Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-11T13:55:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Aadriana Souza.pdf: 1569750 bytes, checksum: 5eaa4428075f0432d6481c7bbf5f6ab9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-04-24 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Amazonian Dark Earth are known by its typical high fertility and phosphorus contents besides a dark surface horizon designated as Anthropic Horizon . Studies on the nutrients dynamics in the Anthropic Horizons in comparison to neighboring low fertility soils are essential for the comprehension of exchangeable ions capacity and leaching mechanisms in the Dark Earth soils. This study aimed to assess and compare the nutrient dynamics in the soil solution of a Xanthic Kandiudult and Anthropic Xantic Kandiudult. Extracting capsules were installed at the depth of 20 cm, 50 cm and 100 cm (three replicates by each area) for soil solution collecting. Soil samplings from 0 cm to 100 cm depth (20 cm of interval) were obtained by augering for granulometric, chemical and mineralogical soil analyses. Soil bulk densities and pore volume determination were assessed through non deformed samples collected in a soil profile. Clay mineralogy analyses were carried out only in 0-20 and 80-100 cm depths. Soil solution was sampled ten times during the study period for Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+, Al3+, Fe2+, Mn2+, Cu2+ e Zn2+ determinations (acidified samples) and pH and electrical conductivity measurements (non acidified samples). Anthropic Xantic Kandiudult showed higher soil bulk densities and soil water retention values in the field capacity than the Xanthic Kandiudult. Nevertheless the pore volume values were higher in the Xanthic Kandiudult. Anthropic horizons also have higher Ca2+, Mg2+, Mn2+, Zn2+ e Cu2+ contents. Supposing that before antropic activities both soils were physically and chemically similar, it is supposed that human activities reduced the soil bulk density in AB and BA horizons of Xanthic Kandiudult. The mineralogical assemblage of clay fraction is dominated by kaolinite and traces of a mica group mineral and anatase in both soils, demonstrating the same geological material. The Anthropic Xantic Kandiudult shows higher cations contents in CEC and less leaching from solution. An input of nutrients was verified in march 22nd (Ca2+, Mg2+ and Cu2+) and may 31st (K+, Na+, Fe2+, Zn2+ and Mn2+) in the anthropic horizons, what indicates an increasing in the elemental concentration in soil solution via rain and/or desorption from clay and organic matter sites. Organic carbon contents were higher in Xanthic Kandiudult than in Anthropic Xantic Kandiudult. Ca2+ represents the major element in both soils analyzed. Na+ values were the second most frequent in Xanthic Kandiudult solution and in the 50-cm layer of Anthropic layer. Mg2+ values were distinguished only in the 0-20 cm layer of Anthropic Xantic Kandiudult, where reached the second highest value in soil solution. Distinguished values of Mn2+ and Zn2+ were found in Anthropic Xantic Kandiudult, demonstrating equilibrium with CEC of solid phase. Fe2+ values of Anthropic Xantic Kandiudult were significantly lower than Xanthic Kandiudult, what corroborates to previous results. Al3+ concentration in soil solution was null in all evaluated situations in the Anthropic Xantic Kandiudult enhancing the idea of great fertility of these soils / A ocorrência de áreas com solos de horizonte superficial de cor escura e apresentando elevada fertilidade e altos teores de fósforo caracterizam os horizontes A antrópicos da Amazônia, conhecidos regionalmente como Terra Preta de Índio. Estudos da dinâmica de nutrientes nos horizontes antrópicos em relação aos solos pouco férteis assumem importância por contribuir para compreensão dos mecanismos de retenção e lixiviação de íons nestes horizontes. O presente estudo teve por objetivo avaliar a dinâmica dos nutrientes da solução do solo em Argissolo Amarelo com horizonte A moderado e Argissolo Amarelo A antrópico (Terra Preta de Índio) no município de Iranduba AM. O estudo foi realizado em triplicata em cada uma das áreas estudadas, nas quais foram instaladas cápsulas extratoras de solução do solo nas profundidades de 20, 50 e 100. Foram realizadas tradagens a cada 20 cm até a profundidade de 100 cm em todas as parcelas para coleta de amostras para análise granulométrica, química e mineralógica. Amostras indeformadas para determinação da densidade do solo e volume total de poros foram coletadas nos horizontes identificados em perfis abertos nas áreas. Análise mineralógica da fração argila foi realizada nas profundidades de 0-20 e 80-100 cm. A solução do solo foi coletada em dez ocasiões, sendo fracionada onde uma era acidificada para determinação de Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+, Al3+, Fe2+, Mn2+, Cu2+ e Zn2+ e outra sem acidificação para as medições de pH e condutividade elétrica. Os horizontes A antrópicos apresentaram maior densidade e retenção de água do que o horizonte A moderado na capacidade de campo; no entanto, o volume total de poros foi maior nesse último. A retenção de água apresentou relação inversa com os teores de matéria orgânica e relação direta com os teores de argila. Os horizontes antrópicos apresentaram maiores valores de Ca2+, Mg2+, Mn2+, Zn2+ e Cu2+, enquanto o solo natural apresentou maiores teores de Fe2+, Al3+ e C orgânico. A atividade humana pretérita reduziu a densidade dos horizontes AB e BA do solo adjacente quando comparados aos horizontes antrópicos. A assembléia mineralógica da fração argila é caracterizada pela dominância de caulinita e traços de mica e anatásio em ambas as áreas, o que evidencia que essas áreas são originadas da mesma matriz mineral, sendo que há adição do processo antrópico na formação da TPI. Os maiores teores de Ca2+, Mg2+ e Cu2+ no dia 22/03 e de K+, Na+, Fe2+, Zn2+ e Mn2+ no dia 31/05 na TPI, especialmente na profundidade de 50 cm, assinalam para dois momentos de input de elementos na solução do solo via pluviolixiviados e/ou dessorção dos sítios de troca da matéria orgânica e de argilas. Apesar de inseridos dentro de períodos com precipitação e intervalo de ocorrência semelhante, os dois maiores momentos de perdas de elementos da solução do solo por lixiviação (22 a 29/03 e 10 a 17/05) promoveram taxas de perdas distintas, sendo mais severo naquele primeiro, provavelmente em decorrência de diferença na intensidade da chuva

Orientador: Agricio Nubiato Crespo / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-22T21:10:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Takase_EricaMayumi_M.pdf: 1010847 bytes, checksum: 5c86c3afa9fc26a724e923475e8907ec (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Resumo: As medidas de duração e a localização do bolo no disparo da fase faríngea são significantes no estudo da deglutição. Objetivo: avaliar a interferência de a consistência alimentar e da idade do sujeito na duração das fases oral, de transição e faríngea na deglutição de alimentos e cápsulas e avaliar a localização de cápsulas no disparo da fase faríngea em adultos assintomáticos. Método: Realizou-se a videofluoroscopia em 60 sujeitos, entre 27 e 55 anos de idade, avaliados com alimentos contrastados nas consistências liquida e pudim, na colher de sopa; e cápsulas gelatinosas duras #00 e #3 contendo sulfato de bário, deglutidas com alimentos nas consistências líquida e pudim, em livre oferta. Realizaram-se análise intra e inter julgadores. A análise estatística baseou-se nos testes Mahn-Whitney, Wilcon-Cox, Macnemar, no modelo log-linear Gama e modelo com resposta Gama e função de ligação inversa. Resultados: Avaliou-se 14 sujeitos do sexo masculino e 46 do feminino. Alimentos contrastados não apresentaram diferenças estatisticamente significantes na duração das fases oral e de transição (p= 0,419 e p=0,482) entre as consistências liquida e pudim, porém em relação à fase faríngea a consistência mais viscosa apresentou maior tempo de duração (p= 0,000). Houve aumento da duração das fases oral e faríngea e diminuição da fase de transição de adultos mais velhos, em ambas as consistências. Na avaliação da duração com cápsulas #00 a fase faríngea não mostrou diferença estatisticamente significante (p= 0,325) entre as consistências líquida e pudim e a fase oral apresentou maior tempo de duração (p= 0,000) na consistência mais viscosa. A duração das fases oral e faríngea aumentaram em adultos mais velhos, em ambas as consistências. A cápsula #3 apresentou maior porcentagem de localização em dorso de língua em comparação à #00, e cápsula #00 maior porcentagem em base de língua e valécula em comparação à #3. Foram encontradas diferenças estatisticamente significantes entre as diferentes cápsulas na deglutição com líquido (p= 0,016) e pudim (p= 0,037). Conclusão: A consistência alimentar interferiu na duração da fase faríngea de alimentos contrastados e na duração da fase oral de cápsulas #00, com aumento do tempo para alimentos mais viscosos. O aumento da idade influenciou na duração das fases da deglutição, tanto de alimentos contrastados quanto na deglutição de cápsulas, em ambas as consistências, com aumento das fases oral e faríngea e diminuição da fase de transição na deglutição de alimentos sem cápsulas. Cápsulas menores desencadearam o disparo da fase faríngea em região mais anterior em comparação às cápsulas maiores / Abstract: Measurements of duration and location of bolus in pharyngeal phase triggering are significant in deglutition study. Objective: to evaluate interference of food consistency and age of individuals in duration of oral, transition and pharyngeal phases of food and capsules deglutition; evaluate capsules position in triggering of pharyngeal phase in asymptomatic adults. Methods: Videofluoroscopy was performed in 60 individuals, all of them between 27 and 55 years of age, which were tested with liquid and pudding consistencies food that were administered by tablespoon; and also were tested hard gelatin capsules #00 and #3 fulfilled with barium sulphate, which were swallowed along with liquid and pudding consistencies food, in free volume. It was performed intrajudge and interjudge analysis. Statistical analysis was based on Mahn-Whitney, Wilcon-Cox and Macnemar tests and on Gamma log-linear model and model with Gamma response and inverse-link function. Results: 14 male subjects and 46 female subjects were evaluated. There was no statistically significant difference in duration of oral and transition phases (p= 0,419 e p=0,482) between liquid and pudding consistencies, however in pharyngeal phase the most viscous consistency had a longer duration (p= 0,000). In older adults, it was observed an increment in duration of oral and pharyngeal phases and there was reduction in duration of transition phase, in both consistencies tested. In evaluation with capsules #00, in pharyngeal phase there was no statistically significant difference (p= 0,325) between liquid and pudding consistencies and oral phase had a longer duration (p= 0,000) with the more viscous consistency. Duration of oral and pharyngeal phases increased in older adults considering both consistencies tested. Capsule #3 presented higher percentage of occurrence in tongue dorsum compared to capsule #00, and capsule #00 presented higher percentage of location occurrence in tongue base and vallecula compared to capsule #3. There was statistically significant difference between different capsules swallowed with liquid (p= 0,016) and pudding (p= 0,037). Conclusion: Food consistency interfered with the duration of pharyngeal phase of food tested and interfered with oral phase of capsules #00, with time increased for more viscous food. Older age affected the duration of deglutition phases considering food and capsules tested, in both consistencies, with increased duration of oral and pharyngeal phases and decreased duration of transition phase in deglutition of food without capsules. Smaller capsules onset pharyngeal phase in most anterior region compared to larger capsules / Mestrado / Ciencias Biomedicas / Mestra em Ciências Médicas

Les gradients de concentration de peptides ou de protéines, ou leur relargage localisé, jouent un rôle primordial dans les voies de communication inter-cellulaire. L'activation locale de cellules est étudiée in vitro à l'aide de sources artificielles contraignantes ou invasives de protéines (pipettes, dispositifs microfluidiques). Des méthodes plus douces et moins invasives sont très demandées. À cet effet, nous avons développé deux types de capsules capables de libérer des macromolécules sous l'effet d'une stimulation extérieure. Le premier système emploie des liposomes additionnés d'un amphiphile à azobenzène, tensioactif ou polyélectrolyte, capable de générer des pores à travers la membrane sous l'effet de la lumière. Les temps de dissolution des assemblages lipides/tensioactifs et les cinétiques de relargage (perméabilité) sous