A DISSEMINAÇÃO DA PESQUISA AMBIENTAL: UM DESAFIO PARA A COMUNICAÇÃO CIENTÍFICA

Este artigo aborda a relação entre a comunicação científica e a pesquisa ambiental. O conhecimento científico fragmentado é incapaz de compreender a dinâmica da complexa rede que envolve a temática ambiental. Com isso surge um desafio no campo de ensino e nas práticas de pesquisa, cujos resultados são disseminados pelos periódicos científicos que podem ou não legitimar novas formas de conhecimento. Neste sentido, apresentamos algumas reflexões sobre as funções da comunicação científica, da responsabilidade do pesquisador, bem como da necessidade de uma reformulação das políticas dos periódicos científicos, implicando maior visibilidade para as pesquisas, que apreendam a complexidade ambiental

The spin label amino acid TOAC and its uses in studies of peptides: chemical, physicochemical, spectroscopic, and conformational aspects

We review work on the paramagnetic amino acid 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-N-oxyl-4-amino-4-carboxylic acid, TOAC, and its applications in studies of peptides and peptide synthesis. TOAC was the first spin label probe incorporated in peptides by means of a peptide bond. In view of the rigid character of this cyclic molecule and its attachment to the peptide backbone via a peptide bond, TOAC incorporation has been very useful to analyze backbone dynamics and peptide secondary structure. Many of these studies were performed making use of EPR spectroscopy, but other physical techniques, such as X-ray crystallography, CD, fluorescence, NMR, and FT-IR, have been employed. The use of double-labeled synthetic peptides has allowed the investigation of their secondary structure. A large number of studies have focused on the interaction of peptides, both synthetic and biologically active, with membranes. In the latter case, work has been reported on ligands and fragments of GPCR, host defense peptides, phospholamban, and β-amyloid. EPR studies of macroscopically aligned samples have provided information on the orientation of peptides in membranes. More recent studies have focused on peptide–protein and peptide–nucleic acid interactions. Moreover, TOAC has been shown to be a valuable probe for paramagnetic relaxation enhancement NMR studies of the interaction of labeled peptides with proteins. The growth of the number of TOAC-related publications suggests that this unnatural amino acid will find increasing applications in the future

A DISSEMINAÇÃO DA PESQUISA AMBIENTAL: UM DESAFIO PARA A COMUNICAÇÃO CIENTÍFICA

  Este artigo aborda a relação entre a comunicação científica e a pesquisa ambiental. O conhecimento científico fragmentado é incapaz de compreender a dinâmica da complexa rede que envolve a temática ambiental. Com isso surge um desafio no campo de ensino e nas práticas de pesquisa, cujos resultados são disseminados pelos periódicos científicos que podem ou não legitimar novas formas de conhecimento. Neste sentido, apresentamos algumas reflexões sobre as funções da comunicação científica, da responsabilidade do pesquisador, bem como da necessidade de uma reformulação das políticas dos periódicos científicos, implicando maior visibilidade para as pesquisas, que apreendam a complexidade ambiental

Trop-2 protein overexpression is an independent marker for predicting disease recurrence in endometrioid endometrial carcinoma

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecologic malignancy in developed countries. Trop-2 is a glycoprotein involved in cellular signal transduction and is differentially overexpressed relative to normal tissue in a variety of human adenocarcinomas, including endometrioid endometrial carcinomas (EEC). Trop-2 overexpression has been proposed as a marker for biologically aggressive tumor phenotypes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Trop-2 protein expression was quantified using tissue microarrays consisting of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded specimens from 118 patients who underwent surgical staging from 2001–9 by laparotomy for EEC. Clinicopathologic characteristics including age, stage, grade, lymphovascular space invasion, and medical comorbidities were correlated with immunostaining score. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed for overall survival, disease-free survival, and progression-free survival in relation to clinical parameters and Trop-2 protein expression.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Clinical outcome data were available for 103 patients. Strong Trop-2 immunostaining was significantly associated with higher tumor grade (p=0.02) and cervical involvement (p<0.01). Univariate analyses showed a significant association with reduced disease-free survival (DFS) (p=0.01), and a trend towards significance for overall and progression-free survival (p=0.06 and p=0.05, respectively). Multivariate analyses revealed Trop-2 overexpression and advanced FIGO stage to be independent prognostic factors for poor DFS (p=0.04 and p <0.001, respectively).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Trop-2 protein overexpression is significantly associated with higher tumor grade and serves as an independent prognostic factor for DFS in endometrioid endometrial cancer.</p