Representing and coding the knowledge embedded in texts of Health Science Web published articles

Despite the fact that electronic publishing is a common activity to scholars electronic journals are still based in the print model and do not take full advantage of the facilities offered by the Semantic Web environment. This is a report of the results of a research project with the aim of investigating the possibilities of electronic publishing journal articles both as text for human reading and in machine readable format recording the new knowledge contained in the article. This knowledge is identified with the scientific methodology elements such as problem, methodology, hypothesis, results, and conclusions. A model integrating all those elements is proposed which makes explicit and records the knowledge embedded in the text of scientific articles as an ontology. Knowledge thus represented enables its processing by intelligent software agents The proposed model aims to take advantage of these facilities enabling semantic retrieval and validation of the knowledge contained in articles. To validate and enhance the model a set of electronic journal articles were analyzed

Síndrome de Sotos (Gigantismo Cerebral): relato de um caso

Sotos syndrome is a congenital syndrome with sporadic occurrence that is related to variable degrees of mental retardation and behavior disturbances. This paper presents a brief review of its main characterisitics and describes a case to illustrate it.El Síndrome de Sotos es un síndrome congénito de ocurrencia esporádica, relacionado al retardo mental de grado variable y a alteraciones de comportamiento. En este artículo se presenta una breve revisión sobre el tema y se describe un caso del síndrome.A Síndrome de Sotos é uma síndrome congênita de ocorrência esporádica relacionada a retardo mental de grau variável e alterações de comportamento. Neste artigo, apresenta-se uma breve revisão sobre o assunto e descreve-se um caso da síndrome

Survival in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis - cytotoxic agents compared to corticosteroids

Study objective: To compare the survival of patients with IPF treated retrospectively with corticosteroids atone, to survival of patients treated with immunosuppressive and corticosteroids combined. Design: Non-randomized retrospective cohort study.Setting: Three tertiary centers in Brazil.Patients: Eighty-two IPF patients were included. the diagnosis was confirmed by open lung biopsy in 48. Patients received either corticosteroids alone (group 1) or cytotoxic agents in addition to corticosteroids (group 11).Measurements and results: the primary end-point was mortality. Secondary outcome included longitudinal changes in FVC. Mean age was 66+8 years. FVC was 71 +/- 17% of predicted. There were 48 deaths during the study period (59%), 44 secondary to respiratory causes. From preliminary univariate analysis, for the group as a whole, worse survival was found to be associated with FVC% = 70% and = 70% (Log Rank = 6.84, P = 0.009).Conclusions: the combination of immunosuppressive agents and prednisone results in better survival when compared to prednisone alone in patients with IPF the benefit seems to occur only in patients with less severe disease, as reflected by FVC >= 70%. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Pulmonol, Paulista Sch Med, BR-04082001 São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Pulmonol, Paulista Sch Med, BR-04082001 São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Gait speed, balance and functional capacity in a sample of community-dwelling older adults

Introduction: Falls in older people is an important public health concern since they are responsible for a high number of hospitalizations, health complications, disability, and death. Gait speed has been identified as a predictor of health state in elderly populations and it is related to falls and functional capacity. The aim of this study was to identify the risk of falling in a sample of Portuguese older adults living in the community and to investigate the associations between gait speed, balance, and functionality. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. Assessment included gait speed (GS) with 4-meter walk test; balance with the Berg Balance Scale (BBS); functional capacity with the Composite Physical Function Scale (CPF). Descriptive and correlational statistics were performed to analyze data. Results: 46 community-dwelling older adults (32 women; 14 men) aged 77 ± 9 years participated in our study. Mean value for GS was 1.17 ± 0.37 m/s which is normal for this population. For BBS and CPF median was 52 and 19, respectively. BBS results revealed a risk of falling off 43% and functional capacity of our participants was at moderate levels. The study of correlations between variables also showed positive associations between GS and BBS (R = 0.631; p = 0.00) and between GS and CPF (R = 0.605; p = 0.00). Conclusions: Positive associations between GS and balance and between GS and functional capacity highlight the role of GS in the assessment of fall risk and functional capacity since it is a simple and easy test to perform.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Application of hyperthermia induced by superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles in glioma treatment

