An efficient removal approach for degradation of metformin from aqueous solutions with sulfate radicals.

Metformin consumption for diabetes treatment is increasing, leading to its presence in wastewater treatment plants where conventional methods cannot remove it. Therefore, this work aims to analyze the performance of advanced oxidation processes using sulfate radicals in the degradation of metformin from water. Experiments were performed in a photoreactor provided with a low-pressure Hg lamp, using K2S2O8 as oxidant and varying the initial metformin concentration (CA0), oxidant concentration (Cox), temperature (T), and pH in a response surface experimental design. The degradation percentages ranged from 26.1 to 87.3%, while the mineralization percentages varied between 15.1 and 64%. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that the output variables were more significantly affected by CA0, Cox, and T. Besides, a reduction of CA0 and an increase of Cox up to 5000 µM maximizes the metformin degradation since the generation of radicals and their interaction with metformin molecules are favored. For the greatest degradation percentage, the first order apparent rate constant achieved was 0.084 min-1. Furthermore, while in acidic pH, temperature benefits metformin degradation, an opposite behavior is obtained in a basic medium because of recombination and inhibition reactions. Moreover, three degradation pathways were suggested based on the six products detected by HPLC-MS: N-cyanoguanidine m/z = 85; N,N-dimethylurea m/z = 89; N,N-dimethyl-cyanamide m/z = 71 N,N-dimethyl-formamide m/z = 74; glicolonitrilo m/z = 58; and guanidine m/z = 60. Finally, it was shown that in general the toxicity of the degradation byproducts was lower than the toxicity of metformin toward Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.

MiR-29a is an enhancer of mineral deposition in bone-derived systems.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) provide a mechanism for fine-tuning of intricate cellular processes through post-transcriptional regulation. Emerging evidences indicate that miRNAs play key roles in regulation of osteogenesis. The miR-29 family was previously implicated in mammalian osteoblast differentiation by targeting extracellular matrix molecules and modulating Wnt signaling. Nevertheless, the function of miR-29 in bone formation and homeostasis is not completely understood. Here, we provide novel insights into the biological effect of miR-29a overexpression in a mineralogenic cell system (ABSa15). MiR-29a gain-of-function resulted in significant increase of extracellular matrix mineralization, probably due to accelerated differentiation. We also demonstrated for the first time that miR-29a induced ß-catenin protein levels, implying a stimulation of canonical Wnt signaling. Our data also suggests that SPARC is a conserved target of miR-29a, and may contribute to the phenotype observed in ABSa15 cells. Finally, we provide evidences for miR-29a conservation throughout evolution based on sequence homology, synteny analysis and expression patterns. Concluding, miR-29a is a key player in osteogenic differentiation, leading to increased mineralization in vitro, and this function seems to be conserved throughout vertebrate evolution by interaction with canonical Wnt signaling and conservation of targets.

Cryptic B cell response to renal transplantation.

Transplantation reliably evokes allo-specific B cell and T cell responses in mice. Yet, human recipients of kidney transplants with normal function usually exhibit little or no antibody specific for the transplant donor during the early weeks and months after transplantation. Indeed, the absence of antidonor antibodies is taken to reflect effective immunosuppressive therapy and to predict a favorable outcome. Whether the absence of donor-specific antibodies reflects absence of a B cell response to the donor, tolerance to the donor or immunity masked by binding of donor-specific antibodies to the graft is not known. To distinguish between these possibilities, we devised a novel ELISPOT, using cultured donor, recipient and third-party fibroblasts as targets. We enumerated donor-specific antibody-secreting cells in the blood of nine renal allograft recipients with normal kidney function before and after transplantation. Although none of the nine subjects had detectable donor-specific antibodies before or after transplantation, all exhibited increases in the frequency of donor-specific antibody-secreting cells eight weeks after transplantation. The responses were directed against the donor HLA-class I antigens. The increase in frequency of donor-specific antibody-secreting cells after renal transplantation indicates that B cells respond specifically to the transplant donor more often than previously thought.

