The risk of virus emergence in South America: a subtle balance between increasingly favorable conditions and a protective environment

South American ecosystems host astonishing biodiversity, with potentially great richness in viruses. However, these ecosystems have not yet been the source of any widespread, epidemic viruses. Here we explore a set of putative causes that may explain this apparent paradox. We discuss that human presence in South America is recent, beginning around 14,000 years ago; that few domestications of native species have occurred; and that successive immigration events associated with Old World virus introductions reduced the likelihood of spillovers and adaptation of local viruses into humans. Also, the diversity and ecological characteristics of vertebrate hosts might serve as protective factors. Moreover, although forest areas remained well preserved until recently, current brutal, sudden, and large-scale clear cuts through the forest have resulted in nearly no ecotones, which are essential for creating an adaptive gradient of microbes, hosts, and vectors. This may be temporarily preventing virus emergence. Nevertheless, the mid-term effect of such drastic changes in habitats and landscapes, coupled with explosive urbanization and climate changes, must not be overlooked by health authorities

Polyurea Dendrimer Folate-Targeted Nanodelivery of l-Buthionine sulfoximine as a Tool to Tackle Ovarian Cancer Chemoresistance

The research was funded by iNOVA4Health—UID/Multi/04462/, a program financially supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia—Ministério da Educação e Ciência (FCT-MCTES), through nationalfunds and co-funded by FEDER under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement. We also acknowledge funding from FCT-MCTES through the project DREAM—PTDC/MEC-ONC/29327/2017 and FAI2017 from IPOLFG internal funding.: Ovarian cancer is a highly lethal disease, mainly due to chemoresistance. Our previous studies on metabolic remodeling in ovarian cancer have supported that the reliance on glutathione (GSH) bioavailability is a main adaptive metabolic mechanism, also accounting for chemoresistance to conventional therapy based on platinum salts. In this study, we tested the effects of the in vitro inhibition of GSH synthesis on the restoration of ovarian cancer cells sensitivity to carboplatin. GSH synthesis was inhibited by exposing cells to l-buthionine sulfoximine (l-BSO), an inhibitor of -glutamylcysteine ligase (GCL). Given the systemic toxicity of l-BSO, we developed a new formulation using polyurea (PURE) dendrimers nanoparticles (l-BSO@PUREG4-FA2), targeting l-BSO delivery in a folate functionalized nanoparticle.publishersversionpublishe

Ghrelin plasma levels, gastric ghrelin cell density and bone mineral density in women with rheumatoid arthritis.

Generalized bone loss can be considered an extra-articular manifestation of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) that may lead to the occurrence of fractures, resulting in decreased quality of life and increased healthcare costs. The peptide ghrelin has demonstrated to positively affect osteoblasts in vitro and has anti-inflammatory actions, but the studies that correlate ghrelin plasma levels and RA have contradictory results. We aimed to evaluate the correlation between total ghrelin plasma levels, density of ghrelin-immunoreactive cells in the gastric mucosa, and bone mineral density (BMD) in twenty adult women with established RA with 6 months or more of symptoms (mean age of 52.70?11.40 years). Patients with RA presented higher ghrelin-immunoreactive cells density in gastric mucosa (P=0.008) compared with healthy females. There was a positive relationship between femoral neck BMD and gastric ghrelin cell density (P=0.007). However, these same patients presented a negative correlation between plasma ghrelin levels and total femoral BMD (P=0.03). The present results indicate that ghrelin may be involved in bone metabolism of patients with RA. However, the higher density of ghrelin-producing cells in the gastric mucosa of these patients does not seem to induce a corresponding elevation in the plasma levels of this peptide

Experimentação e uso regular de drogas ilícitas por estudantes no município de Bragança, nordeste do Pará

Este estudo determinou a prevalência e os fatores associados ao uso de drogas ilícitas entre estudantes de escolas de ensino médio do município de Bragança, Pará, norte do Brasil. Estudo transversal de base escolar, totalizando cinco escolas públicas e 1.632 estudantes do município de Bragança. O questionário auto-aplicável foi adaptado de outros estudos epidemiológicos adequados ao grupo populacional, com rigoroso procedimento, garantindo anonimato e sigilo. A prevalência de uso de drogas ilícitas entre estudantes foi 4,37%. Diversos fatores de risco ao uso de drogas lícitas e ilícitas foram detectados, dos quais destacam-se: a ausência de participação dos pais na vida escolar dos estudantes, renda familiar superior a 3 salários mínimos, pais, amigos e familiares que usam droga ilícita e a falta de incentivo para não usar droga ilícita. Em suma, este estudo identificou que o uso regular de drogas ilícitas está associada a fatores sociais e econômicos, os quais deverão ser considerados na elaboração de medidas para controle e prevenção ao uso de drogas ilícitas no município de Bragança

To Help or Not to Help? Prosocial Behavior, Its Association With Well-Being, and Predictors of Prosocial Behavior During the Coronavirus Disease Pandemic

Funding Information: This work was supported by grants from the Swiss National Science Foundation awarded to ATG (PP00P1_ 163716/1 and PP00P1_190082). The funder provided support in the form of salaries for authors (EH and ATG) but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2022 Haller, Lubenko, Presti, Squatrito, Constantinou, Nicolaou, Papacostas, Aydın, Chong, Chien, Cheng, Ruiz, García-Martín, Obando-Posada, Segura-Vargas, Vasiliou, McHugh, Höfer, Baban, Dias Neto, da Silva, Monestès, Alvarez-Galvez, Paez-Blarrina, Montesinos, Valdivia-Salas, Ori, Kleszcz, Lappalainen, Ivanović, Gosar, Dionne, Merwin, Karekla, Kassianos and Gloster.The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic fundamentally disrupted humans’ social life and behavior. Public health measures may have inadvertently impacted how people care for each other. This study investigated prosocial behavior, its association well-being, and predictors of prosocial behavior during the first COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and sought to understand whether region-specific differences exist. Participants (N = 9,496) from eight regions clustering multiple countries around the world responded to a cross-sectional online-survey investigating the psychological consequences of the first upsurge of lockdowns in spring 2020. Prosocial behavior was reported to occur frequently. Multiple regression analyses showed that prosocial behavior was associated with better well-being consistently across regions. With regard to predictors of prosocial behavior, high levels of perceived social support were most strongly associated with prosocial behavior, followed by high levels of perceived stress, positive affect and psychological flexibility. Sociodemographic and psychosocial predictors of prosocial behavior were similar across regions.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on mental health: An international study

Background The COVID-19 pandemic triggered vast governmental lockdowns. The impact of these lockdowns on mental health is inadequately understood. On the one hand such drastic changes in daily routines could be detrimental to mental health. On the other hand, it might not be experienced negatively, especially because the entire population was affected. Methods The aim of this study was to determine mental health outcomes during pandemic induced lockdowns and to examine known predictors of mental health outcomes. We therefore surveyed n = 9,565 people from 78 countries and 18 languages. Outcomes assessed were stress, depression, affect, and wellbeing. Predictors included country, sociodemographic factors, lockdown characteristics, social factors, and psychological factors. Results Results indicated that on average about 10% of the sample was languishing from low levels of mental health and about 50% had only moderate mental health. Importantly, three consistent predictors of mental health emerged: social support, education level, and psychologically flexible (vs. rigid) responding. Poorer outcomes were most strongly predicted by a worsening of finances and not having access to basic supplies. Conclusions These results suggest that on whole, respondents were moderately mentally healthy at the time of a population-wide lockdown. The highest level of mental health difficulties were found in approximately 10% of the population. Findings suggest that public health initiatives should target people without social support and those whose finances worsen as a result of the lockdown. Interventions that promote psychological flexibility may mitigate the impact of the pandemic