Spontaneous resurgence of conditioned fear weeks after successful extinction in brain injured mice.

Mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major risk factor for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and both disorders share common symptoms and neurobiological defects. Relapse after successful treatment, known as long-term fear resurgence, is common in PTSD patients and a major therapeutic hurdle. We induced a mild focal TBI by controlled cortical impact (CCI) in male C57BL/6 J mice and used fear conditioning to assess PTSD-like behaviors and concomitant alterations in the fear circuitry.

Allelic Variability in the Intronic Region of the Fibroin Heavy-Chain Gene in Silkworm Bombyx mori L. Strains of Brazilian Germplasm Bank.

The domesticated silkworm Bombyx mori L. is currently found only in germplasm banks. Therefore, characterization and conservation of this genetic resource is crucial.

Biological and molecular characterization of silkworm strains from the Brazilian germplasm bank of Bombyx mori.

Brazil has only one public genetic pool of Bombyx mori strains, which was established in 2005 at Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Maringá, Paraná State. This genetic bank has been maintained, and the strains have been characterized using genetic and morphological tools. The quantitative and qualitative traits, directly or indirectly related to productivity, were evaluated in 14 silkworm strains.

The stone decay of monuments in relation to atmospheric environment.

In order to explain why different forms of decay are present on a building facade some samples were taken from different areas of many monuments. Macroscopic observations of the forms of decay were correlated with quantitative analytical data in order to build up a simple model which was able to explain in a general way the decay phenomena. This simplified model was tested on several Venetian monuments and the features visible on stone surfaces correspond to different degree of deterioration.