Conselho Nacional De Pesquisas Research Articles

0814 Obstructive sleep apnea in asthmatic children: highly prevalent though no identifiable risk factors

Abstract Introduction Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and Asthma often coexist. There is some evidence that adults with asthma are more prone to developing OSA than the general population, as well as OSA may impact asthma control. Different than adults, OSA prevalence is equal in boys and girls, while puberty has strong influence in asthma, especially in pubescent girls. The objectives of this study were to analyze the prevalence of OSA in boys and girls and the impact of asthma severity in OSA prevalence. Methods Asthmatic children attending a tertiary pediatric pulmonology clinic performed clinical evaluation, Pulmonary Function Test, and Home Sleep Apnea Test. OSA was defined as habitual snoring and one or more obstructive respiratory events (OREI) per hour of recording. Control and severity of Asthma were evaluated according to Global Initiative for Asthma and puberal stage using Tanner figures for boys and girls Results We studied 80 consecutive patients, 7 to 18 years-old, mean age 11.6 years (SD: 2.7), 51.3% female. According to BMI z-score, nutritional status was: 2 (2.5%) underweight, 63 eutrophic (79%), and 15 obese (18.5%). Puberty was present in 17 volunteers. Pulmonary Function Tests were obtained from 71 volunteers, 45% presented obstruction pattern. Home Sleep Apnea Tests were available from 76 volunteers, with mean OREI of 1.8 events/h. OSA occurred in 69 volunteers (91%), while 66% were mild, 21% moderate, and 4% severe. We did not find associations of obstructive sleep apnea with sex or asthma severity. Conclusion OSA was highly prevalent among these asthmatic children, but most were mild. Sex and asthma severity were not associated to OSA. Considering the interrelationship of both diseases, it is worth to keep in mind the possibility of OSA among children and teenagers with asthma. Support (if any) AFIP (Associação Fundo de Incentivo à Pesquisa) and CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Pesquisas)

0688 Nocturnal pain and its association with quality of life in women: data from the Epidemiologic Sleep Study (EPISONO)

Abstract Introduction It is known that poor sleep is related to pain, even though this relationship is not fully understood. Women with pain present alterations in sleep pattern and reduced quality of life, but little is known about the negative effects of nocturnal pain on these outcomes. This study aimed to evaluate and compare the levels of anxiety, depression, and fatigue in women with pain during the night with those without pain. We hypothesize that pain perception is associated with worsening fatigue and mood outcomes. Methods This cross-sectional study used data from the 2007’s Epidemiological Study of Sleep (EPISONO). A total of 574 women aged 20-80 years participated in the EPISONO, and 244 women met the inclusion criteria of our study, 85 in the pain group and 171 in the control group. Participants were categorized into the pain group if they responded positively to the following questions: i) they generally had pain, according to the Pre-Sleep Questionnaire (PSQ), and ii) pain usually interfered with sleep 3 or more times a week, according to the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Participants who responded negatively to these questions were allocated to the control group. All of them underwent a full night laboratory polysomnography, and answered questionnaires related to fatigue, depression, anxiety, and quality of life. Results Significantly higher levels of fatigue (5.4 times), anxiety and depression were observed in the pain group, as well as significantly lower values in all domains of quality of life, compared to the control group. The presence of pain at night was also correlated with levels of anxiety and depression in the psychological (Rs=-0.463, -0.607, respectively) and social (Rs=-0.423, -0.438, respectively) domains of quality of life. Conclusion The presence of pain at night in women is related to a decrease in quality of life and can lead to worsening mood disorders and fatigue. Our results show the importance of investigating pain and its consequences, as well as the interference in women's sleep patterns. Support (if any) Associação Fundo de Incentivo à Pesquisa (AFIP), Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) - Finance Code 001, and Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa (CNPq).

0410 Lavender essential oil and sleep hygiene as therapeutic options for insomniac postmenopausal women: a randomized clinical trial

Abstract Introduction Menopausal transition and postmenopause often bring sleep complaints and insomnia, a common sleep disorder. In addition, women at this stage also experience vasomotor symptoms, which can compromise sleep maintenance and quality of life. This study aimed to observe the effect of an intervention with aromatherapy and sleep hygiene in the quality of life, self-related sleep pattern and hot flashes record in postmenopausal women with insomnia diagnosis. Methods This pilot study is a double-blind randomized clinical trial. Of the 135 women interested in participating in the study, 34 postmenopausal women met the inclusion criteria and completed the protocol. Volunteers were clinically diagnosed with insomnia and distributed in two groups: Aroma Group (Lavandula angustifolia essential oil) (n=17) and Placebo Group (sunflower oil) (n=17), both inhaled before bedtime for 29 days. The groups received sleep hygiene guidelines and were monitored weekly. To assess the effect of the intervention, the Menopause-Specific Quality-of-Life Questionnaire, intervention version (MENQOL-I), and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) were used. With data from the sleep diary, we evaluated sleep onset latency (SLO), total sleep time (TST) and sleep efficiency (SE) daily. Additionally, participants who complained of vasomotor symptoms were invited to fill out a hot flashes form, reporting the presence or absence of these symptoms, daily amount, and its intensity. Results The therapeutic approaches in this study benefited participants in both groups in almost all domains of quality of life and self-rated sleep patterns such as TST and SE. Particularly, the lavender essential oil intervention provided significant improvement in the overall quality of life score over time. No differences were observed considering the hot flashes record and sleepiness. Conclusion The aromatherapy intervention was effective in improving overall quality of life in the Aroma group. Furthermore, strategies such as sleep hygiene and a sleep diary helped participants to self-assess their sleep routine and improve it. Support (if any) This research was supported by fellowships from Associação Fundo de Incentivo à Pesquisa (AFIP), Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) - Finance Code 001, and Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa (CNPq). Laszlo (essential oils, books, foods, and aromatherapy products) donated the necessary oils for this project.

Abstract 1491: Investigation of differentially expressed miRNAs in patients with gastric adenocarcinoma

Abstract Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most common cancers and one of the leading causes of cancer related death worldwide. Although the treatment of GC patients has improved during the last decades, thanks to advancements in surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, the long-term survival rates of patients with GC remains around 20%. In addition, late diagnosis usually occurs due to the absence of symptoms or the presence of non-specific symptoms in early stages of the disease. Thus, the continuous study of new strategies for early diagnosis and identification of novel therapeutic approaches is of great interest, to reduce the need for mutilating surgeries and morbid adjuvant therapies. Next-generation sequencing technologies unveiled new roles and functions of RNAs, particularly, non-coding RNAs. Among the most studied molecules, microRNAs (miRNAs) have been reported to play important roles in different physiological and pathological processes, including cancer. Therefore, the goals of this project are (1) to determine the miRNA profile of patients with GC using tumor tissue samples using next-generation sequencing; and (2) to validate the expression profile of differentially expressed (DE) miRNAs in serum from patients with GC. To identify DE microRNAs between GC tissues and gastric tissues from individuals without cancer, 24 samples (17 cancer and 7 controls) were sequenced using the Ion Torrent PGM (Thermo Fisher Scientific) sequencing equipment. Preliminary results indicate that there are 54 DE miRNAs among the 269 known human miRNAs identified, where 44 were upregulated, while 10 were downregulated in samples from GC patients when compared to samples from individuals without cancer. As expected, Over-Representation Analysis (ORA) revealed that the disease most frequently associated with these DE miRNAs is the digestive system neoplasm. Moreover, Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) showed that neoplasm metastasis is the phenotype most associated with this subset of DE miRNAs, indicating that these miRNAs possibly contribute to cell invasion and migration in gastric tumors. To confirm these findings, further experiments are now being performed, such as validation of the DE miRNAs by qRT-PCR in tissue and serum of GC samples, as well as functional studies. Thereby, the identification of a circulating signature of miRNAs will allow a better understanding of physiopathology of gastric carcinogenesis and the identification of possible biomarkers, which may help in early diagnosis, prognosis, and development of novel anticancer therapies.Funding: MACS, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) grant # 2016/25562-0; MACS, Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa (CNPq) grant # 2018/301127-2; MACS, Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) 23038051640/2009-01; BTRK, Postdoctoral Fellowship, FAPESP 2019/20592-6; CAP, CAPES Doctoral Fellowship 88882.430351/2019-01. Citation Format: Bruno Takao Real Karia, Camila Albuquerque Pinto, Leonardo Caires, Yeda Beatriz Louredo dos Santos, Fernanda Wisnieski, Carolina Gigek, Marilia de Arruda Cardoso Smith. Investigation of differentially expressed miRNAs in patients with gastric adenocarcinoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 1491.

