Desenvolvimento e validação de metodologia analítica para determinação de itraconazol em produtos farmacêuticos por CLAE

Itraconazole is a synthetic antifungal drug administered orally with a broad spectrum of activity against mycotic infections. The present work consists of the development and validation of analytical methodology for evaluation of itraconazole in pharmaceutical products by high performance liquid chromatography. The separation was made using the reversed-phase column LC-18, acetonitrile/diethylamine 0.05% v/v, 60:40 v/v, pH 8.0 as mobile phase, methanol as solvent and detection and quantification at 254 nm. The results here obtained show that the analytical methodology is accurate, reproducible, robust and linear over the concentration range 8.0-12.0 µg/mL of itraconazole. The method was applied to pharmaceutical capsules containg itraconazole pellets and showed to be efficient, yielding good results.

Caracterização dos produtos líquidos e do carvão da pirólise de serragem de eucalipto

This study proposes the low temperature pyrolysis as an alternative conversion process for residual biomass and for obtaining gaseous, liquid and solid chemical feedstocks. Using a bench electrical pyrolysis oven, four product fractions from eucalyptus sawdust were obtained: a gaseous one, two liquid (aqueous and oily), and a solid residue (char). These products were characterized by different analytical methods. The liquid fractions showed themselves as potential sources for input chemicals. The residual char revealed appreciable adsorption capability. The process demonstrated good efficiency, generating at least two fractions of great industrial interest: bio oil and char.

Isolamento e atividades biológicas de produtos naturais das esponjas monanchora arbuscula, aplysina sp. petromica ciocalyptoides e topsentia ophiraphidites, da ascídia didemnum ligulum e do octocoral carijoa riisei

The investigation of extracts from six species of marine invertebrates yielded one new and several known natural products. Isoptilocaulin from the sponge Monanchora aff. arbuscula displayed antimicrobial activity at 1.3 mg/mL against an oxacillin-resistant strain of Staphylococcus aureus. Five inactive known dibromotyrosine derivatives, 2 6, were isolated from a new species of marine sponge, Aplysina sp. The sponges Petromica ciocalyptoides and Topsentia ophiraphidites yielded the known halistanol sulfate A (7) as an inhibitor of the antileishmanial target adenosine phosphoribosyl transferase. The ascidian Didemnum ligulum yielded asterubin (10) and the new N,N-dimethyl-O-methylethanolamine (11). The octocoral Carijoa riisei yielded the known 18-acetoxypregna-1,4,20-trien-3-one (12), which displayed cytotoxic activity against the cancer cell lines SF295, MDA-MB435, HCT8 and HL60.

Biologia química: uma estratégia moderna para a pesquisa em produtos naturais

This paper presents an overview of the Natural Products Research in Brazil in the last five years (2002-2006), and also discusses how some relevant aspects of the Chemical Biology area could create new research opportunities and challenges for the natural product chemists. In addition, some aspects of the scientific policies and their impact on current projects are discussed.

Estudi de software lliure en diferents entorns

El software lliure està tenint últimament un pes cada cop més important en les empreses, però encara és el gran desconegut per a molta gent. Des de la seva creació als anys 80 fins ara, hi ha hagut un creixement exponencial de software lliure de gran qualitat, oferint eines per a tot tipus de necessitats, eines ofimàtiques, gestors de correu, sistemes de fitxer, sistemes operatius…. Tot aquest moviment no ha passat desapercebut per a molts usuaris i empreses, que s’han aprofitat d’ell per cobrir les seves necessitats. Pel que fa a les empreses, cada cop n’hi ha més que en petita o gran mesura, utilitzen el software lliure, ja sigui per el seu menor cost d’adquisició, o bé per la seva gran fiabilitat o per que és fàcilment adaptable o per no establir cap lligam tecnològic, en definitiva per tenir més llibertat. En el moment de la creació d’una nova empresa, on es parteix de zero en tota la tecnologia informàtica, és el moment menys costòs d’implementar l’arquitectura informàtica amb software lliure, és quan l’impacte que té sobre l’empresa, usuaris i clients és menor. En les empreses que ja tenen un sistema informàtic, caldrà establir un pla de migració, ja sigui total o parcial. La finalitat d’aquest projecte no és la de dir quin software és millor que l’altre o de dir quin s’ha d’instal•lar, sinó el de donar a conèixer el món del software lliure, mostrar part d’aquest software, fer alguna comparativa de software lliure amb software propietari, donant idees i un conjunt de solucions per a empreses, per què una empresa pugui agafar idees d’implementació d’algunes de les solucions informàtiques exposades o seguir algun dels consells proposats. Actualment ja hi ha moltes empreses que utilitzen software lliure. Algunes només n’utilitzen una petita part en les seves instal•lacions, ja que el fet de que una empresa funcioni al 100% amb software lliure, tot i que n’hi comença ha haver, de moment ho considero una mica arriscat, però que en poc temps, aquest fet serà cada cop més habitual.

Desenvolupament d'un sistema de transferència de software per una placa entrenadora

El departament d’electrònica i telecomunicacions de la Universitat de Vic ha dissenyat un conjunt de plaques entrenadores amb finalitat educativa. Perquè els alumnes puguin utilitzar aquestes plaques com a eina d’estudi, és necessari disposar d’un sistema de gravació econòmic i còmode. La major part dels programadors, en aquest cas, no compleixen amb aquests requeriments. L’objectiu d’aquest projecte és dissenyar un sistema de programació que utilitzi la comunicació sèrie i que no requereixi d'un hardware ni software específics. D’aquesta manera, obtenim una placa autònoma i un programador gratuït, de muntatge ràpid i simple d’utilitzar. El sistema de gravació dissenyat s’ha dividit en tres blocs. Per una banda, un programa que anomenem “programador” encarregat de transferir codi de programa des de l’ordinador al microcontrolador de la placa entrenadora. Per altra banda, un programa anomenat “bootloader”, situat al microcontrolador, permet rebre aquest codi de programa i emmagatzemar-lo a les direccions de memòria de programa corresponents. Com a tercer bloc, s’implementa un protocol de comunicació i un sistema de control d’errors per tal d’assegurar una correcta comunicació entre el “programador” i el “bootloader”. Els objectius d’aquest projecte s’han complert i per les proves realitzades, el sistema de programació ha funcionat correctament.

Software per al cronometratge de temps mitjançant sensors digitals

L’Slot, conegut per tots amb el nom d’Scalextric, s’ha implantat com a una forma d’oci habitual, la pràctica del qual no queda restringida als més petits, sinó que cada vegada crea més afició entre els grans. El fet que l’Slot s’hagi extès entre els adults n’ha revolucionat la pràctica. L’entrada al mercat de l’Slot de gent adulta, i amb poder adquisitiu molt superior als adolescents, ha provocat que les marques especialitzades vagin evolucionant els seus productes cada vegada més. Totes les marques s’han vist obligades a desenvolupar vehicles més competitius i alhora treure al mercat accessoris que augmentin la realitat del joc. Una de les necessitats que s’ha creat és la de competir entre jugadors. Aquesta competició tan pot ser en forma de carrera entre diversos participants, com de forma individual, cronometrant el temps de cada participant en un circuit. L’objectiu principal del projecte és crear un sistema capaç de realitzar cronometratges en temps real mitjançant sensors digitals ja existents en el mercat de l’Slot i poder controlar i visualitzar la informació des d’un PC. Per a poder captar els senyals dels sensors s’ha utilitzat un sistema microcontrolat, que garanteix gran velocitat d’adquisició, processament de dades i transmissió. La comunicació del Microcontrolador amb el PC s’ha realizat mitjançant el bus USB. El PC serà el controlador del sistema i donarà les ordres al Microcontrolador, podent així tenir control total sobre el funcionament del programa. També serà el PC el que tractarà els crocometratges enregistrats i els mostrarà per pantalla

