Agreement between magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasonography in the classification of schistosomal periportal fibrosis, according to Niamey's criteria

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the reproducibility of magnetic resonance imaging and the agreement between ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging in the classification of periportal fibrosis in patients with schistosomiasis based on Niamey's qualitative criteria. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A prospective, double-blinded study was conducted between February 2005 and June 2006 with 20 patients (10 men and 10 women, with ages ranging between 24 and 60 years, mean age 42.7 years) diagnosed with schistosomiasis mansoni. Both ultrasound and magnetic resonance images were independently evaluated by two experienced observers. Interobserver agreement was evaluated for findings of periportal fibrosis on magnetic resonance images and in a comparison between magnetic resonance and ultrasound images. RESULTS: The analysis of magnetic resonance images showed total interobserver agreement in 14 patients (70%). The comparison between ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging showed agreement between images in only six cases (30%) by observer 1, and in eight cases (40%) by observer 2. CONCLUSION: Magnetic resonance imaging presents a good reproducibility in the evaluation of periportal fibrosis in later stages of schistosomiasis, however, the correlation between magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasound is poor.OBJETIVO: Avaliar a reprodutibilidade da ressonância magnética e a concordância entre a ultra-sonografia e a ressonância magnética na classificação da fibrose periportal em pacientes esquistossomóticos, segundo os critérios qualitativos de Niamey. MATERIAIS E MÉTODOS: Foi realizado estudo prospectivo e duplo-cego, entre fevereiro de 2005 e junho de 2006, em 20 pacientes (10 homens e 10 mulheres, idades entre 24 e 60 anos, média de 42,75 anos) com diagnóstico de esquistossomose mansônica. As imagens de ultra-sonografia e de ressonância magnética foram avaliadas por dois examinadores experientes de forma independente. Foi medida a concordância interobservador para a ressonância magnética e entre a ressonância magnética e a ultra-sonografia. RESULTADOS: A ressonância magnética apresentou resultados concordantes entre os observadores em 14 pacientes (70%). Quando comparamos a ressonância magnética com a ultra-sonografia, obtivemos concordância em apenas seis pacientes pelo observador 1 (30%) e em oito pacientes pelo observador 2 (40%). CONCLUSÃO: A ressonância magnética tem boa reprodutibilidade na avaliação de fibrose periportal em pacientes com esquistossomose avançada, porém sua concordância com a ultra-sonografia é fraca.Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Escola Paulista de Medicina Departamento de Diagnóstico por ImagemUniversidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Escola Paulista de MedicinaUniversidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Escola Paulista de Medicina Departamento de GastroenterologiaUniversidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Escola Paulista de Medicina Departamento de MedicinaUNIFESP, EPM, Depto. de Diagnóstico por ImagemUNIFESP, EPM, Depto. de GastroenterologiaUNIFESP, EPM, Depto. de MedicinaSciEL

Immune and spermatogenesis-related loci are involved in the development of extreme patterns of male infertility

We conducted a genome-wide association study in a large population of infertile men due to unexplained spermatogenic failure (SPGF). More than seven million genetic variants were analysed in 1,274 SPGF cases and 1,951 unaffected controls from two independent European cohorts. Two genomic regions were associated with the most severe histological pattern of SPGF, defined by Sertoli cell-only (SCO) phenotype, namely the MHC class II gene HLA-DRB1 (rs1136759, P = 1.32E-08, OR = 1.80) and an upstream locus of VRK1 (rs115054029, P = 4.24E-08, OR = 3.14), which encodes a protein kinase involved in the regulation of spermatogenesis. The SCO-associated rs1136759 allele (G) determines a serine in the position 13 of the HLA-DR beta 1 molecule located in the antigen-binding pocket. Overall, our data support the notion of unexplained SPGF as a complex trait influenced by common variation in the genome, with the SCO phenotype likely representing an immune-mediated condition. A GWAS in a large case-control cohort of European ancestry identifies two genomic regions, the MHC class II gene HLA-DRB1 and an upstream locus of VRK1, that are associated with the most severe phenotype of spermatogenic failure

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Patologias atuais: a compulsão e a sociedade dos excessos: Current pathologies: compulsion and the society of excesses

