Background: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the leading cause of acute lower respiratory tract infection and hospitalization in children worldwide. With no vaccine or antivirals available for the routine prevention or treatment of RSV, an effective RSV antiviral is required. Previous studies have shown that the RSV nucleocapsid complex (NC), phosphoprotein (P), and large polymerase (L) are essential for the replication and survival of RSV since they form the core of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) complex. Thus, these proteins are viable targets for novel RSV antivirals. Objective: The Mahony laboratory has previously shown that 20 µM of a peptide mimetic composed of the 21 terminal amino acids of the RSV phosphoprotein (RSVP220-241) fused to an HIV-1 Tat cell penetrating peptide (CPP), a hexa-histidine (His) tag, and the Escherichia coli (E. coli) maltose binding protein carrier (MBP) molecule was sufficient to attenuate RSV A and B replication in vitro by approximately 90 and 80%, respectively. We evaluated the fusion of this His-MBP-Tat-RSVP220-241 mimetic to a more suitable carrier molecule, an albumin-binding domain (ABD), for future use in vivo. In addition, we designed a novel antiviral mimetic composed of the 30 terminal amino acids of the RSV A P protein (RSVP212-241), which are involved in binding both L polymerase and NC complexes, fused to a CPP consisting of Tat or nine arginine residues (Arg9), a His-tag, and the MBP carrier. We evaluated the activity of His-MBP-Tat-RSVP212-241, Tat-His-MBP-Tat-RSVP212-241, and His-Arg9-MBP-RSVP212-241 mimetics in vitro and hypothesized that a mimetic designed to target both L and NC interactions would be a more effective RSV antiviral than the original His-MBP-Tat-RSVP220-241 mimetic. Methods and Results: The Gateway® Cloning System was used to create expression vectors containing His-, GST-, or His-MBP-ABD-Tat-RSVP220-241 and His-MBP-Tat-RSVP212-241, whereas inverse PCR and both the In-Fusion® and Gateway® Cloning systems were used to generate expression vectors containing Tat-His-MBP-Tat-RSVP212-241 and His-Arg9-MBP-RSVP212-241. The fusion proteins were expressed, purified by affinity chromatography, and evaluated in vitro. No soluble protein was obtained for the ABD constructs. His-MBP-Tat-RSVP212-241 was toxic and not internalized by LLC-MK2 cells, whereas only 0.26 mg of Tat-His-MBP-Tat-RSVP212-241 was purified. We were able to show that His-Arg9-MBP-RSVP212-241 was non-toxic, internalized, and interacted with the RSV nucleoprotein (N) in a GST pull-down experiment. Furthermore, His-Arg9-MBP-RSVP212-241 attenuated RSV A replication and progeny production by 94.8 and 93.33% at 200 µM, respectively. We demonstrated 50.7 and 49% inhibition of RSV A replication and progeny production at 20 µM, respectively. We showed that inhibition of viral replication by 25 µM His-Arg9-MBP-RSVP212-241 was not significantly different from inhibition by 20 µM His-MBP-Tat-RSVP220-241. Thus, in this thesis we were unable to show that His-Arg9-MBP-RSVP212-241 was a more effective RSV antiviral. Conclusion: The ABD was not a suitable carrier molecule for use with our fusion protein mimetics. However, RSV P protein mimetics that target interactions with the NC complexes and L polymerase are a novel and viable antiviral strategy. We showed that a His-Arg9-MBP-RSVP212-241 mimetic was non-toxic, internalized, and interacted with the RSV N protein in vitro. Furthermore, we showed that at 200 µM this novel mimetic could attenuate RSV A replication and progeny production in vitro by 94.8 and 93.3%, respectively. Further studies are required to characterize the construct, increase its bioactivity, and identify a suitable human carrier molecule for future evaluation in vivo. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / Worldwide, respiratory syncytial virus is a leading cause of lower respiratory infection and hospitalization in children. Nearly all children are infected with the virus by the young age of two. However, respiratory syncytial virus also causes a significant amount of illness and death in the elderly and in immunocompromised individuals. Furthermore, repeated infections by the virus are common throughout life in all populations. With the lack of a vaccine or treatment for this viral infection, an effective antiviral against RSV is required. In this thesis, we developed and evaluated a novel RSV antiviral therapeutic peptide that targets proteins of the viral replication machinery. Since the replication machinery is required for respiratory syncytial virus survival, we hypothesized that infection could be attenuated by preventing formation of the replication machinery. Furthermore, since small protein therapeutics are often cleared quickly from the human body, we investigated human carrier molecules that could be attached to the antiviral protein for stabilization within the body.

The analysis of pharmacotherapy by patients suffering with DM in Greece I Author: Georgios Kalaitzidis Tutor: Professor RNDr.Jiri Vlcek,CSc. Department of Social and Clinical Pharmacy, Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Kralove. Introduction: The diabetes in developed countries concerns 11% of people over 70 years and is the cause of 3% of total deaths in general population. Aim: The aim of the study was to assess the Pharmacotherapy of Diabetes mellitus type II in a pharmacy of a small town of Greece, Veria. Methods: It is retrospective cross-sectional study, which was conducted in a pharmacy in a small town of Greece, Veria. The study population consists of 60 patients with known Type II diabetes Melitus. The data collection was performed by a self-reported questionnaire, which was created and developed by the researcher and filled by the respondents. Results: The mean age of the sample was 56.5±17.5 years. Most of them were females (n=40). Most of the patients knew their fasting glucose level (93.3%,n=56).Of the patients who knew their fasting glucose level, 36 (64.3%) patients had high fasting glucose level and 20 (35.7%) had physiological fasting glucose level. From all the patients(n=60), some of them visited their physician every 6 months (n=24), and every 3 months...

Submitted by JOSIANE SANTOS DE OLIVEIRA (josianeso) on 2018-11-29T13:15:27Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Lidiane Mallmann_.pdf: 11923133 bytes, checksum: fbfeb1841ad82810774805d4b5a52d86 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-11-29T13:15:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Lidiane Mallmann_.pdf: 11923133 bytes, checksum: fbfeb1841ad82810774805d4b5a52d86 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-08-29 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Esta dissertação trata de imagens e multiplicação de sentidos na interface do Instagram. Esta imagem sobre a qual nos debruçamos é atravessada por aparelhos, por softwares de manipulação de imagens e dispositivos disponíveis a usuários de redes sociais online ou não, e que, de alguma forma, tornarem-se manipuladores de imagem multiplicando seus sentidos. O trabalho inclui uma discussão a respeito do universo social e cognitivo pensado nas imagens e suas passagens (PEIXOTO, 1993), passando por uma exploração arqueológica de manipulação de imagens (BENJAMIN, 2012) assim como uma discussão sobre a natureza digital e metamórfica das imagens (MACHADO, 2007; MANOVICH, 2002, 2006). Distinguimos conceitos como imagem meme, imagem memética e processos meméticos para poder teorizar os diversos estágios destas imagens e poder pensa-las como processos audiovisuais. O corpus escolhido é o que chamamos de “caso Garotinho”, onde cartografamos a imagem meme da resistência a ser preso do ex-governador do Rio de Janeiro Anthony Garotinho e algumas das multiplicações de sentidos que resultaram da atualização desta imagem meme. Como metodologias usamos a cartografia (DELEUZE, GUATTARI 1995; KASTRUP, 2015; KILPP, 2010;) e o scanning (FLUSSER, 2011). Destes métodos chegamos a seis coleções de imagens reunidas por afinidades. As coleções (BENJAMIN, 2012) dão a ver algumas dinâmicas fundantes dos processos meméticos e da tecnocultura audiovisual (MONTAÑO, 2015) mediada por software (MANOVICH, 2011). / This dissertation deals with images and the multiplication of meanings on Instagram interface. This image which we are concerned with is affected by devices, image manipulation softwares and available devices for social media users, online or not, whose became, somehow, image manipulators multiplying their mean. The work includes a discussion about the social and cognitive universe thought in the images and their passages (PEIXOTO, 1993), passing for an archeological exploration of image manipulation (BENJAMIN, 2012), as well as a discussion about the digital and metaphoric nature of the images (MACHADO, 2007; MANOVICH, 2002, 2006). We distinguished concepts as meme image, memetic image and memetic processes to might theorize the different stages of those images and might think them as audiovisual processes. The corpus chosen is what we called “caso Garotinho”, where we mapped the meme image of the resistance of Rio de Janeiro ex-governor Anthony Garotinho from his prison and some of the meaning multiplications that resulted from the update of this meme image. As methodological methods we used the cartography (DELEUZE, GUATTARI 1995; KASTRUP, 2015; KILPP, 2010) and the scanning (FLUSSER, 2011). From these methods we reached six collections of images reunited by affinities. The collections (BENJAMIN, 2012) reveal some founding dynamics of memetics processes and audiovisual tecnoculture (MONTAÑO, 2015) mediated by software (MANOVICH, 2011).

Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are linear polysaccharides whose disaccharide building blocks consist of an amino sugar and either uronic acid or galactose. They are expressed on virtually all mammalian cells, usually covalently attached to proteins, forming proteoglycans. GAGs are highly negatively charged due to an abundance of sulfate and carboxylic acid groups, and are structurally very diverse, with differences arising from chain length, the type of monomeric units, the linkages between each monomeric unit, the position of sulfate groups, and the degree of sulfation. GAGs are known to interact with a multitude of proteins, impacting diverse physiological and pathological processes. In addition, most of the biological interactions mediated by proteoglycans are believed to be primarily because of the GAG chains present on their surface. Considering the involvement of GAGs in multiple diseases, their use in the development of drugs has been of significant interest in the pharmaceutical field. Heparin, the first GAG-based drug developed in 1935, is still the most widely used anticoagulant in the world. The therapeutic potential of GAGs for the treatment of many other disease states, including cancer, inflammation, infection, wound healing, lung diseases, and Alzheimer’s disease, is being actively studied with many GAGs currently in clinical trials. However, challenges associated with the heterogeneous and complex structure of GAGs, limit their successful development. To combat such issues, our lab has focused on developing Non- Saccharide GAG Mimetics (NSGMs) as structural mimics of GAGs. NSGMs, being synthetic molecules, offer multiple advantages over GAGs. The studies mentioned here describe our efforts in the development of NSGMs as potential therapeutics for cancer, and cystic fibrosis.

Bcl-2 family members are important regulators of apoptosis, and their tampered expression is often involved in oncogenesis. Of particular importance are the levels of Bcl-2 family members in forming lymphomas. We studied two groups of murine thymic T cell lymphomas derived from either Bcl-2 or Bax overexpression in order to predict their sensitivity and resistance to treatments. While the growth rate and histological characteristics were similar for both lymphoma groups, Bax-derived lymphomas failed to undergo cell cycle arrest following radiation treatment and had frequent p53 mutations. In contrast, Bcl-2-derived lymphomas often halted proliferation following radiation delivery and rarely had p53 mutations. Bax-derived lymphomas were uniformly sensitive to treatment with 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2DG) while all Bcl-2-derived lymphomas were resistant. This led us to hypothesize that the Bcl-2 family is involved in 2DG-induced cell death. Focusing on the mechanism of 2DG toxicity in Bax-derived lymphomas, our studies demonstrate the following: cell death involved the activation of proapoptotic Bax, was effectively blocked by anti-apoptotic Bcl-2, and was mediated, at least in part, by the BH3-only family member Bim. Based on these results, we explored whether a BH3 mimetic (ABT-737) could sensitize lymphomas to 2DG killing. Indeed, a combination of ABT-737 with 2DG enhanced killing in Bax-derived lymphomas and resensitized Bcl-2-overexpressing lymphomas to 2DG. Since both 2DG and BH3 mimetics are currently in clinical trials, understanding their killing mechanisms and optimal combinations are of potential clinical significance. The work in this dissertation demonstrates a novel role of Bcl-2 family member proteins in regulating 2DG toxicity and may predict response to 2DG treatment. The information found presents a new strategy of combining 2DG with BH3 mimetics to improve existing lymphoma therapies.

<p> This study addresses the issue of how to convert peptides into drug-like non-peptides while retaining the biological activity at peptide receptors. Angiotensin II (Asp-Arg-Val-Tyr-Ile-His-Pro-Phe, Ang II) was used as a model peptide.</p><p> Small bioactive peptides are in most cases conformationally flexible molecules. Rigidified peptide analogues or peptidomimetic scaffolds can be introduced into the peptide, to enforce a particular backbone conformation, and thereby locate the side-chains at defined positions in space. The conformationally constrained analogues are of considerable value in determining biologically active conformation(s) of the studied peptide. The strategy applied in this thesis includes identification of non-pharmacophoric amino acid residues, rigidification, conformational analysis and incorporation of turn mimicking scaffolds in </p><p>Ang II. Several side-chain cyclized (disulfide and methylendithioether) Ang II analogues have been synthesized. The binding studies of the rigidified analogues demonstrated that the compounds designed for the AT₁-receptor had affinity for both receptor subtypes, while the compounds designed for the AT₂-receptor displayed high selectivity only for this receptor subtype. Conformational evaluation revealed that several of the cyclized Ang II analogues most probably adopt a <i>γ</i>-turn like conformation around Tyr-4 while interacting with the </p><p>Ang II receptor. Based on this hypothesis, three different <i>γ</i>-turn mimetics replacing amino acid residues 3-5 were designed, synthesized and incorporated into Ang II. One of the synthesized pseudopeptides, incorporating an azepine-containing <i>γ</i>-turn mimetic, exerted high binding affinity and agonistic activity. These results strongly support the theory that Ang II adopts a <i>γ</i>-turn like conformation when activating the AT₁ receptor. The other Ang II analogues, incorporating bicyclic and aromatic <i>γ</i>-turn mimetics, did not display any binding to the AT₁ receptor.</p>

This study addresses the issue of how to convert peptides into drug-like non-peptides while retaining the biological activity at peptide receptors. Angiotensin II (Asp-Arg-Val-Tyr-Ile-His-Pro-Phe, Ang II) was used as a model peptide. Small bioactive peptides are in most cases conformationally flexible molecules. Rigidified peptide analogues or peptidomimetic scaffolds can be introduced into the peptide, to enforce a particular backbone conformation, and thereby locate the side-chains at defined positions in space. The conformationally constrained analogues are of considerable value in determining biologically active conformation(s) of the studied peptide. The strategy applied in this thesis includes identification of non-pharmacophoric amino acid residues, rigidification, conformational analysis and incorporation of turn mimicking scaffolds in Ang II. Several side-chain cyclized (disulfide and methylendithioether) Ang II analogues have been synthesized. The binding studies of the rigidified analogues demonstrated that the compounds designed for the AT1-receptor had affinity for both receptor subtypes, while the compounds designed for the AT2-receptor displayed high selectivity only for this receptor subtype. Conformational evaluation revealed that several of the cyclized Ang II analogues most probably adopt a γ-turn like conformation around Tyr-4 while interacting with the Ang II receptor. Based on this hypothesis, three different γ-turn mimetics replacing amino acid residues 3-5 were designed, synthesized and incorporated into Ang II. One of the synthesized pseudopeptides, incorporating an azepine-containing γ-turn mimetic, exerted high binding affinity and agonistic activity. These results strongly support the theory that Ang II adopts a γ-turn like conformation when activating the AT1 receptor. The other Ang II analogues, incorporating bicyclic and aromatic γ-turn mimetics, did not display any binding to the AT1 receptor.

No description available.

Orientador: Reinaldo Marchetto / Coorientador: Edson Crusca Junior / Banca: Saulo Santesso Garrido / Banca: José Luiz de Souza Lopes / Resumo: O peptídeo antimicrobiano Pantinina-3 (P3) possui 13 resíduos e é derivado do veneno do escorpião africano Pandinus imperator. Ele apresenta alta atividade antimicrobiana contra bactérias Gram-positivas, principalmente Enterococcus resistente à vancomicina (VRE-S13) in vitro. Entretanto, este peptídeo também possui atividade hemolítica. Neste contexto, foram desenhados e sintetizados cinco análogos de P3 a partir de substituições pontuais de resíduos específicos por um resíduo de lisina, os quais foram denominados L2K, I5K, N7K, I9K e L13K. O objetivo da criação destes análogos foi estudar a relação de estrutura e atividade do peptídeo P3, a fim de investigar o efeito da modificação de suas características biofísicas em sua atividade biológica. Para isso, os peptídeos foram sintetizados por meio da técnica de síntese em fase sólida (SPFS), purificados por cromatografia líquida de alta eficiência em coluna de fase reversa (CLAE-FR) e identificados por espectrometria de massas (SM). Os peptídeos purificados foram testados quanto à sua atividade biológica e foi verificado que o análogo L2K apresentou atividade somente para a bactéria Gram-negativa testada, o análogo N7K mostrou ser mais ativo que P3 tanto para Gram-positivas quanto para Gram-negativas e os outros análogos não apresentaram atividade antimicrobiana. Foi avaliada também a atividade hemolítica dos peptídeos, e foi verificado que o único análogo que apresentou atividade contra eritrócitos foi N7K. A hidrofobicidade d... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The antimicrobial peptide Pantinin-3 (P3) has 13 residues and is derived from the venom of the African scorpion Pandinus imperator. It has high antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive bacteria, mainly vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE-S13) in vitro. However, this peptide also has hemolytic activity. In this context, five P3 analogs were designed and synthesized from point substitutions of specific residues by a lysine residue, which were named L2K, I5K, N7K, I9K and L13K. The objective of the creation of these analogues was to study the structure and activity relationship of the P3 peptide in order to investigate the effect of the modification of its biophysical characteristics on its biological activity. For this, the peptides were synthesized using the solid-phase peptide synthesis technique (SPPS), purified by high performance liquid chromatography on a reverse phase column (HPLC-RF) and identified by mass spectrometry (MS). The purified peptides were tested for their biological activity and it was found that the L2K analog showed activity only for the Gram-negative bacteria tested, the N7K analog showed to be more active than P3 for both Gram-positive and Gram-negative and the others did not present antimicrobial activity. The hemolytic activity of the peptides was also evaluated, and it was verified that the only analog that showed activity against erythrocytes was N7K. The hydrophobicity of the peptides was analyzed by the retention time obtained by HPLC-RF an... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Anticoagulants are the basis for treatment and prevention of thrombotic diseases. The currently available medicines are associated with a wide range of adverse reactions that mandates developing new anticoagulants. Several lines of evidence support the superiority of factor Xa (FXa) as a promising target to develop novel anticoagulants. This work focuses on the design of direct and indirect FXa inhibitors using an interdisciplinary approach. As indirect FXa inhibitors, a focused library of tetrasulfated N–arylacyl tetrahydroisoquinoline (THIQ) nonsaccharide allosteric antithrombin activators was designed, synthesized, and biochemically evaluated to establish their structure–activity relationship (SAR). An N–arylacyl THIQ analog having carboxylate at position–3, two sulfate groups at positions–5 and –8 of THIQ moiety, butanoyl linker, and two sulfate groups at positions–2 and –5 of the phenolic monocyclic moiety was identified as the most promising nonsaccharide antithrombin activator with KD of 1322 ± 237 μM and acceleration potential of 80–fold. Its biochemical profile indicates a strong possibility that it activates antithrombin by the pre–equilibrium pathway rather than the induced–fit mechanism utilized by heparin analogs. A similar interdisciplinary approach was exploited to design direct FXa inhibitors that possess high selectivity and are potentially orally bioavailable. Structurally, the designed direct FXa inhibitors are neutral THIQ dicarboxamides. THIQ dicarboxamide is a privileged structure with a semi–rigid character, a structural feature that potentially offers high selectivity for targeting FXa over other coagulation and digestive proteases. It can also be thought of as an amino acid–like structure, which affords accessibility to a large number of compounds using well established peptide chemistry. Mechanistically, the designed inhibitors were expected to bind to FXa in the active site and function as orthosteric inhibitors. These direct FXa active site inhibitors are also likely to inhibit clot–bound enzyme. Nearly 60 THIQ dicarboxamides were synthesized and biochemically evaluated. Through detailed SAR analysis, the most potent analog was designed and found to exhibit an IC50 of 270 nM (Ki = 135 nM), an improvement of more than 207–fold over the first inhibitor synthesized in the study. The most potent inhibitor displayed at least 1887–fold selectivity for FXa over other coagulation enzymes and a selectivity index of at least 279–fold over the digestive serine proteases. This analog doubled plasma clotting times at 17–20 μM, which are comparable to those of agents being currently studied in clinical trials. Overall, allosteric and orthosteric approaches led to the design of indirect and direct small molecule inhibitors of FXa based on the THIQ scaffold. This work introduces two promising molecules, a tetrasulfated N–arylacyl THIQ analog as a heparin mimetic and a neutral THIQ dicarboxamide as a potent, selective, and potentially bioavailable peptidomimetic, for further advanced medicinal chemistry studies.