Rehabilitation of the upper extremity and basic activities of daily living in the first month after ischemic stroke: an international cohort comparison study

Inpatient rehabilitation has been traditionally employed in developed countries, while in developing countries, outpatient rehabilitation is the rule. The purpose of this study was to compare the patterns of recovery of upper extremity (UE) function, global impairment and independence in activities of daily living (ADL) during the first month after ischemic stroke in inpatient (United States) and outpatient (Brazil) rehabilitation settings

Associação da prática de atividade física e do estado de saúde sobre a qualidade de vida de mulheres com fibromialgia

This study analyzed the association between physical activity, health status and life quality among women with fibromyalgia. Cross-sectional study based on the clinical information of 177 women (42.1 ± 8.6 years old) diagnosed with fibromyalgia and assisted in rheumatology clinics of the private sector of the Unified Health System (UHS) in the city of Maringá-PR, Brazil. The instruments were the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ) and the WHOQOL-Bref. Data analysis was conducted through Mann-Whitney test, Spearman correlation and Structural Equation Analysis (p<0.05). Results showed positive correlations between physical activity and life quality domain. Health status showed negative correlation life quality domains. Structural Equation Analysis revealed days of walking per week showed positive association with life quality domains. Model 3 showed that the impact of fibromyalgia on the health status showed a moderate negative association with life quality domains. Based on the results obtained, the conclusion is that light physical activity, characterized as walking, represents a positive factor in the domains of quality of life in women with fibromyalgia and also, the impact of this disease on the health status of the patients is associated negatively areas of quality of life.301Este estudo analisou a associação entre atividade física, estado de saúde e qualidade de vida de mulheres com fibromialgia. Estudo transversal baseado na informação clínica de 177 mulheres (42,1 ± 8,6 anos) diagnosticadas com fibromialgia e auxiliadas em clínicas de reumatologia do setor privado do Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS) na cidade de Maringá-PR, Brasil. Os instrumentos utilizados foram o Questionário Internacional de Atividade Física (IPAQ), o Questionário de Impacto da Fibromialgia (FIQ) e o WHOQOL-Bref. A análise dos dados foi realizada através do teste de Mann-Whitney, correlação de Spearman e Análise de Equações Estruturais (p <0,05). Os resultados mostraram correlações positivas entre a atividade física e o domínio da qualidade de vida. O estado de saúde apresentou correlações negativas com a qualidade de vida. A Análise de Equação Estrutural revelou que os dias de caminhada por semana se associou positivamente com domínios de qualidade de vida. O modelo 3 mostrou que o impacto da fibromialgia no estado de saúde apresentou associação negativa e moderada com os domínios de qualidade de vida. Com base nos resultados obtidos, conclui-se que a atividade física leve, caracterizada pela caminhada, representa um fator positivo nos domínios da qualidade de vida em mulheres com fibromialgia e também, o impacto desta doença sobre o estado de saúde dos pacientes está associado negativamente domínios da qualidade de vida

Microcystin-lr detected in a low molecular weight fraction from a crude extract of Zoanthus sociatus

