The female genital tract is a mucosal epithelium that has an array of factors contributing to the cervicovaginal immune environment. Like with systemic immunity, innate and adaptive immune mediators are integrated in the efficiency for fighting infections in the female genital tract. Our study addresses the role of pregnancy and HIV infection on concentrations of cytokines in genital tract fluid that play a role in HIV sexual transmission. We focused on two pathways: The NF-KB inflammation pathway that has been implicated in susceptibility to HIV infection, and two interferon pathways that have been associated with antiviral immune defense. We hypothesized that pregnant women have increased proinflammatory cytokines in genital secretions, potentially putting them at increased risk for HIV infection, and that HIV-infected women could have upregulated Type 1 interferon pathways that may regulate HIV replication in the genital tract, and infection by other viruses. This study compared the immune mediator profiles in genital secretions of women between the ages of 18 and 40 years old belonging to four groups: HIV Negative/ Non Pregnant, HIV Negative/Pregnant, HIV Positive/ Non Pregnant, and HIV positive/ pregnant. Cytokine concentrations in cervicovaginal lavage fluid were measured using ELISA and MAGPIX assays. A number of statistical methods were used to characterize cytokine pathways and to link pathway associated cytokines to HIV serostatus and/or pregnancy. The study showed that HIV positive women had higher levels of proinflammatory cytokines including IL-1α, IL-2RA, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-7, IL-12, IL-17, MIF, MIG, MIP-1ß, SCGF, TNF-α, and TRAIL. Only the antimicrobial peptide lysozyme was significantly decreased in HIV positive women. However, lysozyme was significantly increased in pregnant women where as the following cytokines were significantly decreased in pregnant women: ß-NGF, G-CSF, GM-CSF, GRO-α, HGF, IGN-α2, IFN-γ, IL-2RA, IL-3, IL-4, IL-6, IL-7, IL-12, IL-13, IL-16, IL-17, TNF-α, TRAIL. The correlation analysis showed that HIV positive nonpregnant women could have upregulated: NFκB, type I interferon and interferon-γ pathways. The correlation analysis showed that the NFκB pathway could be upregulated in pregnant HIV negative women and these findings suggest that vaginal inflammation may play a role in HIV transmission from HIV-infected women to uninfected pregnant women. Moreover, upregulated interferon pathways could help understand how the body regulates genital viral infections in HIV-infected women.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:53:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T13:59:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Dissertação (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:49:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:02:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Dissertacao (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN/CNEN-SP

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:47:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:09:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 08363.pdf: 8633728 bytes, checksum: 4b637afdf2709474cb42eadeaa3a8b6a (MD5) / Dissertacao (Mestrado Profissionalizante em Lasers em Odontologia) / IPEN/D-MPLO / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares, IPEN/CNEN-SP; Faculdade de Odontologia, Universidade de Sao Paulo

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:47:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:10:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 08344.pdf: 3520298 bytes, checksum: 2a5d00aa09a166d2736831c70798e5a4 (MD5) / Dissertacao (Mestrado Profissionalizante em Lasers em Odontologia) / IPEN/D-MPLO / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares, IPEN/CNEN-SP; Faculdade de Odontologia, Universidade de Sao Paulo

Les macrophages sont une cible cellulaire importante du VIH-1 et sont impliqués dans la propagation virale et la constitution du réservoir. Les patients infectés par le VIH-2 présentent un contrôle naturel de l'infection qui est généralement absent chez les patients infectés par le VIH-1. Nous avons étudié ici la relation entre les macrophages et le VIH-2 afin d'évaluer leur contribution à la physiopathologie de l'infection. L'assemblage de particules virales dans des macrophages dérivés de monocytes (MDM) infectés par le VIH-2 se fait au niveau de la membrane de compartiments internes semblables aux VCC documentés dans les MDM infectés par le VIH-1. Les VCC des MDM infectés par le VIH-1 et le VIH-2 partagent la même composition protéique, et la même morphologie. Contrairement à Gag du VIH-1, la protéine Gag du VIH-2 est absente du cytosol et presque exclusivement localisée dans les VCC, ce qui suggère que Gag du VIH-2 est rapidement transportée vers le VCC une fois synthétisée dans le cytosol. Les particules de VIH-2 produites de novo par les MDM peuvent mûrir, mais sont faiblement infectieuses et se transmettent inefficacement aux cellules T activés. Cette faible infectiosité n'est pas associée avec l'expression du facteur de restriction BST-2 et n'est pas non plus améliorée par une baisse des niveaux d'expression de BST-2 induite par Vpu. Nos données suggèrent que les macrophages infectés par le VIH-2 ne contribuent probablement pas à la production et à la dissémination du virus in vivo. Cependant, les macrophages infectés par le VIH-2 peuvent représenter une source potentielle d'antigènes viraux qui pourraient stimuler les réponses des cellules T spécifiques du virus. / Macrophages are an important cellular target of HIV-1 and are potentially involved in viral spreading and constitution of the viral reservoir. HIV-2-infected patients exhibit a natural virological control of the infection that is generally absent from HIV-1-infected patients. Here, we studied the relationship between macrophages and HIV-2 to approach their potential contribution to the physiopathology of HIV-2 infection. Viral particles assembly in HIV-2-infected monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs) occurred at the limiting membrane of internal compartments similar to virus-containing compartments (VCCs) documented in HIV-1-infected MDMs. Indeed, VCCs from HIV-1 and HIV-2-infected MDMs shared protein composition, as seen by confocal microcopy, and morphology, as seen by electron microscopy. Strikingly, HIV-2 Gag was mostly absent from the cytosol and almost exclusively localized to the VCCs, whereas HIV-1 Gag was distributed in both locations, suggesting that HIV-2 Gag is rapidly transported to the VCC membranes once synthesized in the cytosol. HIV-2 particles produced de novo by MDMs can mature, but are poorly infectious and inefficiently transmitted to activated T cells. This low infectivity neither correlate with expression of the restriction factor BST-2, nor was improved by Vpu-induced down-modulation of BST-2 levels. Our data suggest that, HIV-2-infected macrophages are unlikely to contribute to viral production and dissemination in vivo. However, HIV-2-infected macrophages accumulate large amounts of intracellular virus that may represent a potential source of viral antigens that could stimulate virus specific T cell responses.

It is known that entomopathogenic nematodes rarely live in fields where pesticides and fertilizers are used. Because they are organisms with a high potential for biological and integrated pest control the thesis tried to determine the influence of pesticides on the infectivity and mortality of selected nematodes: Steinernema feltiae, S. arenarium and S. kraussei in water solution of some pesticides. The results are that preparations Vydate (a. i. oxamyl) and Sulka (a. i. sulphur) have the highest negative influence on both characteristics. These pesticides cause a mortality of 94.3 - 99.9 % and reduce infectivity by about 50 {--} 75 % (level 3). The following preparations may be identified as having higher potential for infectivity reduction: above all, Starane 250 EC (fluroxypyr), Sumithion super (fenithrothion), and Novozir MN 80 (mancozeb); on the other hand, Treflan 48 EC (trifluralin) significantly increases mortality. Another important observation is a fact that infectivity is significantly influenced only by concentration of pesticides, not by exposure time. During an experiment with enhacement of resistance to oxamyl (Vydate) I falling mortality and increasing infectivity of entomopathogenic nematodes were observed after five rounds.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:53:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T13:59:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / A pesquisa teve como objetivo a utilização da radiação gama do Cobalto-60 como tratamento quarentenário de plantas medicinais, aromáticas e condimentares desidratadas infestadas por Lasioderma serricorne e Plodia interpunctella determinando as doses desinfestantes atendendo o critério de não emergência de adultos das espécies em estudo e analisando através da Cromatografia de Camada Delgada os efeitos da radiação gama do Cobalto-60 sobre o princípio ativo dos substratos desidratados de Chamomilla recutita, Pimpinella anisum, Origanum vulgare, Cymbopogon citratus, Ocimum basilicum e Thymus vulgaris. O trabalho foi desenvolvido no Laboratório de Inseticidas do Instituto Biológico em São Paulo no período de agosto de 2005 a junho de 2007. A fonte de radiação gama utilizada foi um irradiador experimental de Cobalto-60, modelo Gamacell 220, localizado no Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares ? IPEN, localizado em São Paulo. No período de 30 dias após a irradiação das amostras avaliou-se o número de adultos emergidos de Lasioderma serricorne e Plodia interpunctella, utilizando os dados de mortalidade para a análise de Probit. Obteve-se 100% de não emergência de adultos de Lasioderma serricorne com a dose de 2,00 kGy e 100% de não emergência de adultos de Plodia interpunctella com a dose de 2,25 kGy. A Análise Cromatográfica de Camada Delgada efetuada não revelou diferença na composição química dos substratos analisados. / Dissertação (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:49:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:02:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Dissertacao (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN/CNEN-SP

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:47:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:09:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 08363.pdf: 8633728 bytes, checksum: 4b637afdf2709474cb42eadeaa3a8b6a (MD5) / Dissertacao (Mestrado Profissionalizante em Lasers em Odontologia) / IPEN/D-MPLO / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares, IPEN/CNEN-SP; Faculdade de Odontologia, Universidade de Sao Paulo