Introduction: There are several therapeutic modalities for neck rejuvenation, especially calcium hydroxylapatite. Botulinum toxin, by relaxing the mm. platysma, also provides improvement in facial contour.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPatients with cirrhosis have an increased risk of infection and differently from other complications, that over the years are improving in their outcomes, infections in cirrhotic patients are still a major cause of hospitalization and death (up to 50% in-hospital mortality). Infections by multidrug-resistant organisms (MDRO) have become a major challenge in the management of cirrhotic patients with significant prognostic and cost-related impact. About one third of cirrhotic patients with bacterial infections is infected with MDR bacteria and their prevalence has increased in recent years.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Biol Macromol
March 2023
Aiming to highlight the valorization of the natural products and the green synthesis processes, this work describes the development of a nanoscale system based on the use of alginate to encapsulate a blend of oils (vegetable and essential oils), not previously reported, with antibacterial and antioxidant actions. The study shows the influence of the polymer and surfactant concentrations on the physicochemical properties of the nanoparticles. The formulations were characterized by DLS, zeta potential, efficiency of encapsulation and stability.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVaccination strategies to control COVID-19 have been ongoing worldwide since the end of 2020. Understanding their possible effect is key to prevent future disease spread. Using a modelling approach, this study intends to measure the impact of the COVID-19 Portuguese vaccination strategy on the effective reproduction number and explore three scenarios for vaccine effectiveness waning.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Obesity and diabetes are major public health problems. Resistin is an adipokine that links the two diseases. There are few reports regarding colostrum cells and resistin from mothers with obesity and diabetes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCancer is one of the diseases with the highest mortality rate today, with breast cancer being the second most common type among the Brazilian population. Due to its etiological complexity and inefficiency of treatments, studies have focused on new forms of treatment. Among these forms of treatment, hormonal therapy seems to be an excellent auxiliary mechanism in tumoricidal activity, and melatonin has great potential as a modulator of the immune system.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Arthropoda, the most numerous and diverse metazoan phylum, has species in many habitats where they encounter various microorganisms and, as a result, mechanisms for pathogen recognition and elimination have evolved. The Toll pathway, involved in the innate immune system, was first described as part of the developmental pathway for dorsal-ventral differentiation in Drosophila. Its later discovery in vertebrates suggested that this system was extremely conserved.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFZika virus (ZIKV) is a global public health emergency due to its association with microcephaly, Guillain-Barré syndrome, neuropathy, and myelitis in children and adults. A total of 87 countries have had evidence of autochthonous mosquito-borne transmission of ZIKV, distributed across four continents, and no antivirus therapy or vaccines are available. Therefore, several strategies have been developed to target the main mosquito vector, , to reduce the burden of different arboviruses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To emphasize the most appropriate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) diffusion protocol for the detection of lesions that cause transient global amnesia, in order to perform an accurate examination, as well as to determine the ideal time point after the onset of symptoms to perform the examination.
Materials And Methods: We evaluated five patients with a diagnosis of transient global amnesia treated between 2012 and 2015. We analyzed demographic characteristics, clinical data, symptom onset, diffusion techniques, and radiological findings.
Background And Objectives: Although solid pseudopapillary tumor (SPT) of the pancreas is rare, its diagnosis has increased severalfold in the past decades. We present our experience in the management of SPT, including a patient who experienced tumor rupture during laparoscopy pancreatic resection.
Methods: Data on all patients with SPT who were subjected to surgical treatment were retrospectively obtained.
Protein-protein interaction (PPI) data is essential to elucidate the complex molecular relationships in living systems, and thus understand the biological functions at cellular and systems levels. The complete map of PPIs that can occur in a living organism is called the interactome. For animals, PPI data is stored in multiple databases (e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWhen changes at few amino acid sites are the target of selection, adaptive amino acid changes in protein sequences can be identified using maximum-likelihood methods based on models of codon substitution (such as codeml). Although such methods have been employed numerous times using a variety of different organisms, the time needed to collect the data and prepare the input files means that tens or hundreds of coding regions are usually analyzed. Nevertheless, the recent availability of flexible and easy to use computer applications that collect relevant data (such as BDBM) and infer positively selected amino acid sites (such as ADOPS), means that the entire process is easier and quicker than before.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: NADPH oxidases (NOX) are ROS producing enzymes that perform essential roles in cell physiology, including cell signaling and antimicrobial defense. This gene family is present in most eukaryotes, suggesting a common ancestor. To date, only a limited number of phylogenetic studies of metazoan NOXes have been performed, with few arthropod genes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSurvival rates of critically ill patients with liver disease has sharply increased in recent years due to several improvements in the management of decompensated cirrhosis and acute liver failure. This is ascribed to the incorporation of evidence-based strategies from clinical trials aiming to reduce mortality. In order to discuss the cutting-edge evidence regarding critical care of patients with liver disease, a joint single topic conference was recently sponsored by the Brazilian Society of Hepatology in cooperation with the Brazilian Society of Intensive Care Medicine and the Brazilian Association for Organ Transplantation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRhodnius prolixus not only has served as a model organism for the study of insect physiology, but also is a major vector of Chagas disease, an illness that affects approximately seven million people worldwide. We sequenced the genome of R. prolixus, generated assembled sequences covering 95% of the genome (∼ 702 Mb), including 15,456 putative protein-coding genes, and completed comprehensive genomic analyses of this obligate blood-feeding insect.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChagas disease or American trypanosomiasis, is a potentially life-threatening illness caused by the protozoan parasite, Trypanosoma cruzi. Once known as an endemic health problem of poor rural populations in Latin American countries, it has now spread worldwide. The parasite is transmitted by triatomine bugs, of which Rhodnius prolixus (Hemiptera, Reduviidae, Triatominae) is one of the vectors and a model organism.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To analyze the lesions diagnosed in victims of falls, comparing them with those diagnosed in other mechanisms of blunt trauma.
Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of trauma protocol charts (prospectively collected) from 2008 to 2010, including victims of trauma over 13 years of age admitted to the emergency room. The severity of injuries was stratified by the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) and Injury Severity Score (ISS).
Capsule production is common among bacterial species, but relatively rare in eukaryotic microorganisms. Members of the fungal Cryptococcus genus are known to produce capsules, which are major determinants of virulence in the highly pathogenic species Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii. Although the lack of virulence of many species of the Cryptococcus genus can be explained solely by the lack of mammalian thermotolerance, it is uncertain whether the capsules from these organisms are comparable to those of the pathogenic cryptococci.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Determine, through dissection in fresh cadavers, the topographic anatomy of the tibial nerve and its branches at the ankle, in relation to the tarsal tunnel.
Methods: Bilateral dissections were performed on 26 fresh cadavers and the locations of the tibial nerve bifurcation and its branches were measured in millimeters. For the calcaneal branches, the amount and their respective nerves of origin were also analyzed.
Background: Bone marrow-derived cell therapy has been investigated in patients with severe liver disease.
Aims: To assess the feasibility, safety and cell kinetics of autologous bone marrow-derived mononuclear cells (BMMCs) infusion in cirrhotic patients.
Methods: BMMCs were isolated from autologous bone marrow and 10% of the cells were labelled with (99m)Tc-SnCl₂.
Tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) enzyme is a rate limiting enzyme in dopamine biosynthesis. Missense mutation in both alleles of the TH gene is known to cause dopamine-related phenotypes, including dystonia and infantile Parkinsonism. However, it is not clear if single allele mutation in TH modifies the susceptibility to the adult form of Parkinson disease (PD).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA sequential injection (SI) method was developed for the spectrophotometric determination of chlorine based on the reaction between tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) and free chlorine. The advantages resulting from the use of TMB are considerable: TMB is highly selective for chlorine, it enables a fairly low quantification limit and represents a less toxic alternative to reagents such as tolidine. The use of this reaction in SI adds other advantages as it enhances the degree of automation, minimisation of reagent consumption (6.
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