Protective effects of fecal microbiota transplantation in sepsis are independent of the modulation of the intestinal flora.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the protective effects of probiotics and fecal transplantation on inflammatory and oxidative parameters in the intestines of two rat models of sepsis.

Methods: Rats were treated with prebiotics, probiotics, or symbiotics and exposed to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or zymosan after 15 d to induce endotoxemia. Oxidative damage and inflammation were analyzed, and histologic examination of the intestinal tissue was performed.

Early life experience contributes to the developmental programming of depressive-like behaviour, neuroinflammation and oxidative stress.

This study used an animal model of depression induced by maternal care deprivation (MCD) to investigate whether depressive behaviour, neuroinflammation and oxidative stress were underlying factors in developmental programming after early life stress. At postnatal days (PND) 20, 30, 40, and 60, individual subsets of animals were evaluated in behavioural tests and then euthanized to assess cytokine levels and oxidative stress parameters in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), hippocampus and serum. The results showed that MCD did not induce behavioural changes at PND 30 and 40.

'Hot' Earth in the mass media: the reliability of news reports on global warming.

Research into the reliability of news reports on 'global warming' published by the UOL media group, Folha.com and Folha de S. Paulo reveals a tendency for positions to be polarized between complete agreement with the assertion that the causes are entirely anthropogenic (the dominant position) and complete denial.