Azole-resistance of mucorales in the waste sorting industry

Project "Waste Workers’ Exposure to Bio-burden through Filtering Respiratory Protective Devices” (IPL/2018/WasteFRPD_ESTeSL).Introduction - Resistance to antibiotics is a well-known threat to public health. Fungal drug resistance is more recently being described as an emergent threat. The emergence of resistance to azoles among fungal species in the environmental challenges the management of severe fungal infections. Azole resistance could become a global public health threat with fungal spores able to disperse great distances on air currents. Considering the clinical relevance of Mucorales order, fungal exposure assessments should evaluate their prevalence and azole-resistance patterns. Aims - To determine Mucorales distribution in Personal Protective Equipment used by waste sorting workers in one waste sorting industry located in Lisbon district; to perform an azole-resistance screening using three medical azole drugs (itraconazole, voriconazole, and posaconazole) for the samples collected in the waste sorting industry.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Herb-drug interactions among commonly used psychoactive substances by healthcare students

The concurrent use of herbs and/or nutritional supplements with psychoactive effect and prescription medications is common among college students. College students are a particularly vulnerable population, for they are under less social/familiar surveillance and seek greater independence, as well as under greater intellectual effort, stress, anxiety and depression, which predispose them to a higher consumption of psychoactive substances. Herbs, vitamins, and other dietary supplements may influence the effects of prescription and nonprescription drugs leading to adverse consequences, by increasing the potential for interactions. However, documented interactions between herbal medicinal products and prescribed drugs are rare. Objective: determine the prevalence of concomitant use of psychoactive substances among healthcare students in the Lisbon School of Health Technology, Portugal, in order to assess the risk of potential herb-drug interactions

An interdisciplinary perspective on dietary supplements: reconfiguration of professional roles within new trends of therapeutic consumptions

O actual protagonismo que os suplementos alimentares têm vindo a assumir no quadro de novas lógicas de oferta e de consumo de recursos terapêuticos, constitui um facto que é revelador da emergência de novos fenómenos que geram reconfigurações importantes ao nível da dimensão social de novas práticas em torno destes mesmos recursos, com implicações no papel dos profissionais de farmácia. Face a este novo quadro, em que novas realidades profissionais se desenham como resposta a estes fenómenos, o olhar interdisciplinar que aqui se desenvolve procura problematizar os novos papéis dos profissionais ao nível do aconselhamento e da educação para a saúde. Sustenta-se que esse objectivo dificilmente poderá ser mais do que um mero horizonte normativo, se não for capaz de integrar as abordagens de carácter sociológico sobre as importantes reconfigurações das dinâmicas de autonomia e reflexividade leiga que têm vindo a ocorrer em termos de gestão da saúde e de consumos terapêuticos. The current role that dietary supplements have been playing under new logic of supply and consumption of therapeutic resources, is a fact that reveals the emergence of new phenomena that generate major reconfigurations to the social dimension of new practices around these resources, with implications for the professional role of pharmacy practitioners. In this new framework, in which new realities are emerging as a professional response to these phenomena, the interdisciplinary outlook that we develop aims to raise some critical questions concerning the development of new roles in pharmacy practitioners in counseling and health education. We assert that this goal will scarcely be more than just a normative horizon, if unable to integrate the nature of sociological approaches on important reconfiguration of the dynamics of lay autonomy and reflexivity that have been occurring in terms of health management and therapeutic consumptions

