Publications by authors named "Abrantes J"

Burkholderia pseudomallei (Bp), causing melioidosis, is becoming a major global public health concern. It is highly endemic in Southeast Asia (SEA) and Northern Australia and is persisting beyond the established areas of endemicity. This study aimed to determine the environmental variables that would predict the most suitable ecological niche for this pathogenic bacterium in SEA by maximum entropy (MaxEnt) modeling.

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  • Myxoma (MYXV) and rabbit hemorrhagic disease (RHDV) viruses are significant threats to European rabbits, which are now considered 'Endangered' in their native habitat.
  • The study focused on evaluating the effectiveness of dried blood spots (DBS) for serological surveys of these viruses in European rabbits by comparing DBS to traditional serum samples.
  • Results showed a high level of agreement between the two methods, with DBS demonstrating strong diagnostic sensitivity and perfect specificity for both MYXV and RHDV, confirming its viability for monitoring these diseases in the wild rabbit population.
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Background: Herpesviruses are common co-pathogens in individuals infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV1) enhances HIV-1 replication and has evolved mechanisms to evade or disrupt host innate immune responses, including interference with interferon (IFN) signalling pathways.

Objectives: The aimed of this work was evaluated whether it HSV1 affects HIV-1 replication through the modulation of the IFN pathway in human macrophages.

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Viruses are responsible for many devastating rabbit diseases that impact their health and welfare and put their conservation and economic revenue at risk [...

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Population pharmacokinetic (PK) models are widely used to inform drug development by pharmaceutical companies and facilitate drug evaluation by regulatory agencies. Developing a population PK model is a multi-step, challenging, and time-consuming process involving iterative manual model fitting and evaluation. A tool for fully automatic model development (AMD) of common population PK models is presented here.

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The Pharmpy Automatic Model Development (AMD) tool automates the building of population pharmacokinetic (popPK) models by utilizing a systematic stepwise process. In this study, the performance of the AMD tool was assessed using simulated datasets. Ten true models mimicking classical popPK models were created.

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Introduction And Objective: There is limited research on the changes that can occur in the gait biomechanical parameters of older adults over long-distance walking. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the gait characteristics of older women of a specific Portuguese community over the six-minute walk test (6MWT) along with gait spatial and temporal parameters and angular kinematics of the lower limb joints.

Materials And Methods: Twenty-six older women voluntarily participated.

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Background: Functional Movement Screen (FMS) is an important tool in the assessment of exercise practice. Assuming FMS lacks precise validity for assessing postural deficits, further research is needed to assess whether it is a sufficiently precise tool for analysing joint mobility. Research aims were to evaluate: convergent validity of Deep Squat (DS) - one of FMS tests - regarding joint mobility, using data from a three-dimensional motion analysis as a comparable method; DS's ability to discriminate between subjects with different joint mobility levels.

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Guanylate binding proteins (GBPs) are an evolutionarily ancient family of proteins that are widely distributed among eukaryotes. They belong to the dynamin superfamily of GTPases, and their expression can be partially induced by interferons (IFNs). GBPs are involved in the cell-autonomous innate immune response against bacterial, parasitic and viral infections.

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In 2020/2021, several European brown hare syndrome virus (EBHSV) outbreaks were recorded in European hares (Lepus europaeus) from Catalonia, Spain. Recombination analysis combined with phylogenetic reconstruction and estimation of genetic distances of the complete coding sequences revealed that 5 strains were recombinants. The recombination breakpoint is located within the non-structural protein 2C-like RNA helicase (nucleotide position ~ 1889).

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  • The rising spread of arboviruses and increasing infection rates emphasize the urgent need for improved methods to rapidly and accurately detect these pathogens.
  • This study focuses on combining nanopore sequencing with reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to create a multiplex RT-PCR protocol.
  • The new protocol allows the simultaneous detection of multiple viruses, including Chikungunya, dengue, Zika, yellow fever, and West Nile, enhancing our ability to differentiate between arbovirus strains effectively.
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Falls are a major concern in the elderly and walking is an important daily activity in which falls occur, with tripping and slipping being the most frequent causes. Gait biomechanical parameters have been related to the occurrence of falls in the elderly. Moreover, there is evidence that falls can be prevented through exercise programs, which have been shown to be also effective in improving gait biomechanical parameters.

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Emerging infectious diseases are a major challenge to human and animal health. While predicting the emergence of pathogens is complex, the advent of high-throughput sequencing technologies has allowed the rapid identification of unknown microbiology diversity within organisms. Here, we discuss an example of a metatranscriptomics output to decipher viral evolution.

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Since the first detection of rabbit hemorrhagic disease (RHD), the rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) has been responsible for high morbidity and mortality worldwide, both in domestic and in wild rabbits. Despite the apparent control of RHD in rabbitries through vaccination, several studies highlighted the rapid evolution of RHDV by recombination, which may facilitate the emergence of new pathogenic strains. The aim of this study was to confirm the presence and characterize RHDV in Algeria.

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Members of the family Polyomaviridae have a circular double-stranded DNA genome that have been identified in various hosts ranging from mammals to arachnids. Here we report the identification and analysis of a complete genome sequence of a novel polyomavirus, Raja clavata polyomavirus (RcPyV1), from a cartilaginous fish, the thornback skate (Raja clavata). The genome sequence was determined using a metagenomics approach with an aim to provide baseline viral data in cartilaginous fish in different ecosystems.

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  • IFITMs are proteins that help our immune system fight off viruses and come in two main types: those grouped closely together on a chromosome and those that are scattered around the genome.
  • Researchers found three new groups of these proteins in different types of primates, which they named with new labels.
  • They think that the way these proteins have changed over time includes unique processes, like how some genes can create copies of themselves and how some genes can disappear in different species.
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  • * Collaborative efforts led to the collection of 422 chikungunya virus genomes from 12 states, offering insights into how the virus has spread and evolved across the country.
  • * Analysis of the genetic data revealed two distinct subclades of the virus and highlighted Northeast Brazil as the main spreading region, with immune system factors potentially influencing its genetic diversity.
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The European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) populations of the Iberian Peninsula have been severely affected by the emergence of the rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) Lagovirus europaeus/GI.2 (RHDV2/b). Bushflies and blowflies (Muscidae and Calliphoridae families, respectively) are important RHDV vectors in Oceania, but their epidemiological role is unknown in the native range of the European rabbit.

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Four pet rabbits () diagnosed with a fatal infection by rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV GI.2) were identified in the same week and further investigated. All animals lived in an urban environment (Lisbon, Portugal), were between 8 months and 2 years old and none had been vaccinated against RHDV2 (GI.

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  • Mosquito-borne diseases like Yellow Fever, Zika, Chikungunya, and Dengue are causing big health problems in Brazil, especially since Chikungunya started spreading in 2014.
  • In two years (2021-2022), scientists created 422 new virus genomes from 12 states to better understand how Chikungunya spreads, as there were over 312,000 reported cases.
  • They discovered that the northeast region of Brazil is the main area where the virus is spreading to other places and found that certain factors in the immune system might be changing the virus's genes in Brazil.
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