Quantifying the influence of the tobacco industry on EU governance: automated content analysis of the EU Tobacco Products Directive.

Objective: The tobacco industry spends large sums lobbying the European Union (EU) institutions, yet whether such lobbying significantly affects tobacco policy is not well understood. We used novel quantitative text mining techniques to evaluate the impact of industry pressure on the contested EU Tobacco Products Directive revision.

Design: Policy positions of 18 stakeholders including the tobacco industry, health NGOs and tobacco retailers were evaluated using their text submissions to EU consultations and impact assessments.

Transcriptome sequencing from diverse human populations reveals differentiated regulatory architecture.

Large-scale sequencing efforts have documented extensive genetic variation within the human genome. However, our understanding of the origins, global distribution, and functional consequences of this variation is far from complete. While regulatory variation influencing gene expression has been studied within a handful of populations, the breadth of transcriptome differences across diverse human populations has not been systematically analyzed.

Eugenia calycina Cambess extracts and their fractions: Their antimicrobial activity and the identification of major polar compounds using electrospray ionization FT-ICR mass spectrometry.

Eugenia calycina, which is described as "red pitanga or pitanga cherry of cerrado," is widely distributed in the Cerrado area of Brazil. Its leaf and bark extracts are used in folk medicine for many applications. In this study, the compositions of the major polar compounds of the bark and leaf extracts and their fractions were obtained from a liquid-liquid extraction using hexane, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, and water.

Effects of exercise training on heart rate variability in Chagas heart disease.

Background: Heart rate variability (HRV) is a marker of autonomic dysfunction severity. The effects of physical training on HRV indexes in Chagas heart disease (CHD) are not well established.

Objective: To evaluate the changes in HRV indexes in response to physical training in CHD.

MRI evaluation of the anterolateral ligament of the knee: assessment in routine 1.5-T scans.

Objective: This study evaluated the ability of routine 1.5-T MRI scans to visualize the anterolateral ligament (ALL) and describe its path and anatomic relations with lateral knee structures.

Materials And Methods: Thirty-nine 1.

Human decidual macrophages and NK cells differentially express Toll-like receptors and display distinct cytokine profiles upon TLR stimulation.

Maternofetal pathogen transmission is partially controlled at the level of the maternal uterine mucosa at the fetal implantation site (the decidua basalis), where maternal and fetal cells are in close contact. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) may play an important role in initiating rapid immune responses against pathogens in the decidua basalis, however the tolerant microenvironment should be preserved in order to allow fetal development. Here we investigated the expression and functionality of TLRs expressed by decidual macrophages (dMs) and NK cells (dNKs), the major decidual immune cell populations.

Mechanical analysis of femoral neck fracture fixation in synthetic bone.

Objective: To analyze statistically results obtained between biomechanical assays on fixation of femoral neck fracture type Pauwels III, on synthetic bone, using 7.5 mm non parallel cannulated screws and control group.

Methods: Ten synthetic bones from a national brand were used.

Heart rate recovery in asymptomatic patients with Chagas disease.

Background: Chagas disease patients with right bundle-branch block (RBBB) have diverse clinical presentation and prognosis, depending on left ventricular (LV) function. Autonomic disorder can be an early marker of heart involvement. The heart rate recovery (HRR) after exercise may identify autonomic dysfunction, with impact on therapeutic strategies.

Curine inhibits mast cell-dependent responses in mice.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Curine is a bisbenzylisoquinoline alkaloid and the major constituent isolated from Chondrodendron platyphyllum, a plant that is used to treat inflammatory diseases in Brazilian folk medicine. This study investigates the effectiveness of curine on mast cell-dependent responses in mice.

Materials And Methods: To induce mast cell-dependent responses, Swiss mice were subcutaneously sensitized with ovalbumin (OVA-12 μg/mouse) and Al(OH)3 in a 0.

Regulatory B cells present in lymph nodes draining a murine tumor.

In cancer, B cells have been classically associated with antibody secretion, antigen presentation and T cell activation. However, a possible role for B lymphocytes in impairing antitumor response and collaborating with tumor growth has been brought into focus. Recent reports have described the capacity of B cells to negatively affect immune responses in autoimmune diseases.

Effect of UV-C radiation on bioactive compounds of pineapple (Ananas comosus L. Merr.) by-products.

Background: The industrial processing of pineapple generates a high quantity of by-products. To reduce the environmental impact of these by-products and the inherent cost of their treatment, it is important to characterise and valorise these products, converting them into high added value products. Ultra-violet radiation is one of the main sustainable sanitation techniques for fruits.

[Factors associated with HIV/AIDS infection among adolescents and young adults enrolled in a Counseling and Testing Center in the State of Bahia, Brazil].

The study seeks to investigate factors associated with HIV infection among adolescents and young adults registered in the Counseling and Testing Center (CTC) of Feira de Santana, Bahia. An analytical study with a cross-sectional design was conducted using data from the CTC Information System in the period from 2007 to 2011. Information on 3,768 individuals were studied and the proportional difference was checked using the Pearson chi-squared test and stratified analysis by Prevalence Rate (PR) with confidence intervals of 95%, considering the serological status as the outcome.

Assessment of Functional Capacity in Chagas Heart Disease by Incremental Shuttle Walk Test and its Relation to Quality-of-Life.

Background: The cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) is considered to be the gold standard to evaluate functional capacity (FC) in patients with heart failure. However, field tests such as the 6-min walk test (6MWT) and the incremental shuttle walk test (ISWT) are simple and effective in evaluating the same. Despite the increasing use of ISWT, no studies that used the test in patients with Chagas heart disease (CHD) were found and only few studies have evaluated the health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) in this population.

Influence of estradiol administration on estrogen receptors of nasal mucosa: an experimental study on guinea pigs.

Introduction: Some clinical trials revealed a correlation between increased serum estrogen and nasal symptoms or inflammatory changes in nasal mucosa. Estrogen receptors tend to be controlled by a negative feedback, to avoid a deleterious stimulus over several body functions while in hyperestrogenic periods. This study proposes a hypothesis where mechanisms regulating expression of estradiol receptors in nasal mucosa are absent in some patients, and their concentration remains steady even in periods of high serum hormonal concentration, potentially leading to local estrogenic symptoms in nasal mucosa.

Quantum chemical DFT study of the interaction between molecular oxygen and FeN₄ complexes, and effect of the macrocyclic ligand.

Density functional theory (DFT) was used to examine the interaction between molecular oxygen (O₂) and macrocyclic iron complexes of the type FeN₄ during the formation of FeN₄--O₂ adducts. In order to understand how this interaction is affected by different macrocyclic ligands, O₂ was bonded to iron-tetraaza[14]annulene (FeTAA), iron-tetramethyl-tetraaza[14]annulene (FeTMTAA), iron-hexamethyl-tetraaza[14]annulene (FeHMTAA), iron dibenzotetraaza[14]annulene (FeDBTAA), and two iron-tetramethyl-dibenzotetraaza[14]annulene complexes (FeTMDBTAA1, FeTMDBTAA2). The ground state for FeN₄-O₂ adducts was the open-shell singlet.

Biohydrogen production through dark fermentation by a microbial consortium using whey permeate as substrate.

Nowadays, hydrogen produced globally has been synthesized from fossil fuel with limited source. Therefore, research has been developed in order to explore biological H2 production by dark fermentation. The purpose of this work was to evaluate the effect of initial pH and ferrous sulfate and ammonium sulfate concentrations on the production of biohydrogen by dark fermentation.

Sepsis-induced purpura fulminans caused by Pasteurella multocida.

A 52-year-old man was admitted with a cutaneous rash associated with septic shock and multiorganic failure, 6 days after a dog bite. He was started on empiric antibiotherapy and supportive measures. The patient's condition aggravated, with need for invasive mechanical ventilation and intermittent haemodialysis, and evolution from a petechiae-like rash to purpura and gangrene, culminating in bilateral lower limb amputation.

JcTI-I: a novel trypsin inhibitor from Jatropha curcas seed cake with potential for bacterial infection treatment.

Jatropha curcas seed cake is a low-value by-product resulting from biodiesel production. The seed cake is highly toxic, but it has great potential for biotechnology applications as it is a repository of biomolecules that could be important in agriculture, medicine, and industry. To explore this potential, a novel trypsin inhibitor called JcTI-I was purified by fractionation of the crude extract with trichloroacetic acid (2.

Development of an orange juice in-house reference material and its application to guarantee the quality of vitamin C determination in fruits, juices and fruit pulps.

Reference materials are useful for the quality control of analytical procedures and to evaluate the performance of laboratories. There are few and expensive certified reference materials commercially available for vitamin C or ascorbic acid analysis in food matrices. In this study, the preparation and the suitability assessment of an orange juice in-house reference material (RM) for vitamin C analysis in fruits, juices and in fruit pulps is described.

Static load test of the modified sliding hip screw: the DHS-AF®.

Objective: To analyze the in vitro mechanical strength of the DHS-AF(®).

Methods: We evaluated the in vitro resistance of a sliding bolt modified by the addition of a connector system, DHS-AF(®).

Results: The changes performed by the authors allow the exchange by the surgeon of the sliding bolt without the need to remove the plate and disassemble the entire device to reposition it properly.

Trends in the use of natural antioxidants in active food packaging: a review.

The demand for natural antioxidant active packaging is increasing due to its unquestionable advantages compared with the addition of antioxidants directly to the food. Therefore, the search for antioxidants perceived as natural, namely those that naturally occur in herbs and spices, is a field attracting great interest. In line with this, in the last few years, natural antioxidants such as α-tocopherol, caffeic acid, catechin, quercetin, carvacrol and plant extracts (e.

Kinetics of rabies antibodies as a strategy for canine active immunization.

Background: Rabies, a zoonosis found throughout the globe, is caused by a virus of the Lyssavirus genus. The disease is transmitted to humans through the inoculation of the virus present in the saliva of infected mammals. Since its prognosis is usually fatal for humans, nationwide public campaigns to vaccinate dogs and cats against rabies aim to break the epidemiological link between the virus and its reservoirs in Brazil.

Proteus Mediastinitis Causing Fatal Pseudoaneurysm following Aortic Valve Replacement.

We report an unusual case of Gram-negative mediastinitis following aortic valve replacement via median sternotomy. The patient presented two months after surgery following a urinary tract infection in septic shock with a discharging sternal wound and blood cultures positive for Proteus mirabilis. Imaging revealed a large anterior mediastinal abscess and aortic pseudoaneurysm which subsequently ruptured resulting in fatality.

A Portuguese case of Hirayama disease.

Hirayama disease, also known as monomelic amyotrophy or juvenile spinal muscular atrophy of the distal upper extremity features the impairment of the anterior horn cells of the distal cervical spinal cord secondary to dural sac anterior displacement during cervical flexion. We describe a case of a 17-year-old boy with a history of scoliosis, evaluated in the emergency department for decreased muscle strength and atrophy of the left upper limb with progressive worsening for about 6 months. We performed electrophysiological studies that showed severe neurogenic atrophy involving the C7-T1 left myotomes.