Thesis (M.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Pathology, 1988. / Previous publications comprise main text of thesis. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Th. M.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [113]-130).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Leland Stanford Jr. University. / Cover title. Reprinted from Archiv. für die ges. physiologie, bd. 101; and American Journal of Physiology, vol. X, no. 7.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Leland Stanford Jr. University. / Cover title. Reprinted from Archiv. für die ges. physiologie, bd. 101; and American Journal of Physiology, vol. X, no. 7.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 1976. / Also available in print.

Thesis (Th. M.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [113]-130).

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:52:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T13:57:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Dissertação (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN/CNEN-SP

Active contours are now a very popular technique for shape extraction, achieved by minimising a suitably formulated energy functional. Conventional active contour formulations suffer difficulty in appropriate choice of an initial contour and values of parameters. Recent approaches have aimed to resolve these problems, but can compromise other performance aspects. To relieve the problem in initialisation, an evolutionary dual active contour has been developed, which is combined with a local shape model to improve the parameterisation. One contour expands from inside the target feature, the other contracts from the outside. The two contours are inter-linked to provide a balanced technique with an ability to reject weak’local energy minima. Additionally a dual active contour configuration using dynamic programming has been developed to locate a global energy minimum and complements recent approaches via simulated annealing and genetic algorithms. These differ from conventional evolutionary approaches, where energy minimisation may not converge to extract the target shape, in contrast with the guaranteed convergence of a global approach. The new techniques are demonstrated to extract successfully target shapes in synthetic and real images, with superior performance to previous approaches. The new technique employing dynamic programming is deployed to extract the inner face boundary, along with a conventional normal-driven contour to extract the outer face boundary. Application to a database of 75 subjects showed that the outer contour was extracted successfully for 96% of the subjects and the inner contour was successful for 82%. This application highlights the advantages new dual active contour approaches for automatic shape extraction can confer.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:32:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2011-10-05Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:43:16Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 santos_ji_dr_botib.pdf: 2854322 bytes, checksum: 40144832d1328710b9a79f30a62356ba (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / O envenenamento por picadas de serpentes é um importante problema de saúde pública em muitos países tropicais e subtropicais. Aspectos científicos, médicos e sociais relacionados ao envenenamento por serpentes do gênero Bothrops são especialmente importantes no Brasil já que estes animais são responsáveis por aproximadamente 90% dos acidentes ofídicos relatados em nosso país. Um dos principais problemas relacionados ao acidente botrópico é o proeminente dano tecidual local cuja patogênese é complexa e envolve a ação combinada de uma variedade de componentes do veneno. As fosfolipases A2 (PLA2s) são os componentes mais abundantes no veneno e tem papel fundamental quando se trata do estabelecimento de lesão muscular. O presente trabalho descreve estudos estruturais com miotoxinas que adotam enovelamento de PLA2s (PLA2s homólogas) com o objetivo de melhor entender a relação estrutura – função destas toxinas. Para tanto, estudos estruturais por cristalografia de difração de raios X com Lys49-PLA2s de venenos botrópicos complexadas com os inibidores manganês e ácido rosmarínico (AR) foram realizados. A estrutura cristalográfica de uma miotoxina Asp49-PLA2 homóloga complexada com cálcio também foi elucidada. Adicionalmente, o arranjo quaternário de miotoxinas Asp49-PLA2s homólogas do gênero Bothrops foi revisado e características estruturais relevantes para a expressão da miotoxicidade destas proteínas foram apontadas. A estrutura cristalográfica do complexo formado entre uma Lys49-PLA2 e o inibidor AR evidencia que este inibidor interage com a proteína na entrada de uma dos canais hidrofóbicos do dímero protéico, estabelecendo ligações de hidrogênio com átomos dos resíduos Phe3, Lys7, Leu10, Gln11 e Gly15 do monômero com a qual interage. Já no... / Envenoming resulting from snakebites is an important public health problem in many tropical and subtropical countries. Scientific, medical and social aspects related to envenoming by snakes from Bothrops genus are especially important in Brazil because these animals are responsible for approximately 90 % of all ophidian accidents reported in our country. One of the main problems regarding bothropic accidents is a prominent local tissue damage whose pathogenesis is complex and involves the combined action of a variety of venom components. Phospholipases A2 (PLA2s) are the most abundant muscle-damaging components of these venoms playing a central role in the muscle damage establishment. The present work reports structural studies with myotoxins that adopt a PLA2 fold (PLA2- like myotoxins) aiming a better understanding of their structure-function relationship. For this purpose, X-ray crystallographic studies of Lys49-PLA2s from bothropic snake venoms complexed to the inhibitors manganese and rosmarinic acid (RA) were performed. The crystallographic structure of the complex formed between an Asp49-PLA2-like myotoxin and calcium was also solved. Additionally, the quaternary assembly of Asp49-PLA2-like myotoxins from Bothrops genus was reviewed and relevant structural features for their myotoxicity expression were pointed out. The crystallographic structure of the complex formed between a Lys49-PLA2 and the inhibitor RA demonstrates that the inhibitor interacts with the protein in the entrance of one of its hydrophobic channel, establishing hydrogen bonds with atoms of the residues Phe3, Lys7, Leu10, Gln11 and Gly15 of the monomer with which it interacts. For the complex formed between a Lys49-PLA2 and the inhibitor Mn2+ the manganese ion is coordinated by atoms of the... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Submitted by Rosana Amâncio (rosana.amancio@ufcg.edu.br) on 2018-07-12T15:42:24Z No. of bitstreams: 1 ALUSKA VIEIRA TAVARES - DISSERTAÇÃO PPGCNBio 2016..pdf: 3420076 bytes, checksum: 285c96d7eef3fab2a5f91adabb044549 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-07-12T15:42:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ALUSKA VIEIRA TAVARES - DISSERTAÇÃO PPGCNBio 2016..pdf: 3420076 bytes, checksum: 285c96d7eef3fab2a5f91adabb044549 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-07-20 / CNPq / O acidente ofídico é um problema de saúde pública negligenciado em países tropicais e subtropicais. Este estudo é uma investigação transversal das características epidemiológicas dos acidentes ofídicos no estado do Rio Grande do Norte, Nordeste do Brasil, de 2007 a 2014.Os dados foram coletados na Secretaria de Saúde do Rio Grande do Norte, utilizando o banco de dados do Sistema de Informação de Agravos de Notificação. Um total de 3.019 casos foram analisados. Os acidentes foram notificados em 163 municípios do estado, com maior incidência nos pequenos municípios localizados na região central. Os casos ocorreram em todos os meses dos anos investigados, com maior frequência entre março e agosto. A maioria dos casos envolveu homens com idade entre 20 e 59 anos, trabalhadores e residentes rurais, com baixa escolaridade e raça parda. Os casos ocorreram com maior frequência em áreas rurais. Houve predomínio de acidentes com serpentes do gênero Bothrops. As picadas acometeram principalmente as extremidades dos membros. A maioria das vítimas recebeu assistência médica entre 1 e 3 horas após o acidente. Os casos foram prevalentemente classificados como leves e progrediram para cura. Foram notificados 13 óbitos. A maioria das vítimas realizou o teste do tempo de coagulação e fez uso da soroterapia. As principais manifestações locais foram dor e edema. As principais manifestações sistêmicas foram vagais e neuroparalíticas. As complicações locais mais frequentes foram a infecção secundária e o déficit funcional. Quanto às complicações sistêmicas exibiu-se, sobretudo, a insuficiência renal e o edema generalizado. O perfil epidemiológico dos acidentes ofídicos no Rio Grande do Norte é semelhante aqueles observados em outros estados do Nordeste Brasileiro. Esses acidentes podem ser considerados como um problema de saúde pública no estado, devido à elevada frequência e ampla distribuição espacial dos casos. Isso revela a necessidade de desenvolver políticas públicas regionais, visando o controle preventivo desses acidentes, bem como o aprimoramento do atendimento médico das vítimas. / The snakebite is a neglected public health problem in tropical and subtropical countries. This study is a transversal investigation of the epidemiological characteristics of snakebites in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, Northeastern Brazil, from 2007 to 2014. Data was collected from the Injury Notification Information System database of the Health Department of Rio Grande do Norte. A total of 3,019 cases were analyzed. Snakebite cases were reported in 163 municipalities in the state, with the highest incidence in small municipalities in the central region. Snakebites occurred in every month of the year investigated, more frequently between March and August. Most cases involved men aged 20 to 59 years, workers and rural residents with low education level and mulattos. The cases occurred more frequently in rural areas. There was a predominance of envenoming involving Bothrops snakes. The bites mainly reached the extremity of the limbs. Most of the victims received medical assistance between 1 and 3 hours after the accident. The cases were mainly classified as mild and progressed to cure. 13 deaths have been reported. Most of the victims made the blood-clotting time test and made use of antivenom. The main local reactions were pain and swelling. The main systemic reactions were vagal and neuroparalytic. The most frequent local complications were infection secondary and functional deficit. As for systemic complications showed especially renal insufficiency and generalized edema. The epidemiological profile of snakebites in Rio Grande do Norte is similar to those observed in other states of the Brazilian Northeast. Snakebite may be considered as a public health problem in the state, due to the high frequency and high spatial distribution of the cases. This reveals the need to develop regional public policies aimed at preventive control of such injury, as well as medical care enhancement of the victims.