Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:13:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 JocelineCFS_TESE.pdf: 9953676 bytes, checksum: 9e87c154e4492433b05652a1e5ae5096 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-10-29 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient?fico e Tecnol?gico / O objetivo deste estudo foi analisar o efeito do treinamento f?sico aer?bico (TFA) na modula??o auton?mica card?aca, avaliado pela variabilidade da frequ?ncia card?aca (VFC), em mulheres com s?ndrome dos ov?rios polic?sticos (SOP). Participaram do estudo 30 mulheres na faixa et?ria entre 18 e 34 anos, com diagn?stico de SOP de acordo com o Consenso de Rotterdam, e foram divididas em dois grupos: 1) grupo treinamento (GT; n=15) que conclu?ram programa de treinamento aer?bico durante 16 semanas, tr?s vezes por semana e 40 minutos por sess?o; e 2) grupo controle (GC; n=15) que n?o participaram do treinamento. A VFC foi analisada antes e ap?s o per?odo de estudo, sendo analisada pelos m?todos linear e n?o-linear. Para avaliar o efeito do treinamento sobre as vari?veis da an?lise da VFC foi ajustado um modelo de an?lise de covari?ncia multivariado (MANCOVA) tendo como covari?veis o IMC (?ndice de massa corporal), a Insulina e a Testosterona e como fator explicativo o grupo (tratamento, controle). As caracter?sticas cl?nicas quanto ao peso, circunfer?ncia de cintura, IMC, press?o arterial, frequ?ncia card?aca, VO2 m?x (consumo m?ximo de oxig?nio), insulina de jejum e testosterona, n?o apresentaram diferen?a estatisticamente significativa (p>0.05) entre os grupos pr?-interven??o. Tanto a FC (frequ?ncia card?aca) como a press?o arterial sist?lica de repouso, apresentaram diminui??o estatisticamente significativa no grupo treinado ap?s as 16 semanas (p=0.016; p=0.001 respectivamente). Observaram-se aumentos significativos no RMSSD ( raiz quadrada da somat?ria dos quadrados das diferen?as entre os intervalos R-R normais adjacentes) - (p < 0,0001) e no SDNN (desvio-padr?o da m?dia de todos os intervalos RR normais) - (p = 0,002). Na an?lise espectral no dom?nio da frequ?ncia foi encontrado aumento significativo no AF (alta frequ?ncia) em unidades absolutas (p < 0,0001), a vari?vel AFun (alta frequ?ncia em unidades normalizadas) tamb?m apresentou um aumento significativo (p < 0,001), enquanto que BFun (baixa frequ?ncia em unidades normalizadas) demonstrou diminui??o significativa (p < 0,001). Na an?lise das vari?veis pelo m?todo n?o-linear foram encontradas diferen?as significativas na ES (Entropia de Shannon), 0V% (porcentagem de padr?es sem varia??o) e 2VD% (porcentagem de padr?es com duas varia??es diferentes) (p<0,05), caracterizando uma melhora na modula??o auton?mica da frequ?ncia card?aca do grupo treinado. O TFA melhorou a VFC em repouso de mulheres com SOP, caracterizado pelo aumento na modula??o parassimp?tica e redu??o da modula??o simp?tica na frequ?ncia card?aca. Os resultados refor?am a import?ncia da abordagem interdisciplinar na avalia??o e tratamento de mulheres com SOP, com vistas ? redu??o de morbidade relacionada ao sistema cardiovascular

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:16:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 FlavioSS_DISSERT.pdf: 1009224 bytes, checksum: 11ff4662d4d8985817935b34117dbf5f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-03 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / Our aim was to investigate the effects of an aerobic training program on adverse and early left ventricle (LV) remodeling, using an experimental model of short-term type 1 diabetes (T1D). Wistar rats were divided in 4 groups: sedentary control (SC), trained control (TC), sedentary diabetic (SD) and trained diabetic (TD). T1D was induced by streptozotocin (45 mg/kg). The training program consisted of 4 weeks running on a treadmill (13 m/min, 60 min/day, 5 days/week). At the end of the experiments, hearts were collected for analysis of morphology and transcriptional profile of LV, by focusing on its remodeling. Deaths were recorded during the 4-week period. We verified high mortality among animals of DS group, whereas it was significantly reduced in DT group. DS group also showed an increase in cross-sectional area of cardiomyocytes and fibrosis. TD group exhibited reduction in measures of cardiac trophism, but with respect to collagen content, it was similar to CS group. Analysis of gene expression related to cardiac remodeling revealed decreased expression of collagen I and III, as well as low expression of MMP-2 in DS group. TD group showed decreased levels of mRNA for MMP-9, and unchanged gene expression of MMP-2 when compared with the CS group. The expression of MMP-2 and TGF-&#61538;1 were increased in CT group. The ratio between gene expression of collagen I and III was increased in the CT group and decreased in diabetic groups. These results establish early changes of the structure and transcriptional profile of LV myocardium. Moreover, they indicate that aerobic exercise training plays specific protection against mechanisms responsible for cardiac damage observed in T1D / Nosso objetivo foi investigar os efeitos de um programa de treinamento aer?bio sobre o remodelamento adverso e precoce do ventr?culo esquerdo (VE), utilizando modelo experimental de curto prazo de diabetes tipo 1 (DM1). Ratos Wistar foram divididos em 4 