Prospective e memory impairment related to cancer: a systematic review

Cognitive complaints and alterations related to cancer may reduce well-being, quality of life, and daily functioning. More recently, prospective memory (PM), i.e., the ability to plan a future intention, to maintain it during a variable delay time in which people are typically engaged in other tasks, and to retrieve it when the expected circumstances arise, has fostered increased attention in cancer research. Examples are to remember to ask for a certain information during a medical appointment (event-based PM/EBPM) or to take medication at certain hours (time-based PM/TBPM). This work aimed to provide an overview of the main findings related to PM functioning in people with history of cancer. A qualitative systematic review of the literature was conducted following the PRISMA guidelines and 20 articles published between 2000 and 2020 were included. People with cancer history (vs. healthy controls) tended to report more PM complaints and worst objective PM performance, especially when considering EBPM tasks. Some treatments such as chemotherapy, androgen deprivation therapy, and radiotherapy negatively impacted PM. Importantly, changes in PM were associated with lower quality of life. Also, fatigue and depression appeared to contribute to PM impairment. A puzzling finding was the lack of association between objective and subjective measures of PM, which implies that different facets might underly cancer-related PM changes. Taken together, the inclusion of PM measures when probing cancer-related cognitive impairment is relevant not only to better assess and characterize the cancer experience across time, but also to inform interventions and cognitive rehabilitation approaches

Dietary restriction, caloric value and the accumulation of hepatic fat

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Studies using laboratory animals under what are considered to be "standard" conditions normally offer unrestricted amounts of food to the animals, which can lead to metabolic disorders. Moreover, standard diets have different compositions.</p> <p>Aim</p> <p>Therefore, the aim of the present study was to assess the effects of two non-isocaloric diets (commercial Purina^®and AIN-93M), which are considered standard diets, on the accumulation of fat in the liver of rats when offered ad libitum or in a restricted amount.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Thus, 40 Wistar rats (90 days old) were separated into 4 groups according to the amount of food offered (ad libitum or dietary restriction) and the type of diet (commercial diet, 3,028.0 kcal/g or AIN-93M, 3,802.7 kcal/g): animals fed the commercial Purina^®diet ad libitum (AP), animals fed restricted amounts of the commercial Purina^®diet (RP), animals fed the AIN-93M diet ad libitum (AD), and animals fed restricted amounts of the AIN-93M diet (RD). Dietary restriction consisted of pair-feeding the RP and RD groups with 60% of the total food consumed by the corresponding ad libitum groups.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Because of its higher carbohydrate and calorie content, AIN-93M was found to accelerate weight gain, reduce glucose tolerance and peripheral insulin sensitivity, and increase the amount of fat in the liver when compared to the commercial diet. Conversely, a 40% dietary restriction assisted in weight loss without causing malnutrition, contributing to an improved glucose tolerance and higher levels of HDL cholesterol.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Therefore, differences in the amount of carbohydrates and calories provided by the diet can lead to important metabolic disorders, such as impaired tolerance and accumulation of hepatic fat, and dietary restriction improves serum and tissue lipid profiles in laboratory animals.</p

By-products of camu-camu [Myrciaria dubia (Kunth) McVaugh] as promising sources of bioactive high added-value food ingredients: functionalization of yogurts

Camu-camu (Myrciaria dubia (Kunth) McVaugh) is a fruit economically relevant to the Amazon region, mostly consumed in the form of processed pulp. Our aim was to perform an unprecedented comparative study on the chemical composition and bioactivities of the camu-camu pulp and industrial bio-residues (peel and seed), and then the most promising fruit part was further explored as a functionalized ingredient in yogurt. A total of twenty-three phenolic compounds were identified, with myricetin-O-pentoside and cyanindin-3-O-glucoside being the main compounds in peels, followed by p-coumaroyl hexoside in the pulp, and ellagic acid in the seeds. The peel displayed the richest phenolic profile among samples, as well as the most significant antibacterial (MICs = 0.625–10 mg/mL) and anti-proliferative (GI50 = 180 g/mL against HeLa cells) activities. For this reason, it was selected to be introduced in a food system (yogurt). Taken together, our results suggest the possibility of using the camu-camu peel as a source of food additives.Part of this work was supported by the Instituto Federal do Rondônia (IFRO) (Grant nº 81/PROPESP/IFRO). The authors are grateful to FCT—Portugal and FEDER, under Programme PT2020, for financial support to CIMO (UID/AGR/00690/2019) and B. Albuquerque research grant (SFRH/BD/136370/2018); national funding by FCT, P.I., through the institutional scientific employment program-contract for L. Barros and R.C. Calhelha contracts; C. Pereira contract though the celebration of program-contract foreseen in No. 4, 5, and 6 of article 23º of Decree-Law No. 57/2016, of 29 August, amended by Law No. 57/2017, of 19 July; to FEDER-Interreg España-Portugal for financial support through the projects 0377_Iberphenol_6_E and 0612_TRANS_CO_LAB_2_P; FEDER through the Regional Operational Program North 2020: project Mobilizador Norte-01-0247-FEDER-024479 (ValorNatural®).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Boron Nitride Nanotubes as Templates for Half-Metal Nanowires

