Revisiting the roles of VHR/DUSP3 phosphatase in human diseases

Protein tyrosine phosphatases have long been considered key regulators of biological processes and are therefore implicated in the origins of various human diseases. Heterozygosity, mutations, deletions, and the complete loss of some of these enzymes have been reported to cause neurodegenerative diseases, autoimmune syndromes, genetic disorders, metabolic diseases, cancers, and many other physiological imbalances. Vaccinia H1-related phosphatase, also known as dual-specificity phosphatase 3, is a protein tyrosine phosphatase enzyme that regulates the phosphorylation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway, a central mediator of a diversity of biological responses. It has been suggested that vaccinia H1-related phosphatase can act as a tumor suppressor or tumor-promoting phosphatase in different cancers. Furthermore, emerging evidence suggests that this enzyme has many other biological functions, such as roles in immune responses, thrombosis, hemostasis, angiogenesis, and genomic stability, and this broad spectrum of vaccinia H1-related phosphatase activity is likely the result of its diversity of substrates. Hence, fully identifying and characterizing these substrate-phosphatase interactions will facilitate the identification of pharmacological inhibitors of vaccinia H1-related phosphatase that can be evaluated in clinical trials. In this review, we describe the biological processes mediated by vaccinia H1-related phosphatase, especially those related to genomic stability. We also focus on validated substrates and signaling circuitry with clinical relevance in human diseases, particularly oncogenesis

Identification and genotyping of white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) isolated from Litopenaeus vannamei in the state Rio Grande do Norte / Identificação e genotipagem do vírus da síndrome da mancha branca (WSSV) isolado de Litopenaeus vannamei no estado do Rio Grande Do Norte

The aim of our investigation was to detect WSSV in Litopenaues vannamei from farms in Rio Grande do Norte (RN) state, as well as perform genotyping of the isolates. A total of five farms were surveyed, from which 10 samples were collected in each one. We selected two ponds in each of the farms; these were chosen because of clinical suspicion of WSSV. Genomic DNA was extracted to detect the virus by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Subsequently, we performed, through PCR, genotyping of the positive DNA samples analyzing a variable number of tandem repeats - VNTR in three molecular markers (ORFs 75, 94 and 125). The results revealed the presence of the virus in only one of the 5 analyzed farms. The loci ORF 75 and ORF 94 were identified in isolates from the positive samples and no amplification failure for ORF 125. The number of repeating units (RUs) was calculated, and found to 9 repetitions ORF 75 and 10 RUs to ORF 94, a pattern that had not been described, stressing the need for more strain typing for screening and surveillance of the disease

Protein-enriched umbu (Spondias tuberosa) jam prepared by supplementation with Spirulina sp. LEB-18 / Geleia de umbu (S. tuberosa) enriquecido com proteínas pela adição de Spirulina sp. LEB-18

We developed a protein-enriched umbu (S. tuberosa) jam by adding Spirulina sp. LEB-18 to it to improve its nutritional value. Three formulations were developed: UJ1 (jam without Spirulina), UJ2spirulina (jam with 1.0% Spirulina), and UJ3spirulina (jam with 1.4% Spirulina). Physicochemical properties, chemical composition, and sensory acceptance were determined. Jam products were deemed to be stable and safe for consumption because their water activity (Aw; 0.58–0.61), pH (2.60–3.42), and total titratable acidity (14.59–22.27%) values were considered to prevent the growth of microorganisms. There were statistically significant differences in these parameters, except for the Aw, among the umbu jams with Spirulina. The moisture content was lower in the jams produced (10.66–16.79%) than in commercial formulations, but the energy value (332.91–358.87 kcal/100 g) was higher when compared to other studies. In this study, the most significant result was that the supplementation of umbu jam with 1.0% and 1.4% of Spirulina statistically significantly increased the amount of protein (136–232%) and total ash (96–235%). Furthermore, the acceptability indices for UJ1, UJ2spirulina, and UJ3spirulina were 81.3, 78.0, and 75.3%, respectively, and therefore, they were considered as acceptable products (over 70%). Thus, the results indicate that supplementation with Spirulina sp. LEB-18 may improve the nutritional value of food and provide health benefits when incorporated into different food industry products, especially as a protein-enriched functional food ingredient. We developed a protein-enriched umbu (S. tuberosa) jam by adding Spirulina sp. LEB-18 to it to improve its nutritional value. Three formulations were developed: UJ1 (jam without Spirulina), UJ2spirulina (jam with 1.0% Spirulina), and UJ3spirulina (jam with 1.4% Spirulina). Physicochemical properties, chemical composition, and sensory acceptance were determined. Jam products were deemed to be stable and safe for consumption because their water activity (Aw; 0.58–0.61), pH (2.60–3.42), and total titratable acidity (14.59–22.27%) values were considered to prevent the growth of microorganisms. There were statistically significant differences in these parameters, except for the Aw, among the umbu jams with Spirulina. The moisture content was lower in the jams produced (10.66–16.79%) than in commercial formulations, but the energy value (332.91–358.87 kcal/100 g) was higher when compared to other studies. In this study, the most significant result was that the supplementation of umbu jam with 1.0% and 1.4% of Spirulina statistically significantly increased the amount of protein (136–232%) and total ash (96–235%). Furthermore, the acceptability indices for UJ1, UJ2spirulina, and UJ3spirulina were 81.3, 78.0, and 75.3%, respectively, and therefore, they were considered as acceptable products (over 70%). Thus, the results indicate that supplementation with Spirulina sp. LEB-18 may improve the nutritional value of food and provide health benefits when incorporated into different food industry products, especially as a protein-enriched functional food ingredient

Development and characterization of high-absorption microencapsulated organic propolis EPP-AF® extract (i-CAPs)

The demand for organic and functional food continues to increase yearly. Among the available functional foods, propolis is a bee product that has various beneficial properties, including antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory activities. However, it generally is only available in ethanol solution, which has poor bioavailability, as it is relatively insoluble in water. The use of such ethanol extracts is often objectionable because of the alcohol content and because they have a strong and striking taste. Development of alternatives that can efficiently and safely increase solubility in water, and that meet organic production specifications, has been a challenge. To address these concerns, microcapsules were developed using spray-dryer technology from an emulsion based on EPP-AF® propolis and gum arabic (i-CAPS). These propolis-loaded microcapsules were characterized using FT-IR, SEM, TGA, HPLC, and spectrophotometric techniques, along with determination of antimicrobial, antioxidant, antitumor, anti-inflammatory, and antihypercholesterolemic activities, as well as permeability in in vitro models. The production system resulted in microcapsules with a spherical shape and an encapsulation efficiency of 93.7 0.7%. They had IC50s of 2.654 0.062 and 7.342 0.058 g/mL by FRAP and DPPH antioxidant methods, respectively. The EPP-AF® i-CAPS also had superior antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive bacteria. Antitumor activity was calculated based on the concentration that inhibited 50% of growth of AGS, Caco-2, and MCF-7 cell strains, giving results of 154.0 1.0, 117 1.0, and 271.0 25 g/mL, respectively. The microcapsule presentation reduced the permeation of cholesterol by 53.7%, demonstrating antihypercholesterolemic activity, and it improved the permeability of p-coumaric acid and artepillin C. The IC50 for NO production in RAW264.7 cells was 59.0 0.1 g/mL. These findings demonstrate the potential of this new propolis product as a food and pharmaceutical ingredient, though additional studies are recommended to validate the safety of proposed dosages.CNPq financially supported this research through the CNPQ/MCTI/SEMPI No. 021/2021 process on RHAE modality, contract number 424727/2021-8. It was also supported by São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) grant #2017/04138-8, CNPq (grant 309614/2021-0; INCT-INFO), CNPq grants 350088/2022-5 and 350089/2022-1, São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) (grant no. 2013/07276-1). The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) for financial support by national funds FCT/MCTES to CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020 and UIDP/00690/2020) and SusTEC (LA/P/0007/2021). Thanks to the project GreenHealth, Norte-01- 0145-FEDER-000042.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Antifungal nanofibers made by controlled release of sea animal derived peptide