irradiation lumineuse ont été étudiées par diffusion dynamique de la lumière et fluorescence. Le second système repose sur des capsules à cœur aqueux et à coque polymère, formées par polyaddition interfaciale. Nous avons montré que l'inclusion de chaînes thermosensibles dans la membrane (polyNIPAM, par ex.) rendait la stabilité de la capsule dépendante de la température. Nous avons démontré sur des capsules millimétriques, chargées avec du dextrane ou des protéines, que cela permettait le contrôle du relargage. L'utilisation de polymère à UCST en milieu aqueux nous a permis d'obtenir les premières capsules thermosensibles capables de libérer leur contenu par élévation de la température au dessus d'une valeur critique. Cela ouvre une voie prometteuse au développement d'un système biocompatible de libération de protéines. / Concentration gradients and local delivery of peptides or proteins play a crucial role in intercellular communication. In vitro, the effects of local activation of cells are studied with constrained or invasive artificial protein sources (pipettes, microfluidics). Milder and remotely-triggered techniques for the release of encapsulated biomolecules are highly in demand. To this aim we developed two classes of capsules able to release macromolecules upon an external stimulation. The first system is based on liposomes sensitized with azobenzene-containing amphiphiles (surfactants or polyelectrolytes) that can open pores in the membrane upon exposure to light. The dissolution time of lipids/surfactants assemblies and rate of release (permeability) under light irradiation has been assessed by dynamic light scattering and fluorescence measurements. The second system is a model of capsules with an aqueous core and a polymer shell, formed by interfacial polyaddition. We showed that inclusion of temperature-responsive chains in the membrane, e.g. polyNIPAM, confers temperature-dependant stability to the capsules; we demonstrated with millimeter-sized capsules loaded with dextran or proteins that this can be used to trigger the release. Using chains with UCST in water, we obtained the first temperature-sensitive capsules able to release their content upon increasing the temperature above a threshold. This represents a promising route to the biocompatible delivery of proteins.

This thesis addresses aspects of the transport of bubbles and capsules (a thin elastic membrane enclosing a viscous fluid) by means of a viscous flow in complex vessel geometries. It focusses on two related themes: (i) the trapping of air bubbles in a sudden streamwise tube expansion and (ii) the extreme deformation of bubbles and capsules in a localised tube constriction. Air bubbles of different volumes were trapped in a tube with a square cross-section, which contains a sudden streamwise expansion in tube width. The liquid filling the tube was driven by constant volume-flux flow, and experiments were performed in both millimetric and micrometric tubes to identify the range of flow rates for which bubbles could get trapped. The gradients in surface energy generated by the broadening of the bubble into the expansion depend strongly on bubble volume and the expansion length. It is shown that in order for a trapped bubble to release from the expansion, the work of the pressure forces due to flow past the bubble must exceed the change in surface energy required to squeeze into the narrower channel. This criterion for trapping was verified by direct pressure measurements and a capillary static model, which uses three-dimensional Surface Evolver calculations. The extreme deformation of bubbles and capsules was investigated using a localised constriction of the tube width. Both bubbles and capsules were shown to adopt highly contorted configurations and exhibit broadly similar features over a wide range of flow rates, suggesting that the deformation was primarily imposed by the geometry through viscous shear forces. However, bubbles and capsules also display distinguishing features. Bubbles can breakup and exhibit thinning of the rear of the bubble at a critical flow rate, which is associated with a divergence of the rear tip speed and curvature. In contrast, the capsule membrane can wrinkle and fold, and the membrane thickness imposes the value of the maximum curvature locally available to the capsule.

