Brazilian experience with the medium-term multi-organ bioassay: Scientific and regulatory developments

In 1996 the Brazilian Institute for the Environment (IBAMA) officially adopted a variation of the multiorgan initiation-promotion DMBDD bioassay as a valid source of evidence of the carcinogenic potential of pesticides. The protocol adopted by IBAMA was a modification of the one originally proposed by researchers led by Nobuyuki Ito, from the Nagoya City University Medical School. Among the modifications established in the Brazilian protocol were the use of both sexes of the outbreed Wistar strain of rats and two positive control test chemicals. The adoption of the modified DMBDD protocol was instrumental during the last decade for qualifying technical people and to spread knowledge on chemical carcinogenesis in Brazil.

Status and potential of commercial bioprospecting activities in Latin America and the Caribbean

Includes bibliography

Technical change and technology policy: the case of numerically controlled lathes in Argentina

Includes bibliography

Basic issues emerging from recent research on technological behaviour of selected Latin American metalworking plants

Includes bibliography

Competition, oligopoly and technological change in the construction industry: the Argentine case

Includes bibliography

Capacity-stretching technical change: some empirical and theoretical aspects

Includes bibliography

The use and production of numerically controlled machine tools in Argentina

Includes bibliography

An industrial and technological strategy for Brazil

Includes bibliography

Market failure and technological policy

Includes bibliography

Semi-synthetic minimal cells: Biochemical, physical, and technological aspects

The construction of synthetic cells is one of the major goals of bioengineering. The most successful approach consists in the encapsulation of biochemical materials (DNA, RNA, enzymes, etc.) inside lipid vesicles (liposomes), mimicking a cell structure. In this contribution, that also aims at introducing the reader to 'chemical synthetic biology,' we describe the current state of the art of 'semi-synthetic minimal cells' (SSMCs), namely, cell-like structures containing the minimal number of biological compounds that are required to reconstruct a function of interest. We will first describe how the concept of the minimal cell was originated and its relation with the theory of autopoiesis, then we review the most advanced results focused on genetic/metabolic networks inside liposomes. Next, we emphasize that relevance of physical aspects (too often neglected) that impact on the solute entrapment process, and finally we discuss new technological trends in SSMC research that will probably allow their future use in biotechnology. © 2013 Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

La sustentabilidad ambiental del desarrollo y el cambio tecnológico en América Latina y el Caribe = The environmental sustainability of development and technological change in Latin America and the Caribbean

Incluye Bibliografía