Activity of natural radionuclides and their contribution to the absorbed dose in the fish cubera snapper (lutjanus cyanopterus, cuvier, 1828) on the coast of Ceara, Brazil

Visando a radioproteção ambiental, baseada no conceito de limite de taxa de dose absorvida, foi desenvolvida uma metodologia de conversão da concentração de atividade de radionuclídeos (Bq kg-1) em taxa de dose absorvida (Gy a-1). O modelo considera apenas a taxa de dose absorvida interna. Essa metodologia foi aplicada ao peixe vermelho-caranho (Lutjanus cyanopterus, Cuvier, 1828) capturado na costa do Ceará e aos radionuclídeos naturais: urânio-238, rádio-226, chumbo-210, tório-232 e rádio-228. As taxas de dose absorvidas foram calculadas por radionuclídeo e por tipo de radiação emitida. A taxa de dose média devida a esses radionuclídeos foi de 5.36 µGy a-1, valor seis ordens de grandeza menor que o valor de limite de taxa de dose absorvida utilizada no presente trabalho (3.65 10³ mGy a-1), e similar ao encontrado na literatura para peixes bentônicos. Ra-226 e U-238 contribuíram com 67% e 22% da taxa de dose absorvida, seguidos de Th-232 com 10%. Já Ra-228 e Pb-210 respondem por menos de 1% da taxa de dose absorvida. Essa distribuição é um pouco diferente do relatado na literatura, onde Ra-226 responde por 86% da taxa de dose absorvida.A methodology was developed for converting the activity concentration of radionuclides (Bq kg-1) into absorbed dose rate (Gy y-1), aiming an approach to environmental radioprotection based on the concept of standard dose limit. The model considers only the internal absorbed dose rate. This methodology was applied to the cubera snapper fish (Lutjanus cyanopterus, Cuvier, 1828) caught off the coast of Ceará. The natural radionuclides considered were uranium-238, radium-226, lead-210, thorium-232 and radium-228. The absorbed dose rates were calculated for individual radionuclides and the type of emitted radiation. The average dose rate due to these radionuclides was 5.36 µGy y-1, a value six orders of magnitude smaller than the threshold value of absorbed dose rate used in this study (3.65 10³ mGy y-1), and similar to that found in the literature for benthic fish. Ra-226 and U-238 contributed 67% and 22% of the absorbed dose rate, followed by Th-232 with 10%. Ra-228 and Pb-210, in turn, accounted for less than 1% of the absorbed dose rate. This distribution is somewhat different from that reported in the literature, where the Ra-226 accounts for 86% of the absorbed dose rate

Novas atividades biológicas em antigos metabólitos: ácido oleanólico e eugenol de Eugenia caryophyllata

Ácido oleanólico apresenta no barbeiro Rhodnius prolixus, vetor da doença de Chagas, toxicidade dosedependente e drástica inibição da muda nas doses de 1, 10 e 100 mg/ml. Eugenol induz uma letargia que persiste por vários dias, apresenta forte fagorrepelência, toxicidade média e inibição total da muda nas doses de 10 e 100 mg/ml

Detection of Bioactive Exometabolites Produced by the Filamentous Marine Cyanobacterium Geitlerinema sp.

Marine cyanobacteria are noted for their ability to excrete metabolites with biotic properties. This paper focuses on such exometabolites obtained from the culture of the marine filamentous cyanobacterium Geitlerinema sp. strain, their purification and subsequent analyses. By this means the recoveries of the active compounds, a prerequisite for properly determining their concentration, are quantified here for the first time. We demonstrate a new procedure using Amberlite XAD-1180 resin in combination with the eluent isopropanol for extraction of the culture media and gas chromatography as simplified chemical analysis. This procedure reduced necessary bacteria cultivation time (from 150 to 21 days) at low volumes of culture media (300 mL) required for identification of two selected bioactive compounds: 4,4′-dihydroxybiphenyl and harmane

Marine Drugs from Sponge-Microbe Association—A Review

The subject of this review is the biodiversity of marine sponges and associated microbes which have been reported to produce therapeutically important compounds, along with the contextual information on their geographic distribution. Class Demospongiae and the orders Halichondrida, Poecilosclerida and Dictyoceratida are the richest sources of these compounds. Among the microbial associates, members of the bacterial phylum Actinobacteria and fungal division Ascomycota have been identified to be the dominant producers of therapeutics. Though the number of bacterial associates outnumber the fungal associates, the documented potential of fungi to produce clinically active compounds is currently more important than that of bacteria. Interestingly, production of a few identical compounds by entirely different host-microbial associations has been detected in both terrestrial and marine environments. In the Demospongiae, microbial association is highly specific and so to the production of compounds. Besides, persistent production of bioactive compounds has also been encountered in highly specific host-symbiont associations. Though spatial and temporal variations are known to have a marked effect on the quality and quantity of bioactive compounds, only a few studies have covered these dimensions. The need to augment production of these compounds through tissue culture and mariculture has also been stressed. The reviewed database of these compounds is available at www.niobioinformatics.in/drug.php