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We recently reported that early undernourishment and seizures to the rat brain resulted in morphological changes and progressive learning and memory disability, which started at around 6 week later and is representative of human adolescence. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether enriched environmental can recovery this slowly progressing deficits in early undernourished and in two different models for seizures. Undernourished groups were maintained on a nutritional deprivation regimen from post-natal day 2 (P2) to P15. From P8 to P10, recurrent seizures (RS) groups were exposed to three seizures per day, while status epilepticus (SE) groups experienced status epilepticus at P16, both induced by flurothyl. Next, animals were exposed to enriched environment between P30 and P60. Beginning at P61, all groups were trained and tested in the Morris water maze (MWM). Enriched environment led to a significant benefit in learning and retention of visual-spatial memory, being able to reverse the cognitive impairment generated by undernourishment and SE.

This article explores the issue of elite representation through photography during the 1930s in Italy. It examines how modern technology affected representation and refers specifically to the work of Ghitta Carell, a photographer who became very successful by portraying prominent Fascist men and women in Italy, including the Duce. Images of the dictator had been continually developed since the late 1920s and frequent and various representations of his person, including the face, were pervasive. Carell's idealised style was much appreciated by high society and Fascist officials alike, while her work also has a darker emotional content that borrows from a painterly tradition. Although not engaged directly by the regime, Carell's work has to be considered as both separate from and complementary whilst also adding to the Fascist aesthetic. She was complicit with the cult of the Duce while revealing aspects of Mussolini's personality that other photographers avoided or missed.

INTRODUÇÃO: A desnutrição e epilepsia são problemas prevalentes em países em desenvolvimento, principalmente na faixa etária pediátrica. OBJETIVOS: Tendo em vista o impacto que insultos como as crises convulsivas e a desnutrição geram no sistema nervoso central (SNC) de crianças, nosso estudo visa revisar a literatura atual sobre a relação entre desnutrição precoce e epilepsia em estudos clínicos e experimentais em ratos. METODOLOGIA: Revisão de literatura em revistas indexadas no Medline, no período de janeiro de 2000 até dezembro de 2008. RESULTADOS: Foram utilizados os unitermos epilepsy e malnutrition para a busca, sendo encontrados 1044 artigos, dos quais 56 foram selecionados para esta revisão. Procuramos resumir os principais achados referentes às alterações influenciadas pelas crises convulsivas e desnutrição no desenvolvimento do SNC. CONCLUSÕES: A análise desses artigos indicou que a desnutrição precoce acarreta déficit neuronal, com alterações cognitivas e modificações no desenvolvimento e crescimento em modelos experimentais, podendo haver maior suscetibilidade a crises convulsivas. Aparentemente, a desnutrição não é uma causa direta de epilepsia, mas pode diminuir o limiar para as crises epiléticas, havendo um efeito aditivo entre ambas.

School-university partnerships are enhanced by synergistic relationships. Positive outcomes increase when partners work across disciplines, focus on cultural competencies, and expand from local to global engagement. This chapter offers an overview of the Bradley Professional Development Schools (PDS) Partnership, a description of the Comprehensive Integrated Services Model, and a summary of current thinking about synergy and cultural competencies in relation to school–university partnerships. Through descriptions of various multidisciplinary PDS projects and partnerships, the chapter explores concepts such as emergent realities, cross-cultural, intercultural or global competencies, empowering learning culture, and global awareness, demonstrating how an comprehensive integrated services model that is holistic in nature sustains school–university partnerships in multiple and creative ways across local and global environments.

