Genetic variation in IL-4 activated tissue resident macrophages determines strain-specific synergistic responses to LPS epigenetically.

How macrophages in the tissue environment integrate multiple stimuli depends on the genetic background of the host, but this is still poorly understood. We investigate IL-4 activation of male C57BL/6 and BALB/c strain specific in vivo tissue-resident macrophages (TRMs) from the peritoneal cavity. C57BL/6 TRMs are more transcriptionally responsive to IL-4 stimulation, with induced genes associated with more super enhancers, induced enhancers, and topologically associating domains (TAD) boundaries.

Postnatal undernutrition increases estradiol plasma levels and sexual receptivity and disrupts the kisspeptin-GnRH pathway in adult female rats.

Undernutrition has increased worldwide in recent years and it is known that environmental factors to which individuals are exposed in early life can result in metabolic and reproductive changes that remain in adult life. In this context, the litter size expansion is a classic model used to induce undernutrition early in development. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the effects of neonatal undernutrition induced by the litter size expansion on metabolic and reproductive parameters of female rats.

Symptom assessment related to the menstrual cycle to predict endometriosis and adenomyosis in university students.

Objective: To assess the prevalence of self-reported symptoms of endometriosis and adenomyosis among university students and identify potential predictors of these diseases among these symptoms.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at a private university in northeastern Brazil. The students were asked to complete an electronic questionnaire using a Google Form link.

Early maternal undernutrition induces sex-related metabolic changes in adult offspring.

Nutritional status during the developmental periods leads to predisposition to several diseases and comorbidities, highlighting metabolic and reproductive changes throughout adult life, and in the next generations. One of the experimental models used to induce undernutrition is litter size expansion, which decreases the availability of breast milk to pups and delays development. This work evaluated the effects of maternal undernutrition induced by litter size expansion, a maternal undernutrition preconception model, on the metabolic and reproductive alterations of the offspring.

Arbovirus exposure and subclinical myocardial dysfunction in an Indigenous population in Northeast Brazil: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Human activities, such as urbanization and climate change, have facilitated the spread of arbovirus-carrying vectors, disproportionately affecting vulnerable traditional Indigenous communities.

Objective: To explore the relationships between subclinical myocardial dysfunction, assessed by global longitudinal strain (GLS), and comprehensive arbovirus serology in an Indigenous population, while also describing the serological and epidemiological profile of dengue, chikungunya, and Zika viruses.

Methods: This ancillary study is part of the first phase (2016-2017) of the Project of Atherosclerosis among Indigenous Populations (PAI), a cross-sectional study involving participants from two Indigenous communities with different degrees of urbanization and a highly urbanized city in Northeast Brazil.