Sudden cardiac death in young athletes: Literature review of molecular basis

Intense athletic training and competition can rarely result in sudden cardiac death (SCD). Despite the introduction of pre-participation cardiovascular screening, especially among young competitive athletes, sport-related SCD remains a debated issue among medical personnel, sports communities and laypersons alike, and generates significant media attention. The most frequent cause of SCD is a hidden inherited cardiomyopathy, the athletes may not even be aware of. Predictive medicine, by searching the presence of pathogenic alterations in cardiac genes, may be an integrative tool, besides the conventional ones used in cardiology (mainly electro and echocardiogram), to reach a definitive diagnosis in athletes showing signs/symptoms, even borderline, of inherited cardiomyopathy/ channelopathy, and in athletes presenting family history of SCD and/or of hereditary cardiac disease. In this review, we revised the molecular basis of the major cardiac diseases associated to sudden cardiac death and the clinical molecular biology approach that can be used to perform risk assessment at DNA level of sudden cardiac death, contributing to the early implementation of adequate therapy. Alterations can occur in ion channel genes, in genes encoding desmosomal and junctional proteins, sarcomeric and Z-disc proteins, proteins for the cytoskeleton and the nuclear envelope. The advent of next generation sequencing (NGS) technology has provided the means to search for mutations in all these genes, at the same time. Therefore, this molecular approach should be the preferred methodology for the aforementioned purpose

Destilação extrativa: aplicação de agentes de separação não-voláteis

No intuito de contribuir para um melhor conhecimento dos processos de destilação extrativa recorrend o a solutos não - voláteis, n este trabalho é analisad o o efeito da adição de sais e líquidos iónicos no equilíbrio líquido - vapor de algumas misturas importantes na indú stria química, tais como etanol + água, 1 - propanol + água, 2 - propanol + água, acetona + metanol, acetato de metilo + metanol e clorofórmio + et anol. O conjunto de solutos não - voláteis contemplado é formado por Ca(NO 3 ) 2 , CuCl 2 , NaI, KI, LiNO 3 , LiCl, NaSCN, CH 3 COOK, CaCl 2 , [BMIM][Cl] e [EMIM][triflate] . Recorre - se a dois métodos de carácter preditivo, os modelos de Wilson e NRTL modificados, para calcular os diagramas de equilíbrio líquido - vapor. No caso da adição de um sal a misturas binárias de solventes verifica - se que, em geral, ambos os modelos conseguem prever de forma qualitativa o deslocamento do azeótropo. Para o modelo de Wilson modifica do os erros absolutos médios forem para a composição na fase de vapor ∆ y = 0.049 e para a temperatura ∆ T = 1.17 o C . Para o modelo NRTL modificado os correspondentes valores são ; ∆ y = 0.048 e ∆ T = 0.88 o C . Para as misturas contendo dois solventes e um liquido iónico, ambos os modelos descrev em de forma pouco satisfatória o equilíbrio líquido - vapor dos dois sistemas ternários estudados (etanol + água + [BMIM][Cl]; 1 - propanol + água + [EMIM][triflate]). Será necessário estudar a aplicação desta metodologia a um conjunto mais amplo de sistemas. De toda a forma e stes modelos constituem uma ferramenta útil na previsão do efeito de sais n o equilíbrio líquido - vapo

Ciprofloxacin resistance in domestic wastewater treatment plants

The potential of domestic wastewater treatment plants to contribute for the dissemination of ciprofloxacin-resistant bacteria was assessed. Differences on bacterial counts and percentage of resistance in the raw wastewater could not be explained on basis of the size of the plant or demographic characteristics of population served. In contrast, the treated effluent of the larger plants had significantly more heterotrophs and enterobacteria, including ciprofloxacin-resistant organisms, than the smaller (p<0.01). Moreover, longer hydraulic retention times were associated with significantly higher percentages of resistant enterobacteria in the treated effluent (p<0.05). Independently of the size or type of treatment used, domestic wastewater treatment plants discharged per day at least 1010–1014 colony forming units of ciprofloxacin-resistant bacteria into the receiving environment.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Benzimidazole-based derivatives as privileged scaffold developed for the treatment of the RSV infection: a computational study exploring the potency and cytotoxicity profiles

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) has been identified as a main cause of hospitalisation in infants and children. To date, the current therapeutic arsenal is limited to ribavirin and palivizumab with variable efficacy. In this work, starting from a number of in-house series of previously described anti-RSV agents based on the benzimidazole scaffold, with the aim at gaining a better understanding of the related chemical features involved in potency and safety profiles, we applied a computational study including two focussed comparative molecular fields analysis (CoMFA) and comparative molecular similarity indices analysis (CoMSIA). The results allowed us to derive useful suggestions for the design of derivatives and also to set up statistical models predicting the potency and selectivity index (SI1/4CC50/EC50) of any new analogue prior to synthesis. Accordingly, here, we discuss preliminary results obtained through the applied exhaustive QSAR analyses, leading to design and synthesise more effective anti-RSV agents