We investigate by means of DFT/GGA+U calculations the electronic and structural properties of magnetic nanotubes composed of an iron oxide monolayer and (n,0) Boron Nitride (BN) nanotubes, with n ranging from 6 up to 14. The formation energy per FeO molecule of FeO covered tubes is smaller than the formation energy of small FeO nanoparticles which suggest that the FeO molecules may cover the BN nanotubes rather than to aggregate to form the FeO bulk. We propose a continuous model for the FeO covered BN nanotubes formation energy which predicts that BN tubes with diameter of roughly 13 \AA are the most stable. Unlike carbon nanotubes, the band structure of FeO covered BN nanotubes can not be obtained by slicing the band structure of a FeO layer, the curvature and the interaction with the BN tube is determinant for the electronic behavior of FeO covered tubes. As a result the tubes are semiconductors, intrinsic half-metals or semi-half-metals that can become half-metals charged with either electrons and holes. Such a result may be important in the spintronics context.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

Optimization of iron-ZIF-8 catalysts for degradation of tartrazine in water by Fenton-like reaction

Optimization of iron zeolitic imidazole framework-8 (FeZIF-8) nanoparticles, as heterogeneous catalysts, were synthesized and evaluated by the Fenton-like reaction for to degrade tartrazine (Tar) in aqueous environment. To achieve this, ZIF-8 nanoparticles were modified with different iron species (Fe2+ or Fe3O4), and subsequently assessed through the Fenton-like oxidation. The effect of different parameters such as the concentration of hydrogen peroxide, the mass of catalyst and the contact time of reaction on the degradation of Tar by Fenton-like oxidation was studied by using the Box-Behnken design (BBD). The BBD model indicated that the optimum catalytic conditions for Fenton-like reaction with an initial pollutant concentration of 30ppm at pH 3.0 were T=40°C and 12mM of H2O2, 2g/L of catalyst and 4h of reaction. The maximum Tar conversion value achieved with the best catalyst, Fe1ZIF-8, was 66.5% with high mineralization (in terms of decrease of total organic carbon TOC), 44.2%. To assess phytotoxicity, the germination success of corn kernels was used as an indicator in the laboratory. The results show that the catalytic oxidation by Fenton-like reaction using heterogeneous iron ZIF-8 catalysts is a viable alternative for treating contaminated effluents with organic pollutants and highlighted the importance of the validation of the optimized experimental conditions by mathematical models.O.A. thanks to ERASMUS + Program for the mobility Ph.D. grant and A.R.B. thanks to Fundação para Ciência e Tecnologia, FCT (Portugal) for her Ph.D. grant (SFRH/BD/141058/2018). This research work has been funded by national funds funded through FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC) over the projects: LA/P/0045/2020 (ALiCE), UIDB/50020/2020 and UIDP/50020/2020 (LSRE-LCM), Centre of Chemistry (UID/QUI/0686/2020), CEB (UIDB/04469/2020) and project BioTecNorte (operation NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004), supported by the Northern Portugal Regional Operational Program (NORTE 2020), under the Portugal 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

ACANTHOSTOMUM GNERII SZIDAT, 1954 (DIGENEA: CRYPTOGONIMIDAE) DE RHAMDIA QUELEN (QUOY & GAIMARD, 1824)

Acanthostomum gnerii és un digenea frecuentemente reportado en el intestino de Siluriformes y bien distribuida en el centro y suramérica. El objetivo de este estudio es proporcionar información adicional sobre las características morfológicas de la A. gnerii por secciones histológicas y microscopio electrónico de barrido, así como para proporcionar mediciones comparativas de Acanthostomum spp.. Diferente de registros anteriores de este helminto en Rhamdia sp., los espécimes de presente estudio presentearon dos brazos en la porción anterior del cuerpo luego después de la faringe. Ellos se juntan en un poro lateral en el lado esquierdo del cuerpo semelhante al observado en A. proctophorum y A. minimum. Esta morfología no hay sido descripta como característica válida para Acanthostomidae. La variación morfológica podria estar asociada a diferentes poblaciones de la misma especie. Nuevos estudios usando tecnicas moleculares son recomendados para certificar se esta característica coresponde a la diversidad de A. gnerii encuentrada en otras especies de peces

Phenolic bioactives as antiplatelet aggregation factors: the pivotal ingredients in maintaining cardiovascular health

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are one of the main causes of mortality in the world. The development of these diseases has a specific factor—alteration in blood platelet activation. It has been shown that phenolic compounds have antiplatelet aggregation abilities and a positive impact in the management of CVD, exerting prominent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, cardioprotective, antihyperglycemic, and antimicrobial effects. Thus, this review is intended to address the antiplatelet activity of phenolic compounds with special emphasis in preventing CVD, along with the mechanisms of action through which they are able to prevent and treat CVD. In vitro and in vivo studies have shown beneficial effects of phenolic compound-rich plant extracts and isolated compounds against CVD, despite that the scientific literature available on the antiplatelet aggregation ability of phenolic compounds in vivo is scarce. Thus, despite the current advances, further studies are needed to confirm the cardioprotective potential of phenolic compounds towards their use alone or in combination with conventional drugs for effective therapeutic interventions.N.C.-M. acknowledges the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology under the Horizon 2020 Program (PTDC/PSI-GER/28076/2017).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio