Patient organisations' views, motivations and experiences on patient involvement in cancer research: a pilot study in Portugal.

Objectives: To characterise Portuguese cancer-related patient organisations and analyse their views, motivations and experiences on patient involvement in cancer research.

Design: A multistakeholder group, comprising patient representatives and researchers, codesigned a questionnaire after a literature review, online sessions and collaborative mind maps. In May 2021, a survey was conducted among representatives of Portuguese cancer-related patient organisations, focusing on four dimensions: experience in cancer research; perception of its outcomes; motivations and expectations on patient involvement in research; and organisation characteristics.

Sarcoid optic neuropathy.

A 45-year-old woman presented with sudden complete vision loss in her left eye and retroorbital pain worsened by eye movements. A previous milder episode of vision loss had occurred in the same eye 1 year before, with complete recovery after high-dose intravenous methylprednisolone. She had no light perception in the left eye with a swollen optic disc, but with a normal right optic disc.

Remote ischemic conditioning enhances heart and brain antioxidant defense.

Background: Ischemia-reperfusion injury contributes to morbidity after revascularization procedures. Along with early reperfusion, tissue conditioning by alternating intervals of brief ischemia-reperfusion episodes is considered the best approach to limit tissue damage. Remote ischemic conditioning is conducted remotely, in tissues other than those under ischemia.

Satellite Ocean Colour: Current Status and Future Perspective.

Spectrally resolved water-leaving radiances (ocean colour) and inferred chlorophyll concentration are key to studying phytoplankton dynamics at seasonal and interannual scales, for a better understanding of the role of phytoplankton in marine biogeochemistry; the global carbon cycle; and the response of marine ecosystems to climate variability, change and feedback processes. Ocean colour data also have a critical role in operational observation systems monitoring coastal eutrophication, harmful algal blooms, and sediment plumes. The contiguous ocean-colour record reached 21 years in 2018; however, it is comprised of a number of one-off missions such that creating a consistent time-series of ocean-colour data requires merging of the individual sensors (including MERIS, Aqua-MODIS, SeaWiFS, VIIRS, and OLCI) with differing sensor characteristics, without introducing artefacts.

So Close, yet so Far: Discrepancies between Uveal and Other Melanomas. A Position Paper from UM Cure 2020.

Despite much progress in our understanding of uveal melanoma (UM) over the past decades, this rare tumour is still often misclassified. Although UM, like other melanomas, is very probably derived from melanocytes, it is drastically different from cutaneous melanoma and most other melanoma subtypes in terms of epidemiology, aetiology, biology and clinical features, including an intriguing metastatic hepatotropism. UM carries distinctive prognostic chromosome alterations, somatic mutations and gene expression profiles, allowing an active tailored surveillance strategy and dedicated adjuvant clinical trials.

Does the type of electrode affect the electromyoneurographic parameters in rats?1.

Purpose: To evaluate if the type of electrode (needle vs. surface) affects the electromyoneurography parameters in rats.

Methods: Twenty male rats were anesthetized, then compound muscle action potential were recorded using a Neuropack S1 MEB- 9400©.

Can Smartphones Be Used to Perform Video-Assisted Microanastomosis? An Experimental Study.

Background: Smartphone cameras are continuously improving. The present study aimed to evaluate the possibility of using smartphones' magnification system to perform microanastomosis in rats.

Methods: Fifteen rats were randomly divided into 3 groups, according to the magnification system used: Microscope, iPhone 7 smartphone, and Galaxy S7 smartphone.

[Not Available].

Vascular anastomoses are common procedures and are performed by most surgeons. Training is primarily conducted in human beings, which violates current ethical principles. This is because current training models are expensive and in short supply.

Influence of oophorectomy on glycemia and lipidogram.

Purpose: To verify the influence of oophorectomy on lipidogram and glycemia.

Methods: Fifty six female rats were divided into the following 7 groups (n = 8): group 1 - sham group, group 2 - oophorectomy 30 days, group 3 - oophorectomy 35 days, group 4 - oophorectomy 40 days, group 5 - oophorectomy 45 days, group 6 - oophorectomy 70 days, group 7 - oophorectomy 55 days. Animals were following by number of days according the group.

Continuous versus interrupted suture technique in microvascular anastomosis in rats.

Purpose: To compare the continuous and interrupted suture technique on femoral artery on rats after vessel repair and 14 days after.

Methods: Twenty rats were operated randomly divided into two group matched according to the suture technique used: interrupted or continuous. We performed a femoral anastomosis on the right femoral artery.

Perconditioning combined with postconditioning on kidney ischemia and reperfusion.

Purpose:: To evaluate if combination of perconditioning and postconditioning provides improved renal protection compared to perconditioning alone in a model of renal reperfusion injury.

Methods:: Thirty rats were assigned into 6 groups: normality; sham; ischemia and reperfusion; postconditioning; perconditioning; perconditioning + postconditioning. Animals were subjected to right nephrectomy and left renal ischemia for 30 minutes.

Stem cells from adipose tissue improve the time of wound healing in rats.

Purpose:: To evaluate the Adipose Stem Cells (ACS) therapy efficacy on the time and quality of wound healing process in rats.

Methods:: Nine male Wistar rats were randomly distributed into three groups I) 7 days of healing; II) 14 days of healing; III) 21 days of healing. Four incisions were made on the dorsal surface of each rat and then treated with intralesional ACS, meloxicam, and no treatment and ACS+meloxicam.

Morphometric analysis of rat femoral vessels under a video magnification system.

The right femoral vessels of 80 rats were identified and dissected. External lengths and diameters of femoral arteries and femoral veins were measured using either a microscope or a video magnification system. Findings were correlated to animals' weights.

The Universal Non-Neuronal Nature of Parkinson's Disease: A Theory.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative disorders, yet the etiology of the majority of its cases remains unknown. In this manuscript, relevant published evidence is interpreted and integrated into a comprehensive hypothesis on the nature, origin, and inter-cellular mode of propagation of sporadic PD. We propose to characterize sporadic PD as a pathological deviation in the global gene expression program of a cell: the PD expression-state, or PD-state for short.

First evaluation of neustonic microplastics in Black Sea waters.

The Black Sea has a high risk of plastic pollution given the high river discharge of several industrialized countries into this semi-enclosed sea. Here, for the first time, the occurrence and distribution of microplastics are reported for the Black Sea. Microplastics were assessed from zooplankton samples taken during two cruises along the south eastern coast of the Black Sea in the November of 2014 and February of 2015.

Remote ischemic conditioning temporarily improves antioxidant defense.

Background: Remote ischemic conditioning (RIC) is the most promising surgical approach to mitigate ischemia and reperfusion (IR) injury. It consists in performing brief cycles of IR in tissues other than those exposed to ischemia. The underlying mechanisms of the induced protection are barely understood, so we evaluated if RIC works enhancing the antioxidant defense of the liver and kidney before IR injury.

Panniculitis - A Rare Manifestation of Acute Pancreatitis.

Pancreatic panniculitis is a rare skin disorder that occurs in 2-3% of pancreatic diseases, mostly associated with acute or chronic pancreatitis. Its pathophysiology is still unclear, but the release of pancreatic enzymes in circulation can be responsible for this disorder. The typical histological features are adipocyte necrosis with neutrophils infiltrate and typical "ghost cells".

Bone tissue repair in patients with open diaphyseal tibial fracture treated with biplanar external fixation or reamed locked intramedullary nailing.

Introduction: Open tibial fractures are usually caused by high-energy trauma. There is no consensus about the best treatment for these fractures. Biomechanical studies show that fixing on two planes approaches the rigidity of the bone, whereas the use of interlocking intramedullary nailing is widely used and reported to produce better therapeutic results in fracture healing.

Biological insight, high-throughput datasets and the nature of neuro-degenerative disorders.

Life sciences are experiencing a historical shift towards a quantitative, data-rich regime. This transition has been associated with the advent of bio-informatics: mathematicians, physicists, computer scientists and statisticians are now commonplace in the field, working on the analysis of ever larger data-sets. An open question regarding what should drive scientific progress in this new era remains: will biological insight become increasingly irrelevant in a world of hypothesis-free, unbiased data analysis? This piece offers a different perspective, pin-pointing that biological thought is more-than-ever relevant in a data-rich setting.

Genome-wide association study heterogeneous cohort homogenization via subject weight knock-down.

Population structure can be a source of both false-positive and false-negative findings in a genome-wide association study. This article proposes an approach that helps to reduce the false-positives. It consists of homogenizing the diseased/healthy phenotype ratio across the cohort, by decreasing the statistical weight of selected individuals.

Epigenetic engineering to reverse the Parkinson's expression state.

Nature, initiation and ensuing cellular propagation mode of sporadic Parkinson's disease (comprising over 90% of all Parkinson's cases) remain open research questions. Accordingly, so does the best therapeutic avenue for addressing this debilitating disease that today affects an estimated 7-10 million people worldwide. Recently, we argued that sporadic Parkinson's be fundamentally characterized as a pathological deviation from normality in the expression program of a cell, the PD-state.

Ontogeny of classical and operant learning behaviors in zebrafish.

The performance of developing zebrafish in both classical and operant conditioning assays was tested with a particular focus on the emergence of these learning behaviors during development. Strategically positioned visual cues paired with electroshocks were used in two fully automated assays to investigate both learning paradigms. These allow the evaluation of the behavioral performance of zebrafish continuously throughout development, from larva to adult.

Rare coding SNP in DZIP1 gene associated with late-onset sporadic Parkinson's disease.

An association between a rare, coding, non-synonymous SNP variant in the gene DZIP1 and Parkinson's disease was found, based on an analysis of the existing NGRC genome-wide association study dataset. The statistical analysis utilized the hypothesis-rich, targeted search unbiased assessment approach, rather than the hypothesis-free, genome-wide agnostic search paradigm. The association of DZIP1 with Parkinson's disease is discussed in the context of a Parkinson's disease stem-cell ageing theory.