Reliability of Classification by Ophthalmologists with Telescreening Fundus Images for Diabetic Retinopathy and Image Quality

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Indoor Air Quality in Elderly Centers: Pollutants Emission and Health Effects

The world population is ageing, in particular in the developed world, with a significant increase in the percentage of people above 60 years old. They represent a segment of the population that is more vulnerable to adverse environmental conditions. Among them, indoor air quality is one of the most relevant, as elders spend comparatively more time indoors than younger generations. Furthermore, the recent COVID-19 pandemic contributed immensely to raising awareness of the importance of breathing air quality for human health and of the fact that indoor air is a vector for airborne infections and poisoning. Hence, this work reviews the state of the art regarding indoor air quality in elderly centers, considering the type of pollutants involved, their emission sources, and their health effects. Moreover, the influence of ventilation on air quality is also addressed. Notwithstanding the potential health problems with the corresponding costs and morbidity effects, only a few studies have considered explicitly indoor air quality and its impacts on elderly health. More studies are, therefore, necessary to objectively identify what are the impacts on the health of elderly people due to the quality of indoor air and how it can be improved, either by reducing the pollutants emission sources or by more adequate ventilation and thermal comfort strategies. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Funding: This work was financially supported by base funding of the following projects: LA/P/0045/2020 (ALiCE), UIDB/00511/2020 (LEPABE), and UIDB/50022/2020 (LAETA), funded by national funds through FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC). Fátima Felgueiras gratefully acknowledges the Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research, and Technology (FCT) for the financial support through the Grant BD/6521/2020. António Martins thanks FCT for funding through program DL 57/2016—Norma transitória. Teresa Mata gratefully acknowledge the funding of Project NORTE-06-3559-FSE-000107, cofinanced by Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (NORTE2020), through Fundo Social Europeu (FSE)

Identification and characterization of PhbF: A DNA binding protein with regulatory role in the PHB metabolism of Herbaspirillum seropedicae SmR1

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Herbaspirillum seropedicae </it>SmR1 is a nitrogen fixing endophyte associated with important agricultural crops. It produces polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) which is stored intracellularly as granules. However, PHB metabolism and regulatory control is not yet well studied in this organism.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this work we describe the characterization of the PhbF protein from <it>H. seropedicae </it>SmR1 which was purified and characterized after expression in <it>E. coli</it>. The purified PhbF protein was able to bind to eleven putative promoters of genes involved in PHB metabolism in <it>H. seropedicae </it>SmR1. <it>In silico </it>analyses indicated a probable DNA-binding sequence which was shown to be protected in DNA footprinting assays using purified PhbF. Analyses using <it>lacZ </it>fusions showed that PhbF can act as a repressor protein controlling the expression of PHB metabolism-related genes.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results indicate that <it>H. seropedicae </it>SmR1 PhbF regulates expression of <it>phb</it>-related genes by acting as a transcriptional repressor. The knowledge of the PHB metabolism of this plant-associated bacterium may contribute to the understanding of the plant-colonizing process and the organism's resistance and survival <it>in planta</it>.</p

Call for emergency action to limit global temperature increases, restore biodiversity, and protect health

No Abstrac

Call for emergency action to limit global temperature increases, restore biodiversity, and protect health Wealthy nations must do much more, much faster

The UN General Assembly in September 2021 will bring countries together at a critical time for marshalling collective action to tackle the global environmental crisis. They will meet again at the biodiversity summit in Kunming, China, and the climate conference (COP26) in Glasgow, UK. Ahead of these pivotal meetings, we—the editors of health journals worldwide—call for urgent action to keep average global temperature increases below 1.5 °C, halt the destruction of nature, and protect health

Dietary Supplementation with Probiotics Improves Hematopoiesis in Malnourished Mice

BACKGROUND: Lactobacillus rhamnosus CRL1505 (Lr) administered during the repletion of immunocompromised-malnourished mice improves the resistance against intestinal and respiratory infections. This effect is associated with an increase in the number and functionality of immune cells, indicating that Lr could have some influence on myeloid and lymphoid cell production and maturation. OBJECTIVE: This study analyzed the extent of the damage caused by malnutrition on myeloid and lymphoid cell development in the spleen and bone marrow (BM). We also evaluated the impact of immunobiotics on the recovery of hematopoiesis affected in malnourished mice. METHODS: Protein malnourished mice were fed on a balanced conventional diet for 7 or 14 consecutive d with or without supplemental Lr or fermented goat's milk (FGM). Malnourished mice and well-nourished mice were used as controls. Histological and flow cytometry studies were carried out in BM and spleen to study myeloid and lymphoid cells. RESULTS: Malnutrition induced quantitative alterations in spleen B and T cells; however, no alteration was observed in the ability of splenic B cells to produce immunoglobulins after challenge with LPS or CpG. The analysis of BM B cell subsets based on B220, CD24, IgM and IgD expression showed that malnutrition affected B cell development. In addition, BM myeloid cells decreased in malnourished mice. On the contrary, protein deprivation increased BM T cell number. These alterations were reverted with Lr or FGM repletion treatments since normal numbers of BM myeloid, T and B cells were observed in these groups. CONCLUSIONS: Protein malnutrition significantly alters B cell development in BM. The treatment of malnourished mice with L. rhamnosus CRL1505 was able to induce a recovery of B cells that would explain its ability to increase immunity against infections. This work highlights the possibility of using immunobiotics to accelerate the recovery of lymphopoyesis in immunocompromised-malnourished hosts

Phylogeographic pattern and extensive mitochondrial DNA divergence disclose a species complex within the Chagas disease vector Triatoma dimidiata.

ABSTARCT: Previous studies have shown that "bioequivalent" generic products of vancomycin are less effective in vivo against Staphylococcus aureus than the innovator compound. Considering that suboptimal bactericidal effect has been associated with emergence of resistance, we aimed to assess in vivo the impact of exposure to innovator and generic products of vancomycin on S. aureus susceptibility. A clinical methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) strain from a liver transplant patient with persistent bacteremia was used for which MIC, minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC), and autolytic properties were determined. Susceptibility was also assessed by determining a population analysis profile (PAP) with vancomycin concentrations from 0 to 5 mg/liter. ICR neutropenic mice were inoculated in each thigh with ∼7.0 log(10) CFU. Treatment with the different vancomycin products (innovator and three generics; 1,200 mg/kg of body weight/day every 3 h) started 2 h later while the control group received sterile saline. After 24 h, mice were euthanized, and the thigh homogenates were plated. Recovered colonies were reinoculated to new groups of animals, and the exposure-recovery process was repeated until 12 cycles were completed. The evolution of resistance was assessed by PAP after cycles 5, 10, 11, and 12. The initial isolate displayed reduced autolysis and higher resistance frequencies than S. aureus ATCC 29213 but without vancomycin-intermediate S. aureus (VISA) subpopulations. After 12 cycles, innovator vancomycin had significantly reduced resistant subpopulations at 1, 2, and 3 mg/liter, while the generic products had enriched them progressively by orders of magnitude. The great capacity of generic vancomycin to select for less susceptible organisms raises concerns about the role of therapeutic inequivalence of any antimicrobial on the epidemiology of resistance worldwide

An Examination of Morphometric Variations in a Neotropical Toad Population (Proceratophrys cristiceps, Amphibia, Anura, Cycloramphidae)

The species Proceratophrys cristiceps belongs to the genus Proceratophrys within the family Cycloramphidae. These amphibians are found exclusively in South America in the morphoclimatic domain of the semi-arid depression zones in northeastern Brazil known as the Caatinga. We examined intrapopulational variation using univariate and multivariate statistics with traditional and geometric morphometrics, which supported the existence of two morphotypes of this species. Our results indicated significant degrees of variation in skeletal characteristics between some natural populations of this species. Careful analyses of variability levels are fundamental to avoid taxonomic errors, principally in populations that demonstrate characteristics intimately associated with their area of occurrence, as is the case of Proceratophrys cristiceps