History-indicated transvaginal cerclage: results from a single-centre

Background: Cervical incompetence occasionally results in mid-trimester pregnancy loss, preterm labour and increased foetal morbimortality. History-indicated cerclage is proposed when obstetric history suggests cervical incompetence. The aim of this study was to evaluate the maternal-foetal outcomes following prophylactic cervical cerclage.Methods: Retrospective study reviewing data of all women undergoing transvaginal history-indicated cerclage from January 1st, 2008 to December 31th, 2017 at Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Algarve - Faro. Primary outcome: gestational age <37weeks at birth. Secondary outcomes: neonatal morbimortality and intensive care unit (NICU) admission and maternal morbidity. Data were analyzed with IBM SPSS Statistics 23.Results: A total of 12 history-indicated cerclages were performed (9 women). At first cerclage, mean maternal age, gestity, parity and live children were 27.6, 2.44, 1.11 and 0.78 (87.7% preterm), respectively. At cerclage placement, mean gestational age and cervical length were 16.1 weeks and 27.5mm. Average hospital admission was 10.7 days. In all cases McDonald technique was performed. Four hospital readmissions occurred for threatened labour. Mean gestational age at cerclage removal was 36.9 weeks (83.3% in ambulatory) and 38.9 at delivery. Average time between cerclage removal and labour was 14.5 days. Spontaneous onset of labour occurred in 75% and vaginal delivery in 83.4%. There were no reports of preterm birth, foetal admission to NICU or maternal complications. Mean number of live children after procedure was 1.58.Conclusions: Prophylactic cervical cerclage seems to improve pregnancy outcome with minimal maternal risks. However, our data suggest over inclusion of women, with unnecessary procedures, emphasizing the importance of re-evaluating inclusion criteria

Mental-physical multimorbidity treatment adherence challenges in Brazilian primary care : A qualitative study with patients and their healthcare providers

Acknowledgments We are greatful to all RDS-13 staff and patients without whom this study would not be possible. We would also like to thank Jennifer Jubileu, Sofia Madeira and Marcia Santos for conducting part of the interviews, and Professors Maria Lúcia Zanetti, Kelly Graziani Giacchero Vedana, and Pedro Fredemir Palha for their ongoing methodological advice Funding: The work of MR was funded by the Coordination of Superior Level Staff Improvement - Brazil (CAPES), through the Science without Borders Programme for Young Talent Attraction, Brazil (fellowship number: CSF-PAJT-88887.090476/2014-00). The work of CAO was funded by the CAPES (Finance Code 001).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Purification of antileukemic drugs through silica-based supported ionic liquids

L-asparaginase (LA) is an enzyme used as a biopharmaceutical for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. LA can be produced via fermentation and its purification usually comprises several steps including precipitation, liquid-liquid extraction and chromatography techniques. Among these, ion exchange chromatography, which is often preceded by precipitation with salts as a first pre-chromatographic step, is the most used. However, theses common strategies for protein purification result in low yields and purity, requiring long processing times, while leading to a consequent increase of the process costs. Therefore, the demand for new cost-effective production/purification processes play now a priority role. This work aims the development of cost-effective technologies to purify LA from the complex fermentation medium from Bacillus Subtillis. Silica-based supported ionic liquids (SILs) are investigated as cost-effective purification materials for the target enzyme. The concentration of the extract from the fermentation, material/ extract from fermentation ratio and contact time effects in the purity and yield of LA were optimized. With this strategy, process costs, energy consumed, and waste generated, may be significantly decreased, which may lead to this biopharmaceutical price decrease and wider application.publishe

