Acanthamoeba Infection in a Hematopoietic Cell Transplant Recipient: Challenges in Diagnosis, Management, and Source Identification.

We report a case of Acanthamoeba infection in an HCT recipient with steroid-refractory GVHD. We highlight the multiple challenges that free-living ameba infections present to the clinician, the clinical laboratory, transplant infectious disease for review, hospital epidemiology if nosocomial transmission is considered, and public health officials, as exposure source identification can be a significant challenge. Transplant physicians should include Acanthamoeba infections in their differential diagnosis of a patient with skin, sinus, lung, and/or brain involvement.

Increased malondialdehyde and nitric oxide formation, lowered total radical trapping capacity coupled with psychological stressors are strongly associated with the phenome of first-episode mild depression in undergraduate students.

Undergraduate students are frequently afflicted by major depressive disorder (MDD). Oxidative and nitrosative stress (O&NS) has been implicated in the pathophysiology of MDD. There is no information regarding whether mild outpatient MDD (SDMD) and first episode SDMD (FE-SDMD) are accompanied by O&NS.

Guidance provided by pharmacists to customers regarding to destination of unused household medications: disposal of household medications.

Background: Discarding pharmaceuticals in the garbage or into the sewage system are still the most common methods in many countries. This study aims to investigate the guidance provided by pharmacists to customers on the disposal of unused and expired household medications in São Paulo State, Brazil.

Method: The study population consisted of 630 pharmacists from the State of São Paulo, who work in community pharmacies.

Paraoxonase 1 status is a major Janus-faced component of mild and moderate acute ischemic stroke and consequent disabilities.

Aims: This study aims to examine the associations between paraoxonase 1 (PON)1 status and acute ischemic stroke (AIS) and consequent disabilities.

Methods: This study recruited 122 patients with AIS and 40 healthy controls and assessed the Q192R gene variants, arylesterase (AREase) and chloromethyl phenylacetate (CMPAase) activities, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLc) in baseline conditions. AREase and CMPAase were measured 3 months later.

Effect of Dialyzer Reuse on the Activity of Paraoxonase 1 in Patients on Hemodialysis.

Background: Cardiovascular disease is the major cause of mortality in patients undergoing chronic hemodialysis treatment. The oxidative modification of low-density lipoprotein is a crucial step in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Paraoxonase 1 (PON1) is the protein responsible for most of the antioxidant activity of high-density lipoprotein, and its reduced levels are associated with more cardiovascular events in several populations.

In Mild and Moderate Acute Ischemic Stroke, Increased Lipid Peroxidation and Lowered Antioxidant Defenses Are Strongly Associated with Disabilities and Final Stroke Core Volume.

In acute ischemic stroke (AIS), there are no data on whether oxidative stress biomarkers have effects above and beyond known risk factors and measurements of stroke volume. This study was conducted in 122 mild-moderate AIS patients and 40 controls and assessed the modified ranking scale (mRS) at baseline, and 3 and 6 months later. We measured lipid hydroperoxides (LOOH), malondialdehyde (MDA), advanced oxidation protein products, paraoxonase 1 (PON1) activities and PON1 Q192R genotypes, high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), sulfhydryl (-SH) groups), and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) stroke volume and fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) signal intensity.

Methodology for dyes purification by preparative bidimensional offline reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography separation based on mobile phase pH change: Case study of Justicia spicigera.

The extensive characterization of the natural dyes involves the purification of their colored compounds for their structural analysis and stability studies. As most natural compounds being ionizable, herein is presented the optimization of an easy and affordable preparative bidimensional offline reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography purification based on mobile phase pH change. At the analytical scale, several combinations of stationary phases and mobile phases at different pH values were investigated first.

Reduced paraoxonase 1 activities may explain the comorbidities between temporal lobe epilepsy and depression, anxiety and psychosis.

Background: Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is the most common focal epilepsy subtype in adults and is frequently accompanied by depression, anxiety and psychosis. Aberrations in total paraoxonase 1 (PON1) status may occur in TLE and these psychiatric conditions.

Aim: To examine PON1 status, namely Q192R PON1 genotypes and PON1 enzymatic activities, in TLE.

A Randomized Trial of Short-term Treatment with Folic Acid to Reduce the Oxidative Stress of Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease.

Background: Increased generation of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients leads to increased oxidative stress. The antioxidant capacity of folic acid has been shown to scavenge radicals efficiently.

Objective: The current study was carried out to examine the effects of folic acid treatment on biochemical and oxidative stress biomarkers in patients in different stages of CKD.

