EFFECT OF SLEEP DEPRIVATION ON REMINISCENCE AND APPREHENSION BEHAVIOR IN WISTAR ALBINO RATS

Objective: The aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of paradoxical sleep deprivation (SD) on learning and memory impairment and anxiety-like behavior in female Wistar albino rats. Methods: Eight-arm radial maze, open-field test, and light and dark test were used to assess the animals learning and memory and anxiety-like behavior. Results: SD associated with weaker learning and memory and increased anxiety- and depressive-like behavior in animals. Conclusion: Animals were exposed to SD showed learning and memory impairment and also exhibited increased anxiety- and depressive-like behavior when compared to control animals

Status of water, sanitation and hygiene services for childbirth and newborn care in seven countries in East Asia and the Pacific

Background: Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services are critical to providing quality maternal and neonatal care in health facilities. This study aimed to investigate availability of WASH policies, standards, and services for childbirth and newborn care in hospitals in East Asia and the Pacific. Methods: Descriptive analysis of survey data and observations of water, sanitation and hygiene services in maternity and neonatal care rooms and of deliveries in 147 hospitals in Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Viet Nam. The main outcome measures were availability of national policies and standards; availability of water, sanitation, and hygiene services in maternity rooms and neonatal care units; and practice of hygiene at childbirth. Results: Three of seven countries had national WASH policies and three had standards for health facilities. Seventy-seven percent of hospitals had a sink with water and soap or alcohol hand rub in delivery rooms, 78% in neonatal care rooms and 42% in postnatal care rooms. Only 44% of hospitals had clean sinks with water, soap and hand drying methods in the delivery room, 40% in neonatal care units and 10% in postnatal care rooms. Flush toilets were available in or next to delivery rooms in 60% and neonatal care units in 50% of 10 hospitals with data. Countries with WASH standards had a higher proportion of hospitals with water and hand hygiene services. Appropriate hygiene was practiced by health workers in 65% of 371 deliveries observed, and more likely in delivery rooms with a sink, water and soap. Conclusions: Coverage of WASH services for maternal and newborn care must be improved to reduce risks of maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality

Approaches in biotechnological applications of natural polymers

Natural polymers, such as gums and mucilage, are biocompatible, cheap, easily available and non-toxic materials of native origin. These polymers are increasingly preferred over synthetic materials for industrial applications due to their intrinsic properties, as well as they are considered alternative sources of raw materials since they present characteristics of sustainability, biodegradability and biosafety. As definition, gums and mucilages are polysaccharides or complex carbohydrates consisting of one or more monosaccharides or their derivatives linked in bewildering variety of linkages and structures. Natural gums are considered polysaccharides naturally occurring in varieties of plant seeds and exudates, tree or shrub exudates, seaweed extracts, fungi, bacteria, and animal sources. Water-soluble gums, also known as hydrocolloids, are considered exudates and are pathological products; therefore, they do not form a part of cell wall. On the other hand, mucilages are part of cell and physiological products. It is important to highlight that gums represent the largest amounts of polymer materials derived from plants. Gums have enormously large and broad applications in both food and non-food industries, being commonly used as thickening, binding, emulsifying, suspending, stabilizing agents and matrices for drug release in pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. In the food industry, their gelling properties and the ability to mold edible films and coatings are extensively studied. The use of gums depends on the intrinsic properties that they provide, often at costs below those of synthetic polymers. For upgrading the value of gums, they are being processed into various forms, including the most recent nanomaterials, for various biotechnological applications. Thus, the main natural polymers including galactomannans, cellulose, chitin, agar, carrageenan, alginate, cashew gum, pectin and starch, in addition to the current researches about them are reviewed in this article.. }To the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientfíico e Tecnológico (CNPq) for fellowships (LCBBC and MGCC) and the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nvíel Superior (CAPES) (PBSA). This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit, the Project RECI/BBB-EBI/0179/2012 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027462) and COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684) (JAT)

Exploring adaptive health technology assessment for evaluating 10 cancer interventions: insights and lessons from a pilot study in India.

