Zebrafish as an alternative animal model in human and animal vaccination research

Ricardo Lacava Bailone,Hirla Costa Silva Fukushima,Bianca Helena Ventura Fernandes,Luís Kluwe De Aguiar,Tatiana Corrêa,Helena Janke,Princia Grejo Setti,Roberto De Oliveira Roça,Ricardo Carneiro Borra 한국실험동물학회 2020 Laboratory Animal Research Vol.36 No.2

Much of medical research relies on animal models to deepen knowledge of the causes of animal and human diseases, as well as to enable the development of innovative therapies. Despite rodents being the most widely used research model worldwide, in recent decades, the use of the zebrafish (Danio rerio) model has exponentially been adopted among the scientific community. This is because such a small tropical freshwater teleost fish has crucial genetic, anatomical and physiological homology with mammals. Therefore, zebrafish constitutes an excellent experimental model for behavioral, genetic and toxicological studies which unravels the mechanism of various human diseases. Furthermore, it serves well to test new therapeutic agents, such as the safety of new vaccines. The aim of this review was to provide a systematic literature review on the most recent studies carried out on the topic. It presents numerous advantages of this type of animal model in tests of efficacy and safety of both animal and human vaccines, thus highlighting gains in time and cost reduction of research and analyzes.

Applications of BOTDR fiber optics to the monitoring of underground structures

Moffat, Ricardo A.,Beltran, Juan F.,Herrera, Ricardo Techno-Press 2015 Geomechanics & engineering Vol.9 No.3

Three different applications for monitoring displacements in underground structures using a BOTDR-based distributed optical fiber strain sensing system are presented. These applications are related to the strain measurements of (1) instrumented PVC tube designed to be attached to tunnel side wall and ceiling as a sensor; (2) rock bolts for tunnels; and (3) shotcrete lining under loading. The effectiveness of using the proposed strain sensing system is evaluated by carrying out laboratory tests, in-situ measurements, and numerical simulations. The results obtained from this validation process provide confidence that the optical fiber is able to quantify strain fields under a variety of loading conditions and consequently use this information to estimate the behavior of rock mass during mining activity. As the measuring station can be located as far as 1 km of distance, these alternatives presented may increase the safety of the mine during mining process and for the personnel doing the measurements on the field.

The endocannabinoid system in zebrafish and its potential to study the effects of Cannabis in humans

Bailone Ricardo Lacava,Fukushima Hirla Costa Silva,Luis Kluwe de Aguiar,Borra Ricardo Carneiro 한국실험동물학회 2022 Laboratory Animal Research Vol.38 No.1

Zebrafish is considered an unprecedented animal model in drug discovery. A review of the literature presents highlights and elucidates the biological effects of chemical components found in Cannabis sativa. Particular attention is paid to endocannabinoid system (eCB) and its main receptors (CB1 and CB2). The zebrafish model is a promising one for the study of cannabinoids because of the many similarities to the human system. Despite the recent advances on the eCB system, there is still the need to elucidate some of the interactions and, thus, the zebrafish model can be used for that purpose as it respects the 3Rs concept and reduced time and costs. In view of the relevance of cannabinoids in the treatment and prevention of diseases, as well as the importance of the zebrafish animal model in elucidating the biological effects of new drugs, the aim of this study was to bring to light information on the use of the zebrafish animal model in testing C. sativa-based medicines.

Development of User-Designated-Path Driving Ground Rover for Construction Site Monitoring

Ricardo Ortiz(리카르도 도티즈),Jee Won Lee(이지원),Jonathan Boyack(조나단 보약),Jongseong Choi(최종성) 대한기계학회 2022 대한기계학회 춘추학술대회 Vol.2022 No.11

Construction workers are more likely of suffering injuries from work than other employees from other regular activities. Consequently, developing an unmanned mobile monitoring system became a crucial task for researchers and practitioners to secure human safety as well as construction assets. To achieve constant surveillance, the mobile system needs to be operated with a detailed and pre-determined path plan. However, construction sites do not always have routes registered on maps, hindering human exclusion in such operations. This work is to develop a user-designatedpath driving ground rover on construction sites. The developed system first allows the rover to receive a user’s designated path drawn on a map and then operate by following the guided path. A sliding mode controller was designed to capture the motion of a regular vehicle whose real-time displacement and velocity were measured with RTK-GPS device equipped on the rover. This work is successfully validated with a simulation showing the controller following the path with a guided velocity.

Spherical Bacterial Cellulose/TiO2 Nanocomposite with Potential Application in Contaminants Removal from Wastewater by Photocatalysis

Ricardo Brandes,Elizabeth C. A. Trindade,Daniel F. Vanin,Vanessa M. M. Vargas,Claudimir A. Carminatti,Hazim A. Al-Qureshi,Derce O. S. Recouvreux 한국섬유공학회 2018 Fibers and polymers Vol.19 No.9

Contaminants are often found in aquatic environments, for instance, heavy metals, dyes, parasites, pesticides, hormones and pharmaceuticals. Therefore, large amounts of these contaminants reaches wastewater via industrial and domestic effluents, causing major concern to human health. Heterogeneous photocatalysis is a technique for removing these contaminants in order to achieve better efficiency in water treatment. Then, bacterial cellulose (BC) produced in an agitated culture can form spherical bodies composed of nanofibers with high specific surface area. Moreover, Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is a semiconductor containing high photocatalytic activity capacity. Thus, the main objective in this work was to produce spherical BC/TiO2 nanocomposites for contaminants removal from wastewater by photocatalysis process. The incorporation of TiO2 nanoparticles in the spherical BC matrix was performed by ex situ and in situ methods. In addition, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) were used as tools of morphological, chemical and thermal characterizations of the nanocomposites. Besides, photocatalysis tests were performed in order to evaluate the removal efficiency of methylene blue from aqueous solutions. The results of these tests exhibited a percentage of methylene blue removal of 70.83 and 89.58 % after 35 minutes for spherical BC/TiO2 nanocomposites both, in situ and ex situ, respectively. Therefore, these results demonstrated that BC/TiO2 to be a low cost material with high capacity of contaminants removing and a great potential for industrial applications.

Modeling of composite MRFs with CFT columns and WF beams

Ricardo A. Herrera,Teerawut Muhummud,James M. Ricles,Richard SAuse 국제구조공학회 2022 Steel and Composite Structures, An International J Vol.43 No.3

A vast amount of experimental and analytical research has been conducted related to the seismic behavior and performance of concrete filled steel tubular (CFT) columns. This research has resulted in a wealth of information on the component behavior. However, analytical and experimental data for structural systems with CFT columns is limited, and the well-known behavior of steel or concrete structures is assumed valid for designing these systems. This paper presents the development of an analytical model for nonlinear analysis of composite moment resisting frame (CFT-MRF) systems with CFT columns and steel wide-flange (WF) beams under seismic loading. The model integrates component models for steel WF beams, CFT columns, connections between CFT columns and WF beams, and CFT panel zones. These component models account for nonlinear behavior due to steel yielding and local buckling in the beams and columns, concrete cracking and crushing in the columns, and yielding of panel zones and connections. Component tests were used to validate the component models. The model for a CFT-MRF considers second order geometric effects from the gravity load bearing system using a lean-on column. The experimental results from the testing of a four-story CFT-MRF test structure are used as a benchmark to validate the modeling procedure. An analytical model of the test structure was created using the modeling procedure and imposeddisplacement analyses were used to reproduce the tests with the analytical model of the test structure. Good agreement was found at the global and local level. The model reproduced reasonably well the story shear-story drift response as well as the column, beam and connection moment-rotation response, but overpredicted the inelastic deformation of the panel zone.

The clonal seaweed Chondrus crispus as a foundation species

Ricardo A. Scrosati 한국조류학회I 2016 ALGAE Vol.31 No.1

The clonal seaweed Chondrus crispus (Rhodophyta, Gigartinales) forms extensive stands at low intertidal elevations on wave-sheltered rocky shores of the North Atlantic. This study investigates if this bushy alga acts as a foundation species in such habitats. The abundance (percent cover) of C. crispus, all other algae, and invertebrates was measured in 390 quadrats spanning 350 km of coast in Nova Scotia, Canada. In these low-intertidal habitats, fucoid algae are the largest organisms and can form extensive canopies, but their cover was unrelated to benthic species richness and to C. crispus cover. Species richness, however, increased with C. crispus cover from low to intermediate cover values, showing little change towards full C. crispus cover. Species composition (a combined measure of species identity and their relative abundance) differed between quadrats with low (0–1%) and high (60–100%) cover of C. crispus. High C. crispus cover was associated to more invertebrate species but fewer algal species than low C. crispus cover. However, the average abundance of algal and invertebrate species occurring in both cover groups was often higher under high C. crispus cover, contributing to a higher average richness at the quadrat scale. Overall, only 16% of the observed variation in species richness was explained by C. crispus cover. Therefore, this study suggests that C. crispus acts as a foundation species but with a moderate influence.

Development of User-Designated-Path Driving Ground Rover for Construction Site Monitoring

Ricardo Ortiz(리카르도 도티즈),Jee Won Lee(이지원),Jonathan Boyack(조나단 보약),Jongseong Choi(최종성) 대한기계학회 2022 대한기계학회 춘추학술대회 Vol.2022 No.11

Construction workers are more likely of suffering injuries from work than other employees from other regular activities. Consequently, developing an unmanned mobile monitoring system became a crucial task for researchers and practitioners to secure human safety as well as construction assets. To achieve constant surveillance, the mobile system needs to be operated with a detailed and pre-determined path plan. However, construction sites do not always have routes registered on maps, hindering human exclusion in such operations. This work is to develop a user-designatedpath driving ground rover on construction sites. The developed system first allows the rover to receive a user’s designated path drawn on a map and then operate by following the guided path. A sliding mode controller was designed to capture the motion of a regular vehicle whose real-time displacement and velocity were measured with RTK-GPS device equipped on the rover. This work is successfully validated with a simulation showing the controller following the path with a guided velocity.

Atmospheric Concentrations of Semivolatile Bifunctional Carbonyl Compounds and the Contribution from Motor Vehicles

Ricardo Ortiz,Satoru Shimada,Kazuhiko Sekiguchi,Qinyue Wang,Kazuhiko Sakamoto 한국대기환경학회 2013 Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment (AJAE) Vol.7 No.3

Seven potentially harmful bifunctional carbonyls were measured in particulate and gaseous phases at a roadside site and a suburban site in an area about 30 km north-northwest from Tokyo metropolitan area in the Kanto region in Japan. For the first time, these compounds were measured in both phases with a time resolution of 2 h. We found that wind direction is an important parameter that affects the collection of these compounds near the source, and it can cover the effects of other important variables. Our results confirmed that motor vehicles and especially diesel fuelled vehicles are important sources of these compounds. Photochemical generation is also an important source of these compounds in the gaseous phase. Transportation from the urban area is also important,particularly in the aerosol phase.

Effects of the Use of Curcumin on Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn's Disease: A Systematic Review

Ricardo de Alvares Goulart,Sandra M. Barbalho,Vinícius Marinho Lima,Gabriela Achete de Souza,Julia Novaes Matias,Adriano Cressoni Araújo,Cláudio José Rubira,Rogério Leone Buchaim,Daniela Vieira Buchai 한국식품영양과학회 2021 Journal of medicinal food Vol.24 No.7

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is an umbrella term used to describe chronic inflammatory disorders related to a substantial reduction in the quality of life of patients. Some patients with Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) are refractory to conventional therapies, and Curcuma longa derivatives have been considered as adjuvants. Owing to the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects, some clinical trials used this plant in the therapeutic approach of IBD, and some meta-analyses evaluated the outcomes found in these studies. Owing to controversial findings, our systematic review aimed to evaluate these studies to show whether C. longa compounds can still be considered in the therapeutic approach of patients with CD and UC. MEDLINE-PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane were searched, and Preferred Reporting Items for a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis guidelines were followed. The results of the randomized clinical trials (RCTs) showed promising results with the use of curcumin in the therapeutic approach of both UC and CD patients. Some meta-analyses show controversial results, possibly due to the presence of bias in the included studies. The actions of curcumin are achieved by several mechanisms, such as reducing the expression of interleukin (IL)-1, IL-6, IL-12, and tumor necrosis factor-α. Moreover, it reduces the levels of reactive oxygen species, such as superoxide anions and malondialdehyde. The results of using curcumin in CD and UC patients are challenging to be evaluated because RCTs are variable in the dose and the formulations of curcumin, in the time of treatment, and the route of administration. The number of patients in the samples is also usually small.