Publications by authors named "S. Costa"

Acariform mites are an ancient and megadiverse lineage that may have experienced a complex pattern of invasions into terrestrial and aquatic habitats. These among-realm transitions may relate to periods of turmoil in Earth's history or be simply results of uneven biodiversity patterns across habitats. Here, we inferred a dated, representative acariform phylogeny (five genes, 9,200 bp aligned, 367 terminals belonging to 150 ingroup plus 15 outgroup families, 23 fossil calibration points) which was used to infer transitions between marine/freshwater/terrestrial habitats.

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Pulmonary disease burden and biomarkers are possible predictors of outcomes in patients with COVID-19 and provide complementary information. In this study, the prognostic value of adding quantitative chest computed tomography (CT) to a multiple biomarker approach was evaluated among 148 hospitalized patients with confirmed COVID-19. Patients admitted between March and July 2020 who were submitted to chest CT and biomarker measurement (troponin I, D-dimer and C-reactive protein) were retrospectively analyzed.

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An alternative approach to classical surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy is dielectric-loaded waveguide (DLWG) spectroscopy, widely used in the past decades to investigate bio-interaction kinetics. Despite their wide application, a successful and clear approach to use the DLWGs for the one-step simultaneous determination of both the thickness and refractive index of organic thin films is absent in the literature. We propose here, for the first time, an experimental protocol based on the multimodal nature of DLWGs to be followed in order to evaluate the optical constants and thickness of transparent thin films with a unique measurement.

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We started a study on the molecular docking of six potential pharmacologically active inhibitors compounds that can be used clinically against the COVID-19 virus, in this case, remdesivir, ribavirin, favipiravir, galidesivir, hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine interacting with the main COVID-19 protease in complex with a COVID-19 N3 protease inhibitor. The highest values of affinity energy found in order from highest to lowest were chloroquine (CHL), hydroxychloroquine (HYC), favipiravir (FAV), galidesivir (GAL), remdesivir (REM) and ribavirin (RIB). The possible formation of hydrogen bonds, associations through London forces and permanent electric dipole were analyzed.

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Background: In recent years, the field of cardio-oncology has grown worldwide, bringing benefits to cancer patients in terms of survival and quality of life. This study reports the experience of a pioneer cardio-oncology programme at University Cancer Hospital in Brazil over a period of 10 years, describing the clinical profile of patients and the clinical outcomes.

Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on a cohort of patients treated at the cardio-oncology programme from April 2009 to February 2019.

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Mercury is widely found in nature, however, in low concentrations, but anthropological activities have increased its concentration considerably. This causes various environmental hazards and human health. Many substances are capable of reversing the toxicity of mercuric chloride in the environment.

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In food webs, fishery can play the role of top predator, competing thus with other top predators for valuable food resources. In this view, it has been claimed in fisheries management that culling of top predators can be a means to improve fishery yield. To investigate this hypothesis, we use theoretical population models to assess in a multispecies context how fishery yield from target species harvest responds to top predator cull.

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Background: Asthma is a chronic disease of the airways and its most common phenotype is characterized by a T2 type response with IgE production and inflammatory mediators in response to common allergens. Cysteinyl leukotrienes (CysLTs), LTC4, LTD4 and LTE4, are mediators known to possess important proinflammatory action. CysLTs can bind to the Cysteinyl leukotriene receptor type 2 (CysLTR2) and activate an inflammatory.

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mutations are known to cause autosomal dominant microcephaly-lymphedema-chorioretinopathy dysplasia syndrome, associated or not with intellectual disability. We report a father and two children presenting microcephaly, chorioretinopathy and mild intellectual disability associated with a 209-kb microdeletion at 10q23.33.

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The Protein Kinase Receptor type 2 (RIPK2) plays an important role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases; it signals downstream of the NOD1 and NOD2 intracellular sensors and promotes a productive inflammatory response. However, excessive NOD2 signaling has been associated with various diseases, including sarcoidosis and inflammatory arthritis; the pharmacological inhibition of RIPK2 is an affinity strategy that demonstrates an increased expression of pro-inflammatory secretion activity. In this study, a pharmacophoric model based on the crystallographic pose of ponatinib, a potent RIPK2 inhibitor, and 30 other ones selected from the BindingDB repository database, was built.

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Background: Weeds reduce crop yields, and among the methods used to control these plants, the use of chemicals is preferred. However, the repeated application of herbicides with the same mechanism of action selects for resistant populations. The aim of this study was to evaluate glyphosate resistance in Lolium multiflorum (Lam.

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For the long-term success of implants, it is necessary to achieve a direct contact between the implant and the subjacent bone. To avoid bacterial penetration that could adversely affect the initial wound healing as well as the long-term behavior of the implants, an early tissue barrier must form that is able to protect the biological peri-implant structures. Given the need of an effective tissue early barrier around dental implants, the present study evaluated, in vitro, the influence of physical and chemical characteristics of two implant abutment surfaces on gingival epithelial cells (OBA-9) adhesion.

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The compound (±)-trans-4-hydroxy-6-propyl-1-oxocyclohexan-2-one [(±)-δ-lactone] was isolated from the plant Vitex cymosa Bertero, and determined to be the active principle. The present study aimed to evaluate the antinociceptive effect of (±)-δ-lactone and to elucidate its mechanism of action. Mice were subjected to in-vivo models of acute pain (acetic acid-induced abdominal writhing, formalin and hot-plate tests) and the open-field test.

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The purpose of this study was to prepare various 4-substituted N-phenyl-1,2,3-triazole derivatives using click chemistry. The derivatives were screened in vitro for antimicrobial activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain H37Rv (ATCC 27294) using the Alamar Blue susceptibility test. The activity was expressed as the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) in μg/mL (μM).

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