Observation of environment-induced double sudden transitions in geometric quantum correlations.

Correlations in quantum systems exhibit a rich phenomenology under the effect of various sources of noise. We investigate theoretically and experimentally the dynamics of quantum correlations and their classical counterparts in two nuclear magnetic resonance setups, as measured by geometric quantifiers based on trace norm. We consider two-qubit systems prepared in Bell diagonal states, and perform the experiments in real decohering environments resulting from Markovian local noise which preserves the Bell diagonal form of the states. We then report the first observation of environment-induced double sudden transitions in the geometric quantum correlations, a genuinely nonclassical effect not observable in classical correlations. The evolution of classical correlations in our physical implementation reveals in turn the finite-time relaxation to a pointer basis under nondissipative decoherence, which we characterize geometrically in full analogy with predictions based on entropic measures.

Measuring bipartite quantum correlations of an unknown state.

We report the experimental measurement of bipartite quantum correlations of an unknown two-qubit state. Using a liquid state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance setup and employing geometric discord, we evaluate the quantum correlations of a state without resorting to prior knowledge of its density matrix. The method is applicable to any 2 ⊗ d system and provides, in terms of number of measurements required, an advantage over full state tomography scaling with the dimension d of the unmeasured subsystem. The negativity of quantumness is measured as well for reference. We also observe the phenomenon of sudden transition of quantum correlations when local phase and amplitude damping channels are applied to the state.

Molecular cloning and expression analysis of xpd from zebrafish (Danio rerio).

The XPD gene, located in human chromosome 19, encodes one of the two helicase components of transcriptional factor IIH (TFIIH), a ten-subunit, multifunctional complex that is essential for multiple processes, including basal transcription initiation and DNA damage repair [1, 2]. Alterations in XPD resulting in defective TFIIH function are associated with UV-sensitive disorders including Xeroderma pigmentosum, Cockayne syndrome, and Trichothiodystrophy (TTD) [3, 4]. TTD mice exhibit many symptoms of premature aging, including osteoporosis, kyphosis and osteosclerosis [5]. This fact has triggered our interest in analyzing XPD involvement in bone biology using zebrafish as model organism. Although orthologs of xpd are present in all species analyzed, no specific data on its gene structure, regulation or function exists at this time in any fish system. In this study we isolated the zebrafish cDNA encoding xpd, and examined its spatial-temporal expression during early development as well as its tissue distribution in adult zebrafish. Only one gene was identified in zebrafish and its sequence analysis showed a molecular structure with 23 coding exons similar to other species. The amino acid sequences were also found to be largely conserved among all species analyzed, suggesting function maintenance throughout evolution. Gene expression analysis in different zebrafish tissues by qPCR showed xpd expression in all tissues examined with the highest expression in branchial arches. Analysis of xpd expression in zebrafish embryos showed maternal inheritance and presence of xpd transcripts in all developmental stages analyzed suggesting its implication in early zebrafish larval development.

Fatigue Failure Load of a Bonded Simplified Monolithic Feldspathic Ceramic: Influence of Hydrofluoric Acid Etching and Thermocycling.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of hydrofluoric acid (HF) etching and thermocycling (Tc) on fatigue failure load of feldspathic ceramic restorations cemented with two resin cements. METHODS: Disc-shaped feldspathic ceramic (Vitablocs Mark II; Ø=10 mm, 1.0-mm thick) and G10 epoxy resin (Ø=10 mm, 2.5-mm thick) specimens were made and randomly allocated considering three factors: ceramic etching (ie, with vs without 10% HF plus silane application), resin cement (ie, self-adhesive [RelyX U200; U200] or conventional [Multilink Automix; MA]), and Tc (ie, with vs without 5-55°C/12,000 cycles). Adhesive cementation followed each manufacturer's instructions. The fatigue test (n=20) was based on the staircase approach (250,000 cycles; 20 Hz). Contact angle, surface topography, and fractography analysis were also executed. Specific statistical tests were employed for each outcome (α=0.05). RESULTS: The interaction of HF and Tc factors decreased the fatigue resistance for both cements (U200 542.63>U200/HF-Tc 495.00; MA 544.47>MA/HF-Tc 506.84). Comparing the cements associated with HF or Tc, there was statistical superiority for MA (U200-Tc 537.37

Species convergence into life-forms in a hyperseasonal cerrado in central Brazil.

