Design, synthesis, and evaluation of Bothrops venom serine protease peptidic inhibitors

In Central and South America, snakebite envenomation is mainly caused by Bothrops spp. snakes, whose venoms feature significant biochemical richness, including serine proteases. The available bothropic antivenoms are efficient in avoiding fatalities, but do not completely neutralize venom serine proteases, which are co-responsible for some disorders observed during envenomation. Methods: In order to search for tools to improve the antivenom's, 6-mer peptides were designed based on a specific substrate for Bothrops jararaca venom serine proteases, and then synthesized, with the intention to selectively inhibit these enzymes. Results: Using batroxobin as a snake venom serine protease model, two structurally similar inhibitor peptides were identified. When tested on B. jararaca venom, one of the new inhibitors displayed a good potential to inhibit the activity of the venom serine proteases. These inhibitors do not affect human serine proteases as human factor Xa and thrombin, due to their selectivity. Conclusion: Our study identified two small peptides able to inhibit bothropic serine proteases, but not human ones, can be used as tools to enhance knowledge of the venom composition and function. Moreover, one promising peptide (pepC) was identified that can be explored in the search for improving Bothrops spp. envenomation treatment.(AU)

Use of Phanerochaete Chrysosporium in a Semibatch Reactor for Removal of Indigo Carmine from Synthetic Textile Wastewater

Abstract The textile industry demonstrates a polluting potential from the planting of cotton to the release of wastewater. The presence of dyes in water bodies decreases the passage of sun rays and directly affects the photosynthetic organisms and the ecosystem. Fungi have potential in the treatment of wastewater containing dyes with complex organic structures due to enzymes that they produce. This study evaluated the use of Phanerochaete chrisosporium in the treatment of synthetic effluent from textile industry containing indigo carmine (20 mg/L). The fungus was immobilized in a semibatch reactor. Glucose was the cosubstrate employed in the experiment and it was used in the system at 1g/L at the beginning of the process and 0.5 g /L after 24 hours of reaction. Average dye removal was 84±10% and chemical oxygen demand removal was 79±14%. For nitrogen compounds, the removal efficiencies were 87±11%, 81±11% and 91±9% for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, respectively. The pH of the medium remained in the acidic range (2.57 to 5.00) throughout the process, with the lowest values recorded in the effluent of each cycle, justified by the release of organic acids from fungi metabolism. There was contamination of the medium by bacteria (710,000 CFU/mL), but the colonies count showed a predominance of fungi (1,365,000 CFU/mL). With the use of the semibatch system after reading of glucose it was observed that the efficiency of dye removal evolved from 72±17% to 84±10%, producing a final effluent with 3.35±1.99 mg/L of indigo, which proves that treatment configuration analyzed is satisfactory for dye removal.

Azo Dye Mineralization by Phanerochaete Chysosporium in a Sequencing Bath Reactor

ABSTRACT The mineralization of the azo dye congo red by the fungi Phanerochaete chrysosporium was studied in two sequential batch bioreactors (R1 and R2), operated in cycles of 48 h (step I) and 24 h (step II). In step I, glucose concentration was 1 g.L-1 in both reactors and in step II, 1 g.L-1 of glucose was maintained in R1, but R2 received no addition of glucose. In step I, the average dye removal efficiencies were 76 ± 29 % (R1) and 53 ± 15% (R2), while in step II the averages recorded for dye removal for R1 and R2 were 84 ± 15 and 70 ± 28%, respectively. The rates of dye removal were 0.04 h-1 in R1 and 0.03 h-1 in R2 in step I. Higher rates were obtained in step II, 0,07 h-1 and 0,02 h-1 for R1 and R2, respectively. The highest dye removal occurred in R1 and, in R2, the residual dye was further removed. Laccase was the oxidised at higher amount, in step I was 54 μmol.min-1 for R1 and 38 μmolmin-1 for R2. The proposed treatment system was very effective in removing the azo dye, however the mineralization may not be complete and some by-products may have been formed, according to spectrofotometric analysis, were the peak corresponding to benzene, 220 nm, persisted.

