L’enseignement pharmaceutique au Portugal. Etude de cas de la Faculte de Pharmacie de l’Universite de Coimbra (1902)

Les auteurs font l’historique de l’enseignement pharmaceutique au Portugal. Leur recherche se centre essentiellement sur les réformes qui ont marqué la pharmacie dans la première moitié du XXe siècle, une période de profondes modifications scientifiques, techniques et professionnelles au niveau de la pharmacie portugaise. Ils effectuent une étude de cas pour l’École/ Faculté de Pharmacie de l’Université en centrant leur attention aussi bien sur l’enseignement que sur la recherche réalisée, ayant pour rideau de fond le contexte politique, social et scientifique.Pharmaceutical teaching in Portugal - the case study of the University of Coimbra´s Faculty of Pharmacy — The authors make a record of pharmaceutical teaching in Portugal centering their investigation mainly on the reforms that marked pharmacy in the first half of the XX century, a period of scientific, technical and deep professional changes in Portuguese pharmacy. A case study was completed for the University´s School / Faculty of Pharmacy focusing its attention not only on the teaching but also the investigation accomplished, having the political, social and scientific context as a background

Cinchona in Portugal - The Consumption of Cinchona, drug research and industrial production (18th-20th Centuries)

The authors briefly trace the significant stages of the issue related to cinchona in Portugal, namely with the research carried out at the University of Coimbra as a platform. They exemplified the consumption of cinchona by executing a case study on the production of medication in the Pharmacy of the University of Coimbra´s School Hospital (XVIII-XIX centuries). They divulge the main authors and main works that studied cinchona in Portugal (XVIII-XX centuries). They look back on the controversy between Coimbra and Lisbon, concerning the isolation of the cinchonine of Gomes (1810) Finally they cover the period of industrial investment in cinchona plantations in Portuguese colonies and the implantation of a quinine extraction industry and its relationship with the colonial issu

a case report

personBACKGROUND: Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) is one of the most aggressive solid tumors. ATC is frequently diagnosed at advanced stages with unresectable disease and palliative care is often indicated. Recently, several patient-tailored therapies for ATC are emerging due to advances in molecular profiling of these tumors. Entrectinib is a potent oral selective inhibitor of neutrotrophic tropomyosin receptor kinase (NTRK), ROS1, and anaplastic lymphoma kinase fusions. The experience regarding ATC and other thyroid carcinomas, particularly in the neoadjuvant setting, is minimal. CASE REPORT: We present a case of a 51-year-old female patient presenting with a bulky mass of the left thyroid lobe measuring 100 × 108 × 80 mm that was considered surgically unresectable. While waiting for next-generation sequence (NGS) profiling, lenvatinib was initiated. There was an initial clinical and imagiologic response; however, progression occurred after 12 weeks, and at this time NGS identified an ETV6-NTRK3 fusion and entrectinib was started. After 12 weeks, tumor diameters reduced to a minimum of 68×60×49 mm, and the patient underwent total thyroidectomy plus central lymphadenectomy. Histological diagnosis confirmed an ATC (pT4a R2 N1a). Adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) (60 Grays) with weekly paclitaxel (45 mg/m2) was then administered followed by maintenance entrectinib 600 mg daily. Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography performed 3 months after completion of RT showed only non-specific uptake in the posterior wall of the hypopharynx and larynx, suggestive of inflammation. CONCLUSION: We report the first case of an ATC with a dramatic response to neoadjuvant therapy with entrectinib, which enabled surgical resection of an ab initio unresectable tumor.publishersversionpublishe

Functional and sequence-based metagenomics to uncover carbohydrate-degrading enzymes from composting samples

The online version contains supplementary material available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-023-12627-9.The renewable, abundant, and low-cost nature of lignocellulosic biomass can play an important role in the sustainable production of bioenergy and several added-value bioproducts, thus providing alternative solutions to counteract the global energetic and industrial demands. The efficient conversion of lignocellulosic biomass greatly relies on the catalytic activity of carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes). Finding novel and robust biocatalysts, capable of being active under harsh industrial conditions, is thus imperative to achieve an economically feasible process. In this study, thermophilic compost samples from three Portuguese companies were collected, and their metagenomic DNA was extracted and sequenced through shotgun sequencing. A novel multi-step bioinformatic pipeline was developed to find CAZymes and characterize the taxonomic and functional profiles of the microbial communities, using both reads and metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) as input. The samples' microbiome was dominated by bacteria, where the classes Gammaproteobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria, and Balneolia stood out for their higher abundance, indicating that the degradation of compost biomass is mainly driven by bacterial enzymatic activity. Furthermore, the functional studies revealed that our samples are a rich reservoir of glycoside hydrolases (GH), particularly of GH5 and GH9 cellulases, and GH3 oligosaccharide-degrading enzymes. We further constructed metagenomic fosmid libraries with the compost DNA and demonstrated that a great number of clones exhibited $\beta$-glucosidase activity. The comparison of our samples with others from the literature showed that, independently of the composition and process conditions, composting is an excellent source of lignocellulose-degrading enzymes. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first comparative study on the CAZyme abundance and taxonomic/functional profiles of Portuguese compost samples.Open access funding provided by FCT|FCCN (b-on). This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UIDB/04469/2020 unit, the projects LIGNOZYMES—Metagenomics approach to unravel the potential of lignocellulosic residues towards the discovery of novel enzymes (POCI-01–0145-FEDER-029773), and B3iS—Biodiversity and Bioprospecting of Biosurfactants in Saline Environments (PTDC/BII-BIO/5554/2020); and by RNCA Advanced Computing Project MetaLignoZymes, metagenomic analysis of lignocellulosic residues towards the discovery of novel enzymes (CPCA/A0/408464/2021).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The effect of salts on the liquid–liquid phase equilibria of PEG600 + salt aqueous two-phase systems

Six new ATPSs were prepared by combining polyethylene glycol PEG600 with potassium citrate, dipotassium hydrogen phosphate, sodium formate, potassium formate, sodium sulfate, and lithium sulfate. Complete phase diagrams, including the binodal curve and three tie-lines, were determined at 23 °C. The experimental data obtained for the binodal curve were successfully adjusted to the Merchuk equation, and the reliability of tie-line data was confirmed using the equations suggested by Othmer–Tobias and Bancroft. The ability of each ion to induce ATPS formation was investigated. Na+ proved to be more effective in ATPS formation than K+ and Li+. For potassium salts, the order observed for the effectiveness of the anions was: HPO42– > C6H5O73– > HCO2–. Regarding the sodium salts, it was found that SO42– is clearly more effective than HCO2–. The position of the ions in the Hofmeister series and their free energy of hydration (ΔGhyd) were used to explain the ability of the ions to induce PEG salting-out. Furthermore, the effective excluded volume (EEV) of the salts was determined and the following order was found: Na2SO4 > K2HPO4 > Li2SO4 > K3C6H5O7 > NaCHO2 > KCHO2. Similar order was obtained when analyzing the size of the heterogeneous regions, suggesting the practical use of EEV as a comparison parameter between different ATPSs.This work is partially supported by project PEst-C/EQB/LA0020/2011, financed by FEDER through COMPETE-Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade and by FCT-Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia. Sara Silverio acknowledges her Ph.D. grant from FCT (SFRH/BD/43439/2008)

Height and body-mass index trajectories of school-aged children and adolescents from 1985 to 2019 in 200 countries and territories: a pooled analysis of 2181 population-based studies with 65 million participants

Summary Background Comparable global data on health and nutrition of school-aged children and adolescents are scarce. We aimed to estimate age trajectories and time trends in mean height and mean body-mass index (BMI), which measures weight gain beyond what is expected from height gain, for school-aged children and adolescents. Methods For this pooled analysis, we used a database of cardiometabolic risk factors collated by the Non-Communicable Disease Risk Factor Collaboration. We applied a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate trends from 1985 to 2019 in mean height and mean BMI in 1-year age groups for ages 5–19 years. The model allowed for non-linear changes over time in mean height and mean BMI and for non-linear changes with age of children and adolescents, including periods of rapid growth during adolescence. Findings We pooled data from 2181 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in 65 million participants in 200 countries and territories. In 2019, we estimated a difference of 20 cm or higher in mean height of 19-year-old adolescents between countries with the tallest populations (the Netherlands, Montenegro, Estonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina for boys; and the Netherlands, Montenegro, Denmark, and Iceland for girls) and those with the shortest populations (Timor-Leste, Laos, Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea for boys; and Guatemala, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Timor-Leste for girls). In the same year, the difference between the highest mean BMI (in Pacific island countries, Kuwait, Bahrain, The Bahamas, Chile, the USA, and New Zealand for both boys and girls and in South Africa for girls) and lowest mean BMI (in India, Bangladesh, Timor-Leste, Ethiopia, and Chad for boys and girls; and in Japan and Romania for girls) was approximately 9–10 kg/m2. In some countries, children aged 5 years started with healthier height or BMI than the global median and, in some cases, as healthy as the best performing countries, but they became progressively less healthy compared with their comparators as they grew older by not growing as tall (eg, boys in Austria and Barbados, and girls in Belgium and Puerto Rico) or gaining too much weight for their height (eg, girls and boys in Kuwait, Bahrain, Fiji, Jamaica, and Mexico; and girls in South Africa and New Zealand). In other countries, growing children overtook the height of their comparators (eg, Latvia, Czech Republic, Morocco, and Iran) or curbed their weight gain (eg, Italy, France, and Croatia) in late childhood and adolescence. When changes in both height and BMI were considered, girls in South Korea, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and some central Asian countries (eg, Armenia and Azerbaijan), and boys in central and western Europe (eg, Portugal, Denmark, Poland, and Montenegro) had the healthiest changes in anthropometric status over the past 3·5 decades because, compared with children and adolescents in other countries, they had a much larger gain in height than they did in BMI. The unhealthiest changes—gaining too little height, too much weight for their height compared with children in other countries, or both—occurred in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, New Zealand, and the USA for boys and girls; in Malaysia and some Pacific island nations for boys; and in Mexico for girls. Interpretation The height and BMI trajectories over age and time of school-aged children and adolescents are highly variable across countries, which indicates heterogeneous nutritional quality and lifelong health advantages and risks

Rising rural body-mass index is the main driver of the global obesity epidemic in adults

Body-mass index (BMI) has increased steadily in most countries in parallel with a rise in the proportion of the population who live in cities(.)(1,2) This has led to a widely reported view that urbanization is one of the most important drivers of the global rise in obesity(3-6). Here we use 2,009 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in more than 112 million adults, to report national, regional and global trends in mean BMI segregated by place of residence (a rural or urban area) from 1985 to 2017. We show that, contrary to the dominant paradigm, more than 55% of the global rise in mean BMI from 1985 to 2017-and more than 80% in some low- and middle-income regions-was due to increases in BMI in rural areas. This large contribution stems from the fact that, with the exception of women in sub-Saharan Africa, BMI is increasing at the same rate or faster in rural areas than in cities in low- and middle-income regions. These trends have in turn resulted in a closing-and in some countries reversal-of the gap in BMI between urban and rural areas in low- and middle-income countries, especially for women. In high-income and industrialized countries, we noted a persistently higher rural BMI, especially for women. There is an urgent need for an integrated approach to rural nutrition that enhances financial and physical access to healthy foods, to avoid replacing the rural undernutrition disadvantage in poor countries with a more general malnutrition disadvantage that entails excessive consumption of low-quality calories.Peer reviewe

Heterogeneous contributions of change in population distribution of body mass index to change in obesity and underweight NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC)

From 1985 to 2016, the prevalence of underweight decreased, and that of obesity and severe obesity increased, in most regions, with significant variation in the magnitude of these changes across regions. We investigated how much change in mean body mass index (BMI) explains changes in the prevalence of underweight, obesity, and severe obesity in different regions using data from 2896 population-based studies with 187 million participants. Changes in the prevalence of underweight and total obesity, and to a lesser extent severe obesity, are largely driven by shifts in the distribution of BMI, with smaller contributions from changes in the shape of the distribution. In East and Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, the underweight tail of the BMI distribution was left behind as the distribution shifted. There is a need for policies that address all forms of malnutrition by making healthy foods accessible and affordable, while restricting unhealthy foods through fiscal and regulatory restrictions

Parental socioeconomic and educational level and chil overweight - lessons from a municipality based study

INTRODUCTION: The prevalence of childhood obesity is rising rapidly in Portugal, reaching one of the worst positions in the European Union. Inadequate food habits with high intake of high energy dense foods, seems to be one of the main factor behind this epidemic. Family socioeconomic status also appears to be an obesogenic factor, particularly parents’ educational level and their income. To better understand the association of unbalanced dietary habits and socioeconomic environment on children nutritional status and to develop effective prevention strategies, are the main aims of this municipality study METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on five municipalities (Viana do Castelo, Fundão, Oeiras, Seixal and Montijo), which included 3275 children (6-9 years old), attending the universe of public elementary schools. Childhood nutritional status was assessed by anthropometric parameters (weight and height) considering the CDC growthcharts criteria percentiles of BMI. Children’s food habits, socioeconomic condition and parent’s level education were collected by a family questionnaire. RESULTS: Prevalence of childhood overweight (BMI≥P85) was 32,1%, and over 14% of children were obese (BMI≥P95). Pre-obesity (P85≤ BMI< P95) prevalence was higher among girls (18,1%) than boys (17,8%). The consumption of fast food group and candies occurred mainly in every 15 days (48,4% and 35,5% respectively), pastry products showed a higher frequency of 1-3 times a week (41,5%). The percentage of children consuming vegetables, at least daily, varied with nutritional status: 23,0%; 25,7%; 26,2%; 21,0% in underweight, normal, pre-obese and obese children. Overweight was associated with parent´s low socioeconomic status, and middle parents educational level. CONCLUSION: Further careful analysis will help to better understand the role of obesogenic factors. This knowledge may identify additional potential effective interventions at local level in order to reverse the obesity trends in Portuguese children

Evolutionary analysis of Mycobacterium bovis genotypes across Africa suggests co-evolution with livestock and humans.

Mycobacterium bovis is the pathogenic agent responsible for bovine tuberculosis (bTB), a zoonotic disease affecting mostly cattle, but also transmittable to humans and wildlife. Genetic studies on M. bovis allow to detect possible routes of bTB transmission and the identification of genetic reservoirs that may provide an essential framework for public health action. We used a database with 1235 M. bovis genotypes collected from different regions in Africa with 45 new Mozambican samples. Our analyses, based on phylogeographic and population genetics' approaches, allowed to identify two clear trends. First, the genetic diversity of M. bovis is geographically clustered across the continent, with the only incidences of long-distance sharing of genotypes, between South Africa and Algeria, likely due to recent European introductions. Second, there is a broad gradient of diversity from Northern to Southern Africa with a diversity focus on the proximity to the Near East, where M. bovis likely emerged with animal domestication in the last 10,000 years. Diversity indices are higher in Eastern Africa, followed successively by Northern, Central, Southern and Western Africa, roughly correlating with the regional archaeological records of introduction of animal domesticates. Given this scenario M. bovis in Africa was probably established millennia ago following a concomitant spread with cattle, sheep and goat. Such scenario could translate into long-term locally adapted lineages across Africa. This work describes a novel scenario for the spread of M. bovis in Africa using the available genetic data, opening the field to further studies using higher resolution genomic data