PERCUSSION AND VIBRATION AIRWAY CLEARANCE THERAPY INCREASES INFLAMMATORY FACTORS

Ventilator associated pneumonia is a common problem with the mechanically ventilated population. Mortality, hospital stay, and cost increase with ventilator associated pneumonia. The importance of tackling this problem has spurred an effort within the medical community to prevent the onset of VAP. Upon years of study, a basic bundle of care has been recommended by the IHI for implementation in the hospital so that the incidence of VAP would decrease. This paper will focus on the nurse’s role in implementing the bundle of care. The paper will explore the different interventions and will cover the evidence behind the practice. The paper will also try to mention the avenues in which research can focus due to the lack of development in that area.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/uresposters/1011/thumbnail.jp

CAD of Stacked Patch Antennas Through Multipurpose Admittance Matrices From FEM and Neural Networks

In this work, a novel computer-aided design methodology for probe-fed, cavity-backed, stacked microstrip patch antennas is proposed. The methodology incorporates the rigor of a numerical technique, such as finite element methods, which, in turn, makes use of a newly developed procedure (multipurpose admittance matrices) to carry out a full-wave analysis in a given structure in spite of certain physical shapes and dimensions not yet being established. With the aid of this technique, we form a training set for a neural network, whose output is the desired response of the antenna according to the value of design parameters. Last, taking advantage of this neural network, we perform a global optimization through a genetic algorithm or simulated annealing to obtain a final design. The proposed methodology is validated through a real design whose numerical results are compared with measurements with good agreement

Secondary School Students' Knowledge and Opinions on Astrobiology Topics and Related Social Issues

Astrobiology is the study of the origin of life on Earth and the distribution of life in the Universe. Its multidisciplinary approach, social and philosophical implications, and appeal within the discipline and beyond make astrobiology a uniquely qualified subject for general science education. In this study, student knowledge and opinions on astrobiology topics were investigated. Eighty-nine students in their last year of compulsory education (age 15) completed a written questionnaire that consisted of 10 open questions on the topic of astrobiology. The results indicate that students have significant difficulties understanding the origin of life on Earth, despite exposure to the topic by way of the assigned textbooks. The students were often unaware of past or present achievements in the search for life within the Solar System and beyond, topics that are far less commonly seen in textbooks. Student questionnaire answers also indicated that students had problems in reasoning and critical thinking when asked for their opinions on issues such as the potential for life beyond Earth, the question of whether UFOs exist, or what our place is in the Universe. Astrobiology might help initiate student awareness as to current thinking on these matters and should be considered for general science educatio

POLÍTICAS PÚBLICAS EM CONTEXTOS ESCOLARES INDÍGENAS: REPENSANDO A ALIMENTAÇÃO ESCOLAR

The aim of this research was the food offered at school among the Mbya Guarani who live in Cotinha Isle, Parana coast, and its target was to develop and apply adequate methodological instruments for a better understanding of the circumstances in which the National Program of School Nutrition (PNAE) is run among the Indian peoples. Thus, the ethnography of school food of the Mbya community was carried out aiming to refine and improve the understanding of the nutrition at school implications in their daily lives.Esta pesquisa teve por objeto a alimentação escolar entre os Mbya Guarani que vivem na Ilha da Cotinha, litoral do Paraná, e foi orientada segundo o objetivo de desenvolver e aplicar instrumentos metodológicos adequados para um melhor conhecimento das circunstâncias nas quais o Programa Nacional de Alimentação Escolar (PNAE) é executado em contextos de populações indígenas. Dessa forma, foi realizada uma etnografia da alimentação escolar procurando refinar e aprimorar a compreensão das implicações da alimentação escolar no cotidiano da comunidade Mbya

Cervical Fluids Are a Source of Protein Biomarkers for Early, Non-Invasive Endometrial Cancer Diagnosis

Cervical sample; Endometrial cancer; ProteinMostra cervical; Càncer d'endometri; ProteïnaMuestra cervical; Cáncer de endometrio; ProteínaBackground: Abnormal uterine bleeding is the main symptom of endometrial cancer (EC), but it is highly nonspecific. This represents a huge burden for women’s health since all women presenting with bleeding will undergo sequential invasive tests, which are avoidable for 90–95% of those women who do not have EC. Methods: This study aimed to evaluate the potential of cervical samples collected with five different devices as a source of protein biomarkers to diagnose EC. We evaluated the protein quantity and the proteome composition of five cervical sampling methods. Results: Samples collected with a Rovers Cervex Brush® and the HC2 DNA collection device, Digene, were the most suitable samples for EC proteomic studies. Most proteins found in uterine fluids were also detected in both cervical samples. We then conducted a clinical retrospective study to assess the expression of 52 EC-related proteins in 41 patients (22 EC; 19 non-EC), using targeted proteomics. We identified SERPINH1, VIM, TAGLN, PPIA, CSE1L, and CTNNB1 as potential protein biomarkers to discriminate between EC and symptomatic non-EC women with abnormal uterine bleeding in cervical fluids (AUC > 0.8). Conclusions: This study opens an avenue for developing non-invasive protein-based EC diagnostic tests, which will improve the standard of care for gynecological patients.This research was funded by grants from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) grant number PI17/02155, PI20/00644 to E.C. and S.C., and the IFI19/00029 to E.C.-d.l.-R.; from Fundación Científica Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer (AECC) grant number GCTRA1804MATI; and the INVES20051COLA to E.C.; the CIBERONC network grant number CB16/12/00328; and the ERA PerMed ERA-NET grant (PERME212443COLA funded by AECC and AEC21_2/00030 funded by ISCIII); and 2021 SGR 1157 by AGAUR. The present work has been also supported by a Televie grant 5/20/5—TLV/DD to G.D

In silico Approach for Validating and Unveiling New Applications for Prognostic Biomarkers of Endometrial Cancer

Bioinformática; Cáncer de endometrio; Biomarcador pronósticoBioinformàtica; Càncer d'endometri; Biomarcador pronòsticBioinformatics; Endometrial cancer; Prognostic biomarkerEndometrial cancer (EC) mortality is directly associated with the presence of prognostic factors. Current stratification systems are not accurate enough to predict the outcome of patients. Therefore, identifying more accurate prognostic EC biomarkers is crucial. We aimed to validate 255 prognostic biomarkers identified in multiple studies and explore their prognostic application by analyzing them in TCGA and CPTAC datasets. We analyzed the mRNA and proteomic expression data to assess the statistical prognostic performance of the 255 proteins. Significant biomarkers related to overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) were combined and signatures generated. A total of 30 biomarkers were associated either to one or more of the following prognostic factors: histological type (n = 15), histological grade (n = 6), FIGO stage (n = 1), molecular classification (n = 16), or they were associated to OS (n = 11), and RFS (n = 5). A prognostic signature composed of 11 proteins increased the accuracy to predict OS (AUC = 0.827). The study validates and identifies new potential applications of 30 proteins as prognostic biomarkers and suggests to further study under-studied biomarkers such as TPX2, and confirms already used biomarkers such as MSH6, MSH2, or L1CAM. These results are expected to advance the quest for biomarkers to accurately assess the risk of EC patients.This research was funded by grants from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) grant number PI17/02155, PI20/00644, and the IFI19/00029 to E.C.-d.l.R., the Ministerio de ciencia, Innovación y Universidades through a RETOS Colaboración (RTC-2017-6261-1), both co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER); from Fundación Científica Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer (AECC) grant number GCTRA1804MATI and CIBERONC network grant number CB16/12/00328; and Grups Consolidats de la Generalitat de Catalunya (2017SGR1661). E.C. is supported by an Investigator Grant from AECC (INVES20051COLA). E.M.-G. was supported by Televie grant F5/20/5-TLV/DD

Genomic Validation of Endometrial Cancer Patient-Derived Xenograft Models as a Preclinical Tool

Bioinformatics; Endometrial cancer; Molecular markerBioinformática; Cáncer endometrial; Marcador molecularBioinformàtica; Càncer d'endometri; Marcador molecularEndometrial cancer (EC) is the second most frequent gynecological cancer worldwide. Although improvements in EC classification have enabled an accurate establishment of disease prognosis, women with a high-risk or recurrent EC face a dramatic situation due to limited further treatment options. Therefore, new strategies that closely mimic the disease are required to maximize drug development success. Patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) are widely recognized as a physiologically relevant preclinical model. Hence, we propose to molecularly and histologically validate EC PDX models. To reveal the molecular landscape of PDXs generated from 13 EC patients, we performed histological characterization and whole-exome sequencing analysis of tumor samples. We assessed the similarity between PDXs and their corresponding patient’s tumor and, additionally, to an extended cohort of EC patients obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Finally, we performed functional enrichment analysis to reveal differences in molecular pathway activation in PDX models. We demonstrated that the PDX models had a well-defined and differentiated molecular profile that matched the genomic profile described by the TCGA for each EC subtype. Thus, we validated EC PDX’s potential to reliably recapitulate the majority of histologic and molecular EC features. This work highlights the importance of a thorough characterization of preclinical models for the improvement of the success rate of drug-screening assays for personalized medicine.This research was funded by grants from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) grant number PI17/02071, PI20/01566, and from the Ministerio de ciencia, Innovación y Universidades through a RETOS Colaboración (RTC-2017-6261-1), both co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER); from Fundación Científica Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer (AECC) grant number GCTRA1804MATI, Biomedical Research Center Network (CIBERONC) grant number CB16/12/00328 and Generalitat de Catalunya, grant number 2017SGR1661. B.V.-M. is supported by a predoctoral fellowship (PERIS-SLT017/20/000183) from Generalitat de Catalunya. E.C. is supported by an Investigator Grant from AECC (INVES20051COLA)

Metabolomic and lipidomic profiling identifies the role of the RNA editing pathway in endometrial carcinogenesis

Endometrial cancer (EC) remains the most common malignancy of the genital tract among women in developed countries. Although much research has been performed at genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic level, there is still a significant gap in the metabolomic studies of EC. In order to gain insights into altered metabolic pathways in the onset and progression of EC carcinogenesis, we used high resolution mass spectrometry to characterize the metabolomic and lipidomic profile of 39 human EC and 17 healthy endometrial tissue samples. Several pathways including lipids, Kynurenine pathway, endocannabinoids signaling pathway and the RNA editing pathway were found to be dysregulated in EC. The dysregulation of the RNA editing pathway was further investigated in an independent set of 183 human EC tissues and matched controls, using orthogonal approaches. We found that ADAR2 is overexpressed in EC and that the increase in expression positively correlates with the aggressiveness of the tumor. Furthermore, silencing of ADAR2 in three EC cell lines resulted in a decreased proliferation rate, increased apoptosis, and reduced migration capabilities in vitro. Taken together, our results suggest that ADAR2 functions as an oncogene in endometrial carcinogenesis and could be a potential target for improving EC treatment strategies.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Health (RD12/0036/0035), the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivy (PI14/02043), the AECC (Grupos Estables de Investigacion 2011 - AECC- GCB 110333 REVE), the Fundació La Marató TV3 (2/C/2013), the CIRIT Generalitat de Catalunya (2014 SGR 1330) and the European Commission, 7th Framework Program, IRSES (PROTBIOFLUID –269285) – Belgium. Te Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (IJCI-2015-25000) granted Dr. Colás and and the AGAUR Generalitat de Catalunya (2015FI_B00703) granted Tatiana Altadill. Te authors would like to acknowledge the Proteomics and Metabolomics Shared Resource partially supported by Cancer Center Support Grant NIH/NCI grant P30-CA051008. Te Institut de Salud Carlos III (FIS (PI13/01701)) also supported this project. Tissue samples were obtained with the support of “Xarxa Catalana de Bancs de Tumors” and “Plataforma de Biobancos” ISCIII (PT13/0010/0014)

Imidazole derivatives as promising agents for the treatment of Chagas disease

More than 100 years later after being firstly described, Chagas disease remains endemic in 21 Latin American countries and has spread to other continents. Indeed, this disease, caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, is no longer just a problem for the American continent but has become a global health threat. Current therapies, nifurtimox and benznidazole (Bz), are far from being adequate due to undesirable effects and their lack of efficacy in the chronic phases of the disease. In this work, we present an in-depth phenotypical evaluation in T.cruzi of a new class of imidazole compounds, discovered in a previous phenotypic screening against different trypanosomatids and designed as potential inhibitors of cAMP phosphodiesterases (PDEs). The confirmation of several activities similar or superior to Bz prompted a synthesis program of hit optimization and extended SAR, aimed at improving drug-like properties such as aqueous solubility, resulting in additional hits with IC50 similar to Bz. The cellular effects of one representative hit, compound 9, on bloodstream trypomastigotes were further investigated. Transmission electron microscopy revealed cellular changes, after just 2 h of incubation with the IC50 concentration, that were consistent with induced autophagy and osmotic stress - mechanisms previously linked to cAMP signaling. Compound 9 induced highly significant increases in both cellular and medium cAMP, confirming that inhibition of T.cruzi PDE(s) is part of its mechanism of action. The potent and selective activity of this imidazole-based PDE inhibitor class against T.cruzi constitutes a successful repurposing of research into inhibitors of mammalian PDEs

Deciphering the enzymatic target of a new family of antischistosomal agents bearing a quinazoline scaffold using complementary computational tools.

A previous phenotypic screening campaign led to the identification of a quinazoline derivative with promising in vitro activity against Schistosoma mansoni. Follow-up studies of the antischistosomal potential of this candidate are presented here. The in vivo studies in a S. mansoni mouse model show a significant reduction of total worms and a complete disappearance of immature eggs when administered concomitantly with praziquantel in comparison with the administration of praziquantel alone. This fact is of utmost importance because eggs are responsible for the pathology and transmission of the disease. Subsequently, the chemical optimisation of the structure in order to improve the metabolic stability of the parent compound was carried out leading to derivatives with improved drug-like properties. Additionally, the putative target of this new class of antischistosomal compounds was envisaged by using computational tools and the binding mode to the target enzyme, aldose reductase, was proposed