Comparative genomics of wild type yeast strains unveils important genome diversity

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Genome variability generates phenotypic heterogeneity and is of relevance for adaptation to environmental change, but the extent of such variability in natural populations is still poorly understood. For example, selected <it>Saccharomyces cerevisiae </it>strains are variable at the ploidy level, have gene amplifications, changes in chromosome copy number, and gross chromosomal rearrangements. This suggests that genome plasticity provides important genetic diversity upon which natural selection mechanisms can operate.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study, we have used wild-type <it>S. cerevisiae </it>(yeast) strains to investigate genome variation in natural and artificial environments. We have used comparative genome hybridization on array (aCGH) to characterize the genome variability of 16 yeast strains, of laboratory and commercial origin, isolated from vineyards and wine cellars, and from opportunistic human infections. Interestingly, sub-telomeric instability was associated with the clinical phenotype, while Ty element insertion regions determined genomic differences of natural wine fermentation strains. Copy number depletion of <it>ASP3 </it>and <it>YRF1 </it>genes was found in all wild-type strains. Other gene families involved in transmembrane transport, sugar and alcohol metabolism or drug resistance had copy number changes, which also distinguished wine from clinical isolates.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We have isolated and genotyped more than 1000 yeast strains from natural environments and carried out an aCGH analysis of 16 strains representative of distinct genotype clusters. Important genomic variability was identified between these strains, in particular in sub-telomeric regions and in Ty-element insertion sites, suggesting that this type of genome variability is the main source of genetic diversity in natural populations of yeast. The data highlights the usefulness of yeast as a model system to unravel intraspecific natural genome diversity and to elucidate how natural selection shapes the yeast genome.</p

Princípios constitucionais favoráveis e contrários ao poliamor, e a sua correlação com o tema 529 do STF / Constitutional principles favorable and contrary to poliamor, and its correlation with the subject 529 of STF

O presente trabalho trata sobre o poliamor, tendo como referência o tema 529 do STF, que versa acerca das relações concomitantes e a sua não legitimidade. O objetivo do seguinte artigo é apresentar os princípios constitucionais favoráveis e contrários, para que haja um debate acerca do reconhecimento das uniões poliamorosas, por meio de uma pesquisa qualitativa, abarcando entendimentos doutrinários e jurisprudenciais existentes. Por fim, traz o questionamento de qual dos poderes da república – legislativo ou judiciário- cabe reestruturar, com base nos princípios, a nova conceituação ou manutenção do conceito de família.

Iodine supplementation: compliance and association with adverse obstetric and neonatal outcomes

Free PMC article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/34981750/Objectives: Over 1.9 billion people worldwide are living in areas estimated to be iodine insufficient. Strategies for iodine supplementation include campaigns targeting vulnerable groups, such as women in pre-conception, pregnancy and lactation. Portuguese women of childbearing age and pregnant women were shown to be mildly-to-moderately iodine deficient. As a response, in 2013, the National Health Authority (NHA) issued a recommendation that all women considering pregnancy, pregnant or breastfeeding, take a daily supplement of 150-200 μg iodine. This study explored how the iodine supplementation recommendation has been fulfilled among pregnant and lactating women in Portugal, and whether the reported iodine supplements intake impacted on adverse obstetric and neonatal outcomes. Design and methods: Observational retrospective study on pregnant women who delivered or had a fetal loss in the Braga Hospital and had their pregnancies followed in Family Health Units. Results: The use of iodine supplements increased from 25% before the recommendation to 81% after the recommendation. This was mostly due to an increase in the use of supplements containing iodine only. Iodine supplementation was protective for the number of adverse obstetric outcomes (odds ratio (OR) = 0.791, P = 0.018) and for neonatal morbidities (OR = 0.528, P = 0.024) after controlling for relevant confounding variables. Conclusion: The recommendation seems to have succeeded in implementing iodine supplementation during pregnancy. National prospective studies are now needed to evaluate the impact of iodine supplementation on maternal thyroid homeostasis and offspring psychomotor development and on whether the time of the beginning of iodine supplementation (how early during preconception or pregnancy) is relevant to consider.This work has been funded by National funds, through the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) – project UIDB/50026/2020 and UIDP/50026/2020 and by the project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000039, supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Funding agencies did not participate in any part of the research or in data or manuscript preparationinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The incidence of exposure to antibiotics in children less than 6 years of age: a survey in a Portuguese metropolitan Area

Background: The contact with antibiotics at an early age may lead to a number of nefarious consequences. Nevertheless, the amount of literature available on the usage of antibiotics in children is scarce. Taking into account the increasing emergence of resistant bacterial strains, it is imperative to study and make society aware of the excessive exposure of children to antibiotics. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the incidence of antibiotic therapy in children under the age of six, in the metropolitan area of Oporto. Methods: Surveys (concerning children born in the metropolitan area of Oporto since 2010) were conducted in several nursery schools, and its answers (n=1031) were subsequently analysed. Our primary outcome was the incidence of exposure to antibiotics in children under 6 years of age in the metropolitan area of Oporto. Statistical significance was set as a p value inferior to 0.05. Results: We verified that 958 children (92.9%) were exposed to antibiotics before the age of six. Additionally, five associations were found between the considered variables: cessation of treatment and number of times the child has resorted to antibiotics in his/her lifetime (p<0,0001); cessation of treatment and average of intake per year (p=0,021, R=0,082); child with chronic disease and number of times of usage during his/her lifetime (p=0,02); eldest child’s age and cessation of treatment (p=0,018); eldest child’s age and number of times of usage during the child’s lifetime (p=0,014, R=0,096). Conclusion: Our study revealed that the exposure to antibiotics in children under six years of age is exceptionally high. Furthermore, the presence of chronic disease seems to be associated with a higher frequency of antibiotic intake. Couples with older children had better antibiotic therapy compliance, as well as higher frequency of antibiotic intake.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pharmacological interventions for COVID-19: Protocol for a Rapid Living Systematic Review with network meta-analysis

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has emerged in China in December 2019 and rapidly spread. Although extraordinary efforts have been made on research regarding pharmacological interventions, none have proven effective. This is the protocol for a rapid living systematic review that aims to compare the effectiveness and safety of different pharmacological interventions for the treatment of COVID-19. METHODS: rapid living systematic review methodology with Network Meta-Analysis following the recommendations of Cochrane Handbook. We will include randomized controlled trials (RCT) and quasi-RCTs that evaluate single and/or combined pharmacological interventions at any dose for the treatment of COVID-19. We will search Medline via PubMed, Embase via Elsevier, Cochrane Library - Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Portal Regional BVS - LILACS, Scopus and WebofScience to identify potentially eligible studies. No language restrictions will be used in the selection. We will perform the critical appraisal of included studies with the Risk of Bias tool and the certainty of evidence will be evaluated using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE)

PROGNOSTIC FACTORS FOR CLINICAL COURSE OF PATIENTS WITH COVID-19: PROTOCOL FOR A RAPID LIVING SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE: Determining prognostic factors in a context of health crises such as the COVID-19 scenario may provide the best possible care for patients and optimize the management and the resource utilization of the health system. Thus, we aim to systematically review the prognostic factors for different outcomes of patients with COVID-19. DESIGN AND SETTING: Protocol for a rapid living systematic review methodology following the recommendations proposed by the Cochrane Handbook. METHODS: We will include cohorts and case‐control studies. We will search Medline via PubMed, Embase via Elsevier, Cochrane Library - Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Portal Regional BVS- LILACS, Scopus and WebofScience to identify studies. No language restrictions will be applied. We will perform the critical appraisal of included studies with the Quality in Prognosis Studies (QUIPS) tool and the certainty of evidence will be evaluated using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE)

Telehealth interventions in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: Protocol for a scoping review

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE: The current health crisis due to COVID-19 is forcing us to profoundly rethink our social organizations and practices in health. While there is no effective treatment for the virus, staying home and social isolation are the control measures recommended by health authorities. The aim of this study is to perform a scoping review in order to summarize the current evidence in telehealth for COVID-19. METHODS: This study is a protocol to describe the rationale, hypothesis and planned methods of our scoping review. We will include randomized controlled trials (RCTs), observational cohort studies, case-control studies, cross-sectional studies, qualitative studies, and/or case series that describe telehealth interventions applied or developed to respond to COVID-19. We will search Medline via PubMed, Embase via Elsevier, Cochrane Library - Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Portal Regional BVS - LILACS, and Scopus. We will include studies performed since December 2019 with no language restrictions. We will use the Risk of Bias tool and the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale to perform the critical appraisal of included studies. We will assess the certainty of evidence using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE)

COVID-19 AND PATIENTS UNDERGOING PHARMACOLOGICAL TREATMENTS FOR IMMUNE-MEDIATED INFLAMMATORY DISEASES: PROTOCOL FOR A RAPID LIVING SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE: We propose to systematically review the available evidence to evaluate if patients with immune mediated or inflammatory diseases under pharmacological treatment with immunosuppressants, immunobiologics, DMARDs or targeted synthetic DMARDs have better or worse outcomes when infected by SARS-CoV-2. This study is a protocol for our rapid living systematic review. METHODS: Protocol for a rapid living systematic review methodology following the preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis protocols (PRISMA-P) guidance. To conduct the rapid systematic review, we will employ abbreviated systematic review methods, including: not performing independent screens of abstracts and not searching grey literature. As this will be a living review, it will be continuously updated

PREVALÊNCIA DE INTERAÇÕES MEDICAMENTOSAS ENVOLVENDO MEDICAMENTOS DE ALTA VIGILÂNCIA: ESTUDO TRANSVERSAL

RESUMO Objetivo: estimar a prevalência de interações medicamentosas potenciais (IMP) relacionadas aos medicamentos de alta vigilância (MAV) usados por uma amostra de pacientes internados em um centro de terapia intensiva (CTI). Métodos: estudo transversal, retrospectivo de abordagem quantitativa. A pesquisa apoiou-se na análise das prescrições dos pacientes internados no CTI no período de um ano (2014-2015) a fim de identificar as interações medicamentosas potenciais relacionadas aos MAVs nelas recorrentes. Para cada prontuário, foram analisadas das três às cinco primeiras prescrições, dependendo da disponibilidade destas e do período de internação do indivíduo. A identificação das IMPs foi feita a partir de consulta ao dispositivo Trissels da base de dados Micromedex 2.0. Resultados: nas 244 prescrições medicamentosas foram identificadas 846 IMPs relacionadas aos MAVs e 112 pares diferentes de IMP envolvendo os MAVs. Os principais MAVs nas IMP foram: insulina regular, midazolam, fentanil e tramadol. Dos 112 tipos de IMP identificados, algumas foram recorrentes; a saber: tramadol e ondansetrona, fentanil e midazolam, midazolam e omeprazol, insulina regular e hidrocortisona, bem como insulina regular e noradrenalina. A prevalência das IMPs com MAV nessa amostra foi de 0,96 (96%). Conclusão: grande parte dos pacientes foi exposta à IMP envolvendo midazolam, fentanil ou insulina regular. Há de se estabelecer certa vigilância no sentido de se evitar interações desnecessárias ou quando a administração conjunta de determinados interagentes for indispensável, Deve-se possuir competências para manejar essa administração de forma mais adequada e com o menor risco possível para o paciente