e novamente Schulz-Blaschke. Os resultados obtidos foram comparados e avaliou-se a possibilidade da utilização do método mais rápido, por um único ponto, para os sistemas estudados através dos desvios percentuais tendo como padrão os resultados da equação de Huggins. A equação de Deb-Chanterjee foi a mais adequada aos sistemas em NMP, que foi também o melhor solvente para as amostras. Os resultados obtidos na mistura NMP:MEK sugeriram que a viscosimetria pode ter sido um método sensível às pequenas diferenças estruturais entre os grupos pendentes nas amostras esterificadas. Paralelamente, realizou-se análises de espectroscopia na região do infravermelho (FTIR), análise termogravimétrica (TGA) e ensaios dinâmico-mecânicos (DMA) para a caracterização estrutural e térmica das amostras. Somente os resultados obtidos a partir de DMA indicaram diferenças entre as amostras esterificadas / Styrene maleic anhydride copolymers (SMA) are synthetic materials commercially available, obtained by the reaction of styrene with maleic anhydride, resulting in very versatile products obtained in a wide range of molar masses and maleic anhydride proportions. The copolymers are considered to be functional due to maleic anhydride reactivity, that provides a very large range of applications, and major importance in different areas, mainly for the low toxicity, good thermal resistance and excellent dimensional stability. Thus, for improving the application of these materials, it is necessary and important to understand the behavior of the copolymers in solution. Therefore, viscosimetry can be a simple, helpful and suitable method to provide these informations. The viscosimetric parameters are generally mathematically calculated by graphic extrapolation. However, the experiments take too long. Indeed, it is possible to reduce the time of the execution by employing a single point determination. In this work, both calculation methods were performed, using pure solvents and mixtures and three different copolymers samples, based on SMA. The tests were carried out at 40oC. The copolymers contained 50%, 45% and 40% of maleic anhydride groups and the last two copolymers were esterified with butyl-methyl ester and sec-butyl-methyl ester. N-methyl-pyrrolidone (NMP), tetrahydrofuran (THF), and their mixtures (1:1) with methyl-ethyl-cetone (MEK) were employed as solvents. The latter was a non-solvent for the esterified copolymers. The equations applied for graphic extrapolation were Huggins, Kraemer and Schulz-Blaschke. The equations employed for a single point determination were Solomon-Ciuta, Deb-Chanterjee and again Schulz-Blaschke. The single point determination method values were compared with those obtained from Huggins equation, and the possibility of using the faster method was evaluated by analyzing percentage deviation. Deb-Chanterjee equation was the most adequate to the copolymers in NMP, which was the best solvent for the samples. The results obtained in NMP:MEK mixture suggested that viscosimetry could be a sensitive method to the small structural variations between the pendant groups in the esterified samples. The copolymers were structurally characterized by infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and thermally by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and dynamic-mecanical analysis (DMA). The results obtained from those techniques did not show significant differences between the esterified copolymers, except for DMA

Background: There is limited information on neurochemical markers being used to support and monitor the affection of motoneurons in patients with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). The objective of this study was to examine neurochemical markers in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) under treatment with the antisense-oligonucleotide (ASO), nusinersen. Methods: We measured markers of axonal degeneration [neurofilament light chain (NfL) and phosphorylated neurofilament heavy chain (pNfH)] along with basic CSF parameters in 25 adolescent and adult SMA type 2 and 3 patients at baseline and after four intrathecal injections of nusinersen. Neurochemical markers were compared with controls. In addition, neurochemical markers in SMA patients were related to the Hammersmith Functional Rating Scale Expanded (HFMSE). Results: No significant difference in neurofilament (Nf) values was observed between SMA and control group, neither at baseline nor after four injections of nusinersen. NfL, protein and quotients of albumin (Qalb) increased slightly in SMA patients after the fourth injection. The slight increase of NfL could be related to the development of mild CSF flow change. No relations were observed between changes in Nf and HFMSE. Conclusion: We assume that Nf levels in CSF in these patients may result from slow disease progression in this stage of disease, pre-existing loss of motoneurons due to long disease duration besides affection of the LMN only. Therefore, we conclude that Nf levels in CSF do not seem useful as diagnostic and monitoring markers in adolescent and adult SMA type 2 and 3 patients.