Drug screening and development cascade for Chagas disease: an update of in vitro and in vivo experimental models.

Chagas disease is a tropical neglected disease that affects millions of people worldwide, still demanding a more effective and safer therapy, especially in its chronic phase which lacks a treatment that promotes substantial parasitological cure. The technical note of Romanha and collaborators published in 2010 aimed establish a guideline with the set of minimum criteria and decision gates for the development of new agents against Trypanosoma cruzi with the focus on developing new antichagasic drugs. In this sense, the present review aims to update this technical note, bringing the state of the art and new advances on this topic in recent years.

A Prototype for an Intelligent Water Management System for Household Use.

Water scarcity is becoming an issue of more significant concern with a major impact on global sustainability. For it, new measures and approaches are urgently needed. Digital technologies and tools can play an essential role in improving the effectiveness and efficiency of current water management approaches.

A Review of the Development of Multitarget Molecules against HIV-TB Coinfection Pathogens.

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) produces the pathologic basis of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). An increase in the viral load in the body leads to a decline in the number of T lymphocytes, compromising the patient's immune system. Some opportunistic diseases may result, such as tuberculosis (TB), which is the most common in seropositive patients.

A bibliometric analysis and visualization of e-learning adoption using VOSviewer.

Even though being perceived as a novel approach, multiple authors claim that the digital transition of all sectors in society started when information and communication technologies (ICT) started to be an integral part of our daily lives. The education sector currently represents one of the contexts where the use of ICT is more promising and allows to reach greater benefits, mostly due to the wide range of tools, applications, and management and methodological approaches that are associated with e-learning. With the above in mind, a bibliometric analysis of the e-learning adoption topic has been performed, aiming on delivering a detailed analysis of the status of the topic.

What about vaginal extraction of the kidney? results of an online survey.

Purpose: We aimed to characterize surgeons opinion about the vaginal extraction of the kidney after transperitoneal laparoscopic nephrectomy. Matherial and Methods: A 9-item questionnaire was published online (Survey Monkey TM) and publicized via email to a multidisciplinary pool of surgeons in Portugal. Data was collected and statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics, Version 21.

An update on the chemistry and medicinal chemistry of novel antimycobacterial compounds.

Tuberculosis (TB) is a serious public health issue, particularly in underdeveloped and developing countries. Furthermore the first-line anti-TB treatments were established over 40 years ago, multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains have been developed and the risk of coinfection with AIDS virus has highlighted this disease as a global emergency. The urgent need for more effective treatments against multidrug-resistant strains compatible with anti-AIDS drugs has prompted industries, governments and non-governmental agencies to pursue new drugs.

Transvesical natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) nephrectomy with kidney morcellation: a proof of concept study.

Unlabelled: Study Type - Therapy (case series) Level of Evidence 4. What's known on the subject? and What does the study add? Until now, the transvaginal approach has been the only method of removing larger specimens from the abdominal cavity using natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery. There has been no means of extracting larger specimens in men and the means are restricted even in women, particularly in young women.

Endoscopic removal of an intravesical calcified sling using pneumatic lithotripsy and cystoscopic resection.

The transobturator tape procedure is a minimally invasive treatment for stress urinary incontinence. The widespread use of these slings has led to an increase in the number of rare complications, such as bladder erosion. Although in the last few years several minimally invasive techniques have been described, surgical management of such complications remains an open issue.

The quality of reporting of randomized controlled trials in pelvic organ prolapse.

Introduction And Hypothesis: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) must comply with the strict rules of design and conduct and their reporting should reflect it. Our aim was to evaluate how the quality of RCT reporting in pelvic organ prolapse (POP) has evolved.

Methods: RCTs in POP published between 1997 and 2010 were retrieved through a PubMed search.

Transvesical peritoneoscopy with rigid scope: feasibility study in human male cadaver.

Background: Transvesical port refers to the method of accessing the abdominal cavity through a natural orifice (i.e., urethra) under endoscopic visualization.

Percutaneous nephrolithotomy in renal transplants: a safe approach with a high stone-free rate.

Objectives: The purpose of this report is to assess the safety and efficacy of percutaneous nephrolithotomies (PNL) in transplanted kidneys.

Methods: Patient characteristics, predisposing factors, clinical presentation, surgical details, complications and outcomes were analyzed.

Results: Between April 2002 and August 2009, seven patients (average 44 years old, 4 women and 3 men) were treated.

Prostate cancer prevention trial and European randomized study of screening for prostate cancer risk calculators: a performance comparison in a contemporary screened cohort.

Background: Several models can predict the risk of prostate cancer (PCa) on biopsy.

Objective: To evaluate the performance of the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial (PCPT) and European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (ERSPC) risk calculators in detecting PCa in a contemporary screened cohort.

Design, Setting, And Participants: We analyzed prebiopsy characteristics of 525 consecutive screened patients submitted to biopsy, as required by the risk calculators, in one European center between 2006 and 2007.