Whether the functional structure of ecological communities is deterministic or historically contingent is still quite controversial. However, recent experimental tests did not find effects of species composition variation on trait convergence and therefore the environmental constraints should play the major role on community convergence into functional groups. Seasonal cerrados are characterized by a sharp seasonality, in which the water shortage defines the community functioning. Hyperseasonal cerrados experience additionally waterlogging in the rainy season. Here, we asked whether waterlogging modifies species convergences into life-forms in a hyperseasonal cerrado. We studied a hyperseasonal cerrado, comparing it with a nearby seasonal cerrado, never waterlogged, in Emas National Park, central Brazil. In each area, we sampled all vascular plants by placing 40 plots of 1 m(2) plots in four surveys. We analyzed the species convergences into life-forms in both cerrados using the Raunkiaer's life-form spectrum and the index of divergence from species to life-form diversity (IDD). The overall life-form spectra and IDDs were not different, indicating that waterlogging did not affect the composition of functional groups in the hyperseasonal cerrado. However, there was a seasonal variation in IDD values only in the hyperseasonal cerrado. As long as we did not find a seasonal variation in life-form diversity, the seasonal variation of convergence into life-forms in the hyperseasonal cerrado was a consequence of the seasonal variation of species diversity. Because of high functional redundancy of cerrado plants, waterlogging promoted a floristic replacement without major changes in functional groups. Thus, waterlogging in the hyperseasonal cerrado promoted seasonal changes in species convergence into life-forms by reducing species diversity.

Abiotic factors drives floristic variations of fern's metacommunity in an Atlantic Forest remnant.

We analyzed floristic variations in fern's metacommunity at the local scale and their relationship with abiotic factors in an Atlantic Forest remnant of northeastern Brazil. Floristic and environmental variations were accessed on ten plots of 10 × 20 m. We performed cluster analyses, based on Bray-Curtis dissimilarity index to establish the floristic relationship. The influence of abiotic factors: luminosity, temperature, relative air humidity and relative soil moisture was evaluated from a redundancy analysis. We found 24 species belonging to 20 genera and 12 families. The fern's flora showed high floristic heterogeneity (>75% for most of the plot's associations). The fern's metacommunity was structured along an abiotic gradient modulated by temperature, luminosity, and relative soil moisture.

Platelet-activating factor (PAF) receptor as a promising target for cancer cell repopulation after radiotherapy.

A major drawback of radiotherapy is the accelerated growth of the surviving tumor cells. Radiotherapy generates a variety of lipids that bind to the receptor for platelet-activating factor, expressed by cells in the tumor microenvironment. In the present study, using the TC-1 tumor cell line, we found that irradiation induced a twofold increase in receptor expression and generated agonists of receptor. Irradiated cells induced a 20-fold increase in live TC-1 proliferation in vitro. Furthermore, subcutaneous co-injection of irradiated TC-1 cells with TC-1 expressing luciferase (TC-1 fluc+) markedly increased TC-1 fluc+ proliferation in a receptor-dependent way. Moreover we used a human carcinoma cell line not expressing the PAF receptor (KBM) and the same cell transfected with the receptor gene (KBP). Following co-injection of live KBP cells with irradiated KBM in RAG mice, the tumor growth was significantly increased compared with tumor formed following co-injection of live KBM with irradiated KBM. This tumor cell repopulation correlated with increased infiltration of tumor-promoting macrophages (CD206+). We propose that receptor represents a possible target for improving the efficacy of radiotherapy through inhibition of tumor repopulation.

Prenatal HgCl2 exposure in BALB/c mice: gender-specific effects on the ontogeny of the immune system.

Because mercury is highly toxic to developing organisms, we tested the hypothesis that prenatal exposure to HgCl(2) can induce persistent immune dysfunction. Pregnant BALB/c mice were administrated every other day, for 11 days with HgCl(2) (200 microg/kg). Their offspring were studied at PND10, 14, 21, and 60. Lymph nodes (LN), spleens, and thymus were harvested and proliferation and cytokine production were studied in vitro. We report that prenatal HgCl(2) exposure exerts organ-specific effects on cell number, proliferation, and cytokine production in pre-weaning pups. At adulthood (PND60), effects of prenatal HgCl(2) exposure were still observed, but expressed differently in females and males. In adult females, an inhibitory effect was observed on cytokine production by thymocytes, LN cells, and splenocytes. In males, a stimulatory effect was observed. Overall, we conclude that in vivo exposures to low doses of HgCl(2) can induce persistent sex-specific immunotoxic effects, observable in adulthood.

Cloning, characterization and analysis of the 5' regulatory region of zebrafish xpd gene.

The gene XPD/ERCC2 encodes an ATP-dependent 5'-3' helicase of 760 amino acids. There are few transcription factors known to be involved in the regulation of XPD, and these include the hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α), p53, hepatitis B virus x protein (HBx) and specificity protein 1 (Sp1). To identify functional elements of xpd gene in fish we employed a comparative genomic approach. In our in silico attempt to identify cis-regulatory transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs) conserved among the xpd promoter sequences from five available fish species, we verified that in some cases the spatial disposition of the putative TFBSs was not maintained, but they were present in all the sequences, allowing the prediction of conserved regulatory elements within the promoter sequences analysed. We also investigated the transcriptional regulation of the zebrafish xpd gene. Our in vitro transient transfection-reporter analysis identified a region in the zebrafish xpd gene responsible for xpd regulation, along with regulatory regions that inhibit the activity of this promoter in somatic cells. Moreover, we found two p53 binding sites in the xpd promoter and upon co-transfection assays we observed a repression due to p53. This provides the first identification and characterization of promoter regions that regulate the transcription of the zebrafish xpd gene, and offers insights into the regulation of this gene by p53. Together, these studies further support the utility of comparative genomics to uncover gene regulatory sequences based on evolutionary conservation and provide the basic information to explore and better understand the regulation and expression of XPD.

Computational speed-up with a single qudit.

Quantum algorithms are known for providing more efficient solutions to certain computational tasks than any corresponding classical algorithm. Here we show that a single qudit is sufficient to implement an oracle based quantum algorithm, which can solve a black-box problem faster than any classical algorithm. For 2d permutation functions defined on a set of d elements, deciding whether a given permutation is even or odd, requires evaluation of the function for at least two elements. We demonstrate that a quantum circuit with a single qudit can determine the parity of the permutation with only one evaluation of the function. Our algorithm provides an example for quantum computation without entanglement since it makes use of the pure state of a qudit. We also present an experimental realization of the proposed quantum algorithm with a quadrupolar nuclear magnetic resonance using a single four-level quantum system, i.e., a ququart.

Response of factor VIII/von Willebrand factor to intranasal DDAVP in healthy subjects and mild haemophiliacs (with observations in patients with combined deficiency of factors V and VIII).

The effect of a single standard dose of intranasal DDAVP (260 micrograms) was investigated in healthy subjects and in patients with mild deficiencies of VIII:C. Changes in FVIII/VWF activities were measured from baseline after 30, 60, 120 and 360 min of administration of the drug. Intranasal DDAVP was followed by a two-fold increase of VIII:C in both groups studied. VIIIR:AG and VIIIR:RCo increased to a lesser extent. Even though FVIII/VWF activities reached their maximum after 60-120 min, a significant increase over baseline was still observed after 360 min. The rise of VIII:C was unrelated to the body weight of the patients and was proportional to the baseline levels of this factor. In two sisters with combined deficiencies of FV/FVIII, the responses in all activities of FVIII/VWF were similar to those seen in mild hemophiliacs. Factor V did not undergo any variation. No alteration in serum osmolarity and no consistent variation in blood pressure or pulse rate were noted. It is concluded that the i.n. administration of a single high dose of DDAVP might be adopted to provide an emergency aid in bleeding patients with mild to moderate haemophilia A and to yield higher VIII:C levels in blood donors.