O artigo em tela tem por objetivo analisar os aspectos biopsicossociais da conduta compulsiva de consumo. Propõe-se a apresentar os elementos psicológicos contidos nesse comportamento, além de verificar quais são os resultados decorrentes dessa compulsão. O consumo compulsivo, também chamado de oniomania, é um transtorno causado pela ansiedade despertada pela necessidade de comprar e saciada, somente, quando é materializada a aquisição daquilo que se deseja comprar. O estudo em questão pode ser classificado como sendo de cunho bibliográfico, a partir da análise de documentos publicados em forma de artigos científicos e livros em formato digital

Identification of clusters of asthma control: A preliminary analysis of the inspirers studies

This work was funded by ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) through the operations: POCI- -01-0145-FEDER-029130 (“mINSPIRERS—mHealth to measure and improve adherence to medication in chronic obstructive respiratory diseases - generalisation and evaluation of gamification, peer support and advanced image processing technologies”) co-funded by the COMPETE2020 (Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização), Portugal 2020 and by Portuguese Funds through FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia).© 2020, Sociedade Portuguesa de Alergologia e Imunologia Clinica. All rights reserved. Aims: To identify distinct asthma control clusters based on Control of Allergic Rhinitis and Asthma Test (CARAT) and to compare patients’ characteristics among these clusters. Methods: Adults and adolescents (≥13 years) with persistent asthma were recruited at 29 Portuguese hospital outpatient clinics, in the context of two observational studies of the INSPIRERS project. Demographic and clinical characteristics, adherence to inhaled medication, beliefs about inhaled medication, anxiety and depression, quality of life, and asthma control (CARAT, >24 good control) were collected. Hierarchical cluster analysis was performed using CARAT total score (CARAT-T). Results: 410 patients (68% adults), with a median (percentile 25–percentile 75) age of 28 (16-46) years, were analysed. Three clusters were identified [mean CARAT-T (min-max)]: cluster 1 [27(24-30)], cluster 2 [19(14-23)] and cluster 3 [10(2-13)]. Patients in cluster 1 (34%) were characterised by better asthma control, better quality of life, higher inhaler adherence and use of a single inhaler. Patients in clusters 2 (50%) and 3 (16%) had uncontrolled asthma, lower inhaler adherence, more symptoms of anxiety and depression and more than half had at least one exacerbation in the previous year. Further-more, patients in cluster 3 were predominantly female, had more unscheduled medical visits and more anxiety symp-toms, perceived a higher necessity of their prescribed inhalers but also higher levels of concern about taking these inhalers. There were no differences in age, body mass index, lung function, smoking status, hospital admissions or specialist physician follow-up time among the three clusters. Conclusion: An unsupervised method based on CARAT--T, identified 3 clusters of patients with distinct, clinically meaningful characteristics. The cluster with better asthma control had a cut-off similar to the established in the validation study of CARAT and an additional cut-off seems to distinguish more severe disease. Further research is necessary to validate the asthma control clusters identified.publishersversionpublishe

Associação entre a ooforectomia bilateral precoce e o desenvolvimento do parkinsonismo e Doença de Parkinson em mulheres na pré-menopausa

O parkinsonismo é um distúrbio do sistema nervoso de maior incidência masculina do que feminina, visto que, por mecanismos fisiológicos, o estrogênio possui efeitos neuroprotetores, com funções como aumento da dopamina, um neurotransmissor essencial para o controle das funções motoras. Além disso, previne a formação dos corpúsculos de Lewy e da agregação da α-sinucleína, responsáveis pela progressão da Doença de Parkinson. Por isso, a doença se apresenta diferentemente nas mulheres. A remoção cirúrgica de ambos os ovários em mulheres na pré-menopausa para a prevenção do câncer de ovário parece favorecer o surgimento da doença, tendo em vista a perda da produção do hormônio protetor. Assim, o objetivo do estudo é analisar a associação entre a ooforectomia bilateral precoce e o desenvolvimento de parkinsonismo e Doença de Parkinson em mulheres na pré-menopausa. Trata-se de uma revisão bibliográfica sistemática, do tipo quantitativa, que utilizou as plataformas do PubMed, SciELO e Cochrane Library como bases de dados para seleção dos artigos, todos na língua inglesa. Foram utilizadas literaturas publicadas com recorte temporal de 2017 a 2022. De acordo com as literaturas analisadas, a ooforectomia bilateral precoce em mulheres na pré-menopausa aumenta o risco do desenvolvimento de parkinsonismo. Desse modo, a diminuição dos procedimentos cirúrgicos profiláticos para câncer de ovário nas pacientes com risco médio de malignidade reduziria o risco dessa condição