Simultaneous, Non-Contact and Motion-Based Monitoring of Respiratory Rate in Sheep Under Experimental Condition Using Visible and Near-Infrared Videos.

The validation of methods for understanding the effects of many diseases and treatments requires the use of animal models in translational research. In this context, sheep have been employed extensively in scientific studies. However, the imposition of experimental conditions upon these animals may result in the experience of discomfort, pain, and stress.

Improving accuracy of early dental carious lesions detection using deep learning-based automated method.

Objective: To investigate the effectiveness of a convolutional neural network (CNN) in detecting healthy teeth and early carious lesions on occlusal surfaces and to assess the applicability of this deep learning algorithm as an auxiliary aid.

Materials And Methods: A total of 2,481 posterior teeth (2,459 permanent and 22 deciduous teeth) with varying stages of carious lesions were classified according to the International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS). After clinical evaluation, ICDAS 0 and 2 occlusal surfaces were photographed with a professional digital camera.

Pixel-level annotated dataset of computed tomography angiography images of acute pulmonary embolism.

Pulmonary embolism has a high incidence and mortality, especially if undiagnosed. The examination of choice for diagnosing the disease is computed tomography pulmonary angiography. As many factors can lead to misinterpretations and diagnostic errors, different groups are utilizing deep learning methods to help improve this process.

Follow-up of infants with congenital syphilis during the penicillin shortage period.

Objective: To analyze the follow-up, in specialized outpatient clinics, of infants reported with congenital syphilis during the penicillin shortage.

Method: A cross-sectional study was carried out in ten public maternity hospitals affiliated with the Brazilian Unified Health System in the city of Fortaleza, state of Ceará. Clinical records of infants reported with congenital syphilis who were born alive in 2015 were used to describe correlates of attendance at recommended clinical follow-up appointments.

Strategic use of organoids and organs-on-chip as biomimetic tools.

Organoid development and organ-on-a-chip are technologies based on differentiating stem cells, forming 3D multicellular structures resembling organs and tissues in vivo. Hence, both can be strategically used for disease modeling, drug screening, and host-pathogen studies. In this context, this review highlights the significant advancements in the area, providing technical approaches to organoids and organ-on-a-chip that best imitate in vivo physiology.

Organoids as a novel tool in modelling infectious diseases.

Infectious diseases worldwide affect human health and have important societal impacts. A better understanding of infectious diseases is urgently needed. In vitro and in vivo infection models have brought notable contributions to the current knowledge of these diseases.

Biomarkers in Hypertension and Hypertension-related Disorders.

Systemic arterial hypertension (SAH) is a major risk factor for several secondary diseases, especially cardiovascular and renal conditions. SAH has a high prevalence worldwide, and its precise and early recognition is important to prevent the development of secondary outcomes. In this field, the study of biomarkers represents an important approach to diagnosing and predicting the disease and its associated conditions.

Differentiating Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells into Renal Cells: A New Approach to Treat Kidney Diseases.

Renal disease is a major issue for global public health. Despite some progress in supportive care, the mortality rates among patients with this condition remain alarmingly high. Studies in pursuit of innovative strategies to treat renal diseases, especially stimulating kidney regeneration, have been developed.

Pain management protocol implementation and opioid consumption in critical care: an interrupted time series analysis.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of an opioid-sparing pain management protocol on overall opioid consumption and clinical outcomes.

Methods: This was a single-center, quasi-experimental, retrospective, before and after cohort study. We used an interrupted time series to analyze changes in the levels and trends of the utilization of different analgesics.

Enhancing the Therapeutic Potential of Mesenchymal Stem Cells with the CRISPR-Cas System.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), also known as multipotent mesenchymal stromal stem cells, are found in the perivascular space of several tissues. These cells have been subject of intense research in the last decade due to their low teratogenicity, as well as their ability to differentiate into mature cells and to secrete immunomodulatory and trophic factors. However, they usually promote only a modest benefit when transplanted in experimental disease models, one of the limitations for their clinical application.

Guided imagery relaxation therapy on preoperative anxiety: a randomized clinical trial.

Objective: to evaluate the effect of relaxation therapy with guided imagery on state anxiety and cortisol in the immediate preoperative period in patients submitted to bariatric surgery by videolaparoscopy.

Method: a randomized, triple-blind clinical trial in a large teaching hospital in the interior of Minas Gerais. Twenty-four patients who would undergo video-laparoscopic bariatric surgery were randomly allocated in two groups, namely 12 in the control group and 12 in the experimental group.

Therapy With Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Parkinson Disease: History and Perspectives.

Background: Parkinson disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder affecting the basal nuclei, causing motor and cognitive disorders. Bearing in mind that standard treatments are ineffective in delaying the disease progression, alternative treatments capable of eliminating symptoms and reversing the clinical condition have been sought. Possible alternative treatments include cell therapy, especially with the use of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC).

Long-term anabolic steroids in male bodybuilders induce cardiovascular structural and autonomic abnormalities.

Objective: The aims of this study were to examine the hypothesis that users of anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) would have cardiac autonomic disorders and that there is a correlation between sympathetic modulation, high blood pressure (BP) and alterations to cardiac dimensions.

Methods: Forty-five male subjects were enrolled in the study. They were categorized into three groups comprising bodybuilders actively using AAS (AAS users; n = 15), bodybuilders who had never used AAS (nonusers; n = 15) and age-paired healthy sedentary controls (n = 15).

Biological properties of cardiac mesenchymal stem cells in rats with diabetic cardiomyopathy.

Unlabelled: Cardiomyopathy is a major outcome in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) and contributes to the high morbidity/mortality observed in this disease.

Aims: To evaluate several biological properties of cardiac mesenchymal stem cells (cMSCs) in a rat model of streptozotocin-induced DM with concomitant diabetic cardiomyopathy.

Main Methods: After 10weeks of DM induction, diabetic and control rats were assessed using ECG and ventricular hemodynamics monitoring.

GLYCEMIC BEHAVIOR IN 48 HOURS POSTOPERATIVE PERIOD OF PATIENTS WITH TYPE 2 DIABETES MELLITUS AND NON DIABETIC SUBMITTED TO BARIATRIC SURGERY.

Unlabelled: Although there is no indication for surgery taking only into account the glycemic condition, results have shown that benefits can be obtained in glycemic control with bariatric surgery.

Aim: To compare the glycemic behavior among type 2 diabetic and non-diabetic patients within 48 h after bariatric surgery, and clarify whether there is a reduction in blood glucose level in obese patients with diabetes before the loss of weight excess.

Methods: Descriptive epidemiological study with prospective cohort design with 31 obese patients undergoing Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy.

Priming Mesenchymal Stem Cells with Endothelial Growth Medium Boosts Stem Cell Therapy for Systemic Arterial Hypertension.

Systemic arterial hypertension (SAH), a clinical syndrome characterized by persistent elevation of arterial pressure, is often associated with abnormalities such as microvascular rarefaction, defective angiogenesis, and endothelial dysfunction. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which normally induce angiogenesis and improve endothelial function, are defective in SAH. The central aim of this study was to evaluate whether priming of MSCs with endothelial growth medium (EGM-2) increases their therapeutic effects in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs).

Endogenous resident c-Kit cardiac stem cells increase in mice with an exercise-induced, physiologically hypertrophied heart.

Physical activity evokes well-known adaptations in the cardiovascular system. Although exercise training induces cardiac remodeling, whether multipotent stem cells play a functional role in the hypertrophic process remains unknown. To evaluate this possibility, C57BL/6 mice were subjected to swimming training aimed at achieving cardiac hypertrophy, which was morphologically and electrocardiographically characterized.

