Design and anticancer properties of new water-soluble ruthenium–cyclopentadienyl complexes

Ruthenium complexes are emerging as one of the most promising classes of complexes for cancer therapy. However, their limited aqueous solubility may be the major limitation to their potential clinical application. In view and to contribute to the progress of this field, eight new water-soluble Ru(II) organometallic complexes of general formula [RuCp(mTPPMS)n(L)] [CF3SO3], where mTPPMS = diphenylphosphane-benzene-3-sulfonate, for n = 2, L is an imidazole-based ligand (imidazole, 1-benzylimidazole, 1-butylimidazole, (1-(3 aminopropyl)imidazole), and (1-(4-methoxyphenyl)imidazole)), and for n = 1, L is a bidentate heteroaromatic ligand (2-benzoylpyridine, (di(2-pyridyl)ketone), and (1,2-(2-pyridyl)benzo-[b]thiophene)) were synthesized and characterized. The new complexes were fully characterized by NMR, FT-IR, UV–vis., ESI-HRMS, and cyclic voltammetry, which confirmed all the proposed molecular structures. The antiproliferative potential of the new Ru(II) complexes was evaluated on MDAMB231 breast adenocarcinoma, A2780 ovarian carcinoma, and HT29 colorectal adenocarcinoma cell lines, showing micromolar (MDAMB231 and HT29) and submicromolar (A2780) IC50 values. The interaction of complex 6 with human serum albumin (HSA) and fatty-acid-free human serum albumin (HSAfaf) was evaluated by fluorescence spectroscopy techniques, and the results revealed that the ruthenium complex strongly quenches the intrinsic fluorescence of albumin in both cases.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

How wide should be the adjacent area to an urban motorway to prevent potential health impacts from traffic emissions?

In recent years, several studies show that people who live, work or attend school near the main roadways have an increased incidence and severity of health problems that may be related with traffic emissions of air pollutants. The concentrations of near-road atmospheric pollutants vary depending on traffic patterns, environmental conditions, topography and the presence of roadside structures. In this study, the vertical and horizontal variation of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and benzene (C6H6) concentration along a major city ring motorway were analysed. The main goal of this study is to try to establish a distance from this urban motorway considered ‘‘safe’’ concerning the air pollutants human heath limit values and to study the influence of the different forcing factors of the near road air pollutants transport and dispersion. Statistic significant differences (p = 0.001, Kruskal–Wallis test) were observed between sub-domains for NO2 representing different conditions of traffic emission and pollutants dispersion, but not for C6H6 (p = 0.335). Results also suggest significant lower concentrations recorded at 100 m away from roadway than at the roadside for all campaigns (p < 0.016 (NO2) and p < 0.036 (C6H6), Mann–Whitney test). In order to have a ‘‘safe’’ life in homes located near motorways, the outdoor concentrations of NO2 must not exceed 44–60.0 lg m3 and C6H6 must not exceed 1.4– 3.3 lg m3 . However, at 100 m away from roadway, 81.8% of NO2 receptors exceed the annual limit value of human health protection (40 lg m3 ) and at the roadside this value goes up to 95.5%. These findings suggest that the safe distance to an urban motorway roadside should be more at least 100 m. This distance should be further studied before being used as a reference to develop articulated urban mobility and planning policies.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Analysis of the effectiveness of the NEC Directive on the tropospheric ozone levels in Portugal

The National Emission Ceilings Directive 2001/81/CE (NEC Directive) was adopted in the European Community in 2001 and went through a revision process in 2005. One of its main objectives is to improve the protection of the environment and human health against the risks of adverse effects from ground-level ozone, moving towards the long-term objective of not exceeding critical levels proved to effectively protect the populations and ecosystems. Considering such objectives, national emission ceilings were established imposing the years 2010 and 2020 as benchmarks. Ten years later, what was the effectiveness of this Directive concerning the control of tropospheric ozone levels in Portugal? In order to answer the previous question, annual ozone precursors' emissions (NOx, NMVOC) and annual atmospheric concentrations (NOx and O3) were analyzed between 1990 and 2011. The background concentrations were assessed in each environment type of air quality station (urban, suburban and rural) through their annual mean ozone concentration and the hourly information threshold exceedances (episodic peak levels). To evaluate the statistical differences in the inter-annual episodic peak levels, a Peak Ozone Index (POIx) was defined and calculated. The results show that, despite the achievement on the emissions NEC Directive goals, associated to the reduction of ozone precursors' emissions, and the decrease of ozone episodic peak levels, the mean tropospheric ozone concentrations significantly increased between 2003 and 2007 (p < 0.05) although the number of exceedances to the information threshold (180 mg m3 ) has decreased. During the period of 1990e2000, before the implementation of the NEC Directive, the mean ozone values were 25% lower in rural stations, 26% in urban stations and 12% in suburban stations, demonstrating that the NEC policy based on NOx and NMVOCs emissions reduction does not lead to an effective overall reduction of ozone concentrations considering the reduction on these pollutants independently. Indeed, the mesoscale ozone production and/or the long range advection may play also an important role as the analysis of Mace Head ozone concentrations suggests. Above all, and due to its non-linear interactions in the ozone chemical balance, the NEC directive should impose emissions' reduction respecting the NOx/NMVOC ratio instead of consider it as a mere guideline value. The mesoscale photochemical ozone production should be carefully analyzed under the new policies, namely in coastal countries like Portugal where the mesoscale circulations play a crucial role in this type of phenomena.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Learning from 24 years of ozone data in Portugal