Cytotoxicity of contaminated protection devices used in waste sorting industry

Introduction - Waste sorting is one of the most critical working environments since waste is frequently contaminated by organic matter that functions as a nutrient substrate to microorganisms. In many occupational environments of the waste industry, workers are exposed during long periods to high concentrations of microbial contamination. Several studies have lately stressed health risks related to those environments. Microbial exposures are the leading inducers of several respiratory health symptoms, such as asthma, a decline in lung function, bronchial hyper-responsiveness, chronic bronchitis, wheeze, and cough. Due to the recognized increased risk of microbiologic agents’ exposure and the need of the employer to protect workers from the exposure risks, the use of Filtering Respiratory Protective Devices (FRPD) is mandatory in the Portuguese waste industry. Some hygienic measures taken by workers (such as where the FRPD is kept when not in use) or even the FRPD frequency replacement can impact the FRPD microbial contamination. Bioaerosols in the waste sorting industry consist of complex mixtures of organic and inorganic dust suspended in the air, including bacteria and endotoxins, fungi and mycotoxins, as well as particles of plant and animal origin. Aim of the study - To our knowledge, this is the FIRST study that will allow characterizing the risk resulting from the FRPD conditions of use and identifying the most suitable risk management measures.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Determination of azole resistance in Camelia sinensis (L.) Kuntze green tea

A taxa mundial de consumo de infusões de chá (Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze) tem vindo a aumentar em todo o mundo, devido às suas propriedades promotoras de saúde e a tendências de estilo de vida saudável. O consumo destas pode, representar uma fonte de exposição a contaminantes biológicos, como fungos resistentes, bactérias e micotoxinas. A emergência na última década de casos de resistência fúngica a antifúngicos azólicos na Europa e a nível mundial envolvendo estirpes de Aspergillus fumigatus de ambientes clínicos e agrícolas, sugere que a resistência clínica aos azóis poderá ter, em parte, origem agrícola. Por outro lado, a exposição por ingestão de géneros alimentícios contaminados com microorganismos patogénicos apresenta riscos conhecidos para a saúde, sendo uma dificuldade a sua monitorização e controlo por ausência de níveis máximos estabelecidos para a maioria destes. Objetivo geral: Avaliar a carga biológica (bactérias e fungos) de amostras de extração e infusão de chá verde, comercializados na área metropolitana de Lisboa e obter uma caracterização da carga fúngica mais refinada, incluindo o perfil de resistência aos azóis. Objetivos específicos: quantificar o microbiota presente nas amostras de chá verde; identificar o micobiota presente nas amostras de chá verde obtidas através de características macroscópicas e microscópicas; determinar o perfil de resistência dos fungos aos antifúngicos do grupo dos azóis.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Microbiota, fungal resistance and mycotoxigenic potential in herbal teas

Tea - most common beverages worldwide, being prepared by infusing it with boiling water over the leaves or tea bags of the Camellia sinensis; several categories of tea, based on the degree of fermentation; current growth in tea consumption is explained by the recent trends in a healthy lifestyle. Herbal and fruit infusions are amongst the world's most popular and widely enjoyed beverages, thanks to their almost unlimited variety and their convenience; the full range of flavors to suit every taste and any occasion; do not originate from the tea plant. Aims of the study: quantify the microbiota present in the extraction and infusion of tea and herbal samples; identify the mycobiota present in tea and herbal samples obtained through macroscopic characteristics and microscopy; determine the resistance profile of fungi to antifungal drugs of the azole group.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

EXPOsE: avaliação da exposição a micobiota resistente a antifúngicos

Project EXPOsE – Establishing protocols to assess occupational exposure to microbiota in clinical settings (02/SAICT/2016 – Project nº 23222).Microbiota in clinical environments: poor hospital indoor air quality (IAQ) may lead to hospital-acquired infections, sick hospital syndrome, and various occupational hazards; microbiological IAQ monitoring and control in hospitals is currently a necessary and integral part of prevention strategies against hospital-acquired infections; implementation of sampling and analysis methods should be adapted to the hospital environment; bacterial, viral and fungal infections are frequently acquired via inhalation, among them pulmonary aspergillosis and pneumocystosis still represent high disease burden; a large number of fungal species can cause severe infections, especially among immunocompromised individuals; most important fungi related with fungal exposure: Cladosporium, Alternaria, Stachybotris, Penicillium, Aspergillus.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Hybrid nanoparticles to co-delivery drugs with improved properties for topical ocular application