Vitamin D receptor polymorphisms and prostate cancer risk in Brazilian men.

Vitamin D seems to be an important determinant of prostate cancer risk and inherited polymorphisms in the 3'untranslated region of the vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene have been associated with the risk and progression of prostate cancer in some populations. We therefore studied VDR gene polymorphisms, as detected by Apal and Taql restriction fragments, in multiethnic Brazilian men (165 patients and 200 controls) for association with prostate cancer risk and parameters of disease severity (serum PSA, Gleason score and tumor stage). No statistical correlations were found. The unique ethnical background of Brazilian subjects, characterized by an extensive racial mixture of European, African-American and Native American, might have blunted any ethnic-specific significance of VDR polymorphisms. Further investigations of the associations between VDR and other genetic or environmental factors are warranted.

Molluscicidal activity against Biomphalaria glabrata of Brazilian Cerrado medicinal plants.

Alcoholic extracts of six Brazilian Cerrado medicinal plants were evaluated for their molluscicidal activity against Biomphalaria glabrata, intermediate host of schistosomiasis. Stryphnodendron polyphyllum bark extract, rich in condensed tannins, was the most promising as molluscicide.

[Nursing and breastfeeding: combining secular practices]. / Enfermagem e aleitamento materno: combinando práticas seculares.

Support for breastfeeding, one of the factors contributing to mother-child wellbeing, has increased through innumerable government and non-government initiatives. Despite this, women still have difficulty finding specialised help to solve problems related to breastfeeding and lactation after discharge from hospital. We describe the Domiciliary Attendance to Mother and son, whose aim it is to give assistance and advice to mothers in their homes. This assistance consists of teaching simplified breastfeeding management techniques, based on the Symbolic Interactionism Model. All the women assisted under this program have been able to continue breastfeeding or to re-lactate successfully.

[A systematized procedure for the technical nursing care of puerperae with breast engorgement]. / Procedimento sistematizado de assistência técnica de enfermagem à puérperas com ingurgitamento mamário.

This research approaches a systematized Procedure of Nursing Care to puerperas with mammary engorgement. The author verified the kind of engorgement most frequent, mammary sector most affected and some interference factors in the evolution of mammary engorgement.

[Reflections on the practice of breast feeding]. / Reflexões sobre a prática do aleitamento materno.

The author makes analyses of breast feeding, doing a reflexion about the mainly indicators who has determined the actual situation, looking for identify ways for win the ideal cenary to future of breast feeding.

[Breast feeding: assuming risks or guaranteeing benefits]. / Amamentar: uma questão de assumir riscos ou garantir benefícios.

The development of several action of promotion of the breastfeeding seems do not reach many of the variables that determinate the breastfeeding course. With the proposal of understanding what makes the woman decide about breastfeeding or wearing, this study was developed trying to get the conscious meaning of the breastfeeding experience for the woman, how the importance of the breastfeeding is shown by the woman's action and develop a theoretical sample that represents the experience of breastfeeding for the woman. Based on the theoretical presupposition of the Symbolic Interactionism and taking the Grounded Theory as the methodology, we described the breastfeeding based on the woman's point of view. The research shows that the woman experiences the breastfeeding from a process that evaluates and gives value to it, and that is understood by the themes: Evaluating the capability of breastfeeding, Evaluating the woman's feeling and Taking Decisions which the central phenomenon, representative of the process, is called WEIGHING THE RISKS AND BENEFITS. This study shows that the elements that give the policies for the breastfeeding result from the relation between the action of breastfeeding and several significant symbols shown in the interactive situations experienced by the woman.