K channels modulate cerebral blood flow and oxygen delivery during isocapnic hypoxia in humans.

Key Points: ATP-sensitive K (K ) channels mediate hypoxia-induced cerebral vasodilatation and hyperperfusion in animals. We tested whether K channels blockade affects the increase in human cerebral blood flow (CBF) and the maintenance of oxygen delivery (CDO ) during hypoxia. Hypoxia-induced increases in the anterior circulation and total cerebral perfusion were attenuated under K channels blockade affecting the relative changes of brain oxygen delivery.

Total metal content and chemical speciation analysis of iron, copper, zinc and iodine in human breast milk using high-performance liquid chromatography separation and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry detection.

The aim of this research was to quantify essential trace elements (iron, copper, zinc and iodine) and establish their speciation in human milk. Both the element and the species are important in new-born nutrition. Colostrum, and transitional and mature milks (25) were collected from 18 mothers of pre-term or full-term infants.

Hypertension impairs hypoxia-induced angiogenesis in men.

Objective: The inability of the organism to appropriately respond to hypoxia results in abnormal cell metabolism and function. Hypoxia-induced angiogenesis seems to be suppressed in experimental models of hypertension; however, this hypothesis has not been tested in humans. We examined changes in endothelial biomarkers and vascular chemoattraction/angiogenic capacity in response to isocapnic hypoxia in hypertensive men.

Immunostimulatory Effect of Sulfated Galactans from the Green Seaweed var. .

Sulfated polysaccharides (SPs) obtained from green seaweeds are structurally heterogeneous molecules with multifunctional bioactivities. In this work, two sulfated and pyruvated galactans were purified from var. (named SP1 and SP2), and their immunostimulatory effect was evaluated using cultured murine macrophage cells.

Gelastic seizures: a retrospective study in five tertiary hospital centres.

This study aimed to characterize, clinically and neurophysiologically, a series of patients with gelastic seizures (GS), including both adults and children. We retrospectively collected patients with GS from epilepsy clinics of five tertiary hospital centres within a single country. Patients were selected through relatives'/caregivers' descriptions, home video and/or video-EEG monitoring.

Antioxidant Sulfated Polysaccharide from Edible Red Seaweed is an Inhibitor of Calcium Oxalate Crystal Formation.

The genus synthesizes sulfated polysaccharides (SPs). Many of these SPs, including those synthesized by the edible seaweed , have not yet been adequately investigated for their use as potential pharmaceutical compounds. Previous studies have demonstrated the immunomodulatory effects of sulfated galactans from .

Positive impact of genetic counseling assistants on genetic counseling efficiency, patient volume, and cost in a cancer genetics clinic.

Purpose: Cancer genetics clinics have seen increasing demand, challenging genetic counselors (GCs) to increase efficiency and prompting some clinics to implement genetic counseling assistants (GCAs). To evaluate the impact of GCAs on Geisinger's cancer genetics clinic, we tracked GC time utilization, new patient volume, and clinic cost per patient before and after implementing a GCA program.

Methods: GCs used time-tracking software while completing preappointment activities.

Antiviral Potential of Spondias mombin L. Leaves Extract Against Herpes Simplex Virus Type-1 Replication Using In Vitro and In Silico Approaches.

leaves have been traditionally used for treating cold sores. The study investigated the mechanism of antiherpes action of extract, fractions, and geraniin. Different concentrations of samples were used to evaluate the antiherpes activity (anti-HSV-1) in virucidal, post-infection, attachment, and penetration assays.

Ascorbic acid inhibits vascular remodeling induced by mental stress in overweight/obese men.

Background: Mental stress (MS) is related to endothelial dysfunction in overweight/obese men. It is believed that the pro-oxidant profile, associated with an imbalance in the vascular remodeling process, may contribute to deleterious effects of MS on endothelial function. However, it is unknown whether administration of ascorbic acid (AA), a potent antioxidant, can prevent oxidative and remodeling dysfunction during MS in these subjects.

Clinical validation of a graphical method for radiation therapy plan quality assessment.

Background: This work aims at clinically validating a graphical tool developed for treatment plan assessment, named SPIDERplan, by comparing the plan choices based on its scoring with the radiation oncologists (RO) clinical preferences.

Methods: SPIDERplan validation was performed for nasopharynx pathology in two steps. In the first step, three ROs from three Portuguese radiotherapy departments were asked to blindly evaluate and rank the dose distributions of twenty pairs of treatment plans.

Development of dextrin-amphotericin B formulations for the treatment of Leishmaniasis.

The most effective medicines available for the treatment of leishmaniasis, a life-threatening disease, exhibit serious toxicological issues. To achieve better therapeutic efficiency while decreasing toxicity associated with amphotericin B (AmB), water-soluble dextrin-AmB (Dex-AmB) formulations were developed. Self-assembled nanocomplexes were formed by dissolving Dex and AmB in alkaline borate buffer, followed by dialysis and either freeze-drying (FD) or nano spray-drying (SD), yielding water dispersible particles with a diameter of 214 nm and 347 nm, respectively.

Molecular detection and characterization of in free-ranging Egyptian mongoose ().

Wild mammals are susceptible to infection by parasites. Although canine leishmaniasis is widely distributed in mainland Portugal, the sylvatic cycle of the parasite remains poorly understood. In this study, the occurrence of in wild carnivores from Portugal was assessed by molecular screening of 132 hunted or accidentally road-killed animals.

Prosopis juliflora as a new cosmetic ingredient: Development and clinical evaluation of a bioactive moisturizing and anti-aging innovative solid core.

Prosopis juliflora is an invasive plant distributed throughout the world and presents metabolites of interest for cosmetology. The aim of this work was to develop a new polysaccharide-based ingredient from P. juliflora and analyze its application in a solid core formulation that upon contact with water instantly forms a gel to improve moisturizing and anti-aging skin properties.

Bullfrog Oil Reduces the Carrageenan-induced Edema in Wistar Rats by in vitro Reduction of Inflammatory Mediators.

Bullfrog oil (BFO) is a natural product from the adipose tissue of the amphibian Rana catesbeiana Shaw, a bio-product rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, which claims anti-inflammatory activity. The objective of this work was to evaluate the cytotoxicity and the anti-inflammatory activity of BFO using in vivo and in vitro assays. Thus, the in vitro cytotoxicity was assessed by the MTT assay.

Neural Networks Multiobjective Learning With Spherical Representation of Weights.

This article presents a novel representation of artificial neural networks (ANNs) that is based on a projection of weights into a new spherical space defined by a radius r and a vector of angles Θ . This spherical representation of ANNs further simplifies the multiobjective learning problem, which is usually treated as a constrained optimization problem that requires great computational effort to maintain the constraints. With the proposed spherical representation, the constrained optimization problem becomes unconstrained, which simplifies the formulation and computational effort required.

No intermodal interference effects of threatening information during concurrent audiovisual stimulation.

Changes in attention can result in sensory processing trade-off effects, in which sensory cortical responses to attended stimuli are heightened and responses to competing distractors are attenuated. However, it is unclear if competition or facilitation effects will be observed at the level of sensory cortex when attending to competing stimuli in two modalities. The present study used electroencephalogram (EEG) and frequency-tagging to quantitatively assess auditory-visual interactions during sustained multimodal sensory stimulation.

Ictal kissing in a patient with right frontal lobe epilepsy.

When performing pre-surgical evaluation of patients with refractory epilepsy, the analysis of seizure semiology is one of the key elements used to generate a hypothesis about the location of the epileptogenic zone. Ictal kissing is a very rarely observed ictal automatism described in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. We present a 62-year-old man who was referred to our epilepsy centre for comprehensive evaluation.

Prevalence and socioeconomic determinants of development delay among children in Ceará, Brazil: A population-based study.

Objective: To assess the prevalence of child development delay and to identify socioeconomic determinants.

Study Design: We conducted a population-based cross-sectional study of children 2 to 72 months of age residing in the state of Ceará, Brazil. In total, 3200 households were randomly selected for participation in the study and had child development assessed with the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) version 3.

Differential vasomotor responses to isocapnic hyperoxia: cerebral versus peripheral circulation.

Isocapnic hyperoxia (IH) evokes cerebral and peripheral hypoperfusion via both disturbance of redox homeostasis and reduction in nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability. However, it is not clear whether the magnitude of the vasomotor responses depends on the vessel network exposed to IH. To test the hypothesis that the magnitude of IH-induced reduction in peripheral blood flow (BF) may differ from the hypoperfusion response observed in the cerebral vascular network under oxygen-enriched conditions, nine healthy men (25 ± 3 yr, mean ± SD) underwent 10 min of IH during either saline or vitamin C (3 g) infusion, separately.

[Efficacy and safety of antifibrinolytics in oncological surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis].

Background And Objectives: The administration of antifibrinolytics has been shown to be effective in reducing blood loss and the need for transfusions in surgeries. However, few studies have evaluated these drugs in cancer surgery. The objective was to review the efficacy and safety of the treatment with antifibrinolytics in patients who underwent oncologic surgeries.

Gallic Acid-Dextran Conjugate: Green Synthesis of a Novel Antioxidant Molecule.

A novel derivative of dextran, dextran-gallic acid (Dex-Gal), obtained from simple conjugation with gallic acid, was synthesized by an efficient free radical-mediated method. To verify the synthesis of Dex-Gal, 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometry, and high-performance size-exclusion chromatography (HPSEC) were employed. The results revealed the conjugation of gallic acid with the 15.

Comparison of two beam angular optimization algorithms guided by automated multicriterial IMRT.

Purpose: To compare two beam angle optimization (BAO) algorithms for coplanar and non-coplanar geometries in a multicriterial optimization framework.

Methods: 40 nasopharynx patients were selected for this retrospective planning study. IMRT optimized plans were produced by Erasmus-iCycle multicriterial optimization platform.

Zika Virus Infection and Microcephaly: A Case-Control Study in Brazil.

Background: Brazil presented an alarming number of newborns with microcephaly in the years 2015 and 2016. The investigation of the cases raised the suspicion of the association of these cases with maternal infections by the zika virus. Also, in 2015, there was an epidemic of zika virus infection in Brazil, reinforcing this hypothesis.