Alzheimer's disease is a complex neurodegenerative disorder. Several genes have been suggested as Alzheimer's susceptibility factors, the apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene being an established susceptibility gene and the genes coding angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) and apolipoprotein C1 (APOC1) being considered possible candidate genes for the disease. The objective of this study was to investigate the association of ACE and APOC1 gene polymorphisms with susceptibility to Alzheimer's disease and dementia in general, both alone and combined with the APOE gene. Forty-seven patients with dementia in general (35 of them with Alzheimer's disease) and 85 controls were investigated. The haplotypes E*3/-317*ins and E*4/-317*ins of APOE/APOC1 genes were significantly more frequent in the groups with Alzheimer's disease and dementia in general (P < 0.001). The frequency of the ACE*ins allele was also greater in the groups with Alzheimer's disease and dementia in general (P = 0.022; P = 0.045), but genotype frequencies were only different in groups without the E*4/-317*ins haplotype (P = 0.012 for Alzheimer's disease; P = 0.04 for dementia). Our data point to important genetic interactions involved in these diseases.

Background/Aim: Colorectal cancer is a common type of cancer with reported resistance to treatment, in most cases due to loss of function of apoptotic and cell-cycle proteins. Piperlongumine (PPLGM) is a natural alkaloid isolated from Piper species, with promising anti-cancer properties. This study investigated whether PPLGM is able to induce cell death in colorectal carcinoma HCT 116 cells expressing wild-type or deficient in Bax, p21 or p53. Materials and Methods: PPLGM was extracted from roots of Piper tuberculatum. Cell viability was determined by reduction of 3-(4,5-dimethilthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) and clonogenic assay. Cell death was evaluated by acridine orange/ethidium bromide staining and flow cytometry. Plasmid cleavage activity and circular dichroism DNA interaction were also analyzed. Results: PPLGM induced selective cell death in all cell lines (IC 50 range from 10.7 to 13.9 μM) with an increase in the number of late apoptotic cells and different profiles in cell-cycle distribution. Plasmid DNA analysis showed that PPLGM does not interact directly with DNA. Conclusion: This paper suggests that PPLGM may be a promising candidate in colorectal cancer therapy. According to the last GLOBOCAN publication (2012), colorectal cancer is the third most common malignancy in men and the second in women worldwide. Chemotherapeutic resistance and toxicity found in this type of cancer reinforce the need for alternative therapies. Extracts from Piper plants have been used in the treatment of different pathologies for centuries (1). Piperlongumine (PPLGM) is an alkaloid obtained from Piper species with promising anticancer activity. Raj et al. in 2011 (2), reported that PPLGM induces cancer-selective cell death by elevating reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, through inhibition of the antioxidant enzyme glutathione S-transferase. As cancer cells have increased ROS levels compared to normal cells, they were more susceptible to cell death induced by oxidative stress (3, 4). This therapeutic strategy has been extensively studied to selectively kill cancer cells (5, 6). Cell death induced by PPLGM has been related to apoptotic signals such as increased p53 and PUMA expression, cleaved caspase-3, decreased bcl-2 expression and DNA fragmentation (1, 7). However, some studies show that PPLGM activates autophagy in the presence of apoptotic inhibitors (8, 9). In colon cancer cell lines, PPLGM seems to work, at least in part, through the JNK and MEK/ERK pathways, by activating JNK and ERK, which can induce apoptotic enzymes or phosphorylate transcription factors that regulate the expression of pro-apoptotic genes (10, 11). Apoptosis is a programmed cell death mechanism that occurs through two major pathways: the extrinsic pathway induced by extracellular stress signals and propagated by specific transmembrane receptors, and the intrinsic pathway, mediated by mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization (12). p53 is a tumor-suppressor protein that induces cellcycle arrest, apoptosis or senescence ...

Quality of life is seldom explored in evaluations of therapeutic interventions in Alzheimer’s disease.ObjectiveTo verify whether participation in a cognitive and functional rehabilitation program improves quality of life (QOL) among Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients.Methods19 AD patients participated in this study, 12 of whom attended 24 multi-professional intervention sessions – the experimental group – whereas the remaining 7 comprised the control group. The following tools were used to assess changes: a) Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE); b) Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS); c) Quality of Life in AD evaluation scale (QOL-AD); d) Open question on QOL.ResultsParticipation had no positive impact on quantitative clinical variables (MMSE, GDS, QOL-AD). The answers to the open question, examined using the Collective Subject Discourse (CSD) method, suggested that QOL improved after the intervention.ConclusionCombining pharmacological treatment with psychosocial intervention may prove to be an effective strategy to enhance the QOL of AD patients.

Introduction: Fibromyalgia is a multifactorial disease, of which etiology is based on interaction between genetic susceptibility and environment. However, few studies attempted to identify the risk factors. Objective: To investigate the genetic influence and its interaction with environmental quality and stress, as possible risk factors for fibromyalgia development. Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional study investigated two groups of women, of which 47 had a clinical diagnosis of fibromyalgia, and 41 women comprising thre control group, all from the town of Novo Hamburgo, RS. The apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene polymorphism was analyzed in DNA extracted from total blood, in both samples. Environmental factors were studied through Lipp's Inventory of Stress Symptoms for Adults and by applying the WHOQOL-100 domain V. Results: Among the patients, more women had high stress levels when compared to the control sample (P < 0.001); moreover, the average scores of the WHOQOL-100 domain V, which analyze environment quality, were lower in this group (P < 0.001). APOE genotypic and allelic frequencies were similar between the two groups. Multivariate analysis showed that low WHOQOL-100 scores increase the chance of disease development by 57.7 times (P < 0.001), and that high stress levels were related with the disease (OR = 197.2; P < 0.001). This approach pointed out an interaction between stress and presence of E*2 allele (P = 0.028). Fibromyalgia was much more frequent in patients with high stress levels that were E*2 non-carriers (estimated OR = 265.1), when compared to patients with the same stress level, but E*2 carriers (estimated OR = 1.06). Conclusion: E*2 allele presence could have a protective action regarding the association between fibromyalgia and stress.

ResumoEm um mundo de recursos naturais decrescentes, com a intensificação das indústrias automatizadas de todos os tipos (I4) e contínuo aumento da população, é necessário desenvolver melhores caminhos para a geração e distribuição de riquezas. Uma das alternativas para este objetivo é o conceito da Economia Circular. Este artigo apresenta um exemplo focado na intensificação do uso de resíduos de biomassa na produção integrada de aço exclusivamente baseada na combinação de reatores industriais existentes em um layout que favorece o conceito da economia circular. O ferro também é obtido do processamento tradicional de sucata, reprocessamento de resíduos de ferro e óxidos de ferro, como a escória, pequenos óxidos de ferro, reversos metálicos, resíduos da indústria siderúrgica integrada tradicional. Os resíduos de biomassa são provenientes da demolição de casas de madeira, e outros resíduos de biomassa, como limpeza florestal para evitar-se incêndios, resíduos de moinhos, paletes usados e qualquer outra fonte de biomassa. As combinações dos reatores tornaram-se possíveis devido à nova versão do processo de Carbonização Contínua, Carboval, um reator especialmente projetado da tecnologia Lambiotte tradicional, para produzir, de preferência, o carvão vegetal que possui as mesmas características necessárias para alimentar o Mini Alto Forno tradicional a base de carvão. Palavras-chave: Economia Circular; Resíduos de Biomassa de Madeira; Micro-mill; Gases Industriais. CARBOVAL AS A VECTOR TO INTENSIFY THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY CONCEPT IN THE STEEL INDUSTRY AbstractIn a world with decreasing natural resources, intensifying fully automated industries of all kinds (i4) and continuous population increase, it is necessary to devise new ways to look for wealth creation and distribution in a human including manner. One of many alternatives towards this goal is through the concept of Circular Economy. This paper presents an example focused in intensifying the biomass wastes use in the integrated production of steel units exclusively based on existing industrial reactors combined in a layout favoring Circular Economy concept. The iron units are also from the traditional scrap processing along with the reprocessing waste iron and iron oxides sources such as scale, small iron oxides and metallic reverts, residues from the traditional integrated steel industry and biomass wastes coming from wood house demolition and other biomass residues such as forest cleaning to avoid forest fires, saw mill residues, used pallet and any other wood based residues. The existing reactors combinations became possible due to the new version of the Continuous Carbonization process, Carboval, a reactor specially reengineered from the traditional Lambiotte technology; to produce preferably lump charcoal that has the same characteristics necessary to feed in the traditional Charcoal based Mini Blast Furnace.