3,666 results match your criteria: "Health Sciences Research Institute[Affiliation]"

Article Synopsis
  • A new subcutaneous form of infliximab (SC-IFX) has been approved for treating inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and shows improved pharmacokinetics and immunogenicity compared to the intravenous form (IV-IFX), while maintaining similar safety and efficacy levels.
  • This study aimed to analyze the outcomes for IBD patients who switched from IV-IFX to SC-IFX, focusing on clinical, biochemical, and pharmacological changes over a 6-month follow-up.
  • Results indicated that all 41 patients remained in clinical remission, with significantly higher serum concentrations of infliximab observed after the switch, while other biochemical markers showed no significant differences.*
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Rationale: Depression is a serious psychiatric disease, which is diagnosed twice as frequently in women than men. We have recently shown that lesioning or inactivation of the nucleus reuniens (RE), which interconnects the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and hippocampus, promoted resilience to stress in males, exerts an antidepressant effect in the Forced Swim Test (FST) and prevents the development of behavioral and neurobiological alterations induced by the chronic mild stress model of depression.

Objectives: In this study, we expand our findings on the FST in female rats and we investigate whether RE lesion presents sex differences following treatment with two distinct antidepressants, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, i.

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The local field potential (LFP) is as a measure of the combined activity of neurons within a region of brain tissue. While biophysical modeling schemes for LFP in cortical circuits are well established, there is a paramount lack of understanding regarding the LFP properties along the states assumed in cortical circuits over long periods. Here we use a symbolic information approach to determine the statistical complexity based on Jensen disequilibrium measure and Shannon entropy of LFP data recorded from the primary visual cortex (V1) of urethane-anesthetized rats and freely moving mice.

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Real-life Data on First- and Second-Line Treatment of Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer With Abiraterone, Enzalutamide and Cabazitaxel - A multicentric Study From Portugal.

Clin Genitourin Cancer

December 2024

Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal; Department of Urology, Private Hospitals of Braga Sul and Gaia, Trofa Saúde Group, Portugal.

Introduction And Objectives: New drugs for metastatic castrate resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) were approved, first in the pos-docetaxel and then in the pre-docetaxel setting. We aim to assess the real daily practice benefit of abiraterone (Abi), enzalutamide (Enz) and cabazitaxel (Cab) in patients with mCRPC, compare it with RCT results and compare Abi vs Enz.

Materials And Methods: We retrospectively collected the data of all consecutive mCRPC patients treated with Abi, Enz or Cab in the six major oncological hospitals in the north of Portugal until December 2020.

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The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) plays a pivotal role in regulating working memory, executive function, and self-regulatory behaviors. Dysfunction in the mPFC circuits is a characteristic feature of several neuropsychiatric disorders including schizophrenia, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Chronic stress (CS) is widely recognized as a major triggering factor for the onset of these disorders.

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Article Synopsis
  • Continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) are effective in improving health outcomes and quality of life for individuals with diabetes, but sustaining their use presents challenges.
  • Research has mostly focused on how to start using CGMs rather than maintaining them over time, highlighting a gap in understanding the reasons behind their continued use.
  • The Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills (IMB) model is proposed as a framework to better understand CGM use, suggesting that individual goals for using CGMs should guide education and support for optimal management.
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Urinary dysfunction after spinal cord injury: Comparing outcomes after thoracic spinal transection and contusion in the rat.

Neuroscience

October 2024

Department of Biomedicine, Experimental Biology Unit, Faculty of Medicine of Porto, University of Porto, Portugal; Pain Neurobiology, Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde-i3S and IBMC, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal. Electronic address:

Article Synopsis
  • Spinal cord injuries (SCI) above the lumbosacral region lead to loss of voluntary bladder control, with traditional spinal cord transection (SCT) being a common method to study SCI in rodents, but its relevance to real-world conditions is debated.
  • Researchers compared bladder-reflex activity and lower urinary tract (LUT) function between rodents with SCT and varying degrees of spinal cord contusion (SCC), finding that severe contusion led to prolonged spinal shock and higher urine retention, while SCT showed increased bladder pressure.
  • The study highlighted that the pattern of nerve regrowth and changes in bladder innervation were similar after both injury types, but the underlying neuroplastic mechanisms varied, which could influence future treatments for urinary
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Preparative regimens before Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation (HCT) damage the bone marrow (BM) microenvironment, potentially leading to secondary morbidity and even mortality. The precise effects of cytotoxic preconditioning on bone and BM remodeling, regeneration, and subsequent hematopoietic recovery over time remain unclear. Moreover, the influence of recipient age and cytotoxic dose have not been fully described.

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Article Synopsis
  • PTX3 is a protective molecule that interacts with the fungus Aspergillus fumigatus in different ways, depending on the fungal form (germinating vs. dormant conidia).
  • It recognizes germinating conidia through a specific polysaccharide and interacts with dormant conidia through weak binding with surface proteins, while other proteins (SP-D, C1q, C3b) enhance this interaction.
  • PTX3 helps regulate inflammation by reducing the production of pro-inflammatory signals and increasing anti-inflammatory signals like IL-10 in immune responses related to aspergillosis and potentially serves as a biomarker for certain fungal infections.
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To explore severity and progression biomarkers, we examined the clinical relevance of multiple cytokines and mediators involved in the inflammatory response in periodontitis. A cohort of 68 patients was enrolled in the study and periodontal status assessed by the current classification of periodontal diseases. Immune mediators present in saliva, of both patients and healthy controls, were quantified using a Legendplex-13 panel.

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Small bowel Crohn's disease: Proximal lesions linked to increased inflammation and biologic treatment needs.

Gastroenterol Hepatol

August 2024

Gastroenterology Department, Unidade Local de Saúde do Alto Ave, Guimarães, Portugal; Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal; ICVS/3B's - PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal.

Article Synopsis
  • The study focuses on Crohn's disease (CD) that affects the small bowel, specifically looking at how inflammation in the upper parts (duodenum and jejunum) impacts patient outcomes.
  • Researchers analyzed 53 patients who underwent Capsule Endoscopy to measure inflammation levels in different segments of the small bowel.
  • Findings revealed that those with inflammation in both upper and lower parts had significantly worse inflammation levels, resulting in a higher likelihood of needing advanced treatment options like biologic drugs.
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Article Synopsis
  • Music is analyzed as a non-verbal language that helps researchers understand how the brain processes complex sounds over time.
  • A study using magnetoencephalography with 70 participants found that recognizing familiar musical sequences activates a broad network in the brain, including areas like the auditory cortex and hippocampus.
  • The research highlights that while the auditory cortex reacts quickly to initial sounds, areas associated with higher cognitive functions show increasing activity as individuals recognize familiar music compared to novel sequences.
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Background: Extracellular vesicles (EVs), ubiquitously released by blood cells, facilitate intercellular communication. In cancer, tumor-derived EVs profoundly affect the microenvironment, promoting tumor progression and raising the risk of recurrence. These EVs contain miRNAs (EV-miRNAs), promising cancer biomarkers.

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A community-academic partnered approach to designing a Virtual Village to address the needs of older adults living with HIV.

AIDS Care

November 2024

Riverside School of Medicine, Department of Social Medicine, Population and Public Health, University of California, San Diego, CA, United States.

Many older adults living with HIV face unique challenges, including comorbidities, loneliness, and isolation. This community-academic partnered study elicited viewpoints from older adults living with HIV about the characteristics of a digital environment ("Virtual Village") to combat against loneliness and isolation. We utilized Choice-Based Conjoint Analyses to determine preferred attributes of a Virtual Village.

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Context: Serum thyrotropin and thyroid hormone (TH) levels are routine markers of thyroid function. However, their diagnostic performance is limited under special conditions, such as in amiodarone-induced hyperthyroidism (AIH). Such cases would require the assessment of tissue TH action, which is currently unfeasible.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study explores the genetic risk factors for Alzheimer's disease (AD) and their connection to various brain changes, aiming to enhance precision medicine strategies.
  • Researchers calculated specific genetic risk scores in healthy individuals to see how these scores correlate with AD-related biomarkers found in cerebrospinal fluid and imaging techniques.
  • Findings show that different genetic pathways link to distinct brain conditions, such as inflammation affecting vascular health and other pathways influencing white matter and brain connectivity, highlighting the complexity of AD and its potential for personalized treatment approaches.
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In the last decade, activity-dependent strategies for labelling multiple immediate early gene (IEG) ensembles in mice have generated unprecedented insight into the mechanisms of memory encoding, storage, and retrieval. However, few strategies exist for brain-wide mapping of multiple ensembles, including their overlapping population, and none incorporate capabilities for downstream network analysis. Here, we introduce a scalable workflow to analyze traditionally coronally-sectioned datasets produced by activity-dependent tagging systems.

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Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of humanity's main health problems today. Despite all the breakthroughs and research over the past few years, the number of microbial illnesses that are resistant to the available antibiotics is increasing at an alarming rate. In this article, we estimated the biomedical potential of Portuguese propolis harvested from the Gerês apiary over five years, evaluating the in vitro antimicrobial effect of five hydroalcoholic extracts prepared from five single propolis samples and of a hydroalcoholic extract obtained from the mixture of all samples.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigated the impact of narrow safety margins during gastric endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) on the rate of local recurrence.
  • A retrospective analysis showed a 3% recurrence rate, with higher occurrences in cases where the horizontal safety margin was less than 1mm.
  • Despite the trends indicating narrow margins correlate with more recurrences, the findings weren't statistically significant, but highlighted the need for close monitoring, especially for patients with certain margin conditions.
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and as prognostic markers for relapse in ulcerative colitis patients.

Front Cell Infect Microbiol

July 2024

Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal.

Introduction: Ulcerative colitis is an inflammatory disorder characterized by chronic inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract, mainly in the colon and rectum. Although the precise etiology of ulcerative colitis remains unclear, recent research has underscored the significant role of the microbiome in its development and progression.

Methods: The aim of this study was to establish a relationship between the levels of specific gut bacterial species and disease relapse in ulcerative colitis.

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Influenza-associated and COVID-19-associated pulmonary aspergillosis in critically ill patients.

Lancet Respir Med

September 2024

Medical Intensive Care Unit, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Transplantation, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.

Influenza-associated pulmonary aspergillosis (IAPA) and COVID-19-associated pulmonary aspergillosis (CAPA) are increasingly recognised as important complications in patients requiring intensive care for severe viral pneumonia. The diagnosis can typically be made in 10-20% of patients with severe influenza or COVID-19, but only when appropriate diagnostic tools are used. Bronchoalveolar lavage sampling for culture, galactomannan testing, and PCR forms the cornerstone of diagnosis, whereas visual examination of the tracheobronchial tract during bronchoscopy is required to detect invasive Aspergillus tracheobronchitis.

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ChatGPT as an item calibration tool: Psychometric insights in a high-stakes examination.

Med Teach

July 2024

Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Largo do Paço, Braga, Portugal.

Introduction: ChatGPT has attracted a lot of interest worldwide for its versatility in a range of natural language tasks, including in the education and evaluation industry. It can automate time- and labor-intensive tasks with clear economic and efficiency gains.

Methods: This study evaluated the potential of ChatGPT to automate psychometric analysis of test questions from the 2020 Portuguese National Residency Selection Exam (PNA).

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