Effects of cholinergic stimulation with pyridostigmine bromide on chronic chagasic cardiomyopathic mice.

The aim of the present study was to assess the effects of an anticholinesterase agent, pyridostigmine bromide (Pyrido), on experimental chronic Chagas heart disease in mice. To this end, male C57BL/6J mice noninfected (control:Con) or chronically infected (5 months) with Trypanosoma cruzi (chagasic:Chg) were treated or not (NT) with Pyrido for one month. At the end of this period, electrocardiogram (ECG); cardiac autonomic function; heart histopathology; serum cytokines; and the presence of blood and tissue parasites by means of immunohistochemistry and PCR were assessed.

Postpartum Treatment With Immunoglobulin Does Not Prevent Relapses of Multiple Sclerosis in the Mother.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, neurological, immune-mediated disease that can worsen in the postpartum period. There is no consensus on the use of immunoglobulin for prevention of disease relapses after delivery. We have shown that the controversial beneficial effect of immunoglobulin given immediately after birth could not be observed in patients with MS.

Opposite effects of bone marrow-derived cells transplantation in MPTP-rat model of Parkinson's disease: a comparison study of mononuclear and mesenchymal stem cells.

The 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) animal model is a useful tool to study Parkinson's disease (PD) and was used in the present study to investigate the potential beneficial as well as deleterious effects of systemic bone-marrow mononuclear cell (BMMC) or mesenchymal stem cell (BM-MSC) transplantation. MPTP administration resulted in a breakdown of the blood-brain barrier and motor impairment in the open field test 24 h after surgery. Three and 7 days after receiving the lesion, the injured animals showed remaining motor impairment compared to the sham groups along with a significant loss of tyrosine hydroxylase-immunoreactive (TH-ir) cells in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc).

Pain measurement as part of primary healthcare of adult patients with sickle cell disease.

Objective: The aim of this exploratory, cross-sectional study was to evaluate pain in sickle cell disease patients and aspects related to primary healthcare.

Methods: Data were obtained through home interviews. The assessment instruments (body diagram, Numerical Pain Scale, McGill Pain Questionnaire) collected information on the underlying disease and on pain.

Transient elevation of ST-segment due to pneumothorax and pneumopericardium.

ST-segment elevation, observed in the critically ill patients, almost always raises the suspicion of ischemic heart disease. However, nonischemic myocardial and non-myocardial problems in these patients may also lead to ST-segment elevation. Pneumothorax and pneumopericardium have been rarely reported as a cause of transient ST-segment elevation.

Pain management at inpatient wards of a university hospital.

Background And Objectives: This is an exploratory, descriptive and transversal study aiming to determine the prevalence, characterization, location, and measurement and discuss pharmacological analgesic measures for acute pain management in five inpatient wards of a university hospital.

Method: We enrolled 856 subjects in the study, of whom 272 were in pain at the time. Information related to pain was obtained using a bedside structured interview.

Autonomic nervous system modulation affects the inflammatory immune response in mice with acute Chagas disease.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of changes to the autonomic nervous system in mice during the acute phase of Chagas disease, which is an infection caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. The following types of mice were inoculated with T. cruzi (CHG): wild-type (WT) and vesicular acetylcholine transporter knockdown (KDVAChT) C57BL/6j mice; wild-type non-treated (NT) FVB mice; FVB mice treated with pyridostigmine bromide (PYR) or salbutamol (SALB); and β(2)-adrenergic receptor knockout (KOβ2) FVB mice.

Draft genome sequence of the nitrogen-fixing symbiotic bacterium Bradyrhizobium elkanii 587.

The draft sequence of the genome of Bradyrhizobium elkanii 587 is presented. This was obtained using Illumina Next-Gen DNA sequencing combined with Sanger sequencing. Genes for the pathways involved in biological nitrogen fixation (the nif gene cluster), nod genes including nodABC, and genes for the type III protein secretion system (T3SS) are present.