2D macro-XRF to reveal redacted sections of French queen Marie-Antoinette secret correspondence with Swedish count Axel von Fersen.

During the French Revolution, Marie-Antoinette, queen of France and wife of Louis XVI, maintained a highly secret correspondence with the Swedish count Axel von Fersen, her close friend and rumored lover. An unidentified censor later redacted certain sections of the exchanged letters. This presumably sensitive content has been puzzling historians for almost 150 years.

Spectral characterisation of a traditional Mesoamerican dye: relationship between identification on the 16 century manuscript and composition of plant extract.

Characterisation of vegetal colourants in manuscripts is still a challenging task. Their identification using non-invasive techniques - since sampling is rarely possible - is valid only if there is evidence that the recorded signals are generated by compounds specific to the plant species. Otherwise, more extensive chemical characterisations are required to relate the non-invasive technique signals to the chemical composition of the dye extract and thus avoid misidentification.

FaceGuard: A Wearable System To Avoid Face Touching.

Most people touch their faces unconsciously, for instance to scratch an itch or to rest one's chin in their hands. To reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), public health officials recommend against touching one's face, as the virus is transmitted through mucous membranes in the mouth, nose and eyes. Students, office workers, medical personnel and people on trains were found to touch their faces between 9 and 23 times per hour.

Perinatal exposure to paracetamol: Dose and sex-dependent effects in behaviour and brain's oxidative stress markers in progeny.

Paracetamol (PAR) has been employed worldwide for pain and fever treatment during pregnancy and lactation. Epidemiologic studies have shown that exposure to PAR can increase the risk for developmental disorders, such as attention-deficit hyperactive disorder and autism spectrum disorder. This study aimed to investigate if gestational and lactational exposure to human-relevant doses of PAR could alter behavioural and brain oxidative stress parameters in the rat`s offspring.

Menstruation distress is strongly associated with hormone-immune-metabolic biomarkers.

Objective: To examine the associations between menstruation features and symptoms and hormone-immune-metabolic biomarkers.

Methods: Forty-one women completed questionnaires assessing characteristic menstruation symptoms, duration of menstrual cycle and number of pads used/day and completed the Daily Record of Severity of Problems (DRSP) during the consecutive days of their menstrual cycle. Menses-related symptoms (MsRS) were computed from the sum of 10 pre- and post-menses symptoms and the menstruation blood and duration index (MBDI) was computed based on the daily number of pads and duration of menses.

Towards a new model and classification of mood disorders based on risk resilience, neuro-affective toxicity, staging, and phenome features using the nomothetic network psychiatry approach.

Current diagnoses of mood disorders are not cross validated. The aim of the current paper is to explain how machine learning techniques can be used to a) construct a model which ensembles risk/resilience (R/R), adverse outcome pathways (AOPs), staging, and the phenome of mood disorders, and b) disclose new classes based on these feature sets. This study was conducted using data of 67 healthy controls and 105 mood disordered patients.

A Preliminary Study on the Differentiation of Linseed and Poppy Oil Using Principal Component Analysis Methods Applied to Fiber Optics Reflectance Spectroscopy and Diffuse Reflectance Imaging Spectroscopy.

This paper presents results from the examination of a set of experimental samples using fibre optic reflectance spectroscopy (FORS) and diffuse reflectance imaging spectroscopy in the short-wave infrared (SWIR) range, combined with statistical analysis of the data for the discrimination and mapping of poppy and linseed oil. The aim was to evaluate the efficacy of this non-invasive approach for the study of paint samples with a view to the application of the method for characterisation of the two drying oils in painted art. The approach allowed discrimination between the two drying oils based on FORS spectra and the hyperspectral cube, indicating the influence of the spectral region around 1700 nm on the statistical discrimination based on the anti-symmetric and symmetric first overtone stretching of methylenic CH groups.

Lowered Antioxidant Defenses and Increased Oxidative Toxicity Are Hallmarks of Deficit Schizophrenia: a Nomothetic Network Psychiatry Approach.

There is now evidence that schizophrenia and deficit schizophrenia are neuro-immune conditions and that oxidative stress toxicity (OSTOX) may play a pathophysiological role. Aims of the study: to compare OSTOX biomarkers and antioxidant (ANTIOX) defenses in deficit versus non-deficit schizophrenia. We examined lipid hydroperoxides (LOOH), malondialdehyde (MDA), advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP), sulfhydryl (-SH) groups, paraoxonase 1 (PON1) activity and PON1 Q192R genotypes, and total radical-trapping antioxidant parameter (TRAP) as well as immune biomarkers in patients with deficit (n = 40) and non-deficit (n = 40) schizophrenia and healthy controls (n = 40).

Deficit schizophrenia and its features are associated with PON1 Q192R genotypes and lowered paraoxonase 1 (PON1) enzymatic activity: effects on bacterial translocation.

Background: Primary deficit schizophrenia (DS) is characterized by enduring negative symptoms and represents a qualitatively different disease entity with respect to non-deficit schizophrenia (NDS). No studies investigated the association between the enzyme paraoxonase 1 (PON1) and DS and its phenomenology.

Methods: In this case-control study, Thai women and men, aged 18 to 65 years, were divided in DS (n = 40) and NDS (n = 40) and were compared to controls (n = 40).

The role of immune and oxidative pathways in menstrual cycle associated depressive, physio-somatic, breast and anxiety symptoms: Modulation by sex hormones.

Objective: To examine whether 1) immune and nitro-oxidative stress (IO&NS) biomarkers are associated with premenstrual syndrome (PMS); and 2) changes in IO&NS biomarkers during the menstrual cycle (MC) are associated with PMS symptoms and plasma estradiol and progesterone.

Methods: This longitudinal study examined 41 women who completed the Daily Record of Severity of Problems (DRSP) rating scale during 28 consecutive days and assayed plasma levels of complement C3 and C4, highly sensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP), haptoglobin (Hp), advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP), lipid hydroperoxides (LOOH), nitric oxide metabolites (NOx), total radical-trapping antioxidant parameter (TRAP), sulfhydryl (-SH) groups and the activity of paraoxonase (PON)1 at days 7 (D7), 14 (D14), 21 (D21) and 28 (D28) of the MC. MC Associated Syndrome (MCAS) was diagnosed when the summed DRSP score during the MC is >0.

Increased Oxidative Stress Toxicity and Lowered Antioxidant Defenses in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy and Mesial Temporal Sclerosis: Associations with Psychiatric Comorbidities.

Oxidative stress toxicity (OSTOX), as well as lowered antioxidant defenses (ANTIOX), plays a role in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Nevertheless, the associations between OSTOX/ANTIOX and psychiatric comorbidities in TLE are largely unknown. Thus, this study examines plasma malondialdehyde (MDA), lipid hydroperoxides (LOOH), advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP), nitric oxide metabolites (NO), total radical-trapping antioxidant parameter (TRAP), and sulfhydryl (-SH) groups in depression due to TLE (n = 25); anxiety disorders due to TLE (n = 27); psychotic disorder due to TLE (n = 25); "pure TLE" (n = 27); and healthy controls (n = 40).

Vitamin D deficiency is not associated with increased oxidative stress in chronic kidney disease pre-dialysis patients.

Introduction: The progressive decline in 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] in chronic kidney disease (CKD) limits the kidney ability of synthesizing the vitamin. Vitamin D deficiency as defined by KDIGO (25(OH)D <20 ng/mL) is prevalent in CKD patients and associated to oxidative stress (OS). We studied a possible association between vitamin D deficiency and OS in pre-dialysis patients.

Increased Levels of Plasma Tumor Necrosis Factor-α Mediate Schizophrenia Symptom Dimensions and Neurocognitive Impairments and Are Inversely Associated with Natural IgM Directed to Malondialdehyde and Paraoxonase 1 Activity.

Accumulating evidence suggests that TNF-α-mediated immune-neurotoxicity contributes to cognitive impairments and the overall severity of schizophrenia (OSOS). There are no data whether peripheral IL-6 and IL-4 may affect the phenome of schizophrenia above and beyond the effects of TNF-α and whether those cytokines are regulated by lowered natural IgM to malondialdehyde (MDA) and paraoxonase 1 enzyme activity. We assessed the aforementioned biomarkers in a cross-sectional study that enrolled schizophrenia patients with (n = 40) and without (n = 40) deficit schizophrenia and 40 healthy controls.

Schizophrenia phenomenology comprises a bifactorial general severity and a single-group factor, which are differently associated with neurotoxic immune and immune-regulatory pathways.

In schizophrenia, a single latent trait underlies psychosis, hostility, excitation, mannerism, negative (PHEMN) symptoms, formal thought disorders (FTD) and psychomotor retardation (PMR). Schizophrenia is accompanied by a breakdown of gut and blood-brain-barrier (BBB) pathways, increased tryptophan catabolite (TRYCAT) levels, bacterial translocation, and lowered natural IgM and paraoxonase (PON)1 activity. The aim of this study was to examine the factor structure of schizophrenia symptom domains and the biomarker correlates of these factors.