Magister Pharmaceuticae - MPharm / In conclusion, the results obtained firstly indicated that the BP, EMEA and WHO were in fairly good agreement on the criteria and specifications that can be used to assesses the pharmaceutical quality of a traditional plant medicine such as Phela. Secondly, the Phela plant powders were found to have acceptable pharmaceutical properties that did not complicate or adversely affected the capsule manufacture. Thirdly, the Phela capsules produced were generally of acceptable pharmacopoeial standard. Fourthly, HPLC fingerprinting and pattern recognition analysis proved useful to examine the chemical stability of selected marker compounds of Phela and indicated that the capsules had no practical shelf life under elevated temperature and humid conditions. Overall, the Phela capsules should thus be suitable for use in a short time clinical trial, but for use in a long period trial the long term stability of the Phela capsules under ambient conditions must still be confirmed. / South Africa

The performance of regenerated cellulose (RC) films and capsules was investigated for their applications in oral controlled drug delivery. Regenerated cellulose films were prepared by non-solvent-mediated, phase inversion of native and depolymerized cotton linter solutions (methylolcellulose; cellulose dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide/ paraformaldehyde solvent system) in water as well as by phase inversion of native cotton linter solutions in organic non-solvents followed by thermal annealing. These films were monolithic in dry state and formed porous structures when hydrated. Irrespective of the degree of polymerization of the starting cellulose source or the use of organic non-solvents, the cellulose chain length was not significantly altered and cellulose was in an amorphous state. Flux analysis in diffusion cells, using ethanol-water mixtures as the solvent medium, indicated that the films take up solvent to form porous routes for transport of solute. The amount of solvent uptake required to form these routes was greater for films prepared from depolymerized cotton linter. Ionic and hydrophobic solutes traverse the films using the porous pathways following hydration of the film. Blended RC films were prepared by combining native and depolymerized cotton linter solutions in varying ratios and phase-inverting in water, followed by thermal annealing. Porosity, pore size and water uptake of the hydrated films decreased, while the length of the transport pathway (tortuosity) increased, as the fraction of depolymerized cellulose increased in the blended films. Differences in methylene blue dye adsorption on phase-inverted vs. phase-inverted and thermally annealed RC films indicated that the type of non-solvent utilized for phase-inversion does not affect the internal RC film structure during the phase-inversion process. However, as the boiling point of the non-solvent increased, the amount of irreversible polymer consolidation and formation non-swelling domains (hornification) increased during the thermal annealing process. This, in turn, led to reduced porosity and solute flux through these RC films. Two-piece cellulose capsules were fabricated by phase-inversion of methylolcellulose solutions in water using a dip-coating approach. Zero-order release rates for a number of drugs increased as their water solubility increased. The release of water soluble drugs occurred by osmotically-driven convection and diffusion through the pores in the capsule wall, while the release of moderate to poorly soluble drugs predominantly occurred by diffusion. Moreover, as the drug solubility increased, the apparent permeability of the drugs through the capsule wall decreased, which indicated that the inward osmotic flux of water reduced the diffusivity of the drug through the pores. The hydraulic permeability of the cellulose capsules was determined to be higher than for conventional ethylcellulose and cellulose acetate coated osmotic drug delivery systems, indicating that the cellulose-based capsules may be better suited for osmotic drug delivery.

Magister Pharmaceuticae - MPharm / The overall objective of this research is to attempt to produce, by direct compression, indomethacin tablets which have good dissolution characteristics and an improved bioavailability profile, when compared to the capsule formulations currently available. In order to use the direct compression method, the solubilized form of indomethacin should have good flow properties, as well as a small bulk volume for incorporation into reasonably sized tablets.

Capsule Networks are an alternative to the conventional CNN structure for object recognition. They replace max pooling with a dynamic routing of capsule activation. The goal is to better exploit the spatial relationships of the learned features, not only to increase recognition performance, but also improve generalization capability and sample-efficiency. Recently, two algorithms for dynamic routing of capsules have been proposed. Although they received a lot of interest and they are from the same group, an experimental comparison of both is still missing. In this work we compare these two routing algorithms and provide experimental results on data efficiency and generalization to increased input images. Although the experiments are limited to variants of the MNIST dataset, they indicate that the approach of Sabour et al. (2017) is better at learning from few training samples and the EM routing of Hinton et al. (2018) is better at generalizing to changed image sizes.

