Zika virus infection in the returning traveller: what every neurologist should know

Zika virus has been associated with a wide range of neurological complications. Neurologists in areas without current active transmission of the virus may be confronted with Zika-associated neurological disease, as a large number of returning travellers with Zika virus infection have been reported and the virus continues to spread to previously unaffected regions. This review provides an overview of Zika virus-associated neurological disease and aims to support neurologists who may encounter patients returning from endemic areas

Synergistic effect of simvastatin and ezetimibe on lipid and pro-inflammatory profiles in pre-diabetic subjects

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Ezetimibe specifically blocks the absorption of dietary and biliary cholesterol and plant sterols. Synergism of ezetimibe-statin therapy on LDL-cholesterol has been demonstrated, but data concerning the pleiotropic effects of this combination are controversial.</p> <p>Objective</p> <p>This open-label trial evaluated whether the combination of simvastatin and ezetimibe also results in a synergistic effect that reduces the pro-inflammatory status of pre-diabetic subjects.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Fifty pre-diabetic subjects were randomly assigned to one of 2 groups, one receiving ezetimibe (10 mg/day), the other, simvastatin (20 mg/d) for 12 weeks, followed by an additional 12-week period of combined therapy. Blood samples were collected at baseline, 12 and 24 weeks. RESULTS: Total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and apolipoprotein B levels decreased in all the periods analyzed (p < 0.01), but triglycerides declined significantly only after combined therapy. Both drugs induced reductions in C-reactive protein, reaching statistical significance after combining ezetimibe with the simvastatin therapy (baseline 0.59 ± 0.14, simvastatin monotherapy 0.48 ± 0.12 mg/dL and 0.35 ± 0.12 mg/dL, p < 0.023). Such a reduction was independent of LDL-cholesterol change. However, mean levels of TNF-α and interleukin-6 and leukocyte count did not vary during the whole study.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Expected synergistic lowering effects of a simvastatin and ezetimibe combination on LDL-cholesterol, apolipoprotein B and triglycerides levels were confirmed in subjects with early disturbances of glucose metabolism. We suggest an additive effect of this combination also on inflammatory status based on the reduction of C-reactive protein. Attenuation of pro-inflammatory conditions may be relevant in reducing cardiometabolic risk.</p> <p>Title/ID of trial registration</p> <p>Effect of simvastatin and ezetimibe on lipid and inflammation/NCT01103648.</p

Differences in the phenolic composition and nutraceutical properties of freeze dried and oven-dried wild and domesticated samples of Sanguisorba minor Scop

Recent studies have dealt about the phenolic compounds and the nutraceutical properties of Sanguisorba minor Scop and about the possibility of their domestication to standardise the plant production. However, it is also known that the storage conditions can affect the bioactive compounds present in plants. Thus, wild (W) and domesticated (F1, F2, F3) S. minor samples were exposed to different drying methods (oven-drying at 60 °C until constant weight named OD or freeze-drying until constant weight named FD) and studied for their content in phenolic compounds, antioxidant, antimicrobial, cytotoxic and anti-inflammatory properties. In general, OD samples showed the highest nutraceutical properties and the highest content in phenolic compounds. The most abundant phenolic compounds in both drying methods were kaempferol-3-O-glucoside and caffeoyl ester, with some differences between wild and domesticated samples. Wild samples showed higher antimicrobial and cytotoxic activity than domesticated ones, except for the OD F3 and FD F2 samples that reported cytotoxicity against HeLa cells. This study provides important information to choose the most adequate methodology to retain phenolic compounds and nutraceutical properties of S. minor species. Further researches are necessary to standardise the domestication of the studied wild species and verify the highest efficiency of the OD method.The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) and FEDER under Programme PT2020 for financial support to CIMO (UID/AGR/00690/2020). L. Barros and C. Calhelha also thank the national funding by FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology, P.I., through the institutional scientific employment program-contract for their contracts, and Sandrina A. Heleno thanks to the national funding by FCT, P.I., through the individual scientific employment program-contract. The authors are also grateful to FEDER-Interreg España-Portugal programme for financial support through the project TRANSCoLAB 0612_TRANS_CO_LAB_2_P and to European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Regional Operational Program North 2020, within the scope of Project Norte-01- 0145-FEDER-000042: GreenHealth.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Effects of oxidative stress during human and animal reproductions: A review

Given its high ability to damage important cellular components (lipids, proteins and deoxyribonucleic acid), oxidative stress is now recognized as one of the most common mechanisms associated with development of a variety of diseases and natural events such as pregnancy. During reproduction period, there is a change in the pro-oxidant and antioxidant balance due to the body and circulation modifications that are inherent to the pregnancy process. The present paper discusses the role of oxidative stress on the reproduction process. More effective defense strategies are needed to decrease the deleterious effects of oxidative-stress-induced gestation. This approach could be achieved by antioxidant status alteration. Further clinical and experimental studies are needed for better understanding of oxidative stress mechanism and the impact of antioxidant supplementation on reproduction

Role of semiautomatic defibrillators in a general hospital: "Naples Heart Project".

In Italian hospitals, 85% of patients hospitalized in general medical wards who experience cardiac arrest die, while the incidence is much lower in patients in intensive care units. Defibrillation, in Italian hospitals, often occurs very late, either due to a lack of defibrillators, or due to architectural and structural barriers. The object of an in-hospital emergency service is to prevent and treat cardiac arrest without subsequent complications, such as brain damage, renal failure etc. The Naples Heart Project was based on a feasibility study of the in-hospital emergency service to evaluate and analyze problems associated with type of structure, departmental and institutional dislocation, internal practicability (architectural features and preferential ways), staff numbers and distribution, the calling system for emergency, and the equipment available. The Naples Heart Project began in July 2001, since then it has already created 835 BLSD first responders among the hospital staff; 440 were physicians and physicians still in training, 310 were nurses and 85 were administrative staf

Metabolic profiling and antibacterial activity of Eryngium pristis Cham. & Schltdl. - prospecting for its use in the treatment of bacterial infections

Morbidity and mortality of the infected patients by multidrug-resistant bacteria have increased, emphasizing the urgency of fi ght for the discovery of new innovative antibiotics. In this sense, natural products emerge as valuable sources of bioactive compounds. Among the biodiversity, Eryngium pristis Cham. & Schltdl. (Apiaceae Lindl.) is traditionally used to treat thrush and ulcers of throat and mouth, as diuretic and emmenagogue, but scarcely known as an antimicrobial agent. With this context in mind, the goals of this study were to investigate the metabolic profi le and the antibacterial activity of ethanolic extract (EE-Ep) and hexane (HF-Ep), dichloromethane (DF-Ep), ethyl acetate (EAF-Ep) and butanol (BF-Ep) fractions from E. pristis leaves. Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) was performed to stablish the metabolic profi le and revealed the presence of 12 and 14 compounds in EAF-Ep and HF-Ep, respectively. β-selinene, spathulenol, globulol, 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol, α-amyrin, β-amyrin, and lupeol derivative were some of phytochemicals identifi ed. The antibacterial activity was determined by Minimal Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) using the broth micro-dilution against eight ATCC® and fi ve methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) clinical strains. HF-Ep was the most eff ective (MIC ≤ 5,000 μg/μL), being active against the largest part of tested Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial strains, including MRSA, with exception of Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 9027) and (ATCC 27853). These results suggest that E. pristis is a natural source of bioactive compounds for the search of new antibiotics which can be an interesting therapeutic approach to recover patients mainly infected by MRSA strains.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Espectrometria de absorção atômica: o caminho para determinações multi-elementares

This paper present an overview of way covered for the spectrometry of atomic absorption (AAS), tracing a line of the historical events in its development and its establishment as a multielement technique. Additionally, the efforts carried by through several researchers in the search for the instrumental evolution, the advances, advantages, limitations, and trends of this approach are related. Several works focusing its analytical applications are cited employing simultaneous multielement determination by flame (FAAS) and/or graphite furnace (GF AAS), and fast sequential multielement determination using FAAS are reported in the present review

mTORC2 Is the major second layer kinase negatively regulating FOXO3 activity

Forkhead box O (FOXO) proteins are transcription factors involved in cancer and aging and their pharmacological manipulation could be beneficial for the treatment of cancer and healthy aging. FOXO proteins are mainly regulated by post-translational modifications including phosphorylation, acetylation and ubiquitination. As these modifications are reversible, activation and inactivation of FOXO factors is attainable through pharmacological treatment. One major regulatory input of FOXO signaling is mediated by protein kinases. Here, we use specific inhibitors against different kinases including PI3K, mTOR, MEK and ALK, and other receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) to determine their effect on FOXO3 activity. While we show that inhibition of PI3K efficiently drives FOXO3 into the cell nucleus, the dual PI3K/mTOR inhibitors dactolisib and PI-103 induce nuclear FOXO translocation more potently than the PI3Kδ inhibitor idelalisib. Furthermore, specific inhibition of mTOR kinase activity affecting both mTORC1 and mTORC2 potently induced nuclear translocation of FOXO3, while rapamycin, which specifically inhibits the mTORC1, failed to affect FOXO3. Interestingly, inhibition of the MAPK pathway had no effect on the localization of FOXO3 and upstream RTK inhibition only weakly induced nuclear FOXO3. We also measured the effect of the test compounds on the phosphorylation status of AKT, FOXO3 and ERK, on FOXO-dependent transcriptional activity and on the subcellular localization of other FOXO isoforms. We conclude that mTORC2 is the most important second layer kinase negatively regulating FOXO activity.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio