Publications by authors named "Paulo Bastos"

Background: Spinocerebellar ataxia 27B is the most common genetic late onset cerebellar ataxia (LOCA). However, it commonly overlaps with other genetic LOCA as with the cerebellar form of multiple system atrophy (MSA-C).

Objectives: To pinpoint which clinical signs and symptoms best discriminate between FGF14 + from FGF14 - patients at symptoms' onset.

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Article Synopsis
  • Non-fermenting Gram-negative bacilli (NFGNB) other than Pseudomonas and Acinetobacter are significant pathogens that cause healthcare-associated infections and show complex drug resistance, yet their characteristics remain underexplored.
  • A study from January 2020 to December 2023 examined hospitalized patients with positive blood cultures for less common NFGNB, identifying key clinical features and factors linked to patient mortality.
  • Results showed Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and Achromobacter species as the most common pathogens, with bloodstream infections mostly originating from intravascular devices and respiratory tract; factors like older age and chronic conditions significantly increased in-hospital mortality rates.
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Background: Quantitative 3D movement analysis using inertial measurement units (IMUs) allows for a more detailed characterization of motor patterns than clinical assessment alone. It is essential to discriminate between gait features that are responsive or unresponsive to current therapies to better understand the underlying pathophysiological basis and identify potential therapeutic strategies.

Objectives: This study aims to characterize the responsiveness and temporal evolution of different gait subcomponents in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients in their OFF and various ON states following levodopa administration, utilizing both wearable sensors and the gold-standard MDS-UPDRS motor part III.

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Introduction: The ESCPM group (Enterobacter species including Klebsiella aerogenes - formerly Enterobacter aerogenes, Serratia species, Citrobacter freundii complex, Providencia species and Morganella morganii) has not yet been incorporated into systematic surveillance programs.

Methods: We conducted a multicentre retrospective observational study analysing all ESCPM strains isolated from blood cultures in 27 European hospitals over a 3-year period (2020-2022). Diagnostic approach, epidemiology, and antimicrobial susceptibility were investigated.

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Background And Objectives: The impact of subthalamic deep-brain stimulation (STN-DBS) on motor asymmetry and its influence on both motor and non-motor outcomes remain unclear. The present study aims at assessing the role of STN-DBS on motor asymmetry and how its modulation translates into benefits in motor function, activities of daily living (ADLs) and quality of life (QoL).

Methods: Postoperative motor asymmetry has been assessed on the multicentric, prospective Predictive Factors and Subthalamic Stimulation in Parkinson's Disease cohort.

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Introduction: Ceftazidime/avibactam-resistance in Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae (KPC-Kp) is a topic of great interest for epidemiological, diagnostic, and therapeutical reasons. However, data on its prevalence and burden on mortality in patients with bloodstream infection (BSI) are lacking. This study was aimed at identifying risk factors for mortality in patients suffering from ceftazidime/avibactam-resistant KPC-Kp BSI.

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Background: Data on the long-term survival and incidence of disability milestones after subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS) in Parkinson's disease (PD) is limited.

Objectives: To estimate mortality and assess the frequency/time-to-development of disability milestones (falls, freezing, hallucinations, dementia, and institutionalization) among PD patients post STN-DBS.

Methods: A longitudinal retrospective study of patients undergoing STN-DBS.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study investigates the link between superinfections from multidrug-resistant bacteria and the death rates of hospitalized COVID-19 patients, focusing on carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales.
  • - Researchers found that approximately 30% of patients had rectal carriage of these resistant bacteria, with 20% developing bloodstream infections or pneumonia, highlighting a notable incidence of these superinfections.
  • - Despite the high rates of superinfection, they did not significantly increase in-hospital mortality, pointing to the need for further research on the long-term effects of antimicrobial resistance following COVID-19.
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The study of medicinal plants, such as the genus (Clusiaceae), in the treatment of non-communicable chronic diseases has aroused the interest of researchers. However, there are no studies in the literature that have investigated the effects of in experimental models of obesity for possible metabolic alterations. Swiss mice receiving a high-fat diet were supplemented with aqueous or ethanolic extract of at doses of 200 or 400 mg/kg/day.

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Article Synopsis
  • Peptidoglycan is a big part of the cell wall in bacteria and can influence how our bodies act when it gets into them.
  • Researchers studied how peptidoglycan moves from our intestines into our bodies and found it tends to go to certain organs, especially the brain.
  • The movement of peptidoglycan is controlled by the body's nervous system and is helped by good bacteria in our gut.
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Effective strategies in prolonging life- and health span are increasingly recognized as acting as mild stressors. Micronutrients and other dietary compounds such as (poly)phenols may act as moderate stressors and confer protective effects a preconditioning phenomenon. (Poly)phenols and their metabolites may not need to reach their target cells to produce biologically significant responses, so that cells exposed to it at entry points may communicate signals to other cells.

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A large number of epidemiological studies have shown that consumption of fruits, vegetables, and beverages rich in (poly)phenols promote numerous health benefits from cardiovascular to neurological diseases. Evidence on (poly)phenols has been applied mainly to flavonoids, yet the role of phenolic acids has been largely overlooked. Such phenolics present in food combine with those resulting from gut microbiota catabolism of flavonoids and chlorogenic acids and those produced by endogenous pathways, resulting in large concentrations of low molecular weight phenolic metabolites in human circulation.

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Integrative and complementary therapies have been available in the public health system in Brazil as a public policy since 2006. This text of a qualitative nature based on secondary data from the literature and official documents has the aim of understanding the National Policy of Integrative and Complementary Practices from its presence in varied spaces in society. Bypassing the comparison between the theory and practice of the policy, a theoretical and methodological path is proposed to enable new perceptions about policy in practice.

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Parkinson's disease (PD) is the fastest growing neurodegenerative disease, but disease-modifying or preventive treatments are lacking. Physical activity is a modifiable factor that decreases the PD risk and improves motor symptoms in PD. Understanding which dimensions of gait performance correlate with physical activity in PD can have important pathophysiological and therapeutic implications.

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Background: MRI analyzed quantitatively the HA injected into the NLF subcutaneous fat to correlate the gel diffusion and degradation with the morphological changes of the NLF appearance for twelve months. Measurements of the gel diffusion and degradation were taken by MRI as parameters to assess the clinical efficacy and long-acting of the HA in NLF rejuvenation.

Method: HA was applied into the superficial compartment of the subcutaneous fat of twenty NLFs.

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Genetic testing is currently the leading edge of clinical care when it comes to diagnostics. However, many questions remain unanswered even when employing next-generation sequencing techniques due to our inability to decode genetic variations and our limited repertoire of available diagnoses. Accordingly, diagnostic yields for current genomic screenings are <50% and fail to provide the whole picture, leaving the remaining patients without a definitive diagnosis.

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is a genus of Clusiaceae, distributed throughout tropical Asia, Africa, New Caledonia, Polynesia, and Brazil. plants contain a broad range of biologically active metabolites which, in the last few decades, have received considerable attention due to the chemical compositions of their extracts, with compounds which have been shown to have beneficial effects in several diseases. Our work had the objective of reviewing the benefits of five species (, , , , and ).

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Microbiota, and the plethora of signalling molecules that they generate, are a major driving force that underlies a striking range of inter-individual physioanatomic and behavioural consequences for the host organism. Among the bacterial effectors, one finds peptidoglycan, the major constituent of the bacterial cell surface. In the steady-state, fragments of peptidoglycan are constitutively liberated from bacterial members of the gut microbiota, cross the gut epithelial barrier and enter the host system.

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Background: Cultural traditions attribute to pineal gland an important role for spiritual experiences. Mediumship and spirit possession are cultural phenomena found worldwide which have been described as having dissociative and psychotic-like characteristics, but with nonpathological aspects. A sympathetic activation pattern in response to spirit possession has been reported in some studies, but empirical data on pineal gland is scarce in this context.

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Congenital myasthenic syndromes are disorders of the neuromuscular junction resulting from genetic defects in its components. Clinical presentations are diverse and virtually always of early onset. We report a 67-year-old female patient first presenting with episodes of sudden respiratory failure.

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Leucism is the lack or reduction in pigmentation in the most or parts of the body, but not in the eyes and body extremities. It is extremely rare in primates and has never been reported for Callithrix, a genus endemic to Brazil. We searched for individuals of Callithrix jacchus and C.

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Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is a source of valuable information concerning brain disorders. The technical advances of high-throughput omics platforms to analyze body fluids can generate a huge amount of data, whose translation to biological meaning is a challenge. Several bioinformatic tools have emerged to help handling this data into systems biology comprehensively.

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Mediumship and spirit possession are cultural phenomena found in many societies worldwide. In Brazil, Spiritism (a tradition in which mediumship is emphasized) is the third largest religious denomination. The present study aimed to investigate physiologic correlates of nonpathological dissociative experiences by comparing 20 female spiritist mediums with several years of socially sanctioned practice to 20 female nonmedium control subjects from the same religious context.

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Owing to their close proximity, pericardial fluid (PF)'s proteome may mirror the pathophysiological status of the heart. Despite this diagnosis potential, the knowledge of PF's proteome is scarce. Large amounts of albumin hamper the characterization of the least abundant proteins in PF.

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