Toxic thermoresistant metabolites of Fusarium oxysporum are capable of inducing histopathological alterations in Wistar rats

The genus Fusarium is known to produce mycotoxins that cause fusariosis in plants, animals and humans. Mycotoxins are among the virulence factors of this genus. Metabolic extracts of Fusarium oxysporum, isolated from a patient with onychomycosis and sterilized by filtration or autoclave, were inoculated intradermally into Wistar rats at concentrations of 0.25, 0.5 and 1 µg/µL, and the effects on their tegument were observed at 24 and 72 hours. After histological procedures and staining by hematoxylineosin, the sections were studied for their inflammatory-reaction intensity and for evidence of injury and tissue distortion. Inflammatory reactions in the dermis and the subcutaneous tissue were observed at all concentrations of the inoculated extract tested. There was a significant influx of neutrophils, mastocytes and lymphocytes, as well as a large quantity of macrophages. Apoptotic bodies and hyperemic blood vessels were observed. This reaction was directly related to the extract concentration, and was most intense in animals that received the 1 mg/µL dose. The maximum peak was observed at 24 hours. The autoclaved metabolic extract produced the same effects as the untreated one, indicating the presence of heat-resistant metabolites. In conclusion, the metabolic extracts obtained from sterilized culture filtrates of F. oxysporum are capable of inducing an inflammatory response within 24 hours in the dermis and subcutaneous tissue of rats

Evaluation of propolis and its subproduct as an inhibitor of growth and biofilm formation in vaginal yeast from pregnant women

Objectives The treatment of vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) is still unsatisfactory, especially in pregnant women, being promising to the utilization of alternative therapies. Propolis extract solution (PES) has demonstrated antifungal efficacy and low toxicity. In addition, the subproduct of propolis extract solution (SPES) is produced during the process of preparing PES and is usually discarded, but can still sub- mit substances responsible for biological effects, such as the polyphenols, responsible for the therapeutic activity of propolis. SPES have not been investigated or used as an antimicrobial agent. Thus, the objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of PES and SPES on Candida spp. isolated from the vaginal material of pregnant women. Methods Vaginal samples from 291 pregnant women were collected and cultivated for yeasts, which were identified by the classical method and performing susceptibility tests against PES, SPES and conventional antifungal agents. The anti-biofilm effect and cytotoxicity tests of the PES and SPES were evaluated. Results In 38.48% (112/291) of culture was positive for Candida species. There were patients with two different species, being a total of 115 yeasts (82.61% C. albicans; 6.08% C. glabrata; 5.22% C. tropi- calis; 5.22% C. parapsilosis and 0.87% C. krusei). PES and SPES were effective, even against isolates resistant to conventional antifungal (Table 1) and reduced about 25% C. tropicalis biofilm, besides presenting its low toxicity in the concentrations of fungicides. Conclusion Thus, in addition to the PES, SPES can also be a promising alternative treatment, especially in this population

The ^4He trimer as an Efimov system

We review the results obtained in the last four decades which demonstrate the Efimov nature of the $^4$He three-atomic system.Comment: Review article for a special issue of the Few-Body Systems journal devoted to Efimov physic

Analyses of cerebral microdialysis in patients with traumatic brain injury: relations to intracranial pressure, cerebral perfusion pressure and catheter placement

