Natural products in drug discovery: meeting the urgency for new antimicrobials for human and veterinary use

The scenario of growing microbial resistance and of lack of interest of pharmaceutical companies in developing new antimicrobial drugs jeopardizes the present and the future of the treatment of infectious diseases. Different approaches such as antimicrobial peptides and CRISP-R have been explored to manage this situation, however, they have important limitations such as their high cost. Natural products comprise complex molecular structures for which reports of bacterial resistance are rare. They present specific and/or unspecific mechanisms of action that can be explored to provide safe and effective management of infectious diseases. In this review we assessed phytoextracts with evidence of their benefits for treating infectious diseases in humans and animals, towards the use of data for clinical and experimental purposes. Mechanisms of bacterial resistance to antimicrobials are also discussed

The experience of Geo.Dia for valuation and divulgation of geological knowledge in the municipality of Caçapava do Sul (RS, Brazil)

The municipality of Caçapava do Sul is the geodiversity capital of Rio Grande do Sul State. This title is due to the scientific importance of its geological heritage. These characteristics allow the development of strategies associated with tourism and conservation. One of these strategies is the Geo.Dia. This project aims to promote the dissemination and valorization of the geological heritage of the municipality. Geo.Dia, held annually in November, since 2015, promotes activities in an outdoor square, as well as field trips to the three main geosites of the municipality. Because of this action, it is possible to envisage a greater insertion of the population in the context of geosciences. In the future, the Geo.Dia project can serve as one of the bases for a Geopark proposal

Feijão guandu cru na alimentação de frangos caipiras criados em sistema semi-intensivo

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar os efeitos da substituição do farelo de soja pelo feijão guandu cru na alimentação de frangos caipiras criados em sistema semi-intensivo. Foram utilizados 525 frangos de corte da linhagem Caipira Pesadão, com idade inicial de 35 dias, distribuídos em cinco tratamentos com cinco repetições de 21 aves cada um. Os tratamentos consistiram na substituição de 0, 5, 10, 15 e 20% do farelo de soja pelo feijão guandu cru moído. Foram avaliados o ganho de peso, o consumo de ração, a conversão alimentar, o rendimento de carcaça e de cortes, o peso do pâncreas e a qualidade da carne. A substituição do farelo de soja pelo feijão guandu em até 15,45%, nas dietas de frangos caipiras de corte, com idade de 57 a 71 dias, não altera o ganho de peso. O aumento dos níveis de feijão guandu na ração não afeta o rendimento de carcaça, o peso do pâncreas e os parâmetros de qualidade da carne. The objective of this work was to evaluate the effects of replacing soybean meal by raw pigeon pea in the diet of free-range broilers reared in a semi-intensive system. Five hundred twenty-five broilers of the Caipira Pesadão lineage were used, with initial age of 35 days, distributed in five treatments with five replicates of 21 birds each. Treatments consisted of the replacement of 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20% of soybean meal by ground raw pigeon pea. Weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion, carcass and cuts yield, pancreas weight, and meat quality were evaluated. Replacing soybean meal by pigeon pea in up to 15.45% in the diet of free-range meat broilers, with age of 57 to 71 days, does not change weight gain. Increasing levels of pigeon pea in the diet do not affect carcass yield, pancreas weight, and meat quality parameters

Effect of refrigeration at -1°C on spermatozoa quality of domestic cats

ABSTRACT: The objective of this study was to evaluate the sperm quality obtained of domestic cats by electroejaculation and recovery of the tail of the epididymis after cooling at -1°C and 4°C for 24 and 48 hours. Twenty-nine adult cats (2 to 6kg) were used. Sperm collection was performed by electroejaculation (EEJ), and after 48 hours, the cats were orchiectomized, and sperm sample was obtained from the vas deferens and epididymis tail (EPD). The samples were diluted in ACP-117® extender, and the sperm characteristics were evaluated at three different moments: when still fresh, 24 and 48 hours after cooling. In order to compare the two refrigeration temperatures, the first stage was to analyze if there was a difference between the harvesting techniques. After this, two experiments were conducted: in the first, sperm sample from 14 cats were used and the cooling was performed at -1°C; and in the second, sample from 15 cats were used and the sperm were refrigerated at 4°C. Sperm kinetics were evaluated by computerized analysis (CASA) and concentration by Neubauer chamber, spermatic morphology was evaluated by modified Karras staining, and membrane integrity was evaluated by eosin nigrosine. The results obtained were analyzed in R software, version 3.2.5 using the Mann-Whitney test for variables with abnormal distributions, considering significance at the level of 5%. In ejaculate samples, higher values of total morphological defects were observed after 24 and 48 hours of refrigeration at 4°C (P<0.022) compared to refrigeration at -1°C, using Friedman test. To quantify the decrease in sperm quality, parameter reductions were calculated among time points (F-24h/F-48h/24h-48h). In EPD samples, a greater reduction in sperm quality was detected after 24 hours of refrigeration at 4°C, both in motility and sperm kinetics and in the movement and velocity indices, compared to refrigeration at -1°C. Based on the results, it can be concluded that cooling of feline spermatozoa at -1°C for up to 48 hours was efficient in maintaining spermatic quality collected by EEJ and EPD, and it could be an alternative to spermatozoa cryopreservation in domestic felines

