Evaluation of packaging systems with O-absorbers on quality of minimally processed soybean sprouts.

This study evaluated the influence of O-absorbing sachets into different packages polyethylene terephthalate (PET - E1), low density polyethylene (LDPE - E2), and PET/LDPE (E3) on the quality of minimally processed soybean sprouts (MP-sprouts). The MP-sprouts were stored up to 12 days and characterized for physicochemical, microbiological and sensory attributes. The O-absorbing sachet showed changes during exposure to the environment by the formation of amorphous iron hydroxide, which was observed by the analysis of functional groups and XRD.

Investigating biological rhythms disruptions across the menstrual cycle in women with comorbid bipolar disorder and premenstrual dysphoric disorder.

We investigated whether women diagnosed with comorbid bipolar disorder (BD) and premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) experience higher disruptions in biological rhythms in two independent study samples. The first study has a population-based sample of 727 women, including 104 women with PMDD only, 43 women with BD only, 24 women with comorbid PMDD and BD, and 556 women without BD or PMDD (controls). Biological rhythm disruptions were cross-sectionally evaluated using the Biological Rhythms Interview of Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (BRIAN).

Recent Advances in the Selection of Cancer-Specific Aptamers for the Development of Biosensors.

An early diagnosis has the potential to greatly decrease cancer mortality. For that purpose, specific cancer biomarkers have been molecularly targeted by aptamer sequences to enable an accurate and rapid detection. Aptamer-based biosensors for cancer diagnostics are a promising alternative to those using antibodies, due to their high affinity and specificity to the target molecules and advantageous production.

Seroprevalence, Prevalence, and Genomic Surveillance: Monitoring the Initial Phases of the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic in Betim, Brazil.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented need for epidemiological monitoring using diverse strategies. We conducted a project combining prevalence, seroprevalence, and genomic surveillance approaches to describe the initial pandemic stages in Betim City, Brazil. We collected 3239 subjects in a population-based age-, sex- and neighborhood-stratified, household, prospective; cross-sectional study divided into three surveys 21 days apart sampling the same geographical area.

Paper-based aptasensor for colorimetric detection of osteopontin.

This work presents a novel cellulose-based aptasensor for the colorimetric detection of a cancer biomarker, osteopontin (OPN), in point-of-care (PoC) analysis. For this purpose, the cellulose paper was chemically modified with (mercaptopropyl)methyldimetoxisilane to attach the thiolated aptamer, which acts as a biological detection layer. The surface modification was checked by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis.

Evolutionary History of TOPIIA Topoisomerases in Animals.

TOPIIA topoisomerases are required for the regulation of DNA topology by DNA cleavage and re-ligation and are important targets of antibiotic and anticancer agents. Humans possess two TOPIIA paralogue genes (TOP2A and TOP2B) with high sequence and structural similarity but distinct cellular functions. Despite their functional and clinical relevance, the evolutionary history of TOPIIA is still poorly understood.

Antimicrobial Photodynamic Therapy for the Treatment of Alveolar Osteitis in a Patient With Acute Lymphoid Leukemia: A Case Report.

Acute lymphoid leukemia (ALL) is a malignant disease, the prognosis of which depends on the age of the patient and the treatment. The aim of this article was to report the treatment of this rare and interesting case of alveolar osteitis with antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) in a patient with ALL that was resolved efficiently and quickly. A 33-year-old male diagnosed with ALL attended the public service, complaining of pain in the region of tooth 48, without function.

Public toilets from the perspective of users: a case study in a public place, Brazil.

Public toilets are essential infrastructure to guarantee the right to sanitation in public spaces and, in more general terms, the right to inclusive and sustainable cities. Moreover, since the equipment has a direct user interface, it is important to understand their demands and needs. Given this, the present research aims to understand the perspective of public toilet users on the Pampulha Lake Shore (PLS), a public touristic place in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

Development of a biosensor for phosphorylated Tau 181 protein detection in Early-Stage Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia in the elderly, and there are still no reliable methods for its early detection. Recently, the phosphorylated protein Tau181 (p-Tau181) was identified as a highly specific biomarker for AD. Therefore, in this work, a new strategy for the development of an electrochemical-based immunosensor for the detection of p-Tau181 is described.

The antipsychotic aripiprazole induces peripheral antinociceptive effects through PI3Kγ/NO/cGMP/K pathway activation.

Bckground: Aripiprazole is an antipsychotic drug used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Recently, its peripheral analgesic component was evaluated, however, the mechanism involved in this effect is not fully established. Therefore, the aim of the study was to obtain pharmacological evidence for the involvement of the nitric oxide system in the peripheral antinociceptive effect induced by aripiprazole.

The influence of technological innovations on international business strategy before and during COVID-19 pandemic.

In the last two years, the world has gone through an unprecedented change in the most diverse dimensions (social, economic, and even political), leading that society had to adapt very quickly to the contingencies imposed by COVID-19. All organizations (independent of their area of activity) had to adjust their processes to respond, efficiently and effectively, to these constraints. In this context, companies with concerns in internationalization (those that are already internationalized and those in an internationalization process) have had to resort to technologies to support the change in their .

Identification and characterisation of SARS-CoV-2 and Human alphaherpesvirus 1 from a productive coinfection in a fatal COVID-19 case.

Background: During routine Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) diagnosis, an unusually high viral load was detected by reverse transcription real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) in a nasopharyngeal swab sample collected from a patient with respiratory and neurological symptoms who rapidly succumbed to the disease. Therefore we sought to characterise the infection.

Objectives: We aimed to determine and characterise the etiological agent responsible for the poor outcome.

Clinical impact of a prehospital trauma shock bundle of care in South Africa.

Introduction: Patients experiencing traumatic shock are at a higher risk for death and complications. We previously designed a bundle of emergency medical services traumatic shock care ("EMS-TruShoC") for prehospital providers in resource-limited settings. We assess how EMS-TruShoC changes clinical outcomes of critically injured prehospital patients.

Airway inflammation and dysbiosis in antibody deficiency despite the presence of IgG.

Background: Patients with antibody deficiency suffer chronic respiratory symptoms, recurrent exacerbations, and progressive airways disease despite systemic replacement of IgG. Little is known about the respiratory tract biology of these patients.

Objective: We sought to measure immunoglobulin levels, inflammatory cytokines, and mediators of tissue damage in serum and sputum from patients with antibody deficiency and healthy controls; to analyze the respiratory microbiome in the same cohorts.

Biophysical controls over fire regime properties in Central Portugal.

The concept of fire regime can be used to describe, with different degrees of complexity, the spatial and temporal patterns of fires and their effects within a given area and over a given period. In this work, we explore the relations between fire regime and a set of potential biophysical controls at a local scale, for 972 civil parishes in central Portugal. The fire regime was characterized with reference to a 44-year period (1975-2018) using three properties: cumulative percentage of parish area burned, area-weighted total number of wildfires, and the Gini concentration index of burned area over time.

A food web approach reveals the vulnerability of biocontrol services by birds and bats to landscape modification at regional scale.

Pest control services provided by naturally occurring species (the so-called biocontrol services) are widely recognized to provide key incentives for biodiversity conservation. This is particularly relevant for vertebrate-mediated biocontrol services as many vertebrate species are of conservation concern, with most of their decline associated to landscape modification for agricultural purposes. Yet, we still lack rigorous approaches evaluating landscape-level correlates of biocontrol potential by vertebrates over broad spatial extents to better inform land-use and management decisions.

L-carnitine added to post-thawed semen acts as an antioxidant and a stimulator of equine sperm metabolism.

The objective of this study was to enhance the in vitro sperm quality and in vivo fertility of frozen-thawed equine semen by the addition of l-carnitine (LC) to post-thawed semen. Different concentrations of LC were added to thawed samples to obtain four treatments control and 0.5, 1 and 2 mM LC.

Real-Life Long-Term Cohort of Patients With Stage IIIA Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer: Overall Survival Related to Patients' Characteristics and Multiple Treatment Models.

Purpose: This real-life cohort of patients describes the treatment patterns and compares the overall survival (OS) and hazard risk of utilization of multiple therapies.

Materials And Methods: Electronic medical registries of patients with stage III non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) regularly attended in 72 hospitals were included. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to evaluate the primary patients' characteristics leading to better OS and cancer-specific survival.

Prolonged SARS-CoV-2 Positivity in Immunocompetent Patients: Virus Isolation, Genomic Integrity, and Transmission Risk.

Current guidelines for patient isolation in COVID-19 cases recommend a symptom-based approach, averting the use of control real-time reverse transcription PCR (rRT-PCR) testing. However, we hypothesized that patients with persistently positive results by RT-PCR for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) could be potentially infectious for a prolonged time, even if immunocompetent and asymptomatic, which would demand a longer social isolation period than presently recommended. To test this hypothesis, 72 samples from 51 mildly symptomatic immunocompetent patients with long-lasting positive rRT-PCR results for SARS-CoV-2 were tested for their infectiousness in cell culture.

Paper-Based Biosensors for COVID-19: A Review of Innovative Tools for Controlling the Pandemic.

The appearance and quick spread of the new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus disease, COVID-19, brought major societal challenges. Importantly, suitable medical diagnosis procedures and smooth clinical management of the disease are an emergent need, which must be anchored on novel diagnostic methods and devices. Novel molecular diagnostic tools relying on nucleic acid amplification testing have emerged globally and are the current gold standard in COVID-19 diagnosis.

CB and toll-like receptors crosstalk in microglia.

Microglia play a major role in certain neuropathological conditions. In a recent paper, Reusch et al. demonstrated how signaling pathways downstream of cannabinoid type 2 (CB) and toll-like receptors (TLRs) converge in these cells.

Synthesis and characterization of chitosan/montmorillonite nanocomposites for application as edible coating.

Edible coating can improve fruits shelf life and, consequently, reduce their waste. Chitosan, which presents a potential for chemical modifications and capacity to form films, can be an alternative for coating due to its biocompatibility, biodegradability, and antimicrobial properties. Chitosan film can be obtained through casting method presenting suitable mechanical properties, such as resistance to traction and elongation, ability to adhere to surfaces and selective permeability to gases, such as O and CO.

Report 46: Factors driving extensive spatial and temporal fluctuations in COVID-19 fatality rates in Brazilian hospitals.

Unlabelled: The SARS-CoV-2 Gamma variant spread rapidly across Brazil, causing substantial infection and death waves. We use individual-level patient records following hospitalisation with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 to document the extensive shocks in hospital fatality rates that followed Gamma's spread across 14 state capitals, and in which more than half of hospitalised patients died over sustained time periods. We show that extensive fluctuations in COVID-19 in-hospital fatality rates also existed prior to Gamma's detection, and were largely transient after Gamma's detection, subsiding with hospital demand.