grupos: controle sedent?rio (CS), controle treinado (CT), diab?tico sedent?rio (DS) e diab?tico treinado (DT). O DM1 foi induzido por estreptozotocina (45 mg/kg). O programa de treinamento consistiu em 4 semanas de corrida em esteira (13 m/min, 60 min/dia, 5 dias/semana). Ao fim dos experimentos, os cora??es foram coletados para analise da morfologia e do perfil transcricional do VE, com foco em seu remodelamento. Os ?bitos foram registrados durante as 4 semanas. Verificamos alta mortalidade entre os animais do grupo DS, enquanto que esta foi significativamente reduzida no grupo DT. O grupo DS apresentou aumento na ?rea de sec??o transversa dos cardiomi?citos e fibrose. O grupo DT exibiu redu??o das medidas de trofismo card?aco, mas com rela??o ao conte?do col?geno, foi similar ao grupo CS. As an?lises de express?o de genes ligados ao remodelamento card?aco revelaram redu??o na express?o dos col?genos I e III, al?m de baixa express?o da MMP-2, no grupo DS. O grupo DT apresentou diminui??o dos n?veis de mRNA para MMP-9, e express?o g?nica de MMP-2 inalterada, se comparado ao grupo CS. As express?es da MMP-2 e do TGF-&#61538;1 foram aumentadas no grupo CT. A raz?o entre express?o g?nica dos col?genos I e III mostrou-se elevada no grupo CT e reduzida nos grupos diab?ticos. Esses resultados estabelecem altera??es precoces da estrutura e do perfil transcricional do VE. Ainda, indicam que o treinamento aer?bio exerce prote??o espec?fica contra mecanismos respons?veis pelo dano card?aco observado no DM1

The AER has a vital role in directing embryonic limb development. Several models have been developed that attempt to explain how the AER directs limb development, but none of them are fully supported by existing data. I provide evidence that FGFs secreted from the AER induce a gradient of Wnt5a. I also demonstrate that limb mesenchyme grows toward increasing concentrations of Wnt5a. We hypothesize that the changing shape of the AER is critical for patterning the limb along the proximal to distal axis. To better understand the pathway through which Wnt5a elicits its effects, we have performed various genetic studies. We demonstrate that Wnt5a does not signal via the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. However, we show that Wnt5a mutants share many common defects with Vangl2 mutants suggesting that Wnt5a signals through the Wnt/planar cell polarity (PCP) pathway.

Concern regarding the health effects of indoor air quality has grown in recent years, due to the increased prevalence of many diseases, as well as the fact that many people now spend most of their time indoors. While numerous studies have reported on the dynamics of aerosols indoors, the dynamics of bioaerosols in indoor environments are still poorly understood and very few studies have focused on fungal spore dynamics in indoor environments. Consequently, this work investigated the dynamics of fungal spores in indoor air, including fungal spore release and deposition, as well as investigating the mechanisms involved in the fungal spore fragmentation process. In relation to the investigation of fungal spore dynamics, it was found that the deposition rates of the bioaerosols (fungal propagules) were in the same range as the deposition rates of nonbiological particles and that they were a function of their aerodynamic diameters. It was also found that fungal particle deposition rates increased with increasing ventilation rates. These results (which are reported for the first time) are important for developing an understanding of the dynamics of fungal spores in the air. In relation to the process of fungal spore fragmentation, important information was generated concerning the airborne dynamics of the spores, as well as the part/s of the fungi which undergo fragmentation. The results obtained from these investigations into the dynamics of fungal propagules in indoor air significantly advance knowledge about the fate of fungal propagules in indoor air, as well as their deposition in the respiratory tract. The need to develop an advanced, real-time method for monitoring bioaerosols has become increasingly important in recent years, particularly as a result of the increased threat from biological weapons and bioterrorism. However, to date, the Ultraviolet Aerodynamic Particle Sizer (UVAPS, Model 3312, TSI, St Paul, MN) is the only commercially available instrument capable of monitoring and measuring viable airborne micro-organisms in real-time. Therefore (for the first time), this work also investigated the ability of the UVAPS to measure and characterise fungal spores in indoor air. The UVAPS was found to be sufficiently sensitive for detecting and measuring fungal propagules. Based on fungal spore size distributions, together with fluorescent percentages and intensities, it was also found to be capable of discriminating between two fungal spore species, under controlled laboratory conditions. In the field, however, it would not be possible to use the UVAPS to differentiate between different fungal spore species because the different micro-organisms present in the air may not only vary in age, but may have also been subjected to different environmental conditions. In addition, while the real-time UVAPS was found to be a good tool for the investigation of fungal particles under controlled conditions, it was not found to be selective