Cnidarian constitutes a great source of bioactive compounds. However, research involving peptides from organisms belonging to the order Zoanthidea has received very little attention, contrasting to the numerous studies of the order Actiniaria, from which hundreds of toxic peptides and proteins have been reported. In this work, we performed a mass spectrometry analysis of a low molecular weight (LMW) fraction previously reported as lethal to mice. The low molecular weight (LMW) fraction was obtained by gel filtration of a Zoanthus sociatus (order Zoanthidea) crude extract with a Sephadex G-50, and then analyzed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight/time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF/TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) in positive ion reflector mode from m/z 700 to m/z 4000. Afterwards, some of the most intense and representative MS ions were fragmented by MS/MS with no significant results obtained by Protein Pilot protein identification software and the Mascot algorithm search. However, microcystin masses were detected by mass-matching against libraries of non-ribosomal peptide database (NORINE). Subsequent reversed-phase C18 HPLC (in isocratic elution mode) and mass spectrometry analyses corroborated the presence of the cyanotoxin Microcystin-LR (MC-LR). To the best of our knowledge, this finding constitutes the first report of MC-LR in Z. sociatus, and one of the few evidences of such cyanotoxin in cnidarians. © 2017 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Dany Dom?nguez P?rez was supported by a Ph.D. grant (SFRH/BD/80592/2011) from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT?Funda??o para a Ci?ncia e a Tecnologia, Portugal). Armando A Rodr?guez was supported by an Alexander von Humboldt postdoctoral fellowship (3.2-KUB/1153731 STP). We are grateful to Carlos Manlio Diaz-Garc?a (from Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA) for his useful comments and to Carlos Varela (Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University (FIU), FL, USA) for providing Z. sociatus specimens. This study was funded in part by the Strategic Funding UID/Multi/04423/2013 through national funds provided by FCT and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in the framework of the program PT2020, by the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) through the Competitiveness and Internationalization Operational Program?COMPETE 2020 and by National Funds through the FCT under the project PTDC/AAG-GLO/6887/2014 (POCI-01-0124-FEDER-016845), and by the Structured Programs of R&D&I INNOVMAR?Innovation and Sustainability in the Management and Exploitation of Marine Resources (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000035, Research Line NOVELMAR) and MarInfo?Integrated Platform for Marine Data Acquisition and Analysis (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000031), and funded by the Northern Regional Operational Program (NORTE2020) through the ERDF

Cellulose nanofibers produced from banana peel by chemical and mechanical treatments: characterization and cytotoxicity assessment

Cellulose nanoparticles from a vegetable source (cellulose fiber) have been evaluated for future use as reinforcement of polymeric matrixes (e.g., biodegradable films). Cellulose nanoparticles have numerous advantages: they are inexpensive and biodegradable, and they originate from renewable sources. Here, cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) were isolated from banana peel by chemical (alkaline treatment and bleaching followed by acid hydrolysis with 0.1, 1, or 10% (v/v) H2SO4) and mechanical (high pressure homogenizer) treatments. Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) analysis showed all treatments effectively isolated banana fibers at the nanometer scale (average diameter of 3.72 nm). CNFs displayed -potential values ranging from -37.60 to -67.37 mV, which prevented their aggregation. CNFs had high crystallinity values, from 63.1 to 66.4%, which indicated they could be good reinforcing agents. FTIR results confirmed that the chemical and mechanical treatments removed the amorphous fractions. Regarding cytotoxicity, low CNF concentrations (50-500 g/mL) did not cause cell death, but CNFs at concentrations above 1000 g/mL significantly decreased cell viability. The use of different sulfuric acid concentrations provided more detailed knowledge of the treatment methods and CNF features, which could help to improve the CNF production process. The combination of chemical and mechanical treatments proved to be an efficient strategy to prepare CNFs from banana peels as a potential reinforcing agent of polymeric matrixes (e.g., food packaging).The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support provided by Coordenaçao de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível ~ Superior (2952/2011), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnologico (150523/2013-0 and 140274/2014-6), and CAPES/FCT 349/13 for the PhD exchange program. Joana T. Martins acknowledges the Foundation for Science and Technology for her fellowship (SFRH/BPD/89992/2012). This study was supported by FCT under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/ 2013 unit and COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684) and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020 - Programa Operacional Regional do Norte. This study was also supported by FCT under the scope of the Project RECI/BBBEBI/0179/2012 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027462). The authors would also like to acknowledge the Brazilian Nanotechnology National Laboratory (LNNano) for allocation of the TEM and AFM apparatus.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Search for Spontaneous Nucleation of Magnetic Flux During Rapid Cooling of YBCO films Through Tc

We describe an experimental search for spontaneous formation of flux lines during a rapid quench of thin YBaCuO films through Tc. This effect is expected according to the Kibble-Zurek mechanism of a creation of topological defects of the order parameter during a symmetry breaking phase transition. Spontaneously formed vortices were previously observed in superfluid 3He, while a similar experiment in superfluid 4He gave negative results. Using a high Tc SQUID, we measured both the magnetic flux in the sample during a quench with a sensitivity of 20 phi-0/cm^2, and the field noise which one would expect from flux lines pinned in the film. The sensitivity was sufficient to detect spontaneous flux at a level corresponding to 10^(-3) of the prediction. Within our resolution, we saw no evidence for this effect.Comment: Manuscript and 4 figure