License to drive vehicles: Legal aspects and clinical variables in Brazilian patients with epilepsy.

Unlabelled: In epilepsy, there may be impairment of psychosocial aspects, including restrictions for the license to drive vehicles.

Objective: To evaluate the license to drive a vehicle in patients with epilepsy according to Brazilian legislation and to relate it to demographic and clinical variables.

Methodology: The license-to-drive vehicle rate was related to the demographic and clinical data of 305 patients with epilepsy.

Effect of fluoride or chitosan toothpaste and at-home bleaching in enamel roughness, tooth color, and staining susceptibility.

Purpose: To evaluate how fluoride- or chitosan-based toothpaste used during at-home bleaching affects enamel roughness, tooth color, and staining susceptibility.

Methods: Bovine enamel blocks were submitted to a 14-day cycling regime considering a factorial design (bleaching agent x toothpaste, 2 x 3), with n=10: (1) bleaching with 16% carbamide peroxide (CP) or 6% hydrogen peroxide (HP), and (2) daily exposure of a fluoride (1,450 ppm F-NaF) toothpaste (FT), chitosan-based toothpaste (CBT), or distilled water (control). Then, 24 hours after the last day of bleaching procedure the samples were exposed to a coffee solution.

Dung beetles from two sustainable-use protected forests in the Brazilian Amazon.

Background: The Amazon Forest is one of the world's most biodiverse ecosystems and yet its protected areas are understudied concerning insects and other invertebrates. These organisms are essential for tropical forests due to their ecological processes, with some species being very sensitive to habitat disturbances. Dung beetles (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Scarabaeinae) have been used as bioindicators for more than 30 years and were surveyed to assess the insect biodiversity of two sustainable-use forest reserves in the Brazilian Amazon.

Smell loss associated with SARS-CoV-2 is not clinically different from other viruses: a multicenter cohort study.

Background: Although the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the prevalence of cases with olfactory loss, other respiratory viruses can also cause this condition. We aimed to compare the prevalence of acute SARS-CoV-2 infection and other respiratory viruses in patients with sudden smell loss, and to assess the impact of SARS-CoV-2 viral load and co-infection on olfactory symptoms.

Methods: Patients with sudden smell loss were recruited in a multicenter prospective cohort study in 15 hospitals in Brazil.

TFOS Lifestyle Report Executive Summary: A Lifestyle Epidemic - Ocular Surface Disease.

The Tear Film & Ocular Surface Society (TFOS) Workshop entitled 'A Lifestyle Epidemic: Ocular Surface Disease' was a global initiative undertaken to establish the direct and indirect impacts of everyday lifestyle choices and challenges on ocular surface health. This article presents an executive summary of the evidence-based conclusions and recommendations of the 10-part TFOS Lifestyle Workshop report. Lifestyle factors described within the report include contact lenses, cosmetics, digital environment, elective medications and procedures, environmental conditions, lifestyle challenges, nutrition, and societal challenges.

TFOS Lifestyle Report: Impact of environmental conditions on the ocular surface.

Environmental risk factors that have an impact on the ocular surface were reviewed and associations with age and sex, race/ethnicity, geographical area, seasonality, prevalence and possible interactions between risk factors are reviewed. Environmental factors can be (a) climate-related: temperature, humidity, wind speed, altitude, dew point, ultraviolet light, and allergen or (b) outdoor and indoor pollution: gases, particulate matter, and other sources of airborne pollutants. Temperature affects ocular surface homeostasis directly and indirectly, precipitating ocular surface diseases and/or symptoms, including trachoma.

Energetic Origins of Force Constants: Adding a New Dimension to the Hessian Matrix via Interacting Quantum Atoms.

The Interacting Quantum Atoms (IQA) energy decomposition scheme divides the total energy of a molecule into intra- and interatomic contributions. While the former relates to the kinetic and potential energies of electrons inside a unique individual atomic basin, the latter contains the Coulomb and exchange-correlation potentials between electrons from two atomic basins. Considering that the molecular energy is a sum of IQA contributions, the Hessian matrix can also be written as a sum of "IQA Hessian" matrices, whose elements are second derivatives of IQA terms.

