In Vivo Biological Behavior of Polymer Scaffolds of Natural Origin in the Bone Repair Process

Autologous bone grafts, used mainly in extensive bone loss, are considered the gold standard treatment in regenerative medicine, but still have limitations mainly in relation to the amount of bone available, donor area, morbidity and creation of additional surgical area. This fact encourages tissue engineering in relation to the need to develop new biomaterials, from sources other than the individual himself. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the effects of an elastin and collagen matrix on the bone repair process in critical size defects in rat calvaria. The animals (Wistar rats, n = 30) were submitted to a surgical procedure to create the bone defect and were divided into three groups: Control Group (CG, n = 10), defects filled with blood clot; E24/37 Group (E24/37, n = 10), defects filled with bovine elastin matrix hydrolyzed for 24 h at 37 °C and C24/25 Group (C24/25, n = 10), defects filled with porcine collagen matrix hydrolyzed for 24 h at 25 °C. Macroscopic and radiographic analyses demonstrated the absence of inflammatory signs and infection. Microtomographical 2D and 3D images showed centripetal bone growth and restricted margins of the bone defect. Histologically, the images confirmed the pattern of bone deposition at the margins of the remaining bone and without complete closure by bone tissue. In the morphometric analysis, the groups E24/37 and C24/25 (13.68 ± 1.44; 53.20 ± 4.47, respectively) showed statistically significant differences in relation to the CG (5.86 ± 2.87). It was concluded that the matrices used as scaffolds are biocompatible and increase the formation of new bone in a critical size defect, with greater formation in the polymer derived from the intestinal serous layer of porcine origin (C24/25).     

Isolation of Bisphenol A-Tolerating/degrading Shewanella haliotis Strain MH137742 from an Estuarine Environment

Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology - The human exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) occurs frequently. Once, this compound was one of the highest volume chemicals produced worldwide and used as a...     

Synthesis of lupeol derivatives and their antileishmanial and antitrypanosomal activities

The natural product lupeol 1 was isolated from aerial parts of Vernonia scorpioides with satisfactory yield, which made it viable to be used as starting material in semisynthetic approach. Ten lupeol derivatives 2–11 were prepared by classical procedures. Including, five new esters derivatives 7–11, which were obtained by structural modifications in the isopropylidene fragment. All semisynthetic compounds and lupeol 1–11 were confirmed by ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR and HRMS. Their antiprotozoal activity was evaluated in vitro against L. amazonensis and T. cruzi. Derivative 6 showed the best antitrypanosomal activity (IC₅₀ = 12.48 μg/mL) and the lowest cytotoxic derivative (CC₅₀ = 161.50 μg/mL). The mechanism of action of the most active derivatives (4, 6 and 11) is not dependent from the enzyme trypanothione reductase.     

Internal standardization for the determination of cadmium,cobalt, chromium and manganese in saline produced water from petroleum industry by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry after cloud point extraction

In the present paper a procedure is proposed for the determination of traces of Cd, Co, Mn and Cr in petroleum industry produced water by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry. The procedure is based on cloud point extraction of these metals, as their dithizonate complexes, into the surfactant-rich phase of octylphenoxypolyethoxyethanol surfactant (Triton X-114). Extractions were carried out in solutions with salinities between 10‰ and 70‰. Since residual salinity in the surfactant-rich phase caused differences in its transport to the plasma, yttrium was used as an internal standard to correct for this effect. The simultaneous metal extraction procedure was optimized by response surface methodology using a Doehlert design and desirability function. Enhancement factors of 21, 21, 9 and 19, along with limits of quantification of 0.093, 0.20, 0.73 and 1.2 μg L^− 1, and precision expressed as relative standard deviation (n = 8, 20.0 μg L^− 1) of 5.8, 1.2, 1.7 and 5.7% were obtained for Cd, Co, Mn and Cr, respectively. The accuracy was evaluated by spike recovery tests on the high salinity water samples with salinity of 40 and 63‰.     

Synchrotron radiation total reflection X-ray fluorescence (SR-TXRF) for evaluation of food contamination

Summary The objective of this study was to use synchrotron radiation total reflection X-ray fluorescence analysis (SR-TXRF) for the determination of metals and other elements in food available to the population in commercial establishments, in order to evaluate the risks of contamination by these products. The analyzed species were vegetables, leafy vegetables, fruits, cereal and grain. The results indicated that some species were contaminated by Cr, Cu, Zn and Pb with concentrations much higher than the reference values.     

Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and linear polarization applied to evaluation of porosity of phosphate conversion coatings on electrogalvanized steels

In this work, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and linear polarization are used in determining porosity of zinc phosphates, and of nickel and manganese modified zinc phosphates on electrogalvanized steel. The porosity of the phosphate layers ranges from 0.1% for the manganese-modified hopeite to 8% for hopeite, using the linear polarization and the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy techniques. The porosity values measured using the two techniques were in agreement. All impedance spectra of coated samples showed two steps, with two capacitive arcs and an inductive looping.     

Enhancing molecular formation in a Rb-MOT

In this paper, we report observation of an enhancement of the ground state molecule Rb₂ formation in a Rb magneto-optical trap due to a photoassociation laser. Such an enhancement effect is due to flux enhancement of atomic pairs at short internuclear distances. Our experimental observations consist in the measurement of the molecular formation rate constant due to a probe laser as a function of the trap laser intensity. The results are compared with a simple semi-classical model, showing good agreement. We conclude that the production of cold Rb₂ may be enhanced using appropriate laser parameters; this may be useful for future experiments involving production and trapping of ultracold ground state molecules.     

The search for a new model structure of β-Factor XIIa

We present the search for a new model of -factor XIIa, a blood coagulation enzyme, with an unknown experimental 3D-structure. We decided to build not one but three different models using different homologous proteins as well as different techniques and different modellers. Additional studies, including extensive molecular dynamics simulations on the solvated state, allowed us to draw several conclusions concerning homology modelling, in general, and -factor XIIa, in particular.     

Headspace single-drop microextration for the detection of organotin compounds

The performance of single-drop microextraction (SDME), coupled with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, was assessed for the determination of tributyltin compounds in water and solid samples. Experimental parameters impacting the performance of SDME, such as microextraction solvent and sampling and stirring time, were investigated. Analytical results obtained by SDME were compared with those generated by conventional solid phase microextraction (SPME) and liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) for the determination of TBT in PACS-2 sediment certified reference material (CRM).     

Thermal analysis study on vaporization of some analgesics. Acetanilide and derivatives

The thermal behaviour of acetanilide (Ac) and two of its analogues, namely the para-ethoxyacetanilide (p-Eto Ac) and the para-bromoacetanilide (p-Br Ac), which are used as analgesics in the pharmaceutical industry was studied with a simultaneous TG/DSC unit. The examined analgesics showed two endothermic DSC peaks due to melting and vaporization. By combining the experimental TG data with the corresponding reference vapour pressure data obtained with the Antoine equation the plot of P versus v was derived. From the slope of this equation the constant k-value was determined for Ac. Then, using the same k-value the vapour pressures of p-Eto Ac and p-Br Ac were determined in the same temperature range. The vaporization enthalpies for all the studied compounds were obtained from different methods and a very good agreement was found. Vaporization follows a zero-order kinetics. The activation energy of vaporization (E_vap) was calculated from the dynamic TG experiments, using the Arrhenius equation.