Summary Introduction: Global climate changes directly affect the natural environment and contribute to an increase in the transmission of diseases by vectors. Among these diseases, dengue is at the top of the list. The aim of our study was to understand the consequences of temporal variability of air temperature in the occurrence of dengue in an area comprising seven municipalities of the Greater São Paulo. Method: Characterization of a temporal trend of the disease in the region between 2010 and 2013 was performed through analysis of the notified number of dengue cases over this period. Our analysis was complemented with meteorological (temperature) and pollutant concentration data (PM10). Results: We observed that the months of January, February, March, April and May (from 2010 to 2013) were the ones with the highest number of notified cases. We also found that there is a statistical association of moisture and PM10 with the reported cases of dengue. Conclusion: Although the temperature does not statistically display an association with recorded cases of dengue, we were able to verify that temperature peaks coincide with dengue outbreak peaks. Future studies on environmental pollution and its influence on the development of Aedes aegypti mosquito during all stages of its life cycle, and the definition of strategies for better monitoring, including campaigns and surveillance, would be compelling.

SUMMARY Breast cancer (BC) is one of the primary health problems worldwide. As the most common cancer in women in the world and in Brasil, behind only non-melanoma skin cancer, this neoplasm corresponds to approximately 28% of new cases per year in the country. BC also affects men, although the incidence corresponds to only 1% of total cases. Currently, most of the chemotherapeutic agents used in BC treatment are extremely toxic and cause long-term side effects. There is also a need to obtain earlier diagnoses, more accurate prognoses and make new therapies available that are more selective and effective in order to improve the current scenario. Therefore, this work sought to evaluate the importance of the biomarker survivin (Sur) in relation to BC, through the detailing of the role of Sur as a biomarker, the correlation between this protein and the prognosis of BC patients, and a summary of therapeutic strategies that target Sur for the development of new anticancer therapies.

SUMMARY INTRODUCTION: Peripheral neuropathy is a disorder that affects the cell body, axon or myelin of motor or peripheral sensory neurons and occurs in 60-100% of patients who are submitted to dialysis due to chronic kidney disease. Uremic neuropathy is attributed to the accumulation of organic waste, evident in patients with reduced glomerular filtration rate. Objectives: This review aims to make clinical characteristics of uremic neuropathy evident enabling early diagnosis and treatment. Methods: This is a literature review of articles published on PubMed over the last 10 years using “Uremic Neuropathy” as “Title/Abstract”. Results: A total of nine articles that met the inclusion criteria were included. UN is a distal symmetric sensorimotor polyneuropathy that occurs due to the accumulation of uremic toxins associated with an oxidative stress-related free radical activity. Hyperkalemia is thought to play an important role in its pathophysiology. Diagnosis depends on nerve conduction studies, and treatment includes dialysis or renal transplant. Conclusion: Clinical presentations of UN are broad and non-specific; nonetheless, it is important to detect early changes in order to avoid its progression. The earlier UN is diagnosed and treated, the more successful are the clinical outcomes.

Background: Patients with breast cancer—the deadliest cancer among women—are at constant risk of developing metastasis. Oxidative stress and hypoxia are common feature of tumor cells that can proliferate even in a resultant metabolic acidosis. Despite the low extracellular pH, intracellular pH of tumor cells remains relatively normal, or even more alkaline due to the action of a membrane protein family known as monocarboxylate transporters (MCTs). The objective of this study was to verify the diagnostic and prognostic value of MCT1, MCT4 and CD147 in tumor and peripheral blood samples of patients with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapic treatment. Methods: Differential expression of MCT1, MCT4 and CD147 obtained by qPCR was determined by 2^−ΔΔCq method between biological samples (tumor and serial samples of peripheral) of patients (n = 125) and healthy women (n = 25). Results: tumor samples with higher histological grades have shown higher expression of these markers; this higher expression was also observed in blood samples obtained at diagnosis of patients when compared to healthy women and in patients with positive progression of the disease (metastasis development). Conclusion: markers studied here could be a promising strategy in routine laboratory evaluations as breast cancer diagnosis and prognosis.

SUMMARY INTRODUCTION: Peripheral neuropathy is a disorder that affects the cell body, axon or myelin of motor or peripheral sensory neurons and occurs in 60-100% of patients who are submitted to dialysis due to chronic kidney disease. Uremic neuropathy (UN) is attributed to the accumulation of organic waste, evident in patients with reduced glomerular filtration rate. OBJECTIVES: This review aims to make clinical characteristics of uremic neuropathy evident enabling early diagnosis and treatment. METHODS: This is a literature review of articles published on PubMed over the last 10 years using “Uremic Neuropathy” as “Title/Abstract”. RESULTS: A total of nine articles that met the inclusion criteria were included. UN is a distal symmetric sensorimotor polyneuropathy that occurs due to the accumulation of uremic toxins associated with an oxidative stress-related free radical activity. Hyperkalemia is thought to play an important role in its pathophysiology. Diagnosis depends on nerve conduction studies, and treatment includes dialysis or renal transplant. CONCLUSION: Clinical presentations of UN are broad and non-specific; nonetheless, it is important to detect early changes in order to avoid its progression. The earlier UN is diagnosed and treated, the more successful are the clinical outcomes.