Neutrino masses, cosmological inflation and dark matter in a variant U(1)B-L model with type II seesaw mechanism * *Supported by Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico - CNPq (C.A.S.P) and Coordenação de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES (A.C.O.S and J.G.R)

In this study, we implemented the type II seesaw mechanism into the framework of the gauge model. To achieve this, we added a scalar triplet, , to the canonical particle content of the gauge model. By imposing that the gauge symmetry be spontaneously broken at TeV scale, we show that the type II seesaw mechanism is realized at an intermediate energy scale, more precisely, at approximately GeV. To prevent heavy right-handed neutrinos from disturbing the mechanism, we evoke a discrete symmetry. Interestingly, as a result, we have standard neutrinos with mass around eV scale and right-handed neutrinos with mass in TeV scale, with the lightest one fulfilling the condition of dark matter. We developed all of these in this study. In addition, we show that the neutral component of may perform unproblematic non-minimal inflation with loss of unitarity.

Metabolic health in Brazil: trends and challenges

Metabolic health in Brazil: trends and challenges

0498 Effect of Lavender Essential Oil on Sleep in Postmenopausal Women with Insomnia: Double-Blind Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract Introduction Sleep is essential for women’s health and its deprivation leads to serious physiological consequences. In addition, insomnia is a common complaint in postmenopausal women. Thus, the present study aimed to evaluate the effect of Lavandula angustifolia essential oil inhalation on sleep and menopausal symptoms in postmenopausal women with insomnia. Methods Experimental, double-blind, randomized controlled trial composed by 33 women (48 - 65 years) with clinical diagnosis of insomnia divided in two groups that inhaled different oils before sleep during 29 days: Placebo Group - PG (sunflower oil) and Aroma Group - AG (Lavandula angustifolia essential oil). Both groups received sleep hygiene guidelines and were followed weekly. To assess the effect of the intervention on menopausal symptoms the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) were used and for sleep evaluation the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) were used. Additionally, polysomnography were used to assess sleep pattern. All outcomes were evaluated before and after intervention. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 22 through Generalized Estimed Equations test with significance set at p≤ 0.05. Results Comparing the pre and post-intervention periods, AG participants had a significant decrease in sleep onset latency, depression level, hot flashes, menopausal symptoms and a significant increase in sleep quality. Polysomnography data showed increased sleep efficiency and decreased wakefulness after sleep onset on AG participants. After the intervention, all volunteers presented improvement in all outcomes of sleep and menopausal symptoms measured by questionnaires. Conclusion The intervention was effective in improving the sleep pattern of AG participants, but was not significant when compared to PG participants. In addition, sleep hygiene instructions were essential to improve the sleep pattern of all volunteers. Therefore, inhalation of lavender essential oil is a safe, low-cost practice that should be considered as a complementary option to conventional treatments, whether medical, psychological or other integrative and complementary practices. Support This research was supported by fellowships from Associação Fundo de Incentivo à Pesquisa (AFIP), Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) - Finance Code 001 and Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa (CNPq).

MicroRNAs involved in the HMGA2 deregulation and its co-occurrence with MED12 mutation in uterine leiomyoma.