Safety and efficacy of long-term emicizumab prophylaxis in hemophilia A with factor VIII inhibitors: A phase 3b, multicenter, single-arm study (STASEY).

Background: The bispecific monoclonal antibody emicizumab bridges activated factor IX and factor X, mimicking the cofactor function of activated factor VIII (FVIII), restoring hemostasis.

Objectives: The Phase 3b STASEY study was designed to assess the safety of emicizumab prophylaxis in people with hemophilia A (HA) with FVIII inhibitors.

Methods: People with HA received 3 mg/kg emicizumab once weekly (QW) for 4 weeks followed by 1.

PD1.5 variant on gene, regulator of T lymphocyte activity, influences non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer risk.

Background: Since failure in recognition of abnormal cells by the immune system has an important role in bladder cancer development and progression, this study aimed to evaluate whether PD1 (c.627+252C>T) and PD1.5 (c.

Structural changes and adaptative evolutionary constraints in FLOWERING LOCUS T and TERMINAL FLOWER1-like genes of flowering plants.

Regulation of flowering is a crucial event in the evolutionary history of angiosperms. The production of flowers is regulated through the integration of different environmental and endogenous stimuli, many of which involve the activation of different genes in a hierarchical and complex signaling network. The / () gene family is known to regulate important aspects of flowering in plants.

Venous thromboembolism in critically ill patients with pneumonia in the pre-COVID-19 era: Data from a large public database.

Background: The magnitude of venous thromboembolism (VTE) risk in severe COVID-19 is a matter of debate because of study heterogeneity, changes in VTE management, and scarce evidence of VTE risk in critically ill patients with pneumonia in the pre-COVID-19 era.

Objectives: To evaluate VTE risk in the pre-COVID-19 era in a large intensive care unit (ICU) database.

Patients/methods: Data from consecutive pneumonia patients admitted to the ICU were retrieved from the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care III VTE risk was described in the entire cohort and in subgroups.

Artemisinins induce endoplasmic reticulum stress in acute leukaemia cells in vitro and in vivo.

Loss of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) homeostasis leads to ER stress, thus prolonged activation can lead to apoptosis. Herein, artesunate (ART) induced ER stress in leukaemia cells, resulting in eIF2α phosphorylation, activation of transcription factor 4, subsequent CHOP upregulation and XBP1 splicing. Furthermore, in vitro cyclin/CDKs reduction induced G1-phase arrest.

DYRK1A Regulates the Bidirectional Axonal Transport of APP in Human-Derived Neurons.

triplication in Down's syndrome and its overexpression in Alzheimer's disease suggest a role for increased DYRK1A activity in the abnormal metabolism of APP. Transport defects are early phenotypes in the progression of Alzheimer's disease, which lead to APP processing impairments. However, whether DYRK1A regulates the intracellular transport and delivery of APP in human neurons remains unknown.

Device and nondevice-guided slow breathing to reduce blood pressure in hypertensive patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Backgroud And Aims: Hypertension (HTN) is a multifactorial chronic disease. Considering the high prevalence rates of this disease, treatment of HTN is necessary, not only to reduce blood pressure (BP) levels but also to prevent the development of cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and kidney diseases. This treatment can be through medication, which will be determined according to the BP values, obtained either in medical consultations or at home; presence of cardiovascular risk factors, and the presence of target organ damage identified during anamnesis.

Salmonella enterica in soybean production chain: Occurrence, characterization, and survival during soybean storage.

This study aimed to determine Salmonella enterica occurrence along the soybean meal production chain (raw material, in-processing samples, final products, and in the environment of five processing plants), characterize the isolates, and assess the survival of Salmonella Senftenberg 775W in soybeans stored under different temperature conditions. Among 713 samples analyzed, 12.9% (n = 92) were positive for Salmonella enterica.

Impact of novel hemophilia therapies around the world.

Hemophilia A and B are hereditary bleeding disorders, characterized by factor VIII or IX deficiencies, respectively. For many decades, prophylaxis with coagulation factor concentrates (replacement therapy) was the standard-of-care approach in hemophilia. Since the 1950s, when prophylaxis started, factor concentrates have been improved with virus inactivation and molecule modification to extend its half-life.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome by SARS-CoV-2 Infection or Other Etiologic Agents Among Brazilian Indigenous Population: An Observational Study from the First Year of Coronavirus Disease (COVID)-19 Pandemic.

Background: Indigenous peoples are vulnerable to pandemics, including to the coronavirus disease (COVID)-19, since it causes high mortality and specially, the loss of elderly Indigenous individuals.

Methods: The epidemiological data of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) by SARS-CoV-2 infection or other etiologic agents (OEA) among Brazilian Indigenous peoples during the first year of COVID-19 pandemic was obtained from a Brazilian Ministry of Health open-access database to perform an observational study. Considering only Indigenous individuals diagnosed with SARS by COVID-19, the epidemiology data were also evaluated as risk of death.

Mental health of Brazilian adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We aimed to assess the factors associated with frequent sadness and nervousness in Brazilian adolescents, during the Covid-19 pandemic, in 9470 adolescents (aged 12-17 years), interviewed from June 27 to September 17, 2020. Prevalences and prevalence ratios were estimated according to socio-demographic variables and factors related to family, school, friends, and health. Brazilian adolescents often felt sad (32.

Identification of a Zika NS2B epitope as a biomarker for severe clinical phenotypes.

The identification of specific biomarkers for Zika infection and its clinical complications is fundamental to mitigate the infection spread, which has been associated with a broad range of neurological sequelae. We present the characterization of antibody responses in serum samples from individuals infected with Zika, presenting non-severe (classical) and severe (neurological disease) phenotypes, with high-density peptide arrays comprising the Zika NS1 and NS2B proteins. The data pinpoints one strongly IgG-targeted NS2B epitope in non-severe infections, which is absent in Zika patients, where infection progressed to the severe phenotype.

Low SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in a cohort of Brazilian sickle cell disease patients: Possible effects of emphasis on social isolation for a population initially considered to be at very high risk.

Despite being initially considered at higher risk for severe COVID-19, sickle cell disease (SCD) patients have mostly presented clinical severity similar to the general population. As their vulnerability to become infected remains uncertain, we assessed the seroreactivity for SARS-CoV-2 to estimate the prevalence of infection and possible phenotypic and socioeconomic determinants for their contagion. Serologic evaluation was performed on 135 patients with an overall prevalence of 11%; positivity was associated with older age and use of public transportation.

Global reporting of pulmonary embolism-related deaths in the World Health Organization mortality database: Vital registration data from 123 countries.

Introduction: Pulmonary embolism (PE) has not been accounted for as a cause of death contributing to cause-specific mortality in global reports.

Methods: We analyzed global PE-related mortality by focusing on the latest year available for each member state in the World Health Organization (WHO) mortality database, which provides age-sex-specific aggregated mortality data transmitted by national authorities for each underlying cause of death. PE-related deaths were defined by International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision codes for acute PE or nonfatal manifestations of venous thromboembolism (VTE).

Association of genetic variants rs641153 (), rs2230199 (), and rs1410996 () with age-related macular degeneration in a Brazilian population.

This study aimed to investigate the association among genetic variants of the complement pathway R32Q (rs641153), R102G (rs2230199), and (rs1410996) with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in a sample of the Brazilian population. In a case-control study, 484 AMD patients were classified according to the clinical age-related maculopathy grading system (CARMS) and compared to 479 unrelated controls. The genetic variants rs1410996 of complement H (CFH), rs641153 of complement factor B (CFB), and rs2230199 of complement 3 (C3) were evaluated through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and direct sequencing.