Ozone (O3) is a secondary pollutant mainly produced in the troposphere by photochemical reactions with high impact on human health. In this work hourly average O3 concentrations from the Portuguese air quality network collected during 24 years (1988–2011) were analysed. The background time series were assessed by environment type (urban, suburban and rural) and considering several criteria: the annual mean O3 concentration, the Directive 2008/50/EC O3 long-term objective and the 2005 WHO Guideline for protection of human health and, finally, the hourly information threshold exceedances. The trend of annual mean O3 concentration data and the maximum daily eight-hour mean ozone concentration data were both annually compared using an one-way ANOVA followed by a Tamhane post-hoc comparison test. In both series, although of an instable trend, a tendency for an increase of the mean O3 concentrations was found. On the other hand, after 2006, for all stations types, the normalized number of exceedances for public O3 information are significantly decreasing (p<0.05). In this paper, the O3 trend will be analyzed and discussed, contributing to improve knowledge of long time series of O3 concentrations in Portugal.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Sea urchin (

Sea urchin processing practices by the canning industry result in a large volume of waste due to a high fraction of inedible parts, in special the gut, that can still be a valuable source of bioactive compounds. Therefore, this work aimed to thoroughly characterise gut biomass from Paracentrotus lividus evaluating its bioactive potential. The gut biomass was evaluated in terms of bioactive capacity, and biochemical composition in both males and females. Although no statistical differences were found between sexes in any of these parameters, this study provided a proof of concept on the potential of sea urchin's gut, obtained as a co-product in the sea urchin industry, for feed supplementation. The gut biomass exhibited a high antioxidant capacity (IC50 ≈ 0.5–1.0 mgDW mL−1 in four different assays) and bactericidal activity (IC50 < 1.0 mgDW mL−1 against Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Edwardsiella tarda, and Tenacibaculum maritimum). The gut co-product can also be used as a source of phenolic compounds, carotenoids, and PUFAs, with contents of 4.6 ± 0.4, 2.4 ± 0.8, and 93.0 ± 3.1 mg gDW−1, respectively. Overall, the sea urchin's gut seems a valuable product with a remarkable potential for use in aquafeeds as a source of bioactive compounds

Effect of tris(3-hydroxy-4-pyridinonate) iron(III) complexes on iron uptake and storage in soybean (Glycine max L.)

Iron deficiency chlorosis (IDC) is a serious environmental problem affecting the growth of several crops in the world. The application of synthetic Fe(III) chelates is still one of the most common measures to correct IDC and the search for more effective Fe chelates remains an important issue. Herein, we propose a tris(3-hydroxy-4-pyridinonate) iron(III) complex, Fe(mpp)3, as an IDC corrector. Different morphological, biochemical and molecular parameters were assessed as a first step towards understanding its mode of action, compared with that of the commercial fertilizer FeEDDHA. Plants treated with the pyridinone iron(III) complexes were significantly greener and had increased biomass. The total Fe content was measured using ICP-OES and plants treated with pyridinone complexes accumulated about 50% more Fe than those treated with the commercial chelate. In particular, plants supplied with compound Fe(mpp)3 were able to translocate iron from the roots to the shoots and did not elicit the expression of the Fe-stress related genes FRO2 and IRT1. These results suggest that 3,4-HPO iron(III) chelates could be a potential new class of plant fertilizing agents.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Short Communication - First encounter of subclinical human Leishmania ( Viannia) infection in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the specificity of the Montenegro skin test (MST) in an area in Brazil, state of Grande do Sul State (RS), which was considered to be non-endemic for leishmaniasis. Sixty subjects presented a positive MST and were reevaluated by clinical examination, serology and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of peripheral blood for the detection of subclinical Leishmania infection. None of the subjects presented clinical signs or symptoms of current leishmaniasis or a history of the disease.Leishmania (Viannia) DNA was detected in blood by PCR and hybridization in one subject. The PCR skin test-positive individual remained asymptomatic throughout the study. Clinical examination showed no scars suggestive of past cutaneous leishmaniasis. Human subclinical infection with Leishmania (Viannia) in RS was confirmed by PCR. This is the first report of subclinical infection with this parasite in the human population of this area