Responsabilidade Social e Desempenho

RESUMO: O conceito de empresa socialmente responsável cada vez mais tem chamado a atenção da sociedade, do mercado e da academia. Uma empresa sustentável é aquela que visa ao lucro, mas que considera em suas dimensões econômica, social e ambiental a redução do impacto negativo de suas atividades. A presente pesquisa teve por objetivo comparar o desempenho financeiro das empresas socialmente responsáveis com as não e, como proxy para empresas socialmente responsáveis, utilizou-se as empresas participantes do Índice de Sustentabilidade Empresarial (ISE). A amostra foi composta por dez empresas segregadas em dois grupos: empresas sustentáveis (pertencentes ao ISE) e não sustentáveis (não pertencentes). Buscando atingir o objetivo proposto, compararam-se os indicadores de rentabilidade/lucratividade com o endividamento das empresas. Os resultados apontam que as empresas sustentáveis tiveram rentabilidade maior que as não sustentáveis, demonstrando que investimentos nas áreas sociais e ambientais são um diferencial competitivo. Palavras-chave: Responsabilidade social. Indicadores econômicos. Sustentabilidade.     ABSTRACT: The concept of socially responsible enterprise has increasingly attracted the attention of society, market and university. A sustainable company is the one that aims for profit, but which considers in it economic, social and environmental dimensions, reducing the negative impact of their activities. The present research has the objective of comparing the financial performance of socially responsible companies to the no ones, as social proxy for socially responsible enterprises, we used companies which participate in the Business Sustainability Index (BSI). The sample consisted of ten companies segregated into two groups: sustainable companies (belonging to the BSI) and unsustainable (not belonging). In order to reach the proposed objective, the indicators of rentability /profitability were compared with the companies' indebtedness. The results show that the sustainable companies had a higher profitability than the unsustainable ones, demonstrating that investments in social and environmental areas are a competitive differential.   Keywords: Social responsibility. Economic indicators. Sustainability

Ação sinergística do praziquantel e resposta imune específica do hospedeiro ao Schistosoma mansoni em diferentes fases da infecção

A interação entre a resposta imune específica ao Schistosoma mansoni e praziquantel (PZQ) foi avaliada em modelo murino. Em camundongos portadores de imunidade concomitante, parasitos com 6 dias de idade e tratados com PZQ, foram eliminados mais eficazmente do que parasitos de apenas 24 h, apesar de ambos mostrarem uma redução significativa da carga parasitária quando comparados com os respectivos controles tratados. Estes resultados mostram que o PZQ pode ser eficaz nos estágios de pele e pulmão durante o desenvolvimento do parasita, agindo principalmente com uma resposta imune específica estabelecida e, particularmente, na fase pulmonar.The interaction between specific immune response to Schistosoma mansoni and praziquantel (PZQ) was studied in mice. In mice harboring concomitant immunity, 6-day-old parasites treated with PZQ were more effectively removed than 24h treated parasites despite both had a significant worm burden reduction when compared with respective treated controls. These results show that PZQ can be effective at the skin and lung stages of parasite's development mainly acting with a established specific immune response, and particularly at the lung phase

Role of Nitrogen and Yttrium Contents in Manufacturing (Cr, Y)Nx Film Nanostructures

The high-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) technique was applied to deposit multilayer-like (Cr, Y)N(x) coatings on AISI 304L stainless steel, using pendular substrate oscillation and a Cr-Y target and varying the nitrogen flow rate from 10 to 50 sccm. The microstructure, mechanical and tribological properties were investigated by scanning and transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, instrumented nano-hardness, and wear tests. The columnar grain structure became highly segmented and nanosized due to pendular substrate oscillation and the addition of yttrium. The deposition rate increased continuously with the growing nitrogen flow rate. The increase in nitrogen flow from 10 to 50 sccm increased the hardness of the coatings (Cr, Y)N(x), with a maximum hardness value of 32.7 GPa for the coating (Cr, Y)N(x) with a nitrogen flow of 50 sccm, which greatly surpasses the hardness of CrN films with multilayer-like (Cr, Y)N(x) coatings architecture. The best mechanical and tribological performance was achieved for a nitrogen flow rate of 50 sccm. This was enabled by more elevated compressive stresses and impact energies of the impinging ions during film growth, owing to an increase of HiPIMS peak voltage with a rising N2/Ar ratio

Protective Effect of Prolactin against Methylmercury-Induced Mutagenicity and Cytotoxicity on Human Lymphocytes

Mercury exhibits cytotoxic and mutagenic properties as a result of its effect on tubulin. This toxicity mechanism is related to the production of free radicals that can cause DNA damage. Methylmercury (MeHg) is one of the most toxic of the mercury compounds. It accumulates in the aquatic food chain, eventually reaching the human diet. Several studies have demonstrated that prolactin (PRL) may be differently affected by inorganic and organic mercury based on interference with various neurotransmitters involved in the regulation of PRL secretion. This study evaluated the cytoprotective effect of PRL on human lymphocytes exposed to MeHg in vitro, including observation of the kinetics of HL-60 cells (an acute myeloid leukemia lineage) treated with MeHg and PRL at different concentrations, with both treatments with the individual compounds and combined treatments. All treatments with MeHg produced a significant increase in the frequency of chromatid gaps, however, no significant difference was observed in the chromosomal breaks with any treatment. A dose-dependent increase in the mitotic index was observed for treatments with PRL, which also acts as a co-mitogenic factor, regulating proliferation by modulating the expression of genes that are essential for cell cycle progression and cytoskeleton organization. These properties contribute to the protective action of PRL against the cytotoxic and mutagenic effects of MeHg.Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)IFPA Itaituba, Fed Inst Educ Sci & Technol Para, BR-68180000 Campinas, Para, BrazilFed Univ Para, Inst Biol Sci, BR-66075110 Belem, Para, BrazilIFPA, Educ Fed Inst Sci & Technol Para, BR-66645240 Belem, Para, BrazilUniv Para, Ctr Biol & Hlth Sci, BR-66050540 Belem, Para, BrazilFed Univ Western Para, UFOPA, BR-68040470 Santarem, Para, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Morphol & Genet, BR-04021001 São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Morphol & Genet, BR-04021001 São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Sensitive and specific serodiagnosis of Leishmania infantum infection in dogs by using peptides selected from hypothetical proteins identified by an immunoproteomic approach

In Brazil, the percentage of infected dogs living in areas where canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL) is endemic ranges from 10 to 62%; however, the prevalence of infection in dogs is probably higher than figures reported from serological studies. In addition, problems with the occurrence of false-positive or false-negative results in the serodiagnosis of CVL have been reported. The present work analyzed the potential of synthetic peptides mapped from hypothetical proteins for improvement of the serodiagnosis of Leishmania infantum infection in dogs. From 26 identified leishmanial proteins, eight were selected, considering that no homologies between these proteins and others from trypanosomatide sequence databases were encountered. The sequences of these proteins were mapped to identify linear B-cell epitopes, and 17 peptides were synthesized and tested in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) for the serodiagnosis of L. infantum infection in dogs. Of these, three exhibited sensitivity and specificity values higher than 75% and 90%, respectively, to differentiate L. infantum-infected animals from Trypanosoma cruziinfected animals and healthy animals. Soluble Leishmania antigen (SLA) showed poor sensitivity (4%) and specificity (36%) to differentiate L. infantum-infected dogs from healthy and T. cruzi-infected dogs. Lastly, the three selected peptides were combined in different mixtures and higher sensitivity and specificity values were obtained, even when sera from T. cruzi-infected dogs were used. The study’s findings suggest that these three peptides can constitute a potential tool for more sensitive and specific serodiagnosis of L. infantum infection in dogsThis work was supported by grants from the Pró-Reitoria de Pesquisa from UFMG (Edital 07/2012), Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Nano-biofarmacêutica (INCT-NANOBIOFAR, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG) (CBB-APQ-02364-08, CBB-APQ-00356-10, CBB-APQ-00496-11, and CBB-APQ-00819-12), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) (APQ-472090/2011-9), and the Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Vacinas (INCT-V). E.A.F.C. and A.P.F. are CNPq grant recipients. M.A.C.-F. is a FAPEMIG/CAPES grant recipient. This study was supported in Spain, in part, by grants from the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (FIS/PI1100095)

Subtractive phage display selection from canine visceral leishmaniasis identifies novel epitopes that mimic leishmania infantum antigens with potential serodiagnosis applications

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a zoonotic disease that is endemic to Brazil, where dogs are the main domestic parasite reservoirs, and the percentages of infected dogs living in regions where canine VL (CVL) is endemic have ranged from 10% to 62%. Despite technological advances, some problems have been reported with CVL serodiagnosis. The present study describes a sequential subtractive selection through phage display technology from polyclonal antibodies of negative and positive sera that resulted in the identification of potential bacteriophage-fused peptides that were highly sensitive and specific to antibodies of CVL. A negative selection was performed in which phage clones were adhered to purified IgGs from healthy and Trypanosoma cruzi-infected dogs to eliminate cross-reactive phages. The remaining supernatant nonadhered phages were submitted to positive selection against IgG from the blood serum of dogs that were infected with Leishmania infantum. Phage clones that adhered to purified IgGs from the CVL-infected serum samples were selected. Eighteen clones were identified and their reactivities tested by a phage enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (phage-ELISA) against the serum samples from infected dogs (n 31) compared to those from vaccinated dogs (n 21), experimentally infected dogs with cross-reactive parasites (n 23), and healthy controls (n 17). Eight clones presented sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of 100%, and they showed no crossreactivity with T. cruzi- or Ehrlichia canis-infected dogs or with dogs vaccinated with two different commercial CVL vaccines in Brazil. Our study identified eight mimotopes of L. infantum antigens with 100% accuracy for CVL serodiagnosis. The use of these mimotopes by phage-ELISA proved to be an excellent assay that was reproducible, simple, fast, and inexpensive, and it can be applied in CVL-monitoring programsThis work was supported by grants from the Pró-Reitoria de Pesquisa of UFMG (supported 03/2013), the Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Nano-Biofarmacêutica (INCT Nano-Biofar), Rede Nanobiotec/Brasil-UFU (CAPES), PRONEX-FAPEMIG (APQ-01019- 09), FAPEMIG (APQ-00496-11 and APQ-00819-12), and CNPq (APQ- 472090/2011-9 and APQ-482976/2012-8). E.A.F.C. and L.R.G. are recipients of grants from CNPq. M.A.C.-F. is the recipient of a grant from FAPEMIG/CAPE