Dual nanomaterial systems aiming antimicrobial activity and cancer treatment

In the 21st century, nanotechnology has been emerging as a very promising field, with numerous applications in distinct areas, such as textiles, food agriculture, environment, electronics and in the biomedical field. Among the different categories of nanomaterials, zeolites are a very important class of inorganic materials that have been used in a wide range of applications. In the current work, we used zeolite NaY as host to incorporate silver ions and the antineoplastic drug 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) for microbial infections and nonmelanoma skin cancer treatment, respectively. Both situations present a major threat to public health: microbial infections due to their increasing resistance to antibiotics and cancer because of the difficulty of an efficient treatment especially when the disease has progressed considerably. So, since zeolites have a range of structural and physical properties that make them suitable for therapeutic delivery systems, they could be interesting candidates for this purpose. Our goal is to create an efficient and biocompatible dual topical delivery system with zeolites and, this way, combine the antimicrobial and the antineoplastic activity in the same formulation.This work has been developed under the scope of the project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000013 and the project BioTecNorte (operation NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004), supported by the Northern Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the Portugal 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER). This work has been funded by FEDER funds, through the Competitiveness Factors Operational Programme (COMPETE), under Project POCI-01-0145-FEDER006958 and by National funds, through the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), under the scope of the projects: PTDC/AAGTEC/5269/2014, Centre of Chemistry (UID/QUI/00686/2013 and UID/QUI/0686/2016), CITAB´s UID/AGR/04033/2013 and ICVS/3B’s POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007038.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

First Report of 13 Species of Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) in Mainland Portugal and Azores by Morphological and Molecular Characterization

The genus Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) contains important vectors of animal and human diseases, including bluetongue, African horse sickness and filariosis. A major outbreak of bluetongue occurred in mainland Portugal in 2004, forty eight years after the last recorded case. A national Entomological Surveillance Plan was initiated in mainland Portugal, Azores and the Madeira archipelagos in 2005 in order to better understand the disease and facilitate policy decisions. During the survey, the most prevalent Culicoides species in mainland Portugal was C. imicola (75.3%) and species belonging to the Obsoletus group (6.5%). The latter were the most prevalent in Azores archipelago, accounting for 96.7% of the total species identified. The Obsoletus group was further characterized by multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction to species level showing that only two species of this group were present: C. obsoletus sensu strictu (69.6%) and C. scoticus (30.4%). Nine species of Culicoides were detected for the first time in mainland Portugal: C. alazanicus, C. bahrainensis, C. deltus, C. lupicaris, C. picturatus, C. santonicus, C. semimaculatus, C. simulator and C. subfagineus. In the Azores, C. newsteadi and C. circumscriptus were identified for the first time from some islands, and bluetongue vectors belonging to the Obsoletus group (C. obsoletus and C. scoticus) were found to be widespread

One More Piece in the VACV Ecological Puzzle: Could Peridomestic Rodents Be the Link between Wildlife and Bovine Vaccinia Outbreaks in Brazil?

BACKGROUND: Despite the fact that smallpox eradication was declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1980, other poxviruses have emerged and re-emerged, with significant public health and economic impacts. Vaccinia virus (VACV), a poxvirus used during the WHO smallpox vaccination campaign, has been involved in zoonotic infections in Brazilian rural areas (Bovine Vaccinia outbreaks - BV), affecting dairy cattle and milkers. Little is known about VACV's natural hosts and its epidemiological and ecological characteristics. Although VACV was isolated and/or serologically detected in Brazilian wild animals, the link between wildlife and farms has not yet been elucidated. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In this study, we describe for the first time, to our knowledge, the isolation of a VACV (Mariana virus - MARV) from a mouse during a BV outbreak. Genetic data, in association with biological assays, showed that this isolate was the same etiological agent causing exanthematic lesions observed in the cattle and human inhabitants of a particular BV-affected area. Phylogenetic analysis grouped MARV with other VACV isolated during BV outbreaks. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: These data provide new biological and epidemiological information on VACV and lead to an interesting question: could peridomestic rodents be the link between wildlife and BV outbreaks

