Thermal simulations have become increasingly popular in assessing energy efficiency and predicting thermal behaviors in various structures. Calibration of these simulations is essential for accurate predictions. A crucial aspect of this calibration involves investigating the influence of meteorological variables.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntimicrob Agents Chemother
March 2024
Systems engineering plays a key role in the naval sector, focusing on how to design, integrate, and manage complex systems throughout their life cycle; it is therefore difficult to conceive functional warships without it. To this end, specialized information systems for logistical support and the sustainability of material solutions are essential to ensure proper provisioning and to know the operational status of the frigate. However, based on an architecture composed of a set of logistics applications, this information system may require highly qualified operators with a deep knowledge of the behavior of onboard systems to manage it properly.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: By 2016, signs of emergence of Plasmodium falciparum resistance to artemisinin and partner drugs were detected in the Greater Mekong Subregion. Recently, the independent evolution of artemisinin resistance has also been reported in Africa and South America. This alarming scenario calls for the urgent development of new antimalarials with novel modes of action.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThermal comfort is essential when wearing a postural-corrective garment. Discomfort of any kind may deter regular use and prolong user recovery time. The objective of this work is therefore to optimize a new compound that can alter the temperature of orthopedic insoles, thereby improving the thermal comfort for the user.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMultitarget anti-Alzheimer agents are the focus of very intensive research. Through a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of the publications in the period 1990-2020, we have identified trends and potential gaps that might guide future directions. We found that: (i) the number of publications boomed by 2011 and continued ascending in 2020; (ii) the linked-pharmacophore strategy was preferred over design approaches based on fusing or merging pharmacophores or privileged structures; (iii) a significant number of in vivo studies, mainly using the scopolamine-induced amnesia mouse model, have been performed, especially since 2017; (iv) China, Italy and Spain are the countries with the largest total number of publications on this topic, whereas Portugal, Spain and Italy are the countries in whose scientific communities this topic has generated greatest interest; (v) acetylcholinesterase, β-amyloid aggregation, oxidative stress, butyrylcholinesterase, and biometal chelation and the binary combinations thereof have been the most commonly pursued, while combinations based on other key targets, such as tau aggregation, glycogen synthase kinase-3β, NMDA receptors, and more than 70 other targets have been only marginally considered.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Completion axillary lymph node dissection (cALND) can currently be avoided in those patients with a low tumor load (LTL) and/or a low-risk profile that tested with positive sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB). Our objective is to identify prognostic factors that significantly influence axillary lymph node involvement to identify patients who could benefit from surgery without axillary lymphadenectomy.
Methods: This is an observational retrospective study of consecutive patients diagnosed and operated of breast cancer between 2000 and 2014 at University Hospital La Ribera (UHR).
Dominance hierarchies are generally established based on the levels of aggressiveness that animals present. Frequently, animals fight to establish a dominance hierarchy and obtain a disputed resource. The Mexican mojarra Cichlasoma istlanum is a native species of the Balsas river basin and coexists there with four nonnative cichlids: tilapia Oreochromis sp.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStarting from six potential hits identified in a virtual screening campaign directed to a cryptic pocket of BACE-1, at the edge of the catalytic cleft, we have synthesized and evaluated six hybrid compounds, designed to simultaneously reach BACE-1 secondary and catalytic sites and to exert additional activities of interest for Alzheimer's disease (AD). We have identified a lead compound with potent in vitro activity towards human BACE-1 and cholinesterases, moderate Aβ42 and tau antiaggregating activity, and brain permeability, which is nontoxic in neuronal cells and zebrafish embryos at concentrations above those required for the in vitro activities. This compound completely restored short- and long-term memory in a mouse model of AD (SAMP8) relative to healthy control strain SAMR1, shifted APP processing towards the non-amyloidogenic pathway, reduced tau phosphorylation, and increased the levels of synaptic proteins PSD95 and synaptophysin, thereby emerging as a promising disease-modifying, cognition-enhancing anti-AD lead.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDRESS syndrome (Drug Reaction with Eosinophilia and Systemic Symptoms) is a severe, rare and potentially lethal idiosyncratic condition associated with the use of some drugs. Given its broad spectrum of presentation, clinical suspicion is essential for management, since it requires the immediate withdrawal of the culprit drug, support measures and the use of corticosteroids as the first line of treatment. We report a 24-year-old woman with a diagnosis of ulcerative colitis with joint involvement despite the use of infliximab, who presented symptoms, signs and laboratory compatible with DRESS syndrome on the third week after indicating sulfasalazine for her baseline disease.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIt is widely assumed that female preference and male competition operate simultaneously during sexual selection. Dominance is likely an honest indicator of male quality, and females can identify and choose the dominant male to reproduce with individuals with greater competitive abilities, thus improving the quality and competitiveness of their offspring. In this context, few studies have investigated female preference in relation to male fighting ability.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Dopamine D1 receptor signaling plays key roles in core domains of neural function, including cognition and reward processing; however, many questions remain about the functions of circuits modulated by dopamine D1 receptor, largely because clinically viable, selective agonists have yet to be tested in humans.
Methods: Using a novel, exploratory neurofunctional domains study design, we assessed the safety, tolerability, pharmacodynamics, and pharmacokinetics of PF-06412562, a selective D1/D5R partial agonist, in healthy male volunteers who met prespecified criteria for low working memory capacity. Functional magnetic resonance imaging, electrophysiologic endpoints, and behavioral paradigms were used to assess working memory, executive function, and motivation/reward processing following multiple-dose administration of PF-06412562.
This manuscript integrates the experimental findings of recently developed epoxy-phase change material (PCM) formulations with modeling efforts aimed to determine the energy demands and savings derived from their use. The basic PCM system employed was composed of an epoxy resin, a thickening agent, and nonadecane, where the latter was the hydrocarbon undergoing the phase transformation. Carbon nanofibers (CNF) and boron nitride (BN) particulates were used as heat flow enhancers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: PF-06412562 is an orally bioavailable, selective dopamine D1/D5 receptor partial agonist with a non-catechol structure under evaluation for treatment of cognitive impairment in schizophrenia.
Aims: This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, Phase 1b study examined the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of three doses of PF-06412562 (3 mg, 9 mg, and 45 mg twice daily) over 15 days in patients with schizophrenia receiving antipsychotics.
Methods: Primary endpoints included adjunctive safety/tolerability and effects on MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery Working Memory domain and reward processing (Monetary Incentive Delay) tasks.
Central nervous system diseases are not currently diagnosed based on knowledge of biological mechanisms underlying their symptoms. Greater understanding may be offered through an agnostic approach to traditional disease categories, where learning more about shared biological mechanisms across conditions could potentially reclassify sub-groups of patients to allow realisation of more effective treatments. This review represents the output of the collaborative group "PRISM", tasked with considering assay choices for assessment of attention and working memory in a transdiagnostic cohort of Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia patients exhibiting symptomatic spectra of social withdrawal.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe human social brain is complex. Current knowledge fails to define the neurobiological processes underlying social behaviour involving the (patho-) physiological mechanisms that link system-level phenomena to the multiple hierarchies of brain function. Unfortunately, such a high complexity may also be associated with a high susceptibility to several pathogenic interventions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNutr Neurosci
January 2020
(DC) O.BERG (Myrtaceae) fruits contain high levels of flavonoids and are widely consumed by the South American population. In the central nervous system (CNS), some flavonoids act as modulators of GABA-A receptors and monoamine oxidase inhibitors, resulting in anxiolytic antidepressants effects, respectively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnviron Sci Pollut Res Int
February 2017
Extensive fish production systems in continental areas are often created by damming headwater streams. However, these lentic systems favour autochthonous organic matter production. As headwater stream functioning is essentially based on allochthonous organic matter (OM) supply, the presence of barrage fishponds on headwater streams might change the main food source for benthic communities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdequate cognitive functioning is essential for daily activities. When there is an insult to the brain, cognitive abilities can suffer, which, in turn, produce substantial medical and functional impairment. Advances in neurobiology, circuit neuroscience, and clinical assessment technology are converging in a manner that holds promise for the development of new pharmacological agents for cognitive enhancement in neuropsychiatric disease.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSearching for new prospective antitrypanosomal agents, three novel Ru(II)-cyclopentadienyl compounds, [Ru(η(5)-C5H5)(PPh3)L], with HL=bioactive 5-nitrofuryl containing thiosemicarbazones were synthesized and characterized in the solid state and in solution. The compounds were evaluated in vitro on the blood circulating trypomastigote form of Trypanosoma cruzi (Dm28c strain), the infective form of Trypanosoma brucei brucei (strain 427) and on J774 murine macrophages and human-derived EA.hy926 endothelial cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: During 2009, new guidelines for the treatment of diabetic ketoacidosis were published by the American Diabetes Association.
Aim: To assess the impact of new treatment guidelines on the evolution of patients treated for diabetic ketoacidosis (KAD).
Patients And Methods: Anonymous data was obtained from computational medical records of patients treated for KAD at our institution two years before ("Traditional Protocol") and TWO years after ("ADA-2009 Protocol") the publication of the 2009 American Diabetes Association (ADA) KAD guidelines.
The scope of the Pauson-Khand reaction (PKR) of internal trifluoromethyl alkynes, previously described with norbornadiene, is expanded to norbornene and ethylene. A thorough structural analysis of the resulting PK adducts has been carried out to unveil that α-trifluoromethylcyclopentenones are preferred in all cases, independently of the electronic properties of the alkyne. The regioselectivity observed with norbornadiene and ethylene is higher than in the case of norbornene.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrior neuroimaging studies support the hypothesis that anticipation, an important component of anxiety, may be mediated by activation within the insular and medial prefrontal cortices including the anterior cingulate cortex. However, there is an insufficient understanding of how affective anticipation differs across anxiety groups in emotional brain loci and networks. We examined 14 anxiety positive (AP) and 14 anxiety normative (AN) individuals completing an affective picture anticipation task during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMedial cortex is critically involved in self-referential processing. Little is known about how selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) affect medial cortical activity during self-assessment. We hypothesized that a 3-week oral course of escitalopram,10 mg/day, would alter activity related to self-referential processing in medial cortex.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF