Publications by authors named "Cristina L Martins"

Objective: To assess adherence to and completeness of vaccination schedules against human papillomavirus (HPV) and hepatitis A and B among transgender women and travestis in São Paulo, capital city of São Paulo state.

Methods: This was a secondary data analysis of the multicenter TransOdara study. Data were collected from 403 transgender women and travestis aged 18 years or older, recruited through respondent-driven sampling between December 2019 and October 2020.

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Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a microorganism directly linked to severe clinical conditions affecting the stomach. The virulence factors and its ability to form biofilms increase resistance to conventional antibiotics, growing the need for new substances and strategies for the treatment of H.

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Bacterial biofilms account for 80% of all chronic infections, with cells being up to 1000 times more resistant to antibiotics than their planktonic counterparts. The recently discovered ability of Helicobacter pylori to form biofilms once again highlights why this bacterium is one of the most successful human pathogens. The current treatments failure rate reaches 40% of cases, emphasizing that new therapeutic options are a pressing need.

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TreatingHelicobacter pylori(H. pylori) infections has been a never-ending challenge, which has contributed to the high incidence of gastric cancer. The antibiotics commonly used are not reaching the infection site in its active state and in a concentration high enough to effectively kill the bacteria.

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Efficient antibiotics are being exhausted, which compromises the treatment of infections, including complicated skin and skin structure infections (cSSTI) often associated with multidrug resistant (MDR) bacteria, methicillin-resistant (MRSA) being the most prevalent. Antimicrobial peptides (AMP) are being increasingly regarded as the new hope for the post-antibiotic era. Thus, future management of cSSTI may include use of peptides that, on the one hand, behave as AMP and, on the other, are able to promote fast and correct skin rebuilding.

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Prevention of orthopedic implant-related infections is a major medical challenge, particularly due to the involvement of biofilm-encased and multidrug-resistant bacteria. Current therapies, based on antibiotic administration, have proven to be insufficient, and infection prevalence may rise due to the dissemination of antibiotic resistance. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have attracted attention as promising substitutes of conventional antibiotics, owing to their broad-spectrum of activity, high efficacy at very low concentrations, and, importantly, low propensity for inducing resistance.

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Antibiotic resistance is increasing and new strategies are needed to fight infection. Advanced materials are promising tools that can be combined with innovative alternatives to conventional antibiotics to allow more targeted and efficient treatment. In this work, we explored the activity against () of the α-helical antimicrobial peptide (AMP) MSI-78(4-20) (KFLKKAKKFGKAFVKIL) when covalently bound to a chitosan coating.

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Medical device-associated infections are a major health threat, representing about half of all hospital-acquired infections. Current strategies to prevent this problem based on device coatings with antimicrobial compounds (antibiotics or antiseptics) have proven to be insufficient, often toxic, and even promoting bacterial resistance. Herein, we report the development of an infection-preventive coating (CyanoCoating) produced with an extracellular polymer released by the marine cyanobacterium sp.

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Epilepsy is a very uncommon first manifestation of a neuroblastoma. A 5-month-old healthy infant presented with acute onset seizures and developmental regression. Extensive investigation was remarkable for urinary vanillylmandelic acid and homovanillic acid peaks.

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Albumin-scavenging surfaces decorated with n-alkyl chains represent an established strategy for blood-contacting applications. To evaluate this concept, a set of poly (2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (pHEMA) films modified with different amounts of octadecyl isocyanate (C18) was investigated in an in vitro hemocompatibility assay using freshly drawn human whole blood. In addition, the hydrogel materials were thoroughly characterized with respect to changes in wettability and elasticity, which accompanied the gradual chemical modification of pHEMA.

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Consistently observed "strong eye gaze" has not been validated as a means of communication in girls with Rett syndrome, ubiquitously affected by apraxia, unable to reply either verbally or manually to questions during formal psychologic assessment. We examined nonverbal cognitive abilities and basic features of visual processing (visual discrimination attention/memory) by analyzing patterns of visual fixation in 44 girls with Rett syndrome, compared with typical control subjects. To determine features of visual fixation patterns, multiple pictures (with the location of the salient and presence/absence of novel stimuli as variables) were presented on the screen of a TS120 eye-tracker.

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Introduction: Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is one of the most common neurocutaneous disorders. It is an autosomal dominant hereditary condition, although an half of all cases are related with spontaneous mutations. Mutations within NF1 gene (c17q11.

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A 10-month-old girl was admitted with refractory infantile spasms. Video EEG demonstrated focal epileptic activity, and MRI revealed a conglomeration of annular lesions. Surgical excision was performed and pathology was consistent with tuberculoma.

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Targeting of most newly synthesised peroxisomal matrix proteins to the organelle requires Pex5p, the so-called PTS1 receptor. According to current models of peroxisomal biogenesis, Pex5p interacts with these proteins in the cytosol, transports them to the peroxisomal membrane and catalyses their translocation across the membrane. Presently, our knowledge on the structural details behind the interaction of Pex5p with the cargo proteins is reasonably complete.

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