BACKGROUND: Capsule endoscopy (CE) allows for a non-invasive small bowel evaluation for a wide range of gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms and diseases. Capsule technology has been rapidly advancing over recent years, often improving image frequency and quality. The Pillcam SB3 (SB3) capsule is one such technology that offers an adaptive frame rate advantage over the previous versions of the capsule the Pillcam SB2 (SB2). Some have proposed that this improvement in capsule technology may lead to increased diagnostic yields; however, real world clinical data is currently lacking. AIM: To evaluate the clinically relevant findings of SB3 and SB2 capsules in a population of United States veterans. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of 260 consecutive CE studies was performed including 130 SB3 and 130 SB2 capsule studies. Recorded variables included: age, gender, type of capsule, body mass index, exam completion, inpatient status, opioid use, diabetes, quality of preparation, gastric transit time, small bowel transit time, indication, finding, and if the exam resulted in a change in clinical management. The primary outcome measured was the detection of clinically relevant findings between SB3 and SB2 capsules. RESULTS: Mean age of the study population was 67.1 ± 10.4 years and 94.2% of patients were male. Of these 28.1% were on opioid users. The most common indications for capsule procedure were occult GI bleeding (74.6%) and overt GI bleeding (14.6%). Rates of incomplete exam were similar between SB3 and SB2 groups (16.9% 9.2%, = 0.066). The overall rate of clinically relevant finding was 48.9% in our study. No significant difference was observed in SB3 SB2 capsules for clinically relevant findings (46.2% 51.5%, = 0.385) or change in clinical management (40.8% 50.0%, = 0.135). CONCLUSION: Our study found no significant difference in clinically relevant findings between SB3 and SB2 capsules.

For a lay summary of the thesis presented in a 1-minute video format, visit the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhLzt_tEz-s / It is projected that, by 2030, 8% of all adults in the world will have diabetes mellitus and treatment will account for 10% of the total healthcare budget in many countries. Polymeric biomaterial research has led to the design of robust polymer hydrogel capsules to develop curative cell-based therapies for chronic disorders such as diabetes mellitus. Encapsulation of insulin-producing beta cells within synthetic, semi-permeable polymer hydrogels can avoid host immune rejection including fibrotic responses, and thus holds the promise of a long-term curative treatment of this disease. There is a paucity of literature regarding methods available for standardized in vitro screening of synthetic polymer hydrogel capsules to predict host responses in vivo. Thus, the focus of this thesis was to design in vitro assays able to screen for subsequent in vivo fibrotic responses. Two dimensional (‘2D’) (cell attachment to thin film hydrogel coatings) and three dimensional (‘3D’) (cell attachment and protein adsorption to hydrogel capsules) in vitro experiments were designed and tested in an iterative process to assess fibrotic responses to a diverse group of polymer hydrogels. Cell attachment assays included fibroblast (NIH 3T3) and macrophage (RAW 264.7) cell lines, and protein adsorption assays included proteins used to model fibrosis including fibrinogen and lysozyme. For some formulations, in vitro assays were compared with in vivo data on pericapsular cellular overgrowth (PCO) after being implanted into mice. A binomial logistic regression model was designed and validated to assess whether the ‘3D’ in vitro assays correlated with in vivo PCO responses. It was found that the RAW 264.7 cell attachment assay was significantly correlated with PCO outcomes in vivo, demonstrating for the first time a simple, cost-effective, and rapid in vitro cell-based approach to screen and select capsules with lower fibrotic potential to be further tested in animals. / Thesis / Master of Health Sciences (MSc) / In North America, one in eleven adults, or about 415 million people, have diabetes. It is projected that by 2030, around 8% of the world population will be diagnosed with this disease. A common form of treatment is through the frequent injection of insulin, but this is costly, requires multiple daily interventions, and cannot prevent regular excursions from the ideal blood glucose range. Cell-based therapies have a lot of promise in treating several chronic diseases including diabetes. Donor and stem-cell derived islets can be implanted into patients with type 1 diabetes and have been shown to function for over a year, albeit at the price of systematic immune suppression. Alternatively, cells that produce insulin can be placed inside immune-evasive capsules and implanted, potentially providing continuous blood glucose regulation without the need for daily insulin injections. However, this novel form of treatment is limited by the encapsulated cells’ survival once implanted. Cell survival can be affected by the body’s response to a foreign body (the capsule), causing deposition of protein or cells on the capsule surface which can limit the oxygen supply to cells in the capsule and the ability of insulin to leave the capsule in a timely fashion. The goal of this project is to develop assays to screen new capsule formulations. This can advance research by using capsules more readily accepted by the body, leading to a more promising and long-term treatment of diabetes.