Purification of antileukemic drugs through silica-based supported ionic liquids

L-asparaginase (LA) is an enzyme used as a biopharmaceutical for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. LA can be produced via fermentation and its purification usually comprises ion exchange chromatography, which is often preceded by precipitation with salts as a first pre-chromatographic step. However, this purification strategy result in low yields and purity, requires long processing times, while leading to a consequent increase of the process costs. Therefore, the demand for new cost-effective purification processes play now a priority role. In this work silica-based supported ionic liquids (SILs) are investigated as an alternative technology to purify LA from the complex fermentation medium from Bacillus subtillis. The concentration of the extract from the fermentation, material/ extract from fermentation ratio and contact time effects in the purity and yield of LA were optimized. With this strategy, process costs, energy consumed, and waste generated, may be significantly decreased, which may lead to this biopharmaceutical price decrease and wider application.publishe

Uso de softwares educativos como ferramenta na construção do conhecimento de educação ambiental

Atualmente, a informação assume um papel cada vez mais importante, com grande crescimento da Internet, multimídia, do ciberespaço, a educação para a cidadania representa a possibilidade de motivar e sensibilizar as pessoas em transformar as diversas formas de participação na defesa da qualidade de vida. Assim, a educação ambiental assume cada vez mais uma função transformadora, na qual a educação e responsabilização dos indivíduos tornam-se um objetivo essencial para promover o desenvolvimento sustentável.Dessa forma, o presente projeto teve por objetivo desenvolver um software educacional chamado “EcoMemória”, com o mesmo princípio de funcionamento do “Jogo Memória” tradicional, para facilitar o aprendizado das noções básicas de Educação Ambiental, visto que há certa dificuldade na abordagem desses conteúdos pelo corpo docente. Como motivos para esta dificuldade podemos citar: a pequena disponibilidade de material didático adequado para ser utilizado em sala de aula e os jogos didáticos desenvolvidos até o momento, não provocarem o devido estímulo a construção da cidadania e desses conhecimentos. Aos estudantes foram aplicados dois questionários previamente elaborados pela equipe. Quando questionados sobre como consideram seu nível de conhecimento em educação ambiental, 80% responderam bom, 10% muito bom, 5% regular, excelente 3% e insuficiente 2%. Entretanto, 75% dos alunos avaliados não têm informações sólidas a respeito de questões ambientais. A aplicação do Jogo EcoMemória foi realizada após uma palestra explicativa sobre Educação Ambiental e alguns aspectos relevantes (tipos de lixo, como economizar água e importância de se reciclar os resíduos, entre outros), posteriormente o jogo foi utilizado como exercício de fixação do conteúdo exposto em sala de aula. Durante a aplicação do Software em sala de aula, houve grande participação dos alunos, assim como foi possível observá-los compartilhando idéias e explorando melhor o conteúdo abordado, sendo assim o jogo EcoMemória obteve aceitação de 75% dos alunos

Gla-Rich protein, magnesium and phosphate associate with mitral and aortic valves calcification in Didabetic patients with moderate CKD

Accelerated and premature cardiovascular calcification is a hallmark of chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. Valvular calcification (VC) is a critical indicator of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality in this population, lacking validated biomarkers for early diagnosis. Gla-rich protein (GRP) is a cardiovascular calcification inhibitor recently associated with vascular calcification, pulse pressure, mineral metabolism markers and kidney function. Here, we examined the association between GRP serum levels and mitral and aortic valves calcification in a cohort of 80 diabetic patients with CKD stages 2–4. Mitral and aortic valves calcification were detected in 36.2% and 34.4% of the patients and associated with lower GRP levels, even after adjustments for age and gender. In this pilot study, univariate, multivariate and Poisson regression analysis, show that low levels of GRP and magnesium (Mg), and high levels of phosphate (P) are associated with mitral and aortic valves calcification. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves showed that the area under the curve (AUC) values of GRP for mitral (0.762) and aortic (0.802) valves calcification were higher than those of Mg and P. These results suggest that low levels of GRP and Mg, and high levels of P, are independent and cumulative risk factors for VC in this population; the GRP diagnostic value might be potentially useful in cardiovascular risk assessment.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Efeitos de variáveis psicológicas, morfológicas e sociodemográficas sobre o comportamento alimentar de adolescentes

-OBJETIVO: Averiguar a associação da insatisfação corporal (IC), do grau de comprometimento psicológico ao exercício (GCPE), do nível habitual de atividade física (NAF), do índice de massa corpórea (IMC), do percentual de gordura (%G) e da etnia com o comportamento alimentar inadequado (CAI) de adolescentes. MÉTODOS: Investigação transversal, da qual participaram 362 jovens de ambos os sexos, com idades entre dez e 19 anos, selecionados por amostragem estratificada. O Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) foi utilizado para avaliar o CAI. Ademais, utilizou-se o Body Shape Questionnaire, a Commitment Exercise Scale e o International Physical Activity Questionnaire para avaliar IC, GCPE e NAF, respectivamente. Conduziu-se análise multivariada e regressão múltipla para se analisarem os dados. RESULTADOS: Os resultados evidenciaram que a IC, o GCPE, o IMC e o %G associaram-se significativamente (p<0,05) com os escores das subescalas do EAT-26, tanto no sexo feminino, quanto no masculino. Os valores indicativos dessas associações foram diferentes entre os sexos. CONCLUSÕES: a insatisfação corporal e o IMC parecem ser os fatores mais fortemente associados aos distintos construtos do comportamento alimentar em ambos os sexos

B cells Can Modulate the CD8 Memory T Cell after DNA Vaccination Against Experimental Tuberculosis

Abstract\ud \ud \ud \ud Background\ud \ud Although B cells are important as antigen presenting cells (APC) during the immune response, their role in DNA vaccination models is unknown.\ud \ud \ud \ud Methods\ud \ud In this study in vitro and in vivo experiments were performed to evaluate the ability of B cells to protect mice against Mycobacterium tuberculosis challenge.\ud \ud \ud \ud Results\ud \ud \ud In vitro and in vivo studies showed that B cells efficiently present antigens after naked plasmid pcDNA3 encoding M. leprae 65-kDa heat shock protein (pcDNA3-Hsp65) internalization and protect B knock-out (BKO) mice against Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. pcDNA3-Hsp65-transfected B cells adoptively transferred into BKO mice rescued the memory phenotypes and reduced the number of CFU compared to wild-type mice.\ud \ud \ud \ud Conclusions\ud \ud These data not only suggest that B cells play an important role in the induction of CD8 T cells but also that they improve bacterial clearance in DNA vaccine model.We are thankful to Ana Paula Masson and Izaíra T Brandão for providing the DNA vaccine and recombinant protein. This study was supported by a FAPESP fellowship (05/030873) to LPA.We are thankful to Ana Paula Masson and Izaíra T Brandão for providing the DNA vaccine and recombinant protein. This study was supported by a FAPESP fellowship (05/03087-3) to LPA

Public awareness and engagement in relation to the coastal oil spill in northeast Brazil

Social media data is a rich source of information to assess human activities in catastrophic events. Here, we use social media data to understand how the 2019 Brazilian oil spill influenced social attitudes. Data were collected from the globally popular Instagram platform between August 1, 2019 and March 1, 2020. First, we manually identified the 5 most popular (portuguese language) hashtags related to the oil spill #oleonononordeste;#desastreambiental;#ma rsemoleo;#sosnordeste;#ma rsempetroleo. In the sequence, we collected information on captions, post metadata and users associated with posts retrieved using the selected hashtags. We identified a total of 7,413 posts. These posts were grouped in topics: government (47.76%), protest (24.37%), volunteers (24.45%), biodiversity (0.003%), origin (0.006%), tourism (0.008%) and others (0.016%). All topics had the peak of posts in October and November 2019. Nevertheless, interest in the oil spill was temporary, with most posts appearing in the 2-4 months after the beginning of the disaster. Our findings illustrate the enormous potential of using social media data for understanding and monitoring human engagement with environmental disasters, but also suggest that conservationists and environmental groups may only have a limited 'window of opportunity' to engage and mobilize public support for remediation and restoration efforts.Peer reviewe