Attitudes of Physicians Toward Risk Assessment and Use of Granulocyte-Colony Stimulating Factor (G-Csf) As Primary Prophylaxis (Pp) in Patients (Pts) Receiving Chemotherapy with an Intermediate Risk of Febrile Neutropenia (Fn)

n/

O papel de alguns micro-organismos na carcinogênese / The role of some microorganisms in carcinogenesis

A associação de alguns microrganismos envolvidos diretamente com o processo de carcinogênese vem aumentando a cada dia. A inflamação crônica causada por esses micróbios, além de fatores relacionados ao hospedeiro e ao ambiente, são fatores importantes para a iniciação do câncer. Muitos patógenos têm sido classificados como cancerígenos para os seres humanos, tais como: Helicobacter pylori, Vírus da hepatite B, vírus da hepatite C e o papilomavírus humano. O estudo teve como objetivo realizar uma revisão bibliográfica sobre o papel destes micro-organismos na carcinogênese, assim como estudar os mecanismos utilizados por esses patógenos no processo de geração do câncer. Foi possível observar que alguns fatores de virulências presentes nesses microrganismos são de fundamental importância no desenvolvimento da doença, tais como a cag A e Vac A da Helicobacter pylori

Estradiol alters the immune-responsiveness of cervical epithelial cells stimulated with ligands of Toll-like receptors 2 and 4.

The mucosa of the female reproductive tract plays a pivotal role in host defence. Pregnancy must alter immunological mechanisms at this interface to protect the conceptus. We sought to determine how estradiol (E2) alters the immune-responsiveness of cervical epithelial cells to ligand stimulation of Toll-like receptor (TLR)-2 and -4. Human ectocervical epithelial cells (HECECs) were cultured and co-incubated with two concentrations of E2 and peptidoglycan (PGN) or lipopolysaccharide (LPS) over durations that ranged between 10 minutes and 18 hours. Cytometric Bead Array was performed to quantify eight cytokines in the supernatant fluid. In response to PGN, HECECs co-incubated with E2 released lesser quantities of IL-1ß and IFNγ, higher levels of RANTES, and variable levels of IL-6 and IL-8 than those not exposed to E2. In contrast, HECECs co-incubated with LPS and E2 secreted increased levels of IL-1ß, IL-6, IL-8, and IFNγ at 2 and 18 hours than HECECs not exposed to E2, and reduced levels of RANTES at same study time-points. Estradiol alters the immune-responsiveness of cultured HECECs to TLR2 and TLR4 ligands in a complex fashion that appears to vary with bacterial ligand, TLR subtype, and duration of exposure. Our observations are consistent with the functional complexity that this mucosal interface requires for its immunological roles

Promovendo a consciência ambiental em uma escola pública de João Pessoa / Promoting environmental awareness in a public school in João Pessoa

Educação Ambiental é matéria de importante discussão devido ao fato de se compreender a necessidade de uma melhoria do contexto do mundo em que se vive e principalmente no meio escolar.  Despreocupação e desinteresse com as questões ambientais são recorrentes entre as pessoas por inúmeros aspectos, porém torna-se essencial discutir a responsabilidade com temas ambientais e as devidas posturas sustentáveis. Neste sentido, este trabalho tem como objetivo principal compreender a percepção dos estudantes a respeito da educação ambiental, assim como a promoção da sensibilização coletiva sobre ideais de sustentabilidade

The evolution of gene expression and the transcriptome–phenotype relationship

Changes in gene expression underlie the adaptive evolution in many complex phenotypes, and the recent increase in the availability of multi-species comparative transcriptome data has made it possible to scan whole transcriptomes for loci that have experienced adaptive changes in expression. However, despite the increase in data availability, current models of gene expression evolution often do not account for the complexities and inherent noise associated with transcriptome data. Additionally, in contrast to current models of gene sequence evolution, models of transcriptome evolution often lack the sophistication to effectively determine whether transcriptional differences between species or within a clade are the result of neutral or adaptive processes. In this review, we discuss the tools, methods and models that define our current understanding of the relationship between gene expression and complex phenotype evolution. Our goal is to summarize what we know about the evolution of global gene expression patterns underlying complex traits, as well to identify some of the questions that remain to be answered

A Conserved Developmental Patterning Network Produces Quantitatively Different Output in Multiple Species of Drosophila

Differences in the level, timing, or location of gene expression can contribute to alternative phenotypes at the molecular and organismal level. Understanding the origins of expression differences is complicated by the fact that organismal morphology and gene regulatory networks could potentially vary even between closely related species. To assess the scope of such changes, we used high-resolution imaging methods to measure mRNA expression in blastoderm embryos of Drosophila yakuba and Drosophila pseudoobscura and assembled these data into cellular resolution atlases, where expression levels for 13 genes in the segmentation network are averaged into species-specific, cellular resolution morphological frameworks. We demonstrate that the blastoderm embryos of these species differ in their morphology in terms of size, shape, and number of nuclei. We present an approach to compare cellular gene expression patterns between species, while accounting for varying embryo morphology, and apply it to our data and an equivalent dataset for Drosophila melanogaster. Our analysis reveals that all individual genes differ quantitatively in their spatio-temporal expression patterns between these species, primarily in terms of their relative position and dynamics. Despite many small quantitative differences, cellular gene expression profiles for the whole set of genes examined are largely similar. This suggests that cell types at this stage of development are conserved, though they can differ in their relative position by up to 3–4 cell widths and in their relative proportion between species by as much as 5-fold. Quantitative differences in the dynamics and relative level of a subset of genes between corresponding cell types may reflect altered regulatory functions between species. Our results emphasize that transcriptional networks can diverge over short evolutionary timescales and that even small changes can lead to distinct output in terms of the placement and number of equivalent cells

Aristotelian Essentialism: Essence in the Age of Evolution

The advent of contemporary evolutionary theory ushered in the eventual decline of Aristotelian Essentialism (Æ) – for it is widely assumed that essence does not, and cannot have any proper place in the age of evolution. This paper argues that this assumption is a mistake: if Æ can be suitably evolved, it need not face extinction. In it, I claim that if that theory’s fundamental ontology consists of dispositional properties, and if its characteristic metaphysical machinery is interpreted within the framework of contemporary evolutionary developmental biology, an evolved essentialism is available. The reformulated theory of Æ offered in this paper not only fails to fall prey to the typical collection of criticisms, but is also independently both theoretically and empirically plausible. The paper contends that, properly understood, essence belongs in the age of evolution

A randomised controlled trial of probiotics for the prevention of spontaneous preterm delivery associated with bacterial vaginosis: preliminary results

BACKGROUND: Bacterial vaginosis increases the risk of spontaneous preterm delivery at less than 34 weeks of gestation. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of the early administration of selected lactobacilli strains (probiotics) to pregnant women with asymptomatic bacterial vaginosis/intermediate-degree infections to prevent spontaneous premature delivery and associated neonatal morbidity. METHODS/DESIGN: Asymptomatic pregnant women at less than 20 weeks of gestation, with no indication of elective preterm delivery, with a vaginal pH ??? 4.5 and Nugent score > 3 were randomly assigned to the placebo or intervention group (oral administration of selected lactobacilli up to the 24th to 26th week of gestation). The randomisation was stratified for the history of premature delivery (HPD) and blocked. The allocation was concealed, and the participating health professionals and patients were blinded. The primary outcome was preterm delivery (<34 to <32 weeks), and the secondary outcomes were associated neonatal complications. RESULTS: In total, 4,204 pregnant women were screened; 320 and 324 individuals were respectively randomly assigned to the placebo and intervention groups, and 62% finished the trial. None of the randomised patients were lost to follow-up. For the non-HPD stratum, the intent-to-treat relative risks of spontaneous premature birth at < 34 and < 37 weeks' gestation were 0.33 (0.03, 3.16) and 0.49 (0.17, 1.44), respectively, and they were non-significant (ns) with p = 0.31 and 0.14. The corresponding actual treatment figures were zero and 0.32 (0.09, 1.19), which were ns with p = 0.12 and 0.06. The intent-to-treat relative risk of spontaneous premature birth at < 37 weeks of gestation for the trial as a whole, including HPD and non-HPD participants, was 0.69 (0.26, 1.78), p = 0.30 (ns). The neonatal complications under evaluation occurred in only one infant (< 34 weeks; placebo group) who presented with respiratory distress syndrome and suspected early neonatal sepsis. The recorded adverse events were minor and relatively non-specific. CONCLUSIONS: The efficacy of the tested probiotics to prevent preterm delivery among women without a history of preterm delivery was not determined because the study sample was insufficient to estimate statistically significant intent-to-treat effects; additional studies are needed to evaluate this intervention among these women