Development of an indirect ELISA for serological diagnosis of bovine herpesvirus 5

Bovine herpesviruses 1 and 5 (BoHV-1 and BoHV-5) are economically important pathogens, associated with a variety of clinical syndromes, including respiratory and genital disease, reproductive failure and meningoencephalitis. The standard serological assay to diagnose BoHV-1 and BoHV-5 infections is the virus neutralization test (VNT), a time consuming procedure that requires manipulation of infectious virus. In the present study a highly sensitive and specific single dilution indirect ELISA was developed using recombinant glycoprotein D from BoHV-5 as antigen (rgD5ELISA). Bovine serum samples (n = 450) were screened by VNT against BoHV-5a and by rgD5ELISA. Compared with the VNT, the rgD5ELISA demonstrated accuracy of 99.8%, with 100% sensitivity, 96.7% specificity and coefficient of agreement between the tests of 0.954. The rgD5ELISA described here shows excellent agreement with the VNT and is shown to be a simple, convenient, specific and highly sensitive virus-free assay for detection of serum antibodies to BoHV-5

Segmentation and Classification of Cine-MR Images Using Fully Convolutional Networks and Handcrafted Features

Three-dimensional cine-MRI is of crucial importance for assessing the cardiac function. Features that describe the anatomy and function of cardiac structures (e.g. Left Ventricle (LV), Right Ventricle (RV), and Myocardium(MC)) are known to have significant diagnostic value and can be computed from 3D cine-MR images. However, these features require precise segmentation of cardiac structures. Among the fully automated segmentation methods, Fully Convolutional Networks (FCN) with Skip Connections have shown robustness in medical segmentation problems. In this study, we develop a complete pipeline for classification of subjects with cardiac conditions based on 3D cine-MRI. For the segmentation task, we develop a 2D FCN and introduce Parallel Paths (PP) as a way to exploit the 3D information of the cine-MR image. For the classification task, 125 features were extracted from the segmented structures, describing their anatomy and function. Next, a two-stage pipeline for feature selection using the LASSO method is developed. A subset of 20 features is selected for classification. Each subject is classified using an ensemble of Logistic Regression, Multi-Layer Perceptron, and Support Vector Machine classifiers through majority voting. The Dice Coefficient for segmentation was 0.95+-0.03, 0.89+-0.13, and 0.90+-0.03 for LV, RV, and MC respectively. The 8-fold cross validation accuracy for the classification task was 95.05% and 92.77% based on ground truth and the proposed methods segmentations respectively. The results show that the PPs increase the segmentation accuracy, by exploiting the spatial relations. Moreover, the classification algorithm and the features showed discriminability while keeping the sensitivity to segmentation error as low as possible.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables. Was accepted to the ACDC challenge, MICCAI 2017 (not attended

Curcumin and quercetin-loaded lipid nanocarriers : development of omega-3 mucoadhesive nanoemulsions for intranasal administration

Curcumin (CUR) and quercetin (QU) are potential compounds for treatment of brain diseases such as neurodegenerative diseases (ND) because of their anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. However, low water solubility and poor bioavailability hinder their clinical use. In this context, nanotechnology arises as a strategy to overcome biopharmaceutical issues. In this work, we develop, characterize, compare, and optimize three different omega-3 (!-3) fatty acids nanoemulsions (NEs) loaded with CUR and QU (negative, cationic, gelling) prepared by two different methods for administration by intranasal route (IN). The results showed that formulations prepared with the two proposed methods exhibited good stability and were able to incorporate a similar amount of CUR and QU. On the other side, differences in size, zeta potential, in vitro release kinetics, and permeation/retention test were observed. Considering the two preparation methods tested, high-pressure homogenization (HPH) shows advantages, and the CQ NE- obtained demonstrated potential for sustained release. Toxicity studies demonstrated that the formulations were not toxic for Caenorhabditis elegans. The developed !-3 fatty acid NEs have shown a range of interesting properties for the treatment of brain diseases, since they have the potential to increase the nose-tobrain permeation of CUR and QU, enabling enhanced treatments efficiency

Compreensão da relação entre a saúde mental do idoso e seu ambiente familiar: uma revisão integrativa/Understanding the relationship between the mental health of the elderly and their family environment: an integrative review

O objetivo do trabalho foi buscar evidências científicas que contribuam para a compreensão da saúde mental do idoso a partir de vivências em seu ambiente familiar. Foram pesquisadas as bases MEDLINE, LILACS, Cochrane, BDENF e IBECS utilizando os seguintes descritores: Idoso, saúde mental e relações familiares. Constituíram a amostra final desta revisão 13 artigos. As informações foram agrupadas em três categorias: A influência do ambiente familiar como elemento protetor e/ou facilitador à saúde mental no idoso; as limitações físicas decorrentes da idade e suas repercussões na saúde mental do idoso em seu ambiente familiar, e as práticas de apoio ao idoso em seu ambiente familiar como preservação de seu estado em saúde mental. Concluiu-se que é importante estimular a independência dos idosos e consolidar o ambiente familiar como sua rede de apoio

Abordagem hemato-bioquímica de cães acometidos por gastrenterite no Hospital de Clínicas Veterinárias da UFRGS

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Post-intervention Status in Patients With Refractory Myasthenia Gravis Treated With Eculizumab During REGAIN and Its Open-Label Extension

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether eculizumab helps patients with anti-acetylcholine receptor-positive (AChR+) refractory generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG) achieve the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America (MGFA) post-intervention status of minimal manifestations (MM), we assessed patients' status throughout REGAIN (Safety and Efficacy of Eculizumab in AChR+ Refractory Generalized Myasthenia Gravis) and its open-label extension. METHODS: Patients who completed the REGAIN randomized controlled trial and continued into the open-label extension were included in this tertiary endpoint analysis. Patients were assessed for the MGFA post-intervention status of improved, unchanged, worse, MM, and pharmacologic remission at defined time points during REGAIN and through week 130 of the open-label study. RESULTS: A total of 117 patients completed REGAIN and continued into the open-label study (eculizumab/eculizumab: 56; placebo/eculizumab: 61). At week 26 of REGAIN, more eculizumab-treated patients than placebo-treated patients achieved a status of improved (60.7% vs 41.7%) or MM (25.0% vs 13.3%; common OR: 2.3; 95% CI: 1.1-4.5). After 130 weeks of eculizumab treatment, 88.0% of patients achieved improved status and 57.3% of patients achieved MM status. The safety profile of eculizumab was consistent with its known profile and no new safety signals were detected. CONCLUSION: Eculizumab led to rapid and sustained achievement of MM in patients with AChR+ refractory gMG. These findings support the use of eculizumab in this previously difficult-to-treat patient population. CLINICALTRIALSGOV IDENTIFIER: REGAIN, NCT01997229; REGAIN open-label extension, NCT02301624. CLASSIFICATION OF EVIDENCE: This study provides Class II evidence that, after 26 weeks of eculizumab treatment, 25.0% of adults with AChR+ refractory gMG achieved MM, compared with 13.3% who received placebo

Minimal Symptom Expression' in Patients With Acetylcholine Receptor Antibody-Positive Refractory Generalized Myasthenia Gravis Treated With Eculizumab

The efficacy and tolerability of eculizumab were assessed in REGAIN, a 26-week, phase 3, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study in anti-acetylcholine receptor antibody-positive (AChR+) refractory generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG), and its open-label extension

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection