F-waves responses derived from low-intensity electrical stimulation: A method to explore split-hand pathogenesis.

Objectives: The "split-hand syndrome" is a common clinical sign in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), being characterized by more severe atrophy of the hand muscles on the radial side of the hand compared to the ulnar side. We aimed to investigate possible physiological differences between relevant hand muscles using low-intensity F-wave stimulation to assess spinal motoneuron excitability.

Methods: We recruited 36 healthy volunteers.

Biostimulant Response of Foliar Application of Rare Earth Elements on Physiology, Growth, and Yield of Rice.

Rare earth elements (REEs) have been intentionally used in Chinese agriculture since the 1980s to improve crop yields. Around the world, REEs are also involuntarily applied to soils through phosphate fertilizers. These elements are known to alleviate damage in plants under abiotic stresses, yet there is no information on how these elements act in the physiology of plants.

The Combination of Synoeca-MP Antimicrobial Peptide with IDR-1018 Stimulates Proliferation, Migration, and the Expression of Pro-Regenerative Genes in Both Human Skin Cell Cultures and 3D Skin Equivalents.

In skin lesions, the development of microbial infection affects the healing process, increasing morbidity and mortality rates in patients with severe burns, diabetic foot, and other types of skin injuries. Synoeca-MP is an antimicrobial peptide (AMP) that exhibits activity against several bacteria of clinical importance, but its cytotoxicity can represent a problem for its positioning as an effective antimicrobial compound. In contrast, the immunomodulatory peptide IDR-1018 presents low toxicity and a wide regenerative potential due to its ability to reduce apoptotic mRNA expression and promote skin cell proliferation.

From In Vitro to In Vivo: A Rational Flowchart for the Selection and Characterization of Candidate Probiotic Strains in Intestinal Disorders.

Experimental and clinical evidence has demonstrated the potential of probiotic strains in the prevention or treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). However, there is little data on what the methodology leading to the identification of such strains should be. In this work, we propose a new flowchart to identify strains with probiotic potential for the management of IBS and IBD, which we tested on a collection of 39 lactic acid bacteria and Bifidobacteria strains.

Health impacts of PM-bound metals and PAHs in a medium-sized Brazilian city.

Rio Grande is a medium-sized industrial city located in the extreme south of Brazil, and previous studies in this city have shown contamination by metal(loids) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in water, soil, and sediment and in the atmosphere. In Brazil, the incorporation of PM monitoring in environmental legislation is recent (2018) and, like other developing countries, the number of studies is still small. This study aimed to investigate the levels of PM in the industrial and urban area of Rio Grande, to determine the concentration of metal(loid)s As, Cd, Cu, and Pb and of 16 PAHs in the samples of PM, to perform the health risk assessment for these contaminants and the health impact assessment for two possible scenarios of reduction of PM levels.

  (Hemiptera: Aphididae) Clonal Diversity in the United States and Brazil.

(Hemiptera: Aphididae), are an economically important pest to sorghum in the Americas. Previous studies have found that a super-clone that belongs to multilocus lineage (MLL)-F predominated in the U.S.

Incidence Trends of Inflammatory Bowel Disease in a Southern European Country: A Mirror of the Western World?

Introduction: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) affects people from all age categories worldwide. Although the incidence of the disease is stabilizing or decreasing in most Western world countries, its prevalence is still increasing because of the rise in life expectancy and better disease management. This work intends to identify the trends related to IBD incidence nationwide, analyzing regional, sex, and age distributions.

Exercise following immobility increases lower motor neuron excitability: F-wave and H-reflex studies.

Objectives: The excitability of lower motor neurons can be explored non-invasively by several neurophysiological techniques, e.g., F-wave and H-reflex studies after a period of immobility and then after subsequent exercise.

Integrative clinical and molecular characterization of translocation renal cell carcinoma.

Translocation renal cell carcinoma (tRCC) is a poorly characterized subtype of kidney cancer driven by MiT/TFE gene fusions. Here, we define the landmarks of tRCC through an integrative analysis of 152 patients with tRCC identified across genomic, clinical trial, and retrospective cohorts. Most tRCCs harbor few somatic alterations apart from MiT/TFE fusions and homozygous deletions at chromosome 9p21.

Brazilian Group of Gastrointestinal Tumours' consensus guidelines for the management of oesophageal cancer.

Oesophageal cancer is among the ten most common types of cancer worldwide. More than 80% of the cases and deaths related to the disease occur in developing countries. Local socio-economic, epidemiologic and healthcare particularities led us to create a Brazilian guideline for the management of oesophageal and oesophagogastric junction (OGJ) carcinomas.

Thrombectomy for Stroke in the Public Health Care System of Brazil.

Background: Randomized trials involving patients with stroke have established that outcomes are improved with the use of thrombectomy for large-vessel occlusion. These trials were performed in high-resource countries and have had limited effects on medical practice in low- and middle-income countries.

Methods: We studied the safety and efficacy of thrombectomy in the public health system of Brazil.

