The aim of this study is to describe the translation and adaptation process of the Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ-40) into Brazilian-Portuguese version. The instrument has also contended validation evaluation. Methods: The first version of the scale was presented to five individuals with different schooling for language adaptation. Afterwards the instrument was presented to three experts that...

The extraordinarily high incidence of cancers of many different varieties--carcinomas and lymphomas--in organ-transplant patients being maintained for long periods of time with immunosuppressive drugs is briefly reviewed. The role of immunosurveillance as a primary defense mechanism against cancer in human beings is consistent with these observations and is in need of further investigation. Con...

The goal of the empirical part of this work is to study the use of psychological defenses by practitioner psychologists and development of job burnout in them. Giessen Psychosomatic Complaint Questionnaire, Cattell's Test, 16 Personality Factors Questionnaire (16 PFQ-187-A) by R.B. Cattell, S. Rosenzweig Picture Frustration Study, and V.V. Boiko's technique of diagnosing the dominant strategy o...

We are interested in the impact of natural selection in a prey-predator community. We introduce an individual-based model of the community that takes into account both prey and predator phenotypes. Our aim is to understand the phenotypic coevolution of prey and predators. The community evolves as a multi-type birth and death process with mutations. We first consider the infinite particle approx...

Intestinal epithelial cells provide an essential line of defense for Caernohabditis elegans against ingested pathogens. Because nematodes consume microorganisms as their food source, there has presumably been selection pressure to evolve and maintain immune defense mechanisms within the intestinal epithelium. Here we review recent advances that further define the immune signaling network within...

This paper proposes a taxonomy of distributed denial-ofservice attacks and a taxonomy of the defense mechanisms that strive to counter these attacks. The attack taxonomy is illustrated using both known and potential attack mechanisms. Along with this classification we discuss important features of each attack category that in turn define the challenges involved in combating these threats. The d...

Hyaluronan is an abundant extracellular matrix component prevalent in the vertebrate intestinal tract. Here we discuss what is known about hyaluronan distribution during homeostasis and inflammatory diseases of the gut and discuss ways in which this glycosaminoglycan can participate in regulating innate host defense mechanisms. These natural responses include mechanisms promoting rapid leukocyt...

According to Antonovsky's (Aaron Antonovsky, 1923-1994) sense of coherence (SOC) model, persons with a high SOC have the ability to benefit from their general defense mechanisms in order to overcome stressful situations. In a health-disease continuum, this leads to the development towards health. However, Antonovsky's global hypothesis that the strength of the SOC may influence the physical hea...

We have previously shown that BALB/c antipneumococcal polysaccharide antibodies with phosphorylcholine (PC) specificity are self-binding, mediated by hypervariable sequence structure of the heavy chain. We extended the observation of self-binding anti-PC antibodies to naturally occurring human anti-PC antibodies. Anti-PC antibodies were purified from normal donor sera and shown to bind to monoc...