Redesign of radiotherapy for prostate cancer: a proposal for universal healthcare systems.

This study was designed to recommend strategies to improve prostate patients' access to radiotherapy treatment in the Brazilian Unified Health System, along with a cost-tool to support radiotherapy care pathways' lead times and costs. Data was collected prospectively from patients with prostate cancer receiving radiotherapy in two Brazilian centers to provide data to apply design thinking and process reengineering techniques. The current status of the radiotherapy pathway was determined and the length of time taken for in-hospital activities was measured using data exported from ARIA.

Late-life drinking and smoking in primary care users in Brazil.

To estimate the prevalence of at-risk drinking and smoking and associated factors among older adults in primary care in Brazil. A cross-sectional study carried out in seven primary care units with 503 older adults (60+), in a city in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. At-risk drinking was defined by AUDIT-C and by consumption of units per week.

Rare variation of the right internal jugular vein: a case study.

This study reports on a rare variation of the right internal jugular vein (IJV) identified during routine anatomic dissection of a male cadaver. The right IJV had a tributary located parallel and medially to the IJV itself. This branch of the IJV emerged between the transverse processes of the 3rd and 4th cervical vertebrae and drained into the junction between the right internal jugular and brachiocephalic veins.

A Review of Freely Available, Open-Source Software for the Automated Analysis of the Behavior of Adult Zebrafish.

The analysis of behavior in animal models is an important objective in many research fields, including neuroscience, psychology, toxicology, and neuropsychopharmacology. Animal models have been used for many years, and several behavioral paradigms, such as locomotor activity, social interactions, and cognitive behavior, have been studied in animal models to correlate the behaviors with pharmacological or environmental interventions and with molecular, biochemical, and physiological findings. We reviewed the literature looking for open-source, freely available software to analyze animal behavior and found 12 freely available programs: ToxTrack, EthoWatcher, Mouse Behavior Tracker, Mouse Move, JAABA, wrMTrck, AnimalTracker, idTracker, Ctrax, Mousetracker, VideoHacking, and Cowlog, which were developed with different programs, work on different platforms, and have particular types of inputs and outputs and analysis capabilities.

Effectiveness of sampling methods employed for Acanthamoeba keratitis diagnosis by culture.

Purpose: This retrospective, observational study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of the sampling methods commonly used for the collection of corneal scrapes for the diagnosis of Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK) by culture, in terms of their ability to provide a positive result.

Methods: A total of 553 samples from 380 patients with suspected AK received at the Parasitology Section of the Public Health Institute of Chile, between January 2005 and December 2015, were evaluated. A logistic regression model was used to determine the correlation between the culture outcome (positive or negative) and the method for sample collection.

Emerging various environmental threats to brain and overview of surveillance system with zebrafish model.

Pathologies related to neurotoxicity represent an important percentage of the diseases that determine the global burden of diseases. Neurotoxicity may be related to the increasing levels of potentially neurotoxic agents that pollute the environment, which generates concern, since agents that affect children may increase the incidence of neurodevelopmental disorders, affecting the quality of life of future citizens. Many environmental contaminants have been detected, and many of them derive from several human activities, including the mining, agriculture, manufacturing, pharmaceutical, beverage and food industries.

Effects of overfeeding and high-fat diet on cardiosomatic parameters and cardiac structures in young and adult zebrafish.

Obesity is a complex global health problem because it is a risk factor for multiple chronic pathologies such as cardiovascular, endocrine, metabolic, and neoplastic diseases. It is considered a multicausal disease, and one of the determining factors is nutritional imbalances, which include high-fat diets. In this paper, we use the zebrafish model to assess the impact of overfeeding and a high-fat diet in somatic and cardiac parameters in young and adult zebrafish.

Metastasectomy of Abdominal Wall Lesions due to Prostate Cancer Detected Through PET/CT Gallium 68-PMSA: First Case Report.

Introducing the topic of abdominal wall metastasis secondary to prostate cancer with a reminder of the disease's rarity, being the first published case. This article is about a 66 year old patient diagnosed with prostate cancer [cT2aNxMx iPSA: 5,6 ng/ml Gleason 3+3, (Grade 1 Group)], treated with radical prostatectomy as well as accompanied with amplified pelvic lymphadenectomy, who subsequently presented metastatic lesions to the abdominal wall diagnosed with PET/CT Gallium 68-PMSA technique and treated with abdominal metastasectomy with adequate short term results.

Effects of GABA, Neural Regulation, and Intrinsic Cardiac Factors on Heart Rate Variability in Zebrafish Larvae.

Heart rate (HR) is a periodic activity that is variable over time due to intrinsic cardiac factors and extrinsic neural control, largely by the autonomic nervous system. Heart rate variability (HRV) is analyzed by measuring consecutive beat-to-beat intervals. This variability can contain information about the factors regulating cardiac activity under normal and pathological conditions, but the information obtained from such analyses is not yet fully understood.

Cardiac and somatic parameters in zebrafish: tools for the evaluation of cardiovascular function.

Cardiovascular diseases are a worldwide public health problem. To date, extensive research has been conducted to elucidate the pathophysiological mechanisms that trigger cardiovascular diseases and to evaluate therapeutic options. Animal models are widely used to achieve these goals, and zebrafish have emerged as a low-cost model that produces rapid results.

Microbial quality of soil from the Pampa biome in response to different grazing pressures.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of different grazing pressures on the activity and diversity of soil bacteria. We performed a long-term experiment in Eldorado do Sul, southern Brazil, that assessed three levels of grazing pressure: high pressure (HP), with 4% herbage allowance (HA), moderate pressure (MP), with 12% HA, and low pressure (LP), with 16% HA. Two reference areas were also assessed, one of never-grazed native vegetation (NG) and another of regenerated vegetation after two years of grazing (RG).

Morphometric study of the corpus cavernosum after anabolic androgenic steroid administration in pubertal and adult rats.

Purpose: To evaluate the penile morphological modifications of pubertal and adult rats chronically treated with supra-physiological doses of anabolic androgenic steroids.

Methods: Forty-eight male Wistar rats were distributed into four groups: two control groups, 105- and 65-day-old (C105 and C65, respectively) injected with peanut oil (vehicle); and two treated groups, 105- and 65-day-old (T105 and T65, respectively) injected with nandrolone decanoate at a dose of 10 mg Kg-1 of body weight. The rats were injected once a week for eight weeks.

Zebrafish (Danio rerio): A Potential Model for Toxinological Studies.

Zebrafish are an emerging basic biomedical research model that has multiple advantages compared with other research models. Given that biotoxins, such as toxins, poisons, and venoms, represent health hazards to animals and humans, a low-cost biological model that is highly sensitive to biotoxins is useful to understand the damage caused by such agents and to develop biological tests to prevent and reduce the risk of poisoning in potential cases of bioterrorism or food contamination. In this article, a narrative review of the general aspects of zebrafish as a model in basic biomedical research and various studies in the field of toxinology that have used zebrafish as a biological model are presented.

Theory of Inpatient Circadian Care (TICC): A Proposal for a Middle-Range Theory.

The circadian system controls the daily rhythms of a variety of physiological processes. Most organisms show physiological, metabolic and behavioral rhythms that are coupled to environmental signals. In humans, the main synchronizer is the light/dark cycle, although non-photic cues such as food availability, noise, and work schedules are also involved.

The prostate after administration of anabolic androgenic steroids: a morphometrical study in rats.

Purpose: Many adverse effects have been associated with abuse of anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS), including disorders of the urogenital tract. The objective of this study is to analyze the morphological modifications in the prostate ventral lobe of pubertal and adult rats chronically treated with AAS, using morphometric methods.

Materials And Methods: We studied 39 male Wistar rats weighing between 400 g and 550 g.

A randomized crossover clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of oral transmucosal fentanyl citrate in the treatment of dyspnea on exertion in patients with advanced cancer.

Background: Morphine is the only opioid which has been clearly demonstrated as effective in the treatment of dyspnea. The role of other opioids has not been sufficiently substantiated.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of oral transmucosal fentanyl citrate (OTFC) in the treatment of dyspnea on exertion in patients with advanced cancer.

HLA-G regulatory haplotypes and implantation outcome in couples who underwent assisted reproduction treatment.

The role of HLA-G in several clinical conditions related to reproduction has been investigated. Important polymorphisms have been found within the 5'URR and 3'UTR regions of the HLA-G promoter. The aim of the present study was to investigate 16 SNPs in the 5'URR and 14-bp insertion/deletion (ins/del) polymorphism located in the 3'UTR region of the HLA-G gene and its possible association with the implantation outcome in couples who underwent assisted reproduction treatments (ART).

Association of HLA-G alleles and 3' UTR 14 bp haplotypes with recurrent miscarriage in Brazilian couples.

Human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-G expression is restricted, expressed on trophoblast, with a major role in fetus acceptance. In addition to the 46 HLA-G alleles, the presence or absence of a 14 bp polymorphism located in the 3' UTR contributes to gene polymorphism that may influence both HLA-G mRNA stability and HLA-G isoform's splicing and consequently could play an immunomodulatory function in pregnancy. To elucidate the role of HLA-G polymorphism in pregnancy, HLA-G allele frequencies and the 14 bp polymorphisms were analyzed and compared in 60 couples with recurrent miscarriage (RM) and 68 fertile control couples.

Identification of a novel HLA-A allele, HLA-A*0355, in a Brazilian family of eastern European descendents.

The new human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I allele, HLA-A*0355 was identified in a Brazilian family. Our sequence analysis detected a mismatch located in exon 2, codon 86, at position 258 (C-->A) that results in a nonsilent and nonconservative substitution with the replacement of asparagine by lysine. Substitutions located at this oligosaccharide attachment site of the protein were observed in only other four classic HLA class I sequences, indicating a highly conserved peptide site however its function remains unknown.

Activating killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor genes' association with recurrent miscarriage.

Problem: Natural killer (NK) cells are regulated through NK cell receptors such as killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs). KIRs are suspected of being involved in the causes of recurrent miscarriage (RM) as a higher proportion of activated NK cells were observed in women with RM when compared with that in controls. The aim of this study was to investigate if KIR genes coding for receptors known to have as ligands HLA class I molecules are correlated with RM.

Morphological changes in hippocampal astrocytes induced by environmental enrichment in mice.

Environmental enrichment is known to induce plastic changes in the brain, including morphological changes in hippocampal neurons, with increases in synaptic and spine densities. In recent years, the evidence for a role of astrocytes in regulating synaptic transmission and plasticity has increased, and it is likely that morphological and functional changes in astrocytes play an important role in brain plasticity. Our study was designed to evaluate changes in astrocytes induced by environmental enrichment in the CA1 region of the hippocampus, focusing on astrocytic density and on morphological changes in astrocytic processes.

Duration of environmental enrichment influences the magnitude and persistence of its behavioral effects on mice.

A wide range of data in the literature suggests that environmental enrichment has beneficial effects on various cognitive parameters in rodents. However, the magnitude of these effects and their persistence after the cessation of enrichment vary markedly across studies, with the use of different enrichment protocols probably playing a significant role in this variation. Using an open field habituation task as a paradigm, we investigate whether the duration and starting age of environmental enrichment affect the magnitude and persistence of its behavioral effects on male CF-1 albino mice.

Tandem mass spectrometry characteristics of polyester anions and cations formed by electrospray ionization.

Electrospray ionization of polyesters composed of isophthalic acid and neopentyl glycol produces carboxylate anions in negative mode and mainly sodium ion adducts in positive mode. A tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) study of these ions in a quadrupole ion trap shows that the collisionally activated dissociation pathways of the anions are simpler than those of the corresponding cations. Charge-remote fragmentations predominate in both cases, but the spectra obtained in negative mode are devoid of the complicating cation exchange observed in positive mode.

Bufo marinus oocytes as a model for ion channel protein expression and functional characterization for electrophysiological studies.

Oocytes from Xenopus laevis are commonly used as an expression system for ion channel proteins. The aim of this study was to determine whether oocytes from the Colombian native toad, Bufo marinus, could be used as an alternative expression system for ion channel protein expression and functional characterization using the two-microelectrode voltage clamp method. B.