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Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Two of the three fluoride varnishes sold on the American market today are sold in 10-ml tubes of 5.0-percent NaF varnish (Duraphat and Duraflor). Pilot studies have shown that a separation of contents within these tubes exists. The purpose of the current study was four-fold: 1) to measure the fluoride concentration gradient in 10-ml tubes of fluoride varnish, based on the resting position of the tube prior to use; 2 ) to compare a varnish 's concentration gradient to its ability to inhibit caries in an artificial caries environment; 3) to compare and contrast fluoride concentration gradients of Duraphat and Duraflor; and finally, 4) to determine if Quantitative Light Fluorescence(QLF) can detect differences in lesions developed when exposed to an artificial caries environment and fluoride varnish. Human teeth specimens were subjected to a caries challenge and treated with a sample of fluoride varnish from one of five categories: Duraphat stored horizontally and vertically for one week; Duraflor stored horizontally and vertically for one week; or a CavityShield 0.4 ml unit-dose. Results show that no significant fluoride/ppm differences exist between groups (p = 0.29). It was shown that the order in which Duraflor varnish was dispensed from the tubes significantly affected the fluoride concentration (p < 0.05). The order effect was not significant for Duraphat (p = 0.99). QLF data analysis shows there is no significant difference (p > 0.05) in the amount of remineralization obtained by using any varnish stored in any position. This was confirmed using confocal microscopy. These results indicate that all three brands of fluoride varnish are able to remineralize incipient in vitro carious lesions, regardless of from which part of the 10-ml tube the varnish is taken. However, a fluoride concentration gradient exists in tubes of Duraflor. Also, QLF is able to detect denmineralized and remineralized incipient lesions.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This study was designed to determine if additional fluoride, ingested as a sodium fluoride - vitamin supplement would provide added protection against dental caries without causing any significant fluorosis. A total of 456 children, one to 14 months of age, residing in cities having 0.6 - 0. 8 ppm F in the water supply were randomly assigned according to age, sex and community to the following groups : Group A, 0. 5 mg F to age 3 then 1. 0 mg thereafter; Group B (control), vitamins throughout the study; and Group C, 0.5 mg F throughout the study. Dental examinations were started at approximately 2 1/2 to 3 years of age and were repeated every six months. A fluorosis examination ended the study after about seven years. When compared according to length of time on product, Group A had a significant reduction in deft and defs of 42.2 and 47.1 percent at 60 months. Group C had a 32.1 and 37.4 percent reduction. When compared by age, Group A had a 37.5 and 44.8 percent reduction in deft and defs at 66 months. Group C had a 34.3 and 40.1 percent reduction for the same period. No significant reductions were observed in permanent teeth. Based on the fluorosis index (Group A - 0.250; Group B - 0.033; and Group C - 0.188) none of the groups had any unacceptable amounts of fluorosis. The results indicate that up to 1.0 mg per day of additional fluoride does not cause objectionable fluorosis and may be ingested safely by children residing in areas containing 0. 6 - 0. 8 ppm F in the water supply. A 0.5 mg F supplement was almost as effective as a 1.0 mg level in providing added protection against dental caries in primary teeth.

No / Hot melt extrusion is a continuous process with wide industrial applicability. Till current date, there have been no reports on the formulation of extrudates for topical treatment of dermatological diseases. The aim of the present work was to prepare and characterize medicated hot melt extrudates based on Soluplus polymer and nicotinamide, and to explore their applicability in acne treatment. The extrudates were characterized using DSC, FTIR, XRD, and DVS. The extrudates were also tested for their skin adhesion potential, ability to deposit nicotinamide in different skin layers, and their clinical efficacy in acne patients. The 10% nicotinamide extrudates exhibited amorphous nature which was reserved during storage, with no chemical interaction between nicotinamide and Soluplus. Upon contrasting the skin adhesion and drug deposition of extrudates and nicotinamide gel, it was evident that the extrudates displayed significantly higher adhesion and drug deposition reaching 4.8 folds, 5.3 folds, and 4.3 folds more in the stratum corneum, epidermis and dermis, respectively. Furthermore, the extrudates significantly reduced the total number of acne lesions in patients by 61.3% compared to 42.14% with the nicotinamide gel. Soluplus extrudates are promising topical drug delivery means for the treatment of dermatological diseases.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T19:33:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ramon Silva Chaves.pdf: 700483 bytes, checksum: 9fef07fb610176c77e4d4dd4affe31d6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-05-26 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This study is inserted in the theoretical and methodological postulates of the discourse analysis in French lines and has as theme the exam of the image of Author in Recordações do Escrivão Isaías Caminha by Lima Barreto. This theme shows itself relevant because we observe the literary discourse by the enunciative-dircursive perspective which allocates the Author as subject who, inunciatively, projects his own image in the polemically of the discourse. It can be noticed by the unveiling of the topical and non-topical units and that have extrinsic representation to the literary enunciation. For this purpose, we will build on the concepts attendant Maingueneau, such as the Author and The Image of Author, Literary Discourse and scenography. The proposed analysis founded itself in a theoretical and methodological procedure in which the scenography established the topical and non-topical units, which reveal in the selected literary discourse, by paratopic via, an Image of the Author.Our study identified an Image of Author which emerges enunciative and discoursively in Recordações do Escrivão Isaías Caminha as a shadow which reveals nuances of contrasts, acts, actions and discoursive formations of black and mulatto from the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century / Este trabalho está inserido nos postulados teórico-metodológicos da Análise de Discurso de linha francesa e tem como tema o exame da Imagem de Autor em Recordações do Escrivão Isaías Caminha, de Lima Barreto. Esse tema mostra-se relevante, porque observaremos o discurso literário pela perspectiva enunciativo-discursiva que aloca o Autor como sujeito que, enunciativamente, projeta a própria imagem na polemicidade do discurso. Isso pode ser notado pelo desvelamento das unidades tópicas e não tópicas que têm representação extrínseca ao enunciado literário. Para tanto, tomaremos como base os conceitos tratados por Maingueneau, tais como, o Autor e a Imagem de Autor, Discurso Literário e cenografia. A análise proposta se alicerça em um procedimento teórico-metodológico em que a cenografia institui as unidades tópicas e não tópicas, que revelam no discurso literário selecionado, pela via paratópica, uma Imagem de Autor. Nosso estudo identificou uma Imagem de Autor que emerge enunciativa e discursivamente em Recordações do Escrivão Isaías Caminha como uma sombra, que revela nuances de contratos, atos, ações e formações discursivas do negro e mulato no final do século XIX e início do século XX

Οι θεματολογικά προσανατολισμένοι προσκομιστές είναι εφαρμογές που έχουν στόχο την συλλογή ιστοσελίδων συγκεκριμένης θεματολογίας από τον Παγκόσμιο Ιστό. Αποτελούν ένα ανοικτό ερευνητικό πεδίο των τελευταίων χρόνων. Σε αυτήν την διπλωματική εργασία επιχειρείται η υλοποίηση ενός θεματολογικά προσανατολισμένου προσκομιστή με χρήση λεξικών αλυσίδων. Οι λεξικές αλυσίδες είναι ένα σημαντικό λεξιλογικό και υπολογιστικό εργαλείο για την αναπαράσταση της έννοιας ενός κειμένου. Έχουν χρησιμοποιηθεί με επιτυχία στην αυτόματη δημιουργία περιλήψεων για κείμενα, αλλά και στην κατηγοριοποίησή τους σε θεματικές κατηγορίες. Παρουσιάζουμε τις διαδικασίες βαθμολόγησης συνδέσμων και ιστοσελίδων, καθώς και τον υπολογισμό της σημασιολογικής ομοιότητας μεταξύ κειμένων με χρήση λεξικών αλυσίδων. Συνδυάζουμε και ενσωματώνουμε αυτές τις διαδικασίες σε έναν θεματολογικά προσανατολισμένο προσκομιστή, τα πειραματικά αποτελέσματα του οποίου είναι πολλά υποσχόμενα. / Topical focused crawlers are applications that aim at collecting web pages of a specific topic from the Web. Building topical focused crawlers is an open research field. In this master thesis we develop a topical focused crawler using lexical chains. Lexical chains are an important lexical and computational tool which is used for representing the meaning of text. They have been used with success in automatic text summarization and text classification in thematic categories. We present the processes of hyperlink and web page scoring, as well as the computation of the semantic similarity between documents by using lexical chains. Combining the aforementioned methods we embody them in a topical focused crawler. Its results are very promising.

Master of Arts / Department of Communication Studies, Theatre, and Dance / Charles J. Griffin / This study seeks to discover the loci, or themes, within the post-World War II books of Theodor Geisel, whom generations of American readers came to know as “Dr. Seuss.” A prolific children's author and social activist, Dr. Seuss penned more than 40 children’s books during the period under investigation. After World War II, Seuss’ books began to merge social themes with his entertaining storylines and trademark illustrations. This thesis applies a methodology that draws from both close textual analysis and topically-oriented critical approaches in order to illuminate loci in 10 selected works. Through Cicero’s critical process of invention, relationships between arguments and loci are established. Analysis of these “message books” reveals the complex political and ideological themes present in Dr. Seuss’ texts while situating his work within a larger American rhetorical tradition of didactic children’s literature.

Thus far, few research studies have examined the practice of integrated speaking test tasks in the field of second/foreign language oral assessment. This dissertation utilized structural equation modeling (SEM) and qualitative techniques to explore the relationships among topical knowledge, anxiety, and integrated speaking test performance and to compare the influence of topical knowledge and anxiety, respectively, on independent speaking test performance and integrated speaking test performance. Three instruments were employed in this study. First, three integrated tasks were derived from TOEFL-iBT preparation materials, and three independent tasks were developed specifically for this research study. Second, four topical knowledge tests (TKTs) were constructed by six content experts and validated on a group of 421 Taiwanese EFL learners. Third, the state anxiety inventory (SAI) from the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory was adopted. A total of 352 Taiwanese EFL students were recruited for the official study. At the first stage, they filled out the personal information sheet and responded to the TKTs. At the second stage, they took two independent tasks for which they spoke without input support, responded to an SAI, performed two integrated tasks in which they orally summarized the textual and auditory input given to them, and completed another SAI. Finally, 23 volunteers took part in follow-up interviews. The quantitative data were analyzed using the two-step SEM approach and the interview data were examined using a series of qualitative techniques, leading to five primary findings. First, topical knowledge and anxiety both strongly influenced the integrated speaking performance, though in an opposite manner. Second, topical knowledge did not significantly affect anxiety. Third, the effect of topical knowledge on independent speaking performance and integrated speaking performance varied depending on the topics of the tasks. Fourth, the impact of anxiety on independent speaking performance and integrated speaking performance also differed according to the topics of the tasks. Fifth, participants were overwhelmingly positive about the integrated tasks. In light of the findings, several implications are proposed for second/foreign language oral assessment theory, research methodology, and practice. / text

A pele desempenha um importante papel na homeostasia e é uma via muito utilizada na administração de fármacos. O envelhecimento compromete sua função protetora e contribui para o aparecimento de sintomas como a rugosidade, flacidez, secura, prurido, hiperpigmentação dificuldade de cicatrização e a incidência de melanomas. Os raios UV são a principal causa do envelhecimento devido à geração de espécies reativas de oxigênio (ROS) e peroxidação lipídica. Os danos causados pelos ROS podem ser mitigados pelo uso de antioxidantes tópicos como a curcumina e timol (TML). No entanto, a baixa permeabilidade e estabilidade são fatores limitantes para sua aplicação. Para superar esses desafios, ECUR e TML podem ser encapsulados em nanopartículas, como os carreadores lipídicos nanoestruturado (CLN). Assim, os objetivos desse projeto foi desenvolver um CLN estável com manteiga Illipê, óleo de calêndula e TPGS para co-encapsular ECUR e TML e incorporação em uma formulação tópica. O padrão analítico dos curcuminóides foi isolado de amostra comercial, identificado por LC-MS e RMN e a metodologia analítica para quantificação CUR e TML foi validada. Os CLNs foram produzidos por emulsão quente e sonicação e otimizados utilizando a ferramenta de DoE Box-Behnken. Foram caracterizados em relação às propriedades físicas, citotoxicidade em cálulas HaCaT e atividade antioxidante. O CLN otimizado apresentou tamanho em torno de 130 nm, índice de polidispersão abaixo de 0,200 e potencial zeta negativo. A eficiência de encapsulação foi acima de 97% tanto para TML quanto CUR. CLN com e sem ativos demonstrou baixo índice de recristalização e forma esférica caracterização por DSC e AFM e não foram citotóxicos para células HaCaT, mostrando viabilidade celular superior a 80% na concentração 1,48x1012 partículas/ml, correspondente a 0,8 ?g/ml de TML/CUR co-encapsulados. Além disso, TML/CUR livre e co-encapsulado mostrou alta atividade antioxidante em ensaios in vitro para inibição de xantina oxidade e auto-oxidação do pirrogalol, indicando sua potente capacidade de inibição da enzima superóxido dismutase mesmo quando encapsulados. O emulgel tópico foi desenvolvido e apresentou estabilidade física após a incorporação do CLN no teste de estabilidade acelerada. O perfil reológico do emulgel demonstrou característica plástica e reoplexa e se manteve estável com o tempo e sob as variações de temperatura de analise, indicando alta estabilidade física da formulação. O perfil de liberação de ECUR e TML indicou cinética de liberação correspondente ao modelo de Higuchi sem influência da co-encapsulação na liberação da CUR e com liberação mais lenta do TML encapsulado. Os dados de permeação sugerem que os ativos possam permear na pele. A extensão e a intensidade da permeabilidade dos ativos promovida pelo CLN determinarão a aplicabilidade da formulação que poderá ser interessante para o desenvolvimento de um produto cosmético, dermocosmético, ou mesmo para um medicamento transdérmico. Em conclusão, o CLN desenvolvido apresentou características físicas e biológicas interessantes para a aplicação tópica. / Skin plays an important role in homeostasis and it is an important route for drug delivery. Aging compromises its protective function and contributes to the appearance of symptoms such as roughness, sagging, dryness, pruritus, hyperpigmentation, scarring deficient and the incidence of melanomas. UV rays are the main cause of photo-aging due of ROS generation and lipid peroxidation. ROS damage can be mitigated by using topical antioxidants as curcumin and thymol. However, low permeability and physico-chemical stability are disadvantages for its clinical application. To overcome these challenges, ECUR and TML can be encapsulated in nanoparticles such as nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC). This project aimed to develop a stable NLC composed by Illipê butter, calendula oil and TPGS to co-encapsulate ECUR and TML, followed by the NLC incorporation into a cosmetic formulation. Curcuminoid\'s analytical standard was isolated from commercial sample, identified by LC-MS and NMR, and the analytical methodology for quantification CUR and TML was validated. NLCs were produced by sonication emulsification method and their development was designed by Box-Behnken DoE and characterized in relation to physical properties, HaCaT cell cytotoxicity and antioxidant activity. Optimized NLC with size around 130 nm, polydispersity index (PdI) below 0.200 and negative zeta potential was obtained. The encapsulation efficiency (EE%) was above 97% for both TML and CUR. Empty and co-encapsulated NLC showed in DSC and AFM characterization low recrystallization index and spherical shapes and were not cytotoxic for HaCaT cells, showing cell viability over 80% at the maximum concentration evaluated (1.48x1012 particles / ml, wich corresponds to 0.8 ?g / ml co-encapsulated TML / CUR). Furthermore, free and co-encapsulated TML / CUR showed high antioxidant activity in in vitro assays due inhibition of xanthine oxidation and pyrogallol autoxidation, indicating their potent superoxide dismutase inhibition even when co-encapsulated. The cosmetic emulgel was developed and physically stable after NLC incorporation in accelerated stability. Emulgel rheological profile showed a plastic and rheopexy characteristic, which remained storage stability. The rheological profile did not change due variations in the temperature analysis, indicating good formulation physical stability and cosmetic acceptability. The release profile of ECUR/TML release kinetics corresponded to the Higuchi model without influence of co-encapsulation with slower release of the encapsulated TML. Permeation data suggest that the active substances may permeate deep into skin. The actives permeability extent and intensity promoted by CLN will determine the applicability of the formulation that can be interest for the development of a cosmetic, dermocosmetic product or even for a transdermal drug. In conclusion, the developed CLN presented interesting physical and biological characteristics for topical application.