The paper looks into the mass sermon in the Finnish Lutheran Church around the turn of the millennium. The material consists of day services documented by means of participant observation. Day services are nowadays called a mass, if communion is served. A mass sermon can be characterised as persuasive communication encompassing three proc- esses: 1) a process that strengthens a person's worldview; 2) a process that shapes the worldview, or 3) a process that changes the worldview. The paper discusses the semantic and functional principles of communication in a mass sermon: familiarisation, emphatic and trustworthy behaviour, self-confidence, personification, principles of opposites and common interest, the authoritarian principle, principles of assigning blame, winning time and build- ing obstacles. From the listener's point of view, the mass sermon answers the question what the listener has to know to be able to interpret the sermon according to his own worldview. I will show that the mass sermon meets the criteria of a religious genre in its origin, form, contents, function, style and structure. Dear friends, brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, who is and who shall be, and who shall release us from our sins with His blood; from Him we receive grace, compassion and peace, which is mightier than our understanding and which will protect us in Jesus Christ, our Lord. We have just heard from the altar the second annual gospel text of the second Lent Sunday. When an apostolic greeting is used at the beginning of a mass sermon, it must not be a disordered collection of bible quotations. This type of a beginning will kill the audience's interest. This can be called the beginning of a non-sermon (concept from Forsberg 2001: 235-243). The mass sermon (e.g. Suojanen 1978; 1988) is a ritual speech and a personal narrative held in a religious context, in connection with the Holy Communion. This narrative comprises a compulsory textual beginning, which is an apostolic greeting or a chronicate, and after a suggestion or a proposed resolution, it ends in a joint confession. I shall examine the mass sermon of the Finnish Evangelical-Lutheran Church as a discourse and as persuasive communication (see Baesler 1994; Bettinghaus & Cody 1994; Stiff 1994; Dillard & Pfau 2002; Suojanen 2001: 217-234) from the viewpoint of its genre at the beginning of the 21st century. In this presentation I

Introdução: O raquitismo é uma doença do tecido ósseo em formação, onde há falha na calcificação e conseguinte acúmulo de tecido osteóide. O raquitismo carencial é decorrente da deficiência dos precursores da vitamina D, sendo a causa de raquitismo mais facilmente evitável e tratável. Objetivo: Relatar um caso, revisar a etiopatogenia e o tratamento do raquitismo carencial. Relato de caso: Paciente masculino com 2 anos de idade, previamente hígido, consulta com dificuldade de deambular progressiva, até incapacidade total da marcha. A criança tinha exposição aos raios solares regularmente, recebeu aleitamento materno até os 8 meses, mas não fez uso de vitamina D profilática. Ao exame havia deformidade óssea evidente em membros superiores e inferiores, principalmente com alargamento das metáfises distais e encurvamento das epífises dos ossos longos. A investigação laboratorial e de imagem confirmaram raquitismo carencial. Discussão: Há uma grande variedade nas possíveis etiologias do raquitismo, sendo doenças renais, hepáticas, distúrbios primários ou deficiências no metabolismo do cálcio e fósforo algumas delas. A maioria dessas patologias exige um longo período de investigação e tratamento. O raquitismo carencial, entretanto, é uma condição de relativa facilidade para diagnóstico, manejo, e profilaxia, derivando daí, a importância do artigo.

Introdução: Ascite pancreática é uma condição rara, com menos de 250 casos publicados. É definida como ascite exsudativa causada por doença pancreática não-maligna, tendo como características laboratoriais diagnósticas elevadas concentrações de amilase (geralmente > 1. 000 UI/L) e de proteína (> 3,0 g/dl) no líquido ascítico. O objetivo deste trabalho é descrever a evolução de um caso de ascite pancreática, destacando o tratamento proposto. Descrição do caso: Paciente masculino, 37 anos, com diagnóstico prévio de pancreatite crônica internou com queixa de dor abdominal. Ao exame físico, apresentava ascite, a qual foi puncionada, evidenciando proteínas totais de 4,2 g/dl e amilase 11. 457 UI/L. Iniciou-se o tratamento para ascite pancreática com nutrição parenteral total e octreotide, sendo este mantido por 28 dias. O paciente evoluiu com redução progressiva da ascite e sem dor abdominal, mantendo-se assintomático em revisão ambulatorial de 3 e 6 meses. Comentários: O tratamento da ascite pancreática é ainda controverso. Divide-se basicamente em conservador e intervencionista, sendo este último subdividido em tratamento endoscópico e cirúrgico. Apesar do sucesso do tratamento com octreotide no caso relatado, e diante de poucas e controversas evidências na literatura, um número maior de pacientes é necessário para determinar o melhor tratamento para ascite pancreática, permanecendo este motivo de debate

We investigate a perturbative N=4 sector coupled to the MSSM and show that it allows for a stable vacuum correctly breaking the electroweak symmetry. The particle spectrum of the MSSM is enriched by several new particles stemming out from the new N=4 sector of the theory and a new lepton doublet required to cancel global and gauge anomalies of the theory. Even if the conformal invariance of the N=4 sector is explicitly broken a nontrivial UV behavior of the coupling constants is possible: by studying the renormalization group equations at two loops we find that the Yukawa couplings of the heavy fermionic states flow to a common fixed point at a scale of a few TeVs. The parameter space of the new theory is reduced imposing naturalness of the couplings and soft supersymmetry breaking masses perturbativity of the model at the EW scale as well as phenomenological constraints. Our preliminary results on the spectrum of the theory suggest that the LHC can rule out a significant portion of the parameter space of this model. © 2011 Elsevier B.V.

