Reduced graphene oxide, but not carbon nanotubes, slows murine melanoma after thermal ablation using LED light in B16F10 lineage cells.

Photodynamic therapy is a minimally invasive health technology used to treat cancer and other non-malignant diseases, as well as inactivation of viruses, bacteria and fungi. In this work, we sought to combine the phototherapy technique using low intensity LED (660 nm) to induce ablation in melanoma tumor in mice treated with nanoparticles. In vitro and in vivo studies were conducted, and our results demonstrated that multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) do not destroy tumor cells in vivo, but stimulate the inflammatory process and angiogenesis. Reduced graphene oxide (rGO), has been shown to play a protective role associated with the LED ablation, inducing necrosis, stimulation of immune response by lymphoproliferation, and decreased tumor mass in vivo. We consider that LED alone can be very effective in controlling the growth of melanoma tumors and its association with rGO is potentiated.

Temporal relationship between aquaporin-4 and glial fibrillary acidic protein in cerebellum of neonate and adult rats administered a BBB disrupting spider venom.

Two astrocyte markers, the glial water channel aquaporin-4 (AQP4) and the glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), have been implicated in several physiological and pathological conditions in the central nervous system (CNS) as well as in blood-brain barrier breakdown (BBBb). By color segmentation the immunoreactivity of both proteins, we demonstrate that the expression of AQP4 and GFAP was increased in the cerebellum of neonate (14-day-old, P14) and adult (8-week-old) rats administered Phoneutria nigriventer spider venom (PNV) known to cause perivascular edema, BBBb and convulsion. In the cerebellum's gray matter, PNV produced a major response, especially in the granular layer. Parallel increases in AQP4 and GFAP expression occurred 24 h after envenomation in the white matter of P14 and in the molecular layer of adults, as well as in the granular layer 2 h after envenomation. In the Purkinje layer there was a tendency of increased AQP4, for both, neonates (5 h), and adults (2 and 24 h). Moreover, PNV also provoked nonparallel upregulation of both markers with prevalence of upregulation of AQP 4 for P14 rats, and GFAP for adults. The major expression of both proteins was in the gray matter. The data indicates a venom effect in water/electrolyte balance in the cerebellum and the participation of AQP4 in these effects. Age-related and time-related regional differences probably reflect specificity in AQP4 distribution in different astrocytic membrane domains as well as its participation in K(+) buffering and neural activity. This study is the first to associate astrocytic AQP4 expression and reactive gliosis in a model of BBB permeability promoted by P. nigriventer venom. Our data provide compelling evidence that AQP4 expression was increased in the cerebellum of rats administered PNV.

Análise dos casos de intoxicação atendidos pelo Conjunto Hospitalar de Sorocaba / Analysis of intoxication cases admitted to the Conjunto Hospitalar de Sorocaba

The notification of intoxication is not compulsory in Brazil and this data is underestimated, although is recognizedly a public health problem. The objective of this article was to evaluate the intoxication case admitted to the hospitalar unity of regional reference, the Conjunto Hospitalar de Sorocaba (CHS). It was made a retrospective analysis of the datas (date, age, gender and toxic agent) obtained from bulletins of poisoned patients between september 2002 to septemmber 2003. Analysis was performed, initially, using a descriptive analysis following by Pearson Chi-Square and Fisher's Exact tests. There were 2,992 poisoning cases: the predominant age range was 36-50years: gender: male predominance (2,754 cases: 92%); toxic agent: abusive drugs (2,721 cases; 90.9%) with alcoholic predominance (2,383 cases; 87.6%), use of medicine together with dependence between toxic agent and gender (p<0.01), showing that abusive drugs are more used by men than women, whwreas the medicine are more used by womwn than men. The Fisher's Exact test, on the other hand, showed that the intoxication by abusive drugs occurs between 36-50 age range (p<0.01) and the medicine occurs between 21-35 years. We conclude that the psychoactive drugs are the responsible by the intoxication cases admitted to the CHS and we suggest the adoption of measures aiming to contain the intoxication cases mainly by alcohol and medicines...

Low ratio of S-adenosylmethionine to S-adenosylhomocysteine is associated with vitamin deficiency in Brazilian pregnant women and newborns.

BACKGROUND: Pregnant women with low cobalamin concentrations are unable to provide the necessary amount of cobalamin to their fetuses. The effect of low maternal cobalamin concentrations on transmethylation metabolism in pregnant women and their newborns is unknown. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the relation between maternal and neonatal cobalamin concentrations and changes in total homocysteine (tHcy), S-adenosylmethionine (SAM), and S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH). DESIGN: Hematologic data and concentrations of cobalamin, red blood cell folate, serum folate, tHcy, methylmalonic acid, SAM, SAH, and other metabolites were measured in 119 serum specimens from pregnant Brazilian women (gestational age: 37-42 wk) and their newborns' placental veins at the time of delivery. RESULTS: The tHcy concentrations were higher in placental vein serum from newborns whose mothers had low cobalamin. Serum SAH concentrations were elevated and serum SAM and methionine concentrations were decreased in pregnant women with lower cobalamin concentrations. SAM:SAH was significantly decreased in both cobalamin-deficient pregnant women and their newborns. CONCLUSIONS: Lower maternal cobalamin concentrations are associated with higher tHcy and lower SAM:SAH in newborns. Because SAM:SAH is closely linked with the activity of numerous enzymatic methylation reactions, these results suggest that methylation could be impaired in cobalamin-deficient pregnant women and their newborns.