Caracterização bioquímica e molecular de doentes com diagnóstico clínico de Dislipidemia Familiar Combinada

A Dislipidemia Familiar Combinada (FCHL) é uma doença poligénica caracterizada por hiperlipidemia simples ou combinada, variabilidade intra-individual e intra-familiar do perfil lipídico, ApoB elevada (> 120 mg/dL) e risco elevado de doença cardiovascular (DCV). A sua causa é desconhecida mas alterações nos genes LPL, APOAIV, APOAV, APOCIII e USF1 parecem contribuir para o seu fenótipo. O objectivo deste estudo é caracterizar bioquímica e molecularmente doentes com diagnóstico clínico de FCHL. Todos os exões e promotor dos genes LPL, APOAIV, APOAV, APOCIII e regiões do gene USF1 (s1,s2) de 41 doentes foram amplificados por PCR e sequenciados. O colesterol total (CT), c-LDL, c-HDL, sdLDL, trigliceridos (TG), apoB e apoCIII foram determinados num aparelho automatizado. Em alguns doentes as sdLDL foram também analisadas por electroforese de lipoproteínas. A ApoAIV e ApoAV foram quantificadas por ELISA. Foram encontradas alterações genéticas em 37 doentes, 3 não descritas (APOAIV Q359_E362, APOAV D332fsX336 e APOCIII 3269C>A). O índex com a alteração Q359_E362del apresentou valores normais de apo AIV (15.5 mg/dL) e o índex com a alteração D332fsX336 apresentou valores baixos de apo AV (74.5 ng/mL). Os doentes estudados apresentam valores elevados de CT (285 ± 83 mg/dL), c-LDL (189 ± 85 mg/dL), TG (310 ± 253 mg/dL), e apo CIII (15 ± 4 mg/dL) e valores reduzidos de c-HDL (45 ± 11 mg/dL), sem medicação. Os valores de apoAIV (17,5 ± 10,4 mg/dL) e apoAV (150 ± 135 ng/mL) encontram-se, na maioria dos casos, no intervalo normal assim como os valores de sdLDL (35 ± 18 mg/dL), no entanto alguns casos apresentam valores acima do cut-off para DCV (35 mg/dL). A análise de sdLDL por electroforese foi realizada em 11 doentes, 9 dos quais apresentaram um perfil aterogénico. O valor médio de ApoB destes doentes era de 94 ± 43 mg/dL, mas aproximadamente 70% dos doentes estavam medicados com terapêutica hipolimiante (estatinas e/ou fibratos). Cerca de 30% dos doentes apresentavam DCV prematura. Os resultados obtidos parecem indicar que alterações nos genes estudados influenciam o fenótipo da FCHL. Os níveis séricos de apo CIII encontram-se alterados nesta dislipidemia. Doentes com FCHL, apesar de estarem medicados, apresentam valores elevados de sdLDL, evidenciando o seu elevado risco cardiovascular. A caracterização bioquímica complementa a identificação genética e permite uma melhor avaliação do risco cardiovascular do doente bem como a escolha de uma terapêutica adequada

Caracterização e classificação dos solos do Campo Experimental da Embrapa Acre, Rio Branco, Estado do Acre.

bitstream/item/66701/1/Oriental-Doc122.pdfAnexo: Mapa semidetalhado dos solos da área do Campo Experimental do CPAF- Acre

Nitrous oxide emissions from soils under sugarcane fields in the Cerrado.

Soil fertilization with mineral nitrogen and organic fertilizers, such as the vinasse ? a liquid waste from bio-ethanol production, is a common practice on the sugarcane produced in Brazil that can lead to increasing emissions of greenhouse gases. Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a greenhouse gas even more harmful than the carbon dioxide (CO2), and has longer residence time in the atmosphere. The present study has been conducted on a sugarcane irrigated experiment established at the EMBRAPA Cerrados research station, in Brazil. We hypothesized that N2O emissions would be higher in the sugarcane fields, especially in the fertilized areas that combined mineral nitrogen (N) and vinasse (V), than in the native vegetation remnants (Cerrado); and that irrigated soils would have the highest fluxes of N2O. First measurements were done after the application of N and vinasse in May 2014 until June 2014 as an intensive campaign, and continuous monitoring have been conducted so far. Preliminary results showed that higher emissions occurred on soils combining N and V, showing fluxes that were twice as higher than the fluxes from other treatments, and 100 times bigger than fluxes from soils with native vegetation (469±158, 62.3±6.9, and 0.8±0.1 for V+N, N and Cerrado areas, respectively). The present study is pioneer in the Cerrado region and data are important to assess the regional variations on the N2O fluxes in Brazil, to reduce the bias on national estimations of N2O emissions, and to find more sustainable solutions for the production of bio-ethanol from sugarcane

