Use of operational research techniques for concrete mix design: A systematic review.

Traditional methods for designing concrete mixtures provide good results; however, they do not guarantee the optimum composition. Consequently, applying operational research techniques is motivated by an increasing need for designers to proportion the concrete's raw materials that satisfy the concrete performance requirements such as mechanical properties, chemical properties, workability, sustainability, and cost. For this reason, many authors have been looking for mathematical programming and machine learning solutions to predict concrete mix properties and optimise concrete mixtures.

American trypanosomiasis and Chagas disease: Sexual transmission.

Objective: To contribute to the discussion on the research findings indicating the sexual transmission of American trypanosomiasis and Chagas disease in humans.

Methods: A review of the literature was performed to investigate the routes of transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi parasites and to evaluate the distribution of Chagas disease, which is now found across five continents.

Results: The epidemiological profile of American trypanosomiasis, which is still considered a neglected disease of the poor people of Latin America, has changed over time.

Sexual transmission of American trypanosomiasis in humans: a new potential pandemic route for Chagas parasites.

Background: The Trypanosoma cruzi infection endemic in Latin America has now spread to several countries across four continents; this endemic involves triatomine vector-free protists. We hypothesised that the sexual transmission of T. cruzi contributes to the ongoing spread of Chagas disease.

Adhesion and cytotoxicity of Aeromonas caviae to rabbit intestinal epithelium ex vivo.

Unlabelled: Aeromonads are considered potential pathogens for humans and animals and are responsible for the etiology of intestinal and extraintestinal diseases. The presence of Aeromonas spp. in food and water shows that it is an important vehicle of infection in humans.

Bovine herpesviruses induce different cell death forms in neuronal and glial-derived tumor cell cultures.

Oncolytic viruses have the ability to infect tumor cells and leave healthy cells intact. In this study, bovine herpesvirus 1 (BHV1; Los Angeles, Cooper, and SV56/90 strains) and bovine herpesvirus 5 (BHV5; SV507/99 and GU9457818 strains) were used to infect two neuronal tumor cell lineages: neuro2a (mouse neuroblastoma cells) and C6 (rat glial cells). BHV1 and BHV5 strains infected both cell lines and positively correlated with viral antigen detection (p < 0.

Organochlorines and polychlorinated biphenyl environmental pollution in south coast of Rio De Janeiro state.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the burden of environmental pollution by Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) and Organochlorine Pesticides (OCs) in two localities of Rio de Janeiro coast, through the determination of these levels in specimens of mullets and croakers collected from May to August 2008, at Guanabara Bay (GB) and from Araújo Island (AI), at Paraty Bay. Twenty three organochlorine pollutants were detected in croakers at GB and twenty in mullets and all PCBs congeners investigated in the study were present in the two species. Ratio ∑DDT/∑PCB of 1.

Immunoexpression of growth factors and receptors in polymorphous low-grade adenocarcinoma.

Background: Polymorphous low-grade adenocarcinoma (PLGA) is a rare malignant tumor that usually arises in the minor salivary glands. Growth factors are cell-secreted peptides that regulate biological processes such as growth, proliferation, and differentiation. In salivary gland tumors, immunoexpression of growth factors and their receptors is associated with cell proliferation, malignant transformation, and tumor invasion.

Comparative analysis of the replication of bovine herpesvirus 1 (BHV1) and BHV5 in bovine-derived neuron-like cells.

Members of the subfamily Alphaherpesvirinae use the epithelium of the upper respiratory and/or genital tract as preferential sites for primary replication. However, bovine herpesvirus 5 (BoHV5) is neurotropic and neuroinvasive and responsible for meningoencephalitis in cattle and in animal models. A related virus, BoHV1 has also been occasionally implicated in natural cases of neurological infection and disease in cattle.

Adhesion, invasion, intracellular survival and cytotoxic activity of strains of Aeromonas spp. in HEp-2, Caco-2 and T-84 cell lines.

The genus Aeromonas contains important pathogen for both humans and other animals, being responsible for the etiology of intestinal and extraintestinal diseases. The pathology caused by these bacteria involves several virulence factors, such as the ability to produce toxins, adhesion and invasion. The properties conferred by these factors have been extensively studied in experiments of interaction between bacterial strains and cell culture.

Isolation and molecular characterization of Brazilian turkey reovirus from immunosuppressed young poults.

In this study, we investigated turkey reovirus (TReoV) in tissue samples from young birds, aged 15 days. RT-PCR for TReoV detected 3.3 % positive samples and TReoV was successfully isolated in Vero cells.

Oral foregut cyst in a neonate.

Oral foregut cysts are congenital choristomas that arise in the oral cavity during embryonic development from remnants of foregut-derived epithelium. This is an unusual report of a neonate with a large congenital sublingual cystic lesion, extending superficially from the left ventral tongue to the anterior floor of the mouth, impeding breast-feeding. The differential diagnosis included dermoid cyst, epidermoid cyst, mucous retention cyst, and oral lymphangioma.

Association between serum levels of organochlorine pesticides and sex hormones in adults living in a heavily contaminated area in Brazil.

Background: Several studies have investigated the effects of organochlorine (OC) pesticides on adverse reproductive outcomes. However, few previous studies explored their effects on sex hormones.

Objective: To examine the association between serum concentrations of OC pesticides and levels of sex hormones in adult population in a rural area in Brazil heavily contaminated with these pesticides.

Genotypic and phenotypic characterisation of enteroaggregative Escherichia coli from children in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) is a significant cause of diarrhoeal illness in both children and adults. Genetic heterogeneity and recovery of EAEC strains from both healthy and diseased individuals complicates our understanding of EAEC pathogenesis. We wished to establish if genetic or phenotypic attributes could be used to distinguish between strains asymptomatically colonising healthy individuals and those which cause disease.

Pregnancy, maternal exposure to hair dyes and hair straightening cosmetics, and early age leukemia.

Objective: To investigate the association between maternal exposure to hair dyes and hair straightening cosmetics (HDSC) during pregnancy and leukemia at an early age (<2yr., EAL).

Methods: A multicenter hospital-based case-control study was carried out in 13 states in Brazil between 1999 and 2007.

Organochlorine compounds in bovine milk from the state of Mato Grosso do Sul-Brazil.

Organochlorines are highly hydrophobic, synthetic organic pollutants that accumulate in the environment and in food webs. The primary route of human exposure to organochlorines is through food-mainly fat-rich food of animal origin such as meat, fish, and dairy products. Here we determined the presence and concentration of organochlorine residues in pasteurized milk from Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, to monitor consumer exposure to these contaminants.

Clinical correlates of social adjustment in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Background: Patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) frequently show poor social adjustment, which has been associated with OCD severity. Little is known about the effects that age at symptom onset, specific OCD symptoms, and psychiatric comorbidities have on social adjustment. The objective of this study was to investigate the clinical correlates of social functioning in OCD patients.

Long term exposure to organochlorine pesticides and thyroid function in children from Cidade dos Meninos, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

A pesticide factory in Cidade dos Meninos village, Duque de Caxias County, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, ended its activity in 1961, leading to widespread contamination of the environment by several organochlorine pesticides. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of chronic exposure to organochlorine pesticides on thyroid hormone levels in children residing in Cidade dos Meninos. In a population-based survey carried out between 2003 and 2004, serum concentration of 19 pesticides and levels of free thyroxine (T4), total triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) were determined in 193 children younger than 15 years old.

Aggregative adherent strains of Corynebacterium pseudodiphtheriticum enter and survive within HEp-2 epithelial cells.

Corynebacterium pseudodiphtheriticum is a well-known human pathogen that mainly causes respiratory disease and is associated with high mortality in compromised hosts. Little is known about the virulence factors and pathogenesis of C. pseudodiphtheriticum.

The role of DNA base excision repair in filamentation in Escherichia coli K-12 adhered to epithelial HEp-2 cells.

Base excision repair (BER) is dedicated to the repair of oxidative DNA damage caused by reactive oxygen species generated by chemical and physical agents or by metabolism which can react with DNA and cause a variety of mutations. Epithelial cells are typically the first type of host cell to come into contact with potential microbial invaders. In this work, we have evaluated whether the adherence to human epithelial cells causes DNA damage and associated filamentation.

Trypanosoma cruzi in the chicken model: Chagas-like heart disease in the absence of parasitism.

Background: The administration of anti-trypanosome nitroderivatives curtails Trypanosoma cruzi infection in Chagas disease patients, but does not prevent destructive lesions in the heart. This observation suggests that an effective treatment for the disease requires understanding its pathogenesis.

Methodology/principal Findings: To understand the origin of clinical manifestations of the heart disease we used a chicken model system in which infection can be initiated in the egg, but parasite persistence is precluded.

Group B Streptococcus serotypes III and V induce apoptosis and necrosis of human epithelial A549 cells.

Although group B Streptococcus (GBS) has been classically described as an exclusively extracellular pathogen, growing evidence suggests that it may be internalized by epithelial cells. However, the fates of intracellular GBS and of infected respiratory epithelial cells remain unclear. Little is known about the bacterial components involved in these processes.

Visual detection of turkey coronavirus RNA in tissues and feces by reverse-transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) with hydroxynaphthol blue dye.

A sensitive reverse-transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) assay was developed for the rapid visual detection of turkey coronavirus (TCoV) infection. The reaction is performed in one step in a single tube at 65 °C for 45 min, with hydroxynaphthol blue (HNB) dye added prior to amplification. The detection limit of the RT-LAMP assay was approximately 10(2) EID(50/50 μl) TCoV genome, and no cross-reaction with other avian viruses was observed.

Common mental disorders among medical students at Universidade Federal de Sergipe: a cross-sectional study.

Objective: Estimate the prevalence of common mental disorder and its associated factors among medical students of the Universidade Federal de Sergipe.

Method: A cross-sectional study was carried out, applying Self Reporting Questionnaire-20 to 473 students from the 512 medical students enrolled in 2006 and compared with compared with a structured questionnaire by the authors containing information on the socio-demographic characteristics, the teaching-learning process and the psycho-emotional experiences of the students. Freshmen were excluded after initial comparison with the students already exposed to the medical course.