Potencial de aplicação do processo foto-fenton/solar como pré-tratamento de efluente da indústria de laticínios

Dairy wastewater is characterized by frequent episodes of drastic increases of organic content, giving rise to bulking filamentous bacteria and compromising the biological treatment process. This study reports the reduction of organic content of such wastewater by the application of the solar photo-Fenton process. For a wastewater containing 335, 2627 or 5400 mg C L-1 between 90% and 50% of the organic carbon content were removed after 3.5 h irradiation. The results show that the solar photo-Fenton process can be a good alternative for the abatement of organic content of dairy wastewater, especially in cases of organic content fluctuation, allowing an efficient biological treatment.

Pré-tratamentos de melaço de cana-de-açúcar e água de maceração de milho para a bioprodução de carotenóides

This work studied the pretreatment of sugarcane molasses (CM) and corn steep liquor (CS) for the production of carotenoids by Sporidiobolus salmonicolor (CBS 2636). The acid pretreatment removed less micronutrients than that with activated carbon and led to high removals of Cu and Mn. Reduction in optical density of the prepared medium and removal of glucose from it were 22% and 7% for CM and 95% and 38% for CS, respectively. Total carotenoids obtained with substrates pretreated with acids (541 mg/L) were higher than the results obtained when the medium was treated with activated carbon (208 mg/L).

Avaliação da influência da operação da termoelétrica a carvão na concentração dos metais e as no solo de Figueira, PR - Brasil

The aim of this work is to study metal and As concentrations in soil due to ash deposition from a coal plant at Figueira (PR), evaluating the macroelement (Al, Ca, Fe, Mg, Mn, Ti, V) and microelement (As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mo, Ni, Pb, Zn) concentrations in the soil around the coal plant. The plant operation caused a slight increase in the majority of the metal concentrations in the top soil close to the plant (up to 1 km) in the wind direction (NW). The elements As, Cd, Mo, Pb and Zn are considered likely soil pollutants, and As is considered the only critical element.

Determinação de fármacos diuréticos em associação por cromatografia em camada delgada e espectrofotometria

A rapid, sensitive and reliable thin-layer chromatography/spectrophotometry screening procedure was developed for quantitative determination of diuretics associated in pharmaceutical dosage forms. The chromatographic method employed microcrystalline cellulose and butanol : acetic acid : water (4:1:1) or amilic alcohol : ammonium hydroxide 25% (9:1) as mobile phases and detection by U.V. light. The drugs were extracted using a simple procedure and were quantified by U.V. spectrophotometry. Results varied from 97.5 to 102.5% and are similar to those obtained by conventional methods. This method of quantification of diuretics is promising for quality control of drugs.

Microextração em fase líquida (LPME): fundamentos da técnica e aplicações na análise de fármacos em fluidos biológicos

The analysis of drugs and metabolites in biological fluids usually requires extraction procedures to achieve sample clean-up and analyte preconcentration. Commonly, extraction procedures are performed using liquid-liquid extraction or solid-phase extraction. Nevertheless, these extraction techniques are considered to be time-consuming and require a large amount of organic solvents. On this basis, microextraction techniques have been developed. Among them, liquid-phase microextraction has been standing out. This review describes the liquid-phase microextraction technique based on hollow fibers as a novel and promising alternative in sample preparation prior to chromatographic or electrophoretic analysis. The basic concepts related to this technique and its applicability in extraction of drugs are discussed.

Aplicação de adsorção para remover amônia de efluentes suinícolas pré-tratados

The aim of this work is to evaluate the use of natural zeolites to remove the NH4+ that remains in effluents from swine facilities which were submitted to physico-chemical and biological treatments. Experiments were made in batch made adding 5% (w/w) of adsorbent (0.6-1.3 and 3.0-8.0 mm) to synthetic and real swine facilities effluents. The results show that ammonium removal is influenced by adsorbent particle size and the presence of other ions in the effluent. The adsorption equilibrium was described by Langmuir as well as Freundlich isotherms and the kinetic data fitted well a pseudo-second order model.

Princípios básicos e aplicação da iontoforese na penetração cutânea de fármacos

Physicochemical constraints severely limit the number of molecules that can be considered as candidates for transdermal delivery. Iontophoresis is a non-invasive technique in which a weak electric current is used to enhance the penetration of molecules into or through the skin. In this review the underlying mechanisms that drive iontophoresis and the impact of key experimental parameters - namely, formulation, drug concentration and pH - on iontophoretic delivery efficiency are discussed. In the final section some devices that are currently commercialized are also described.

Extração sortiva em barra de agitação para análise de fármacos em fluidos biológicos

A novel solventless sample preparation, stir-bar sorptive extraction (SBSE), for extraction, and sample enrichment of organic compounds from biological fluids, is described in this manuscript from principle to applications. The SBSE is based on sorptive extraction, whereby the compounds are extracted into a polymer coating, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), on a magnetic stirring rod. The extraction is controlled by the partitioning coefficient of drugs between the PDMS and sample matrix, and upon the sample-extraction medium phase ratio. The SBSE technique has been applied successfully, with high sensitivities, to biomedical analysis of volatiles and for semi-volatiles drugs from biological sample, including urine, plasma, and saliva. SBSE combined with in situ derivatization, drugs quite more polar (e.g. metabolites) also can be analyzed.

HIV - recentes avanços na pesquisa de fármacos

The development of new antiretroviral drugs is a dynamic process that is continuously fueled by identification of new molecular targets and new compounds for know targets. The current available drugs can be classified into five categories: nucleoside analogues reverse transcriptase inhibitors, non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors, protease inhibitors, integrase inhibitors and entry inhibitors (fusion inhibitors and CCR5 antagonist). In addition, the maturation inhibitors may be considered as potential target for chemotherapeutic intervention. This review presents some anti-HIV agents that have already gone through the advance development process for final approval for the treatment of AIDS.

Degradação de fármacos residuais por processos oxidativos avançados

The concern about aquatic ecosystems and the potential risk of drinking water contamination by pharmaceuticals have stimulated the study of processes for the efficient degradation of these contaminants, since the conventional treatment have been inefficient on that purpose. The advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) appear as viable alternatives due to their efficiency on the degradation of different classes of organic contaminants. This review presents an overview of the main AOP (O3, H2O2/UV, TiO2/UV, Fenton and photo-Fenton) which have been applied to the degradation of different pharmaceuticals. The main results obtained, intermediates identified and toxicity data are presented.

Biodiversidade: fonte potencial para a descoberta de fármacos

In economic terms, biodiversity transcends the boundaries usually given to conventional industries because it is a valuable source of biological and chemical data of great use to drug discovery. Certainly, the use of natural products has been the single most successful strategy in the discovery of novel medicines, and most of the medical breakthroughs are based on natural products. Half of the top 20 best-selling drugs are natural products, and their total sales amounted to US$ 16 billions shows the importance of natural products, which is evidenced by the new chemical entities (NCE) approved by regulatory authorities around the world in the past decade. Recently, the approval of the alkaloid galanthamine as a medicine to treat Alzheimer's disease shows that natural compounds from plants will continue to reach the market. The huge biological diversity of the Brazilian biomes, by its ability to generate new knowledge and technological innovation can be a fantastic alternative as raw material for drug discovery.

Organismos marinhos como fonte de novos fármacos: histórico & perspectivas

Though sharing only a short part on the natural products timeline, the studies on marine products has already handed in four new drugs to the clinical arsenal and brought up a long and promising list of unique molecules to pre-clinical and clinical trials. Thus, as the available analytical resources improve and the interest of large pharmaceutical companies arises, medical use of marine products has definitely become a reality.

Estratégias de pré-concentração em eletroforese capilar (CE): parte 1. Manipulação da velocidade eletroforética do analito

Capillary electrophoresis has become a well-established and routine-based separation technique. It is based on the differences between charged analyte mobility in aqueous or organic electrolytes. Its major limitation is the sensitivity due to small sample injection volumes and the narrow diameter of the capillaries, especially when UV detection is used. There are a number of ways to increase the concentration sensitivity. This report shows some on-line preconcentration strategies to perform it in free solution capillary electrophoresis that are based on manipulation of the analyte electrophoretic velocity during the sample introduction (stacking, field amplification and transient isotachophoresis).

Derivados oleananos e ursanos e sua importância na descoberta de novos fármacos com atividade antitumoral, anti-inflamatória e antioxidante

Oleanolic and ursolic acids are triterpenes that exist abundantly in the plant kingdom. They show antitumor activity and their cytotoxic activity was already evaluated against a broad range of cell lines. The inhibition of enzymes involved in the metabolism of DNA and the induction of apoptosis are known events that have been related to the antitumour activity of these triterpenes. The antiinflamatory and antioxidant activities also seem to play an important role in their antitumour activity. In this review, it is presented an overview of the importance of the potential antitumour, antiinflamatory and antioxidant activities of these triterpenoid derivatives. Also, we propose a structural-activity relationship to triterpenes containing oleanane or ursane skeleton and their cytotoxic activity.

Extração e purificação de fármacos anti-inflamatórios não esteroidais ciclo-oxigenase-2 seletivos

Celecoxib (CB) and lumiracoxib (LM) are potent COX-2 inhibitors widely marketed for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. Nevertheless, it is difficult to obtain because it are protected under patents. The aim of this work was to develop an extraction method of drugs, CB and LM, in order to obtain the drug with a purity degree appropriated for use in research projects. The developed method showed to be effective of both drugs, becoming interesting due to its low cost, easy and speed of execution, application to different dosage forms (capsules and tablets) and drugs with different physicochemical properties.