Thesis (Master of Environmental Health)--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2020 / Background: The development of metabolic disease is accompanied by changes in gut microbiota phenotype, including a decrease of beneficial bacteria and increase of pernicious bacteria of the gastrointestinal tract. A Western (high-fat and high-sugar) diet, sedentary lifestyle and altered gut microbiota diversity have been associated with an increased risk of developing metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and its associated risk factor, obesity. Many researchers have studied the link between the gut microbiota and diet. Hence our in vitro study is aimed at investigating the potential prebiotic effect of an aspalathin-rich unfermented rooibos extract, Afriplex GRT™ and aspalathin on the faecal bacterial diversity of vervet monkeys fed Western diet. Methodology: A total of six vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) were selected from monkeys fed either a maize based normal diet (standard diet group; n=3) or a high fat diet (Western diet group; n=3) for more than 5-years. Faecal samples were collected from the animals in both groups at the Primate Unit and Delft Animal Centre (PUDAC) between 7 – 9 AM. Faecal samples from the two groups were divided into culture-independent baseline samples (before culture) and culture-dependent samples (after anaerobic culture). The culture-dependent samples were cultured under anaerobic conditions at 37°C for 10 hours, with or without Afriplex GRT™ extract or aspalathin. Bacterial genomic DNA (gDNA) was extracted from all samples using the NucleoSpin® DNA Stool extraction kit. Purified gDNA was sent for metagenomic sequencing for 16S rRNA gene analysis of microbial diversity using an Ion Torrent Next-generation Sequencing platform. Results: Results indicated that the Western diet affects the abundance of several bacterial species. Afriplex GRT™ and aspalathin significantly enhanced the relative abundance of health promoting butyrate-producing bacteria such as Faecalibacterium prausnitzii in both standard and Western diet groups (p= 0.02 and p=0.04, respectively). A similar trend was observed in other beneficial bacteria such as Eubacterium spp., Sutterella spp., and Dorea longicatena. Conclusion: Based on the data observed, it can be suggested that Afriplex GRT™ has a beneficial prebiotic effect on gut microbiota diversity and gut health.

No description available.

Calretinin (CR) and parvalbumin (PV) neurons are inhibitory interneurons (INs) that play important roles in the modulation of excitatory pyramidal neurons. They are found in many species are and throughout the neocortex. However, their characteristics vary between species and brain region. The aim of this study was to compare the density, distribution, and inhibitory signaling of CR and PV neurons in monkey primary visual cortex (V1), monkey lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC), mouse V1 and mouse frontal cortex (FC). Coronal brain slices from each of the species and brain regions were stained using immunohistochemistry and then the slices were scanned using high-resolution confocal imaging. High resolution image stacks were used to count the somata of CR and PV. The vesicular gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) transporter (VGAT), CR and PV particles were analyzed to quantify these inhibitory markers in monkey V1, LPFC, and mouse V1 and FC. There were significant differences in the laminar distribution of CR and PV neurons in that CR neurons were concentrated in L2/3 and PV neurons were concentrated in L2-5. In L2/3, Monkey V1 had more CR neurons than did monkey LPFC. Furthermore, there were a greater number of PV neurons in monkey and mouse V1 compared to monkey LPFC and mouse FC. In L2/3, monkey V1 had the highest number of PV neurons. In L5, there significantly greater PV neurons in mouse V1 compared to monkey V1. There was significantly higher density of CR neurons in the upper middle layers of Monkey V1 compared to mouse V1 and monkey LPFC compared to mouse FC. The upper middle layers of monkey V1 had significantly higher density of PV neurons compared to monkey LPFC and mouse V1. There was significantly higher density of VGAT particles in monkey V1 and LPFC compared to mouse V1 and FC, which indicates more inhibitory synapses. There were significantly more VGAT+ boutons colocalized with PV+ boutons than CR+ boutons. Finally, discriminant analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis show that species is the largest separating factor between monkey V1, LPFC and mouse V1 and FC. Mouse V1 and FC are very similar, and monkey V1 and LPFC are dissimilar from one another. This data, united with comparative data on pyramidal neurons, demonstrates that neurons have differences between species, and monkeys have more regional specialization than mice.

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(医学) / 甲第23604号 / 医博第4791号 / 新制||医||1055(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院医学研究科医学専攻 / (主査)教授 戸口田 淳也, 教授 河本 宏, 教授 江藤 浩之 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Medical Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

No description available.

