Complete regression and systemic protective immune responses obtained in B16 melanomas after treatment with LTX-315

A manuscript version of this article is part of Ketil André Camilio's doctoral thesis, which is available in Munin at http://hdl.handle.net/10037/5489</a

Urban Organic Farming for Diversified Agriculture

Urban organic farming had been shown in previous projects as well as the present one to have the potential of addressing the fundamental requirements of food security by addressing issues of availability since production is just in the vicinity, which also addresses the carbon footprint of food production because food need not be transported to far distances. The use of organic methods also contributed to increased food safety. More importantly, the practice of urban agriculture empowers local residents in the stewardship, specifically of their barangay’s green spaces and more broadly the whole urban environment (see Mogk, Kwiatkowski, &Weindorf, 2010). However, to make full use of the potentials of urban agriculture, the local government should integrate these initiatives in urban planning and framing of policies and regulations (see Mougeot, 2006 and Mukherji& Morales 2010)

Avaliação dos impactos ambientais da ovinocultura de corte no Rio Grande do Sul

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Diseño y prototipo de supercondensador asimétrico en electrolito acuoso basado en materiales carbonosos

Se ha realizado un estudio de la caracterización y fabricación de un prototipo supercondensador asimétrico en electrolito acuoso basado en materiales carbonosos en la escala de los 100 cm2. Se ha comenzado con el estudio de un carbón activado comercial en celda tipo botón estándar CR. Tras la determinación de los valores de capacidad y comportamiento del material en la configuración tanto de electrodo positivo como en electrodo negativo, se ha realizado un estudio de modelo matemático de diseño y fabricación de celda completa. Este modelo se ha evaluado en electrodos de tamaños de 100cm2 y posteriormente encapsulados en formato de celda prismática y de celda de bolsa tipo “pouch cell”. El resultado ha sido un modelo viable de establecimiento del máximo voltaje seguro de operación de dispositivo para una relación de asimetría determinada

Short Lytic Anticancer Peptides as a Novel Therapy against Cancer

Cancer is the leading cause of deaths worldwide, with a significant increase in the number of annual incidents. Concurrently, cancer-related therapy has been met with a number of challenges, such as toxic side effects and an increase in multi-drug resistant cancer cells, thereby spawning a need for new and improved therapies. Cationic antimicrobial peptides (CAPs) are naturally occurring molecules found in most species, often as an integral part of the first line of defense against pathogens. Several CAPs have shown promising potential as novel anticancer agents with an ability to selectively kill cancer cells. Structure-activity relationship studies on bovine lactoferricin allowed us to de novo design short chemically modified lytic anticancer peptides (ACPs) with an improved therapeutic potential compared to bovine lactoferricin. The intratumoral (i.t.) administration of LTX-302 induced a complete regression of- and a long-term and transferrable tumor-specific immune protection against syngeneic A20 B cell lymphomas. A more active nonapeptide, LTX-315, was able to induce complete regression and a long-term tumor immune protection against highly aggressive and low immunogenic syngeneic B16 melanomas. By inducing rapid necrosis and local inflammation due to the release of Danger-Associated Molecular Pattern molecules, i.t. administration of the ACPs stimulated the infiltration of immune cells into the tumor parenchyma, thus creating a synergistic relationship between the direct disruptive effects and the indirect immunomodulatory effects of the peptides. This thesis also demonstrates that ACPs with a high cell membrane disruptive potential such as LTX-315 can be used in an immune augmenting adjuvant setting due to its potential to stimulate immune responses. Intradermal administration of LTX-315 induced reversible tissue damage, leading to local inflammation and the infiltration of immune cells at the injection site. When used together with a tumor cell lysate, the combination was able to mount a long-term tumor immune protection against syngeneic B16 melanomas. Taken together, the data presented in this thesis demonstrates that i.t. treatment with short lytic LTX-ACPs can have potential as new immunotherapeutic agents by enlisting local tumor control, followed by protective immune responses. Moreover, LTX-315 has an immune augmenting adjuvant potential when used in combination with a whole cell cancer vaccine