Formação de recursos humanos e produção científica em Educação em Ciências

This article investigated whether the number of supervised students (masters and doctors/PhD) per professor impacts in the average number of periodic documents per student, and it evaluated the contributions to the production of scientific knowledge for the area of Science Education in the context of the Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação em Ciências: Química da Vida e Saúde-PPGQVS (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, and Universidade Federal do Pampa), from 2013 to 2019. The theoretical framework discusses the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) Evaluation System in the area of Teaching and Education in Science in Brazil. It is a descriptive study, with a qualitative and quantitative approach, which uses mixed analysis techniques: bibliometrics and scientometrics indicators and Content Analysis (Bardin). Data collection took place on the Sucupira Platform and on the periodical’s website. As a results, it was identified that the average number of documents per student is not affected by the number of students who have their professor. The most researched topics were “Science Teaching” (26.0%), “Teacher Training” (24.3%) and “Educational Policies” (15.7%). Based on the training of masters and doctors along with the production and dissemination of scientific knowledge, the contribution of the PPGQVS to the area of Science Education in the country becomes evident.Este artigo investigou se o número de orientados (mestres e doutores) por docente impacta na média de documentos em periódicos por orientado e avaliou quais as contribuições para a produção de conhecimento científico para área de Educação em Ciências no contexto do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação em Ciências: Química da Vida e Saúde-PPGQVS (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande e Universidade Federal do Pampa), de 2013 a 2019. O referencial teórico discute o Sistema de Avaliação da Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), área de Ensino, e a Educação em Ciências no Brasil. É uma pesquisa descritiva, com abordagem qualitativa e quantitativa, de natureza aplicada, que utiliza indicadores bibliométricos e cientométricos e Análise de Conteúdo (Bardin). Os dados foram coletados na Plataforma Sucupira e no site dos periódicos. Os resultados evidenciaram que o número de orientados por docente não impacta na média de documentos por orientado. As temáticas mais pesquisadas foram “Ensino de Ciências” (26,0%), “Formação de Professores” (24,3%) e “Políticas Educacionais” (15,7%). A partir da formação de mestres e doutores, aliada à produção de conhecimento científico, se pode constatar a contribuição do PPGQVS para a área de Educação em Ciência no país

MANEJO NUTRICIONAL DE MATRIZES SUÍNAS

A nutrição de uma matriz, interfere em todo seus desempenho produtivo e reprodutivo, Para obter um controle de condição corporal da matriz no período de gestação, é utilizada técnica de Escore de Condição Corporal, que consiste em ajustar a quantidade de alimento fornecido a matriz de acordo com o seu peso metabólico. Neste estudo, foram reajustadas as dietas das fêmeas em gestação, de acordo com oECC, visando padronizar a condição corporal das fêmeas gestantes

Unbalanced relationships: insights into the interaction between gut microbiota, geohelminths, and schistosomiasis

Hosts and their microbiota and parasites have co-evolved in an adaptative relationship since ancient times. The interaction between parasites and intestinal bacteria in terms of the hosts’ health is currently a subject of great research interest. Therapeutic interventions can include manipulations of the structure of the intestinal microbiota, which have immunological interactions important for modulating the host’s immune system and for reducing inflammation. Most helminths are intestinal parasites; the intestinal environment provides complex interactions with other microorganisms in which internal and external factors can influence the composition of the intestinal microbiota. Moreover, helminths and intestinal microorganisms can modulate the host’s immune system either beneficially or harmfully. The immune response can be reduced due to co-infection, and bacteria from the intestinal microbiota can translocate to other organs. In this way, the treatment can be compromised, which, together with drug resistance by the parasites makes healing even more difficult. Thus, this work aimed to understand interactions between the microbiota and parasitic diseases caused by the most important geohelminths and schistosomiasis and the consequences of these associations

Desmistificação da simplicidade das tecnologias leves no processo de trabalho em medicina de família e comunidade

A Medicina de Família e Comunidade é a especialidade que, partindo de um primeiro contato, cuida de forma longitudinal, integral e coordenada da saúde das pessoas. O profissional que a ela se dedica tem a seu dispor ferramentas e tecnologias que, bem empregadas, contribuem para a qualidade do seu processo de trabalho e para a resolutividade da atenção à saúde. As tecnologias em saúde são classificadas em tecnologia dura, relacionada a equipamentos tecnológicos; leve-dura, que compreende todos os saberes bem estruturados no processo de saúde; e leve, que se refere às tecnologias de relações, de produção de comunicação, de acolhimento e de vínculos. As tecnologias leves são as que possibilitam captar a singularidade, o contexto, o universo cultural, os modos específicos de viver determinadas situações por parte do usuário, enriquecendo e ampliando o raciocínio clínico do médico. É nesse território – das relações, do encontro, de trabalho vivo em ato – que o usuário tem maiores possibilidades de atuar e de interagir. Contudo, no contexto social e político brasileiro, predomina ainda a ideologia hospitalocêntrica, que sustentada por crenças e valores propagados pelo capitalismo, enfatizam a tecnologia dura. A valorização excessiva das tecnologias duras revela o domínio do modelo ontológico que não inclui à atenção as emoções. A atenção médica com foco na estrutura física busca o diagnóstico através do rastreamento de doenças. Neste contexto, tornase um desafio ao Médico de Família e Comunidade usar as tecnologias leves, desvalorizada por muitos especialistas, para os quais sua utilização exige pouco conhecimento do profissional haja vista que raramente contribuem para construção de diagnóstico e elaboração de planos terapêuticos. No entanto, ao sistematizar as tecnologias relacionais no cotidiano do processo de trabalho na Atenção Primária à Saúde (APS), o profissional contribui para o processo produtivo marcado pelo trabalho vivo que ocorre na interação médico-paciente, contribuindo para estabelecimento de vínculos e responsabilizações entre ambos. Após este vínculo, o sucesso terapêutico pode ser alcançado mais facilmente, colaborando para a resolutividade de atenção prestada, que na APS atinge aproximadamente 80% das demandas dos usuários. Assim, sem desmerecer as tecnologias chamadas leve-dura e dura, torna-se imprescindível valorizar a utilização das tecnologias leves no processo de trabalho médico, compreendo-as como recursos capazes de contribuir para a resolutividade da atenção, desonerando assim o Sistema Único de Saúde e desafogando a Rede de Urgência e Emergência

Stroke outcome measurements from electronic medical records : cross-sectional study on the effectiveness of neural and nonneural classifiers

Background: With the rapid adoption of electronic medical records (EMRs), there is an ever-increasing opportunity to collect data and extract knowledge from EMRs to support patient-centered stroke management. Objective: This study aims to compare the effectiveness of state-of-the-art automatic text classification methods in classifying data to support the prediction of clinical patient outcomes and the extraction of patient characteristics from EMRs. Methods: Our study addressed the computational problems of information extraction and automatic text classification. We identified essential tasks to be considered in an ischemic stroke value-based program. The 30 selected tasks were classified (manually labeled by specialists) according to the following value agenda: tier 1 (achieved health care status), tier 2 (recovery process), care related (clinical management and risk scores), and baseline characteristics. The analyzed data set was retrospectively extracted from the EMRs of patients with stroke from a private Brazilian hospital between 2018 and 2019. A total of 44,206 sentences from free-text medical records in Portuguese were used to train and develop 10 supervised computational machine learning methods, including state-of-the-art neural and nonneural methods, along with ontological rules. As an experimental protocol, we used a 5-fold cross-validation procedure repeated 6 times, along with subject-wise sampling. A heatmap was used to display comparative result analyses according to the best algorithmic effectiveness (F1 score), supported by statistical significance tests. A feature importance analysis was conducted to provide insights into the results. Results: The top-performing models were support vector machines trained with lexical and semantic textual features, showing the importance of dealing with noise in EMR textual representations. The support vector machine models produced statistically superior results in 71% (17/24) of tasks, with an F1 score >80% regarding care-related tasks (patient treatment location, fall risk, thrombolytic therapy, and pressure ulcer risk), the process of recovery (ability to feed orally or ambulate and communicate), health care status achieved (mortality), and baseline characteristics (diabetes, obesity, dyslipidemia, and smoking status). Neural methods were largely outperformed by more traditional nonneural methods, given the characteristics of the data set. Ontological rules were also effective in tasks such as baseline characteristics (alcoholism, atrial fibrillation, and coronary artery disease) and the Rankin scale. The complementarity in effectiveness among models suggests that a combination of models could enhance the results and cover more tasks in the future. Conclusions: Advances in information technology capacity are essential for scalability and agility in measuring health status outcomes. This study allowed us to measure effectiveness and identify opportunities for automating the classification of outcomes of specific tasks related to clinical conditions of stroke victims, and thus ultimately assess the possibility of proactively using these machine learning techniques in real-world situations