Extracellular vesicles from human breast cancer-resistant cells promote acquired drug resistance and pro-inflammatory macrophage response.

Introduction: Breast cancer is a significant public health problem around the world, ranking first in deaths due to cancer in females. The therapy to fight breast cancer involves different methods, including conventional chemotherapy. However, the acquired resistance that tumors develop during the treatment is still a central cause of cancer-associated deaths.

Captopril inhibits the overproduction of proopiomelanocortin and adrenocorticotropic hormone in the pituitary gland of male diabetic mice in close relationship with an increase in glucocorticoid receptor expression.

Prior investigation shows that diabetic patients present hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis hyperactivity related to impaired negative feedback. This study investigates the effect of Captopril on the overproduction of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and its precursor proopiomelanocortin (POMC) in the pituitary gland of male diabetic mice. Diabetes was induced by intravenous injection of alloxan into fasted Swiss-webster mice, and the animals were treated with Captopril for 14 consecutive days, starting 7 days post-diabetes induction.

Predictors of Mortality in Patients with Cardiac Device-Related Infective Endocarditis.

Infective endocarditis (IE) associated with implantable cardiac devices (ICD) is a serious disease with high mortality rates. The increased number of ICD implants has led to increased ICD infection rates. The aim of this study was to characterize clinical, laboratory profiles and the prognosis of cardiac-device-related endocarditis (CDIE), as well as to identify predictors of in-hospital death.

Caffeine intake during lactation has a sex-dependent effect on the hippocampal excitatory/inhibitory balance and pups' behavior.

During early life, disruptions in glutamatergic and GABAergic synapse development in the hippocampus may contribute to several neurodevelopmental disorders, including cognitive deficits and psychiatric disorders. Caffeine is the most consumed psychoactive drug in the world, and previous work from our group has shown that caffeine disrupts visual system connections at different stages of development. This work aimed to investigate the effects of caffeine consumption during lactation in the glutamatergic and GABAergic synaptic markers in the hippocampus and on the behavior of rat offspring.

Visual-Aided Obstacle Climbing by Modular Snake Robot.

Snake robots, also known as apodal robots, are among the most common and versatile modular robots. Primarily due to their ability to move in different patterns, they can evolve in scenarios with several constraints, some of them hardly accessible to other robot configurations. This paper deals with a specific environment constraint where the robot needs to climb a prismatic obstacle, similar to a step.

Finding the needle in a haystack: Evaluation of ecotoxicological effects along the continental shelf break during the Brazilian mysterious oil spill.

Oceanic oil spills present significant ecological risks that have the potential to contaminate extensive areas, including coastal regions. The occurrence of the 2019 oil spill event in Brazil resulted in over 3000 km of contaminated beaches and shorelines. While assessing the impact on benthic and beach ecosystems is relatively straightforward due to direct accessibility, evaluating the ecotoxicological effects of open ocean oil spills on the pelagic community is a complex task.

RecQ helicase expression in patients with telomeropathies.

Background: Telomeropathies are a group of inherited disorders caused by germline pathogenic variants in genes involved in telomere maintenance, resulting in excessive telomere attrition that affects several tissues, including hematopoiesis. RecQ and RTEL1 helicases contribute to telomere maintenance by unwinding telomeric structures such as G-quadruplexes (G4), preventing replication defects. Germline RTEL1 variants also are etiologic in telomeropathies.

Decoding imagined speech with delay differential analysis.

Speech decoding from non-invasive EEG signals can achieve relatively high accuracy (70-80%) for strictly delimited classification tasks, but for more complex tasks non-invasive speech decoding typically yields a 20-50% classification accuracy. However, decoder generalization, or how well algorithms perform objectively across datasets, is complicated by the small size and heterogeneity of existing EEG datasets. Furthermore, the limited availability of open access code hampers a comparison between methods.

Social movements and the genesis of LGBT health policy in Bahia, Brazil (1979-2014): initial disputes and possible alternatives.

We conducted a socio-historical study covering the period 1979-2014 to explore the genesis of LGBT health policy in Bahia, Brazil, drawing on Pinell's theoretical framework for the sociological analysis of public policy. To analyze the social space, we investigated the trajectories of the agents involved in policy formulation and the relations between these agents and the national social space and field of State power. The agents were predominantly from the scientific, human rights, sexual rights, feminism and AIDS fields, and had a high level of bureaucratic and militant capital, meaning they were well-versed in LGBT health issues.

Network-motif delay differential analysis of brain activity during seizures.

Delay Differential Analysis (DDA) is a nonlinear method for analyzing time series based on principles from nonlinear dynamical systems. DDA is extended here to incorporate network aspects to improve the dynamical characterization of complex systems. To demonstrate its effectiveness, DDA with network capabilities was first applied to the well-known Rössler system under different parameter regimes and noise conditions.

The Role of the Adrenal-Gut-Brain Axis on Comorbid Depressive Disorder Development in Diabetes.

Diabetic patients are more affected by depression than non-diabetics, and this is related to greater treatment resistance and associated with poorer outcomes. This increase in the prevalence of depression in diabetics is also related to hyperglycemia and hypercortisolism. In diabetics, the hyperactivity of the HPA axis occurs in parallel to gut dysbiosis, weakness of the intestinal permeability barrier, and high bacterial-product translocation into the bloodstream.

Telomeric repeat-containing RNA is dysregulated in acute myeloid leukemia.

