Cytotoxicity and potential antiviral evaluation of violacein produced by Chromobacterium violaceum

Natural products are an inexhaustible source of compounds with promising pharmacological activities including antiviral action. Violacein, the major pigment produced by Chromobacterium violaceum, has been shown to have antibiotic, antitumoral and anti-Trypanosoma cruzi activities. The goal of the present work was to evaluate the cytotoxicity of violacein and also its potential antiviral properties.The cytotoxicity of violacein was investigated by three methods: cell morphology evaluation by inverted light microscopy and cell viability tests using the Trypan blue dye exclusion method and the MTT assay. The cytotoxic concentration values which cause destruction in 50% of the monolayer cells (CC50) were different depending on the sensitivity of the method. CC50 values were > 2.07 ± 0.08 µM for FRhK-4 cells: > 2.23 ± 0.11 µM for Vero cells; > 2.54 ± 0.18 µM for MA104 cells; and > 2.70 ± 0.20 µM for HEp-2 cells. Violacein showed no cytopathic inhibition of the following viruses: herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) strain 29-R/acyclovir resistant, hepatitis A virus (strains HM175 and HAF-203) and adenovirus type 5 nor did it show any antiviral activity in the MTT assay. However violacein did show a weak inhibition of viral replication: 1.42 ± 0.68%, 14.48 ± 5.06% and 21.47 ± 3.74% for HSV-1 (strain KOS); 5.96 ± 2.51%, 8.75 ± 3.08% and 17.75 ± 5.19% for HSV-1 (strain ATCC/VR-733); 5.13 ± 2.38 %, 8.18 ± 1.11% and 8.51 ± 1.94% for poliovirus type 2; 8.30 ± 4.24%; 13.33 ± 4.66% and 24.27 ± 2.18% for simian rotavirus SA11, at 0.312, 0.625 and 1.250 mM, respectively, when measured by the MTT assay.

OpenERP Fiscalfàcil

Aquest treball de final de carrera està inclòs dins la branca Plataforma GNU/Linux. La voluntat és demostrar que el programari lliure està a l'alçada del programari propietari també en el vessant empresarial. OpenERP és un programa modern de gestió empresarial, sota llicència AGPL, que inclou CRM, HR, vendes, comptabilitat, producció, inventari, gestió de projectes,... És una solució integral de l'empresa gràcies a la flexibilitat i quantitat de mòduls publicats, permetent adaptar-los o modificar-los en cas de necessitat. Està escrit en Python i basat en OpenObject. Té com a característiques principals que és escalable, modulable i intuïtiu. L'objectiu del treball és crear i adaptar OpenERP a un cas concret: la gestoria Fiscalfàcil. Aprofitant tot el potencial d'aquest programa i estudiant les necessitats d'aquesta empresa, crearem un LiveCD amb un OpenERP amb tots els mòduls instal·lats i configurats perquè estigui a punt per treballar.

Comparative study of two extraction methods for enteric virus recovery from sewage sludge by molecular methods

The aim of this study was to compare two nucleic acid extraction methods for the recovery of enteric viruses from activated sludge. Test samples were inoculated with human adenovirus (AdV), hepatitis A virus (HAV), poliovirus (PV) and rotavirus (RV) and were then processed by an adsorption-elution-precipitation method. Two extraction methods were used: an organic solvent-based method and a silica method. The organic-based method was able to recoup 20% of the AdV, 90% of the RV and 100% of both the PV and HAV from seeded samples. The silica method was able to recoup 1.8% of the AdV and 90% of the RV. These results indicate that the organic-based method is more suitable for detecting viruses in sewage sludge.

Evaluation of HA negatively charged membranes in the recovery of human adenoviruses and hepatitis A virus in different water matrices

Human adenoviruses (HAdV) and hepatitis A virus (HAV) are shed in the faeces and consequently may be present in environmental waters, resulting in an increase in pathogen concentration that can affect water quality and human health. The aim of this study was to evaluate an adsorption-elution method which utilizes negatively charged membrane HA to determine the efficient recovery of HAdV and HAV from different water matrices and to combine this procedure with a qualitative molecular method (nested RT-PCR and nested PCR). The best efficiency recovery was achieved in distilled water and treated wastewater effluent (100%) for both viruses and in recreational lagoon water for HAV (100%). The efficiency recovery was 10% for HAdV and HAV in seawater and 10% for HAdV in lagoon water. The viral detection limit by nested PCR for HAV in water samples ranged between 20-0.2 FFU/mL and 250 and 25 TCID50/mL for HAdV. In conclusion, these results suggest that the HA negatively charged membranes vary their efficiency for recovery of viral concentration depending upon the types of both enteric viruses and water matrices.

Estudi de millora i ampliació d'un prototip per a la gestió comercial de PIMES

El projecte consta bàsicament en la millora i ampliació d'un projecte anterior que es trobava en una primera versió d'implementació d'una part d'un CRM. Seguint amb la filosofia de la versió anterior, continua sent una aplicació de gestió per a PIMES. On s'hi ha afegit la idea de món globalitzat. Aquesta idea, ens comporta pensar en que una empresa encara que sigui petita, pot fer gestions arreu del món. Es aquest "gestions arreu del món" que ens comporta acceptar idees com la de tractar amb clients que parlin idiomes diferents al nostrem enviar informació a través del correu electrònic pel temps que comportaria fer-ho pel correu ordinari, o fins i tot el tipus de moneda que utilitzin els clients.

Implementació d'un contact center per empreses basat en software lliure

El proyecto consiste en la creación de un CRM de contact center con canal de telefonía y correo electrónico. Se ha llevado a cabo utilizando software libre. Se integra con centralita telefónica para permitir la realización de llamadas por Voip.

Qualidade no Atendimento ao Cliente como Estratégia Competitiva

Na busca de um melhor posicionamento competitivo no mercado global, as empresas com uma visão estratégica não desperdiçam mais seu tempo ocupando-se apenas em conquistar eficiência operacional. Os objectivos específicos definidos para este trabalho de pesquisa propiciaram o levantamento das dimensões indicadas pela literatura que determinam a qualidade no atendimento a clientes e identificá-las na prática, no caso estudado. O facto da empresa apresentar gaps críticos nas dimensões consideradas mais importantes para os inquiridos nos resultados obtidos com o estudo. Isto demonstram que a CVTelecom necessita de acções de melhoria para adaptar à realidade do mercado global proporcionando um atendimento com qualidade desejada que promove a fidelização de seus mais de 57.000 clientes. Dentre os diversos processos que vêm sendo melhorados para o alcance da maior satisfação dos clientes podem ser citados os investimentos recentes feitos no processo de apoio ao cliente que já teve o certificado da ISO 9001:2000 pela APCER. Em suma, concluiu-se com o estudo de caso, CVTelecom apresenta uma razoável performance no atendimento aos seus clientes, necessitando de algumas acções estratégicas que podem favorecer-lhe na minimização ou na eliminação dos gaps apresentados, dentre elas a necessidade de se conhecer e implementar o Marketing de Relacionamento (CRM), promover uma acção de melhoria no processo de apoio ao cliente, viabilizar a adopção de um manual de procedimento de atendimento ao cliente.