Can the mediator complex subunit 12 (MED12) mutation and high mobility group AT-hook 2 (HMGA2) overexpression co-occurrence be explained by the alternative mechanism of HMGA2 dysregulation in uterine leiomyomas (UL)? The co-occurrence of MED12 mutation and HMGA2 overexpression, and a negative correlation of five validated or predicted microRNAs that target HMGA2 were reported. The recent stratification of UL, according to recurrent and mutually exclusive genomic alterations affecting HMGA2, MED12, fumarate hydratase (FH) and collagen type IV alpha 5-alpha 6 (COL4A5-COL4A6) pointed out the involvement of distinct molecular pathways. However, the mechanisms of regulation involving these drivers are poorly explored. A total of 78 UL and 34 adjacent normal myometrium (NM) tissues was collected from 56 patients who underwent hysterectomies at a single institution. The patients were treated at the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, School of Medicine, Sao Paulo State University, Botucatu, SP, Brazil, from October 1995 to February 2004. Gene expression profiling was evaluated from fresh frozen tissues and compared with MED12 mutations at exon 2. In addition, RT-qPCR was applied to evaluate the expression levels of HMGA2 and their predictive miRNA regulators: hsa-let-7a, miR-26a, miR-26b, mir-93 and mir-106b. An unsupervised hierarchical clustering analysis revealed two main clusters with one of them (26 of 42 UL) showing an enrichment of MED12 mutated cases (18 of 26 UL). Increased expression levels of HMGA2 were observed in both clusters, including cases with MED12 mutation (cluster 1:18 UL). A significant HMGA2 overexpression (P < 0.001) in UL in comparison with NM was found. Five miRNAs predicted to regulate HMGA2 were significantly downregulated (P < 0.001) and negatively correlated to HMGA2 expression levels (P < 0.05) in UL. An in vivo functional study was not performed to validate the microRNAs and HMGA2 interaction due to technical limitations. HMGA2 overexpression was detected in a significant number of MED12 mutated ULs, suggesting that these alterations coexist. Furthermore, five miRNAs were described as potential regulators of HMGA2 expression in UL. Data available in the Gene Expression Omnibus GSE42939. This study was supported by grants from Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (# 2008/58835-2) and Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa (# 485032/2007-4), Brazil. The authors declared having no conflicts of interest.

Safety and Side Effects of Rifampin versus Isoniazid in Children

BackgroundThe treatment of latent infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis is important in children because of their vulnerability to life-threatening forms of tuberculosis disease. The current standard treatment — 9 months of isoniazid — has been associated with poor adherence and toxic effects, which have hampered the effectiveness of the drug. In adults, treatment with 4 months of rifampin has been shown to be safer and to have higher completion rates than 9 months of isoniazid.MethodsIn this multicenter, open-label trial, we randomly assigned 844 children (<18 years of age) with latent M. tuberculosis infection to receive either 4 months of rifampin or 9 months of isoniazid. The primary outcome was adverse events of grade 1 to 5 that resulted in the permanent discontinuation of a trial drug. Secondary outcomes were treatment adherence, side-effect profile, and efficacy. Independent review panels whose members were unaware of trial-group assignments adjudicated all adverse events and progression to active tuberculosis.ResultsOf the children who underwent randomization, 829 were eligible for inclusion in the modified intention-to-treat analysis. A total of 360 of 422 children (85.3%) in the rifampin group completed per-protocol therapy, as compared with 311 of 407 (76.4%) in the isoniazid group (adjusted difference in the rates of treatment completion, 13.4 percentage points; 95% confidence interval [CI], 7.5 to 19.3). There were no significant between-group differences in the rates of adverse events, with fewer than 5% of the children in the combined groups with grade 1 or 2 adverse events that were deemed to be possibly related to a trial drug. Active tuberculosis, including 1 case with resistance to isoniazid, was diagnosed in 2 children in the isoniazid group during 542 person-years of follow-up, as compared with no cases in the rifampin group during 562 person-years (rate difference, −0.37 cases per 100 person-years; 95% CI, −0.88 to 0.14).ConclusionsAmong children under the age of 18 years, treatment with 4 months of rifampin had similar rates of safety and efficacy but a better rate of adherence than 9 months of treatment with isoniazid. (Funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00170209.)

Ethology &amp; Animal Welfare research in Brazil

Mankind has always tried to understand the behavior of animals and also to establish close contact with wildlife aiming to domesticate, to utilize or to enjoy the company of other animals. Nowadays the study of animal behavior – ethology – is a science in this own right and animal welfare is seen as a growing area of interest among scientists of different backgrounds, bringing together ethology, veterinary, zoology, psychology, and husbandry under the same framework of common interests. Here, we surveyed PubMed database using two keywords, “ethology” and “animal welfare”, which encompassed the period from 1981 to 2017. Also we have consulted the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development – i.e. “Diretório de Grupos do Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa (CNPq)” – aiming to disclose how many research groups there are working within the Animal Welfare realm, and where they are geographically localized. We found 156 articles addressing “Ethology” and “Animal Welfare”, an average of 7.7±4.2 articles per year from 2003 to 2017. 55 groups corresponding to 36.9% of the total are studying “Animal Welfare”. They are localized in 70% of the Brazilian states, mostly in the South and in the Northeast regions of the country. The presence of those groups allow us to be optimistic regarding the future of the Animal Welfare field in Brazil.