Path dependent scaling of geometric phase near a quantum multi-critical point

We study the geometric phase of the ground state in a one-dimensional transverse XY spin chain in the vicinity of a quantum multi-critical point. We approach the multi-critical point along different paths and estimate the geometric phase by applying a rotation in all spins about z-axis by an angle $\eta$. Although the geometric phase itself vanishes at the multi-critical point, the derivative with respect to the anisotropy parameter of the model shows peaks at different points on the ferromagnetic side close to it where the energy gap is a local minimum; we call these points `quasi-critical'. The value of the derivative at any quasi-critical point scales with the system size in a power-law fashion with the exponent varying continuously with the parameter $\alpha$ that defines a path, upto a critical value $\alpha = \alpha_{c}=2$. For $\alpha > \alpha_{c}$, or on the paramagnetic side no such peak is observed. Numerically obtained results are in perfect agreement with analytical predictions.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure

Pre-concentration of rosuvastatin using solid-phase extraction in a molecularly imprinted polymer and analytical application in water supply

In this work, it is shown the development and validation of innovative analytical methodology based on solid-phase extraction (SPE) with molecularly imprinted polymers (MIP) as a sorbent associated to UV–Vis spectroscopy to isolate and quantify, respectively, rosuvastatin (RSV) in water samples. For this purpose, porogenic solvent in MIP synthesis and SPE extraction parameters for MIP and non-imprinted polymers (NIP) were evaluated univariately for comparison purposes. The sorptive capacity and characterization studies by infrared spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy showed difference between MIP and NIP. The selectivity study of the MIP–RSVagainst other statins (simvastatin and atorvastatin) showed that the synthesized MIP can also be applied as a solid phase for isolation and quantitative pre-concentration of RSVand atorvastatin. The conjugation of SPE and UV–Vis spectroscopy in the determination of RSV in aqueous matrices led to large factor of pre-concentration (125 times), limit of detection (LOD) of 3 μg L−1, limit of quantification (LOQ) of 10 μg L−1, precision of 2.87% (n = 10), and accuracy of 83.1% (n = 4)

CHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION AND ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF HYDROETHANOLIC CRUDE EXTRACT OF EUGENIA FLORIDA DC (MYRTACEAE) LEAVES

Objective: The present study aimed to characterize and quantify the total phenolics, flavonoids and tannins in a hydroethanolic crude extract (70% (v/v) (EB)) of the leaves of E. florida DC, as well as to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of the extract against different species of micro-organisms.Methods: EB was characterized using a mass spectrometer equipped with a direct insertion device for in-stream injection (FIA). Quantitative analyses of major compounds were carried out by spectrophotometry. In addition, we evaluated the sensitivity profiles of different strains of yeast and bacteria against different concentrations of EB.Results: The classes found were in agreement with those described in the literature: flavonoids, tannins, phenolic acids and saponins. EB showed levels of phenolic compounds, flavonoids and tannins equal to 25.82 mg gallic acid equivalents per gram of extract (EAG/g), 8.42 mg quercetin equivalents per gram of extract (EQ/g) and 7.30 mg tannic acid equivalents per gram of extract (AT/g), respectively. In the analysis of antimicrobial activity, EB was more active against yeasts but was not effective against the bacteria used in the test.Conclusion: We can conclude that E. florida DC has antimicrobial potential, due to the presence of bioactive secondary metabolites.Keywords: Phenolics, Micro-organisms, Mass spectrometer, Yeasts, Bacteria, PotentialÂ