Publications by authors named "Santos A"

are gastrointestinal parasites of anurans, distributed throughout Central and South America. and are some of the most commonly reported species parasitising anurans from Brazil, and the morphological differences between them are unclear. In the present study, we redescribed based on a re-examination of type series and newly collected material from the frog in the state of Amapá, Brazil.

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  • The study aimed to explore how low handgrip strength (HGS) relates to the risk of falls in middle-aged and older adults, analyzing data from the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Aging.
  • It involved 8,112 participants aged 50 to 105, revealing that 21.5% experienced at least one fall and that HGS declines steadily with age.
  • The findings indicate that low HGS significantly contributes to fall risk in individuals through their 50s and continues to be an important factor until the 80s, even when accounting for other health variables.
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We aimed to evaluate the effect of the intravenous (IV) administration of blood cell secretome (BCS) compared to its intra-articular (IA) administration. In this cross-over study, ten dogs with bilateral hip osteoarthritis were initially assigned to an IA group (IAG). After a 180-day follow-up, the same 10 animals were assigned to an IV group (IVG).

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  • - The text discusses a rare case of anti-GABAB receptor autoimmune encephalitis (AE) in a 21-year-old male in Central America, where he presented with new onset seizures and status epilepticus after ruling out other potential causes.
  • - Diagnostic tests indicated lymphocytic pleocytosis in cerebrospinal fluid and positive anti-GABAB1-B2 receptor antibodies, leading to a confirmed diagnosis of AE despite initial normal imaging results.
  • - Treatment included corticosteroids, plasmapheresis, and immunoglobulin therapy, resulting in significant improvement; the patient has been seizure-free for seven months but is undergoing cognitive rehabilitation for mild cognitive decline.
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In the United States, hundreds of thousands of undocumented orphan wells have been abandoned, leaving the burden of managing environmental hazards to governmental agencies or the public. These wells, a result of over a century of fossil fuel extraction without adequate regulation, lack basic information like location and depth, emit greenhouse gases, and leak toxic substances into groundwater. For most of these wells, basic information such as well location and depth is unknown or unverified.

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Dietary sodium restriction increases plasma triglycerides (TG) and total cholesterol (TC) concentrations as well as causing insulin resistance and stimulation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) and the sympathetic nervous system. Stimulation of the angiotensin II type-1 receptor (AT1) is associated with insulin resistance, inflammation, and the inhibition of adipogenesis. The current study investigated whether aerobic exercise training (AET) mitigates or inhibits the adverse effects of dietary sodium restriction on adiposity, inflammation, and insulin sensitivity in periepididymal adipose tissue.

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Ionic liquid crystals (ILCs), a class of soft matter materials whose properties can be tuned by the wise pairing of the cation and anion, have recently emerged as promising candidates for different applications, combining the characteristics of ionic liquids and liquid crystals. Among those potential uses, this review aims to cover chromogenic ILCs. In this context, examples of photo-, electro- and thermochromism based on ILCs are provided.

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Inflammation is a vital mechanism that defends the organism against infections and restores homeostasis. However, when inflammation becomes uncontrolled, it leads to chronic inflammation. The NLRP3 inflammasome is crucial in chronic inflammatory responses and has become a focal point in research for new anti-inflammatory therapies.

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Pathogenic SOX11 variants have been associated with intellectual developmental disorder with microcephaly, and with or without ocular malformations or hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (HH) (IDDMOH, OMIM # 615866). In this article, we report seven new patients with de novo SOX11 variants. Five of the variants are missense, one nonsense, and one whole-gene deletion, most of them are novel variants.

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Addressing the global problem of polluted water requires sustainable, efficient, and scalable remediation solutions, such as electrospun polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) membranes incorporating specific nanoadsorbents. The retention of contaminants depends on membrane swelling, morphology, and the adsorbent within the nanofiber. This study investigated the effect of relative humidity (RH) within the electrospinning chamber on the morphology of the resulting mats and how this affected the flow dynamics depending on whether or not the permeating liquid induced swelling in the membranes.

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  • The study addresses microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) in the oil exploration sector, caused by sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) that form biofilms and produce corrosive hydrogen sulfide.
  • Researchers tested a bacteriophage with biofilm-degrading enzymes to inhibit SRB biofilm formation and reduce hydrogen sulfide production in a complex SRB community.
  • Results showed that high and medium concentrations of the phage effectively prevented biofilm development and changed bacterial behaviors, suggesting non-specific phages could be a novel solution for controlling biocorrosion while raising concerns about their impact on beneficial geological bacteria.
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  • One third of organ donors experience catastrophic brain injury (CBI), but there’s no standardized management for traumatic CBI among trauma centers, leading to variability in practices.
  • A multicenter trial involving 33 trauma centers analyzed 790 CBI patients to investigate whether institutions with CBI guidelines had higher organ donation rates.
  • While centers with CBI guidelines showed greater use of certain treatments, the presence of guidelines did not significantly increase organ donation rates; however, hormone therapies were linked to a higher likelihood of donation.
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Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is an effective HIV prevention strategy that consists in the use of antiretroviral drugs by seronegative people at risk of HIV. Negative perceptions, inadequate understanding, and access barriers have been associated with decreased medication adherence. Manaus is the largest city in the Brazilian Amazon, where the incidence of HIV/AIDS is high, and the rates of adherence to the antiretroviral treatment for HIV and PrEP are low.