We introduce novel extensions of the Standard Model featuring a supersymmetric technicolor sector. First we consider N = 4 Super Yang–Mills which breaks to N = 1 via the electroweak (EW) interactions and coupling to the MSSM. This is a well defined, economical and calculable extension of the SM involving the smallest number of fields. It constitutes an explicit example of a natural super-symmetric conformal extension of the Standard Model featuring a well defined connection to string theory. It allows us to interpolate, depending on how we break the underlying supersymmetry, between unparticle physics and Minimal Walking Technicolor. As a second alternative we consider other N = 1 extensions of the Minimal Walking Technicolor model. The new models allow all the standard model matter fields to acquire a mass.

[Resumo]O estudo das características dos nenos e adolescentes con trastorno do espectro do autismo e a súa conexión co o comportamento adaptativo faise cada vez máis importante, tanto nacional como internacional, que se atopa nun número crecente de publicacións. El supón a existencia dunha relación entre os dous conceptos, así como a necesidade de traballar habilidades e competencias que compoñen o comportamento adaptativo para influír características do espectro do autismo sintomáticos. Esta investigación foi realizada con 105 participantes de Montevideo e de Galicia, utilizando dous cuestionarios: ICAP e GARS-2. Buscou-se identificar as características dos participantes en termos de comportamento e do espectro do autismo síntomas adaptativas, e identificar as diferenzas por idade, sexo e lugar de orixe. Os resultados máis importantes son que os nenos e adolescentes de ambas culturas teñen características semellantes no comportamento do espectro do autismo. Con todo, se atopou diferenzas significativas por idade e lugar de orixe. En conexión co comportamento adaptativo a importancia da intervención de servizo para acadar mellores resultados nesta poboación., [Resumen]El estudio de las características de los niños y los adolescentes con trastornos del espectro del autismo y su vinculación con la conducta adaptativa adquiere cada vez mayor importancia, tanto a nivel nacional como internacional, lo cual se constata en un creciente número de publicaciones. Se parte del supuesto de la existencia de una relación entre ambos conceptos, así como de la necesidad de trabajar las habilidades y las destrezas que componen la conducta adaptativa para influir en las características sintomáticas del espectro del autismo. La presente investigación se llevó a cabo con 105 participantes de Montevideo y Galicia, utilizando dos cuestionarios: el ICAP y el GARS- 2. Se buscó identificar las características de los participantes en cuanto a la conducta adaptativa y la sintomatología del espectro de autismo, e identificar diferencias según edad, sexo y lugar de procedencia. Los resultados más relevantes radican en que los niños y los adolescentes de ambas culturas presentan características similares en el comportamiento del espectro del autismo. Sin embargo, se encontraron diferencias significativas según la edad y el lugar de procedencia. En relación con la conducta adaptativa se respaldó la importancia de la intervención funcional para lograr mejores resultados en esta población., [Abstract]The study of the characteristics of children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder and its link with adaptive behavior becomes increasingly important, both nationally and internationally, which is found in a growing number of publications. It assumes the existence of a relationship between the two concepts, as well as the need to work abilities and skills that make up the adaptive behavior to influence symptomatic autism spectrum characteristics. This research was conducted with 105 participants from Montevideo and Galicia, using two questionnaires: ICAP and GARS-2. We sought to identify the characteristics of the participants in terms of adaptive behavior and autism spectrum symptoms, and identify differences by age, sex and place of origin. The most important results are that the children and adolescents of both cultures have similar characteristics in the behavior of the spectrum of autism. However, significant differences were found by age and place of origin. In connection with adaptive behavior the importance of functional intervention to achieve better results in this population.

The expression of several immunoregulatory adhesion proteins and cytokines was studied in the normal epididymis, cryptorchid cryptepididymis, the epididymis of oestrogen-treated mice and the epididymis of non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice at the protein level to see which of these immunoregulatory proteins may be involved in lymphocyte regulation in the normal or pathological epididymis and if cytokine balance in this organ is on the cellular or humoral side. The aim of the study was to characterize the immunological microenvironment of the epididymis to explain the survival of the autoantigenic spermatozoa in this site. In the 6-week-old BALB/c or NOD mouse epididymis there were some CD18 and CD44 expressing cells in the interstitial tissue. There were no differences between these strains in the expression of the studied antigens, except that some CD4 positive cells were present in the interstitial tissue of BALB/c mice. In the cryptorchid cryptepididymis CD4, CD8, CD18, CD44, CD54 and CD106 expressing cells were occasionally present in the connective tissue surrounding the epididymal tubule. In the epididymis of the oestrogen-treated mice these antigens were not expressed. In the cryptorchid cryptepididymis the epithelial cells expressed IL-10 highly and the myoid peritubular cells IL-6. The present results suggest that the epididymal epithelial IL-10 suppressing T H0 , T H1 and T H2 immune responses may be involved in the protection of autoantigenic spermatozoa from immune destruction.

This study describes the effects of an inquiry-focused, contentintensive professional development program on Pre-kindergarten-9th grade teachers’ science and mathematics knowledge, use of classroom based inquiry, improvement in their science teaching self-efficacy and other motivation constructs. This two-and-a-half-year program was designed to meet the needs of teachers in a local urban school district. The professional development in the form of a graduate program intentionally sought to emphasize science and mathematics content knowledge and inquiry teaching. Twenty experimental teacher-participants were involved in the program with twelve additional teachers as a control group. Data collection instruments used for this study included content testing, student test-scores, self-efficacy belief surveys, and behavioral scales. The results of the study indicated greater growth for program participants in the areas of science and mathematics content knowledge. The participants also showed greater increases in science teaching self-efficacy as compared to the teachers in the control group.

This article describes and analyzes sleep-wake schedules and nap times in multiage infant-toddler groups through three case studies based on ethnographic research conducted in two Finnish day care centers. The study asks how day care centers and homes in collaboration can protect children’s biological sleep-wake rhythms and the physiological effectiveness of sleep. Data were derived through participant-observation in the groups, taped interviews with staff and parents, and sleep diaries kept by the parents. Findings show some of the complex interactions among family daily patterns, day care patterns, and sleep disturbances in very young children. The findings further show that major differences exist in day care practices regarding the quality of sleep and its physiological effectiveness. These differences are related to three issues: (1) whether the timing of naps in the multiage group is simultaneous or staggered in an age-appropriate and individually appropriate manner; (2) how efficiently the home/day care personnel communicate with one another; and (3) what is the awareness level of the day care staff about the significance of the sleep environment. The article further discusses the team aspect of protective practices, differences between caregivers and their differences in organizing work, as well as implications for further research and for caregiver training.

Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is a chronic autoimmune cholestatic liver disease frequently characterized by anti-mitochondrial autoantibodies (AMA). A minority of patients are AMA-negative. Cytotoxic-T-Lymphocyte-Antigen-4 (CTLA-4) is a surface molecule expressed on activated T-cells delivering a critical negative immunoregulatory signal. A soluble form of CTLA-4 (sCTLA-4) has been detected at high concentrations in several autoimmune diseases, and its possible functional meaning has been suggested. We aimed to evaluate sCTLA-4 concentration in sera of patients with PBC and to correlate it to immunological abnormalities associated with the disease. Blood samples were collected from 82 PBC-patients diagnosed according to international criteria (44 AMA-positive/MIT3-positive and 38 AMA-negative-MIT3-negative), and 65 controls. sCTLA-4 levels were evaluated by ELISA and Western blot. Increased sCTLA-4 concentrations were found in all AMA-positive PBC-patients, but in none of the AMA-negative ones, nor in normal controls or in controls with unrelated liver diseases. sCTLA-4 presence was associated with autoantibodies against MIT3, but not with nuclear autoantibodies (sp100, gp210). This is the first study to demonstrate that levels of sCTLA-4 are elevated in sera of PBC patients. However, they are clearly restricted to patients with AMA positivity, suggesting an immunological difference with respect to AMA-negative ones.

Reprogramming the applicative behaviour of distributed sensor networks is becoming a more and more important ability in real-working monitoring applications to include new functionalities or modify the existing ones. Several approaches for reprogramming have been presented in the literature suggesting efficient reprogramming mechanisms. The aim of this paper is to address a problem that received less attention in the scientific community: minimizing the reprogramming effects on the applications running at the networks nodes. This issue is of paramount importance in complex distributed monitoring systems, where the network's behaviour is characterized by several (possibly concurrent) applications running at nodes. This paper suggests a novel reprogramming paradigm, called GINGER, designed to minimize the reprogramming effects on the nodes of distributed sensor networks. Critical aspects, advantages and open points are deeply described and critically commented.

¿Son los Principios Generales del Derecho (PGD) o Principios del Derecho, fuente del derecho? ¿Qué son y cuáles son susfunciones?, existe jerarquía entre ellas o respecto de la otras fuentes ,estas son algunas de las interrogantes que setratará de contestar en este artículo.

Using a modified version of Nagumo's equation, a single variable model for an electrode-fiber system is constructed. A form factor is defined for each electrode-fiber system. An analytical modal approach is developed and the stability and bifurcations of the system are studied, using Haken's slaving principle. The Lapicque-Hill and Weiss formulas are derived. Some experimental observations, as anodic block and the time constant dependence on the electrode radius are explained.

We propose extensions to the continuous-time random walk (CTRW) framework so far mainly developed within the econophysics community. Using numerical methods, we extend the CTRW framework with more general marginal distributions than previously proposed. There are two main findings in this respect: First, modeling the returns with a Student-t distribution gives at least as good price distribution predictions as the other previously proposed distributions in this framework. Second, a mixed-Weibull waiting time distribution fits exceptionally well to our three-week long Nasdaq OMX data. When combined with standard financial econometric GARCH and ACD models and intraday seasonality filtering procedures new to the CTRW framework, our models deliver realistic intraday Value-at-Risk and Expected Shortfall predictions. Compared to the basic CTRW model, the total average performance improvement is typically around 70 percent. The effect of filtering out memory in waiting times is particularly noticeable: around 50 percent of the total performance improvement. Overall, our extensions and filtering methods make the CTRW framework a useful tool for intraday risk management (trading), especially at high frequencies of less than a minute or so.

Roasted calcine of a sulphidic nickel-iron ore and nickeliferous laterite ore were reduced in a horizontal tube furnace and in a laboratory scale fluidised bed reactor. Hydrogen, carbon monoxide and their mixtures were used as reducing gases. The possibility for selective reduction of nickel oxide to metallic nickel with minor formation of metallic iron was studied by adding a controlled amount of CO2 or H2O in the reducing gas. The results showed prominent enrichment of nickel in the final product as compared with the starting material. However, pure nickel could not be produced by “selective” reduction, i.e. the product was ferronickel, the grade of which depended on the feed material and the experimental conditions. A two step process for pyrometallurgical nickel-ferronickel production is proposed. In the first step a part of nickel is selectively reduced at minimum reduction potential and at a low temperature to avoid iron reduction and dissolution into the nickel. After separation of the nickel metal...

Leukocyte-associated Ig-like receptor (LAIR) is a small family-receptor able to inhibit immune cell function via collagen binding. It exists as both membrane-bound and soluble forms. LAIR-1 functions as an inhibitory receptor on natural killer cells, T lymphocytes and monocytes. In addition to LAIR-1, the human genome encodes LAIR-2, a soluble homolog. Several studies have focused on LAIR-1, whereas few investigations concentrate on the expression and function of LAIR-2. We demonstrate the presence of high LAIR-2 levels in 74/80 sera from patients with autoimmune thyroid diseases (both Graves' disease and autoimmune thyroiditis). LAIR-2 levels seemed not to be related to specific clinical manifestations, such as thyroid functions (hypo- or hyperthyroidism), or specific clinical features (such as ophtalmopathy). In addition, serum LAIR-2 is able, in vitro, to bind its natural ligand, collagen. Since LAIR-2 has been found to have higher affinity for collagens than LAIR-1 did, we hypothesize a potential regulating capability of serum LAIR-2 in finally regulating the inhibitory capability of LAIR-1.

This thesis begins by presenting the general features of technicolor models from a model building perspective. Next, a bosonic technicolor model, based on the Next-to-Minimal Walking Technicolor theory, is reviewed. In this type of model, fermion masses arise from scalar exchange with the techniquark condensate. The model passes flavor changing neutral current limits, direct search limits, and oblique constraints, in the parameter region where the fundamental scalar is heavy compared to the composite one. However, its mass is unnaturally small compared to the Planck scale. Supersymmetry can be used to naturalize fundamental scalars. After discussing general features of supersymmetric models, a supersymmetric bosonic technicolor model, based on the Minimal Walking Technicolor model, is introduced. This model has a special property: in the absence of coupling with the MSSM, the supersymmetric technicolor sector has an approximate N=4 supersymmetry. We find that this flavor extension drastically changes the condensate and low-energy spectrum compared to the naive Minimal Walking Technicolor effective theory. The model passes flavor changing neutral current limits, and oblique constraints, but in most of the otherwise viable parameter points, the Higgs particle is heavy. Finally, the N=4 extended MSSM model is presented. Hiukkasfysiikan standardimalliin kuuluu skalaarihiukkanen, nk. Higgsin bosoni. Tämä hiukkanen mahdollistaa sähköheikon symmetriarikon ja koko hiukkasspektrin massiivisuuden. Silti, moni asiantuntija uskoo että Higgsin luonne on monimutkaisempi kuin standardimallissa oletetaan. Esimerkiksi teknivärissä Higgsin bosoni on uuden vahvan vuorovaikutuksen sidottu tila, eli sen sisältä löytyy pienempiä osia. Vaihtoehtoisesti Higgsin bosoni voisi olla supersymmetrisen teorian kevyt skalaarihiukkanen. Supersymmetrisissä malleissa oletetaan uusi symmetria, jonka seurauksena hiukkaslajit esiintyvät maailmassa pareittain. Tekniväriä ja supersymmetriaa ajatellaan usein vaihtoehtoisina malleina. Ne eivät kuitenkaan ole toisiaan poissulkevia, ja tässä väitöskirjassa tutkitaan malleja, joissa nuo paradigmat yhdistyvät. Ensimmäisessä artikkelissani analysoimme teknivärimallia, johon lisättiin fundamentaali skalaarihiukkanen. Malli läpäisi yksinkertaisimmat fenomenologiset testit: tietyissä osissa parametriavaruutta uusia hiukkasia ei olisi havaittu törmäytinkokeissa, ja tarkkuusmittaukset sekä makua vaihtavat neutraalivirrat näyttävät virherajojen puitteissa standardimallilta. Seuraavaksi rakensimme minimaalisen kävelevän teknivärin supersymmetrisen version, ehdolla että lisäisimme pienimmän mahdollisen määrän uusia hiukkasia. Yllätykseksemme teknivärisektorista tuli N=4 supersymmetrinen Yang-Mills teoria. Tässä N on supersymmetria-algebran generaattoreiden lukumäärä. Yksinään N=4 Yang-Mills on tunnettu hyvistä ominaisuuksistaan. Silti, tutkimalla tämän supersymmetrisen teknivärimallin fenomenologiaa, pystyimme rajoittamaan vapaata parametriavaruutta pieneen osaan alkuperäisestä alueesta.

This chapter describes the different design steps needed to go from legacy code to a transformed application that can be efficiently mapped on the hArtes platform.

An analytical approach to threshold problems in functional magnetic stimulation of nerve and skeletal muscle fibers was recently proposed, framed in the concept of excitation functional. Three generations of available equipments for magnetic stimulation are briefly considered, stressing the corresponding pulse shape in the stimulation coils. Using the criterion of minimum energy dissipated in biological tissues, an optimal shape for a current pulse in the coil that produces a just threshold depolarization in a nerve or skeletal muscle fiber is found. The method can be further developed and applied to other threshold problems in functional electric stimulation.

INTRODUÇÃO: A desnutrição e epilepsia são problemas prevalentes em países em desenvolvimento, principalmente na faixa etária pediátrica. OBJETIVOS: Tendo em vista o impacto que insultos como as crises convulsivas e a desnutrição geram no sistema nervoso central (SNC) de crianças, nosso estudo visa revisar a literatura atual sobre a relação entre desnutrição precoce e epilepsia em estudos clínicos e experimentais em ratos. METODOLOGIA: Revisão de literatura em revistas indexadas no Medline, no período de janeiro de 2000 até dezembro de 2008. RESULTADOS: Foram utilizados os unitermos epilepsy e malnutrition para a busca, sendo encontrados 1044 artigos, dos quais 56 foram selecionados para esta revisão. Procuramos resumir os principais achados referentes às alterações influenciadas pelas crises convulsivas e desnutrição no desenvolvimento do SNC. CONCLUSÕES: A análise desses artigos indicou que a desnutrição precoce acarreta déficit neuronal, com alterações cognitivas e modificações no desenvolvimento e crescimento em modelos experimentais, podendo haver maior suscetibilidade a crises convulsivas. Aparentemente, a desnutrição não é uma causa direta de epilepsia, mas pode diminuir o limiar para as crises epiléticas, havendo um efeito aditivo entre ambas.

INTRODUÇÃO: A desnutrição e epilepsia são problemas prevalentes em países em desenvolvimento, principalmente na faixa etária pediátrica. OBJETIVOS: Tendo em vista o impacto que insultos como as crises convulsivas e a desnutrição geram no sistema nervoso central (SNC) de crianças, nosso estudo visa revisar a literatura atual sobre a relação entre desnutrição precoce e epilepsia em estudos clínicos e experimentais em ratos. METODOLOGIA: Revisão de literatura em revistas indexadas no Medline, no período de janeiro de 2000 até dezembro de 2008. RESULTADOS: Foram utilizados os unitermos epilepsy e malnutrition para a busca, sendo encontrados 1044 artigos, dos quais 56 foram selecionados para esta revisão. Procuramos resumir os principais achados referentes às alterações influenciadas pelas crises convulsivas e desnutrição no desenvolvimento do SNC. CONCLUSÕES: A análise desses artigos indicou que a desnutrição precoce acarreta déficit neuronal, com alterações cognitivas e modificações no desenvolvimento e crescimento em modelos experimentais, podendo haver maior suscetibilidade a crises convulsivas. Aparentemente, a desnutrição não é uma causa direta de epilepsia, mas pode diminuir o limiar para as crises epiléticas, havendo um efeito aditivo entre ambas. INTRODUCTION: Malnutrition and epilepsy are main problems in developing countries, especially affecting children. PURPOSE: Considering the impact that insults like seizures and malnutrition have in the developing central nervous system (CNS), our study intends to review the current literature about the relation between epilepsy and early malnutrition in clinical and experimental studies in rats. METHODS: Literature review in Medline, during the period of January of 2000 to December 2008. RESULTS: Using the key words epilepsy and malnutrition, 1044 articles were found, from which we used 56 to this review. We intended to summarize the main findings that are refered to the alterations induced by seizures and malnutrition in the CNS development. CONCLUSION: The analysis of these articles indicated that early malnutrition lead to neuronal deficit, with cognitive alterations and growth and developmental disorders in experimental models, possibly causing more susceptibility to seizures. Apparently, malnutrition is not a direct cause of epilepsy, but it can decrease the threshold to seizures, suggesting an additive effect between these variables.

To investigate the initial stages of recognition of the self idiotype (Id) by T cells, we examined the early increase in cytoplasmic free calcium ([Ca2+]i) occurring in murine CD4+ T cells specific for a model Id, Id315, following their interaction with the Id. The changes in [Ca2+]i were monitored with stopped-flow fluorometry by loading T cells with fura 2, a Ca(2+)-binding fluorescent dye. An increase of [Ca2+]i in the Id-specific T cell line was dependent on the presence of both antigen-presenting cells (APC) and Id315. When T cells were mixed with APC pulsed with M315 for 90 min at 37 C, a significant increase in T cell [Ca2+]i was observed within one second. A pronounced elevation in [Ca2+]i was also observed in T cells after their interaction with APC which had been pulsed for 90 min with VL-315 Id-containing proteins (such as VL-315, L315, Fv-315 or Fab'-315 fragments). In contrast, pulsing APC for 5 min with the VL fragment produced little or no change in the [Ca2+]i. These results suggest that VL must be further processed by APC before it can be recognized by T cells. Indeed, a synthetic VL region peptide (positions 91-108, designated as P18) produced an elevation in T cell [Ca2+]i when mixed with APC without pulsing.

Background Oral mucositis (OM) is one of the most frequent complications of chemotherapy for which there is no standard therapy; treatment is mostly conservative. This study was conducted to determine whether low-intensity laser therapy (LLLT) can reduce the duration of chemotherapy-induced OM. Procedure A placebo-controlled randomized trial was carried out using LLLT or placebo (sham treatment). Children and adolescents with cancer receiving chemotherapy or hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation between October 2005 and May 2006 were eligible as soon as they developed OM. Patients received intervention for 5 days. The LLLT group was treated with laser GaAlAs, wavelength (lambda): 830 nm (infrared), power: 100 mW, dose: 4 J/cm, and placebo group underwent sham treatment. The grade of OM was clinically assessed by the National Cancer Institute, Common Toxicity Criteria scale. Results Twenty-one patients developed OM and were evaluable for analysis; 18 (86%) patients had a diagnosis of leukemia or lymphoma and 3(14%) had solid tumors. The mean age was 8.2 (+/-3.1) years. Nine patients were randomized in the laser group and 12 in the placebo-control group. Once OM was diagnosed, the patients had daily OM grading assessments before laser or sham application and thereafter until complete healing of the lesions. On day 7 after OM diagnosis, 1/9 of patients remained with lesions in laser group and 9/12 of patients in the placebo-control group (P=0.029). In the laser group, the mean of OM duration was 5.8+/-2 days and in the placebo group was 8.9+/-2.4 days (P=0.004). Conclusions Our study has shown evidence that laser therapy in addition to oral care can decrease the duration of chemotherapy-induced OM. Our results confirm the promising results observed in adult cancer patients and should encourage pediatric oncologists to use laser therapy as first-line option in children with chemotherapy-induced OM.

Este libro comprende el relato de una experiencia de trabajo interdisciplinario, desarrollado en forma conjunta entre docentes de cinco escuelas de nivel medio de la ciudad de Neuquén y un equipo de profesores pertenecientes a distintas unidades académicas de la Universidad Nacional del Comahue, bajo el asesoramiento y la supervisión de la Dra. Paula Carlino. El proyecto al que hacemos referencia, denominado “Prácticas Curriculares y mejoramiento del proceso de enseñanza y aprendizaje. La Lectura y la escritura: un problema de todos”, estuvo destinado a la articulación entre la Universidad y la Escuela Media y fue aprobado y subsidiado por la Dirección Nacional de Gestión Curricular y Formación Docente, del Ministerio de Educación, Ciencias y Tecnología de la Nación. La presente publicación es consecuencia de la sistematización de algunas de las propuestas realizadas en el marco del proyecto, orientadas a mejorar la comprensión lectora y promover la escritura de los alumnos/as de dichos establecimientos, las que se plasman en los artículos y pósters de este libro. Fil: Martínez, Silvia. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación; Argentina.

In this paper, we present preliminary results for complexity evaluation of alternative architectures. These results — mainly related to architectural synthesis — start from the definition of the formalism, based on Data Flow Graph (DFG), adopted for higher level synthesis of alternative complex architectures. Analysis and manipulation of the DFG allows, in fact, to synthesize a set of alternative architectural solutions. To optimize the procedures related to alternative architectural synthesis, two classes of DFGs has been defined: general DFGs and iterative DFGs. For these two classes solutions are proposed for node synthesis, interconnections synthesis, and node activation synthesis.

The detection of and recovery from transient faults that cause errors in microprogrammed control units are addressed. Error detection is based upon a particular form of signature analysis, namely the run-time computation of a value (the signature) that depends strictly on the microprogram path (the sequence) under execution. The microprogram is statistically segmented (sequences are defined in a fixed way, at design time), and an anticipated signature is associated with each sequence. At run time, at the start of each sequence the computation of the signature is restarted, whereas at the end the computed signature is compared with the anticipated signature of the sequence. If the check is passed, the status of the control unit is saved in suitable registers, and the previously saved status is discarded. If the check fails, the last-saved status is restored (rolled back) and microprogram execution restarts from this last-saved point. >