A Standardized Index for Assessing Seawater Intrusion in Coastal Aquifers: The SITE Index

A large number of coastal aquifers worldwide are impacted by seawater intrusion. A major aim of European Directives 2000/60/EC and 2006/118/EC is to achieve good ecological status in groundwater bodies, including coastal aquifers. To this goal, information is needed about the current state of, and changes over time in, individual aquifers. This information can be obtained by applying methods that determine the status of aquifers in an uncomplicated manner. Methods for this type of assessment must comply with three essential criteria. First, calculation of the index must be straightforward and should be based on easy-to-obtain or commonly available data. Next, the index should be able to highlight important characteristics in understandable terms. Finally, the results should be objective and should be expressed in such a way that different time periods and different aquifers can be compared. In this paper we describe the development of a method to characterize seawater intrusion that meets these criteria and is based on four basic parameters: surface area, intensity, temporality, and evolution. Each parameter is determined by specific calculations derived from the groundwater chloride concentrations. Results are specified as a numerical index and an alphanumeric code. This index, known as SITE, has been applied to four Mediterranean coastal aquifers. The standardized results allowed us to discriminate between, and objectively compare the status of these groundwater bodies. Further, this index will make it possible to prioritize management actions and evaluate the effectiveness of these actions over time

Power expansions for solution of the fourth-order analog to the first Painlev\'{e} equation

One of the fourth-order analog to the first Painlev\'{e} equation is studied. All power expansions for solutions of this equation near points $z=0$ and $z=\infty$ are found by means of the power geometry method. The exponential additions to the expansion of solution near $z=\infty$ are computed. The obtained results confirm the hypothesis that the fourth-order analog of the first Painlev\'{e} equation determines new transcendental functions.Comment: 28 pages, 5 figure

Synthesis in high vacuum and synthesis in the absence of solvent: Two new options for obtaining β-styryl phosphonic acid

Terminal olefins allow the addition of phosphorus pentachloride to give substances that can be considered as phosphonic acid chlorides. Hydrolysis transforms the addition products in phosphonic acids, usually with simultaneous dehydrochlorination. The initial addition reaction takes place under mild conditions, in an inert solvent, and in 40 to 50% yields of á,â-unsaturated phosphonic acid. Search for alternative ways of preparing (1) led to establish the best reaction conditions for four different procedures: (a) microwave irradiation; (b) sonication; (c) solvent-free synthesis; (d) synthesis in high vacuum. Results were compared with those obtained by the conventional method. Of the four procedures, the solvent-free synthesis and synthesis in high seem to be the most suitable for obtaining this type of á,â-unsaturated phosphonic acids.Fil: Mascaro, Evangelina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Química. Instituto de Investigaciones en Química Orgánica; ArgentinaFil: Pieroni, Olga Inés. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Química. Instituto de Investigaciones en Química Orgánica; ArgentinaFil: Vuano, Bruno Mario. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Química. Instituto de Investigaciones en Química Orgánica; ArgentinaFil: Ciolino, Andrés Eduardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; Argentin

Arabic version of the personality inventory for the dsm-5 (Pid-5) in a community sample of United Arab Emirates nationals

© 2020 Coelho et al. Background: Section III of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) proposes a model for conceptualizing personality disorders in which they are characterized by impairments in personality functioning and maladaptive personality traits. The Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5) is a self-report measure that assesses the presence and severity of these maladaptive personality traits. Objective: The current study examined the reliability and validity of the Arabic version of the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5) to measure maladaptive personality traits in the Emirati population of the United Arab Emirates. Methods: The Arabic version of the PID-5 was administered to a community sample of 1,090 United Arab Emirates nationals (89.5% female and 10.5% male, mean age = 22.44 years old). The descriptive measures, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, convergent validity with NEO – Five Factor Inventory, as well as PID-5’s factor structure, were all addressed. Results: The PID-5facets and domains mean scores were higher in the Emirati sample compared to the original US sample. Internal consistency of the PID-5 scales was acceptable to high and test-retest coefficients ranged from 0.84 (facets) to 0.87 (domains). As expected, the five domains of the Arabic version of the PID-5 correlated significantly with all Five-Factor Model domains of personality. Additionally, the Arabic version of the PID-5 confirmed a five-factor structure that resembles the PID-5 domains. Conclusion: The findings of this study provided initial support for the use of the Arabic version of the PID-5 to assess maladaptive personality traits in the Emirati population of the United Arab Emirates