Orçamento das atividades diárias de dois grupos de Callithrix jacchus em área urbana / Daily budget of two Callithrix jachus in an urban area

Foram monitorados dois grupos de saguis, Callithrix jacchus, entre 2001 e 2002, no campus da UFRPE, no Recife/PE, com o objetivo de identificar o orçamento diário das atividades comportamentais em ambiente urbano. Os grupos, denominados de Economins e Zoologins, foram amostrados sistematicamente pelo método de varredura com intervalos de cinco minutos. O grupo Economins, composto por três indivíduos, apresentou, percentualmente, as seguintes distribuições das categorias comportamentais: locomoção, 28.0 por cento; descanso, 24.1 por cento; forrageio, 13.3 por cento; alimentação, 3.9 por cento e outros, 30.8 por cento. O grupo Zoologins, composto por sete indivíduos, distribuiu sua atividade nas seguintes proporções: locomoção, 48.6 por cento; forrageio, 11.7 por cento; descanso, 7.0 por cento; alimentação, 2.0 por cento e outros 30.6 por cento. Algumas dessas diferenças podem ser explicadas pela alta quantidade de jovens presentes no Zoologins, e outras, por fatores ambientais e sociais. Confirmando o alto nível de sociabilidade da espécie, os dois grupos despenderam grandes proporções de seus respectivos tempos de atividade na categoria “outros”, que englobou comportamentos sociais.

Two groups of marmosets, Callithrix jacchus, were monitored, between 2001 and 2002 on the campus of UFRPE in Recife, in order to identify the daily budget of behavioral activities in an urban environment. The groups, called Economins and Zoologins were systematically sampled by the scanning method at intervals of five minutes. The group Economins, composed of three individuals, presented the following distributions of behavioral categories: locomotion, 28.0 percent resting, 24.1 percent; foraging, 13.3 percent, feeding, 3.9 percent, others 30.8 percent. The group Zoologins, composed of seven individuals, distributed its activity in the following proportions: locomotion, 48.6 percent; foraging, 11.7 percent; rest, 7.0 percent, food, 2.0 percent and others 30.6 percent. Some of these differences can be explained by the high number of young individuals in Zoologins, and others, for environmental and social factors. Confirming the high level of sociability of the species, the two groups spent large proportions of their time of activity in the 'other' category, which included social behaviors.

The control of documents maintained in the electronic media and the requirements of NBR ISO/IEC 17025 and adequacy for PNQ

During the assessments carried out by the authors at the diverse laboratories pertaining to the network of accredited laboratories - known as the Brazilian Calibration Network (RBC) - the authors verified the difficulties that these laboratories had in meeting the requirements of NBR ISO/IEC 17025:2001 (Standard), related to the maintenance of documents in the electronic media. More and more laboratories are substituting traditional control with electronic document control, which allows for more agility in the recovery of information. These laboratories implement policies and procedures; however, they still feel insecure, in some way, as to how to meet all of these requirements, thereby giving rise to difficulties in the implementation of such. The aim of this paper is to discuss the control of documents stored in the electronic media, adopting requirement 4.3 of the Standard as the reference, and aiming, in this manner, to harmonize the assessment process of the procedures of document management in the electronic media, and to assist the laboratories in the interpretation of the Standard, so that they may implement systems that are adequate to their actual necessities and to their structural size, while at the same time complying with the referred to requirement. This work will not broach the treatment given to the records (requirement 4.12 of the Standard), facts (requirement 5.4.7) nor to the electronic transmission of results (requirement 5.10.7), leaving these subjects for posterior discussions.

Amido resistente e suas propriedades físico-químicas / Resistant starch and its physicochemical properties

A partir da década de 80, começou a ser observado que uma fração do amido escapava da digestão no intestino delgado e chegava ao cólon, onde servia de substrato para a flora bacteriana. Essa fração foi denominada amido resistente e, a partir de então, constatou-se que determinados efeitos fisiológicos, inicialmente atribuídos às fibras alimentares, poderiam também ser atribuídos ao amido resistente. Vários fatores podem estar envolvidos na sua formação e eles, por sua vez, afetam a sua resposta fisiológica. Deste modo, torna-se importante o conhecimento dos aspectos físico-químicos envolvidos na formação do amido resistente.

