Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:27:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:04:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Sementes de tomate do híbrido Gladiador foram expostas a radiações gama do Co-60 nas doses 0; 2,5; 5; 7,5; 10; 12,5; 15 e 20 Gy. Foram analisados vários parâmetros como germinação, altura da plântula até o cotilédone, altura total da plântula, peso fresco e seco da plântula, altura da planta, diâmetro do caule da planta, peso fresco e seco e área da 5º folha, número de frutos verdes com diâmetro maior que 3 cm, número de frutos esverdeados, de vez e maduros, número total de frutos, Brix e pH dos frutos, peso médio dos frutos e produção total de frutos. Diferentes efeitos estimulantes foram observados nos diversos estádios de desenvolvimento das plantas. O maior estímulo, para produção ocorreu para a dose de 10 Gy. As maiores alturas médias da plântula e da planta ocorreram para a dose de 7,5 Gy. O maior número de frutos verdes com 3 cm de diâmetro ocorreu para o tratamento de 12,5 e 15 Gy. A irradiação também estimulou a produção de maior número total de frutos, em todas as doses aplicadas, com vantagem para a dose de 10 Gy que produziu 88% mais frutos que a testemunha e também uma produção em peso 86% maior. O pH dos frutos acidificou significativamente a partir da dose de 12,5 Gy. Houve aumento na produção em todos os tratamentos em relação à testemunha sendo que o maior estímulo para produção ocorreu para as doses de 10, 12,5 e 15 Gy. O uso de baixas doses de radiação gama do Co- 60 aplicado no tratamento pré-semeadura, nas sementes, mostrou-se eficiente em estimular o desenvolvimento das plantas e aumentar a produção do tomate. / Tese (Doutoramento) / IPEN/T / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

L’uranium (U) et le fluor (F) sont des substances néphrotoxiques naturelles et anthropogéniques auxquelles la population peut être exposée quotidiennement. Cependant, leurs effets à faibles doses restent méconnus et des études précédentes suggèrent qu’une exposition chronique à de faibles doses pourrait induire une réponse adaptative (RA). Afin de mettre en évidence cette RA rénale in vivo, un protocole d’exposition prime à faibles doses suivie d’un traitement challenge néphrotoxique a été mis en place. Une première étude dose-réponse aiguë a permis de définir nos conditions challenge, avec des doses néphrotoxiques de 5 et 7.5 mg/kg d’U et de F, et un temps d’analyse de 72h post-injection. Pour l’étude de la RA, les souris ont été contaminées 6 mois via l’eau de boisson à des doses prime d’U (0, 10, 20 et 40 mg/L) ou de F (0, 15, 30 et 50 mg/L), puis traitées aux concentrations « challenge ». Une RA est observée aux doses respectives de 20 et 50 mg/L d’U et de F, avec un retour à la normale de l’expression et de la sécrétion de biomarqueurs de néphrotoxicité KIM-1 et CLU en comparaison aux animaux non pré-exposés. Une diminution de l’apoptose ou de l’expression in situ de VCAM est observée chez les animaux pré-exposés respectivement à 20 mg/L d’U ou à 50 mg/L de fluor, concentrations auxquelles la RA a été identifiée. L’autophagie, la réponse UPR et le recrutement de cellules inflammatoires sont des mécanismes induits par l’U alors que seule la réponse UPR est induite par le F. Cependant, nos résultats ne permettent pas de les identifier comme des mécanismes impliqués dans la RA, car ces derniers sont induits avec ou sans préexposition. En conclusion, cette étude montre l’existence d’une RA dans le cadre d’une exposition chronique à de faibles doses d’U ou de F chez la souris, avec l’induction de mécanismes adaptatifs tels que la régulation de l’apoptose et de l’inflammation. Ces résultats permettent de mieux appréhender les effets de faibles expositions chroniques chez l’Homme, et d’apporter de nouvelles connaissances pour la radioprotection de l’Homme. / Human population can be daily exposed to uranium (U) and fluoride (F) because of their natural and anthropogenic presence in the environment. Although U and F are known to be nephrotoxicant at high doses, their effects after low dose exposures are still unknown and previous studies suggested that chronic exposures to low doses of U or F could induce adaptive responses (AR). Therefore, a mouse in vivo study was designed and carried out to examine whether exposure to chronic low priming doses of U and F can induce AR in the kidney upon exposure to nephrotoxic challenge treatment. A pilot dose-response study allowed selecting the nephrotoxic challenge treatments (5 mg/kg U and 7.5 mg/kg F), with a time of analysis of 72h post treatment. To study the AR, mice were exposed through drinking water for 6 months to priming doses of U (10, 20 and 40 mg/L) or F (15, 30 and 50 mg/L), and subsequently challenged. An AR was observed at the doses of 20 mg/L U and 50 mg/L F, with a return to normal gene expression and urinary levels of nephrotoxicity biomarkers KIM 1 and CLU in comparison with the non-pre-exposed mice. Apoptosis was reduced in animals pre-exposed to 20 mg/L U and a decrease of VCAM in situ expression was observed in animals pre-exposed to 50 mg/L F. These concentrations correspond to the appearance of AR. The unfolded protein response (UPR), autophagy and inflammatory cell recruitment were the mechanisms induced by U whereas only UPR was induced by F. However, these mechanisms were induced in challenged animals irrespective of pre-exposure. Thus, our results do not allow us to identify these mechanisms as those involved in the AR. In summary, our data showed the existence of an AR to low doses of U and F delivered chronically to mice, with the induction of adaptive mechanisms such as apoptosis and inflammatory regulation. Results of this study allow for better understanding of the potential effects chronic low-dose exposures of U and F on human population, and provide new knowledge for informing the radioprotection system.

This work was dedicated to quantify and distinguish the radio- and chemitoxic effects of environmentally relevant low doses of uranium on the metabolism of microorganisms and multicellular organisms by a modern and highly sensitive microcalorimetry. In such low-dose regime, lethality is low or absent. Therefore, quantitative assays based on survival curves cannot be employed, particularly for multicellular organisms. Even in the case of microbial growth, where individual cells may be killed by particle radiation, classical toxicity assessments based on colony counting are not only extremely time-consuming but also highly error-prone. Therefore, measuring the metabolic activity of the organism under such kinds of conditions would give an extremely valuable quantitative measure of viability that is based on life cell monitoring, rather than determining lethality at higher doses and extrapolating it to the low dose regime. The basic concept is simple as it relies on the metabolic heat produced by an organism during development, growth or replication as an inevitable byproduct of all biochemical processes. A metabolic effect in this concept is defined as a change in heat production over time in the presence of a stressor, such as a heavy metal. This approach appeared to be particular versatile for the low dose regime. Thus, the thesis attempted in this case to measure the enthalpy production of a bacterial population as a whole to derive novel toxicity concepts. In the following chapters, an introduction about the properties of ionizing radiation will be briefly presented, in addition to a review about the isothermal calorimetry and its application in studying the bacterial growth. Later in chapter 2, the effect of uranium on the metabolic activity of three different bacterial strains isolated form a uranium mining waste pile together with a reference strain that is genetically related to them will be investigated. Due to the lack of published dedicated calibration techniques for the interpretation of heat production of bacterial cells under the conditions of calorimetric recordings, additional experiments, thorough investigations of the effects of experimental conditions, have been carried out in order to guide the interpretation of calorimetric results. In chapter 3, the differentiation between chemi- and radiotoxicity of uranium has been addressed by isotope exchange, which was a key effort in this thesis as it opens new experimental approaches in radioecology. In chapter 4, through investigating the role of the tripeptide glutathione (GSH) in detoxifying uranium, it will be shown to which degree the intrinsically unspecific signal provided by metabolic heat can be related to highly specific metabolic pathways of an organism, when combined with genetic engineering. The demonstration of gaining molecule-specific information by life metabolic monitoring was another experimental challenge of this thesis and provides proof of principle that can be extended to many organisms. Finally in chapter 5, an attempt has been undertaken to establish a minimal food chain, in order to study the effects of the exposure of a multicellular organism to uranium through its diet.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Radiographic examination is an essential facet of dental implant therapy, and the success of this therapy depends on a suitable treatment based on adequate clinical and radiographic information. International organisational bodies have published guidelines on the use of radiographic imaging during implant therapy, but since the cone beam computed tomography modality became available, a need for the development of comprehensive imaging guidelines to limit the misuse of this modality became necessary. There is a lack of stringency regarding the recommendations and guidelines on radiographic imaging modalities used during implant therapy. This is due to variations in practice, experience, and socioeconomic factors. The most recent published global guidelines and recommendations and their relevance to dental implant therapy are described in this chapter.

Bakgrund: Stenar i njurar respektive urinvägar är ett växande problem både i Sverige samt i hela världen. Anledningen till den ökade incidensen av njursten anses vara oklar, däremot kan ändrade kostvanor förslagsvis vara bidragande orsak. Datortomografi (DT) anses vara förstahandsalternativet vid utredning av misstänkta njurstenar där DT har bra förmåga att kartlägga antalet stenar, bestämma storlek samt lokalisera stenarna. Tidigare forskning visar att ultra-lågdos samt lågdos har höga färdigheter i sensitivitet samt specificitet. Däremot avkastas jämförelser av detektering av stenar med standarddos DT. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie var att utforska om hur exponeringen skiljer sig med användandet av låg-dos protokoll i jämförelse med standardprotokoll. Utforska om hur mycket stråldosen kunde sänkas med lågdosprotokoll samt förmågan att detektera stenar. Fokus kommer att ligga på stråldosreducering samt specificitet och sensitivitet i utredning för njurstensmisstanke med datortomografi. Metod: Denna litteraturstudie använder sig av databaser som Pubmed för eftersökningen av vetenskapliga artiklar. Materialet samlades in och bearbetades i enlighet med Forsberg & Wengströms riktlinjer. Resultat: Resultatet till denna studie baseras på 10 valda artiklar från databasen Pubmed. Resultatet presenteras i tre underkategorier, storlek av sten, exponering samt sensitivitet/specificitet. Konklusion: Lågdosprotokoll kunde konkurrera med standardprotokoll gällande detektion av stenar, stenar under 3 mm kan vara svåra att detektera med lågdosprotokoll. Stråldosen reducerades med mer än hälften och bibehöll samtidigt tillräckligt bra kvalitet. Patienter bestrålas med mer än dubbelt så mycket i effektiv dos (ED) med användning av standardprotokoll än med låg-dos protokoll.

L'arthrose est une maladie dégénérative de l'articulation qui provoque des douleurs, une raideur et une diminution de mobilité. La quantification de l’interligne articulaire est la mesure qui permet de diagnostiquer la maladie et de suivre son évolution. A ce jour, la radiographie conventionnelle est la méthode de référence pour ce diagnostic et ce suivi. Néanmoins, l'articulation du genou et ses modifications structurales sont trop complexes pour permettre un diagnostic à un stade précoce à partir de simples images 2D. Une des pistes prometteuses de la recherche sur le diagnostic précoce est l’exploitation de l’information 3D de l’interligne. C’est dans ce contexte que s’inscrit cette thèse qui a pour but la segmentation et la quantification 3D de l’interligne articulaire afin d’atteindre l’objectif du diagnostic précoce de l’arthrose de genou. Au cours de cette thèse nous avons développé une méthode de quantification semi-automatique de l’interligne articulaire. La cartographie 3D des distances générée a permis de caractériser la morphologie de l’espace articulaire sur des images haute résolution 3D. Pour atteindre l’objectif de quantification à basse dose, deux approches ont été explorées. La première consistait à proposer une approche de segmentation 3D du volume osseux à partir d’un faible nombre de projections. La deuxième approche consiste à réaliser la quantification 3D de l’interligne sur des images issus d’un scanner basse dose obtenue à l’aide d’autres algorithmes mis en œuvre par les partenaires du projet VOXELO. La segmentation de l’interligne a été dans ce cas utilisée comme un critère de qualité de la reconstruction selon ces différents algorithmes.Afin de tester la robustesse de notre approche, nous avons utilisé des images haute résolution selon 2 types de géométrie du faisceau ou des images à faible dose et également sur des images scanner clinique in vivo. Ceci nous permet de conclure que la méthode de quantification de l’interligne que nous avons développé en 3D est potentiellement applicable sur des images provenant de différents appareils de scanner. Cet outil sera potentiellement utile pour détecter les stades précoces et suivre la progression de l'arthrose en clinique. / Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease that causes pain, stiffness and decrease mobility. Knee OA presents the greatest morbidity. The main characteristic of OA is the cartilage loss inducing joint space narrowing. Usually, the diagnosis and progression of OA is monitored by the joint space measurement. Actually, conventional radiography is the reference method for the diagnosis and monitoring. However, the knee joint and structural changes are too complex to be assessed from simple 2D images especially at early stage. A promising research into early diagnosis is the use of 3D. The objective of our thesis is to provide a tool for a 3D quantification of joint space in order to achieve the goal of early diagnosis of knee osteoarthritis. In this thesis we have developed a semi-automatic method for the quantification of joint space. The 3D map generated allowed us to characterize the morphology of the joint space widths on 3D high resolution images.To achieve the goal of low-dose quantification, two approaches have been explored. The first was to provide a 3D segmentation method for bone extraction from a limited number of projections. The second approach is to perform the 3D quantification from a low dose scan obtained using other algorithms implemented by our partners of VOXELO project. The segmentation of the joint space was used as a quality criterion according to these different algorithms.To test the robustness of our approach, we used high-resolution images with different geometry acquisition types and low-dose images. We have also done a test on clinical CT images in vivo. This allows us to conclude that the method we developed is potentially applicable to images from different scanner devices. This tool can be used for detecting the early stages and track the progress of the clinical osteoarthritis

The historical narrative and our understanding about the low dose effects of radiation on the immune system has changed drastically from the beginning of the 20th century to now. A paradigm shift from the DNA target hit model to the one that also considers non-targeted effects (NTE) has attracted a lot of interest recently. Investigations to delineate mechanisms of NTE in the biological tissue have been carried out by various research groups where radiation induced genomic instability (RIGI), bystander effect (RIBE) and abscopal effect (AE) are the effects with most evidence available. This thesis addresses the question of whether low dose ionizing radiation (LDIR) stimulates or suppresses the immune system and how NTEs contribute to this immune modulation by adopting a two-pronged approach where first a narrative review constituting the introduction and literature review was performed followed by a systematic review using PRISMA guidelines to synthesize existing LDIR literature. This was prompted by our recent discovery that UVA photons are emitted by the irradiated cells and that these photons can trigger bystander effects in unirradiated recipients of these photons. Given the well-known association between UV radiation and the immune response, where these biphotons may pose as bystander signals potentiating processes in deep tissues as a consequence of ionising radiation, it is timely to revisit the field with a fresh lens. After reviewing various pathways and immune components that contribute to the beneficial and adverse effects induced by LDIR, it was found that these modulations can occur by way of NTE. However, the exact mechanistic underpinnings are still unclear and the literature examining low to medium dose effects of ionising radiation on the immune system is complex and controversial. Early work was compromised by lack of good dosimetry while later work mainly focuses on the involvement of immune responses in radiotherapy which typically uses high dose radiation. There is a lack of research in the LDIR/NTE field focussing on immune responses although bone marrow stem cells and lineages were critical in the identification and characterisation of NTE. This may be in part, a result of the difficulty of isolating NTE in whole organisms which are essential for good immune response studies. Models involving inter organism transmission of NTE are a promising route to overcome these issues. It is concluded that the simple question of whether LDIR stimulates or suppress the immune system is not as simple as initially hypothesized. An attempt was made to analyze if LDIR shifts the balance to immune suppression or enhancement via systematic review but, due to too many differences in the experimental methods in the current radiation and immune studies, a cookie-cutter answer was not possible. However, this thesis did point out the areas of concern such as lack of standardised tools in the field of radiobiological experimental research and quality of methods used which requires urgent attention. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

No description available.

The stage at diagnosis is the single most important predictor of lung cancer outcome. Therefore, detecting lung cancer early is of utmost importance. Low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) has proven beneficial in the early detection and mortality reduction of lung cancer. Despite this, very few of the high-risk population get annual LDCT done. Patients' attitudes towards tobacco usage and preventive care can be a factor in getting LDCT. We analyzed the relationship between the willingness to undergo LDCT and a person's readiness to try tobacco cessation medication or get the pneumococcal vaccine. We also analyzed the relationship between patients who had tobacco cessation counseling and their willingness to get LDCT and pneumococcal vaccine. Medical records of high-risk patients seen in the East Tennessee State University (ETSU) clinics between January 1, 2016, and November 30, 2020, were analyzed retrospectively. In the data obtained, a total of 2,834 patients were current smokers and were included in the research. The study subjects were assessed in two ways, which from here on will be referred to as method one and method two. In the first method, patients who underwent LDCT were assessed, and the outcome investigated was tobacco cessation counseling, tobacco cessation medication prescription, and pneumococcal vaccination. In the second method, patients who had tobacco cessation counseling were assessed, and the outcome evaluated was LDCT, tobacco cessation medication prescription, and pneumococcal vaccination. In the first method, out of 2,834 total population, 570 had undergone at least one LDCT screening during the study period. Of the 570 patients who underwent LDCT, 22.8% tried one of the tobacco cessation medications at least once during the study period (vs. 9.8% in patients who did not get the LDCT). Also, 71.5% of patients who had LDCT received at least one dose of pneumonia vaccine (vs. 35.5% in patients who did not get the LDCT). In the second method, 1,673 out of 2,834 patients received at least one tobacco cessation counseling, and out of those, 27.5% had LDCT screening (vs. 9.5% among those who never received counseling). Also, 54.9% received a pneumococcal vaccine (vs. 45.1% among those who did not receive counseling). The study demonstrates a relationship between getting LDCT and getting a pneumococcal vaccine or tobacco cessation medications. It also reveals that tobacco cessation counseling increases the odds of getting LDCT, tobacco cessation medications, and pneumococcal vaccine.

Short-term (3-7 days), high doses of creatine (20g/d) and/or sodium bicarbonate (0.5g/kg body weight) supplementation increase exercise performance during short term high intensity activities; however, it remains unclear whether long-term, low doses of these supplements have a positive impact on exercise performance. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of long-term (8 weeks), low dose creatine supplementation on exercise performance, and whether combining creatine and sodium bicarbonate supplementation has an additive effect. Sixty-three healthy, habitually active, adults (28 M, 35 W; 22+2 years; 23+ 3 BMI) were randomly assigned by sex to one of three supplement groups: placebo (PL), creatine only (3g/day; Cr), or creatine plus sodium bicarbonate (3g creatine plus 1g sodium bicarbonate; Cr+Sb) for 8 weeks. Before and after supplementation subjects completed two exercise performance tests on separate days. Subjects completed repeated Wingate sprint tests (6 x 10 second sprints) and changes in the slope across the 6 sprints (rate of decline) was analyzed between groups. We also collected 5 km time-trial and the data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA. In the repeated sprint test, peak power output slope was significantly decreased (P=0.04) in PL (-83%) and Cr+Sb (-82%) but did not change in Cr alone and was significantly better (P=0.03) than Pl and Cr+Sb. Similarly, mean power output slope significantly decreased (P0.05) in time to completion. However, Cr alone significantly improved time to completion (-3%; P=0.01). Taken together, these data suggest that long-term, low dose creatine supplementation increases exercise performance but adding sodium bicarbonate supplementation has no beneficial impact on exercise performance.