Tipagem molecular, perfis de sensibilidade e caracterização de transcritos diferencialmente expressos durante a infecção de Cryptococcus neoformans

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

LESION OF THE COMMISSURAL NUCLEUS OF THE SOLITARY TRACT/A2 NORADRENERGIC NEURONS FACILITATES THE ACTIVATION OF ANGIOTENSINERGIC MECHANISMS IN RESPONSE TO HEMORRHAGE

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Inhibition of inducible nitric oxide synthase-derived nitric oxide as a therapeutical target for acute pancreatitis induced by secretory phospholipase A(2)

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

Insights on the structure of native CNF, an endogenous phospholipase A(2) inhibitor from Crotalus durissus terrificus, the South American rattlesnake

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

A structure-based proposal for a comprehensive myotoxic mechanism of phospholipase A(2)-like proteins from viperid snake venoms

Envenomation via snakebites is an important public health problem in many tropical and subtropical countries that, in addition to mortality, can result in permanent sequelae as a consequence of local tissue damage, which represents a major challenge to antivenom therapy. Venom phospholipases A(2) (PLA(2)s) and PLA(2)-like proteins play a leading role in the complex pathogenesis of skeletal muscle necrosis, nevertheless their precise mechanism of action is only partially understood. Recently, detailed structural information has been obtained for more than twenty different members of the PLA(2)-like myotoxin subfamily. In this review, we integrate the available structural, biochemical and functional data on these toxins and present a comprehensive hypothesis for their myotoxic mechanism. This process involves an allosteric transition and the participation of two independent interaction sites for docking and disruption of the target membrane, respectively, leading to a five-step mechanism of action. Furthermore, recent functional and structural studies of these toxins complexed with ligands reveal diverse neutralization mechanisms that can be classified into at least three different groups. Therefore, the data summarized here for the PLA(2)-like myotoxins could provide a useful molecular basis for the search for novel neutralizing strategies to improve the treatment of envenomation by viperid snakes. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Pseudechis guttatus venom proteome: Insights into evolution and toxin clustering

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Estudos estruturais por difração de raios X de fosfolipases A2 em presença de íons com importância funcional

Snakes from Bothrops genus are responsible for more than 90% of the ophidian accidents in Brazil. One of the main complications from this kind of accident is muscular necrosis, which is related to the action of phospholipases A2 and metalloproteases, two groups of enzymes found in the venom of these animals. Although this complication cannot be solved by serum therapy administration, a great number of studies have been performed with the attempt to know the pharmacological sites of these toxins aiming, in the future, the development of complementary treatments to serum therapy. This work proposes structural studies of bothropic phospholipases A2 (PLA2s) in the presence of ions relevant to their activity, using the X-ray crystallography technique. Recently, it was demonstrated ions, as manganese, calcium and others, interfere in the biological activity of the PLA2s. Particularly, Lys49-PLA2s in the presence of manganese ions have miotoxicity reduced. Asp49-PLA2s show catalytic activity dependent of calcium, although structural studies with a miotoxic Asp49-PLA2, BthTX-II, suggest a possible catalytic mechanism independent of calcium. Therefore, co-crystallization of BthTX-II in the presence of calcium ions and of PrTX-I in the presence of manganese ions were performed. Comparative structural studies among obtained results and others already published in the literature were performed aiming a better understanding of the structure-function relationship of these toxins. The BthTX-II with the presence of calcium do not show this ion in the loop of coordination of calcium, presence necessary to develop the catalyses. After comparison of this model with the native one, only one distortion was found, but no apparent relationship with the residues responsible for its activity. In the PrTX-I structure, regions candidates of manganese ions were also found... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Análise de Expressões Idiomáticas Italianas com as lexias 'capo' e 'testa' e seu correspondente 'cabeça', em língua portuguesa. (QUALIS A2)

This study aims to investigate the Idioms (IEs) or combinations related to the Italian lexical units testa and capo, in comparison to the Portuguese lexical unit cabeça. Since they have come from two completely different etyma, they are not perfect synonyms; on the contrary, they gave rise to several expressions that are common to just one lexical units. Corpus selection was made in monolingual Italian general dictionaries and then the data was classified according to each typology: idioms that are common only with the unit capo; idioms just with head; idioms that are synonyms with both; IEs whose translations refer to other parts of the body. As a result, we found that most of the IEs with capo or testa have common semes, but most of them also are specific to one or other lexical unit exclusively, confirming the difference in semantic features between them as well as non-univocity between languages.

Intra-examiner reproducibility of the agar plate method for estmation of phospholipase activity in candida albicans

Although measurement errors can impair statistical analysis, reliability analysis has been neglected in applied microbiology. This study assessed the intra-rater reproducibility of the Agar-based method for estimation of phospholipase activity (Pz). Pz readings were performed twice by two examiners (E1, E2), either directly on plates or in photos, and both black and white backgrounds were used. Pz values were taken from one or triplicate colonies from each sample (n=30). Intra-examiner reproducibility was estimated using Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC). For both examiners, reading triplicate (ICCE1=0.91, ICCE2=0.86) was better than one colony (ICCE1=0.86, ICCE2=0.80). E1 had an excellent concordance when measurements were performed on photos using a white background (ICC=0.95) and a good concordance in the other conditions

Estudo da resposta imune de camundongos BALB/c com a proteína recombinante A2 de Leishmania chagasi

Pós-graduação em Microbiologia Agropecuária - FCAV

Characterization of the phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C-released form of rat osseous plate alkaline phosphatase and its possible significance on endochondral ossification

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

Agelotoxin: a phospholipase A(2) from the venom of the neotropical social wasp cassununga (Agelaia pallipes pallipes) (Hymenoptera-Vespidae)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Estudos estruturais de complexos entre fosfolipases A2 homólogas isoladas do veneno de Bothrops moojeni e inibidores da atividade miotóxica

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

Análise do perfil de dureza e microestrutura de um aço forjado AISI A2 submetido a tratamento térmico com resfriamento em água

Due to the large use of steel in several processes around the world, there is the increasingly concern to find new materials and/or optimization and improvement of the processes, as the need to reduce the cost and a productivity increase in the primary industry, such as the siderurgy. The rolling is the most used mechanical process in the world and therefore is required the development of new tools in high volume and with optimum characteristics to support the market demand. Forged rolls used are for rolling. These rolls have heat treatment that has the purpose to achieve the appropriated mechanical properties to support the variables of the rolling process. The objective of this work is to analyze the hardness profile and the microstructure a tool steel similar to AISI A2, forged in an opened die process and submitted to heat treatment with water-cooling. The results allowed plotting a hardness profile and performing a microstructure analysis, and whereby to confirm that the heat treatment is not a quenching, but it is a material beneficiation by the hardening of superficial layer, since there is no martensitic microstructure. Therefore, this paper provides the support to future studies about the possibility to perform enhancements in this thermal heat made in the rolls produced at Gerdau Plant in Pindamonhangaba

Análise do perfil de dureza e microestrutura de um aço forjado AISI A2 submetido a tratamento térmico com resfriamento em água

Due to the large use of steel in several processes around the world, there is the increasingly concern to find new materials and/or optimization and improvement of the processes, as the need to reduce the cost and a productivity increase in the primary industry, such as the siderurgy. The rolling is the most used mechanical process in the world and therefore is required the development of new tools in high volume and with optimum characteristics to support the market demand. Forged rolls used are for rolling. These rolls have heat treatment that has the purpose to achieve the appropriated mechanical properties to support the variables of the rolling process. The objective of this work is to analyze the hardness profile and the microstructure a tool steel similar to AISI A2, forged in an opened die process and submitted to heat treatment with water-cooling. The results allowed plotting a hardness profile and performing a microstructure analysis, and whereby to confirm that the heat treatment is not a quenching, but it is a material beneficiation by the hardening of superficial layer, since there is no martensitic microstructure. Therefore, this paper provides the support to future studies about the possibility to perform enhancements in this thermal heat made in the rolls produced at Gerdau Plant in Pindamonhangaba