Differential response of human melanoma and Ehrlich ascites cells in vitro to the ribosome-inactivating protein luffin

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the short- and medium-term results of the Burch-like urethropexy with bone anchors in the treatment of genuine stress urinary incontinence. METHODS: We performed the conventional Burch technique which was modified with the use of 4 bone anchors for bony fixation. Forty-four female patients with genuine stress urinary incontinence were operated on from November, 1995 to November, 1997. RESULTS: The patients had a bladder catheter indwelling for 4 to 9 days and only 3 of them required intermittent catheterization during two months. All patients recovered spontaneous micturition. The postoperative urinary continence was 93% at a mean follow-up of 11 months. CONCLUSIONS: Although our initial results seem encouraging, a continuous and objective follow-up is warranted to assess the long-term efficacy of this technique.     

Synthesis and analgesic properties of new 5-thioaryl pyrazole derivatives

A new series 5-thio aryl pyrazole derivatives were proposed aiming analgesic activity. In this work, 8 new compounds of this class were synthesized using usual synthetic methodology, having as key intermediate the 3-methyl-4-nitro-5-chloropyrazole-1-phenyl derivative and subsequent reaction with several nucleophiles sulfides. Pharmacological evaluation of this series showed analgesic activity in the some extent in especially for 5-(4-bromophenyl)-thio-3-methyl-4-nitro-1-phenylpyrazole which was the most potent in this series, presenting an analgesic action comparable to that show by dipyrone.     

Hydrogen-helium scattering cross-sections for transmission elastic recoil detection analysis

¹H(,p) ⁴He scattering cross-sections were determined for the 6.5–13 MeV (incident energy) range, thereby extending the energy range for such data beyond that available in the literature. These values are essential for the further development of hydrogen concentration profiling by the transmission elastic recoil detection technique, of particular interest in the design of surface-engineered hydrogen contamination barriers for steels.     

Catalytic combustion of trichloroethene over Ru/Al2O3: Reaction mechanism and kinetic study

The performance of 0.5% Ru/Al₂O₃ for the deep oxidation of trichloroethene (1000–2500 ppmV, WHSV = 55 h⁻¹) in air was studied in this work. Experiments were carried out both at dry and wet (20,000 ppmV of H₂O) conditions. Catalytic performance was studied in terms of activity and selectivity for the different reaction products (CO₂, HCl, Cl₂, C₂Cl₄, CCl₄ and CHCl₃). Both the activity and the selectivity for total combustion are higher than other catalysts suggested in the literature for this process (especially Pd and Pt).The main organic by-products are CCl₄ and CHCl₃, whereas in all the other catalysts tested in the literature, tetrachloroethene is the main organic by-product. This fact suggests that the mechanism of the combustion reaction, involving a double-bond scission, is essentially specific for this catalyst.Kinetic data was fit to a pseudo-first order kinetic expression, providing fairly good fit.     

Evaluation of the removal of n-butanol vapor by the poly(lactic acid)-zeolite-TiO2 composite and formation of by-products

The use of polymeric films incorporated with zeolite-TiO₂ composites associated with UV radiation can be an alternative in the removal of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) through the adsorption and photodegradation processes. This study produced poly(lactic acid) (PLA) films incorporated with 13× zeolite, TiO₂, and 13×-TiO₂ zeolite composite to remove n-butanol and evaluate the by-products generated in the process. The results showed that 13× zeolite and TiO₂ added individually or as a composite to PLA, gave the polymer matrix a significant increase in the removal capacity of n-butanol. The best performance was presented by the zeolite-TiO₂, composite, confirming a synergistic effect. However, the formation of CO and CO₂ exceeded the expected values, with the verification that the polymeric matrix underwent photodegradation action by TiO₂. The polymeric film only containing zeolite is the most suitable for the removal of VOCs, as it did not present degradation of the PLA, generating a lower concentration of by-products.     

Benders decomposition for the uncapacitated multiple allocation hub location problem

In telecommunication and transportation systems, the uncapacitated multiple allocation hub location problem (UMAHLP) arises when we must flow commodities or information between several origin–destination pairs. Instead of establishing a direct node to node connection from an origin to its destination, the flows are concentrated with others at facilities called hubs. These flows are transported on links established between hubs, being then splitted and delivered to its final destination. Systems with this sort of topology are named hub-and-spoke (HS) systems or hub-and-spoke networks. They are designed to exploit the scale economies attainable through the shared use of high capacity links between hubs. Therefore, the problem is to find the least expensive HS network, selecting hubs and assigning traffic to them, given the demands between each origin–destination pair and the respective transportation costs. In the present paper, we present efficient Benders decomposition algorithms based on a well known formulation to tackle the UMAHLP. We have been able to solve some large instances, considered ‘out of reach’ of other exact methods in reasonable time.     

Higher incidence of Gastrospirillum sp. in swine with gastric ulcer of the pars oesophagea

Gastric ulcer in swine is characterized by an area of acid-peptic digestion, occurs usually in the pars oesophagea of the stomach, and has unknown etiopathogenesis. The present work was carried out to investigate the prevalence of the newly described spiral-shaped microorganism Gastrospirillum sp. ("Gastrospirillum suis") in stomachs of abattoir pigs with and without gastric ulcer. Stomachs were removed from 32 consecutive pigs presenting apparently normal mucosa and from 32 additional consecutive pigs presenting frank, chronic gastric ulcer of the pars oesophagea. Fragments of antral, oxyntic, cardiac and pars oesophagea regions were taken from each stomach and processed for histology and for identification of Gastrospirillum sp. in tissue sections. The microorganisms were identified mainly in the mucous layer and in gastric foveolas of the antral and oxyntic mucosa. Forty pigs (62.5%) were positive for Gastrospirillum sp.; among them, 27 (67.5%) had gastric ulcer, and 13 (32.5%) had no ulcer. Twenty-four pigs (37.5%) were negative for Gastrospirillum sp.; among them, five (20.8%) presented with gastric ulcer, and 19 (79.2%) had no ulcer. There was a significant difference between pigs with and without gastric ulcer in regard to the presence of Gastrospirillum sp. (P < 0.01). The spiral-shaped microorganism Gastrospirillum sp. that inhabits the stomach of pigs should be considered a possible factor connected with the etiopathogenesis of swine gastric ulcer.     

Surface mesh regeneration considering curvatures

This work describes an automatic algorithm for unstructured mesh regeneration on arbitrarily shaped three-dimensional surfaces. The arbitrary surface may be: a triangulated mesh, a set of points, or an analytical surface (such as a collection of NURBS patches). To be generic, the algorithm works directly in Cartesian coordinates, as opposed to generating the mesh in parametric space, which might not be available in all the cases. In addition, the algorithm requires the implementation of three generic functions that abstractly represent the supporting surface. The first, given a point location, returns the desired characteristic size of a triangular element at this position. The second method, given the current edge in the boundary-contraction algorithm, locates the ideal apex point that forms a triangle with this edge. And the third method, given a point in space and a projection direction, returns the closest point on the geometrical supporting surface. This work also describes the implementation of these three methods to re-mesh an existing triangulated mesh that might present regions of high curvature. In this implementation, the only information about the surface geometry is a set of triangles. In order to test the efficiency of the proposed algorithm of surface mesh generation and implementation of the three abstract methods, results of performance and quality of generated triangular element examples are presented.     

Prediction of parking space availability in real time

Intelligent parking reservation (IPR) systems allow customers to select a parking facility according to their preferences, rapidly park their vehicle without searching for a free stall, and pay their reservation in advance avoiding queues. Some IPR systems interact with in-vehicle navigation systems and provide users with information in real time such as capacity, parking fee, and current parking utilization. However, few of these systems provide information on the forecast utilization at specific hours - a process that requires the study of the competition between parking alternatives for the market share. This paper proposes a methodology for predicting real-time parking space availability in IPR architectures. This methodology consists of three subroutines to allocate simulated parking requests, estimate future departures, and forecast parking availability. Parking requests are allocated iteratively using an aggregated approach as a function of simulated drivers’ preferences, and parking availability. This approach is based on a calibrated discrete choice model for selecting parking alternatives. A numerical comparison between a one-by-one simulation-based forecast and the proposed aggregated approach indicates that no significant discrepancies exists, validating and suggesting the use of the less time consuming proposed aggregated methodology. Results obtained from contrasting predictions with real data yielded small average error availabilities. The forecast improves as the system registers arrivals and departures. Thus, the forecast is adequate for potential distribution in real-time using different media such as Internet, navigation systems, cell phones or GIS.