Publications by authors named "Katya Cristina Rocha"

Background: Known in the past for its toxic aspect as the main urban pollutant, in the last few decades, ozone has been gaining greater visibility for its possible antimicrobial, antiviral, and antioxidant effects when used in human dermatological pathologies. Despite the reports of clinical benefits, the standard dosage for clinical efficacy and safety are yet not clear, nor are its means of application and its true acting mechanism.

Objective: We conducted a review to determine the efficacy and safety of ozone therapy for a variety of dermatological conditions.

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Essential to human health, selenium (Se) has enzymatic functions of fundamental importance to human biology due to its effects on DNA damage repair, its antioxidant properties, and cancer prevention. The best studied relationships between Se and the immune system is its role in the functions of neutrophils and of lymphocytes. Despite these observations, it is not yet clear by which mechanism Se is able to modify the immune status.

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The drugs used in chemotherapy treatments have little specificity, attack tumor cells, and also injure proliferative tissues. Knowledge of the functions of micronutrients has greatly increased, especially of Selenium (Se) that presents immunomodulatory and antitumor functions. The present study evaluated the health-related quality of life of patients undergoing chemotherapy for the treatment of leukemias and lymphomas (LL) and solid tumors (ST) while receiving Selenium (Se) supplementation.

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Background: Alopecia areata is the hair loss usually reversible, in sharply defined areas. The treatment of alopecia using growth factors shows interesting activity in promoting hair growth. In this concept, VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) is a marker of angiogenesis, stimulating hair growth by facilitating the supply of nutrients to the hair follicle, increasing follicular diameter.

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The complement system is an important humoral defense mechanism that plays a relevant role against microbial agents, inflammatory response control, and immunocomplex clearance. Classical complement pathway activation is antibody-dependent. The C4 component participates in the initial step of activation, and C4 expression is determined by 2 pairs of allotypes: C4A and C4B.

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