Caracterização molecular de genes de virulencia de isolados clínicos de Helicobacter pylori e determinação da atividade antimicrobiana in vitro de diferentes fitoterápicos utilizados na medicina popular brasileira

Resumo: A infecção por H. pylori está associada com o desenvolvimento de diversas desordens clínicas do trato gastrointestinal superior, como gastrite, doença ulcerosa péptica e câncer gástrico. Há séculos medicamentos baseados em plantas têm sido usados no tratamento de uma variedade de infecções, inclusive em desordens gastrointestinais, e vários produtos naturais têm demonstrado atividade antimicrobiana frente ao Helicobacter pylori. O presente trabalho avaliou a atividade antimicrobiana in vitro dos extratos fluídos de algumas plantas utilizadas na medicina popular brasileira, como Malva sylvestris, Chamomilla recutita, Maytenus ilicifolia, Plantago major, Rheum rhaponticum, Bixa orellana, Curcuma longa, Nasturtium officinale e Ilex paraguariensis, contra isolados clínicos de Helicobacter pylori. Paralelamente foi determinada a prevalência do microrganismo nos pacientes atendidos no Serviço de Endoscopia Digestiva do Hospital de Clínicas da Universidade Federal do Paraná (HC-UFPR), na cidade de Curitiba-PR e pesquisada a presença de genes de virulência a partir do DNA extraído das amostras clínicas. Das 81 amostras de biópsias gástricas analisadas, 42 (51,2%) apresentaram cultura positiva para H. pylori. Foi observado que a prevalência do microrganismo aumentou significativamente de acordo com a idade (p < 0,0003): 20-29 anos 25% (2/8); 30-49 anos 51,7% (15/29); 50-80 anos 56,8% (25/44) e nenhuma diferença significativa relacionada ao sexo foi encontrada (p=0,9526). Entre os genes de virulência pesquisados, o gene napA esteve presente em 100% das amostras analisadas e o gene cagA, em 92,3%. Para a associação dos alelos s e m do gene vacA, obteve-se porcentagens de 56,2 %, 2,1%, 2,1% e 39,6% para os genótipos s1m1, s1m2, s2m1 e s2m2, respectivamente. Dos extratos vegetais analisados, o de Ilex paraguariensis apresentou melhor atividade anti-Helicobacter pylori, seguido da Chamomilla recutita. Estudos clínicos posteriores são necessários para confirmar a atividade anti-Helicobacter in vivo destes extratos

QUALIDADE MICROBIOLÓGICA DO LEITE COMERCIALIZADO NO MUNICÍPIO DE CURITIBA, PARANÁ

O leite é considerado um alimento altamente nutritivo, sendo constituído, dessa forma, em um excelente meio de cultura para o crescimento de microrganismos patógenos e deteriorantes. O objetivo deste trabalho foi pesquisar a presença de Salmonella sp, coliformes totais e coliformes termotolerantes, e realizar a contagem de bactérias aeróbias mesófilas em amostras de leite pasteurizado e UHT comercializados no município de Curitiba/PR. Foram analisadas 30 amostras de leite, sendo 5 amostras de cada marca, das quais 3 marcas eram de leite pasteurizado tipo C e 3 marcas de leite UHT. Os resultados obtidos demonstraram que o leite pasteurizado e UHT apresentaram valores dentro do estabelecido pela legislação vigente e as amostras consideradas em condições higiênico-sanitárias adequadas, não oferecendo riscos à saúde da população

RESISTÊNCIA ÀS POLIMIXINAS EM BACTÉRIAS GRAM-NEGATIVAS: UMA REVISÃO MICROBIOLÓGICA

Antibióticos são substâncias químicas antimicrobianas que tem a finalidade de inibir o crescimento de microrganismos ou destruí-los. As polimixinas são antimicrobianos empregados no tratamento de infecções causadas por bacilos Gram-negativos, atuando na desestabilização da membrana externa bacteriana e causando a sua morte. O uso desse fármaco reemergiu nos últimos anos devido ao número crescente de microrganismos multirresistentes às classes de antimicrobianos comumente empregados, sendo a última escolha no tratamento de cepas resistentes. Entretanto, estudos realizados em todo mundo já relataram resistência às polimixinas, principalmente na América Latina e Ásia, evidenciando um problema de saúde pública mundial

Quality appraisal of documents producing recommendations for breast, colorectal and cervical cancer screening

Background: Breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening are evidence-based interventions recommended by most governmental agencies and scientific societies. The aim of this review is to assess the quality of guidelines on screening and to describe differences according to the context in which they were produced. Methods: A literature search of the main databases, websites on health care, and guidelines, as well as the websites of several scientific societies was carried out in order to identify the most recent guidelines (since 2000) on cervical, breast, and colorectal cancer screening. Only documents written in Italian or English were included. Two investigators independently assessed quality by using the AGREE (Appraisal of Guidelines, Research and Evaluation in Europe) instrument. Results: Thirty-three, 32, and 18 relevant documents for cervical, breast, and colorectal cancer, respectively, were identified. Only some documents (19, 12 and 13 for cervical, breast, and colorectal cancer, respectively) could be evaluated with AGREE. Items included in the domain “scope and purpose” obtained the highest scores, followed by “clarity of presentation” domain, while “applicability”, “patient involvement,” and “conflict of interest disclosure” domains obtained the lowest scores. The quality did not improve in more recent documents. Documents produced by governmental agencies, on average, had higher scores than documents by scientific societies, particularly for “stakeholder involvement” and “applicability”. Conclusions: Documents from different countries and health systems differ in terms of the main recommendations given and in the quality of the documents. Those produced by governmental agencies have a more multidisciplinary authorship and pay more attention to applicability than do those produced by scientific societies

Research on antimicrobial residues activity in urine samples of hospitalized patients

Introduction:Urinary tract infection is quite frequent in a hospital environment, and the urine culture is the gold standard for diagnosis of this disease, because it allows bacterial identification and performing antimicrobial susceptibility testing. Culturenegative urine samples result of patients with strong suspicion of infection may occur due to the activity of antimicrobial residues, which can interfere with bacterial growth in vitro and produce false-negative results.Objective:Verify the occurrence of falsenegative urine cultures due to the presence of antimicrobial residues in samples of patients admitted to the Clinical Hospital of Paraná Federal University.Material and methods:A total of 188 urine samples from hospitalized patients were randomly selected, during the period from July to December 2012. All samples were evaluated on the result of the urine culture, bacteriuria, and research on residues of antimicrobial activity by manual and automated techniques.Results:44 (23.4%) presented positive urine culture, 121 (64.4%) negative urine culture, and 23 (12.2%) presented growth of many species. In 14 samples, negative urine cultures associated with the presence of bacteria and were positive for the research on antimicrobial residues activity (RARA), were observed.Conclusion:Automated technique showed better performance when compared to manual technique, with sensitivity of 92.8% and 71.4%, respectively. The presence of antimicrobial residues may affect the recovery of bacteria in the urine, producing a false-negative result

LRRK2 phosphorylates pre-synaptic N-ethylmaleimide sensitive fusion (NSF) protein enhancing its ATPase activity and SNARE complex disassembling rate

Background Lrrk2, a gene linked to Parkinson\u2019s disease, encodes a large scaffolding protein with kinase and GTPase activities implicated in vesicle and cytoskeletal-related processes. At the presynaptic site, LRRK2 associates with synaptic vesicles through interaction with a panel of presynaptic proteins. Results Here, we show that LRRK2 kinase activity influences the dynamics of synaptic vesicle fusion. We therefore investigated whether LRRK2 phosphorylates component(s) of the exo/endocytosis machinery. We have previously observed that LRRK2 interacts with NSF, a hexameric AAA+ ATPase that couples ATP hydrolysis to the disassembling of SNARE proteins allowing them to enter another fusion cycle during synaptic exocytosis. Here, we demonstrate that NSF is a substrate of LRRK2 kinase activity. LRRK2 phosphorylates full-length NSF at threonine 645 in the ATP binding pocket of D2 domain. Functionally, NSF phosphorylated by LRRK2 displays enhanced ATPase activity and increased rate of SNARE complex disassembling. Substitution of threonine 645 with alanine abrogates LRRK2-mediated increased ATPase activity. Conclusions Given that the most common Parkinson\u2019s disease LRRK2 G2019S mutation displays increased kinase activity, our results suggest that mutant LRRK2 may impair synaptic vesicle dynamics via aberrant phosphorylation of NSF

