Publications by authors named "Lara Santos"

Background: Radical gastrectomy remains the main treatment for gastric cancer, despite its high mortality. A clinical predictive model of 90-day mortality (90DM) risk after gastric cancer surgery based on the Spanish EURECCA registry database was developed using a matching learning algorithm. We performed an external validation of this model based on data from an international multicenter cohort of patients.

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Background: Human cadavers are an important component of anatomy education; however, they have limitations. In this scenario, alternative artificial models emerge to complement teaching and enable learning in environments with scarce resources. The following study aims to demonstrate the elaboration of handmade cold porcelain models and their acceptance by medical students in a Brazilian university.

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Purpose: To validate the content of the Speech-Language Pathology Concordance Test called FonoTCS.

Methods: This is a content validation study of the instrument. Five speech-language pathologists, all with doctoral degrees and teaching experience, averaging 24.

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Angola, a country grappling with prevalent tropical diseases such as malaria, is witnessing an alarming rise in cancer-related deaths. Despite the escalating significance of cancer globally and in Angola, the nation's medical schools lack compulsory oncology disciplines in their curricula. This absence compromises the comprehensive training of medical students, preventing the development of integrated perspectives and skills crucial for addressing the growing cancer burden.

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Article Synopsis
  • Expanding loco-regional node harvesting is expected to improve survival rates in patients with gastric cancer, but many harvested nodes found in large dissections are negative.
  • A study involving 830 patients who underwent R0 gastrectomy for adenocarcinoma analyzed how the number of harvested lymph nodes affects overall survival (OS), using machine learning to simulate outcomes for different node counts.
  • Results showed that while extending lymphadenectomies improves OS compared to simulations, the number of negative nodes remains a significant independent prognostic factor that can aid in better decision-making for patient management.
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Introduction: Saliva has gained increasing attention in the quest for disease biomarkers. Because it is a biological fluid that can be collected is an easy, painless, and safe way, it has been increasingly studied for the identification of oral cancer biomarkers. This is particularly important because oral cancer is often diagnosed at late stages with a poor prognosis.

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Bacteria immobilization on biochar is a promising approach to achieve high concentration and stability of microbial cells for several applications. The present review addressed the techniques utilized for bacteria immobilization on biochar, discussing the mechanisms involved in this process, as well as the further utilization in bioremediation and agriculture. This article presents three immobilization techniques, which vary according to their procedures and conditions, including cell growth, adsorption, and adaptation.

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Yerba-mate (Ilex paraguariensis) is recognized for its biocompounds and bioactive properties. This study aimed to assess the potential of yerba-mate extract to modulate the intestinal microbiota in rats. After the ethical committee approval (CEUA - UPF, number 025/2018), the Wistar rats were given a daily dose of 3.

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Objectives: Analyze the epidemiological profile of patients with traumatic spinal fractures treated at Mário Covas State Hospital between 2015 and 2020.

Methodology: This is an epidemiological, descriptive, retrospective, quantitative, comparative, medical records review-type study. Data collection was carried out between May and June 2022 at the Mário Covas State Hospital, the following characteristics being evaluated: age, sex, lesion topography, trauma mechanism, origin and treatment.

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The bioactive compounds extraction from fruit pomace is an ecological alternative for these abundant and low-added-value by-products. This study aimed to evaluate the antimicrobial potential of pomace extracts from Brazilian native fruits (araçá, uvaia, guabiroba and butiá) and the effect on physicochemical, mechanical properties and the migration of antioxidants and phenolic compounds from starch-based films. The film with butiá extract had the lowest mechanical resistance (1.

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Objective: To verify whether the presence of related nutritional risk indicators prior to COVID-19 diagnosis is associated with poor survival in patients with cancer.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the data of hospitalized cancer patients who tested positive for COVID-19 between March 2020 and February 2021. Nutritional risk was defined as the presence of one of the following characteristics: body mass index <20kg/m 2 , scored Patient-generated Subjective Global Assessment ≥9 points or classification B, albumin level <3.

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Diet actively influences gut microbiota and body homeostasis. The predominance of beneficial species results in symbiosis, while dysbiosis is characterized by an imbalance between microbial communities. Food plays a key role in this dynamic and in promoting the health of individuals.

