Snail vectors of Schistosoma mansoni in Alagoas, Northeast Brazil: spatial distribution in the hydrographic grid of the state.

Schistosomiasis mansoni is a parasitic infectious disease of significant epidemiological importance caused by Schistosoma mansoni. The intermediate hosts are snails of the genus Biomphalaria spp. As gastropods are crucial for the spread of the disease, this study aimed to assess the influence of water bodies on the distribution of snails responsible for transmitting S.

Enhancing snakebite management: The role of small molecule therapeutics in complementing antivenom strategies.

The variability in snake composition presents a significant challenge in accessing an effective broad-spectrum antivenom. These highly complex mixtures can result in numerous deleterious effects affecting thousands of individuals worldwide, particularly in Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America. While the administration of antivenom remains a recommended treatment for snakebite envenomation and is the primary means to prevent systemic damage, there are limitations concerning specificity, reversal of local effects, and economic factors that hinder the availability of these antibodies.

The Relationship Between Different Bench Test Methodologies and Accuracy of Insulin Infusion Pumps: A Systematic Literature Review.

Diabetes technology has rapidly evolved, and insulin infusion pumps (IIPs) have gained worldwide acceptance in diabetes care. The safety of medical equipment is highly discussed, imposing complex challenges in its use. The accuracy of IIPs can be determined through laboratory tests, generally following the IEC 60601-2-24 protocol.

The strawberry-derived permeation enhancer pelargonidin enables oral protein delivery.

Although patients generally prefer oral drug delivery to injections, low permeability of the gastrointestinal tract makes this method impossible for most biomacromolecules. One potential solution is codelivery of macromolecules, including therapeutic proteins or nucleic acids, with intestinal permeation enhancers; however, enhancer use has been limited clinically by modest efficacy and toxicity concerns surrounding long-term administration. Here, we hypothesized that plant-based foods, which are well tolerated by the gastrointestinal tract, may contain compounds that enable oral macromolecular absorption without causing adverse effects.

Comparison of Conventional and Microwave Synthesis of Phenyl-1H-pyrazoles and Phenyl-1H-pyrazoles-4-carboxylic Acid Derivatives.

Background: Privileged scaffolds are of high importance for molecules containing the pyrazole subunit due to their broad spectrum of pharmacological activities. For this reason, a method that is more efficient needs to be developed for the preparation of pyrazole derivatives.

Objective: The purpose of this study was the optimisation of the conventional synthesis of the pyrazole ring and the oxidation of phenyl-1H-pyrazole-4-carbaldehyde to phenyl-1H-pyrazole-4-carboxylic acid through Microwave- Assisted Organic Synthesis (MAOS).

Felty's syndrome - a rare case of febrile neutropenia.

Felty's syndrome (rheumatoid arthritis with neutropenia and splenomegaly) is a rare condition with poor long-term prognosis, mainly as a result of severe infection risk. An effective treatment strategy has not been developed so far and current treatment options are based upon case reports, small series and clinical experience since no randomized clinical trials are available. The authors describe the case of a 53-year-old female patient with a 14-year history of rheumatoid arthritis presenting with fever, neutropenia and splenomegaly.

Aspects related to positivity for schistosomiasis: a cross-sectional study in a low prevalence area in Alagoas, Brazil, 2020.

Objective: To analyze aspects related to schistosomiasis positivity in an area of low prevalence in Brazil.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study, carried out in the first half of 2020, where we analyzed the proportion of positivity, according to the number of Kato-Katz slides, the diagnostic performance of the test and positivity estimates based on data from the Schistosomiasis Surveillance and Control Program Information System (SISPCE).

Results: 2,088 slides from 348 individuals were analyzed, with proportion of positivity of 11.

[Neurodevelopmental Pediatrics in Portugal: Hospital Patient Volume, Resources and Needs - Changes After Ten Years].

Introduction: Neurodevelopmental disorders are, in modern societies, the most common chronic pediatric conditions. Many remain in adulthood. Organizing the national health care network to respond efficiently and effectively requires grounded knowledge of care needs.

New epidemiological profile of schistosomiasis from an area of low prevalence in Brazil.

Introduction: Schistosomiasis, caused by infection from Schistosoma mansoni, is a disease that represents an important public health problem for Brazil, especially for states in the Northeast region. Thus, the aim of this study is to present a new epidemiological profile for the disease in a municipality with low prevalence in the state of Alagoas, Brazil.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted through a coproparasitological and malacological survey.

Osteogenesis imperfect: clinical and epidemiological findings in a series of pediatric patients.

Background: Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is the most common hereditary bone disorder with an incidence of one in 10,000-25,000 births. It is caused mainly by mutations in the genes that code for Type I collagen chains. In most cases, it shows an autosomal dominant inheritance pattern.

5α-Reductase type 2 deficiency in families from an isolated Andean population in Venezuela.

5α-Reductase type 2 deficiency causes a 46,XY disorder of sex development (DSD) characterized by ambiguous external genitalia, rudimentary prostate, and normal internal genitalia. The disease prevalence worldwide is low, but in a small and isolated village of the Venezuelan Andes, a higher incidence has been found. DNA analysis of the SRD5A2 gene was performed in three inbred affected individuals clinically diagnosed with DSD.

Trisomy 13 mosaicism.

Background: Trisomy 13 is a chromosomal alteration with an incidence of 1 in 10,000 to 20,000 births. It can occur completely, partially or in mosaicism; the latter occurs when a percentage of cells are trisomic for chromosome 13, while the rest are euploid in an individual and corresponds to only 5% of all cases. Patients with trisomy 13 present a wide variable expressivity, ranging from severe malformations with early death (phenotype similar to the complete form and more frequent), to normal development and few dysmorphic findings.

[Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome. Description of five cases characterized by means of single nucleotide polymorphism microarrays].

Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome is a polymalformative entity due to the microdeletion in the distal region of the short arm of chromosome 4 (4p16.3), which produces a series of clinical manifestations that can vary depending on the type and size of the genetic defect in this contiguous gene syndrome. Five patients are presented, three of them female, all with the primary clinical findings, characterized by "Greek warrior helmet appearance" facial feature, growth retardation and psychomotor development delay.

Occam's razor versus Hickam's dictum: two very rare tumours in one single patient.

Occam's razor, the principle that a single explanation is the most likely in medicine, assumes that when a patient has multiple symptoms the clinician seeks a single diagnosis rather than diagnosing multiple and different ones. However, as proposed by Hickam's dictum, sometimes rare different diseases occurred in only one patient. We present a patient with a simultaneous diagnosis of two rare tumours, a cardiac hemangioma (primary cardiac tumour, often misdiagnosed as myxoma) and an appendiceal mucocele (a lesion of the appendix that can be neoplastic or not).

[Clinical, biochemical and molecular findings of propionic acidemia].

Propionic acidemia is an infrequent disorder with an autosomal recessive inheritance pattern caused by the deficiency of the mitochondrial enzyme propionyl-CoA carboxylase that converts propionyl-CoA to D-methylmalonyl-CoA. We present the case of a male newborn who showed signs of respiratory distress, vomiting and tiredness during feeding. He presented metabolic acidosis, positive serum and urine ketone bodies, hyperammonemia, anemia, thrombocytopenia and hypoproteinemia.

Triterpene Derivatives as Relevant Scaffold for New Antibiofilm Drugs.

New medicines for the treatment of bacterial biofilm formation are required. For thisreason, this study shows the in vitro activity of betulinic acid (BA), ursolic acid (UA) and their twentyderivatives against planktonic and biofilm cells (gram-positive bacterial pathogens: Enterococcusfaecalis, and ). We evaluated the antibiofilm activity(through the crystal violet method), as well as the antibacterial activity via absorbance (OD) atconcentrations of 5, 25 and 100 μM.

Novel betulin derivatives inhibit IFN-γ and modulates COX-2 expression.

Betulin () is a pentacyclic triterpenes, obtained from natural sources and with several biological activities described, such as anti-tumoral and anti-inflammatory activities. The esterification at hydroxyl group (C-3 and C-28) resulted in five new ester derivatives with different numbers of carbons or halogens (chlorine and fluorine). Among these derivatives, two ( e ) were able to significantly decrease IFN-g (*p = 0.

[Hallazgos clínicos y epidemiológicos en la neurofibromatosis tipo 1 y el complejo esclerosis tuberosa en una serie de pacientes pediátricos].

IntroducciÓn: La neurofibromatosis tipo 1 (NF1) es una entidad genética con una incidencia de 1 entre 2,500 a 3,500 nacimientos. Por su parte, el complejo esclerosis tuberosa (CET) presenta una incidencia de 1 entre 6,000 a 10,000 nacimientos. Ambas entidades neurocutáneas cursan con un patrón de herencia autosómico dominante, expresividad variable y la morbimortalidad se encuentra asociada a complicaciones multisistémicas.

SERCA plays a crucial role in the toxicity of a betulinic acid derivative with potential antimalarial activity.

Malaria is one of the most significant infectious diseases that affect poor populations in tropical areas throughout the world. Plants have been shown to be a good source for the development of new antimalarial chemotherapeutic agents, as shown for the discovery of quinine and artemisinin derivatives. Our research group has been working with semisynthetic triterpene derivatives that show potential antimalarial activity toward different strains of Plasmodium falciparum by specifically modulating calcium pathways in the parasite.

[Clinical and molecular study in a family with cleidocranial dysplasia].

Cleidocranial dysplasia is an uncommon bone dysplasia with an autosomal dominant inheritance pattern characterized by short stature, large fontanels, midface hypoplasia, absence or hypoplasia of clavicles and orodental alterations. This is Estudio clínico y molecular en una familia con displasia cleidocraneal Clinical and molecular study in a family with cleidocranial dysplasia produced by mutations in the RUNX2 gene located at 6p21.1.

[Mosaic trisomy 18. Series of cases].

Trisomy 18 syndrome (T18) is a clinical and genetic disorder, which has a full extra chromosome 18 in each cell, variant that is called free trisomy. In addition, it can occur in partial and mosaic form. It is characterized by intrauterine growth restriction, psychomotor and mental retardation, characteristic craniofacial findings, congenital heart disease, hypoplastic pelvis, clenched hand and rocker-bottom foot, among others.