NOVIDADES EM FÁRMACOS ANTIFÚNGICOS: UMA REVISÃO

As infecções fúngicas sistêmicas, principalmente as oportunistas, têm crescido muito devido ao aumento na sobrevida de pessoas com sistema imunológico debilitado, como os portadores da Síndrome da Imunodeficiência Adquirida e os idosos. Devido ao fato dos antifúngicos até então disponíveis no mercado não satisfazerem a necessidade médica por completo, a busca por tais fármacos foi intensificada, resultando na descoberta de fármacos com mecanismo de ação inovador (candinas, aureobasidinas), além do aumento no número de fármacos pertencentes a classes já existentes (azóis). NEW ANTIFUNGIC DRUGS: A REVIEW Abstract The sistemic fungal infections, specialy opportunistic, have grown a lot due to the increase of survival of persons with debilitaded immunological system, like people who have Adquirid Immunodefficiency Syndrome and like elders. Because of the fact antifungal agents up to now disponible in the market have not satisfied medical necessity completely, the search for such drugs was intensified, resulting in the discovery of drugs with inovating mechanism of action (chandins, aureobasidins), beside the increase in the number of drugs belonging to classes already known (azoles)

Learning from the past : Impact of the Arctic Oscillation on sea ice and marine productivity off northwest Greenland over the last 9,000 years

Climate warming is rapidly reshaping the Arctic cryosphere and ocean conditions, with consequences for sea ice and pelagic productivity patterns affecting the entire marine food web. To predict how ongoing changes will impact Arctic marine ecosystems, concerted effort from various disciplines is required. Here, we contribute multi-decadal reconstructions of changes in diatom production and sea-ice conditions in relation to Holocene climate and ocean conditions off northwest Greenland. Our multiproxy study includes diatoms, sea-ice biomarkers (IP(25)and HBI III) and geochemical tracers (TOC [total organic carbon], TOC:TN [total nitrogen], delta C-13, delta N-15) from a sediment core record spanning the last c. 9,000 years. Our results suggest that the balance between the outflow of polar water from the Arctic, and input of Atlantic water from the Irminger Current into the West Greenland Current is a key factor in controlling sea-ice conditions, and both diatom phenology and production in northeastern Baffin Bay. Our proxy record notably shows that changes in sea-surface conditions initially forced by Neoglacial cooling were dynamically amplified by the shift in the dominant phase of the Arctic Oscillation (AO) mode that occurred at c. 3,000 yr BP, and caused drastic changes in community composition and a decline in diatom production at the study site. In the future, with projected dominant-positive AO conditions favored by Arctic warming, increased water column stratification may counteract the positive effect of a longer open-water growth season and negatively impact diatom production.Peer reviewe

Vulnerability of the North Water ecosystem to climate change

High Arctic ecosystems and Indigenous livelihoods are tightly linked and exposed to climate change, yet assessing their sensitivity requires a long-term perspective. Here, we assess the vulnerability of the North Water polynya, a unique seaice ecosystem that sustains the world’s northernmost Inuit communities and several keystone Arctic species. We reconstruct mid-to-late Holocene changes in sea ice, marine primary production, and little auk colony dynamics through multi-proxy analysis of marine and lake sediment cores. Our results suggest a productive ecosystem by 4400–4200 cal yrs b2k coincident with the arrival of the first humans in Greenland. Climate forcing during the late Holocene, leading to periods of polynya instability and marine productivity decline, is strikingly coeval with the human abandonment of Greenland from c. 2200–1200 cal yrs b2k. Our long-term perspective highlights the future decline of the North Water ecosystem, due to climate warming and changing sea-ice conditions, as an important climate change risk

Sigma Receptor (σR) Ligands with Antiproliferative and Anticancer Activity

Sigma receptor (σR) ligands have proven to be useful as cancer diagnostics and anticancer therapeutics and their ligands have been developed as molecular probes in oncology. Moreover, various σR ligands generate cancer cell death in vitro and in vivo. These σR ligands have exhibited promising results against numerous human and rodent cancers and are investigated under preclinical and clinical study trials, indicating a new category of drugs in cancer therapy

Local and regional controls on Holocene sea ice dynamics and oceanography in Nares Strait, Northwest Greenland

International audienceNares Strait is one of three channels that connect the Arctic Ocean to Baffin Bay. Unique sea-ice conditions in the strait lead to the formation of landfast ice arches at its northern and southern ends. These ice arches regulate Arctic sea-ice and freshwater export through the strait and promote the opening of the North Water polynya. The present study addresses the paucity of pre-satellite records of environmental conditions in the Nares Strait area, and aims at reconstructing Holocene sea-ice conditions and ocean circulation in the strait. The investigation is based on a marine sediment core strategically retrieved from under the current ice arch in Kane Basin to the south of Nares Strait, and provides a continuous record spanning the past ca 9 kyrs. We use benthic foraminiferal assemblages and sea-ice biomarkers to infer changes in Holocene ocean circulation and sea-ice conditions in Kane Basin. The establishment of the modern ocean circulation in Kane Basin is related to ice sheet retreat and postglacial rebound, while changes in sea-ice cover concur with major shifts in the Arctic Oscillation (AO). Our results suggest that sea-ice cover in Kane Basin was highly variable between ca 9.0 and 8.3 cal. ka BP, before increasing, probably in link with the 8.2 cold event and the opening of Nares Strait. A short period of minimum sea-ice cover and maximum Atlantic bottom water influence occurred between ca 8.1 and 7.5 cal. ka BP, when Kane Basin was deeper than for the remaining of the Holocene. As atmospheric temperatures dropped, sea-ice cover intensified in Kane Basin between ca 7.5 and 5.5 cal. ka BP, but strong winds under prevailing positive-like AO conditions likely prevented the formation of ice arches in Nares Strait. During this time, our micro-paleontological data show that Atlantic water was progressively excluded from Kane Basin by the postglacial isostatic rebound. Increasingly cooler atmospheric temperatures and a shift towards more negative phases of the AO may have promoted the establishment of ice arches in Nares Strait between ca 5.5 and 3.0 cal. ka BP. Instabilities in the Kane Basin ice arch ca 3.0 cal. ka BP coincide with a shift towards prevailing positive phases of the AO, while a brief recovery of the ice arch occurred during more negative-like AO conditions between ca 1.2 and 0.2 cal. ka BP

Racial and Ethnic Inequalities, Health Disparities and Racism in Times of COVID-19 Pandemic Populism in the EU: Unveiling Anti-Migrant Attitudes, Precarious Living Conditions and Barriers to Integration in Greece

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact particularly on the most vulnerable populations, including immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees in the EU. The article depicts the results of the comparative research project “Local Alliance for Integration (LION/GSRI/University of West Attica/81018): Migrant and Refugee integration into local societies in times of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain and Greece” implementing a qualitative methodology. This article analyses via 32 in-depth interviews the experiences of immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees in Greece, the increased barriers towards integration due to racial and ethnic inequalities, precarity and health disparities during this period which function as a means of perpetuating exclusion in five sectors: (a) formal employment, (b) healthcare, (c) formal education and language training, (d) housing and social care/protection, and (e) intercultural coexistence as well as the new rise of a hostile rhetoric and anti-migrant attitudes under a COVID-19 pandemic populism. The unravelling of the narratives revealed perceptions and practices of inequality and uncertainty as well as of hope. The socioeconomic impact of the pandemic on immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees, similarities and differences that occurred and evidence of the ongoing obstacles they encountered during the pandemic are presented. Policy and practice implications include the implementation of prevention measures by the institutions that are tasked with the responsibility to remove hindrances, address unequal treatment, racial/ethnic and social inequalities and raise awareness on multiple ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has intensified vulnerability

Racial and Ethnic Inequalities, Health Disparities and Racism in Times of COVID-19 Pandemic Populism in the EU: Unveiling Anti-Migrant Attitudes, Precarious Living Conditions and Barriers to Integration in Greece

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact particularly on the most vulnerable populations, including immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees in the EU. The article depicts the results of the comparative research project “Local Alliance for Integration (LION/GSRI/University of West Attica/81018): Migrant and Refugee integration into local societies in times of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain and Greece” implementing a qualitative methodology. This article analyses via 32 in-depth interviews the experiences of immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees in Greece, the increased barriers towards integration due to racial and ethnic inequalities, precarity and health disparities during this period which function as a means of perpetuating exclusion in five sectors: (a) formal employment, (b) healthcare, (c) formal education and language training, (d) housing and social care/protection, and (e) intercultural coexistence as well as the new rise of a hostile rhetoric and anti-migrant attitudes under a COVID-19 pandemic populism. The unravelling of the narratives revealed perceptions and practices of inequality and uncertainty as well as of hope. The socioeconomic impact of the pandemic on immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees, similarities and differences that occurred and evidence of the ongoing obstacles they encountered during the pandemic are presented. Policy and practice implications include the implementation of prevention measures by the institutions that are tasked with the responsibility to remove hindrances, address unequal treatment, racial/ethnic and social inequalities and raise awareness on multiple ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has intensified vulnerability

Total sedimentary organic carbon and nitrogen analyses from marine sediment core AMD14-204_CASQ

Total sedimentary organic carbon contents (TOC; %), total nitrogen (TN; %), ratio TOC to TN, carbon and nitrogen isotopic compositions (‰) from the marine sediment core AMD14-204 that was retrieved from the West Greenland shelf, offshore Upernavik, and which spans the last ca. 9,000 years