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The demand for natural compounds to replace synthetic additives has aroused the interest of different sectors of society, especially the scientific community, due to their safety, biocompatibility, biodegradability and low toxicity. Alternative sources for antimicrobial compounds have been explored, such as fruit pomace. These by-products have essential compounds in their composition with different potential for application in food and packaging.

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TransMEMbrane 16A (TMEM16A) is a Ca-activated Cl channel that plays critical roles in regulating diverse physiologic processes, including vascular tone, sensory signal transduction, and mucosal secretion. In addition to Ca, TMEM16A activation requires the membrane lipid phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PI(4,5)P). However, the structural determinants mediating this interaction are not clear.

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Background: Inflammation is widely recognized as the driving force of cachexia induced by chronic diseases; however, therapies targeting inflammation do not always reverse cachexia. Thus, whether inflammation per se plays an important role in the clinical course of cachectic patients is still a matter of debate.

Aims: To give new insights into cachexia's pathogenesis and diagnosis, we performed a comprehensive literature search on the contribution of inflammatory markers to this syndrome, focusing on the noncommunicable diseases cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

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Objectives: We aimed (1) to assess the nutritional status (NS) using different methods, according to the primary tumour site and (2) to evaluate the performance of these methods in patients with incurable cancer from a reference centre in Brazil.

Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of data from patients admitted to the palliative care unit of a reference cancer centre in Brazil, between July 2016 and March 2020. The primary tumour site was the independent variable and the NS using different methods were the dependent variables.

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Molecular-assisted precision oncology gained tremendous ground with high-throughput next-generation sequencing (NGS), supported by robust bioinformatics. The quest for genomics-based cancer medicine set the foundations for improved patient stratification, while unveiling a wide array of neoantigens for immunotherapy. Upfront pre-clinical and clinical studies have successfully used tumor-specific peptides in vaccines with minimal off-target effects.

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Esophageal cancer (EC) is a life-threatening disease, demanding the discovery of new biomarkers and molecular targets for precision oncology. Aberrantly glycosylated proteins hold tremendous potential towards this objective. In the current study, a series of esophageal squamous cell carcinomas (ESCC) and EC-derived circulating tumor cells (CTCs) were screened by immunoassays for the sialyl-Tn (STn) antigen, a glycan rarely expressed in healthy tissues and widely observed in aggressive gastrointestinal cancers.

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The study of the microbiome has significantly contributed to our understanding of complex diseases including cancer, with a profound influence of the microbiota on clinical prognosis and the efficacy of cancer treatments. Oesophageal cancer is positioned amongst the most aggressive malignant diseases, resulting from a complex interaction between anthropometric, genetic, immune response, and environmental factors. Oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the most common type of oesophageal cancer and is a serious burden in Eastern Africa, in the area known as the African oesophageal cancer corridor (AOCC).

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Purpose: To validate tools to identify patients at risk for perioperative complications to implement prehabilitation programmes in head and neck surgery (H&N).

Methods: Retrospective cohort including 128 patients submitted to H&N, with postoperative Intermediate Care Unit admittance. The accuracy of the risk calculators ASA, P-POSSUM, ACS-NSQIP and ARISCAT to predict postoperative complications and mortality was assessed.

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Background: Gastric cancer (GC) is a major health burden worldwide, with half of patients developing metastases within 5 years after treatment, urging novel biomarkers for diagnosis and efficient therapeutic targeting. Sialyl-Lewis A (SLeA), a terminal glycoepitope of glycoproteins and glycolipids, offers tremendous potential towards this objective. It is rarely expressed in healthy tissues and blood cells, while it is present in highly metastatic cell lines and metastases.

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Statement Of Problem: To improve osseointegration, current machined implants are submitted to different surface treatments such as airborne-particle abrasion and acid etching. Although additive manufacturing has allowed the fabrication of implants with custom design, porosity, and roughness, whether good osseointegration can be achieved without subsequent surface treatments is still unclear.

Purpose: The purpose of this in vitro study was to investigate the feasibility of using additive manufacturing technology for dental implants without the use of subsequent surface treatments.

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