Effectiveness of traffic-related elements in tree bark and pollen abortion rates for assessing air pollution exposure on respiratory mortality rates.

The majority of epidemiological studies correlate the cardiorespiratory effects of air pollution exposure by considering the concentrations of pollutants measured from conventional monitoring networks. The conventional air quality monitoring methods are expensive, and their data are insufficient for providing good spatial resolution. We hypothesized that bioassays using plants could effectively determine pollutant gradients, thus helping to assess the risks associated with air pollution exposure.

The influence of atmospheric particles on the elemental content of vegetables in urban gardens of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Although urban horticulture provides multiple benefits to society, the extent to which these vegetables are contaminated by the absorption of chemical elements derived from atmospheric deposition is unclear. This study was designed to evaluate the influence of air pollution on leafy vegetables in community gardens of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Vegetable seedlings of Brassica oleracea var.

Intra-urban biomonitoring: Source apportionment using tree barks to identify air pollution sources.

It is of great interest to evaluate if there is a relationship between possible sources and trace elements using biomonitoring techniques. In this study, tree bark samples of 171 trees were collected using a biomonitoring technique in the inner city of São Paulo. The trace elements (Al, Ba, Ca, Cl, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, P, Rb, S, Sr and Zn) were determined by the energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) spectrometry.

New insights into the structural characteristics of irradiated crotamine.

Background: Since ionizing radiation has the potential to alter the molecular structure and affect the biological properties of biomolecules, it has been successfully employed to attenuate animal toxins. The present study aimed to characterize the structural modifications on irradiated crotamine, a toxin from Crotalus durissus terrificus venom, using circular dichroism (CD), fluorescence, Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC).

Methods: A combination of size exclusion and ion-exchange chromatography was used to purify the peptide using crude venom.

Development and biological studies of ¹⁷⁷Lu-DOTA-rituximab for the treatment of Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

The optimization of DOTA-NHS-ester conjugation to Rituximab using different Ab:DOTA molar ratios (1:10, 1:20, 1:50 and 1:100) was studied. High radiochemical yield, in vitro stability and immunoreactive fraction were obtained for the Rituximab conjugated at 1:50 molar ratio, resulting in the incorporation of an average number of 4.9 ± 1.

Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans biofilm can be inactivated by methylene blue-mediated photodynamic therapy.

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the antibacterial effects of photodynamic action of methylene blue (MB) against Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans organized on biofilm.

Methods: After the biofilm growth in 96 flat-bottom well plate, the following groups were used: control group, untreated by either laser or photosensitizer (PS); MB group or dark toxicity group, which was exposed to MB alone (100μM) for 1min (pre-irradiation time); laser group, irradiated with laser for 5min in the absence of PS and three antimicrobial photodynamic inactivation (APDI) groups, with three exposure times of 1, 3 and 5min of irradiation, corresponding to fluences of 15, 45, and 75J/cm(2) respectively. The results were compared to the control group for statistical proposes.

Towards a Brazilian radon map: consortium radon Brazil.

Recently, the idea of generating radon map of Brazil has emerged. First attempts of coordinating radon surveys--carried out by different groups across the country--and initial discussions on how to proceed on a larger scale were made at the First Brazilian Radon Seminary, Natal, September 2012. Conventionally, it is believed that indoor radon is no major problem in Brazil, because the overall benign climate usually allows high ventilation rates.

Novel series of (177)Lu-labeled bombesin derivatives with amino acidic spacers for selective targeting of human PC-3 prostate tumor cells.

Aim: Bombesin (BBN) has demonstrated the ability to bind with high affinity and specificity to GRP receptor, overexpressed on human prostate cancer. A large number of BBN derivatives have been synthesized for this purpose but most of them exhibit high abdominal accumulation, which may represent a problem in their clinical use due to serious side effects to patients. In this study we describe the results of radiolabeling with lutetium-177, stability and in vivo studies of novel phenyl-glycine-extended bombesin derivatives.

Radiolabeling of substance P with lutetium-177 and biodistribution study in rat pancreatic tumor xenografted nude mice.

Pancreatic tumor (PT) is a neuroendocrine neoplasm that usually origin metastases in the respiratory and gastrointestinal tract. The presence of peptide receptors at the cell membrane of PT constitutes the basis of the clinical use of specific radiolabeled ligands for its diagnosis and targeted therapy. Substance P (SP), an 11-amino acid peptide which has an important role in modulating pain transmission trough neurokinin type 1 (NK1r) and 2 receptors (NK2r), may play a role in the pathogenesis of PT, because approximately 10% of these tumors overexpress NK1r.