Thermotoga maritima and Caldicellulosiruptor sacharolyticus co-culture for biohydrogen production

T. maritima and C. saccharolyticus co-culture (1:3) is advantageous for hydrogen production from mixture of glucose and xylose. The higher hydrogen production observed in co-culture was associated to lower lactic acid formation

The pinewood nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, in Madeira Island

The environmental conditions in Madeira Island are favorable for the presence and dissemination of the pinewood nematode (PWN), Bursaphelenchus xylophilus. Five hundred Pinus pinaster wood samples were collected in several forest areas and PWN was detected in 22.8 % of the samples. Bursaphelenchus xylophilus isolates from Madeira Island displayed the species-specific diagnostic characters. A morphological variation in the female tail terminus was detected. In most females, the tail presented a broadly rounded terminus and, occasionally, a digitate terminus with a terminal nipple-like extension resembling a mucro. PCR ITS-RFLP analysis revealed that Madeira Island isolates exhibited patterns specific to the species B. xylophilus and similar to virulent isolates. Amplified ITS regions were further sequenced and no genetic diversity was found for this genomic region among 17 Portuguese isolates (Madeira Island and Continental Portugal). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that Portuguese isolates grouped with isolates from China, Korea and one isolate from Japa

Eco-friendly polymeric material for horticulture application

Poly(lactic acid) (PLA), was mixed with wood fibers, coffee grounds, fertilizer and a foaming agent to developed a ecofriendly material to be used in horticulture. The developed materials should have mechanical properties similar to PLA, increasing biodegradability and lower price. The materials were prepared by melt processing in an internal mixer at 190ºC and were characterized by several techniques. The mechanical properties of the bio-composites, measured by flexural tests, were similar to neat PLA even with a reduction of 40 wt. % of polymer. Biodegradation assessment by composting tests in aerobic environment demonstrated that the green materials developed exhibited higher biodegradability than PLA. Bio-composites containing wood fibers and fertilizer revealed to be the most suitable for horticulture application, since these can combine mechanical properties, biodegradability and fertilizer release. Moreover, this green material has two main advantages, it can be prepared using materials from natural resources and does not generate any residue after use

Physical activity during pregnancy and its effects on fetal parameters in the second trimester

The physical activity (PA) during pregnancy still remains controversial due to the risk and protective effects on the fetal parameters (cephalic perimeter, abdominal perimeter, femur length and fetal weight). The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends that pregnant women do, at least, 150 weekly minutes of moderate PA during a week (WK). This study aimed to (1) verify the relation between the accomplishment of ACSM guidelines PA and the maternal individual characteristics; (2) verify the relation between accomplishment of these guidelines and the fetal parameters in the second trimester. Prospective study was conducted at Hospital S. João, with a sample of 137 pregnant women. Socio-demographic characteristics and lifestyle factors were assessed via questionnaire. PA was assessed by accelerometry (used for 7 consecutive days) in the second trimester (20–22 weeks). The fetal parameters were assessed by ultrasound between the 20th and 22nd gestational week, always by the same medical. No relation was found between the participants’ individual characteristics and the accomplishment of the ACSM’s recommendations, with p-value for all the variables being >0.05. There is no difference between the fetal parameters in the second trimester of the women who follow the recommendations (p>0.05). The pregnant women’s individual characteristics were not related with the accomplishment of the ACSM’s recommendations. Any relation between the recommendations accomplishment and the fetal parameters in the second trimester was not found and no negative influence was found in the same parameters.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A Post Hoc Analysis on Rhythm and High Intensity Interval Training in Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy

Objectives. Evaluate the effects of a 6-month High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) program on (1) functional capacity and health-related quality of life, (2) multiple blood biomarkers, (3) echocardiographic parameters, and (4) exercise performance, in patients in cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) stratified by the presence of atrial fibrillation (AF), targeting the following questions: (1) Does CRT provide similar benefits in patients in AF and sinus rhythm (SR)?; and (2) Does HIIT provides similar benefits in patients in AF and SR? Design. Estimates were available at baseline and 6 months after CRT implantation in 37 patients with heart failure. Patients were randomized after CRT to a 24-week HIIT group or to a usual care group (CON). In this sub-analysis, HIIT (AF = 7; SR = 11) and CON (AF = 9; SR = 10) were stratified by the presence of AF. Results. Patients in AF benefitted to a lesser degree from CRT in functional status than patients in SR (23.8-46.0%). However, HIIT induced superior improvements in patients in AF compared to CON (23.9-61.0%). Decreases in TNF-α (8.5-42.9%), BNP (15.3-34.6%) and left ventricular mass (9.6-26.2%) were only observed in patients in SR, whereas increases in peak oxygen uptake were only observed in patients in AF (19.5-23.2%). HIIT improved exercise capacity (8.8-59.4%) in patients in SR. Conclusions. Patients in AF or SR undergoing CRT demonstrated distinct benefits from device implantation and from HIIT as an adjunctive therapeutic strategy. This suggests that both mainstay and adjunctive therapeutics may need to be managed differently in patients in AF and SR.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

High-Intensity Interval Training in Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy: a Randomized Control Trial

AIMS: To determine the effects of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) following cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) implantation in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF), on noninvasive estimates of systolic ventricular function, exercise performance, severity of symptoms and quality of life. METHODS: Cardiopulmonary exercise testing, resting transthoracic echocardiogram and health-related quality of life assessment were obtained before and at 6 months after CRT implantation in 37 patients with moderate-to-severe CHF. Patients were randomized after CRT to either a 24-week HIIT group (90-95% peak heart rate, 2 days per week) or to a usual care group (CON). Mixed design 2 × 2 repeated measures ANOVA were used to test for differences within and in-between groups. RESULTS: Improvements in health-related quality of life (HIIT = 98.54%, CON = 123.47%), NYHA class (HIIT = 43.44%, CON = 38.30%) HR recovery at minute 1 (HIIT = 32.32%, CON = 42.94%), pulse pressure at peak effort (HIIT = 14.06%, CON = 9.52%, LVEF (HIIT = 42.17%, CON = 51.10%) and LV Mass (HIIT = 13.26%, CON = 11.88%) were similar in both groups (p > 0.05). Significant increases in CPET duration in the HIIT group (25.94%), and increases in peak VO2 (HIIT = 8.64%, CON = 4.85%) and percent-predicted VO2 (HIIT = 10.57%, CON = 4.26%) in both groups, were observed in the intention-to-treat analysis. CONCLUSION: Six months of HIIT in patients in CRT did not further improved indices of functional capacity and health-related quality of life, and LV structure and function, compared to CRT alone. However, HIIT led to further improvements in exercise performance. It remains unclear whether HIIT benefits patients in CRT to a similar degree as more conventional forms of exercise training previously shown to maximize benefits in CRT.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Importância da Deformação Longitudinal na Deteção da Cardiotoxicidade Induzida por Quimioterapia e na Identificação de Padrões Específicos de Afetação Segmentar

INTRODUCTION: Serial echocardiographic assessment of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) is the gold standard in screening for chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity (CIC). Measurement of myocardial deformation using speckle tracking enables more detailed assessment of myocardial contractility. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between global and regional longitudinal strain and CIC. METHODS: This was a prospective study of 158 breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy with anthracyclines with or without adjuvant trastuzumab who underwent serial monitoring by transthoracic echocardiography with assessment of myocardial deformation. CIC was defined as a decrease in LVEF to <53%. Global longitudinal strain (GLS) was estimated using EchoPAC BT12 software on a GE Vivid E9 cardiac ultrasound system. Patients were classified according to the 2015 ASE/EACVI criteria as having impaired myocardial deformation when GLS was reduced (less negative), with a cutoff of -18%. RESULTS: During a mean follow-up of 5.4 months (1-48 months), the incidence of CIC was 18.9%. A decrease in GLS was observed during follow-up for the entire cohort (baseline GLS -20.1±3.5% vs. -18.7±3.4% at last follow-up assessment, p=0.001). A total of 97 patients (61.4%) were observed to have impaired myocardial deformation (GLS ≥18%) at some point during follow-up. This decrease was more significant in patients who eventually developed CIC (GLS -17.2±2.5%, p=0.02). On analysis of regional strain, impaired contractility was observed in the septal (6 out of 6) and anterior (2 out of 3) segments. Multivariate logistic regression showed that patients who developed impaired longitudinal strain had a 4.9-fold increased risk of developing CIC (odds ratio 4.88, confidence interval 1.32-18.0, p=0.017). CONCLUSIONS: Worsening of myocardial deformation as assessed by speckle tracking is common in breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, with predominantly septal and anterior wall involvement. Impaired myocardial deformation was independently associated with increased incidence of CIC.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Mycobacterium leprae is identified in the oral mucosa from paucibacillary and multibacillary leprosy patients

In leprosy, the nasal mucosa is considered as the principal route of transmission for the bacillus Mycobacterium leprae. the objective of this study was to identify M.leprae in the oral mucosa of 50 untreated leprosy patients, including 21 paucibacillary (PB) and 29 multibacillary (MB) patients, using immunohistochemistry (IHC), with antibodies against bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) and phenolic glycolipid antigen-1 (PGL-1), and polymerase chain reaction (PCR), with MntH-specific primers for M.leprae, and to compare the results. the material was represented by 163 paraffin blocks containing biopsy samples obtained from clinically normal sites (including the tongue, buccal mucosa and soft palate) and visible lesions anywhere in the oral mucosa. All patients and 158 available samples were included for IHC study. Among the 161 available samples for PCR, 110 had viable DNA. There was viable DNA in at least one area of the oral mucosa for 47 patients. M.leprae was detected in 70% and 78% of patients using IHC and PCR, respectively, and in 94% of the patients by at least one of the two diagnostic methods. There were no differences in detection of M.leprae between MB and PB patients. Similar results were obtained using anti-BCG and anti-PGL-1 antibodies, and immunoreactivity occurred predominantly on free-living bacteria on the epithelial surface, with a predilection for the tongue. Conversely, there was no area of predilection according to the PCR results. M.leprae is present in the oral mucosa at a high frequency, implicating this site as a potential means of leprosy transmission.Univ Oeste Paulista, Presidente Prudente Reg Hosp, Dermatol Unit, Presidente Prudente, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Dermatol, São Paulo, BrazilUniv São Paulo, Multiuser Mol Biol Lab, Div Dermatol, Dept Clin Med,Ribeirao Preto Coll Med, BR-14049 Ribeirao Preto, BrazilAdolfo Lutz Inst, Dept Pathol, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Dermatol, São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Análise da variabilidade intra-espécie dos genes pld e rpoB de Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis por meio de marcadores PCR-RFLP.

Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis é o agente etiológico da linfadenite caseosa em ovinos e caprinos, uma doença infectocontagiosa crônica caracterizada por abscessos em linfonodos superficiais ou internos. Os animais acometidos podem apresentar lesões internas ou externas, o que representa perdas econômicas graves na caprinovinocultura, como o comprometimento da produção de lã em ovinos, deficiência reprodutiva, condenação da carne ou morte do animal. Uma vez estabelecida a infecção no rebanho, torna-se difícil sua erradicação. Com o objetivo de avaliar a variabilidade genética intra-espécie em C. pseudotuberculosis, 31 isolados provenientes de seis municípios do Estado de Pernambuco, sendo 23 de caprinos e oito de ovinos, tiveram os seus DNAs genômicos extraídos e analisados por reação em cadeia da polimerase e análise de polimorfismos por tamanho de fragmentos de restrição (PCR-RFLP). Os locis escolhidos foram os genes pld e rpoB, cujas seqüências dos oligonucleotídeos amplificaram fragmentos de 924 e 447 pares de bases (pb), respectivamente. Os produtos da amplificação foram digeridos com as enzimas Pst I e Msp I (gene pld) e HpyCh4 IV e Msp I (gene rpoB). Os fragmentos de restrição foram corridos em gel de poliacrilamida a 15%, os quais foram corados com brometo de etídeo. Para o gene pld, digerido com a enzima Pst I, foram obtidos fragmentos de 566, 195, 91 e 72 pb; e com a enzima Msp I, fragmentos de 395, 369, 108 e 52 pb. O gene rpoB digerido com a enzima HpyCh4 IV apresentou fragmentos de 235, 126 e 86 pb; e com a enzima Msp I apresentou fragmentos de 222, 93, 78 e 54 pb. O padrão de bandas obtido para os 31 isolados de C. pseudotuberculosis, analisados neste estudo, foi monomórfico, não havendo, portanto, polimorfismo entre os diferentes isolados, independentes da espécie hospedeira ou da área geográfica estudada, o que corrobora com o padrão homogêneo da infecção para a região.bitstream/CNPGC-2009-09/12402/1/DOC167.pd

Squamous cell carcinoma of the lip: assessment of prognostic factors

Among lip cancers, 90% to 95% of them affect the lower lip and squamous cell carcinoma is the most frequent type. The TNM classification synthesizes the clinical characteristics of the tumor that allows prognosis and makes possible the comparisons of the results. Three parameters have to be considered: size of the tumor (T), propagation to regional lymphatic ganglion (N) and metastasis (M); however, patterns starting from 2cm are established by the TNM classification. In the case of squamous cell carcinoma of the lips, 2cm lesions are considered extremely large. AIM: The objective of this study was to verify the correlation among epidemiologic, clinical, evolutionary and histopathological characteristics of squamous cell carcinoma of the lips, having as parameter lesions as small as 0.5cm. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In the period 1993-2000 in São Paulo, Brazil, a transversal retrospective study was performed with patients exhibiting squamous cell carcinoma of the lips. The characteristics of the tumor were investigated through the analysis of patients' medical charts, original reports of the histopathological exams and tumors' samples. The tumors were classified from 0.5 to 2.5cm. In addition, type, grade of histologic differentiation, the presence of desmoplasia, muscular, neural and vascular infiltration, and type of inflammatory infiltrate were investigated. RESULTS: The statistical analyses indicated that metastasis and recurrences do not depend on patients' gender and race. The independence of the tumor's localization, either in the upper or lower lip, and the incidence of metastasis and recurrence were demonstrated. A correlation between lesions as large as 0.5cm and the occurrence of metastasis and recurrence was verified. Furthermore, it was observed that the size of lesion determines the infiltration in other tissues. Lymphoplasmocytarian is the type of inflammatory infiltrate that was found in each and every lesion. On the other hand, in some of the lesions, the inflammatory infiltrate was associated with eosinophils without correlation to size of tumor. CONCLUSION: Smaller tumors than 2cm, from a histopathological and clinical point of view, may present a distinct evolution behavior. Most of the lesions are ulcerative, though the ulcerative-vegetative is the one that presents the most metastasis and recurrence. The ulcerative-vegetative and vegetative types are associated with the largest lesions. The size of the tumor is related, in a similar way, to grades II and III, in which higher rates of metastasis and recurrence were observed. In decreasing order of frequency, the tumor invades muscles, nerves and blood vessels, which can be related to the size of the lesion. Thus, in order to have metastasis, it is necessary to have infiltration of muscles. Yet, blood vessels can only be involved when there is concomitant infiltration of nerves. As a result, desmoplasia is directly related to size of the lesion as well as to occurrence of metastasis.Dentre os cânceres do lábio de 90% a 95% dos casos afetam o lábio inferior, sendo o carcinoma espinocelular o mais freqüente. A classificação TNM sintetiza as características clínicas do tumor, permitindo realizar um prognóstico e possibilitando comparações dos resultados. Relaciona três parâmetros: tamanho do tumor (T), propagação aos gânglios linfáticos regionais (N) e metástases à distância (M), mas estabelece padrões a partir de 2cm. Para o carcinoma espinocelular do lábio lesões com 2cm são extremamente grandes. OBJETIVO: O objetivo deste estudo é verificar a relação entre as características epidemiológicas, clínicas, evolutivas e histopatológicas do carcinoma espinocelular do lábio tendo como parâmetro lesões de tamanhos a partir de 0,5cm. CASUÍSTICA E MÉTODO: Foi elaborado um estudo retrospectivo transversal em pacientes com carcinoma espinocelular do lábio, no período 1993-2000, em São Paulo, Brasil. Estudou-se prontuários, laudos originais dos exames histopatológicos e lâminas de tumores de pacientes com carcinoma espinocelular do lábio. Os tumores foram classificados de 0.5 em 0.5cm, sendo verificado o tipo, o grau de diferenciação histológica, a presença de desmoplasia, as invasões muscular, neural e vascular, e o tipo de infiltrado inflamatório. RESULTADOS: A análise estatística mostrou que metástases e recidivas não dependem da cor de pele ou do sexo dos pacientes e que há independência entre a localização do tumor, no lábio superior ou inferior, e a incidência de metástases e recidiva. Houve correlação entre o tamanho da lesão a partir de 0,5cm e a ocorrência de metástases e recidiva. Verificou-se que o tamanho da lesão determina a invasão em outros tecidos. O infiltrado inflamatório verificado em todas as lesões era linfoplasmocitário e, em algumas, associado com eosinófilos sem relação com o tamanho do tumor. CONCLUSÃO: Tumores menores que 2cm podem apresentar comportamentos evolutivos distintos, sob o ponto de vista clínico e histopatológico. O tipo mais prevalente de lesão é o ulcerativo e o que mais metastatiza e recidiva é o úlcero-vegetante. Os tipos úlcero-vegetante e vegetante estão ligados a lesões de maior tamanho. O tamanho do tumor se relaciona, de forma semelhante, com os graus II e III, nos quais ocorrem os maiores índices de metástases e recidivas. O tumor invade em ordem decrescente de freqüência músculos, nervos e vasos sanguíneos, e esta pode ser prevista pelo tamanho da lesão. É necessária a invasão dos músculos para a ocorrência de metástases, sendo que os vasos sanguíneos somente podem estar implicados quando há invasão concomitante dos nervos. A desmoplasia está diretamente relacionada ao tamanho da lesão e à ocorrência de metástases.UNIFESP-EPMUNIFESP-EPM setor de EstomalogiaUNIFESP-EPM Departamento de DermatologiaUNIFESP, EPM, setor de EstomalogiaUNIFESP, EPM Depto. de DermatologiaSciEL