TERRA (telomeric repeat-containing RNA) is a class of long noncoding RNAs transcribed from subtelomeric and telomeric regions. TERRA binds to the subtelomeric and telomeric DNA-forming R-loops (DNA-RNA hybrids), which are involved in telomere maintenance and telomerase function, but the role of TERRA in human cells is not well characterized. Here, we comprehensively investigated for the first time TERRA expression in primary human hematopoietic cells from an exploratory cohort of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), patients with telomere biology disorder (TBD), and healthy subjects.

Assessment of the left atrial volume and function following percutaneous mitral balloon valvuloplasty: Insights into acute and late impact of atrial fibrillation on atrial remodeling.

Background: Rheumatic mitral stenosis (MS) leads to LA remodeling with disordered electrical activation that may revert with valve intervention. This study aimed to assess the acute and late impact of percutaneous mitral balloon valvuloplasty (PMBV) on LA volume and function in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) compared with sinus rhythm.

Methods: A total of 167 patients with severe MS undergoing PMBV were prospectively enrolled.

Pro-resolving role of glucagon in lipopolysaccharide-induced mice lung neutrophilia.

Prior research demonstrated that glucagon has protective roles against inflammation, but its effect on the resolution of inflammation remains elusive. Using in vitro and in vivo approaches, this study aimed to investigate the pro-resolving potential of glucagon on pulmonary neutrophilic inflammation caused by lipopolysaccharide. Lipopolysaccharide induced an increase in the proportions of neutrophils positives to glucagon receptor (GcgR) in vitro.

Pressure-sensitive platform based on multiplexed in-series macro-bend optical fiber sensors.

This work shows a pressure-sensitive platform instrumented with a set of five in-series macro-bend optical fiber sensors. The structure of 20×20cm is divided into sixteen 5×5cm sensing cells. Sensing is based on the wavelength-dependent intensity changes in the array transmission visible spectrum, which carries information about the pressure acting on the structure.

Impact of gut-peripheral nervous system axis on the development of diabetic neuropathy.

Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disease caused by a reduction in the production and/or action of insulin, with consequent development of hyperglycemia. Diabetic patients, especially those who develop neuropathy, presented dysbiosis, with an increase in the proportion of pathogenic bacteria and a decrease in the butyrate-producing bacteria. Due to this dysbiosis, diabetic patients presented a weakness of the intestinal permeability barrier and high bacterial product translocation to the bloodstream, in parallel to a high circulating levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as TNF-α.

Effect of the renin-angiotensin system on the exacerbation of adrenal glucocorticoid steroidogenesis in diabetic mice: Role of angiotensin-II type 2 receptor.

Prior investigation shows an increase in the activity of both hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) in diabetic patients. Moreover, activation of angiotensin-II type 1 receptor (AT) has been associated with adrenal steroidogenesis. This study investigates the role of RAS on the overproduction of corticosterone in diabetic mice.

Prevalence and factors associated with impaired left ventricular global longitudinal strain in patients with Chagas disease: SaMi-Trop cohort study.

Cardiomyopathy is a major cause of death in Chagas disease and early detection of cardiac involvement is essential. Myocardial strain is a reliable technique for assessment of subtle left ventricular (LV) contractility alterations. This study assessed LV global longitudinal strain (GLS) in a large Chagas disease population living in remote areas.

Recent advances in understanding telomere diseases.

Germline genetic defects impairing telomere length maintenance may result in severe medical conditions in humans, from aplastic anemia and myeloid neoplasms to interstitial lung disease and liver cirrhosis, from childhood (dyskeratosis congenita) to old age (pulmonary fibrosis). The molecular mechanisms underlying these clinically distinct disorders are pathologically excessive telomere erosion, limiting cell proliferation and differentiation, tissue regeneration, and increasing genomic instability. Recent findings also indicate that telomere shortening imbalances stem cell fate and is associated with an abnormal inflammatory response and the senescent-associated secretory phenotype.

Analyzes of the ICF Domain of Activity After a Neurological Early Mobility Protocol in a Public Hospital in Brazil.

Background: Early Mobility (EM) has been recognized as a feasible and safe intervention that improves functional outcomes in hospitalized patients. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) supports understanding of functioning and disability in multidimensional concepts and efforts have been taken to apply ICF in a hospital environment. EM protocols might be linked with the ICF component of activity and participation.

Gold Nanoparticles Inhibit Steroid-Insensitive Asthma in Mice Preserving Histone Deacetylase 2 and NRF2 Pathways.

Background: Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) can inhibit pivotal pathological changes in experimental asthma, but their effect on steroid-insensitive asthma is unclear. The current study assessed the effectiveness of nebulized AuNPs in a murine model of glucocorticoid (GC)-resistant asthma.

Methods: A/J mice were sensitized and subjected to intranasal instillations of ovalbumin (OVA) once a week for nine weeks.

Two new surprising species of leaf-litter toad of the Rhinella margaritifera species group (Anura: Bufonidae) from the Peruvian Amazon, LoretoPeru.

We describe two new species of Rhinella (Anura: Bufonidae) from the department of Loreto, Peru. We integrate morphological and phylogenetic analyses to provide evidence of new species. R.

The first record of burrowing goby Trypauchen vagina (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) (Gobiiformes: Gobiidae: Amblyopinae) from the Atlantic Ocean.

The burrowing goby Trypauchen vagina has been reported from Brazil for the first time. This goby occurs naturally in the Indo-Pacific region, where it is typically found burrowed in the bottom substrata of marine or brackish waters. Given its rapid development, extended longevity and multiple spawning cycles, the species is represented by large populations in Asian countries.