© The Royal Society of Chemistry 2015Candida albicans is a common human-pathogenic fungal species with the ability to cause several diseases including surface infections. Despite the clear difficulties of Candida control, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have emerged as an alternative strategy for fungal control. In this report, different concentrations of antifungal Cm-p1 (Cencritchis muricatus peptide 1) were electrospun into nanofibers for drug delivery. The nanofibers were characterized by mass spectrometry confirming the presence of the peptide on the scaffold. Atomic force microscopy and scanning electronic microscopy were used to measure the diameters, showing that Cm-p1 affects fiber morphology as well as the diameter and scaffold thickness. The Cm-p1 release behavior from the nanofibers demonstrated peptide release from 30 min to three days, leading to effective yeast control in the first 24 hours. Moreover, the biocompatibility of the fibers were evaluated through a MTS assay as well as ROS production by using a HUVEC model, showing that the fibers do not affect cell viability and only nanofibers containing 10% Cm-p1–PVA improved ROS generation. In addition, the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and TNF-α by the HUVECs was also slightly modified by the 10% Cm-p1–PVA nanofibers. In conclusion, the electrospinning technique applied here allowed for the manufacture of biodegradable biomimetic nanofibrous extracellular membranes with the ability to control fungal infectionThis work was supported by CAPES, FUNDECT, CNPq, FAPDF, UCB, Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia – Ministério da Educação e Ciência (FCT-MEC, Portugal) and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (Portugal

Cuidados Paliativos e as percepções nos três níveis de atenção à saúde: conhecendo e refletindo

Introduction: Palliative care (PC) comprises a philosophy, a way of caring, that values the care of the person to the detriment of actions aimed at curing the disease. Objective: evaluate palliative care at three levels of health. Methodology: Integrative literature review research, guided by the following steps: construction of the research question; delimitation of inclusion and exclusion criteria; choice of databases; search and selection of studies; analysis and presentation of results. Results and Discussion: 300 studies were identified, after applying the language inclusion criterion, remaining 90 studies, and then reading the titles, in which 210 articles were excluded, as they were not related to the objective of this article. The abstracts of the 210 articles selected from the analysis of the titles were read and only those that met the inclusion criteria had their abstracts investigated. After that, the number of articles mentioned previously remained, which were read in full. 9 articles were selected to compose the research. Conclusion: Therefore, we conclude that palliative care, although it is a current and extremely necessary topic aiming at a quality of life in terminally ill patients, technical-scientific knowledge is still quite limited, however the objective of the work was achieved by highlighting hospital care, primary and household.Introdução: Os cuidados paliativos (CP) compreendem uma filosofia, um modo de cuidar, que preza o cuidado da pessoa em detrimento das ações voltadas para a cura da doença. Objetivo: avaliar os cuidados paliativos nos três níveis de saúde. Metodologia: Pesquisa de revisão integrativa da literatura, guiada pelas seguintes etapas: construção da questão de pesquisa; delimitação dos critérios de inclusão e exclusão; escolha das bases de dados; busca e seleção dos estudos; análise e exposição dos resultados. Resultados e Discussão: Foram identificados 300 estudos, depois da aplicação do critério de inclusão do idioma, permanecendo os 90 estudos, e em seguida a leitura dos títulos, nos quais foram excluídos 210 artigos, por não estarem relacionados ao objetivo deste artigo. Houve a leitura dos resumos dos 210 artigos selecionados a partir da análise dos títulos e somente aqueles dentro dos critérios de inclusão tiveram os resumos investigados. Após isso, permaneceram a quantidade de artigos citadas anteriormente, que foram lidos integralmente. Foram selecionados 9 artigos para compor a pesquisa.  Conclusão: Sendo assim, concluímos que os cuidados paliativos por mais que sejam uma temática atual e extremamente necessária visando uma qualidade de vida na terminalidade, o conhecimento técnico-científico ainda é bastante limitado, todavia o objetivo do trabalho foi alcançado evidenciando a assistência hospitalar, primária e domiciliar