Grupoterapia de pacientes com dor crônica: teoria e prática / Group therapy with chronic pain patients: theory and practice

O presente trabalho trata da teoria e prática na realização de psicoterapia de grupo em hospital geral com pacientes portadores de dor crônica. O mesmo consta de duas partes. A primeira apresenta uma fundamentação teórica sobre o assunto conceitos de comunicação patológica e manifestações psicossomáticas; a segunda parte consiste da apresentação de um grupo, sua formação, a atuação do psicólogo, a matriz grupal e outros fatores que contribuíram para o tratamento.

O setor de grupo na psiquiatria do HUPE/UERJ: relato de experiência do treinamento profissional em psicoterapia de grupo / The group sector in psychiatry of HUPE/UERJ: report of work professional training in psychotherapeutic groups

O trabalho relata o funcionamento de um setor de grupo em uma Instituiçäo Universitária, que veio se estruturando ao longo dos anos, através da modalidade de treinamento profissional a médicos e psicólogos abordando o ensino teórico e prático e atendimento clínico a uma grande maioria da populaçäo que procura o ambulatório de psiquiatria

Influencia da relacao entre proteinas e fibras da dieta no crescimento: estudo em ratos / Influence of the relation between proteins and fibres of the diet in the growth: study in mice

No presente trabalho estudamos a influencia da quantidade e qualidade da proteina e fibra sobre alguns parametros em plasma, musculo e cartilagem de ratos em crescimento. Este quadro foi delineado pelos pesos dos tecidos e corporal, conteudos de RNA e proteina, sintese de proteoglicano nos tecidos osseo e muscular e, no plasma, concentracao de somatomedina C, relacao de aminoacidos nao essenciais/essenciais, ureia, colesterol e proteina plasmatica. Foram realizados dois experimentos. No primeiro, os ratos foram divididos em sete grupos e utilizamos celulose como fonte de fibra, em teores de cinco a vinte por cento na dieta, alternando-se as fontes e teores proteicos entre caseina e mistura arroz-feijao na proporcao 1:1. No segundo experimento, usamos teores de fibras de qinze por cento, tanto de celulose como de pectina variando-se a fonte proteica entre caseina e mistura arroz-feijao (3:1), ambas com oito e meio por cento de proteina. Como resultados podemos assinalar que os grupos com dieta hipoproteica (teores de oito e meio por cento) foram os mais seriamente comprometidos na avaliacao do peso corporeo e dos parametros bioquimicos nos tecidos, sendo que os alimentados com a mistura arroz-feijao foram os mais seriamente afetados. Os grupos submetidos a pectina como fonte de fibra tiveram alteracoes mais acentuadas quando comparados aos grupos alimentados com celulose, demonstrando que o teor e a qualidade da fibra e um fator importante em modelos experimentais de crescimento e desenvolvimento

Secreçäo de hormônio de crescimento e nutriçäo / Growth hormone secretion and nutrition

As açöes do hormônio de crescimento em promover o crescimento esquelético e no metabolismo säo indiretas e diretas, respectivamente. As açöes indiretas säo mediadas através das somatomedinas ou fatores de crescimento e as diretas säo predominantemente antagonistas às da insulina. A liberaçäo do hormônio de crescimento é determinada por um equilíbrio dinâmico de peptídios hipotalâmicos inibitórios e estimulatórios que säo a somatostatina e o hormônio liberador de hormônio do crescimento. A resposta hipotálamo-hipófise da liberaçäo do hormônio de crescimento pode ser influenciada pela idade, sexo, insulina, hormônios esteróides e da tireóide e o estado nutricional. Assim, há uma importante interrelaçäo entre as açöes do hormônio de crescimento, crescimento e estado nutricional