Interaction of DisBa01 peptide from Bothrops alternatus venom with BRAF melanoma receptors: Modeling and molecular docking.

Metastatic melanoma is highly aggressive and challenging, often leading to a grim prognosis. Its progression is swift, especially when mutations like BRAFV600E continuously activate pathways vital for cell growth and survival. Although several treatments target this mutation, resistance typically emerges over time.

An Approach for Engineering Peptides for Competitive Inhibition of the SARS-COV-2 Spike Protein.

SARS-CoV-2 is the virus responsible for a respiratory disease called COVID-19 that devastated global public health. Since 2020, there has been an intense effort by the scientific community to develop safe and effective prophylactic and therapeutic agents against this disease. In this context, peptides have emerged as an alternative for inhibiting the causative agent.

VTR: A Web Tool for Identifying Analogous Contacts on Protein Structures and Their Complexes.

Evolutionarily related proteins can present similar structures but very dissimilar sequences. Hence, understanding the role of the inter-residues contacts for the protein structure has been the target of many studies. Contacts comprise non-covalent interactions, which are essential to stabilize macromolecular structures such as proteins.

E-Volve: understanding the impact of mutations in SARS-CoV-2 variants spike protein on antibodies and ACE2 affinity through patterns of chemical interactions at protein interfaces.

Background: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic reverberated, posing health and social hygiene obstacles throughout the globe. Mutant lineages of the virus have concerned scientists because of convergent amino acid alterations, mainly on the viral spike protein. Studies have shown that mutants have diminished activity of neutralizing antibodies and enhanced affinity with its human cell receptor, the ACE2 protein.

Effects on Medical Students of Longitudinal Small-Group Learning about Breaking Bad News.

Introduction: Delivering bad news is a difficult task for physicians, and medical schools do not always prepare future physicians for this inevitable task.

Objective: To examine training in breaking bad news, to improve medical students' competence and confidence in dealing with this important aspect of clinical practice.

Methods: An exploratory study using a qualitative approach was done at a Brazilian public university's medical school, which receives 30 medical students per semester.

Cone-beam computed tomography findings of impacted upper canines.

Purpose: To describe the features of impacted upper canines and their relationship with adjacent structures through three-dimensional cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) images.

Materials And Methods: Using the CBCT scans of 79 upper impacted canines, we evaluated the following parameters: gender, unilateral/bilateral occurrence, location, presence and degree of root resorption of adjacent teeth (mild, moderate, or severe), root dilaceration, dental follicle width, and presence of other associated local conditions.

Results: Most of the impacted canines were observed in females (56 cases), unilaterally (51 cases), and at a palatine location (53 cases).

Evaluation of condyle defects using different reconstruction protocols of cone-beam computed tomography.

This study was conducted to investigate how well cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) can detect simulated cavitary defects in condyles, and to test the influence of the reconstruction protocols. Defects were created with spherical diamond burs (numbers 1013, 1016, 3017) in superior and/or posterior surfaces of twenty condyles. The condyles were scanned, and cross-sectional reconstructions were performed with nine different protocols, based on slice thickness (0.

A comparative study of internal fixation and intermaxillary fixation on bone repair of mandibular fractures through radiographic subtraction.

Conventional radiographic evaluation of fracture healing is not a reliable method, because it depends on the examinator's experience and the quality of the exam. Therefore, serial images differing in density, contrast and geometrical projection can lead to a misdiagnosis on the postoperative fracture healing. Even in good quality images, little changes in calcified tissues often can't be visualized, because of its little sensibility and because of the limited human sight.

Multiple stafne bone defects: a rare entity.

Stafne bone defects (SBDs) are generally located in the lingual cortex, close to the mandibular angle. We report the occurrence of multiple SBDs in an asymptomatic patient, a 60-year-old man, referred to a radiology clinic to undergo examination for the purpose of implant planning. The case of multiple SBD presented here, probably the first reported in the literature, reinforces the hypothesis that some cases of SBD may be the result of a focal failure during the ossification of the mandible.