Gel of chamomile vs. urea cream to prevent acute radiation dermatitis in patients with head and neck cancer: a randomized controlled trial.

To compare a gel made with chamomile (Chamomilla recutita) with a cream of urea as an intervention to delay the time to occurrence of radiation dermatitis. Radiation dermatitis is one of the most common adverse effects of radiotherapy in patients with head and neck cancer. It is characterized by erythema, itching, pain, skin breakage and burning sensation, and there is no consensus on how to prevent it. The study is a randomized controlled clinical trial. We will recruit 48 individuals with head and neck cancer who will be starting their radiotherapy and randomize them to receive either gel of chamomile or cream of urea, as an intervention for prevention of radiation dermatitis. Social-demographic data will be collected at baseline, and clinical data will be collected before the initiation of radiotherapy. Participants will be followed weekly to assess development of radiation dermatitis. The protocol is funded by Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico (Brazil). The study was approved by a research ethics committee. Given the clinical relevance of preventing radiation dermatitis and the lack of evidence supporting specific preventive interventions, it is important to study new products that might be efficacious to prevent this complication. This article presents the protocol of a randomized controlled trial comparing a gel made with chamomile (intervention) with a cream of urea (control) to prevent radiation dermatitis in patients with head and neck cancer undergoing radiotherapy.

The relevance of collaborative work: the Latin American Society for Immunodeficiencies (LASID) registry model.

The Latin American Society for Immunodeficiencies (LASID) registry was established in April 2009 with the support of the European Society for Immunodeficiencies (ESID), the Jeffrey Modell Foundation, Baxter Bioscience and Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico (CNPq, Brazil). The mission of LASID is to educate and increase awareness of primary immunodeficiencies (PIDs), and educate doctors in Latin America to recognize PIDs according to the different phenotypes. The LASID registry has evolved from 25 centres in seven countries in April 2009, to now include 93 centres in 14 countries in July 2014. In total, 5203 PID cases have been reported. To date, the rate of response has been highest in Argentina, with 1942 (37%) reported cases, followed by Brazil with 1175 (23%) cases, Mexico with 854 (16%) cases and Columbia with 817 (16%) cases. Of the 5203 cases, antibody defects were recorded in 56% of patients, followed by well-established syndromes with immunodeficiency in 18% of patients, combined immunodeficiency in 10% of patients and phagocytic disorders in 9% of patients. Based on an estimated frequency of one PID case for every 10 000 people in Latin America, and the patients currently recorded in the registry, we can estimate the number of patients still to be identified in each country. For example, Argentina has identified the greatest proportion of PID cases, with 1942 cases of an expected total of 3900 cases identified. In comparison, 1175 of 18 600 have been identified in Brazil, 854 of 10 600 have been identified in Mexico and 817 of 4200 have been identified in Columbia. Evaluation of hyper-immunoglobulin (Ig)M syndrome is one of three clinical epidemiological projects developed within the LASID registry programme 1. Hyper-IgM syndrome is a group of disorders characterized by normal to elevated levels of IgM, and absent or decreased levels of IgA, IgE and IgG. CD40 ligand (CD40L) deficiency is the most common form of hyper-IgM syndrome, which is estimated to represent 75% of cases 1. Another form of hyper-IgM is a deficiency of activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID). Patients with AID-deficiency are susceptible to extracellular bacterial infections, while patients with CD40L-deficiency are additionally susceptible to viral, fungal and intracellular bacterial infections 1, 2. A recent publication from the LASID registry summarizes the clinical and molecular characteristics of a cohort of 58 hyper-IgM patients 1. In this cohort, genetic defects were found in 37 patients, 35 of whom were CD40L-deficient (causing an X-linked form of hyper-IgM syndrome) and two were AID-deficient. Following genetic analysis, five novel mutations which abolished CD40L protein production on activated CD4+ T cells were identified 1. The most frequently observed clinical manifestation of hyper-IgM syndrome was pneumonia, which affected 80% of CD40L-deficient patients. Pneumocystis jirovecii was the most frequent cause of pneumonia, followed by cytomegalovirus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus pneumoniae, parainfluenza virus type II and other unknown pathogens. Other common clinical manifestations of hyper-IgM syndrome included upper respiratory tract infections (63%), neutropenia (48%) and chronic diarrhoea (46%) 1. Our study identified several microorganisms that were not previously associated with hyper-IgM syndrome, including Aspergillus spp., Microsporidium spp. and Isospora belli, which caused infections such as severe pneumonia and chronic diarrhoea in CD40L-deficient patients. In addition, CD40L-deficient patients frequently developed other fungal infections such as paracoccidioidomycosis. Recent studies have found that paracoccidioidomycosis, an infection endemic to South America which has been previously associated with a mutation in the beta 1 subunit of the interleukin-12 receptor, can also occur in CD40-deficient patients 1-3. It should be noted that the different clinical phenotypes observed may be attributed to different environmental pressures. For instance, the occurrence of fungal infections may be higher in Latin America due to the prevailing warm and humid conditions. In conclusion, the LASID registry programme has evolved significantly to become a centralized resource for clinical immunologists throughout Latin America and beyond. The clinical epidemiological data are beginning to indicate that PIDs may present with distinct clinical features, which must be communicated to Latin American physicians in order to achieve early diagnosis and treatment. LASID thank Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPQ, http://www.cnpq.br), Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP, http://www.fapesp.br) and Baxter Bioscience, CSL Behring, Octapharma, and Grifols for unrestricted educational grants supporting the LASID registry initiative. The author would also like to thank Meridian HealthComms Ltd for providing medical writing services. A. C. N. has no conflicts of interest to disclose.

