Poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) nanospheres allow for high l-asparaginase encapsulation yield and activity.

l-Asparaginase (ASNase) is an amidohydrolase used as a chemotherapeutic agent for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The nanoencapsulation of this enzyme is strategic to avoid its immediate immunogenic effects that lead to a decrease in the enzyme half-life. In this work, ASNase-containing nanoparticles (NPs) were prepared by double emulsification, through an ultrasonic sonicator or an Ultra-Turrax, using two copolymers of 50:50 (w/w) poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) with different ranges of molecular weight (24-38 kDa and 30-60 kDa) and varying the concentration of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a stabilizer (0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0%) as well as the emulsification time (30 and 60 s). Using 24-38 kDa PLGA and 1.0% PVA, we obtained by cavitation NPs with hydrodynamic diameter of 384 nm, polydispersity index of 0.143 and Zeta potential of -16.4 mV, whose ASNase encapsulation efficiency was as high as 87 ±â€¯2%. The encapsulated enzyme showed an activity 22% higher than that of the free enzyme, and no conformational changes were detected by circular dichroism. The enzyme release from NPs entrapped in dialysis bags (500 kDa molecular weight cut-off) allowed selecting a controlled system able to release about 60% of the enzyme within 14 days, for which the Korsmeyer-Peppas model provided the best correlation (R2 = 0.966).

Impacto da intervenção educativa na aprendizagem de medidas profiláticas de escolares do Município de Cuité/PB / Impact of educational intervention in learning prophylactic measures for students in the city of CuitÚ/PB

A educação é comprovadamente uma medida profilática efetiva e tem sido utilizada em vários trabalhos de prevenção às parasitoses. Sendo assim, este trabalho objetivou avaliar o uso de palestrascomo estratégia educativa na aprendizagem de medidas profiláticas dasparasitoses, com intuito de prevenir e/ou diminuir o número de parasitadosno Município de Cuité, na Paraíba.

Education is a proven and effective prophylactic measure has been used in several studies of prevention of parasitic diseases. Thus, this study evaluated the use of lecture as an educational strategy in the learning of prophylactic measures of parasitic diseases, preventing and /or decrease the number of carriers in the city of Cuite, Paraiba.