Reducing social inequalities in the oral health of an adult population

The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between social inequality indicators and oral health conditions in an adult population. This prospective cohort study assessed a probabilistic sampling of adults (aged 20-64 years) living in Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil. Oral examinations were performed in 2011 and 2015, conducted at home, and used the decay-missing-filled (DMFT) index of permanent teeth, the Community Periodontal Index (CPI), and the visible biofilm criterion. A questionnaire was administered to determine demographic and socioeconomic aspects and dental services used, and collect oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) data. Social inequality indicators were evaluated according to social class (high, middle or low) and type of dental service used (public, health insurance or private), and compared with oral health conditions (visible biofilm, DMFT and incidence of tooth loss, periodontal pockets and bleeding, and OHRQoL), evaluated between 2011 and 2015. Analysis using chi-squared or Fisher tests (p < 0.05) and Cochran's Q test was conducted separately for each category analyzed between 2011 and 2015 (p < 0.05). A total of 143 adults who participated in an earlier study were examined after four years of follow-up. Although the occurrence of oral disease did not decrease over the study period (4 years), there was a reduction in inequality among lower social classes in regard to presence of tooth decay and oral health impact on self-perceived quality of life between 2011 and 2015 (p < 0.05). These results suggest that the Brazilian National Oral Health Policy has achieved its principles, especially that of greater equity33COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL DE NÍVEL SUPERIOR - CAPESFUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO - FAPESP2014/15184-22009/16560-0; 2011/00545-

Cyanide and fluoride colorimetric sensing by novel imidazo-anthraquinones functionalized with indole and carbazole

Novel imidazo-anthraquinones functionalized with indole and carbazole have been synthesised and characterised and their evaluation as colorimetric chemosensors was carried out in acetonitrile as well as in acetonitrile/H2O (97:3) in the presence of several anions such as F-, Cl-, Br-, I-, CN-, NO3-, ClO4-, AcO-, BzO-, NO3-, ClO4-, HSO4- and H2PO4-. Additionally, their behaviour in the presence of H+ and OH- was also studied. Upon addition of CN- and F− to acetonitrile solutions of compounds 1-3, a marked colour change from yellow to orange was observed and the fluorescence emission of 1 and 2 was switched “on”. The recognition in organic aqueous solution lead to the selective and sensitive naked-eye detection (mM) of CN- for all receptors, with an easily detectable colour change from yellow to orange. The binding stoichiometry between the receptors and the anions was found to be 2:1. The binding process was also followed by 1H NMR titrations showing that two different binding modes occurred in the presence of fluoride or cyanide anions, which is in agreement with the spectrophotometric titrations.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Drought response of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) landraces at leaf physiological and metabolite profile levels

Drought threatens the world’s food production, particularly in Sub Saharan Africa low external input and rain fed agricultural systems, where cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) is an important food crop. In the context of growing concerns regarding climate changes implications on water availability, this study aimed at 1) to evaluate the drought responses in cowpea landraces with contrasting drought tolerance levels (A55 – high sensitivity; A80 - mild sensitivity; A116 - tolerant), 2) using an integrated physiological (leaf gas exchanges; chlorophyll a fluorescence) and biochemical (photoprotective pigments; RuBisCO activity; primary metabolite profiling) analysis to identify drought tolerance probes, in plants submitted to three water availability levels (well-watered, WW; mild drought, MD; severe drought, SD). A116 plants maintained a better water status under drought, what could justify the higher Pn and Pnmax values in MD, as well as higher photochemical use of energy (reflected in the photochemical quenching (qL) and in the quantum yield of non-cyclic electron transport (Y(II))), and the lower need of photoprotective thermal dissipation mechanisms (given by the non-photochemical quenching (qN), and the quantum yield of regulated energy dissipation at photosystem PSII (Y(NPQ))), in MD and SD plants. Greater declines of net (Pn) and potential (Pnmax) photosynthesis were observed in A55 plants, which frequently showed significant impacts already under MD conditions in most parameters, whereas A80 usually displayed and intermediate behaviour. Still, even A55 showed some acclimation response, regarding photoprotective mechanisms associated with high contents of zeaxanthin, lutein, and carotenes, and high Y(NPQ), and qN values, supporting the absence of an increase in the non-regulated energy dissipation at PSII (Y(NO) did not increased) even in SD plants. Additionally, A55 was not significantly affected in RuBisCO activity, which showed to be quite resilient in cowpea. A primary metabolite profiling, complemented with a partial least square discrimination analysis (PLS-DA), allowed a better separation of A116 and A55 plants according to their degree of drought tolerance. In response to drought, A116 showed the greatest accumulation of most responsive metabolites, 14 in total, with sucrose, fucose, urea, alanine and putrescine being exclusively increased in this genotype, suggesting that they can be candidates as drought tolerance proxies. Other compounds, as proline, valine, isoleucine (among amino acids), and rhamnose and raffinose (among sugars) showed close increase patternsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Synthesis of new fluorescent 2-(2’, 2’’-bithienyl)-1,3-benzothiazoles

Bithienyl-1,3-benzothiazole derivatives were synthesised by reacting various 5-formyl-5’-alkoxy- or 5-formyl-5’-N,N-dialkylamino-2,2’-bithiophenes with ortho-aminobenzenethiol in good to excellent yields. Evaluation of the fluorescence properties of these compounds was carried out. They show strong fluorescence in the 450-600 nm region, as well as high quantum yields and large Stokes’ shifts.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia

Guillain-Barré syndrome related to Zika virus infection: A systematic review and meta-analysis of the clinical and electrophysiological phenotype

BACKGROUND: The Zika virus (ZIKV) has been associated with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) in epidemiological studies. Whether ZIKV-associated GBS is related to a specific clinical or electrophysiological phenotype has not been established. To this end, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of all published s

Synthesis and evaluation of fluorimetric and colorimetric chemosensors for anions based on (oligo)thienyl-thiosemicarbazones

A family of heterocyclic thiosemicarbazone dyes (3a-d) containing thienyl groups has been synthesized, characterized and their chromo-fluorogenic response in acetonitrile in the presence of selected anions studied. Acetonitrile solutions of 3a-d show absorption bands in the 338-425 nm range which are modulated by the groups attached to the thiosemicarbazone moiety. The fluoride, chloride, bromide, iodide, dihydrogen phosphate, hydrogen sulfate, nitrate, acetate and anions were used in the recognition studies. Only sensing features were observed for fluoride, cyanide, acetate and dihydrogen phosphate anions. Two different chromogenic responses were found, (i) a small shift of the absorption band due to coordination of the anions with the thiourea protons and (ii) the appearance of a new red shifted band due to deprotonation of the receptor. For the latter process changes in the color solutions from pale-yellow to orange-red were observed. Fluorescence studies showed a different emission behavior according to the number of thienyl rings in the π-conjugated bridges. Stability constants for the two processes (complex formation + deprotonation) for receptors 3a-d in the presence of fluoride and acetate anions were determined from spectrophotometric titrations using the HypSpec program. The interaction of 3d with fluoride was also studied through 1H NMR titrations. Semiempirical calculations to evaluate the hydrogen-donating ability of the receptors were also performed.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) , Acções Integradas Luso-Espanholas/CRUP, Generalitat Valenci

Morphological and microstructural characterization of laser-glazedplasma-sprayed thermal barrier coatings

Laser glazing has been revealing a high potential for the improvement of plasma-sprayed (PS) thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) by reducing surface roughness, eliminating open porosity on the surface and generating a controlled segmented crack network, although the relationship of the processing parameters with the resultant properties has not yet been completely established. In this investigation, TBCs consisting of atmospheric plasma-sprayed (APS) ZrO2–8wt.%Y2O3 were subjected to a CO2 continuous wave laser-glazing process in order to seal its surface porosity, generating an external dense layer. For that purpose, different amounts of radiation resulting from different scanning speeds were applied to the specimens as well as different track overlapping. Results have shown a significant decrease of the surface roughness after the laser treatment. All specimens presented a fully dense and porous free external layer with a polyfaceted columnar microstructure highly adherent to the plasma-sprayed coating. Controlled surface crack networks, extremely dependent on the laser scanning speed and track overlapping, were achieved for each set of processing parameters. The cracks were found to have a tendency to be oriented in two perpendicular directions, one in the direction of the laser-beam travel direction, the other perpendicular to it. Moreover, the cracks parallel to the beam travel direction are found to be on the overlapping zone, coinciding with the edge of the subsequent track. The cracks are perpendicular to the surface along the densified layer and tend to branch and deviate from the vertical direction below it, within the porous PS coating. XRD results revealed mainly tV nontransformable tetragonal zirconia with a small percentage of residual monoclinic zirconia for the as-sprayed coating. All glazed coatings presented only tV nontransformable tetragonal zirconia with some variations on preferable crystal orientation. Grain sizes varied from 26 to 52 nm, increasing with an increase of laserirradiated energy; microstrain behaved inversely.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - Project POCTI/CTM/44590/2002.União Europeia (UE). Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER)

Novel functionalised imidazo-benzocrown ethers bearing a thiophene spacer as fluorimetric chemosensors for metal ion detection

Novel phenylalanine derivatives bearing benzimidazole and crown ethers as coordinating/reporting units and thiophene as a spacer unit were synthesized for the first time, and their evaluation as fluorimetric chemosensors was carried out in acetonitrile and acetonitrile/water solutions. 15-Crown-5 benzimidazolyl phenylalanine methyl ester, 15-crown-5 thienylbenzimidazolyl phenylalanine methyl ester and 18-crown-6 thienylbenzimidazolyl phenylalanine methyl ester were tested for alkaline, alkaline-earth and transition metal ions (such as Na+, Ca2+, Cd2+, Co2+, Cr3+, Cu2+, Fe2+, Fe3+, Hg2+, Ni2+, Pd2+ and Zn2+). The different crown ether binding moieties as well as the electronic nature and the length of the π-bridge linked to the benzimidazole heterocycle allowed the fine tuning of the sensory properties as seen by spectrofluorimetric titrations. Therefore, 15-crown-5 benzimidazolyl phenylalanine methyl ester is a fluorimetric chemosensor, being selective and sensitive for Cu2+ and Pd2+ in aqueous solutions (ACN/H2O; 80:20). On the other hand, the metal cation sensing properties displayed by 15-crown-5 thienylbenzimidazolyl phenylalanine methyl ester bearing an arylthienyl spacer showed that this is a promising candidate as fluorimetric chemosensor for Fe3+, Pb2+ and Pd2+ in acetonitrile solution.Thanks are due to Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (Portugal) for financial support to the Portuguese NMR network (PTNMR, Bruker Avance III 400-Univ. Minho), FCT and FEDER (European Fund for Regional Development)-COMPETEQREN-EU for financial support to the research centre CQ/UM [PEst-C/QUI/UI0686/2013 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-037302], a PhD grant to C.I.C. Esteves (SFRH/BD/68360/2010) and a post-doctoral grant to R.M.F. Batista (SFRH/BPD/79333/2011).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio