Efeitos da musicoterapia na comunicação, socialização e imaginação em crianças com perturbação do espectro do autismo: um estudo de caso em Rebordosa - Portugal

No estudo apresentado propomo-nos aceder à melhor compreensão da existência de benefícios da música como intervenção terapêutica pretendendo explorar os efeitos desta em crianças com Perturbação do Espectro do Autismo (PEA) referindo e sustentando a ideia que trará benefícios na comunicação, socialização e imaginação destas crianças que apresentam défices específicos na comunicação, interação social, comportamentos estereotipados, dificuldade em usar a imaginação e resistência à alteração das rotinas e que a musicoterapia assume um papel de destaque na intervenção destas crianças. A metodologia utilizada foi de natureza qualitativa, com recurso a um estudo de caso de uma criança com PEA que frequenta a Unidade de Ensino Estruturado da Escola Básica n.º 1 de Rebordosa, concelho de Paredes em Portugal e sessões de musicoterapia duas vezes por semana. Neste estudo, participaram elementos da família (pais), docentes (Professora de Educação Especial e Professora Titular de Turma) e técnicos especializados (Musicoterapeutas). Os instrumentos utilizados nesta investigação para recolha de dados foram a entrevista aos pais e ao musicoterapeuta da Associação Portuguesa para as Perturbações do Desenvolvimento e Autismo (APPDA-Norte) e a observação direta da criança em dez sessões de musicoterapia com registos escritos. Os resultados permitem-nos concluir que a musicoterapia assume um papel fulcral como facilitador da comunicação, socialização e imaginação de crianças com PEA, desenvolvendo capacidades de autorregulação emocional, social e impulsionando a expressão harmoniosa das suas emoções contribuindo para o seu bem-estar e desenvolvimento cognitivo. A música é linguagem e serve de canal de comunicação entre a criança e o mundo que a rodeia aproximando-a dos seus pares

Registro de câncer de base populacional: uma proposta para a apresentação dos dados pediátricos brasileiros

Os tumores da infância são raros, porém, por serem curáveis, por terem grandes especificidades clínico-epidemiológicas relativamente àqueles dos adultos, e por representarem a primeira causa de morte por doença entre crianças, eles se constituem, nos países desenvolvidos, em um importante objeto de estudo. A apresentação de seus dados no modelo proposto para tumores do adulto não é adequada nem fidedigna, primeiro, pela minimização que os tumores ditos pediátricos sofrem, por causa da sua raridade, ao serem expressos por 100.000 habitantes; segundo, por sua distribuição desigual entre as faixas etárias preconizadas pelo modelo atualmente em vigência (ou seja, a cada cinco anos); e, terceiro, pela importância maior da sua classificação (exceto pelos tumores do sistema nervoso central) por tipo cito-histopatológico do que por localização primária, ao contrário do que se aplica ao adulto e no modelo atual. Pelo presente trabalho, propõe-se que os tumores de crianças e adolescentes sejam classificados, nos registros de câncer de base populacional brasileiros, por tipo cito-histopatológico; que sejam distribuídos em intervalos anuais, até os 15 anos de idade, e em percentagem do total dos números absolutos; e que sejam incluídos todos os tumores do sistema nervoso central, independentemente do seu grau de malignidade

Uso da aspiração manual a vácuo na redução do custo e duração de internamentos por aborto incompleto em Fortaleza, CE, Brasil

INTRODUÇÃO: O uso de aspiração a vácuo (AV) no tratamento do aborto incompleto é prática bastante difundida em países desenvolvidos. Vários estudos nesses países indicam que o uso da técnica de aspiração manual a vácuo (AMV) pode conservar recursos do sistema de saúde e melhorar a qualidade do tratamento do aborto. No Brasil, o uso da AMV é procedimento de rotina nos hospitais e clínicas privados. Entretanto, na maioria dos hospitais da rede pública é utilizada somente a técnica de dilatação e curetagem (D&C). METODOLOGIA: Foram utilizados métodos de avaliação rápida para estimar a variação do custo médio do tratamento e duração da estadia hospitalar, em um grupo de 30 pacientes admitidas com aborto incompleto em hospital público de Fortaleza, CE (Brasil). Participantes foram alocadas, randomicamente, em um dos dois grupos de tratamento investigados (AMV ou D&C). RESULTADOS E CONCLUSÕES: Os resultados sugerem que o uso da AMV, em substituição a D&C, no tratamento do aborto incompleto, pode reduzir em até 41% o custo médio do tratamento e em 77% o tempo médio de hospitalização. Recomenda-se a realização de estudos confirmatórios, como também que se aprofunde os conhecimentos sobre a percepção do aborto e seu tratamento por parte do pessoal de saúde e da população feminina.INTRODUCTION: In most developed countries vacuum aspiration has been shown to be safer and less costly than sharp curettage (SC) for uterine evacuation. In many of the developing countries, including Brazil, sharp curettage (SC) is the most commonly used technique for treating cases of incomplete abortion admitted to hospital. The procedure often involves light to heavy sedation for pain control and an overnight hospital stay for patient recuperation and monitoring. Two hypotheses are examined: the first, that the use of manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) - a variation of the vacuum aspiration, would be less costly than SC for the treatment of cases of incomplete abortion admitted to hospital; and the second, that the treatment of incomplete abortion with MVA would substantially reduce the length of hospital stay. METHODOLOGY: Thirty women with diagnosis of first trimester incomplete abortion were randomly allocated to the SC or MVA group. Rapid-assessment data collection techniques were used to identify factors that contributed to cost reduction and hospital stay. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The results of the study show that, overall, patients treated for incomplete abortion with MVA spent 77% less time in the hospital and consumed 41% fewer resources than similarly diagnosed patients treated with SC. Recommendations are made as to the need of certain changes in patient management. Particularly necessary is information regarding cultural perception and concepts of abortion treatment

Uso da aspiração manual a vácuo na redução do custo e duração de internamentos por aborto incompleto em Fortaleza, CE, Brasil [Adoption of manual vacuum aspiration for treatment of incomplete abortion reduces costs and duration of patient's hospital stay in an urban area of Northeastern Brazil]

Introduction In most developed countries vacuum aspiration has been shown to be safer and less costly than sharp curettage (SC) for uterine evacuation. In many of the developing countries, including Brazil, sharp curettage (SC) is the most commonly used technique for treating cases of incomplete abortion admitted to hospital. The procedure often involves light to heavy sedation for pain control and an overnight hospital stay for patient recuperation and monitoring. Two hypotheses are examined: the first, that the use of manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) - a variation of the vacuum aspiration, would be less costly than SC for the treatment of cases of incomplete abortion admitted to hospital; and the second, that the treatment of incomplete abortion with MVA would substantially reduce the length of hospital stay. Methodology Thirty women with diagnosis of first trimester incomplete abortion were randomly allocated to the SC or MVA group. Rapid-assessment data collection techniques were used to identify factors that contributed to cost reduction and hospital stay. Results and Conclusion The results of the study show that, overall, patients treated for incomplete abortion with MVA spent 77% less time in the hospital and consumed 41% fewer resources than similarly diagnosed patients treated with SC. Recommendations are made as to the need of certain changes in patient management. Particularly necessary is information regarding cultural perception and concepts of abortion treatment

Reactivation of wild-type and mutant p53 by tryptophanolderived oxazoloisoindolinone SLMP53-1:a novel anticancer small-molecule

Restoration of the p53 pathway, namely by reactivation of mutant (mut) p53, represents a valuable anticancer strategy. Herein, we report the identification of the enantiopure tryptophanol-derived oxazoloisoindolinone SLMP53-1 as a novel reactivator of wild-type (wt) and mut p53, using a yeast-based screening strategy. SLMP53-1 has a p53-dependent anti-proliferative activity in human wt and mut p53R280K-expressing tumor cells. Additionally, SLMP53-1 enhances p53 transcriptional activity and restores wt-like DNA binding ability to mut p53R280K. In wt/mut p53-expressing tumor cells, SLMP53-1 triggers p53 transcription-dependent and mitochondrial apoptotic pathways involving BAX, and wt/mut p53 mitochondrial translocation. SLMP53-1 inhibits the migration of wt/mut p53-expressing tumor cells, and it shows promising p53-dependent synergistic effects with conventional chemotherapeutics. In xenograft mice models, SLMP53-1 inhibits the growth of wt/mut p53-expressing tumors, but not of p53-null tumors, without apparent toxicity. Collectively, besides the potential use of SLMP53-1 as anticancer drug, the tryptophanol-derived oxazoloisoindolinone scaffold represents a promissing starting point for the development of effective p53-reactivating drugs

Mechanomodulatory biomaterials prospects in scar prevention and treatment

Scarring is a major clinical issue that affects a considerable number of patients. The associated problems go beyond the loss of skin functionality, as scars bring aesthetic, psychological, and social difficulties. Therefore, new strategies are required to improve the process of healing and minimize scar formation. Research has highlighted the important role of mechanical forces in the process of skin tissue repair and scar formation, in addition to the chemical signalling. A more complete understanding of how engi- neered biomaterials can modulate these mechanical stimuli and modify the mechanotransduction signals in the wound microenvironment is expected to enable scar tissue reduction. The present review aims to provide an overview of our current understanding of skin biomechanics and mechanobiology underlying wound healing and scar formation, with an emphasis on the development of novel mechanomodulatory wound dressings with the capacity to offload mechanical tension in the wound environment. Further- more, a broad overview of current challenges and future perspectives of promising mechanomodulatory biomaterials for this application are provided.The authors would like to acknowledge Portuguese Foun dation for Science and Technology (FCT) for funding the research project Dressing4Scars M-ERA-NET2/0013/2016, and LP da Silva (2020.01541.CEECIND/CP1600/CT0024), and to Norte-01-0145-FEDER-02219015 (MT Cerqueira)

Combining the amplification refractory mutation system and high-resolution melting analysis for KRAS mutation detection in clinical samples

© The Author(s) 2023. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.The success of personalized medicine depends on the discovery of biomarkers that allow oncologists to identify patients that will benefit from a particular targeted drug. Molecular tests are mostly performed using tumor samples, which may not be representative of the tumor's temporal and spatial heterogeneity. Liquid biopsies, and particularly the analysis of circulating tumor DNA, are emerging as an interesting means for diagnosis, prognosis, and predictive biomarker discovery. In this study, the amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS) coupled with high-resolution melting analysis (HRMA) was developed for detecting two of the most relevant KRAS mutations in codon 12. After optimization with commercial cancer cell lines, KRAS mutation screening was validated in tumor and plasma samples collected from patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), and the results were compared to those obtained by Sanger sequencing (SS) and droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR). The developed ARMS-HRMA methodology stands out for its simplicity and reduced time to result when compared to both SS and ddPCR but showing high sensitivity and specificity for the detection of mutations in tumor and plasma samples. In fact, ARMS-HRMA scored 3 more mutations compared to SS (tumor samples T6, T7, and T12) and one more compared to ddPCR (tumor sample T7) in DNA extracted from tumors. For ctDNA from plasma samples, insufficient genetic material prevented the screening of all samples. Still, ARMS-HRMA allowed for scoring more mutations in comparison to SS and 1 more mutation in comparison to ddPCR (plasma sample P7). We propose that ARMS-HRMA might be used as a sensitive, specific, and simple method for the screening of low-level mutations in liquid biopsies, suitable for improving diagnosis and prognosis schemes.This work is financed by national funds from FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., in the scope of the project UIDP/04378/2020 and UIDB/04378/2020 of the Research Unit on Applied Molecular Biosciences—UCIBIO and the project LA/P/0140/2020 of the Associate Laboratory Institute for Health and Bioeconomy—i4HB. FCT-MCTES is also acknowledged for 2020.07660.BD for BBO. Open access funding provided by FCT|FCCN (b-on).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Discovery of a new small-molecule inhibitor of p53–MDM2 interaction using a yeast-based approach

The virtual screening of a library of xanthone derivatives led us to the identification of potential novel MDM2 ligands. The activity of these compounds as inhibitors of p53–MDM2 interaction was investigated using a yeast phenotypic assay, herein developed for the initial screening. Using this approach, in association with a yeast p53 transactivation assay, the pyranoxanthone (3,4-dihydro-12- hydroxy-2,2-dimethyl-2H,6H-pyrano[3,2-b]xanthen-6-one) (1) was identified as a putative small molecule inhibitor of p53–MDM2 interaction. The activity of the pyranoxanthone 1 as inhibitor of p53–MDM2 interaction was further investigated in human tumor cells with wild-type p53 and overexpressed MDM2. Notably, the pyranoxanthone 1 mimicked the activity of known p53 activators, leading to p53 stabilization and activation of p53- dependent transcriptional activity. Additionally, it led to increased protein levels of p21 and Bax, and to caspase-7 cleavage. By computational docking studies, it was predicted that, like nutlin-3a, a known small-molecule inhibitor of p53–MDM2 interaction, pyranoxanthone 1 binds to the p53-binding site of MDM2. Overall, in this work, a novel small-molecule inhibitor of p53–MDM2 interaction with a xanthone scaffold was identified for the first time. Besides its potential use as molecular probe and possible lead to develop anticancer agents, the pyranoxanthone 1 will pave the way for the structure-based design of a new class of p53–MDM2 inhibitors.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Biotecnologia de la fermentación de aceitunas de la variedad portuguesa ‘Galega'

‘Galega' is the main Portuguese olive variety providing the greatest percentage of table olive production from homemade and industrial methods. In this work a better understanding of the fermentation involved in both methods is intended. Yeasts and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) constitute the microflora acting in olive fermentation, with Pichia membranaefaciens being the dominant yeast specie present throughout the process. LAB develop their activity mainly along the second fermentation stage where Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus pentosus were isolated and identified, as well as Leuconostoc mesenteroides and Pediococcus pentosaceus. Results of a chemical analysis have shown the effectiveness of both homemade and industrial fermentation methods. Nevertheless, the chemical composition of the brines from homemade samples was more similar than those from the industrial ones. Remarkable differences were found in the phenolic compound profile mainly on the final fermentation stage. The amount of volatile compounds has enhanced on the same phase in both methods and some differences were found between them. Sensorial analysis has shown the best results obtained through the homemade method.La variedad de aceitunas más importante en Portugal es la ‘Galega', que representa un gran porcentaje de la producción de aceitunas de mesa portuguesas por métodos caseros ó industriales. La fermentación se produce por una compleja flora microbiana, principalmente levaduras y bacterias del ácido láctico (LAB), siendo la especie Pichia membranaefaciens la que domina en todo el proceso. Las LAB desarrollan su actividad a lo largo de la segunda fase de la fermentación, en donde Lactobacillus plantarum y Lactobacillus pentosus fueran aislados y identificados, así como Leuconostoc pentosaceus. Los resultados de los análisis químicos muestran la mejor eficiencia del método casero. Además, la composición química de la salmuera es más parecida entre las muestras caseras que entre las de la industria. Importantes diferencias se encuentran en el perfil de los compuestos fenólicos, principalmente en la fase final de la fermentación. La cantidad de compuestos volatiles aumenta en la misma fase en ambos métodos y se encuentran algunas diferencias entre ellos. El análisis sensorial muestra que los mejores resultados corresponden a las aceitunas obtenidas por el método casero