BACKGROUND: Health technology assessment (HTA) is a valuable tool for informing the efficient allocation of resources in healthcare. However, the resource-intensive nature of HTA can limit its application, especially in low-resource settings. Adapting HTA processes by assessing the available international evidence offers a pragmatic approach to provide evidence for decision-making where resources are constrained. OBJECTIVE: This study piloted an adaptive HTA (aHTA) method to evaluate 10 cancer interventions. METHODS: We arranged a joint collaboration with the International Decision Support Initiative and the National Cancer Grid in India to form a working group of clinicians and health economists. We conducted a rapid review of HTA reports and economic evaluations for ten prioritised common cancer interventions for breast, lung, and head and neck cancers. We extracted data on cost-effectiveness, conducted a price benchmarking analysis, estimated treatment costs and calculated the treatment's share of the national insurance family allowance. Finally, we determined through qualitative appraisal whether the intervention would likely to be considered cost-effective in the Indian context. RESULTS: Of the 10 interventions assessed, 9 had sufficient evidence to make determinations on the likely cost-effectiveness. Three were potentially cost-effective (one after a price discount and another by using the generic price), while five were not, and one was only cost-effective in a subgroup. One intervention required a full HTA due to remaining uncertainty. Information on the likely cost-effectiveness, clinical and safety benefits, and treatment costs was consistently found through publicly available evidence. Assessment methods were modified slightly across the 10 interventions, including expanding the data extraction criteria, updating the calculations and broadening the evidence retrieval. CONCLUSION: The aHTA method is a feasible resource-sensitive alternative to traditional HTA for informing decision-making in resource-constrained settings when ample international data on cost-effectiveness for a given topic is available

Priorities for cancer research in low- and middle-income countries: a global perspective

Cancer research currently is heavily skewed toward high-income countries (HICs), with little research conducted in, and relevant to, the problems of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This regional discordance in cancer knowledge generation and application needs to be rebalanced. Several gaps in the research enterprise of LMICs need to be addressed to promote regionally relevant research, and radical rethinking is needed to address the burning issues in cancer care in these regions. We identified five top priorities in cancer research in LMICs based on current and projected needs: reducing the burden of patients with advanced disease; improving access and affordability, and outcomes of cancer treatment; value-based care and health economics; quality improvement and implementation research; and leveraging technology to improve cancer control. LMICs have an excellent opportunity to address important questions in cancer research that could impact cancer control globally. Success will require collaboration and commitment from governments, policy makers, funding agencies, health care organizations and leaders, researchers and the public

Energy-efficient casting processes

Metal casting is one of the most energy-intensive manufacturing processes that have developed along the evolution of mankind. Although nowadays its scientific and technological aspects are well established, in the context of future resource scarcity and environmental pollution pressures, new studies appear necessary to describe the “foundry of the future” where energy and material efficiency are of great importance to guarantee competitiveness alongside environmental protection. In this chapter, both managerial and technical good practices aimed at implementing energy-efficient casting processes are presented alongside a few examples. The “Small is Beautiful” philosophy is presented as a systematic approach towards energy resilient manufacturing and, potentially, sustainability in the long term. Thus, this chapter aims at providing an overview of the different aspects comprising the state of the art in the industry and examples of research themes in academia about energy-efficient casting processes

Seasonality of Human Leptospirosis in Reunion Island (Indian Ocean) and Its Association with Meteorological Data

Background: Leptospirosis is a disease which occurs worldwide but particularly affects tropical areas. Transmission of the disease is dependent on its excretion by reservoir animals and the presence of moist environment which allows the survival of the bacteria. Methods and Findings: A retrospective study was undertaken to describe seasonal patterns of human leptospirosis cases reported by the Centre National de Re´fe´rences des Leptospiroses (CNRL, Pasteur Institute, Paris) between 1998 and 2008, to determine if there was an association between the occurrence of diagnosed cases and rainfall, temperature and global solar radiation (GSR). Meteorological data were recorded in the town of Saint-Beno?¿t (Me´te´o France ''Beaufonds-Miria'' station), located on the windward (East) coast. Time-series analysis was used to identify the variables that best described and predicted the occurrence of cases of leptospirosis on the island. Six hundred and thirteen cases were reported during the 11-year study period, and 359 cases (58.56%) were diagnosed between February and May. A significant correlation was identified between the number of cases in a given month and the associated cumulated rainfall as well as the mean monthly temperature recorded 2 months prior to diagnosis (r = 0.28 and r = 0.23 respectively). The predictive model includes the number of cases of leptospirosis recorded 1 month prior to diagnosis (b = 0.193), the cumulated monthly rainfall recorded 2 months prior to diagnosis (b = 0.145), the average monthly temperature recorded 0 month prior to diagnosis (b = 3.836), and the average monthly GSR recorded 0 month prior to diagnosis (b =21.293). Conclusions: Leptospirosis has a seasonal distribution in Reunion Island. Meteorological data can be used to predict the occurrence of the disease and our statistical model can help to implement seasonal prevention measures. (Résumé d'auteur

Investigating the Structural Impacts of I64T and P311S Mutations in APE1-DNA Complex: A Molecular Dynamics Approach

Elucidating the molecular dynamic behavior of Protein-DNA complex upon mutation is crucial in current genomics. Molecular dynamics approach reveals the changes on incorporation of variants that dictate the structure and function of Protein-DNA complexes. Deleterious mutations in APE1 protein modify the physicochemical property of amino acids that affect the protein stability and dynamic behavior. Further, these mutations disrupt the binding sites and prohibit the protein to form complexes with its interacting DNA.In this study, we developed a rapid and cost-effective method to analyze variants in APE1 gene that are associated with disease susceptibility and evaluated their impacts on APE1-DNA complex dynamic behavior. Initially, two different in silico approaches were used to identify deleterious variants in APE1 gene. Deleterious scores that overlap in these approaches were taken in concern and based on it, two nsSNPs with IDs rs61730854 (I64T) and rs1803120 (P311S) were taken further for structural analysis.Different parameters such as RMSD, RMSF, salt bridge, H-bonds and SASA applied in Molecular dynamic study reveals that predicted deleterious variants I64T and P311S alters the structure as well as affect the stability of APE1-DNA interacting functions. This study addresses such new methods for validating functional polymorphisms of human APE1 which is critically involved in causing deficit in repair capacity, which in turn leads to genetic instability and carcinogenesis

Dispersion as an Important Step in the Candida albicans Biofilm Developmental Cycle

Biofilms are dynamic microbial communities in which transitions between planktonic and sessile modes of growth occur interchangeably in response to different environmental cues. In the last decade, early events associated with C. albicans biofilm formation have received considerable attention. However, very little is known about C. albicans biofilm dispersion or the mechanisms and signals that trigger it. This is important because it is precisely C. albicans cells dispersed from biofilms that are the main culprits associated with candidemia and establishment of disseminated invasive disease, two of the gravest forms of candidiasis. Using a simple flow biofilm model recently developed by our group, we have performed initial investigations into the phenomenon of C. albicans biofilm dispersion, as well as the phenotypic characteristics associated with dispersed cells. Our results indicate that C. albicans biofilm dispersion is dependent on growing conditions, including carbon source and pH of the media used for biofilm development. C. albicans dispersed cells are mostly in the yeast form and display distinct phenotypic properties compared to their planktonic counterparts, including enhanced adherence, filamentation, biofilm formation and, perhaps most importantly, increased pathogenicity in a murine model of hematogenously disseminated candidiasis, thus indicating that dispersed cells are armed with a complete arsenal of “virulence factors” important for seeding and establishing new foci of infection. In addition, utilizing genetically engineered strains of C. albicans (tetO-UME6 and tetO-PES1) we demonstrate that C. albicans biofilm dispersion can be regulated by manipulating levels of expression of these key genes, further supporting the evidence for a strong link between biofilms and morphogenetic conversions at different stages of the C. albicans biofilm developmental cycle. Overall, our results offer novel and important insight into the phenomenon of C. albicans biofilm dispersion, a key part of the biofilm developmental cycle, and provide the basis for its more detailed analysis