Neuroscience research has been largely focused on neurons, while an equally important cell type, glia, was sidelined until recently. Astrocytes are star-shaped glial cells responsible for a variety of homeostatic processes of the central nervous system in addition to participating in synaptogenesis and neuronal signal transmission. A variety of immunohistochemical markers have been utilized to visualize these cells in the brain including glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), vimentin, and aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 family member L1 (ALDH1L1). The current study makes use of a multiplex immunohistochemistry protocol developed in collaboration with General Electric to stain rhesus monkey brain tissue samples from the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC; n=5) and the primary visual cortex (V1; n=4) with a large number of markers, including GFAP, vimentin, and ALDH1L1 as well as neuronal, microglial, and oxidative stress markers. Using algorithms and manual cell classification, we were able to obtain neuronal and astrocytic counts and use these to estimate astrocyte-to-neuron ratios (ANRs) of the individual brain areas and laminae as well as assess the relative intensity of the markers of interest between areas. Among our findings there was higher ANRs in LPFC compared to V1 gray matter as well as in layer 1 compared to layer 2 in both areas studied. There is also a higher density of astrocytes in layer 1 potentially due to the recognized lack of neurons in this layer. We found significantly higher intensities of GFAP across all gray matter layers in V1 compared to LPFC as well as higher intensities for TSPO and Cleaved Caspase-3 in some V1 layers compared to their LPFC counterparts. This higher intensity of V1 reactive astrocyte markers are potentially due to the increased number of neurons these astrocytes need to support as demonstrated by the low ANR seen in V1 when compared to LPFC. In order to further our knowledge of normal astrocyte properties in these brain areas, it is imperative that we confirm our counts with stereologic studies and include oligodendrocyte markers in our multiplex staining protocol in order to better assess glial numbers within our sections. Additionally, morphological studies assessing rhesus monkey astrocytes identified with a variety of markers is important as we have shown that no one marker stains all astrocytes even though most astrocytes express more than one marker at a time.

No description available.

Orientador: Lucilene Silva Ruiz e Resende / Resumo: Pesquisaram-se 28 antígenos eritrocitários pertencentes aos sistemas de grupos sanguíneos humanos ABO, H, Rh, Kell, Duffy, Kidd, Lewis, P, MNS, Lutheran e Diego, nos eritrócitos de 9 macacos-prego (Sapajus sp) e 10 macacos bugios (Alouatta sp).A maioria dos antígenos humanos pesquisados não foi observada nos 2gêneros de macacos, correspondendo a 19/28 antígenos negativosnos Sapajus sp, e 20/28 antígenos negativosnos Alouatta sp. A fenotipagem eritrocitária foi bastante semelhante em cada grupo de animais, sendo que 5 macacos-prego diferiram dos outros 4 apenasno sistema ABO, e 3 macacos bugios diferiram dos demais 7somente no sistema MNS.Houve diferenças antigênicasentre os gênerosem apenas4 sistemas de grupos pesquisados (P, ABO, Rh, MNS). Constataram-se, nos animais, alguns antígenos eritrocitários com frequências semelhantes e outros com frequências opostas às observadas em humanos ou etnias humanas. Em comparação comestudos prévios envolvendo macacos-prego e macacos bugios, observou-se concordância quanto à presença ou ausência de alguns antígenos eritrocitários, e discordância em relação a outros.Que seja do nosso conhecimento, o presente estudo é o mais completo já realizado quanto ao número de antígenos eritrocitários pesquisados em macacos do Novo Mundo, especialmenteem macacos brasileiros. / Mestre

