Roles and Clinical Applications of OPG and TRAIL as Biomarkers in Cardiovascular Disease

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) remain the major cause of death and premature disability in Western societies. Assessing the risk of CVD is an important aspect in clinical decision-making. Among the growing number of molecules that are studied for their potential utility as CVD biomarkers, a lot of attention has been focused on osteoprotegerin (OPG) and its ligands, which are receptor activator of nuclear factor \u3baB ligand (RANKL) and TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand. Based on the existing literature and on our experience in this field, here we review what the possible roles of OPG and TRAIL in CVD are and their potential utility as CVD biomarkers

Utilização do Biodiesel como Forma de Reduzir a Emissão de CO2, e os Custos com Óleo Diesel

Devido à evolução de carga transportada há um aumento do consumo de diesel do transporte ferroviário, e, portanto, existe uma preocupação em desenvolver mecanismo para amenizar o impacto ambiental causado pelo uso de combustíveis fósseis e redução do custo com o seu uso. O biodiesel vem sendo uma fonte de energia alternativa promissora, o qual propõe não só em reduzir os principais gases causadores do efeito estufa, como também em amenizar o alto custo com o consumo de óleo diesel. Dado a essa sua importante característica, o presente trabalho tem como objetivo de levantar, de forma sucinta, as tendências desse biocombustível no modo ferroviário, tendo como referencia de aplicabilidade e sucesso à Companhia do Vale do Rio Doce.--------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------Due to carried load evolution there is an increase in the consumption of diesel rail transport, and, therefore, there is a concern to develop mechanism to alleviate the environmental impact caused by the use of fossil fuels and reducing the cost with its use. The biodiesel has been a source of energy promising alternative, which proposes not only to reduce the principal gases causing the greenhouse effect, as well as alleviate the high cost to the consumption of diesel oil. Given that its important feature, this paper has as objective of raising, briefly, trends in the way that biofuel rail, taking as reference of applicability and success of the Company Vale do Rio Doce.biodiesel, transporte ferroviário, redução de poluição, Biodiesel, rail transport, reduction of pollution, Environmental Economics and Policy,

Hyaluronic Acid Conjugates as Vectors for the Active Targeting of Drugs, Genes and Nanocomposites in Cancer Treatment

Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a naturally-occurring glycosaminoglycan and a major component of the extracellular matrix. Low levels of the hyaluronic acid receptor CD44 are found on the surface of epithelial, hematopoietic, and neuronal cells; it is overexpressed in many cancer cells, and in particular in tumor-initiating cells. HA has recently attracted considerable interest in the field of developing drug delivery systems, having been used, as such or encapsulated in different types of nanoassembly, as ligand to prepare nano-platforms for actively targeting drugs, genes, and diagnostic agents. This review describes recent progress made with the several chemical strategies adopted to synthesize conjugates and prepare novel delivery systems with improved behaviors