Avaliação da eficácia dos extratos de Malva sylvestris, Calêndula officinalis, Plantago major e Curcuma zedoarea no controle do crescimento das bactérias da placa dentária. Estudo in vitro

Este estudo teve como objetivo avaliar in vitro a eficácia dos extratos fluídos de quatro plantas: Malva sylvestris, Calêndula officinalis, Plantago major e Curcuma zedoarea; No controle da placa bacteriana e comparadas com a solução de Digluconato de Clorhexidina a 20%. Os extratos fluidos de Calêndula officinalis e Curcuma zedoarea apresentaram em média os melhores resultados. Abstract This paper aimed at assessing how successful fluid extracts from: Malva sylvestris, Calêndula officinalis, Plantago major e Curcuma zedoarea could be in tube, so as to control bacterial plaque and also compared to Clorhexidina Digluconato solution at 20%. Fluid extracted from Calêndula officinalis and Curcuma zedoarea were the ones chich presented better results, roughly spesking

Increased use of high-flow nasal cannulas after the pandemic in bronchiolitis: a more severe disease or a changed physician's attitude?

After the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, we noticed a marked increase in high-flow nasal cannula use for bronchiolitis. This study aims to report the percentage of children treated with high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) in various seasons. The secondary outcomes were admissions for bronchiolitis, virological results, hospital burden, and NICU/PICU need. We conducted a retrospective study in four Italian hospitals, examining the medical records of all infants (< 12 months) hospitalized for bronchiolitis in the last four winter seasons (1 September-31 March 2018-2022). In the 2021-2022 winter season, 66% of admitted children received HFNC versus 23%, 38%, and 35% in the previous 3 years. A total of 876 patients were hospitalized in the study periods. In 2021-2022, 300 infants were hospitalized for bronchiolitis, 22 in 2020-2021, 259 in 2019-2020, and 295 in 2018-2019. The percentage of patients needing intensive care varied from 28.7% to 18%, 22%, and 15% in each of the four considered periods (p < 0.05). Seventy-seven percent of children received oxygen in the 2021-2022 winter; vs 50%, 63%, and 55% (p < 0.01) in the previous 3 years. NIV/CPAP was used in 23%, 9%, 16%, and 12%, respectively. In 2021-2020, 2% of patients were intubated; 0 in 2020-2021, 3% in 2019-2020, and 1% in 2018-2019

Partnership for International Development: Finland–Argentina Conference on Circular Economy and Bioeconomy with Emphasis on Food Sovereignty and Sustainability

A joint collaboration between the Cuarto region of Argentina championed by the National University of Rio Cuarto and the Arctic Centre of the University of Lapland, Finland organised a conference on several topics that are related to food sovereignty, sustainability, circular economy and bioeconomy. The efficient utilisation of natural resources in both regions is an important theme in meeting the sustainable development goals agenda. Hence, this partnership between the partner institutions will lead to the cocreation of knowledge. The topics were multidisciplinary, and the discussion focussed on research and teaching opportunities for institutions in both countries. The experts from both countries will continue to engage on the possibility of promoting the research agenda in these important areas.EEA Marcos JuárezFil: Raheem, Dele. University of Lapland. Arctic Centre; FinlandiaFil: Soltermann, Arnaldo T. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Departamento de Química; ArgentinaFil: Tamiozzo, Laura Virginia. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Marcos Juárez. Agencia de Extensión Rural Río Cuarto; ArgentinaFil: Cogo, Ariel. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Área Metropolitana de Buenos Aires. Agencia De Extensión Rural Luján; ArgentinaFil: Favén, Leena. Centria University of Applied Sciences. RDI Chemistry and Bioeconomy; FinlandiaFil: Punam, Noor Jahan. University of Lapland. Arctic Centre; FinlandiaFil: Sarmiento, Claudio R. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Departamento de Química; ArgentinaFil: Rainosalo, Egidija. Centria University of Applied Sciences. RDI Chemistry and Bioeconomy; FinlandiaFil: Picco, Franco. Cooperative Initia Limited; ArgentinaFil: Morla, Federico. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Departamento de Química; ArgentinaFil: Nilson, Armando. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Departamento de Química; ArgentinaFil: Stammler-Gossmann, Anna. University of Lapland. Arctic Centre; Finlandi