Law, politics and environmental-protection in Brazil

This article aims to examine the evolution of legal provisions of the environmental question in Brazil as well as to analyze the existing contradictions between country's legal order and its actual environmental situation. After a short comment on the basic aspects of the legal protection of the environment in Brazil, it will be argued that the legal picture is, on the whole, satisfactory, and cannot be referred to as the cause of the existing conditions of environmental degradation. The argument will be made that the causes of such a situation-as well as of inefficiency of the legislation-have to be looked for in the dynamics of the country's political process. The emphasis will then be put on the main factors which have determined the nature of state action on the matter and which have made the citizens' participation in environmental management extremely difficult, namely the existence of a conservative conception of the private property right, the lack of a proper environmental policy, the limited scope for the action of judicial power, and principally the existing centralized and segregative decision-making process. Finally, these elements will be analyzed in the light of the new 1988 Federal Constitution, justifying the claim that, if the legal picture is-more than ever-adequate, much has still to be done to ensure the full recognition of environmental values in the country's political process

Superficie de silica gel suportada com acetilhidrazina : propriedades , caracterização e quimissorção dos ions metalicos Co (II), Cu (II), Ni (II) e Zn (II) em etanol e acetona

Orientador : Claudio AiroldiDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de QuimicaMestrad

Highly efficient synthetic iron-dependent nucleases activate both intrinsic and extrinsic apoptotic death pathways in leukemia cancer cells

The nuclease activity and the cytotoxicity toward human leukemia cancer cells of iron complexes, [Fe(HPClNOL) Cl-2]NO3 (1), [Cl(HPClNOL)Fe(mu-O)Fe(HPClNOL)Cl]Cl-2 center dot 2H(2)O (2), and [(SO4)(HPCINOL)Fe(mu-O)Fe(HPCINOL)(SO4)]center dot 6H(2)O (3) (HPCINOL = 1-(bis-pyridin-2-ylmethyl-amino)-3-chloropropan-2-ol), were investigated. Each complex was able to promote plasmid DNA cleavage and change the supercoiled form of the plasmid to circular and linear ones. Kinetic data revealed that (1), (2) and (3) increase the rate of DNA hydrolysis about 278, 192 and 339 million-fold, respectively. The activity of the complexes was inhibited by distamycin, indicating that they interact with the minor groove of the DNA. The cytotoxic activity of the complexes toward U937, HL-60, Jukart and THP-1 leukemia cancer cells was studied employing 3-(4,5-dimethythiazol-2-y1)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT), fluorescence and electronic transmission microscopies, flow cytometry and a cytochrome C release assay. Compound (2) has the highest activity toward cancer cells and is the least toxic for normal ones (i.e. peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs)). In contrast, compound (1) is the least active toward cancer cells but displays the highest toxicity toward normal cells. Transmission electronic microscopy indicates that cell death shows features typical of apoptotic cells, which was confirmed using the annexin V-FITC/PI (fluorescein isothiocyanate/propidium iodide) assay. Furthermore, our data demonstrate that at an early stage during the treatment with complex (2) mitochondria lose their transmembrane potential, resulting in cytochrome C release. A quantification of caspases 3,9 (intrinsic apoptosis pathway) and caspase 8 (extrinsic apoptosis pathway) indicated that both the intrinsic (via mitochondria) and extrinsic (via death receptors) pathways are involved in the apoptotic stimuli. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved