Publications by authors named "Flavia S Gehrke"

In 2018-2019, we conducted mosquito collections in a municipal vehicle impound yard, which is 10 km from the Serra do Mar Environmental Protection Area in Santo André, SP, Brazil. Our aim is to study arboviruses in the impound yard, to understand the transmission of arboviruses in an urban environment in Brazil. We captured the mosquitoes using human-landing catches and processed them for arbovirus detection by conventional and quantitative RT-PCR assays.

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a) Objective: An increase in cell-free DNA was observed in the plasma of many cancer patients. This major biomarker can be used to differentiate patients with malignant neoplasms from those with benign neoplasms or healthy patients. Depending on the characteristic of the tumor, there are qualitative variations in the circulating cell-free DNA.

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Background: Fatigue is common in cancer patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy. To further understand the mechanism of fatigue and search for potential biomarkers, we conducted this prospective study. Methods We enrolled breast cancer (BC) patients before their first adjuvant Adriamycin-based chemotherapy cycle.

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Aims And Background: Prostate cancer is the most common malignant tumor in men. Serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA), Gleason score and clinical range at the time of diagnosis are important factors to predict prognosis and outcome after therapy but additional accurate and reliable biomarkers are still wanted. So far, few biomarkers of prostate cancer have been successfully implemented and are being used in clinical practice.

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Background: Diabetes mellitus is a chronicle illness in which there is a high blood glucose level defined as hyperglycemia, resulted by a deficiency in insulin secretion and/or in its action. Nowadays, it is being seen as a public health problem and is reaching increasing proportions with regard to the appearance of new cases. For diagnosis, sensible and accurate methods should be used to avoid complications of the sickness.

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Background: Hyperhomocysteinemia in breast cancer (BC) patients can be a risk factor for thromboembolic events. This study aimed to evaluate homocysteine and its cofators (folic acid and vitamin B12) concentrations and platelet count at diagnosis of BC, 3 and 6 months after the beginning of chemotherapy treatment and to correlate them with clinical data.

Methods: Thirty-five BC patients were included; blood samples were obtained by venipuncture.

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Breast cancer remains the second most frequent type of cancer in the world and the first among women, and systemic chemotherapy is an adjuvant therapeutic modality that improves survival in a great part of patients. Women with breast cancer, however, frequently show a higher risk of thromboembolism, an event associated to hyperhomocysteinemia and the presence of circulating tumor cells (CTC). Our aim is to correlate the presence of CTCs, detected by the analysis of CK19 and c-erbB2 gene expressions, and the homocysteine plasma levels in the peripheral blood in patients with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy.

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Rickettsial spotted fever is common in southeastern Brazil. Differential diagnosis of pathogens can be performed with proper laboratory methods. A traveler arriving from Portugal developed a fatal febrile hemorrhagic syndrome diagnosed as spotted fever rickettsiosis.

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The authors detected Rickettsia genus organisms using shell vial and polymerase chain reaction (PCR)/sequencing analysis in blood clots in patients suspected of having Brazilian spotted fever (BSF). DNA was detected using PCR with three sets of primers to access the gltA, ompA, and ompB genes. Sequence analysis was carried out using an automatic sequencer with Bioedit software.

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