A dinâmica política da criação da Comissão Nacional de Energia Nuclear, 1956-1960

O artigo analisa a dinâmica política do processo de criação da Comissão Nacional de Energia Nuclear (CNEN), encerrado em outubro de 1956, durante o governo de Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira. Argumenta que o presidente da República se submeteu aos interesses de militares, notadamente do Exército e da Marinha, ignorando o projeto de lei que tramitava no Congresso Nacional e que tinha a mesma finalidade. A estratégia contribuiu para por fim às divergências existentes entre o Conselho Nacional de Pesquisas (CNPq) e o Ministério das Relações Exteriores, para alijar os cientistas desse processo de decisão e, especialmente, para enfraquecer o debate sobre a política nuclear na sociedade brasileira.

O sincrocíclotron do CNPq: da concepção ao abandono

No embalo da euforia com os resultados obtidos por César Lattes e as possibilidades de avanços na pesquisa em física das partículas elementares com o uso de aceleradores de partículas, o Conselho Nacional de Pesquisas (CNPq) adquiriu, em 1952 um pequeno sincrocíclotron da Universidade de Chicago (o modelo da máquina de 450 MeV). Inicialmente, a instalação e a operação do equipamento ficaram a cargo do Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas, mas em 1954 a equipe responsável se dispersou e a montagem do equipamento foi interrompida. A remontagem do equipamento foi efetivada, entre 1958 e 1962, por uma equipe do Centro de Pesquisas Físicas (CPF) da Universidade do Rio Grande do Sul, por força de um convênio entre esta universidade e o CNPq. O relato dessa remontagem é apresentado neste trabalho a partir de um dossiê elaborado por Gerard Hepp, coordenador da equipe do CPF.

Reviews and guidelines: Evidence of progress and a starting point for standardization and changes

Reviews and guidelines: Evidence of progress and a starting point for standardization and changes

A ciência como profissão: entrevista com Carlos Chagas Filho

A edição desta entrevista privilegia aspectos da extensa trajetória profissional de Carlos Chagas Filho, fundador do Instituto de Biofísica da Universidade do Brasil, atual Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Evidencia seu papel científico e político na ciência brasileira e no cenário internacional. As memórias de Chagas Filho abrangem a vivência no Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, onde iniciou seu treinamento científico; os esforços para estruturar o Laboratório de Física Biológica, sucedido pelo Instituto de Biofísica; a atuação no Conselho Nacional de Pesquisas e na Academia Brasileira de Ciências; a participação na Organização das Nações Unidas para a Educação, a Ciência e a Cultura; a presidência da Academia Pontifícia do Vaticano, que o leva a tecer considerações sobre a relação entre ciência e religião.

Abstracts of the 17th International Symposium on Bioluminescence and Chemiluminescence ‐ (ISBC 2012)

WARNING : The light-emitting molecular structures responsible for the chemiluminescence and fluorescence phenomena are not necessarily the same!

Production of Dried Extracts of Pterodon emarginatus (Fabaceae) by Atomization

The specie Pterodon emarginatus Vogel is popularly known as „sucupira branca“, which is a native tree from Brazilian savanna (cerrado). This tree is used as wood source for carpentry, while the extract from seeds and barks is popularly used as antinflammatory and antimicrobial for throat or gynecologic infections. The alcoholic extract of stem bark of P. emarginatus exhibited both anti-inflammatory and anti-nociceptive activities [1]. These biological effects can be associated to the presence of great amount of lupeol, which was taken as chemical marker in these experiments to validate our study. In order to evaluate the process for production of P. emarginatus extracts dried by atomization (spray dryer) on a laboratory scale, an experimental factorial design (22) was carried out for the following variables: inlet temperature and air flow. The higher and lower levels for temperature were 100°C and 110°C and for airflow were 35 L/min and 40 L/min. The experimental responses were dried powder yield and lupeol content, which were determined by HPLC. The main effects and interactions of these experimental responses were calculated using the free software Octave. Micrographs obtained by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of all spray-dried powders were used to examine particle morphology. Experimental results suggest that both temperature and air flow showed a positive effect on yield. However, the interaction between these variable showed a negative effect, which this can be explained by the reduction of the overall yield caused by augmentation of airflow when the experiment was carried out at 110°C. It was observed that there was no significant effect of inlet temperature and airflow on lupeol content. SEM images analysis showed that all powders have a non-uniform morphology. It was observed that particles with different sizes had a tendency to form agglomerates, particularly for the sample obtained at 100°C and 40 L/min. Acknowledgments: The authors are grateful to Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento (CNPq) and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Goiás (FAPEG) for financial support and to Laboratório Nacional de Luz Síncroton (LNLS) for SEM analysis.

Produção científica da Sociedade Brasileira de Pneumologia e Tisiologia: 1979 a 2006

In a survey carried out in 1969, research in the area of biology and medical corresponded to one-third of all the ongoing projects and occupied the leading position with 926 projects. It was followed by agriculture (674 projects), social sciences (349 projects), technology (234 projects), earth sciences (190 projects) and chemistry (152 projects). However, concerning the financial aid granted for the development of these research projects, the portion allotted to the area of health was considerably more modest than was that allotted to the other areas.(1) According to the Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento (CNPq, National Council on Research and Development), after three decades, biological and health sciences still account for the greatest number of lines of research (21,371), corresponding to 30% of the lines of research pursued in all of the broad areas of knowledge. Since 1969, the proportion of CNPq funding directed toward research in biological and health sciences has increased significantly, reaching 30% in 2004.(2) Lines of research and research grants are the foundation of scientific production, which appears in the form of publications, books, conference presentations or technical reports. These, in turn, reveal advances in scientific knowledge, constituting a phenomenon that has been demonstrated in diverse areas of knowledge. In the area of health, pulmonology has accompanied that growth and increasingly contributes to the state of the art. The number of conference presentations and publications has increased progressively, which is a topic dealt with in this volume of the Jornal Brasileiro de Pneumologia (JBP, Brazilian Journal of Pulmonology) in the article entitled Profile of research published in the annals of the Brazilian Pulmonology and Phthisiology conferences held over the last twenty years, by Fabro, Yoo and Scientific production of the Brazilian Society of Pulmonology and Phthisiology: 1979–2006*

The quest for the Brazilian synchrocyclotron

ABSTRACT Early efforts to bring particle accelerators into Brazil exemplify the interactions between advanced scientific countries and the periphery in the years 1948–1956 and between the history of science and the history of foreign affairs. The physicists Cesar Lattes, Ernest Lawrence, Herbert Anderson, Isidor Rabi, and Rear Admiral Álvaro Alberto played central roles in these efforts. The story brings out the role of the military and scientists acting within the Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas and the Conselho Nacional de Pesquisas to promote nuclear physics research aimed at the development of nuclear technology in Brazil. The decision-making process involved science, politics, secret agreements, and international affairs.