The authors thank the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal for the financial support: projects UIDB/04138/2020 and UIDP/04138/2020 (iMed.Ulisboa), L. Gonçalves Principal Researcher grant (CEECIND/03143/2017).Background: There is an increasing of several eye diseases, which makes it necessary to develop formulations in this field. Despite this need, the permeation of drugs through the ocular membranes is impaired due to the anatomy and physiology of the human eye. Thus, the need arises to include permeation enhancers in topical ophthalmic formulations to increase the permeability of the drug in the ocular membranes(1). The combination of an anti-inflammatory and an antibiotic would also be very beneficial, as most eye pathologies have inflammation inherent in an infection. Aims: Develop lipid-polymer hybrid nanoparticles (HyLPNs), with enhanced properties for topical ocular drug delivery. Methods: The HyLPNs formulations were produced accordingly to a published methodology of our research group(2). Precirol® at 0.05% (w/v) was used as lipid phase and Pluronic™ F-68 at 0.1% (w/v), a biocompatible non-ionic surfactant in aqueous phase. To produce hybrid nanoparticles, low molecular weight chitosan was added to the aqueous phase. Also, to improve the mucoadhesive properties and permeability of the nanoparticles, Gelucire® 48/16 and hyaluronic acid with an average molecular weight of 50 kDa were added, and HP-β-CD was added to the lipid phase. After optimizing the HyLPNs, an antibiotic (levofloxacin) and an anti-inflammatory (ibuprofen) were incorporated. Results: The final formulation has a size of 224.3 ± 5.0nm, a PDI of 0.304 ± 0.011 and zeta potential of -12.7 ± 0.3mV. The efficiency of encapsulation was 90.1 ± 0.6 % and 79.2 ± 5.6%, with a drug loading of 2.16 ± 0.12% and 1.87 ± 0.18% for levofloxacin and ibuprofen, respectively. In vitro assays with ARPE-19 cell line shown that HyLPNs are biocompatible, without affecting either the cell membrane integrity or the metabolic state. Conclusions: The results allow to showinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Effect of experimental parameters on alginate/chitosan microparticles for BCG encapsulation

The aim of the present study was to develop novel Mycobacterium bovis bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG)-loaded polymeric microparticles with optimized particle surface characteristics and biocompatibility, so that whole live attenuated bacteria could be further used for pre-exposure vaccination against Mycobacterium tuberculosis by the intranasal route. BCG was encapsulated in chitosan and alginate microparticles through three different polyionic complexation methods by high speed stirring. For comparison purposes, similar formulations were prepared with high shear homogenization and sonication. Additional optimization studies were conducted with polymers of different quality specifications in a wide range of pH values, and with three different cryoprotectors. Particle morphology, size distribution, encapsulation efficiency, surface charge, physicochemical properties and biocompatibility were assessed. Particles exhibited a micrometer size and a spherical morphology. Chitosan addition to BCG shifted the bacilli surface charge from negative zeta potential values to strongly positive ones. Chitosan of low molecular weight produced particle suspensions of lower size distribution and higher stability, allowing efficient BCG encapsulation and biocompatibility. Particle formulation consistency was improved when the availability of functional groups from alginate and chitosan was close to stoichiometric proportion. Thus, the herein described microparticulate system constitutes a promising strategy to deliver BCG vaccine by the intranasal route

Aspergillus spp. and azole-resistance characterization on mechanic protection gloves from waste sorting industry

Project "Waste Workers’ Exposure to Bioburden through Filtering Respiratory Protective Devices” (IPL/2018/WasteFRPD_ESTeSL).Aspergillus spp. species are filamentous fungi commonly found in different environmental compartments, where they thrive as saprophytes. Some species among the Aspergillus genera can be occasionally harmful to humans. Only a few species are considered as significant opportunistic pathogens in humans. Aspergillus section Fumigati is an opportunistic pathogen of immunocompromised hosts and one of several Aspergillus species that cause a wide range of respiratory disorders. Increased occurrence of opportunistic Aspergillus infections in immunocompromised patients, and the emergence of antifungal resistance, either in the clinical or in the environment had been reported.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio