Novel 2-(R-phenyl)amino-3-(2-methylpropenyl)-[1,4]-naphthoquinones: synthesis, characterization, electrochemical behavior and antitumor activity

Novel 2-(R-phenyl)amino-3-(2-methyl-propenyl)-[1,4]-naphthoquinones (R = H, 4-OMe, 4-Ferrocenyl, 4-Me, 3-Me, 4-I, 3-I, 4-CN, 3-CN, 4-NO2 and 3-NO2) derived from nor-lapachol [2-hydroxy-3-(2-methylpropenyl)-1,4-naphthoquinone] were obtained in good yields. Their structures were proposed on the basis of a single crystal X-ray diffraction study (R = OMe, 2b), ¹H and 13C NMR studies and calculations using the B3LYP functional and the 6-311+G(2d,p) basis set. The half-wave potentials of the aminonaphthoquinones and ¹H NMR chemical shifts of the 3-propenyl hydrogen in 2a-k show good correlation with the substituent Hammett constants on the phenylamino ring. The antitumor assays showed promising activity for substrate methoxy-nor-lapachol 1 and the 4-ferrocenyl derivative 2c.Novas 2-(R-fenil)amino-3-(2-metilpropenil)-[1,4]-naftoquinonas (R = H, 4-OMe, 4-Ferrocenil, 4-Me, 3-Me, 4-I, 3-I, 4-CN, 3-CN, 4-NO2 e 3-NO2) derivadas do nor-lapachol [2-hidroxi-3-(2-metilpropenil)-1,4-naftoquinona] foram obtidas em bons rendimentos. A estrutura dos compostos foi proposta com base em estudos de difração de raios-X (R = OMe, 2b), dados de RMN de ¹H e 13C e cálculos teóricos utilizando o funcional B3LYP e a base 6-311+G(2d,p). Os potenciais de meia-onda das aminonaftoquinonas e o deslocamento químico do hidrogênio da cadeia 3-propenil dos compostos 2a-k mostraram boa correlação com as constantes de Hammett dos substituintes presentes no anel fenileno. A avaliação da citotoxicidade evidenciou atividade antitumoral promissora para o substrato metóxi-nor-lapachol 1 e o derivado 4-ferrocenil 2c.169178Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Nutritional Profile and Chemical Stability of Pasta Fortified with Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) Flour.

Physicochemical parameters of pasta enriched with tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) flour were investigated. Five formulations were prepared with different concentrations of tilapia flour as partial substitute of wheat flour: pasta without tilapia flour (PTF0%), pasta with 6% (PTF6%), 12% (PTF12%), 17% (PTF17%), and 23% (PTF23%) of tilapia flour. The formulations were assessed for proximate composition, fatty acid and amino acid profile on day 1 whereas, instrumental color parameters (L*, a* and b* values), pH, water activity (aw), and lipid and protein oxidation were evaluated on days 1, 7, 14, and 21 of storage at 25°C. Fortification with tilapia flour increased (p < 0.05) protein, lipid, ash, total essential amino acids, and total polyunsaturated fatty acids contents. In addition, supplementation of pasta with tilapia flour decreased (p < 0.05) lightness and water activity while redness, yellowness, pH values, and lipid oxidation were increased (p < 0.05) in a level-dependent manner. Nevertheless, all formulations were exhibited storage stability at 25°C. In general, protein oxidation was greater (p < 0.05) in the pasta containing 12%, 17%, and 23% of tilapia flour than their counterparts, and the storage promoted an increase (p < 0.05) on the carbonyl content in all formulations. Thus, pasta with 6% of tilapia flour has the potential to be a technological alternative to food industry for the nutritional enrichment of traditional pasta with negligible negative effects on the chemical stability of the final product during 21 days at 25°C

Construction and characterization of a recombinant yellow fever virus stably expressing Gaussia luciferase

Submitted by Kamylla Nascimento ([email protected]) on 2018-01-17T14:14:38Z No. of bitstreams: 1 IAM - Construction and characterization of a recombinant yellow fever virus stably expressing Gaussia luciferase.pdf: 1744508 bytes, checksum: da44e9a7e3b2c7e91aa652ad0b067eea (MD5)Approved for entry into archive by Kamylla Nascimento ([email protected]) on 2018-01-17T14:47:40Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 IAM - Construction and characterization of a recombinant yellow fever virus stably expressing Gaussia luciferase.pdf: 1744508 bytes, checksum: da44e9a7e3b2c7e91aa652ad0b067eea (MD5)Made available in DSpace on 2018-01-17T14:47:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 IAM - Construction and characterization of a recombinant yellow fever virus stably expressing Gaussia luciferase.pdf: 1744508 bytes, checksum: da44e9a7e3b2c7e91aa652ad0b067eea (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq-470453 / 2012-5).Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Aggeu Magalhães. Departamento de Virologia e Terapia Experimental. Recife, PE, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Aggeu Magalhães. Departamento de Virologia e Terapia Experimental. Recife, PE, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Aggeu Magalhães. Departamento de Virologia e Terapia Experimental. Recife, PE, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Aggeu Magalhães. Departamento de Virologia e Terapia Experimental. Recife, PE, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Aggeu Magalhães. Departamento de Virologia e Terapia Experimental. Recife, PE, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Aggeu Magalhães. Departamento de Virologia e Terapia Experimental. Recife, PE, Brasil.Universidade Federal de Pernambuco. Departamento de Bioquímica. Recife, PE, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Aggeu Magalhães. Departamento de Virologia e Terapia Experimental. Recife, PE, Brasil.Yellow fever is an arthropod-borne viral disease that still poses high public health concerns, despite the availability of an effective vaccine. The development of recombinant viruses is of utmost importance for several types of studies, such as those aimed to dissect virus-host interactions and to search for novel antiviral strategies. Moreover, recombinant viruses expressing reporter genes may greatly facilitate these studies. Here, we report the construction of a recombinant yellow fever virus (YFV) expressing Gaussia luciferase (GLuc) (YFV-GLuc). We show, through RT-PCR, sequencing and measurement of GLuc activity, that stability of the heterologous gene was maintained after six passages. Furthermore, a direct association between GLuc expression and viral replication was observed (r2=0.9967), indicating that measurement of GLuc activity may be used to assess viral replication in different applications. In addition, we evaluated the use of the recombinant virus in an antiviral assay with recombinant human alfa-2b interferon. A 60% inhibition of GLuc expression was observed in cells infected with YFV-GLuc and incubated with IFN alfa-2b. Previously tested on YFV inhibition by plaque assays indicated a similar fold-decrease in viral replication. These results are valuable as they show the stability of YFV-GLuc and one of several possible applications of this construct