Titanium implants are subject to bacterial adhesion and peri-implantitis induction, and biosurfactants bring a new alternative to the fight against infections. This work aimed to produce and characterize the biosurfactant from Bacillus subtilis ATCC 19,659, its anti-adhesion and antimicrobial activity, and cell viability. Anti-adhesion studies were carried out against Streptococcus sanguinis, Staphylococcus aureus, Fusobacterium nucleatum, Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Porphyromonas gingivalis, and Proteus mirabilis as the minimum inhibitory concentration and the minimum bactericidal concentration.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiosurfactants, sustainable alternatives to petrochemical surfactants, are gaining attention for their potential in medical applications. This study focuses on producing, purifying, and characterizing a glycolipid biosurfactant from Candida sp. UFSJ7A, particularly for its application in biofilm prevention on siliconized latex catheter surfaces.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntimicrobial peptides have been developed based on plant-derived molecular scaffolds for the treatment of infectious diseases. Chenopodin is an abundant seed storage protein in quinoa, an Andean plant with high nutritional and therapeutic properties. Here, we used computer- and physicochemical-based strategies and designed four peptides derived from the primary structure of Chenopodin.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Environ Res Public Health
May 2023
We characterized the physical and physiological profiles of high-level female Portuguese handball players and examined the relationships between their anthropometric characteristics, general motor performance and cardiopulmonary fitness. Twenty-four high-level female handball players with an average age of 23.6 ± 5.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Most hydrotherapy studies during childbirth report findings related to pain using a widespread set of subjective measures. In this study, ECG biomarkers as quantitative cardiac autonomic outcomes were used to assess the effects of warm shower hydrotherapy on laboring women during the first stage of labor.
Methods: This was a prospective single-blind cohort study on stage I delivering women.
Background: Biosurfactants are natural bioactive compounds produced from fungi, bacteria and plants. These molecules have several properties that enable them to be involved in various industrial applications. The surface-active properties of biosurfactants allow their use in various sectors, such as agriculture, health, cosmetics, bioremediation/ petroleum, mining, and bioprocess.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF(1) Background: Autochthonous breeds meat is well accepted due to its sensory characteristics, perceived low environmental impact, and animal welfare. We aimed to evaluate the effect of weaning and slaughter age on the physicochemical and sensory characteristics of , a Portuguese Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) meat and to evaluate the psychological effect of knowing the weaning age on the consumer's hedonic evaluation. (2) Methods: Meat from 26 animals was assigned to 4 groups, with combinations of weaning (W) at 9 or 5 months and slaughter (S) at 9 or 12 months: W9-S9, W9-S12, W5-S9, and W5-S12.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe objective of this preliminary study was to evaluate the effects of partial replacement of soybean meal by lupins on lambs’ diets, on the carcass traits, meat characteristics, and meat fatty acid profile. Two trials were conducted: In trial 1, the soybean meal (control; C) was partially replaced by Lupinus albus or Lupinus luteus (50 g/kg; LA5 and LL5, respectively); in trial 2, lambs were fed four diets with graded levels of Lupinus luteus (0, 100, 150 and 200 g/kg; C, LL10, LL15, LL20, respectively). At the end of the feeding trials, animals were slaughtered to evaluate carcass characteristics and meat composition, including fatty acids.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWater activity (aw) is the main hurdle for microbial control in dry-cured sausages. The aw can be influenced by drying or adding electrolytes or humectants. Dry-cured meat products are partially dried, which, together with added salt, results in safe aw values.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study aimed to evaluate the effect of the incorporation of untreated grape stalks (U) and fungi-treated grape stalks (, T) in rabbits' diets. The control group was fed with a control diet without grape stalks (C), two experimental groups were fed on diets with 5% and 10% incorporation of U (5U and 10U), and two with 5% and 10% incorporation of T (5T and 10T). Rabbits fed with T diets showed higher daily weight gain ( = 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLasers Med Sci
April 2022
Doxorubicin (DOX) is an anthracycline antibiotic that exhibits high heart toxicity. Human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived ventricular cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-vCMs) are important in vitro models for testing drug cardiotoxicity. Photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT) is a non-invasive therapy that stimulates cells growth and self-repair using light irradiation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Occupations might influence the employees' psychophysical conditions and an important issue is the human activity mechanization, which favors a hypokinetic work status and leads to several chronic diseases. One of the most hypokinetic occupations is the supermarket cashier, in which the individual may spend many hours a day in the same body position.
Objective: The goal of this study was to evaluate the association between cardiovascular risk, quality of life and physical activity level in supermarket cashiers.