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cerebral microdialysis (MD) is used to monitor local brain chemistry of patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Despite an extensive literature on cerebral MD in the clinical setting, it remains unclear how individual levels of real-time MD data are to be interpreted. Intracranial pressure (ICP) and cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) are important continuous brain monitors in neurointensive care. They are used as surrogate monitors of cerebral blood flow and have an established relation to outcome. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relations between MD parameters and ICP and/or CPP in patients with TBI.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Cerebral MD, ICP and CPP were monitored in 90 patients with TBI. Data were extensively analyzed, using over 7,350 samples of complete (hourly) MD data sets (glucose, lactate, pyruvate and glycerol) to seek representations of ICP, CPP and MD that were best correlated. MD catheter positions were located on computed tomography scans as pericontusional or nonpericontusional. MD markers were analyzed for correlations to ICP and CPP using time series regression analysis, mixed effects models and nonlinear (artificial neural networks) computer-based pattern recognition methods.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Despite much data indicating highly perturbed metabolism, MD shows weak correlations to ICP and CPP. In contrast, the autocorrelation of MD is high for all markers, even at up to 30 future hours. Consequently, subject identity alone explains 52% to 75% of MD marker variance. This indicates that the dominant metabolic processes monitored with MD are long-term, spanning days or longer. In comparison, short-term (differenced or Δ) changes of MD vs. CPP are significantly correlated in pericontusional locations, but with less than 1% explained variance. Moreover, CPP and ICP were significantly related to outcome based on Glasgow Outcome Scale scores, while no significant relations were found between outcome and MD.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The multitude of highly perturbed local chemistry seen with MD in patients with TBI predominately represents long-term metabolic patterns and is weakly correlated to ICP and CPP. This suggests that disturbances other than pressure and/or flow have a dominant influence on MD levels in patients with TBI.</p

A systematic review of cerebral microdialysis and outcomes in TBI: relationships to patient functional outcome, neurophysiologic measures, and tissue outcome

OBJECTIVE: To perform a systematic review on commonly measured cerebral microdialysis (CMD) analytes and their association to: (A) patient functional outcome, (B) neurophysiologic measures, and (C) tissue outcome; after moderate/severe TBI. The aim was to provide a foundation for next-generation CMD studies and build on existing pragmatic expert guidelines for CMD. METHODS: We searched MEDLINE, BIOSIS, EMBASE, Global Health, Scopus, Cochrane Library (inception to October 2016). Strength of evidence was adjudicated using GRADE. RESULTS: (A) Functional Outcome: 55 articles were included, assessing outcome as mortality or Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) at 3-6 months post-injury. Overall, there is GRADE C evidence to support an association between CMD glucose, glutamate, glycerol, lactate, and LPR to patient outcome at 3-6 months. (B) Neurophysiologic Measures: 59 articles were included. Overall, there currently exists GRADE C level of evidence supporting an association between elevated CMD measured mean LPR, glutamate and glycerol with elevated ICP and/or decreased CPP. In addition, there currently exists GRADE C evidence to support an association between elevated mean lactate:pyruvate ratio (LPR) and low PbtO2. Remaining CMD measures and physiologic outcomes displayed GRADE D or no evidence to support a relationship. (C) Tissue Outcome: four studies were included. Given the conflicting literature, the only conclusion that can be drawn is acute/subacute phase elevation of CMD measured LPR is associated with frontal lobe atrophy at 6 months. CONCLUSIONS: This systematic review replicates previously documented relationships between CMD and various outcome, which have driven clinical application of the technique. Evidence assessments do not address the application of CMD for exploring pathophysiology or titrating therapy in individual patients, and do not account for the modulatory effect of therapy on outcome, triggered at different CMD thresholds in individual centers. Our findings support clinical application of CMD and refinement of existing guidelines

What Is the Shape of the Helium Trimer? A Comparison with the Neon and Argon Trimers

Despite its apparent simplicity and extensive theoretical investigations, the issue of what is the shape of the helium trimer is still debated in the literature. After reviewing previous conflicting interpretations of computational studies, we introduce the angle?angle distribution function as a tool to discuss in a simple way the shape of any trimer. We compute this function along with many different geometrical distributions using variational and diffusion Monte Carlo methods. We compare them with the corresponding ones for the neon and argon trimers. Our analysis shows that while Ne3 and Ar3 fluctuate around an equilibrium structure that is an equilateral triangle, 4He3 shows an extremely broad angle?angle distribution function, and all kinds of three-atom configurations must be taken into account in its description. Classifying 4He3 as either equilateral or linear or any other particular shape, as was done in the past, is not sensible, because in this case the intuitive notion of equilibrium structure is ill defined. Our results could help the interpretation of future experiments aimed at measuring the geometrical properties of the helium trimer