Implementació de la metodologia Scrum en una empresa de desenvolupament de Software

L’organització de la producció és sempre un factor clau en qualsevol empresa. No hi ha cap fórmula magistral que pugui servir per a tothom, perquè aquesta és molt depenent del sector i de la mida. Softvic S.A., l’empresa on treballo, em va demanar que implantés un sistema d’organització adequat a una empresa de desenvolupament de Software. Les empreses d’aquesta tipologia tenen dues característiques diferenciadores respecte una empresa de fabricació: les feines es fan una única vegada i es redefineixen freqüentment els projectes a fer al futur. És a dir, els requisits són inestables i requereixen rapidesa i flexibilitat. Actualment, Softvic S.A. ja té la ISO 9001:2008 al departament de programació. Aquesta ISO contempla com es creen les ordres de programació (OP) i ordres d’incidència (OI) i com es registra i avalua la feina realitzada. L’objectiu és implantar una metodologia que s’encarregui de la part anterior a aquesta, és a dir, definir les feines a fer en un període. Això s’ha d’integrar perfectament amb la part ja recolzada per la ISO. Per aquest fet es va escollir la metodologia Scrum que complia tots els requisits esmentats i estava contrastada per diferents empreses del món del Software. Primerament es van fer proves en les quals es guardava la informació en un Excel i s’imprimien manualment les feines a realitzar. Un cop es va haver decidit quina informació era útil i quina no en el cas de Softvic, es va crear una base de dades amb les taules i camps necessaris. Per treballar de forma més còmoda es va fer posteriorment un programa per a mantenir les dades i un formulari per imprimir etiquetes. A mesura que hem anat utilitzant la metodologia Scrum, hem anat ajustant aspectes cap on hem cregut convenient pel nostre cas en particular.

Introducing Continuous Integration for C and C++ Software Development Projects on Linux Platform

Software integration is a stage in a software development process to assemble separate components to produce a single product. It is important to manage the risks involved and being able to integrate smoothly, because software cannot be released without integrating it first. Furthermore, it has been shown that the integration and testing phase can make up 40 % of the overall project costs. These issues can be mitigated by using a software engineering practice called continuous integration. This thesis work presents how continuous integration is introduced to the author's employer organisation. This includes studying how the continuous integration process works and creating the technical basis to start using the process on future projects. The implemented system supports software written in C and C++ programming languages on Linux platform, but the general concepts can be applied to any programming language and platform by selecting the appropriate tools. The results demonstrate in detail what issues need to be solved when the process is acquired in a corporate environment. Additionally, they provide an implementation and process description suitable to the organisation. The results show that continuous integration can reduce the risks involved in a software process and increase the quality of the product as well.

Quality standards in e-business software development

Large enterprises have for many years employed eBusiness solutions in order to improve their efficiency. Smaller companies, however, have not been able to leverage these technologies due to the high level of know-how and resources required in implementing them. To solve this, novel software services are being developed to facilitate eBusiness adoption for the small enterprise with the aim of making B2Bi feasible not only between large organisations but also between trading partners of all sizes. The objective of this study was to find what standards and techniques on eBusiness and software testing and quality assurance fit best for building these new kinds of software considering the requirements their unique eBusiness approach poses. The research was conducted as a literature study with focus on standards on software testing and quality assurance together with standards on eBusiness. The study showed that the current software testing and quality assurance standards do not possess such characteristics as would make select standards evidently better fitted for building this type of software, which were established to be best developed as web services in order for them to meet their requirements. A selection of eBusiness standards and technologies was proposed to support this approach. The main finding in the study was, however, that these kinds of web services that have high interoperability requirements will have to be able to carry out automated interoperability and conformance testing as part of their operation; this objective dictates how the software are built and how testing during software development is to be done. The study showed that research on automated interoperability and conformance testing for web services is still limited and more research is needed to make the building of highly-interoperable web services more feasible.

Challenges and Means for the Front End Activities of Software Development

The front end of innovation is regarded as one of the most important steps in building new software products or services, and the most significant benefits in software development can be achieved through improvements in the front end activities. Problems in the front end phase have an impact on customer dissatisfaction with delivered software, and on the effectiveness of the entire software development process. When these processes are improved, the likelihood of delivering high quality software and business success increases. This thesis highlights the challenges and problems related to the early phases of software development, and provides new methods and tools for improving performance in the front end activities of software development. The theoretical framework of this study comprises two fields of research. The first section belongs to the field of innovation management, and especially to the management of the early phases of the innovation process, i.e. the front end of innovation. The second section of the framework is closely linked to the processes of software engineering, especially to the early phases of the software development process, i.e. the practice of requirements engineering. Thus, this study extends the theoretical knowledge and discloses the differences and similarities in these two fields of research. In addition, this study opens up a new strand for academic discussion by connecting these research directions. Several qualitative business research methodologies have been utilized in the individual publications to solve the research questions. The theoretical and managerial contribution of the study can be divided into three areas: 1) processes and concepts, 2) challenges and development needs, and 3) means and methods for the front end activities of software development. First, the study discloses the difference and similarities between the concepts of the front end of innovation and requirements engineering, and proposes a new framework for managing the front end of the software innovation process, bringing business and innovation perspectives into software development. Furthermore, the study discloses managerial perceptions of the similarities and differences in the concept of the front end of innovation between the software industry and the traditional industrial sector. Second, the study highlights the challenges and development needs in the front end phase of software development, especially challenges in communication, such as linguistic problems, ineffective communication channels, a communication gap between users/customers and software developers, and participation of multiple persons in software development. Third, the study proposes new group methods for improving the front end activities of software development, especially customer need assessment, and the elicitation of software requirements.

Determinação voltamétrica de ciclamato de sódio em produtos dietéticos empregando um eletrodo de diamante dopado com boro

The use of square-wave voltammetry in conjunction with a cathodically pre-treated diamond electrode for the analytical determination of sodium cyclamate is described. The samples were analyzed as received in a 0.5 mol L-1 H2SO4 solution in the concentration range from 5.0 × 10-5 mol L-1 to 4.1 × 10-4 mol L-1, with a detection limit of 4.8 × 10-6 mol L-1. The RSD was smaller than 1.2 % and the proposed method was applied with success in the determination of sodium cyclamate in several dietary products.

Desenvolvimento de um procedimento biamperométrico para determinação de sacarina em produtos dietéticos

In this work was developed a method for the determination of saccharin in dietary products by a biamperometric titration, using two silver electrodes as working electrodes and silver nitrate as titrant. It were used products as juices (light) and sweeteners with saccharin in concentrations ranged from 8.73 x 10-5 mol L-1 to 1.0 x 10-2 mol L-1, and the results were in close agreement with those data found using a HPLC method at a confidence level of 95%. The main advantages of the proposed method are its simplicity, rapid and low cost.

Gliceroquímica: novos produtos e processos a partir da glicerina de produção de biodiesel

Glycerol is a byproduct of biodiesel production through transesterification of oils and fat. This article discusses the chemical transformation of glycerol in ethers, acetals and esters of high technological applications, especially in the fuel sector. Glycerol hydrogenolysis, dehydration to acrolein and oxidation are discussed as well, to show the potential use of glycerol for production of plastic monomers. Finally, the article shows other transformations, such as syn gas production, epichloridrin and glycerin carbonate.

Fotoprotetores derivados de produtos naturais: perspectivas de mercado e interações entre o setor produtivo e centros de pesquisa

Ultraviolet radiation is the major exogenous mediators of skin damage. To prevent such damage, sunscreen products are used. New research aims at both the elucidation of new sunscreen compounds, as well as new assets for supporting and synergistic action. In this article it is presented a systematic data of innovation for sunscreen and a discussion on prospects for partnership between universities and enterprises, where it is believed that the innovations in cosmetics, driven by the constant demand of the market in new products, may be a stimulus for the interactions between university and company in Brazil.