Ocorrência de Anastrepha fraterculus (Diptera:Tephritidae) em butiazeiro (Butia odorata) na região de Pelotas, RS.

O objetivo do trabalho foi registrar a presença de dípteros da família Tephritidae em pomares na área experimental da Embrapa Clima Temperado, em Pelotas, RS

First-in-class small molecule potentiators of cancer virotherapy

The use of engineered viral strains such as gene therapy vectors and oncolytic viruses (OV) to selectively destroy cancer cells is poised to make a major impact in the clinic and revolutionize cancer therapy. In particular, several studies have shown that OV therapy is safe and well tolerated in humans and can infect a broad range of cancers. Yet in clinical studies OV therapy has highly variable response rates. The heterogeneous nature of tumors is widely accepted to be a major obstacle for OV therapeutics and highlights a need for strategies to improve viral replication efficacy. Here, we describe the development of a new class of small molecules for selectively enhancing OV replication in cancer tissue. Medicinal chemistry studies led to the identification of compounds that enhance multiple OVs and gene therapy vectors. Lead compounds increase OV growth up to 2000-fold in vitro and demonstrate remarkable selectivity for cancer cells over normal tissue ex vivo and in vivo. These small molecules also demonstrate enhanced stability with reduced electrophilicity and are highly tolerated in animals. This pharmacoviral approach expands the scope of OVs to include resistant tumors, further potentiating this transformative therapy. It is easily foreseeable that this approach can be applied to therapeutically enhance other attenuated viral vectors

An update on the controversies of tocolytic therapy for the prevention of preterm birth

Preterm birth is the major cause of perinatal mortality and morbidity in the developed world. Where there are no contraindications to their use, tocolytics can improve neonatal survival rates by approximately 3% per day between 23 and 27 weeks gestation with a concomitant reduction in morbidity. The ultimate aim of tocolytic therapy is to prolong pregnancy until growth and maturation is complete, but even short-term delay may enable the administration of antepartum glucocorticoids to reduce hyaline membrane disease or to arrange transfer to a center with neonatal intensive care facilities. Both of these have been shown to reduce neonatal mortality and morbidity. Until recently, none of the currently used tocolytics, whether licensed or unlicensed, were developed specifically for the inhibition of preterm labor and consequently, they exhibit various potentially serious side-effects. As a result of the recent licensing of the oxytocin antagonist, atosiban, developed for the treatment of preterm labor and due to its high utero-specificity, obstetricians have experienced an advance in their options for the management of spontaneous preterm labor