Vivência na monitoria de anatomia humana: relato de experiência de discentes-monitores do curso de Fisioterapia

This article relates the importance of the experience of monitoring in life academic students-monitors on the Human Anatomy discipline of Physiotherapy course at the University of Pernambuco (UPE), Petrolina. The study is qualitative using experience report by studentsmonitors of discipline, from march 2013 to december 2014. The monitoring activities were developed in the laboratory of studies and researches in human anatomy on that university. In addition to aid the teacher in practical classes, the monitors were part of other activities promoted by the laboratory involving teaching, research and extension. The experiences of the monitors have allowed observing the importance of the relation between theoretical and practical, enabling the teaching and learning process and expanding their knowledge, academic and professional perspectives.ESTE ARTÍCULO REPORTA LA IMPORTANCIA DE LA EXPERIENCIA DE LA MONITORIA EN LA VIDA DE LOS ESTUDIANTES-MONITORES, DE LA DISCIPLINA DE ANATOMÍA HUMANA EN EL CURSO DE FISIOTERAPIA DE LA UNIVERSIDAD DE PERNAMBUCO (UPE), CAMPUS PETROLINA. EL ESTUDIO ES DEL TIPO CUALITATIVO A TRAVÉS DE RELATO EXPERIMENTADO POR ESTUDIANTES-MONITORES DE LA DISCIPLINA EN EL PERÍODO DE MARZO DE 2013 HASTA DICIEMBRE DE 2014. LAS ACTIVIDADES DE MONITORIA SE LLEVARON A CABO EN EL LABORATORIO DE ESTUDIOS Y INVESTIGACIONES EN ANATOMÍA HUMANA DE LA REFERIDA UNIVERSIDAD. MÁS ALLÁ DE LA AYUDA AL PROFESOR EN CLASES PRÁCTICAS, HICIERON PARTE DE OTRAS ACTIVIDADES PROMOVIDAS POR EL LABORATORIO ENVOLVIENDO LA ENSEÑANZA, LA INVESTIGACIÓN Y LA EXTENSIÓN. LAS EXPERIENCIAS DE LOS MONITORES PERMITE OBSERVAR LA IMPORTANCIA DE CONEXIÓN DE LA ENSEÑANZA TEÓRICO-PRÁCTICA, FACILITANDO EL PROCESO DE ENSEÑANZA-APRENDIZAJE Y LA AMPLIACIÓN DE SUS CONOCIMIENTOS Y PERSPECTIVAS ACADÉMICAS Y PROFESIONALES, PREPARANDO EL FUTURO FISIOTERAPEUTA PARA UNA BUENA RELACIÓN CON SUS PACIENTES, LO QUE LE PERMITE UNA ACCIÓN MÁS EFICAZ. PALABRAS CLAVES: ANATOMÍA. ENSEÑANZA. EXPERIENCIA. FORMACIÓNO presente artigo relata a importância da vivência da monitoria na vida acadêmica de discentes-monitores, da disciplina de Anatomia Humana, no curso de Fisioterapia da Universidade De Pernambuco (UPE) campus Petrolina. O estudo é de cunho qualitativo, utilizando o relato de experiência vivenciado por discentes-monitores da disciplina, no período de março de 2013 a dezembro de 2014. As atividades de monitoria foram desenvolvidas no laboratório de estudos e pesquisas em anatomia humana da referida universidade. Além do auxílio ao professor nas aulas práticas, os monitores fizeram parte de outras atividades promovidas pelo laboratório envolvendo o ensino, a pesquisa e a extensão. As experiências vivenciadas pelos monitores possibilitaram observar a importância da relação entre teoria e prática, viabilizando o processo de ensinoaprendizagem e ampliando os seus conhecimentos, perspectivas acadêmicas e profissionais