Meat products are potential vehicles for transmitting foodborne pathogens like , , and . We aimed to evaluate (1) the effect of the meat's initial natural microbiota on , , and growth and survival in a batter to prepare a naturally fermented sausage, made with and without curing salts and wine (2) the effect of a lactic acid bacteria (LAB) starter culture and wine on the survival of the three pathogens during the manufacturing of a naturally fermented sausage made with meat with a low initial microbial load. The results revealed that the reduced contamination that is currently expected in raw meat is favorable for the multiplication of pathogens due to reduced competition.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStem cell (SC) therapy is a promising approach to improve post-myocardial infarction (MI) cardiac remodeling, but the proinflammatory microenvironment may lead to SC loss and, therefore, may have a negative impact on therapy. It appears that exercise training (ET) improves myocardial microenvironment for SC transplantation. Therefore, we tested the effect of ET on post-infarction retention of adipose-derived SCs (ADSCs) and its combined effects on the inflammatory microenvironment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe use of nitrite in meat products has been questioned due to its potential association with colon cancer. This work aimed to evaluate the behavior of Clostridium sporogenes (used as a surrogate for Cl. botulinum) and Salmonella in a dry-cured sausage, chouriço, made with and without nitrite and nitrate or with red wine and garlic, and to study the sensory implications through a consumer test.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Numerous causes of infection in arthroplasties are related to biofilm formation on implant surfaces. In order to circumvent this problem, new alternatives to prevent bacterial adhesion biosurfactants-based are emerging due to low toxicity, biodegradability and antimicrobial activity of several biosurfactants. We revised all patents relating to biosurfactants of applicability in orthopedic implants.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOxid Med Cell Longev
December 2018
Neuroprotection is a desirable process in many neurological disorders, yet complex mechanisms involved in this field are not completely understood. The pilocarpine epilepsy model causes potent, seizure-induced excitotoxicity cell death and mitochondria impairment. The present study is aimed at investigating the role of UCP2, a ROS negative regulator, in the neuroprotection after cholinergic insult.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: The classification of disease activity states in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) can be achieved through disease activity indices, such as the Disease Activity Score in 28 joints erythrocyte sedimentation rate (DAS28-ESR), the Simplified Disease Activity Index (SDAI), and the Clinical Disease Activity Index (CDAI). Subjective measurements, such as patient reported outcomes have been incorporated into several of these indices alongside more objective assessments, such as increases in the ESR and C-reactive protein. Moreover, while they use similar criteria, different indices weight these criteria to different extents.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLasers Med Sci
July 2018
This study aimed to determine whether photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT) could improve the bioavailability and chondroprotective benefits of mesenchymal stem cells injected into the knees of rats used as an experimental model of osteoarthritis (OA) as well as reduce the expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and degradation of type II collagen (COL2-1) in the cartilage. Adipose-derived stem/stromal cells (ADSCs) were collected from three male Fischer 344 rats and characterized by flow cytometry. Fifty female Fischer 344 rats were distributed into five groups of 10 animals each.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Preconditioning of cell recipients may exert a significant role in attenuating the hostility of the infarction milieu, thereby enhancing the efficacy of cell therapy. This study was conducted to examine whether exercise training potentiates the cardioprotective effects of adipose-derived stem cell (ADSC) transplantation following myocardial infarction (MI) in rats.
Methods: Four groups of female Fisher-344 rats were studied: Sham; non-trained rats with MI (sMI); non-trained rats with MI submitted to ADSCs transplantation (sADSC); trained rats with MI submitted to ADSCs (tADSC).
Lasers Med Sci
February 2018
This study evaluated the role of the phototherapy and exercise training (EXT) as well as the combined treatment in general symptoms, pain, and quality of life in women suffering from fibromyalgia (FM). A total of 160 women were enrolled and measures were carried out in two sets: it was sought to identify the acute effect for a single phototherapy and EXT session (Set 1); long-term effect (10 weeks) of the interventions (Set 2). Phototherapy irradiation was performed at 11 locations in their bodies, employing a cluster with nine diodes (one super-pulsed infrared 905 nm, four light-emitting diodes [LEDs] of 640 nm, and four LEDs of 875 nm, 39.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS Negl Trop Dis
October 2016
Background: Envenoming induced by Bothrops snakebites is characterized by drastic local tissue damage that involves an intense inflammatory reaction and local hyperalgesia which are not neutralized by conventional antivenom treatment. Herein, the effectiveness of photobiomodulation to reduce inflammatory hyperalgesia induced by Bothrops moojeni venom (Bmv), as well as the mechanisms involved was investigated.
Methodology/principal Findings: Bmv (1 μg) was injected through the intraplantar route in the right hind paw of mice.