Atopy and Response to Omalizumab Treatment in Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria.

Introduction: The possible influence of sensitization to aeroallergens on omalizumab response in chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) has been insufficiently investigated. This study's aim was to investigate atopy's influence on omalizumab response in CSU patients.

Method: Retrospective study of CSU patients followed at a Portuguese Urticaria Center of Reference and Excellence (UCARE), treated with omalizumab for at least 6 months, between 2015 and 2022.

Metabolomics in chronic hepatitis C: Decoding fibrosis grading and underlying pathways.

Background: Chronic Hepatitis C (CHC) affects 71 million people globally and leads to liver issues such as fibrosis, cirrhosis, cancer, and death. A better understanding and prognosis of liver involvement are vital to reduce morbidity and mortality. The accurate identification of the fibrosis stage is crucial for making treatment decisions and predicting outcomes.

Healing profiles in patients with a chronic diabetic foot ulcer: An exploratory study with machine learning.

Diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) are one of the most frequent and debilitating complications of diabetes. DFU wound healing is a highly complex process, resulting in significant medical, economic and social challenges. Therefore, early identification of patients with a high-risk profile would be important to adequate treatment and more successful health outcomes.

Identification of types of wound bed tissue as a percentage and total wound area by planimetry in neuropathic and venous ulcers.

Background: Neuropathic and venous leg ulcers are chronic wounds associated with devitalized tissue and recurrent infection. Management should be guided by accurate tissue assessment, including the use of planimetry, which provides tissue types as a percentage of the total wound bed surface area.

Objective: This innovative study aimed to assess and identify the wound bed tissues, as a percentage, of neuropathic and venous ulcers using digital planimetry, providing support to nurses optimize the management of necrotic tissues and, consequently, to avoid wound infection.

Removable Partial Denture - Functional Impression Techniques: Review.

The objective of this article is to concisely review the main clinical techniques used to make the functional impression to manufacture a removable partial denture. Through this review, the dentist can develop his clinical knowledge.

Complete Denture - Border Molding Technique Using a Laboratory Condensation Silicone Putty: Review.

During the fabrication of a complete denture, functional impression is taken. Literature studies show that polydimethylsiloxane (condensation silicone) has not been reported by United States dental schools to perform border molding. Thus, the purpose of this article is to review the functional impression technique when border molding is performed with a laboratory condensation silicone putty.

An integrated approach to decision-making variables on urban water systems using an urban water use (UWU) decision-support tool.

In response to pressing global challenges like climate change, rapid population growth, and an urgent need for sustainable infrastructure, cities face an immediate and crucial necessity to transition swiftly toward an integrated approach to managing urban water resources. This shift is not merely an option but an imperative, driven by the rapidly evolving urban landscape. In addressing this imperative, a crucial decision support tool that has emerged as an asset in the domain of urban water planning and management is the Urban Water Use (UWU) tool.

Discovery of Lead 2-Thiazolylhydrazones with Broad-Spectrum and Potent Antifungal Activity.

Opportunistic fungal infections represent a global health problem, mainly for immunocompromised individuals. New therapeutical options are needed since several fungal strains show resistance to clinically available antifungal agents. 2-Thiazolylhydrazones are well-known as potent compounds against and species.

A mixed-ligand Co metal-organic framework and its carbon composites as excellent electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction in green-energy devices.

Oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts are frequently made from noble metal-based oxides like ruthenium/iridium oxides. However, because of their scarcity and high price, researchers are now focusing on creating innovative OER catalysts based on affordable transition metals that have improved electrical conductivity and accessibility to active sites. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), a unique class of inorganic materials with excellent physical and chemical properties, have witnessed significant progress in promising green energy systems.

Antimicrobial peptide for bacterial infection imaging: first case reported in Brazil.

Molecular imaging markers can be used to differentiate between infection and aseptic inflammation, determine the severity of infection, and monitor treatment responses. One of these markers is ubiquicidin(29-41) (UBI), a cationic peptide fragment that binds to the bacterial membrane wall and is labeled with gallium-68 (68Ga), a positron emitter radioisotope. The use of UBI in positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) for improved detection of lesions has been receiving considerable attention recently.

Airway epithelial cells and macrophages trigger IL-6-CD95/CD95L axis and mediate initial immunopathology of COVID-19.

Airway epithelial cells (AEC) infected with SARS-CoV-2 may drive the dysfunction of macrophages during COVID-19. We hypothesized that the direct interaction of AEC with macrophages mediated by CD95/CD95L or indirect interaction mediated by IL-6 signaling are key steps for the COVID-19 severe acute inflammation. The interaction of macrophages with apoptotic and infected AEC increased CD95 and CD163 expression, and induced macrophage death.

An Ultrasound Matrix Transducer for High-Frame-Rate 3-D Intra-cardiac Echocardiography.

Objective: Described here is the development of an ultrasound matrix transducer prototype for high-frame-rate 3-D intra-cardiac echocardiography.

Methods: The matrix array consists of 16 × 18 lead zirconate titanate elements with a pitch of 160 µm × 160 µm built on top of an application-specific integrated circuit that generates transmission signals and digitizes the received signals. To reduce the number of cables in the catheter to a feasible number, we implement subarray beamforming and digitization in receive and use a combination of time-division multiplexing and pulse amplitude modulation data transmission, achieving an 18-fold reduction.

Effect of Lubricant Use on Cervicovaginal Cytology - What's the Evidence?

Objective:  To determine if the use of lubricating gel on the speculum during the cervicovaginal cytology examination interferes with the results obtained, as well as whether it reduces reported discomfort in patients.

Data Sources:  A systematic review was carried out according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) recommendations, with a search in the Pubmed/Medline, Scielo, Cochrane Library, Embase databases of articles published between January 2011 and May 2022. The keywords used were , , .

Towards a computational history of modernism in European literary history: Mapping the Inner Lives of Characters in the European Novel (1840-1920).

In this paper, we investigate the common narrative in literary history that the inner lives of characters became a central preoccupation of literary modernism - a phenomenon commonly referenced as the "inward turn". We operationalize this notion via a proxy, tracing the use of verbs relating to inner life across 10 language corpora from the ELTeC collection, which comprises novels from the period between 1840-1920. We expected to find an increase in the use of inner-life verbs corresponding to the traditional periodisation of modernism in each of the languages.

Evaluation of the Genotoxic and Histological Effects in Neotropical Fish Prochilodus Lacustris (Pisces, Prochilodontidae) in Conservation Area of the Brazilian Northeast.

Human activities significantly impact the aquatic biota in lacustrine environments, leading to negative environmental consequences. Due to this, this study was carried out to evaluate the genotoxic and histological biomarkers in the gills and kidneys of Prochilodus lacustris. The collection of fish and water was conducted in three distinct stations (S1, S2, S3) in an international protected area in northeast Brazil.

Competitive adsorption of acetaminophen and caffeine onto activated Tingui biochar: characterization, modeling, and mechanisms.

Tingui biochar (TB) activated with potassium hydroxide (TB-KOH) was synthesized in the present study. The adsorption capacity of TB-KOH was evaluated for the removal of acetaminophen and caffeine in monocomponent and bicomponent solutions. As a result, the study of the TB-KOH characterization as well as the adsorption kinetics, isotherm, thermodynamics, and a suggestion of the global adsorption mechanism are presented.

Nipple shield use in the maternity ward increases risk of exclusive breastfeeding interruption in the first six months of infant's life.

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the association between use of silicone nipple shields in the maternity ward and exclusive breastfeeding interruption in the first 6 months of the infant's life.

Design: Cohort study.

Setting: Interviews were conducted personally at the mother's home at 1 and 6 months postpartum and by telephone at 2 and 4 months.

Naphthoquinones as a Promising Class of Compounds for Facing the Challenge of Parkinson's Disease.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a degenerative disease that affects approximately 6.1 million people and is primarily caused by the loss of dopaminergic neurons. Naphthoquinones have several biological activities explored in the literature, including neuroprotective effects.

Liver and Plasma Fatty Acid Characterization in Cultured Brown Trout at Distinct Reproductive Stages.

Fatty acids are energy sources, and their profiles are used as biomarkers of metabolic status and physiological changes in fish. Within this context, the main aim of this study was to identify the fatty acids that best discriminate the reproductive status of male and female farmed brown trout. The fatty acid composition in liver and plasma samples from the adults of both sexes was monitored along four distinct reproductive stages, namely the spawning capable (December), regressing (March), regenerating (July), and developing (November) stages.

Women in surgery: do surgical specialties keep up with the feminization of medicine in Brazil?

Introduction: historically, surgical medical specialties are mostly male, a scenario which, in recent years, has undergone changes. In this sense, despite the relevance of the growth of female participation in the medical career, little is discussed about the distribution between genders of the main surgical medical specialties in the country.

Objective: discuss the process of feminization in surgical specialties in Brazil over the last few years, tracing a distribution profile of these specialties.

Real-time OXPHOS capacity analysis in wounded skin from diabetic mice: A pilot study.

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus (DM) impairs wound healing. The aim was to determine whether DM influences mitochondrial respiration in wounded skin (WS) and non-wounded skin (NWS), in a pre-clinical wound healing model of streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes.

Methods: Six weeks after diabetes induction, two wounds were created in the back of C57BL/J6 mice.

Factors associated with the permission for child vaccination in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objective: To identify factors associated with permission for child vaccination in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Method: Cross-sectional study, with parents/guardians of children aged up to 1 year, 11 months and 29 days, aged 18 years or older, with internet access and residents of the state of Alagoas. The collection was conducted between June 2021 and April 2022, using a structured instrument via Google forms®.

The Antioxidant and Immunomodulatory Potential of Leaf Extracts.

Oxidative stress has been associated with different diseases, and different medicinal plants have been used to treat or prevent this condition. The leaf ethanolic extract (EE) and aqueous extract (AE) from have previously been characterized to have antioxidant potential in vitro and in vivo. In this study, we worked with EE and AE and two partition phases, AF (ethyl acetate) and BF (butanol), from AE extract.