Submitted by Adaize Pereira da Silva null (adaizebtu@yahoo.com.br) on 2017-07-27T13:16:38Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação Adaize Pereira da Silva 2017.pdf: 4597216 bytes, checksum: 9b1d24ba6fa08e7d6ad4c1c97960e1e8 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by LUIZA DE MENEZES ROMANETTO (luizamenezes@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2017-07-31T18:44:06Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 silva_ap_me_bot.pdf: 4597216 bytes, checksum: 9b1d24ba6fa08e7d6ad4c1c97960e1e8 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-31T18:44:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 silva_ap_me_bot.pdf: 4597216 bytes, checksum: 9b1d24ba6fa08e7d6ad4c1c97960e1e8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-06-29 / Pesquisaram-se 28 antígenos eritrocitários pertencentes aos sistemas de grupos sanguíneos humanos ABO, H, Rh, Kell, Duffy, Kidd, Lewis, P, MNS, Lutheran e Diego, nos eritrócitos de 9 macacos-prego (Sapajus sp) e 10 macacos bugios (Alouatta sp).A maioria dos antígenos humanos pesquisados não foi observada nos 2gêneros de macacos, correspondendo a 19/28 antígenos negativosnos Sapajus sp, e 20/28 antígenos negativosnos Alouatta sp. A fenotipagem eritrocitária foi bastante semelhante em cada grupo de animais, sendo que 5 macacos-prego diferiram dos outros 4 apenasno sistema ABO, e 3 macacos bugios diferiram dos demais 7somente no sistema MNS.Houve diferenças antigênicasentre os gênerosem apenas4 sistemas de grupos pesquisados (P, ABO, Rh, MNS). Constataram-se, nos animais, alguns antígenos eritrocitários com frequências semelhantes e outros com frequências opostas às observadas em humanos ou etnias humanas. Em comparação comestudos prévios envolvendo macacos-prego e macacos bugios, observou-se concordância quanto à presença ou ausência de alguns antígenos eritrocitários, e discordância em relação a outros.Que seja do nosso conhecimento, o presente estudo é o mais completo já realizado quanto ao número de antígenos eritrocitários pesquisados em macacos do Novo Mundo, especialmenteem macacos brasileiros. / The aim of this study was to evaluate the presence of 28 erythrocyte antigens of 11 human blood groups systems (ABO, H, Rh, Kell, Duffy, Kidd, Lewis, P, MNS, Lutheran and Diego) on erythrocytes of 9 nail monkeys (Sapajus sp) and 10 howler monkeys (Alouatta sp). Most of the human erythrocyte antigens were not observed in the 2 generaof monkeys, corresponding to 19/28 negative antigens in Sapajus sp, and 20/28 negative antigens in Alouatta sp. Erythrocyte phenotyping was very similar in each group, being that 5 nail monkeys differed from the other 4 only for the ABO system, and 3 howler monkeys differed from the other 7 only for the MNS system.Antigenic differences between the 2 generawere observed only for 4 blood groups systems (P, ABO, Rh, MNS). This study revealed that some monkey erythrocyte antigens were similar in frequency, and others werein opposite frequency from those observed in human or human ethnicities.When this study is compared with previous similar studies some concordance and some disagreement of findings are found, but as far as we known our study is the most complete in relation to the number of investigated erythrocyte antigens in New World monkeys, specially in the Brazilian ones.

The connected car segment has high demands on the exchange of data between the car on the road, and a variety of services in the backend. By the end of 2020, connected services will be mainstream automotive offerings, according to Telefónica - Connected Car Industry Report 2014 the overall number of vehicles with built-in internet connectivity will increase from 10% of the overall market today to 90% by the end of the decade [1]. Connected car solutions will soon become one of the major business drivers for the industry; they already have a significant impact on existing solutions development and aftersales market. It has been more than three decades since the introduction of the first software component in cars, and since then a vast amount of different services has been introduced, creating an ecosystem of complex applications, architectures, and platforms. The complexity of the connected car ecosystem results into a range of new challenges. The backend applications must be scalable and flexible enough to accommodate loads created by the random user and device behavior. To deliver superior uptime, back-end systems must be highly integrated and automated to guarantee lowest possible failure rate, high availability, and fastest time-to-market. Connected car services increasingly rely on cloud-based service delivery models for improving user experiences and enhancing features for millions of vehicles and their users on a daily basis. Nowadays, the software applications become more complex, and the number of components that are involved and interact with each other is extremely large. In such systems, if a fault occurs, it can easily propagate and can affect other components resulting in a complex problem which is difficult to detect and debugg, therefore a robust and resilient architecture is needed which ensures the continuous availability of system in the wake of component failures, making the overall system highly available. The goal of the thesis is to gain insight into the development of highly available applications and to explore the area of fault tolerance. This thesis outlines different design patterns and describes the capabilities of fault tolerance libraries for Java platform, and design the most appropriate solution for developing a highly available application and evaluate the behavior with stress and load testing using Chaos Monkey methodologies.