Temas de investigação em direitos humanos para o século XXI

Edição comemorativa do 10.º aniversário do Mestrado em Direitos Humanos da Universidade do Minho.Este livro é uma celebração do ensino e da investigação em direitos humanos que têm vindo a ser desenvolvidos, na Escola de Direito da Universidade do Minho, há já mais de uma década. A sua publicação num momento em que se avolumam os riscos para valores fundamentais subjacentes à proteção dos direitos humanos – como a igualdade e a não discriminação, a proibição da escravatura e de tratamentos cruéis, desumanos e degradantes, a liberdade de religião ou crença, entre muitos outros –, torna-o especialmente oportuno. Os sinais de aparente retrocesso no consenso das nossas sociedades a respeito desses valores – visíveis no triunfo político de discursos abertamente racistas, xenófobos, sexistas, etc. – recordam-nos que, também no mundo ocidental, os direitos humanos são um work in progress, não um dado adquirido. Os novos riscos para a dignidade da pessoa humana associados aos avanços tecnológicos andam de par com velhas formas de subalternização e de opressão. O campo para a reflexão crítica é muito vasto. Os temas que hoje (pre)ocupam académicos, decisores políticos e ativistas de direitos humanos são também aqueles que estruturam o plano de estudos do Mestrado em Direitos Humanos da Universidade do Minho. Todos estes temas surgem ao longo do presente livro, que reúne contributos de muitos dos membros da comunidade científica e académica que o Mestrado em Direitos Humanos mobilizou e ajudou a dinamizar ao longo da última década, entre docentes do Mestrado, colaboradores em júris de provas públicas e/ou na orientação de mestrandos, oradores convidados e estudantes. Os textos aqui reunidos refletem bem as sinergias interdisciplinares, interinstitucionais e inter-nacionais que o Mestrado em Direitos Humanos foi capaz de criar, não apenas pela variedade de campos disciplinares representados – Direito, Filosofia, Relações Internacionais, Antropologia –, mas também pela participação de autores que são docentes e/ou investigadores em diversas instituições nacionais e estrangeiras, como a Faculdade de Direito da Universidade do Porto, a Faculdade de Economia da Universidade de Coimbra, a Universidade Federal da Paraíba e a Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Intraperitoneal but Not Intravenous Cryopreserved Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Home to the Inflamed Colon and Ameliorate Experimental Colitis

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) were shown to have immunomodulatory activity and have been applied for treating immune-mediated disorders. We compared the homing and therapeutic action of cryopreserved subcutaneous adipose tissue (AT-MSCs) and bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (BM-MSCs) in rats with trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS)-induced colitis. METHODS: After colonoscopic detection of inflammation AT-MSCs or BM-MSCs were injected intraperitoneally. Colonoscopic and histologic scores were obtained. Density of collagen fibres and apoptotic rates were evaluated. Cytokine levels were measured in supernatants of colon explants. For cell migration studies MSCs and skin fibroblasts were labelled with Tc-99m or CM-DiI and injected intraperitonealy or intravenously. RESULTS: Intraperitoneal injection of AT-MSCs or BM-MSCs reduced the endoscopic and histopathologic severity of colitis, the collagen deposition, and the epithelial apoptosis. Levels of TNF-α and interleukin-1β decreased, while VEGF and TGF-β did not change following cell-therapy. Scintigraphy showed that MSCs migrated towards the inflamed colon and the uptake increased from 0.5 to 24 h. Tc-99m-MSCs injected intravenously distributed into various organs, but not the colon. Cm-DiI-positive MSCs were detected throughout the colon wall 72 h after inoculation, predominantly in the submucosa and muscular layer of inflamed areas. CONCLUSIONS: Intraperitoneally injected cryopreserved MSCs home to and engraft into the inflamed colon and ameliorate TNBS-colitis

Correction to: The tree that hides the forest : cryptic diversity and phylogenetic relationships in the Palaearctic vector Obsoletus/Scoticus complex (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) at the European level

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article

SARS-CoV-2 introductions and early dynamics of the epidemic in Portugal

Genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in Portugal was rapidly implemented by the National Institute of Health in the early stages of the COVID-19 epidemic, in collaboration with more than 50 laboratories distributed nationwide. Methods By applying recent phylodynamic models that allow integration of individual-based travel history, we reconstructed and characterized the spatio-temporal dynamics of SARSCoV-2 introductions and early dissemination in Portugal. Results We detected at least 277 independent SARS-CoV-2 introductions, mostly from European countries (namely the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Italy, and Switzerland), which were consistent with the countries with the highest connectivity with Portugal. Although most introductions were estimated to have occurred during early March 2020, it is likely that SARS-CoV-2 was silently circulating in Portugal throughout February, before the first cases were confirmed. Conclusions Here we conclude that the earlier implementation of measures could have minimized the number of introductions and subsequent virus expansion in Portugal. This study lays the foundation for genomic epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in Portugal, and highlights the need for systematic and geographically-representative genomic surveillance.We gratefully acknowledge to Sara Hill and Nuno Faria (University of Oxford) and Joshua Quick and Nick Loman (University of Birmingham) for kindly providing us with the initial sets of Artic Network primers for NGS; Rafael Mamede (MRamirez team, IMM, Lisbon) for developing and sharing a bioinformatics script for sequence curation (https://github.com/rfm-targa/BioinfUtils); Philippe Lemey (KU Leuven) for providing guidance on the implementation of the phylodynamic models; Joshua L. Cherry (National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health) for providing guidance with the subsampling strategies; and all authors, originating and submitting laboratories who have contributed genome data on GISAID (https://www.gisaid.org/) on which part of this research is based. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the view of the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Health and Human Services, or the United States government. This study is co-funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia and Agência de Investigação Clínica e Inovação Biomédica (234_596874175) on behalf of the Research 4 COVID-19 call. Some infrastructural resources used in this study come from the GenomePT project (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-022184), supported by COMPETE 2020 - Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation (POCI), Lisboa Portugal Regional Operational Programme (Lisboa2020), Algarve Portugal Regional Operational Programme (CRESC Algarve2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio