Is anodal transcranial direct current stimulation a potential ergogenic resource for muscle strength and effort perception? A critical review

Nas últimas décadas, vários estudos estão investigando a dose-resposta ideal em termos de frequência, intensidade e volume de treinamento para alcançar o aumento da força muscular, tanto em atletas quanto em não atletas. A dose-resposta é fundamental para a prescrição do treinamento, uma vez que sua manipulação equivocada pode acarretar alto risco de desenvolvimento de lesões por esforços repetitivos, bem como pelo não desenvolvimento da força esperada. Em indivíduos com nível avançado de treinamento de força, é extremamente importante aumentar sua intensidade e volume de treinamento. Nesse sentido, com os avanços encontrados na área de treinamento de força e a necessidade de novas estratégias para otimizar ganhos de força, um novo método vem ganhando força na literatura, a estimulação transcraniana por corrente contínua (ETCC). Portanto, o objetivo deste estudo é analisar criticamente os efeitos do ETCC como potencial recurso ergogênico para a realização de força muscular e percepção de esforço, bem como se seu uso é ético ou não. Para tanto, foram pesquisadas as bases de dados Pubmed/Medline, ISI Web of Knowledge e Scielo, apenas em inglês, e com as palavras-chave: força muscular, resistência muscular, estimulação transcraniana por corrente contínua, ETCC. Nós comparamos o efeito do ETCC anódico (ETCC-a) com uma condição sham/controle nos resultados de ETCC para força muscular e percepção de esforço força muscular e percepção de esforço. Nenhum estudo menciona efeitos colaterais negativos da intervenção. Os dados mostram diferenças entre os estudos que investigam os estudos de avaliação da força muscular e resistência muscular, em termos do uso bem sucedido de ETCC. Estudos que investigaram a eficiência do ETCC na melhora da força muscular demonstraram efeitos positivos do ETCC-a em 66,7% dos parâmetros testados. Amaioria dos dados mostra consistentemente a influência do ETCC-a na força muscular, mas não no desempenho de resistênciaEn las últimas décadas, diversos estudios están investigando la dosis-respuesta ideal en cuanto a la frecuencia, intensidad y volumen de entrenamiento para alcanzar el aumento de fuerza muscular, sea en atletas y no atletas. La dosis-respuesta es fundamental para la prescripción de entrenamiento, pues su manipulación equivocada puede llevar a un alto de riesgo de desarrollo de lesiones por esfuerzo repetitivo, así como para el no desarrollo de la fuerza esperada. En sujetos con nivel avanzado de entrenamiento de fuerza es extremadamente importante aumentar su intensidad y volumen de entrenamiento. En este sentido, con los avances encontrados en el área de entrenamiento de fuerza y la necesidad de nuevas estrategias para optimizar las ganancias de fuerza, un nuevo método está ganando fuerza en la literatura, la estimulación transcraneal por corriente continua (ETCC). Por lo tanto, el objetivo del presente estudio es analizar de forma crítica los efectos de la ETCC como potencial recurso ergogénico al desempeño de fuerza muscular y percepción de esfuerzo, así como si su uso es ético o no. Por lo tanto, se realizó una búsqueda en las bases de datos Pubmed/Medline, ISI Web of Knowledge y Scielo, solamente en inglés y con las palabras clave: fuerza muscular, resistencia muscular, estimulación transcraneal de corriente continua, ETCC. Comparamos el efecto de la ETCC anódica (ETCC-a) a una condición sham/control sobre los resultados de la fuerza muscular y percepción de esfuerzo. Ningún estudio menciona efectos secundarios negativos de la intervención. Los datos muestran diferencias entre los estudios que investigan la fuerza muscular y los estudios de evaluación de resistencia muscular, en lo que se refiere al uso exitoso de la ETCC. Los estudios que investigan la eficiencia de la ETCC en la mejora de la fuerza muscular demuestran efectos positivos de la ETCC-a en el 66,7% de los parámetros probados. La mayoría de los datos muestran consistentemente influencia de la ETCC-a en la fuerza muscular, pero no en el rendimiento de resistencia.In the last decades, several studies are investigating the optimal dose-response in terms of frequency, intensity and volume of training to achieve increased muscle strength in both athletes and non-athletes. Dose-response is critical to the prescription of training, since its mismanagement may pose a high risk of developing repetitive strain injuries as well as failure to develop the expected strength. In individuals with advanced level of strength training, it is extremely important to increase their intensity and training volume. In this sense, with the advances in the area of strength training and the need for new strategies to optimize force gains, a new method is gaining strength in the literature, the transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). Therefore, the purpose of this study is to critically analyze the effects of tDCS as a potential ergogenic resource for achieving muscle strength and perceived exertion, as well as whether its use is ethical or not. To do so, we searched the databases Pubmed/Medline, ISI Web of Knowledge and Scielo, in English only, and with the keywords: muscle strength, muscular endurance, transcranial direct current stimulation, tDCS. We compared the effect of anodic tDCS (a-tDCS) with a sham/control condition on muscle strength and perceived exertion results. No study mentions the negative side effects of the intervention. The data show differences between studies investigating studies of muscle strength and muscle endurance in terms of the successful use of tDCS. Studies that investigated tDCS efficiency in improving muscle strength demonstrated positive effects of a-tDCS on 66.7% of the parameters tested. Most data consistently show the influence of a-tDCS on muscle strength, but not on resistance performance.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Phoma sp. (sect. Peyronellaea), as causal agent of leaf spot on Paspalum atratum in Brazil

Phoma sp. (sect. Peyronellaea) foi consistentemente isolado de plantas de Paspalum atratum cv. Pojuca (capim Pojuca) com sintomas de manchas foliares em uma população no Distrito Federal, em 2002. Os conídios mostraram-se hialinos, predominantemente elípticos, unicelulares, gutulados, medindo entre 2,50-5,25 mim de largura e 10,25-17,25 mim de comprimento. Os picnídios mostraram-se escuros, medindo entre 100-310 mim de diâmetro, com pescoço curto, na maioria são globosos e solitários. Clamidósporos multicelulares, freqüentemente semelhantes a conídios de Alternaria foram observados nas colônias. Testes de patogenicidade em casa de vegetação e o ubsequente reisolamento do fungo confirmaram a hipótese de que Phoma sp. é o agente etiológico das manchas foliares de capim Pojuca. Os primeiros sintomas apareceram em todas as plântulas inoculadas, quatro a cinco dias após a inoculação. Sete outras espécies de gramíneas foram suscetíveis ao fungo. A ocorrência de manchas foliares de capim Pojuca causadas por Phoma sp. é relatada pela primeira vez no Brasil.The fungus Phoma sp. (sect. Peyronellaea) was consistently isolated from infected Paspalum atratum cv. Pojuca (Pojuca grass) plants with leaf spot symptoms in the Federal District, Brazil, in 2002. Conidia were hyaline, usually ellyptical, unicellular, gutullate, 2,50-5,25 x 10,25-17,25 mum. Pycnidia were mostly solitary, 100-310 mum diameter, globose, usually with a short neck. Multicellular chlamidospores often resembling conidia of Alternaria were present in the colonies. Pathogenicity tests under greenhouse conditions and subsequent reisolations of Phoma sp. from artificially inoculated Pojuca seedlings confirmed the hypothesis that this fungus was the causal agent of the disease. Symptoms of leaf spot appeared four to five days after inoculation in 100% of the inoculated Pojuca grass plants. All seven species of grasses evaluated were susceptible to this fungus. The occurrence of leaf spots of Pojuca grass caused by Phoma sp. is reported for the first time in Brazil

Occurrence of Bipolaris maydis causing leaf spot in Paspalum atratum cv. ojuca in Brazil

Bipolaris maydis foi consistentemente isolado de plantas de Paspalum atratum cv. Pojuca com sintomas de manchas foliares em 100% das plantas de uma população no Cerrado, em 2002. Testes de patogenicidade em casa de vegetação e o subseqüente reisolamento do fungo confirmaram a hipótese de que B. maydis é o agente etiológico da mancha foliar de P. atratum cv. Pojuca. Os primeiros sintomas apareceram em todas as mudas inoculadas, quatro a cinco dias após a inoculação. Sete outras espécies de gramíneas foram suscetíveis ao fungo. A ocorrência de manchas foliares de Pojuca causadas por B. maydis é relatada pela primeira vez no Brasil.Bipolaris maydis was consistently isolated from infected Paspalum atratum cv. Pojuca plants showing leaf spot symptoms in the Cerrado of Brazil, in 2002. Pathogenicity tests under greenhouse conditions and subsequent reisolations of B. maydis from artificially inoculated Pojuca seedlings confirmed the hypothesis that this fungus was the causal agent of the disease. Symptoms of leaf spot appeared four days after inoculation in 100% of the inoculated Pojuca plants. All seven species of grasses evaluated were susceptible to B. maydis. The occurrence of leaf spot of Pojuca caused by B. maydis is reported for the first time in Brazil

MarinEye - A tool for marine monitoring

This work presents an autonomous system for marine integrated physical-chemical and biological monitoring – the MarinEye system. It comprises a set of sensors providing diverse and relevant information for oceanic environment characterization and marine biology studies. It is constituted by a physicalchemical water properties sensor suite, a water filtration and sampling system for DNA collection, a plankton imaging system and biomass assessment acoustic system. The MarinEye system has onboard computational and logging capabilities allowing it either for autonomous operation or for integration in other marine observing systems (such as Observatories or robotic vehicles. It was designed in order to collect integrated multi-trophic monitoring data. The validation in operational environment on 3 marine observatories: RAIA, BerlengasWatch and Cascais on the coast of Portugal is also discussed.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Assessing in vivo and in vitro biofilm development by Streptococcus dysgalactiae subsp. dysgalactiae using a murine model of catheter-associated biofilm and human keratinocyte cell

001 from Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES). This work is also financed by national funds from FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., of the Research Unit on Applied Molecular Biosciences - UCIBIO and the project LA/P/0140/2020 of the Associate Laboratory Institute for Health and Bioeconomy - i4HBandStreptococcus dysgalactiae subsp. dysgalactiae (SDSD) is an important agent of bovine mastitis. This infection causes an inflammatory reaction in udder tissue, being the most important disease-causing significant impact on the dairy industry. Therefore, it leads to an increase in dairy farming to meet commercial demands. As a result, there is a major impact on both the dairy industry and the environment including global warming. Recurrent mastitis is often attributed to the development of bacterial biofilms, which promote survival of sessile cells in hostile environments, and resistance to the immune system defense and antimicrobial therapy. Recently, we described the in vitro biofilm development on abiotic surfaces by bovine SDSD. In that work we integrated microbiology, imaging, and computational methods to evaluate the biofilm production capability of SDSD isolates on abiotic surfaces. Additionally, we reported that bovine SDSD can adhere and internalize human cells, including human epidermal keratinocyte (HEK) cells. We showed that the adherence and internalization rates of bovine SDSD isolates in HEK cells are higher than those of a SDSD DB49998-05 isolated from humans. In vivo, bovine SDSD can cause invasive infections leading to zebrafish morbidity and mortality. In the present work, we investigated for the first time the capability of bovine SDSD to develop biofilm in vivo using a murine animal model and ex-vivo on human HEK cells. Bovine SDSD isolates were selected based on their ability to form weak, moderate, or strong biofilms on glass surfaces. Our results showed that SDSD isolates displayed an increased ability to form biofilms on the surface of catheters implanted in mice when compared to in vitro biofilm formation on abiotic surface. A greater ability to form biofilm in vitro after animal passage was observed for the VSD45 isolate, but not for the other isolates tested. Besides that, in vitro scanning electron microscopy demonstrated that SDSD biofilm development was visible after 4 hours of SDSD adhesion to HEK cells. Cell viability tests showed an important reduction in the number of HEK cells after the formation of SDSD biofilms. In this study, the expression of genes encoding BrpA-like (biofilm regulatory protein), FbpA (fibronectin-binding protein A), HtrA (serine protease), and SagA (streptolysin S precursor) was higher for biofilm grown in vivo than in vitro, suggesting a potential role for these virulence determinants in the biofilm-development, host colonization, and SDSD infections. Taken together, these results demonstrate that SDSD can develop biofilms in vivo and on the surface of HEK cells causing important cellular damages. As SDSD infections are considered zoonotic diseases, our data contribute to a better understanding of the role of biofilm accumulation during SDSD colonization and pathogenesis not only in bovine mastitis, but they also shed some lights on the mechanisms of prosthesis-associated infection and cellulitis caused by SDSD in humans, as well.publishersversionpublishe

Growth of TiO2 nanotube arrays with simultaneous Au nanoparticles impregnation: photocatalysts for hydrogen production

Um novo método para a fabricação de nanotubos (NTs) de TiO2 organizados e impregnados com nanopartículas (NPs) de ouro foi desenvolvido, e as propriedades estruturais, morfológicas e ópticas dos NTs obtidos foram investigadas. Os arranjos de NTs de TiO2 foram crescidos pela oxidação anódica de Ti metálico utilizando soluções eletrolíticas contendo íons fluoreto e NPs de Au. As estruturas resultantes foram caracterizadas por espectrometria de retroespalhamento Rutherford (RBS), difratometria de raios X com incidência rasante (GIXRD), microscopias eletrônicas de transmissão (TEM) e de varredura (SEM) e espectroscopia UV-Vis. Tanto os arranjos de NTs sem Au quanto os impregnados com Au mostraram atividade fotocatalítica boa e estável na geração de hidrogênio a partir de misturas água/metanol. Os nanotubos de TiO2 contendo Au foram mais ativos na fotogeração de hidrogênio do que os NTs de TiO2 sem Au.A novel method for the fabrication of TiO2 nanotubes (NTs) impregnated with gold nanoparticles (NPs) is reported. TiO2 NT arrays were grown by anodic oxidation of Ti metal using fluoride electrolytes containing Au NPs. Resulting structures were characterized by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS), grazing incidence X-ray diffractometry (GIXRD), transmission and scanning electron microscopy (SEM and TEM) and UV-Vis spectroscopy. Au-free and Au-impregnated TiO2 NT arrays showed good and stable photocatalytic activity for hydrogen generation from water/methanol solutions. Au-containing TiO2 NTs presented higher hydrogen photogeneration activity than Au-free TiO2 NTs

Maintenance and breeding of Thrichomys (Trouessart, 1880) (Rodentia: Echimyidae) in captivity

South American histricognath rodents Thrichomys apereoides laurentius and Thrichomys pachyurus are natural hosts of Trypanosoma cruzi, agent of Chagas disease. We established breeding colonies of these species to serve as experimental models in various parasitological studies. Both species of Thrichomys have all the requirements necessary to become excellent laboratory models: they can be easily maintained in the standard laboratory conditions and breed throughout the year and they do not have any special dietary demands and can be fed by standard food pellets designed for laboratory mice. Both species produce precocious offspring that have their eyes and ears open, teeth erupted, fur well developed, and can eat solid food in the first week of life. T. a. laurentius has larger litter sizes and lower body masses at birth and weaning than T. pachyurus. Moreover, females of T. a. laurentius reach puberty earlier and with lower body mass than T. pachyurus

Flow cytometry immunophenotyping for diagnostic orientation and classification of pediatric cancer based on the euroflow solid tumor orientation tube (Stot)

© 2021 by the authors.Early diagnosis of pediatric cancer is key for adequate patient management and improved outcome. Although multiparameter flow cytometry (MFC) has proven of great utility in the diagnosis and classification of hematologic malignancies, its application to non-hematopoietic pediatric tumors remains limited. Here we designed and prospectively validated a new single eight-color antibody combination—solid tumor orientation tube, STOT—for diagnostic screening of pediatric cancer by MFC. A total of 476 samples (139 tumor mass, 138 bone marrow, 86 lymph node, 58 peripheral blood, and 55 other body fluid samples) from 296 patients with diagnostic suspicion of pediatric cancer were analyzed by MFC vs. conventional diagnostic procedures. STOT was designed after several design–test–evaluate–redesign cycles based on a large panel of monoclonal antibody combinations tested on 301 samples. In its final version, STOT consists of a single 8-color/12-marker antibody combination (CD99-CD8/numyogenin/CD4-EpCAM/CD56/GD2/smCD3-CD19/cyCD3-CD271/CD45). Prospective validation of STOT in 149 samples showed concordant results with the patient WHO/ICCC-3 diagnosis in 138/149 cases (92.6%). These included: 63/63 (100%) reactive/disease-free samples, 43/44 (98%) malignant and 4/4 (100%) benign non-hematopoietic tumors together with 28/38 (74%) leukemia/lymphoma cases; the only exception was Hodgkin lymphoma that required additional markers to be stained. In addition, STOT allowed accurate discrimination among the four most common subtypes of malignant CD45− CD56++ non-hematopoietic solid tumors: 13/13 (GD2++ numyogenin− CD271−/+ nuMyoD1− CD99− EpCAM−) neuroblastoma samples, 5/5 (GD2− numyogenin++ CD271++ nuMyoD1++ CD99−/+ EpCAM−) rhabdomyosarcomas, 2/2 (GD2−/+ numyogenin− CD271+ nuMyoD1− CD99+ EpCAM−) Ewing sarcoma family of tumors, and 7/7 (GD2− numyogenin− CD271+ nuMyoD1− CD99− EpCAM+) Wilms tumors. In summary, here we designed and validated a new standardized antibody combination and MFC assay for diagnostic screening of pediatric solid tumors that might contribute to fast and accurate diagnostic orientation and classification of pediatric cancer in routine clinical practice.This research was funded by the EuroFlow Consortium; Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (FAPERJ), numbers: E26/110.105/2014, E-26/010.101259/2018, and E26/102.191/2013; grant from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, Brasília, Brazil (CNPQ), Brasília, Brazil, numbers: 303765/2018-6, 409440/2016-7, and 400194/2014-7; and Instituto Desiderata/Chevron, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, grant “Actions to improve pediatric cancer assistance in RJ”; the EuroFlow Consortium (grant LSHB-CT-2006-018708); Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Cáncer (CIBER-ONC; Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Madrid, Spain and FONDOS FEDER), numbers: CB16/12/00400, CB16/12/00233, CB16/12/00369, CB16/12/00489 and CB16/12/00480; grant from Bilateral Cooperation Program between Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior-CAPES (Brasília/Brazil) and Dirección General de Políticas Universitárias (DGPU)-Ministério de Educación, Cultura y Deportes (Madrid/Spain) number DGPU 311/15