Relationship between food triggers and sensory hypersensitivity in patients with migraine.

Background:  The recognition of food as the trigger of attacks occurs in approximately 25% of individuals with migraine. However, differentiating migraine food triggers and prodrome symptoms is still a challenge.

Objective:  To understand the association of clinical characteristics of migraine with food triggers and to identify predictors of food triggers.

IL18 rs360717 and rs187238 genetic variants are associated with migraine diagnosis.

Background: Migraine is a genetically determined disorder that predisposes to recurrent episodes of headache. Interleukin (IL)-18 is a pro-inflammatory cytokine that seems to play a role in migraine pathophysiology, and its genetic variants could potentially impact susceptibility to migraine.

Objective: To investigate the association between IL18 rs360717 and rs187238 genetic variants with migraine diagnosis and its clinical characteristics.

Biological and molecular characterization of a new potexvirus isolated from Adenium obesum.

Adenium obesum plants showing virus-like symptoms were collected in several regions of Brazil. Mottling symptoms like those observed in symptomatic plants in the field were reproduced in mechanically inoculated A. obesum plants.

Optical Multi-Parameter Measuring System for Fluid and Air Bubble Recognition.

Detection of air bubbles in fluidic channels plays a fundamental role in all that medical equipment where liquids flow inside patients' blood vessels or bodies. In this work, we propose a multi-parameter sensing system for simultaneous recognition of the fluid, on the basis of its refractive index and of the air bubble transit. The selected optofluidic platform has been designed and studied to be integrated into automatic pumps for the administration of commercial liquid.

Infection of groundnut ringspot virus in characterized by irregular virus distribution and intermittent expression of symptoms.

, known as bridal bouquet, exhibiting characteristic symptoms of orthotospovirus infection were found in different localities in Brazil. Symptoms were restricted to leaves of the middle and lower thirds of a few branches of each plant. Electron microscopy, molecular analyses, and complete genome sequencing identified the orthotospovirus as groundnut ringspot virus (GRSV),member of the species .

Oral combined hormonal contraceptive associated with protection against allodynia in migraine in a cross-sectional study.

Introduction: For the most part, migraine afflicts young women who often need to use the hormonal contraceptive method.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of using exogenous estrogen, present in combined hormonal contraceptives (CHC) and progestin-only methods on the prevalence of allodynia in women with migraine.

Methods: Study comprising women diagnosed with migraine, with or without aura, who were not pregnant, breastfeeding, or menopausal.

Hnf1b renal expression directed by a distal enhancer responsive to Pax8.

Xenopus provides a simple and efficient model system to study nephrogenesis and explore the mechanisms causing renal developmental defects in human. Hnf1b (hepatocyte nuclear factor 1 homeobox b), a gene whose mutations are the most commonly identified genetic cause of developmental kidney disease, is required for the acquisition of a proximo-intermediate nephron segment in Xenopus as well as in mouse. Genetic networks involved in Hnf1b expression during kidney development remain poorly understood.

Design and Implementation of a Dual-Region Self-Referencing Fiber-Optic Surface Plasmon Resonance Biosensor.

The need for self-referencing is extremely important in the field of biosensing. In this manuscript, we report on the study, design, and validation of a dual-region self-referencing fiber-optic surface plasmon resonance biosensor. One region is intended to measure and monitor the binding events of the biological sample under test, while the other one is designed to be used as a reference channel to compensate for external factors, such as bulk refractive index modifications and temperature oscillations, that can negatively affect the biomolecular interaction measurement.

Optical Identification of Parenteral Nutrition Solutions Exploiting Refractive Index Sensing.

Parenteral artificial nutrition (PAN) is a lifesaving treatment for a large population of patients affected by different diseases, and it consists of intravenous injection of nutritive fluids by means of infusion pumps. Wrong PAN solutions are, unfortunately, often administered, thus threatening the patients' well-being. Here, we report an optofluidic label-free sensor that can distinguish PAN solutions on the basis of their volumetric refractive index (RI).

Effect of empagliflozin on left ventricular contractility and peak oxygen uptake in subjects with type 2 diabetes without heart disease: results of the EMPA-HEART trial.

Background: The mechanism through which sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) prevent the incidence of heart failure and/or affect cardiac structure and function remains unclear.

Methods: The EMPA-HEART trial is aimed at verifying whether empagliflozin improves myocardial contractility (left ventricle global longitudinal strain, LV-GLS) and/or cardiopulmonary fitness (peak oxygen uptake, VO2peak) in subjects with type 2 diabetes (T2D) without heart disease. Patients with T2D, normal LV systolic function (2D-Echo EF > 50%), and no heart disease were randomized to either empagliflozin 10 mg or sitagliptin 100 mg for 6 months and underwent repeated cardiopulmonary exercise tests with echocardiography and determination of plasma biomarkers.

Clinical and psychopathological correlates of duration of untreated illness (DUI) in affective spectrum disorders.

Affective disorders represent psychopathological entities lying on a continuum, characterized by high prevalence and functional impairment. A delay in treatment initiation might increase the burden associated with affective spectrum disorders. The present study was aimed at analyzing the correlates of a long duration of untreated illness (DUI) in these conditions.

Spectral Fingerprint Investigation in the near Infra-Red to Distinguish Harmful Ethylene Glycol from Isopropanol in a Microchannel.

Ethylene glycol (EG) and isopropanol (ISO) are among the major toxic alcohols that pose a risk to human health. However, it is important to distinguish them, since EG is more prone to cause renal failure, and can thus be more dangerous when ingested than ISO. Analysis of alcohols such as isopropanol and ethylene glycol generally can be performed with a complex chromatographic method.

Assessing the diversity of whiteflies infesting cassava in Brazil.

Background: The necessity of a competent vector for transmission is a primary ecological factor driving the host range expansion of plant arthropod-borne viruses, with vectors playing an essential role in disease emergence. Cassava begomoviruses severely constrain cassava production in Africa. Curiously, begomoviruses have never been reported in cassava in South America, the center of origin for this crop.

Impact of headache on a supplemental healthcare emergency unit and on use of opioids.

Background: Headache is one of the most common causes of emergency care and migraines are the most common primary headache in this regard.

Objective: The aim of this research study was to assess the incidence of medical consultations due to headache, along with demographic characteristics and treatments pertaining to cephalalgia that were offered to patients cared for in supplemental healthcare emergency rooms.

Methods: In 2017, a total of 11,105 consultations took place, and 4,865 (43.

Transmission parameters of pepper whitefly-borne vein yellows virus (PeWBVYV) by Bemisia tabaci and identification of an insect protein with a putative role in polerovirus transmission.

Pepper crops in Israel are infected by poleroviruses, Pepper vein yellows virus 2 (PeVYV-2) and Pepper whitefly-borne vein yellows virus (PeWBVYV). Herein we characterize the transmission of PeWBVYV and the aphid-transmitted PeVYV-2, and show that PeWBVYV is specifically transmitted by MEAM1 species of the whitefly Bemisia tabaci, with a minimum latency period of 120 h, and not by the Mediterranean (MED). PeWBVYV and PeVYV-2 were detected in the hemolymph of MED and MEAM1, respectively, however, amounts of PeWBVYV in the hemolymph of MED or PeVYV-2 in MEAM1 were much lower than PeWBVYV in hemolymph of MEAM1.

Competitive Interactions Between Whitefly- and Aphid-Transmitted Poleroviruses Within the Plant Host and the Insect Vectors.

Pepper cultivation in Israel has been constrained by two sympatric poleroviruses, (PeVYV-2) and (PeWBVYV), which are transmitted specifically by aphids and whiteflies, respectively. This study investigated the interaction between PeVYV-2 and PeWBVYV inside the host plant and the insect vectors. Our results show that PeVYV-2 and PeWBVYV compete against each other inside the host plant and also inside aphids.

Effects of cowpea mild mottle virus on soybean cultivars in Brazil.

Soybean stem necrosis is caused by cowpea mild mottle virus (CPMMV), transmitted by the whitefly . CPMMV has already been recorded in all major soybean-producing areas of Brazil. The impacts caused by CPMMV to the current Brazilian soybean production are unknown, thus the main objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of CPMMV infection on the main important soybean cultivars grown in the Southern and Midwestern regions of Brazil.

Spectral Phase Shift Interferometry for Refractive Index Monitoring in Micro-Capillaries.

In this work, we demonstrate spectral phase-shift interferometry operating in the near-infrared wavelength range for refractive index (RI) monitoring of fluidic samples in micro-capillaries. A detailed theoretical model was developed to calculate the phase-sensitive spectral reflectivity when low-cost rectangular glass micro-capillaries, filled with samples with different refractive indices, are placed at the end of the measurment arm of a Michelson interferometer. From the phase-sensitive spectral reflectivity, we recovered the cosine-shaped interferometric signal as a function of the wavelength, as well as its dependence on the sample RI.

Outbreaks of Mediterranean species in vegetable crops in São Paulo and Paraná States, Brazil.

The whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), is one of the most important agricultural pests and virus vectors worldwide. Bemisia tabaci is considered a complex of cryptic species with at least 44 species. Among them, the species Middle East-Asia Minor 1 (MEAM1, formerly B biotype) and Mediterranean (MED, formerly Q biotype) are the most important, and they have attained global status.