Is there difference of Streptococcus mutans count and adherence on amalgam and resin occlusal restorations? A blind clinical study

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Recovering Streptococcus mutans over restorations by the tray technique: a randomized clinical study

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Preparação e Modificação Química de Nanoestruturas de Octa(aminopropil) silsesquioxano para Aplicações Analíticas

Pós-graduação em Ciência dos Materiais - FEIS

Modelagem do crescimento, maturação sexual e produção de ovos como ferramenta para estimar as exigências nutricionais de matrizes pesadas

Pós-graduação em Zootecnia - FCAV

Effects of gaseous atmosphere and antioxidants on the development and cryotolerance of bovine embryos at different periods of in vitro culture

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Cadmium exposure inhibits MMP2 and MMP9 activities in the prostate and testis

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

How pH Modulates the Dimer-Decamer Interconversion of 2-Cys Peroxiredoxins from the Prx1 Subfamily

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Nanoparticles increase the efficacy of cancer chemopreventive agents in cells exposed to cigarette smoke condensate

Lung cancer is a leading cause of death in developed countries. Although smoking cessation is a primary strategy for preventing lung cancer, former smokers remain at high risk of cancer. Accordingly, there is a need to increase the efficacy of lung cancer prevention. Poor bioavailability is the main factor limiting the efficacy of chemopreventive agents. The aim of this study was to increase the efficacy of cancer chemopreventive agents by using lipid nanoparticles (NPs) as a carrier. This study evaluated the ability of lipid NPs to modify the pharmacodynamics of chemopreventive agents including N-acetyl-L-cysteine, phenethyl isothiocyanate and resveratrol (RES). The chemopreventive efficacy of these drugs was determined by evaluating their abilities to counteract cytotoxic damage (DNA fragmentation) induced by cigarette smoke condensate (CSC) and to activate protective apoptosis (annexin-V cytofluorimetric staining) in bronchial epithelial cells both in vitro and in ex vivo experiment in mice. NPs decreased the toxicity of RES and increased its ability to counteract CSC cytotoxicity. NPs significantly increased the ability of phenethyl isothiocyanate to attenuate CSC-induced DNA fragmentation at the highest tested dose. In contrast, this potentiating effect was observed at all tested doses of RES, NPs dramatically increasing RES-induced apoptosis in CSC-treated cells. These results provide evidence that NPs are highly effective at increasing the efficacy of lipophilic drugs (RES) but are not effective towards hydrophilic agents (N-acetyl-L-cysteine), which already possess remarkable bioavailability. Intermediate effects were observed for phenethyl isothiocyanate. These findings are relevant to the identification of cancer chemopreventive agents that would benefit from lipid NP delivery.

Vaccination of sheep and cattle against haemonchosis

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Venomics of the Australian eastern brown snake (Pseudonaja textilis): detection of new venom proteins and splicing variants

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Synthesis and characterization of an antibacterial and non-toxic dimeric peptide derived from the C-terminal region of Bothropstoxin-I

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

A label-free electrochemical affisensor for cancer marker detection: the case of HER2

In this paper, we report the development of a sensitive label-free impedimetric biosensor based on the use of affibody as bioreceptor and gold nanostructured screen-printed graphite as a sensor platform for the detection of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). The affisensor is realized by immobilizing a terminal cysteine-modified affibody on gold nanoparticles. The sensor was characterized by electrochemical techniques and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Furthermore, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) technology was also applied to explore the potential of affibodies as small-molecule discriminating tools. Using optimized experimental conditions, a single-use affisensor showed a good analytical performance for HER2 detection from 0 to 40μg/L. The estimated limit of detection was 6.0μg/L. Finally, the realized affisensor was applied to human serum samples.

Stability, purification, and applications of bromelain: a review

Bromelain is a cysteine protease found in pineapple tissue. Due to its anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer activities, as well as its ability to induce apoptotic cell death, bromelain has proved useful in several therapeutic areas. The market for this protease is growing, and several studies exploring various properties of this molecule have been reported. This review aims to compile this data, and summarize the main findings on bromelain in the literature to date. The physicochemical properties and stability of bromelain under different conditions are discussed. Several studies on the purification of bromelain from crude extracts using a wide range of techniques such as liquid-liquid extractions by aqueous two-phase system, ultrafiltration, precipitation, and chromatography, have been reported. Finally, the various applications of bromelain are presented. This review therefore covers the main properties of bromelain, aiming to provide an up-to-date compilation of the data reported on this enzyme.

The Mycobacterium leprae hsp65 displays proteolytic activity. Mutagenesis studies indicate that the M. leprae hsp65 Proteolytic activity is catalytically related to the HslVU protease?

The present study reports, for the first time, that the recombinant hsp65 from Mycobacterium leprae (chaperonin 2) displays a proteolytic activity toward oligopeptides. The M. leprae hsp65 proteolytic activity revealed a trypsin-like specificity toward quenched fluorescence peptides derived from dynorphins. When other peptide substrates were used (β-endorphin, neurotensin, and angiotensin I), the predominant peptide bond cleavages also involved basic amino acids in P 1, although, to a minor extent, the hydrolysis involving hydrophobic and neutral amino acids (G and F) was also observed. The amino acid sequence alignment of the M. leprae hsp65 with Escherichia coli Hs1VU protease suggested two putative threonine catalytic groups, one in the N-domain (T 136, K 168, and Y 264) and the other in the C-domain (T 375, K 409, and S 502). Mutagenesis studies showed that the replacement of K 409 by A caused a complete loss of the proteolytic activity, whereas the mutation of K 168 to A resulted in a 25% loss. These results strongly suggest that the amino acid residues T 375, K 409, and S 502 at the C-domain form the catalytic group that carries out the main proteolytic activity of the M. leprae hsp65. The possible pathophysiological implications of the proteolytic activity of the M. leprae hsp65 are now under investigation in our laboratory.

Oxidation of amino acids by chlorpromazine cation radical and co-catalysis by chlorpromazine

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)