A Retrospective Cohort Study

Purpose Graves' disease (GD) is an autoimmune disorder caused by the presence of antibodies to the thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) receptor (TRAbs), usually presenting with clinical signs of hyperthyroidism. Previous evidence suggests that higher serum levels of thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPOAbs) may lead to more sustained remission of hyperthyroidism after treatment with antithyroid drugs (AT). However, doubts about the influence of TPOAbs in Graves' disease outcomes still remain. Methods A retrospective, unicenter cohort study was performed. All patients with GD (TRAbs > 1.58U/L), biochemical primary hyperthyroidism (TSH < 0.4 µUI/mL), and TPOAbs measurement at diagnosis, treated with AT between January 2008 and January 2021, were included for analysis. Results One hundred and forty-two patients (113 women) with a mean age of 52 ± 15 years old were included. They were followed up for 65.4 ± 43.8 months. TPOAbs positivity was present in 71.10% (n=101) of those patients. Patients were treated with AT for a median of 18 (IQR (12; 24)) months. Remission occurred in 47.2% of patients. Patients with remission presented with lower TRAbs and free thyroxine (FT4) levels at the diagnosis. (p-value <0.001, p-value 0.003, respectively). No association was found in the median TPOAbs serum levels of patients who remitted and those who maintained biochemical hyperthyroidism after the first course of AT. Relapse of hyperthyroidism occurred in 54 patients (57.4%). No difference was found in TPOAbs serum levels regarding the patient's relapse. Moreover, a time-based analysis revealed no differences in the relapse rate after 18 months of AT therapy between patients with and without TPOAbs positivity at the diagnosis (p-value 0.176). It was found a weak positive correlation (r=0.295; p-value <0.05) between TRAbs and TPOAbs titters at the moment of Graves' diagnosis. Conclusion In this study, a correlation between TRAbs measurements and TPOAbs titter was described, although no significant association was found between the presence of TPOAbs and the outcomes of patients with GD treated with AT. These results do not support the use of TPOAbs as a useful biomarker to predict remission or relapse of hyperthyroidism in GD patients.publishersversionpublishe

Are we giving it too much credit?

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 is a new form of acute respiratory failure leading to multiorgan failure and ICU admission. Gathered evidence suggests that a 3-fold rise in D-dimer concentrations may be linked to poor prognosis and higher mortality. PURPOSE: To describe D-dimer admission profile in severe ICU COVID19 patients and its predictive role in outcomes and mortality. METHODS: Single-center retrospective cohort study. All adult patients admitted to ICU with COVID19 were divided into 3 groups: (1) Lower-values group (D-dimer levels < 3-fold normal range value [NRV] [500ng/mL]), Intermediate-values group (D-dimer ≥3-fold and <10-fold NRV) and Higher-value group (≥10-fold NRV). RESULTS: 118 patients (mean age 63 years, 73% males) were included (N = 73 Lower-values group, N = 31 Intermediate-values group; N = 11 Higher-values group). Mortality was not different between groups (p = 0.51). Kaplan-Meier survival curves revealed no differences (p = 0.52) between groups, nor it was verified even when gender, age, ICU length of stay, and SOFA score were considered as covariables. CONCLUSIONS: In severe COVID19 patients, the D-dimer profile does not retain a predictive value regarding patients' survivability and should not be used as a surrogate of disease severity.publishersversionpublishe

Artistas sobre outras obras

Às vezes as palavras podem ser escondidas antes de ser ditas, cabendo ao artista, ou ao poeta, a capacidade de as revelar. São coisas difíceis, pois tratam-se de coisas de difícil acesso, apenas franqueadas pelos poetas e artistas. E estes artistas, convocados por outros artistas, se anunciam vivos pelo olhar da afinidade, pela convergência para lá do visível, pela cumplicidade assinalada. Assim se reunem os artigos deste número da revista Estúdio 23.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Up-to-Date Overview of the Use of Natural Ingredients in Sunscreens

The photoprotective skincare segment is in high demand to meet consumer concerns on UV-induced skin damage, with a recent trend towards sunscreen alternatives with a natural origin. In this study, the use of natural ingredients, either from terrestrial or marine origin, in a panel of 444 sunscreen commercial formulations (2021) was analyzed. Ingredients from terrestrial organisms represent the large majority found in the analyzed sunscreen formulations (48%), whereas marine ingredients are present only in 13% of the analyzed products. A deeper analysis regarding the most prevalent families of ingredients from terrestrial and marine organisms used as top ingredients is also presented, as well as their mechanisms of action. This study provides an up-to-date overview of the sunscreen market regarding the use of natural ingredients, which is of relevance for scientists involved in the development of new sunscreens to identify opportunities for innovation

2 Laboratório de Engenharia de Software – Departamento de Informática

Abstract. Research in knowledge representation has explored several formalisms with logical and probabilistic features. In this paper we present three tools that support the development of probabilistic logic knowledge bases. The first tool is a generator of probabilistic propositional satisfiability (PSAT) problems that is useful in testing algorithms. The second tool is an consistency checker for PSAT that handles probabilities over CNFs. The third tool is a convenient editor for PSAT problems that simplifies the construction of knowledge bases. Resumo. A pesquisa em representação de conhecimento têm explorado diversos formalismos envolvendo aspectos lógicos e probabilísticos. Neste artigo apresentamos três ferramentas que dão suporte ao desenvolvimento de bases de conhecimento lógico-probabilísticas. A primeira ferramenta é um gerador de problemas de satisfatibilidade probabilística proposicional (PSAT), que é útil para testar algoritmos. A segunda ferramenta é um verificador de consistência em PSAT que lida com probabilidades sobre CNFs. A terceira ferramenta é um editor de problemas PSAT que simplifica a construção de bases de conhecimento. 1

Profiling the venom gland transcriptomes of Costa Rican snakes by 454 pyrosequencing

Background: A long term research goal of venomics, of applied importance for improving current antivenom therapy, but also for drug discovery, is to understand the pharmacological potential of venoms. Individually or combined, proteomic and transcriptomic studies have demonstrated their feasibility to explore in depth the molecular diversity of venoms. In the absence of genome sequence, transcriptomes represent also valuable searchable databases for proteomic projects. Results: The venom gland transcriptomes of 8 Costa Rican taxa from 5 genera (Crotalus, Bothrops, Atropoides, Cerrophidion, and Bothriechis) of pitvipers were investigated using high-throughput 454 pyrosequencing. 100,394 out of 330,010 masked reads produced significant hits in the available databases. 5.165,220 nucleotides (8.27%) were masked by RepeatMasker, the vast majority of which corresponding to class I (retroelements) and class II (DNA transposons) mobile elements. BLAST hits included 79,991 matches to entries of the taxonomic suborder Serpentes, of which 62,433 displayed similarity to documented venom proteins. Strong discrepancies between the transcriptome-computed and the proteome-gathered toxin compositions were obvious at first sight. Although the reasons underlaying this discrepancy are elusive, since no clear trend within or between species is apparent, the data indicate that individual mRNA species may be translationally controlled in a species-dependent manner. The minimum number of genes from each toxin family transcribed into the venom gland transcriptome of each species was calculated from multiple alignments of reads matched to a full-length reference sequence of each toxin family. Reads encoding ORF regions of Kazal-type inhibitor-like proteins were uniquely found in Bothriechis schlegelii and B. lateralis transcriptomes, suggesting a genus-specific recruitment event during the early-Middle Miocene. A transcriptome-based cladogram supports the large divergence between A. mexicanus and A. picadoi, and a closer kinship between A. mexicanus and C. godmani. Conclusions: Our comparative next-generation sequencing (NGS) analysis reveals taxon-specific trends governing the formulation of the venom arsenal. Knowledge of the venom proteome provides hints on the translation efficiency of toxin-coding transcripts, contributing thereby to a more accurate interpretation of the transcriptome. The application of NGS to the analysis of snake venom transcriptomes, may represent the tool for opening the door to systems venomics.Universidad de Costa Rica, Instituto Clodomiro PicadoUCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias de la Salud::Instituto Clodomiro Picado (ICP