Publications by authors named "Miguel Sousa Dias"

In this study, we monitored the fermentative process of L. leaves (grapevine), spontaneously or promoted by , in both solid and liquid media. We also aimed to evaluate the effect on the bioactivity and shelf life of yogurt incorporating fermented and non-fermented grapevine leaves compared to yogurt produced with the preservative potassium sorbate.

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Mature lymphoid neoplasms arise de novo or by the transformation of more indolent lymphomas in a process that relies on the stepwise accumulation of genomic and transcriptomic alterations. The microenvironment and neoplastic precursor cells are heavily influenced by pro-inflammatory signaling, regulated in part by oxidative stress and inflammation. Reactive oxygen species (ROSs) are by-products of cellular metabolism able to modulate cell signaling and fate.

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Honey is a natural product rich in several phenolic compounds, enzymes, and sugars with antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial potential. Indeed, the development of honey-based adhesives for wound care and other biomedical applications are topics being widely investigated over the years. Some of the advantages of the use of honey for wound-healing solutions are the acceleration of dermal repair and epithelialization, angiogenesis promotion, immune response promotion and the reduction in healing-related infections with pathogenic microorganisms.

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Complete congenital stationary night blindness (cCSNB) due to mutations in , , , , or leucine-rich repeat immunoglobulin-like transmembrane domain 3 () is an incurable inherited retinal disorder characterized by an ON-bipolar cell (ON-BC) defect. Since the disease is non-degenerative and stable, treatment could theoretically be administrated at any time in life, making it a promising target for gene therapy. Until now, adeno-associated virus (AAV)-mediated therapies lead to significant functional improvements only in newborn cCSNB mice.

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Mutations in lead to autosomal recessive complete congenital stationary night blindness (cCSNB). This condition represents a signal transmission defect from the photoreceptors to the ON-bipolar cells. To confirm the phenotype, better understand the pathogenic mechanism in vivo, and provide a model for therapeutic approaches, a knock-out mouse model was genetically and functionally characterized.

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Sustainable production of microbial polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) biopolyesters on a larger scale has to consider the "four magic e": economic, ethical, environmental, and engineering aspects. Moreover, sustainability of PHA production can be quantified by modern tools of Life Cycle Assessment. Economic issues are to a large extent affected by the applied production mode, downstream processing, and, most of all, by the selection of carbon-rich raw materials as feedstocks for PHA production by safe and naturally occurring wild type microorganisms.

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Purpose: This study aimed to test a newly devised cost-effective multiplex PCR assay for the molecular diagnosis of autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa (adRP), as well as the use of whole-exome sequencing (WES) to detect disease-causing mutations in adRP.

Methods: Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood lymphocytes of index patients with adRP and their affected and unaffected family members. We used a newly devised multiplex PCR assay capable of amplifying the genetic loci of RHO, PRPH2, RP1, PRPF3, PRPF8, PRPF31, IMPDH1, NRL, CRX, KLHL7, and NR2E3 to molecularly diagnose 18 index patients with adRP.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to create a reliable method for identifying mutations in 12 specific genes linked to autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa (adRP), which represent over 95% of known mutations in this condition.
  • Researchers used long-range PCR (LR-PCR) and next-generation sequencing (NGS) to analyze DNA from patients, successfully covering all gene regions of interest with high sequencing depth.
  • They detected both known mutations and discovered two new mutations, concluding that their method is effective for analyzing genetic mutations in adRP and could also be applied to other similar genetic diseases.
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Dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) deficiency is a pharmacogenetic syndrome associated with life-threatening toxicity following exposure to the fluoropyrimidine drugs 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and capecitabine (CAP), widely used for the treatment of colorectal cancer and other solid tumors. The most prominent loss-of-function allele of the DPYD gene is the splice-site mutation c.1905+1G>A.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Advances in sequencing technologies, particularly next-generation sequencing (NGS), offer new possibilities for genetic testing in clinical settings, specifically in identifying mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes linked to breast and ovarian cancer risk.
  • - The study utilized long-range PCR (LR-PCR) to obtain and analyze fragments of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes from DNA samples of five individuals with known mutations.
  • - Results showed that the combination of LR-PCR and NGS provided comprehensive coverage of the targeted gene regions, successfully detecting all cancer-related mutations and demonstrating the method's viability for use in standard molecular genetics labs.
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