for bioaerosols only (as per design specifications). In conclusion, the UVAPS is not recommended for use in the direct measurement of airborne viable bioaerosols in the field, including fungal particles, and further investigations into the nature of the micro-organisms, the UVAPS itself and/or its use in conjunction with other conventional biosamplers, are necessary in order to obtain more realistic results. Overall, the results obtained from this work on airborne fungal particle dynamics will contribute towards improving the detection capabilities of the UVAPS, so that it is capable of selectively monitoring and measuring bioaerosols, for which it was originally designed. This work will assist in finding and/or improving other technologies capable of the real-time monitoring of bioaerosols. The knowledge obtained from this work will also be of benefit in various other bioaerosol applications, such as understanding the transport of bioaerosols indoors.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:08:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ErnestoVBa_DISSERT.pdf: 9825397 bytes, checksum: 732b67b111fb317d406c771240e47d87 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-12-18 / Electrical resistive heating (ERH) is a thermal method used to improve oil recovery. It can increase oil rate and oil recovery due to temperature increase caused by electrical current passage through oil zone. ERH has some advantage compared with well-known thermal methods such as continuous steam flood, presenting low-water production. This method can be applied to reservoirs with different characteristics and initial reservoir conditions. Commercial software was used to test several cases using a semi-synthetic homogeneous reservoir with some characteristics as found in northeast Brazilian basins. It was realized a sensitivity analysis of some reservoir parameters, such as: oil zone, aquifer presence, gas cap presence and oil saturation on oil recovery and energy consumption. Then it was tested several cases studying the electrical variables considered more important in the process, such as: voltage, electrical configurations and electrodes positions. Energy optimization by electrodes voltage levels changes and electrical settings modify the intensity and the electrical current distribution in oil zone and, consequently, their influences in reservoir temperature reached at some regions. Results show which reservoir parameters were significant in order to improve oil recovery and energy requirement in for each reservoir. Most significant parameters on oil recovery and electrical energy delivered were oil thickness, presence of aquifer, presence of gas cap, voltage, electrical configuration and electrodes positions. Factors such as: connate water, water salinity and relative permeability to water at irreducible oil saturation had low influence on oil recovery but had some influence in energy requirements. It was possible to optimize energy consumption and oil recovery by electrical variables. Energy requirements can decrease by changing electrodes voltages during the process. This application can be extended to heavy oil reservoirs of high depth, such as offshore fields, where nowadays it is not applicable any conventional thermal process such as steam flooding / O Aquecimento El?trico Resistivo (AER) ? um m?todo t?rmico usado para aumentar a recupera??o de petr?leo. Este aumenta a vaz?o de ?leo e conseq?entemente a recupera??o de petr?leo devido ao aumento de temperatura promovida pela passagem de corrente el?trica na zona de interesse. O AER tem algumas vantagens sobre m?todos t?rmicos conhecidos, como inje??o cont?nua de vapor, por apresentar baixa produ??o de ?gua, podendo ser aplicado a reservat?rios com diversas caracter?sticas e diversas condi??es iniciais. Um software comercial foi usado para testar v?rios casos usando um reservat?rio homog?neo semi-sint?tico com algumas caracter?sticas encontradas em reservat?rio da bacia sedimentar do Nordeste Brasileiro. Foi realizada uma an?lise de sensibilidade dos par?metros de reservat?rio, tais como: espessura da zona de ?leo, presen?as de capa de g?s e de aq??fero e satura??o de ?leo, na recupera??o de ?leo e consumo de energia el?trica. V?rios casos foram testados usando vari?veis el?tricas consideradas mais importantes no processo, tais como: tens?o, configura??es el?tricas e posi??es dos eletrodos. Os resultados mostram que os par?metros de reservat?rio foram significativos no sentido de aumentar a recupera??o de ?leo e a demanda de energia em cada reservat?rio. Os par?metros mais significativos na recupera??o de ?leo e no consumo de energia foram: a espessura da zona de ?leo, presen?as de capa de g?s e de aq??fero, as configura??es el?tricas e a posi??o dos eletrodos. Fatores como: satura??o irredut?vel de ?gua, salinidade da ?gua e a permeabilidade relativa da ?gua na satura??o residual de ?leo tiveram pouca influ?ncia na recupera??o de ?leo, mas tiveram uma influ?ncia maior na demanda de energia. Foi poss?vel otimizar o consumo de energia com a recupera??o de ?leo usando as vari?veis el?tricas. Estas aplica??es podem ser estendidas para reservat?rios de ?leo pesado e de grande profundidade, como em campos mar?timos (offshore), onde atualmente n?o ? poss?vel o uso de m?todos t?rmicos convencionais de recupera??o, como a inje??o de vapor