Intraovarian injection of mesenchymal stem cells improves oocyte yield and in vitro embryo production in a bovine model of fertility loss.

Valuable female cattle are continuously subject to follicular puncture (ovum pick-up - OPU). This technique is commonly used for in-vitro embryo production, but may result in ovarian lesion. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) ameliorate the function of injured tissues, but their use to treat ovarian lesions in cattle has not been established.

Restitution volumes at the end of dialysis sessions: A potential influencing factor on patients' haemoglobin levels?

Aim: To evaluate whether haemoglobin (Hb) levels are influenced by the restitution volume (RestVol) at the end of the dialysis session, independently of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESA) and iron doses.

Design: Over 12 months, 4,386 haemodialysis patients from 34 centres were enrolled in this observational descriptive study according to the checklist STrengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE).

Method: RestVol, Hb levels, ESA and iron doses of every patient were assessed on a monthly basis.

Laboratory and field evaluation of acetic acid-based lures for male Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri.

The Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) is a vector of a pathogen associated with greening and thus a major problem in citriculture worldwide. Lures are much needed for improving ACP trapping systems for monitoring populations and surveillance. Previously, we have identified acetic acid as a putative sex pheromone and measured formic acid- and propionic acid-elicited robust electroantennographic responses.

Bioaugmentation of membrane bioreactor with Achromobacter denitrificans strain PR1 for enhanced sulfamethoxazole removal in wastewater.

Achromobacter denitrificans strain PR1, previously found to harbour specific degradation pathways with high sulfamethoxazole (SMX) degradation rates, was bioaugmented into laboratory-scale membrane bioreactors (MBRs) operated under aerobic conditions to treat SMX-containing real domestic wastewater. Different hydraulic retention times (HRTs), which is related to reaction time and loading rates, were considered and found to affect the SMX removal efficiency. The availability of primary substrates was important in both bioaugmented and non-bioaugmented activated sludge (AS) for cometabolism of SMX.

Surface EEG-Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) Closed-Loop System.

Conventional transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) protocols rely on applying electrical current at a fixed intensity and duration without using surrogate markers to direct the interventions. This has led to some mixed results; especially because tDCS induced effects may vary depending on the ongoing level of brain activity. Therefore, the objective of this preliminary study was to assess the feasibility of an EEG-triggered tDCS system based on EEG online analysis of its frequency bands.

Toxic heritage: Maternal transfer of pyrethroid insecticides and sunscreen agents in dolphins from Brazil.

Pyrethroids (PYR) and UV filters (UVF) were investigated in tissues of paired mother-fetus dolphins from Brazilian coast in order to investigate the possibility of maternal transfer of these emerging contaminants. Comparison of PYR and UVF concentrations in maternal and fetal blubber revealed Franciscana transferred efficiently both contaminants to fetuses (F/M > 1) and Guiana dolphin transferred efficiently PYR to fetuses (F/M > 1) different than UVF (F/M < 1). PYR and UVF concentrations in fetuses were the highest-ever reported in biota (up to 6640 and 11,530 ng/g lw, respectively).

A role for stargazin in experience-dependent plasticity.

During development, neurons are constantly refining their connections in response to changes in activity. Experience-dependent plasticity is a key form of synaptic plasticity, involving changes in α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptor (AMPAR) accumulation at synapses. Here, we report a critical role for the AMPAR auxiliary subunit stargazin in this plasticity.

The knockdown of chloroplastic ascorbate peroxidases reveals its regulatory role in the photosynthesis and protection under photo-oxidative stress in rice.

The inactivation of the chloroplast ascorbate peroxidases (chlAPXs) has been thought to limit the efficiency of the water-water cycle and photo-oxidative protection under stress conditions. In this study, we have generated double knockdown rice (Oryza sativa L.) plants in both OsAPX7 (sAPX) and OsAPX8 (tAPX) genes, which encode chloroplastic APXs (chlAPXs).

Microbial population analysis of nutrient removal-related organisms in membrane bioreactors.

Membrane bioreactors (MBR) are an important and increasingly implemented wastewater treatment technology, which are operated at low food to microorganism ratios (F/M) and retain slow-growing organisms. Enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR)-related organisms grow slower than ordinary heterotrophs, but have never been studied in detail in MBRs. This study presents a comprehensive analysis of the microorganisms involved in EBPR in pilot- and full-scale MBRs, using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), as well as an overall assessment of other relevant microbial groups.

Effects of fetuin on zona pellucida hardening, fertilization and embryo development in cattle.

Mammalian oocytes can undergo spontaneous meiotic maturation when they are liberated from their follicles and cultured in vitro; however, the zona pellucida (ZP) becomes resistant to chymotrypsin digestion, or hardens, when spontaneous maturation occurs in serum-free medium. Schroeder et al. [Biol.

Magnetic stimulation in Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a common cause of dementia in which some clinical motor abnormalities have been described. We used transcranial magnetic stimulation in order to test the hypothesis that the change in the motor cortex might cause modifications in motor excitability. Fourteen mildly to moderately affected AD patients were compared with 11 controls matched for age, height and sex.