Gliomas are a group of heterogeneous primary central nervous system (CNS) tumors arising from the glial cells. Malignant gliomas account for a majority of malignant primary CNS tumors and are associated with high morbidity and mortality. Glioblastoma is the most frequent and malignant glioma, and despite the recent advances in diagnosis and new treatment options, its prognosis remains dismal. New opportunities for the development of effective therapies for malignant gliomas are urgently needed. Magnetic hyperthermia (MHT), which consists of heat generation in the region of the tumor through the application of magnetic nanoparticles subjected to an alternating magnetic field (AMF), has shown positive results in both preclinical and clinical assays. The aim of this review is to assess the relevance of hyperthermia induced by magnetic nanoparticles in the treatment of gliomas and to note the possible variations of the technique and its implication on the effectiveness of the treatment. We performed an electronic search in the literature from January 1990 to October 2010, in various databases, and after application of the inclusion criteria we obtained a total of 15 articles. In vitro studies and studies using animal models showed that MHT was effective in the promotion of tumor cell death and reduction of tumor mass or increase in survival. Two clinical studies showed that MHT could be applied safely and with few side effects. Some studies suggested that mechanisms of cell death, such as apoptosis, necrosis, and antitumor immune response were triggered by MHT. Based on these data, we could conclude that MHT proved to be efficient in most of the experiments, and that the improvement of the nanocomposites as well as the AMF equipment might contribute toward establishing MHT as a promising tool in the treatment of malignant gliomas

Isolamento, cultivo e caracterização de células-tronco CD133+ de glioblastoma humano

OBJECTIVE: To establish the method of isolation and culture of human glioblastoma neurospheres, and the purification of their stem cells, followed by the process of obtaining tumor subspheres, immunophenotypically characterizing this clonogenic set. METHODS: Through the processing of glioblastoma samples (n=3), the following strategy of action was adopted: (i) establish primary culture of glioblastoma; (ii) isolation and culture of tumor neurospheres; (iii) purify cells that initiate tumors (CD133+) by magnetic separation system (MACS); (iv) obtain tumor subspheres; (v) study the expression of the markers nestin, CD133, and GFAP. RESULTS: The study successfully described the process of isolation and culture of glioblastoma subspheres, which consist of a number of clonogenic cells immunophenotypically characterized as neural, which are able to initiate tumor formation. CONCLUSION: These findings may contribute to a better understanding of the process of gliomagenesis.OBJETIVO: Estabelecer o método de isolamento e cultivo das neuroesferas de glioblastoma humano, bem como purificação de suas células-tronco, seguido do processo de obtenção de subesferas tumorais, caracterizando imunofenotipicamente esse conjunto clonogênico. MÉTODOS: Por meio do processamento de amostras de glioblastomas (n=3), cumpriu-se a seguinte estratégia de ação: (i) estabelecimento da cultura primária de glioblastoma; (ii) isolamento e cultura de neuroesferas tumorais; (iii) purificação das células que iniciam os tumores (CD133+) por sistema de separação magnética (MACS); (iv) obtenção subesferas tumorais; (v) estudo da expressão de marcadores GFAP, CD133 e nestina. RESULTADOS: Este estudo descreveu com sucesso o processo de isolamento e cultivo de subesferas de glioblastoma, as quais são constituídas por um conjunto clonogênico de células caracterizadas imunofenotipicamente como neurais, capazes de iniciar a formação tumoral. CONCLUSÃO: Estes achados poderão contribuir para a compreensão do processo de gliomagênese.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein Instituto do CérebroHospital Israelita Albert Einstein Centro de Pesquisa ExperimentalHospital Israelita Albert Einstein Faculdade de EnfermagemUniversidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Department of Neurology and NeurosurgeryHospital Israelita Albert Einstein Center for Neuro-oncologyHospital Israelita Albert EinsteinUNIFESP, Department of Neurology and NeurosurgerySciEL

Mesenchymal stem cell-like properties of CD133+ glioblastoma initiating cells

Glioblastoma is composed of dividing tumor cells, stromal cells and tumor initiating CD133+ cells. Recent reports have discussed the origin of the glioblastoma CD133+ cells and their function in the tumor microenvironment. The present work sought to investigate the multipotent and mesenchymal properties of primary highly purified human CD133+ glioblastoma-initiating cells. To accomplish this aim, we used the following approaches: i) generation of tumor subspheres of CD133+ selected cells from primary cell cultures of glioblastoma; ii) analysis of the expression of pluripotency stem cell markers and mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) markers in the CD133+ glioblastoma-initiating cells; iii) side-by-side ultrastructural characterization of the CD133+ glioblastoma cells, MSC and CD133+ hematopoietic stem cells isolated from human umbilical cord blood (UCB); iv) assessment of adipogenic differentiation of CD133+ glioblastoma cells to test their MSC-like in vitro differentiation ability; and v) use of an orthotopic glioblastoma xenograft model in the absence of immune suppression. We found that the CD133+ glioblastoma cells expressed both the pluripotency stem cell markers (Nanog, Mush-1 and SSEA-3) and MSC markers. In addition, the CD133+ cells were able to differentiate into adipocyte-like cells. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) demonstrated that the CD133+ glioblastoma-initiating cells had ultrastructural features similar to those of undifferentiated MSCs. In addition, when administered in vivo to non-immunocompromised animals, the CD133+ cells were also able to mimic the phenotype of the original patient’s tumor. In summary, we showed that the CD133+ glioblastoma cells express molecular signatures of MSCs, neural stem cells and pluripotent stem cells, thus possibly enabling differentiation into both neural and mesodermal cell types