Morphology and protein content of hepatocytes in type I diabetic rats submitted to physical exercises

The importance of physical exercise practice in the treatment of diabetes has been reported in many studies recently, but only limited data can be found regarding its benefits on liver morphology and protein content of hepatocytes. In order to assess the changes arising from the development of type I diabetes and the benefits of a training protocol, Wistar rats were divided into four groups: sedentary control (SC), trained control (TC), sedentary diabetic (SD) and trained diabetic (TD). The training protocol consisted of swimming for 60 min a day, 5 days/week, during 8 weeks. Liver samples were collected, processed and analyzed by histochemical and ultrastructural techniques. Biochemical tests were also conducted to examine the protein content and quantity of DNA in the liver. In morphological assessment, the presence of areas of cytoplasmic basophilia observed in control subjects was not visualized in sedentary diabetics. It was related to differences in the amount of mitochondria in the cytosol. The mitochondrial structure has not undergone relevant changes, and the number of rough endoplasmic reticulum cisterns was clearly inferior in sedentary diabetics, suggesting lower protein production. However, the biochemical analysis of protein content indicated no statistical differences between groups. The exercise, in turn, was not responsible for major changes in these characteristics. On the whole, the morphological damages arising from type I diabetes were noteworthy. Nevertheless, regular physical training was not responsible for significant improvements in some respects, making evident the need for combined application of a distinct form of treatment.     

Wavefront sensing with critical sampling

Different types of nonredundant sampling patterns are shown to guarantee completeness of the basis formed by the sampled partial derivatives of Zernike polynomials, commonly used to reconstruct the wavefront from its slopes (wavefront sensing). In the ideal noise-free case, this enables one to recover double the number of modes J than sampling points I (critical sampling J=2I). With real data, noise amplification makes the optimal number of modes lower I相似文献   

Structural stability and electronic structure of iron adsorption on the GaN(0 0 0 1) surface

In this work, we have investigated by means of first-principles spin-polarized calculations, the electronic and magnetic properties of iron (Fe) adsorption and diffusion on the GaN(0 0 0 1) surface using density functional theory (DFT) within a plane-wave pseudopotential scheme. In the surface adsorption study, results show that the most stable positions of a Fe adatom on GaN(0 0 0 1) surface are the H3 sites and T4 sites, for low and high Fe coverage respectively. We found that the Fe-H3 2 × 2 surface reconstruction exhibits a half-metallic behavior with a spin band gap and stable ferromagnetism ordering, which is a desirable property for high-efficiency magnetoelectronic devices. In addition, confirming previous experimental results, we found that the iron monolayers present a ferromagnetic order and a large thermal stability. This is interesting from a theoretical point of view and for its technological applications.     

Solving a bi-objective Transportation Location Routing Problem by metaheuristic algorithms

In this work we consider a Transportation Location Routing Problem (TLRP) that can be seen as an extension of the two stage Location Routing Problem, in which the first stage corresponds to a transportation problem with truck capacity. Two objectives are considered in this research, reduction of distribution cost and balance of workloads for drivers in the routing stage. Here, we present a mathematical formulation for the bi-objective TLRP and propose a new representation for the TLRP based on priorities. This representation lets us manage the problem easily and reduces the computational effort, plus, it is suitable to be used with both local search based and evolutionary approaches. In order to demonstrate its efficiency, it was implemented in two metaheuristic solution algorithms based on the Scatter Tabu Search Procedure for Non-Linear Multiobjective Optimization (SSPMO) and on the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II) strategies. Computational experiments showed efficient results in solution quality and computing time.     

Boundary of Anosov dynamics and evolution equations for surfaces

We show that a compact surface of genus greater than one, without focal points and a finite number of bubbles (“good” shaped regions of positive curvature) is in the closure of Anosov metrics. Compact surfaces of nonpositive curvature and genus greater than one are in the closure of Anosov metrics, by Hamilton's work about the Ricci flow. We generalize this fact to the above surfaces without focal points admitting regions of positive curvature using a “magnetic” version of the Ricci flow, the so‐called Ricci Yang‐Mills flow.     

GRASP with path relinking for the orienteering problem

In this paper, we address an optimization problem resulting from the combination of the well-known travelling salesman and knapsack problems. In particular, we target the orienteering problem, originated in the context of sport, which consists of maximizing the total score associated with the vertices visited in a path within the available time. The problem, also known as the selective travelling salesman problem, is NP-hard and can be formulated as an integer linear program. Since the 1980s, several solution methods for this problem have been developed and applied to a variety of fields, particularly in routing and tourism. We propose a heuristic method—based on the Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure (GRASP) and the Path Relinking methodologies—for finding approximate solutions to this optimization problem. We explore different constructive methods and combine two neighbourhoods in the local search of GRASP. Our experimentation with 196 previously reported instances shows that the proposed procedure obtains high-quality solutions employing short computing times.     

Spectral Changes Induced by Alkaline pH and Specific Chemical Modification of Amino Acid Residues in the Light-Harvesting II Antenna Complex from Ectothiorhodospira sp.

Abstract— The absorption spectrum of the membrane-bound light-harvesting (LH)II antenna complex from Ectothiorhodospira sp. has two characteristic near-infrared bands at 797 (B800 band) and 857 (B850 band) nm. Alkaline pH induced a B850 band blue shift of 17–21 nm depending on experimental conditions. The blue shift was totally reversible when the original experimental conditions were re-established. No significant effect was observed, however, on the B800 band under the same experimental conditions. The intensity and shape of the pigment circular dichroism signals were maintained with the exception of a blue shift of the signal from the B850 band concomitant with the blue shift of that absorption band. Specific chemical modification of the LHII complex with salicylaldehyde allowed correlation of the alkaline pH effect with the neutralization of a lysine positive charge. We propose that the observed blue shift of the B850 band is due to distortion of the bacteriochlorophyll domain as a consequence of electrostatic and probably hydrogen-bonding changes but not due to modification of the pigment excitonic interactions within the pigment-protein complex.     

Characterization of Commercial Amylases for the Removal of Filter Cake on Petroleum Wells

Drilling fluid has many functions, such as carry cuttings from the hole permitting their separation at the surface, cool and clean the bit, reduce friction between the drill pipe and wellbore, maintain the stability of the wellbore, and prevent the inflow of fluids from the wellbore and form a thin, low-permeable filter cake. Filter cake removal is an important step concerning both production and injection in wells, mainly concerning horizontal completion. The drilling fluids are typically comprised of starch, the most important component of the filter cake. A common approach to remove this filter cake is the use of acid solutions. However, these are non-specific reactants. A possible alternative is the use of enzymatic preparations, like amylases, that are able to hydrolyze starch. Wells usually operate in drastic conditions for enzymatic preparations, such as high temperature, high salt concentration, and high pressure. Thus, the main objective of this work was to characterize four enzymatic preparations for filter cake removal under open hole conditions. The results showed that high salt concentrations (204,000 ppm NaCl) in completion fluid decreased amylolytic activity. All enzymatic preparations were able to catalyze starch hydrolysis at all temperatures tested (30, 65, 80, and 95 °C). An increase of amylolytic activity was observed with the increase of pressure (100, 500 and 1,000 psi) for one commercial amylase.     

A comparison result for radial solutions of the mean curvature equation

We establish two comparison results, between the solutions of a class of mean curvature equations and pieces of arcs of circles that satisfy the same Neumann boundary condition. Finally we present a number of examples where our estimates can be applied; some of them have a physical motivation.