Publications

This paper presents interactive actions developed for augmented reality environments based on ARToolKit. These actions are characteristics of innovative interfaces for human-computer interaction. The integrated use of multimedia and virtual reality technologies makes possible the intuitive manipulation of virtual objects, so that the user can superimpose virtual objects over real world and manipulate them using his hands.

Canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL) is a zoonosis and a chronic systemic disease of the dog caused by a protozoan of the genus Leishmania. In the New World, the disease is caused by the species Leishmania (Leishmania) chagasi. There are only a few studies on the histopathology of lymph nodes in canine leishmaniasis. In the present paper, we report a histopathological description of lymph nodes considering animals with a defined clinical status and the parasite burden of lymph node tissues. Forty-eight mongrel dogs naturally infected with L. chagasi, were obtained from two endemic areas of Brazil. Cervical, axillary and popliteal lymph nodes were analyzed. The parasite burden, expressed as "Leishman-Donovan units", was variable among the defined types of clinical condition. Asymptomatic dogs can show higher parasitism than oligosymptomatic or symptomatic animals. Grossly, a generalized lymphadenopathy was found, but it was mainly observed in cervical and popliteal nodes. Histologically, the increased number and size of lymphoid follicles, and the marked hypertrophy and hyperplasia of medullary macrophages (cords and sinus) explained the lymphadenopathy. In addition, the clinical status or the tissue parasitism load might not be directly related to the intensity of the lesions.

Organização do inventário e estudo crítico da ação política e poder econômico, a partir da correspondência particular de João Rodrigues de Macedo, contratador das entradas em Minas Gerais, Goiás e Mato Grosso, na segunda metade do século XVIII. O texto tem edição bilíngue (português/espanhol).

Este texto apresenta como realizar o envio e leitura de bits através de uma interface via porta paralela de um computador

UNLABELLED: SUMMARY-BACKGROUND: The present study investigates the hypothesis that cells from ill patients and from healthy subjects may have different reactivity under metabolic stimulation as a consequence of an disease-induced metabolic adaptation. METHODS: Granulocytes either from healthy subjects or from type II-Non Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (NIDDM) patients were compared in their capacities to generate Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS). The ROS generation was comparatively determined in a chemiluminescence assay, luminol-dependent, after cell incubation in the presence of either cyclic AMP - elevating agents or Interleukin 10. In some experiments the cells were pretreated with H89 compound (a PKA inhibitor) or with diphenylene iodonium (DPI), a NADPH-oxidase inhibitor. RESULTS: Our results showed an increased ROS generation in granulocytes from diabetic patients in absence of cyclic AMP-elevating agents or IL-10. In the presence of cyclic AMP-elevating agents was observed an inverse metabolic response in granulocytes from diabetic patients in comparison to cells from healthy subjects. The granulocytes were pre-incubated in the presence of cyclic AMP-elevating agents--amminophylline (AMF) or dibutyryl cyclic AMP (dbcAMP)--or interleukin 10 (IL-10). The AMF, dbcAMP and IL-10 inhibited ROS production by granulocytes from healthy subjects. By contrast, AMF and dbcAMP activated cells from diabetic patients while IL-10 had no effect. The inhibition of ROS induced by AMF, dbcAMP or IL-10 was promptly abolished by the pretreatment of the cells with either PKA H89 inhibitor or NADPH-oxidase inhibitor (DPI) in granulocytes from healthy subjects. In relation to the granulocytes from type 2 diabetics patients, the activation of ROS generation mediated by AMF and dbcAMP was fully abolished by NADPH-oxidase DPI-inhibitor, but not by PKA H89 inhibitor. CONCLUSIONS: Our present results reinforce the hypothesis that cells from ill patients (type II diabetic) when compared to cells from healthy subjects have different reactivity under metabolic stimulation. ROS production by human granulocytes was modulated by cyclic AMP elevating agents and IL-10. The inhibition of the ROS production in cells from healthy subjects was PKA-dependent while the activation in granulocytes from patients was PKA-independent. This inverse metabolic response, in cells from patients, suggests the use of an alternative metabolic pathway PKA-independent, possible cAMP/Epac/PKB-dependent. The correlation between activation of ROS production in granulocytes from diabetic patients and pathogenesis of diabetes can be suggested, however, further and extensive studies are needed for demonstrating this suggestion.

This article studies the existence of weak solutions for a stochastic version of the FtzHugh-Nagumo equations. The random elements are introduced through initial values and forcing terms of associated Cauchy problem, which may be white noise in the time. Moreover there is a dependence of a stochastic  parameter.

BACKGROUND: The present study was designed to investigate the hypothesis that cells from ill patients and from healthy subjects may have different reactivities under metabolic stimulation. METHODS: The study was performed with granulocytes from non-diabetic subjects and from type II -Non Insulin Dependent Diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) patients. The nitric oxide (NO) generation was comparatively determined by the nitrite concentration (micromolar of nitrite) after cell incubation in the presence of cyclic nucleotide-elevating agents. RESULTS: Our results showed an inverse reactivity for granulocytes from diabetic patients when compared to non-diabetic subjects. Granulocytes were incubated in the presence of drugs that elevate the intracellular level of cyclic AMP aminophylline (AMF), dibutyryl cyclic AMP (dbcAMP)], cyclic GMP [8.Br. cyclic GMP(8.Br.cGMP) or levamisole (LEV)]. The cyclic AMP-elevating agents (AMF and d bcAMP) inhibited NO production by granulocytes from non-diabetic subjects and activated cells from diabetic patients. By contrast, cyclic GMP-elevating agents (8.Br.cGMP and LEV) activated cells from non-diabetic subjects and inhibited granulocytes from diabetic patients. The activation of NO generation by cyclic nucleotides was blocked by pretreatment of granulocytes with L-NAME. CONCLUSION: The authors describe for the first time that both cyclic AMP and cyclic GMP were able to modulate nitric oxide production in human granulocytes and that cell reactivity in ill patients (diabetic) showed altered and inverse response in comparison to granulocytes from healthy subjects. This inverse reactivity possibly reflects a disease-induced adapted metabolic response. The consequences of this altered metabolic response on host defense and inflammation may be speculated, but further experiments are needed to confirm this hypothesis.

Este trabalho apresenta um tutorial ("How−To") para a construção de um robô simples controlado por um PC através da porta paralela. A construção deste robô tem como objetivo introduzir conceitos básicos da robótica de uma forma econômica e de fácil implementação.

Apresentamos um modelo matemático para a metapsicologia proposta por Freud em seu trabalho conhecido como o Projeto para uma Psicologia Científica . O modelo é consequência de uma associação entre os três arquétipos da Física-Matemática e os três sistemas neurais propostos por Freud.

O livro analisa a constituição do conjunto de documentos posteriormente denominado "Coleção Casa dos Contos", que reúne manuscritos produzidos em Minas Gerais, entre 1701 e 1850 (aproximadamente), tratamento da administração e tributação da Capitania (depois, Província de Minas Gerais) e documentos particulares.

O artigo analisa os impasses gerados pelas indefinições quanto aos papéis a serem desempenhados pelos Poderes Executivo e Legislativo, somados a proposta de uma administração federalizada do país na segunda metade do século XIX.

O texto analisa as propostas políticas de Aureliano Cândido Tavares Bastos, pensador brasileiro da segunda metade do século XIX.

O texto apresenta e faz análise de um dos documentos da Coleção Inquisição em Goa, do acervo da Divisão de Manuscritos da Fundação Biblioteca Nacional;

Si presenta un risultato di regolarità per un sistema non lineare di equazioni di Klein-Gordon con esponenti di Sobolev critici.

Abstract Several studies analyzed the importance of absorptive capacity (AC) to achieve economic development. However, to the best of our knowledge, no study compares the building blocks (BBs) of AC between developed and emergent economies. This paper aims to identify and analyze the impact of the BBs on AC under distinct levels of development (i.e., developed vs. emerging economies) using systematic literature review (SLR) and econometrics. Specifically, both linear and nonlinear analyses were employed. Our findings show that BBs in developed and emergent regions are different. For both groups, R&D, FDI (foreign direct investment), infrastructure, and HDI (human development index) variables are BBs of AC. For developed economies, BBs also contemplate secondary education enrollments, the higher education index, and the percentage of GDP spent on higher education. Moreover, the thresholds of BBs also differ between developed and emergent economies. This identification of BBs and possible AC thresholds is valuable, as it provides information to set goals and strategies before a foreign investment attraction policy. Thus, the results facilitate the development of more suitable strategies to enhance positive productivity spillovers and avoid negative spillovers whenever possible. These results show that policymakers cannot employ the same policies for the development of developed and emerging countries.