Antimicrobial activity of polyhexamethylene biguanide nanoparticles against mastitis-causing Staphylococcus aureus

Postmilking teat disinfection is one of the main measures used to prevent mastitis caused by contagious pathogens, such as Staphylococcus aureus. The present study evaluated the antimicrobial activity of polyhexamethylene biguanide (PHMB) and PHMB nanoparticles (NP) against mastitis-causing Staph. aureus using a microdilution assay methodology. A total of 20 mastitis-causing Staph. aureus isolates were used to determine the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of PHMB and PHMB NP compared with 3 disinfectants commonly used for teat disinfection (chlorhexidine digluconate, povidone-iodine, and sodium dichloroisocyanurate). The MIC90 was defined at the concentrations required to inhibit the growth of 90% of Staph. aureus. Our results indicated that PHMB NP presented the lowest MIC value (<0.03 µg/mL) to inhibit 90% of Staph. aureus, followed by chlorhexidine digluconate (≥0.25 µg/mL) and PHMB (≥0.5 µg/mL). On the other hand, sodium dichloroisocyanurate (≥500 µg/mL) and povidone-iodine (≥8,000 µg/mL) presented the highest concentrations to inhibit the growth of most Staph. aureus. Our preliminary results suggested that both PHMB and PHMB NP have antimicrobial activity against mastitis-causing Staph. aureus, which indicates the potential for both to be used as a teat-dip disinfectant to prevent bovine mastitis

Initial experience with targeted axillary dissection after neoadjuvant therapy in breast cancer patients

Background: Targeted axillary dissection (TAD) combines sentinel node biopsy (SNB) with the removal of the previously marked metastatic node. TAD is a promising concept for axillary restaging in node-positive breast cancer patients with pathological complete response (pCR) to neoadjuvant therapy (NAT). We aimed to evaluate TAD feasibility in this context. Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted in biopsy-confirmed cN1 patients. The removal of the clipped node (CN) was guided by intraoperative ultrasound. SNB used indocyanine green and patent blue V dye. If the CN or sentinel lymph nodes (SLN) had any metastatic foci, or the TAD procedure was unsuccessful, the patient underwent axillary lymph node dissection (ALND). Results: Thirty-seven patients were included. TAD and SNB identification rates were 97.3%. Every retrieved CN was also a SLN. At the individual level, SNB identification rate was 89.2% with indocyanine green and 85.5% with patent blue V dye. The CN identification rate was 81.1%, being higher when the CN was localized on the intraoperative ultrasound (84.4% vs 60.0%). Nodal pCR was achieved by 54.1% of our patients and was more frequent in HER2-positive and triple-negative tumors (p = 0.039). Nineteen patients were spared from ALND. Conclusion: TAD with intraoperative ultrasound-guided excision of the CN and SNB with indocyanine green and patent blue V dye is a feasible concept to identify patients without axillary residual disease after NAT, that can be spared from ALND, although the need for marking the biopsied node should be further investigated. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to The Japanese Breast Cancer Society

Importance of web-based intervention in minimizing depressive symptoms and associated stigma in depressed medical students

[Excerpt] There is a considerable prevalence of depression in medical students, and those who are depressed more frequently endorse feeling stigmatized than non-depressed students.1 Because concerns about confidentiality are often cited by depressed medical students as a major barrier in seeking help, there is a significant need to develop an innovative way to provide medical students with safe and confidential access to services to improve prevention, detection, and intervention in depression and its associated stigma.1 A web-based approach could be potentially useful for addressing this issue and has already been used for delivering intervention in various health conditions, with benefits such as low cost, user convenience, timely information, privacy and confidentiality, reduced levels of stigmatization, and increased user and supplier control.2 Moreover, although current evidence is limited, a recent meta-review3 points to the efficacy of web-based cognitive behavioral interventions in treating/improving depression symptoms in adults. In relation to depression stigma, there is evidence that web-based interventions (e.g., MoodGYM) can reduce personal stigmatizing attitudes toward depression. The web-based approach assumes even greater importance when we consider that stigmatization increases with either the use of prescription medication or mental health counseling, and that only a small percentage of depressed medical students seek mental health counseling services, due to lack of time, confidentiality, stigma, and fear of documentation in academic records.4 However, unintended negative effects could easily arise with web-based approaches as well (e.g. decline in seeking support from family and friends, avoidance of in-person mental health services, inadequate assessment and diagnosis). [...]- (undefined

Sentinel Node Total Tumour Load As a Predictive Factor for Non-Sentinel Node Status in Early Breast Cancer Patients – The porttle study

OSNA is a molecular assay for the detection of sentinel node metastasis. TTL emerged as a concept that seems to accurately predict the status of the NSN. Authors tried to confirm this motion. This is a retrospective and multicentric study that analyzed 2164 patients, 579 of whom had positive SN and completion AD. Logistic regression models were performed in order to identify a suitable cutoff to identify patients who benefit from AD. Univariate and multivariate regression analysis showed a relationship between TTL>30000 and the presence of NSN metastasis (OR 2.84, CI 1.99-4.08, p < 0.001). Logistic regression indicated that the cutoff of 30000 copies/μL better discriminates patients with NSN positivity and allows wide use of these criteria. This cutoff value may safely assist clinicians and patients to decide to proceed or not with an AD.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Serological and Molecular Survey of Hepatitis E Virus in Small Ruminants from Central Portugal

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is currently recognized as an emerging problem and a growing concern for public health in developed countries, with HEV infections mainly attributable to foodborne transmission of HEV-3. The zoonotic HEV genotype 3 infects a wide range of mammalian hosts, with swine considered as the primary host. This study investigates the occurrence of HEV among small ruminants in Portugal. The primary aim of the present research was to evaluate the circulation and the potential for HEV infection among sheep and goats. A total of 400 bile samples and 493 blood samples were collected from sheep and goats at a slaughterhouse in the center region of Portugal, between January 2022 and March 2023. The HEV RNA detection in bile samples was performed using a nested broad-spectrum RT-PCR targeting the ORF1 region. Serological analysis to detect anti-HEV antibodies was conducted using a commercial double-antigen sandwich multi-species ELISA. The HEV RNA was not detected in any bile samples using the nested broad-spectrum RT-PCR. Serological analysis revealed an overall HEV antibody seroprevalence of 2% (10/493, 95% CI: 0.98–3.70) among the small ruminants, namely 2.2% in goats and 2.0% in sheep. Curiously, no statistically significant association among the factors, age, sex and species and HEV seroprevalence was observed. Although HEV RNA was not detected in the bile of sheep and goats, this study the evidence of seroprevalence in these small ruminant species. Further research could provide additional insights into the factors influencing HEV transmission dynamics in small ruminants in Portugal and its potential implications for public health. © The Author(s) 2024."Sérgio Santos-Silva thanks Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) for the financial support of his Ph.D work under the scholarship 2021.09461.BD contract through the Maria de Sousa-2021 program. Helena M.R. Gonçalves received financial support from FCT/MCTES, DOI 10.54499/UIDP/50006/2020 and DOI 10.54499/2022.04199.CEECIND/CP1724/CT0008. António Rivero-Juarez is supported by a contract from the Spanish Junta de Andalucía (Nicolas Monardes program: C1-0001-2023). Pedro López-López was the recipient of a Margarita Salas contract funded by Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia, NextGeneration EU. Open access funding provided by FCT|FCCN (b-on). This research was funded by Fundação para Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), grant number 2021.09461.BD.

Real-Time decision support using data mining to predict blood pressure critical events in intensive medicine patients

Patient blood pressure is an important vital signal to the physicians take a decision and to better understand the patient condition. In Intensive Care Units is possible monitoring the blood pressure due the fact of the patient being in continuous monitoring through bedside monitors and the use of sensors. The intensivist only have access to vital signs values when they look to the monitor or consult the values hourly collected. Most important is the sequence of the values collected, i.e., a set of highest or lowest values can signify a critical event and bring future complications to a patient as is Hypotension or Hypertension. This complications can leverage a set of dangerous diseases and side-effects. The main goal of this work is to predict the probability of a patient has a blood pressure critical event in the next hours by combining a set of patient data collected in real-time and using Data Mining classification techniques. As output the models indicate the probability (%) of a patient has a Blood Pressure Critical Event in the next hour. The achieved results showed to be very promising, presenting sensitivity around of 95%

Interplay between liver and blood stages of Plasmodium infection dictates malaria severity via γδ T cells and IL-17-promoted stress erythropoiesis

© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Plasmodium replicates within the liver prior to reaching the bloodstream and infecting red blood cells. Because clinical manifestations of malaria only arise during the blood stage of infection, a perception exists that liver infection does not impact disease pathology. By developing a murine model where the liver and blood stages of infection are uncoupled, we showed that the integration of signals from both stages dictated mortality outcomes. This dichotomy relied on liver stage-dependent activation of Vγ4+ γδ T cells. Subsequent blood stage parasite loads dictated their cytokine profiles, where low parasite loads preferentially expanded IL-17-producing γδ T cells. IL-17 drove extra-medullary erythropoiesis and concomitant reticulocytosis, which protected mice from lethal experimental cerebral malaria (ECM). Adoptive transfer of erythroid precursors could rescue mice from ECM. Modeling of γδ T cell dynamics suggests that this protective mechanism may be key for the establishment of naturally acquired malaria immunity among frequently exposed individuals.We would like to acknowledge Freddy Frischknecht (Integrative Parasitology Center for Infectious Diseases, Heidelberg) for providing the Plasmodium berghei lisp2− parasite line, Immo Prinz (Hannover Medical School, Hannover) for providing genetically modified mouse lines, Ana Parreira (iMM-JLA, Portugal) and Geoff McFadden’s lab (School of BioSciences, University of Melbourne, Australia) for mosquito rearing and infection with Plasmodium parasites, Helena Pinheiro (iMM-JLA, Portugal) for assistance with graphical design, Inês Bento and Miguel Prudêncio for critically reviewing this manuscript, and the Flow Cytometry and Rodent Facilities teams (iMM-JLA, Portugal) for their assistance. Work at iMM-JLA was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia. Portugal (PTDC/MED-IMU/28664/2017) and the “La caixa” Banking Foundation, Spain (HR17-00264-PoEMM) grants attributed to Â.F.C. and M.M.M., respectively. Work at the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Melbourne, Australia, was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia (1113293, 1154457) and the Australian Research Council, Australia (CE140100011). Â.F.C., S.M., J.L.G., M.I.M., R.M.R., and K.S. were supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal (DL57/2016/CP1451/CT0004, DL57/2016/CP1451/CT0010, PD/BD/139053/2018, PD/BD/135454/2017, PTDC/MAT-APL/31602/2017, and CEECIND/00697/2018, respectively), P.L. was supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tenológico, Brazil (SN/CGEFO/CNPQ 201801/2015-9), and A.T.T. was supported in part by Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship (FG-2020-12949).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

International Veterinary Epilepsy Task Force Consensus Proposal: Diagnostic approach to epilepsy in dogs

This article outlines the consensus proposal on diagnosis of epilepsy in dogs by the International Veterinary Epilepsy Task Force. The aim of this consensus proposal is to improve consistency in the diagnosis of epilepsy in the clinical and research settings. The diagnostic approach to the patient presenting with a history of suspected epileptic seizures incorporates two fundamental steps: to establish if the events the animal is demonstrating truly represent epileptic seizures and if so, to identify their underlying cause. Differentiation of epileptic seizures from other non-epileptic episodic paroxysmal events can be challenging. Criteria that can be used to make this differentiation are presented in detail and discussed. Criteria for the diagnosis of idiopathic epilepsy (IE) are described in a three-tier system. Tier I confidence level for the diagnosis of IE is based on a history of two or more unprovoked epileptic seizures occurring at least 24 h apart, age at epileptic seizure onset of between six months and six years, unremarkable inter-ictal physical and neurological examination, and no significant abnormalities on minimum data base blood tests and urinalysis. Tier II confidence level for the diagnosis of IE is based on the factors listed in tier I and unremarkable fasting and post-prandial bile acids, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain (based on an epilepsy-specific brain MRI protocol) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis. Tier III confidence level for the diagnosis of IE is based on the factors listed in tier I and II and identification of electroencephalographic abnormalities characteristic for seizure disorders. The authors recommend performing MRI of the brain and routine CSF analysis, after exclusion of reactive seizures, in dogs with age at epileptic seizure onset 6 years, inter-ictal neurological abnormalities consistent with intracranial neurolocalisation, status epilepticus or cluster seizure at epileptic seizure onset, or a previous presumptive diagnosis of IE and drug-resistance with a single antiepileptic drug titrated to the highest tolerable dose

Effect of the carbon nanotube surface characteristics on the conductivity and dielectric constant of carbon nanotube/poly(vinylidene fluoride) composites

Commercial multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNT) were functionalized by oxidation with HNO3, to introduce oxygen-containing surface groups, and by thermal treatments at different temperatures for their selective removal. The obtained samples were characterized by adsorption of N2 at -196°C, temperature-programmed desorption and determination of pH at the point of zero charge. CNT/poly(vinylidene fluoride) composites were prepared using the above CNT samples, with different filler fractions up to 1 wt%. It was found that oxidation reduced composite conductivity for a given concentration, shifted the percolation threshold to higher concentrations, and had no significant effect in the dielectric response