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The Myrtaceae family is renowned for its rich diversity of bioactive metabolites with broad applications across various industries. This review comprehensively explores the chemical composition and biological activities of Neotropical species within the Myrtaceae family from 2011 to 2023. A total of 170 papers were analyzed, covering 148 species from 28 genera, with notable emphasis on Eugenia, Eucalyptus, Myrcia, and Psidium.

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The prevalence of type 2 diabetes (T2D) poses a significant health challenge, yet the contribution of air pollutants to T2D epidemics remains under-studied. Several studies demonstrated a correlation between exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in indoor/outdoor environments and T2D. Here, we conducted the first meta-analysis, establishing a robust association between exposure to benzene, a prevalent airborne VOC, and insulin resistance in humans across all ages.

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Objectives: to assess the socio-cognitive factors determining adherence to standard precautions by nursing professionals in care practice during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil.

Methods: an analytical cross-sectional study, carried out with 9,039 nursing professionals in Brazil, using an electronic form containing participant sociodemographic, training and work variables, and the Brazilian version of the Standard Precautions Questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used using the statistical software R.

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Environmental Education (EE) is key for biodiversity conservation. We aimed to evaluate the effect of an EE activity on students by evaluating their drawings. The EE activity was part of the Blonde Capuchin Project actions, which focuses on the research and conservation of the endangered blonde capuchin monkey, Sapajus flavius.

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Background: Surgical site infection (SSI) remains a challenge in healthcare, contributing to prolonged hospital stays, increased healthcare costs, and adverse patient outcomes, including mortality. Effective preoperative skin disinfection interventions, such as povidone-iodine (PVI) and chlorhexidine (CHG), are widely used but their efficacy remains debated. To address this gap, this meta-analysis aims to evaluate the efficacy of PVI and CHG.

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Diabetes mellitus-related morbidity and mortality are primarily caused by long-term complications such as retinopathy, nephropathy, cardiomyopathy, and neuropathy. Diabetic neuropathy (DN) involves the progressive degeneration of axons and nerve fibers due to chronic exposure to hyperglycemia. This metabolic disturbance leads to excessive activation of the glycolytic pathway, inducing oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction, ultimately resulting in nerve damage.

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  • Alpha-cell hyperplasia (ACH) is a rare pancreatic condition with various forms and is often associated with pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (pNETs), although its causes are not well understood.
  • A 72-year-old male with type 2 diabetes was found to have a non-functioning pNET during treatment for gallbladder issues, which revealed mild glucagon elevation and led to surgery.
  • Pathological analysis showed the pNET was glucagon-producing and occurred alongside ACH, emphasizing the need for specialized testing to diagnose such cases even when symptoms suggest a non-functioning tumor.
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Background: Kefir is a complex microbial community that plays a critical role in the fermentation and production of bioactive peptides, and has health-improving properties. The composition of kefir can vary by geographic localization and weather, and this paper focuses on a Brazilian sample and continues previous work that has successful anti-Alzheimer properties. In this study, we employed shotgun metagenomics and peptidomics approaches to characterize Brazilian kefir further.

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Background: Phase 3 trials of elexacaftor/tezacaftor/ivacaftor (ELX/TEZ/IVA) combination treatment in people with cystic fibrosis (CF) with ≥1 F508del-CFTR allele showed profound short-term effects on lung function, weight, and pulmonary exacerbations (PEx). The authors conducted a 12-month study to add evidence on the real-world long-term effectiveness and safety of CFTR modulator therapy with ELX/TEZ/IVA in Portuguese CF adult population.

Methods: Ambispective, multicentre, observational, real-life study involving all the Portuguese CF Reference Centres.

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This study investigates the (longitudinal) thermodynamic and structural characteristics of single-file confined square-well and square-shoulder disks by employing a mapping technique that transforms the original system into a one-dimensional polydisperse mixture of nonadditive rods. Leveraging standard statistical-mechanical techniques, exact results are derived for key properties, including the equation of state, internal energy, radial distribution function, and structure factor. The asymptotic behavior of the radial distribution function is explored, revealing structural changes in the spatial correlations.

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