Eficiência do pó de alho (Allium sativum L.) no controle dos parasitos de bovinos.

Nos últimos anos, a Embrapa Gado de Corte tem recebido inúmeras indagações por carta, telefone, em palestras etc. sobre a utilização do alho, em especial, no controle da mosca-dos- chifres (Haematobia irritans irritans) em bovinos. O principal objetivo do experimento foi verificar a eficácia do alho em pó, adicionado ao sal mineral, no controle de mosca-dos-chifres, carrapatos (Boophilus microplus) e helmintos de bovinos. Foram utilizados 42 novilhos cruzados, distribuídos em dois grupos de 21 animais, levando-se em consideração a raça, o peso, ovos por grama de fezes (OPH), numero de moscas, idade e o numero de carrapatos. Durante todo o período experimental, os grupos ficaram em piquetes separados com pastagens de Brachiaria decumbens. Um grupo de animais (Grupo 1) recebeu sal mineral mais 2% de alho em pó, e o outro (Grupo 2), somente sal mineral. A cada 28 dias os animais eram pesados. A cada catorze dias eram feitas coletas de fezes e contagens de mosca-dos-chifres e de carrapato. O consumo médio de sal mineral durante o experimento foi de 121 gramas/animal/dia para o Grupo 1 e de 112 gramas/animal/dia para o Grupo 2. O numero de carrapatos, durante todo o período experimental, foi de 4,3 teleoginas/animal/dia para o grupo 2. Não houve diferenças significativas (P>0,05) entre as populações de carrapatos dos dois grupos. A media geral de moscas dos grupos durante todo o período experimental foi de 97 a 82 para o Grupo 1 e 2, respectivamente. Não houve diferença significativa entre as medias dos grupos (P>0,05). A media geral do OPG foi de 219 e 416, respectivamente, para o Grupo 1 e 2, diferindo significativamente entre si (P<0,05). O alho em pó adicionado em proporção correspondente a 2% da formulação mineral e fornecido ad libitum aos bovinos, não diminuiu a população de carrapato-do-boi e da mosca-dos-chifres. A redução de 47,3% no OPG e pequena para que o alho seja considerado eficiente contra os nematóides gastrintestinais de bovinos.bitstream/item/132264/1/BP-8.pd

Association between bilirubin and lipid profile in Portuguese elderly individuals

Several studies showed that mildly elevated bilirubin blood concentration is inversely associated to coronary artery disease (CAD). The most commonly mechanism contributing to CAD prevention is the bilirubin antioxidant effect, protecting several macromolecules from oxidation. Recently, other studies have found that higher serum bilirubin levels (BL) are associated with beneficial effects improving lipid profile and that might contribute to decrease cholesterol and triacylglycerol. In the meantime, a consistently negative association between BL and body mass index (BMI) was observed. The aim of this study was evaluate the cardiovascular risk protection by bilirubin analyzing the association between bilirubin levels and lipid profile in elderly. Clinical data, anthropometric measurements (BMI, Visceral Fat and Body Fat Percentage), lipid profile (total cholesterol-TC; triglycerides-TG; high-density lipoprotein cholesterol-HDL-c; low-density lipoprotein cholesterol-LDL-c; apoliprotein A-Apo-A; apoliprotein B-Apo-B) were evaluated in 70 institutionalized elderly, 43 females (mean age= 88.2±5.5 years old) and 27 males (mean age= 87.7±7.7 years old). Anthropometric measurements were obtained by bioimpedance, using specific scale (Tanita BC Model: 545). The lipid parameters were performed in autoanalyzer (Cobas Mira S, Roche, Switzerland) using available commercial kits. Correlation analysis revealed positive associations between BL and the HDL-c in males (total bilirubin: r=0.51; p<0.007) and no association in females (r=0.40; p<0.50). Positive associations were also found to TB levels and Apo-A (males: r=0.40; p<0.50 and females: r=0.270; p<0.013). Interestingly, the conjugated bilirubin present a stronger positive association with this two parameters (male: r=0.64; p<0.000; female: r=0.29; p<0.052). No associations were found between bilirubin and triglycerides; total cholesterol and anthropometric measurements. Low levels of HDL-c are a risk factor for coronary heart disease. A similar association has been shown for Apo-A1. These results suggest higher bilirubin is associated with higher cardioprotective agents, which indicates that the determination of total bilirubin should be included for more accurate cardiovascular disease risk assessment.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Bronchiectasis: A retrospective study of clinical and aetiological investigation in a general respiratory department

AbstractBackgroundBronchiectasis can result from many diseases, which makes the aetiological investigation a complex process demanding special resources and experience. The aetiological diagnosis has been proven to be useful for the therapeutic approach.ObjectiveEvaluate how accurately and extensive the clinical and aetiological research was for adult bronchiectasis patients in pulmonology outpatient service which were not following a pre-existing protocol.MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed the records of 202 adult patients with bronchiectasis, including the examinations performed to explain the aetiology.ResultsThe mean age of the patients was 54±15 years, there was a predominance of female (63.9%) and non-smoker (70%) patients. Functional evaluation showed a mild airway obstruction.The sputum microbiological examination was available for 168 patients (43.1% had 3 or more sputum examinations during one year). Immunoglobulins and α1-antitrypsin were measured in around 50% of the patients. The sweat test and the CF genotyping test were performed in 18% and 17% of the patients, respectively.The most commonly identified cause was post-infectious (30.3%), mostly tuberculosis (27.2%). No definitive aetiological diagnosis was established in 57.4% of the patients. We achieved a lower aetiological diagnosis if we compare our series with studies in which a diagnostic algorithm was applied prospectively.ConclusionsThe general characteristics of our patients were similar with other series. Detailed investigation of bronchiectasis is not a standard practice in our outpatient service. These results suggest that the use of a predefined protocol, based on current guidelines, could improve the assessment of these patients and facilitate the achievement of a definitive aetiology

Curtimento de pele ovina passo a passo.

Cuidados a serem observados antes do curtimento; Primeira etapa do curtimento; Segunda etapa; Terceira etapa (lavagem e remolho); Quarta etapa (engraxamento); Quinta etapa (acabamento).bitstream/item/55740/1/it05-2000.pd

Recovery of depleted miR-146a in ALS cortical astrocytes reverts cell aberrancies and prevents paracrine pathogenicity on microglia and motor neurons

Copyright © 2021 Barbosa, Gomes, Sequeira, Gonçalves-Ribeiro, Pina, Carvalho, Moreira, Vaz, Vaz and Brites. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).Reactive astrocytes in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) change their molecular expression pattern and release toxic factors that contribute to neurodegeneration and microglial activation. We and others identified a dysregulated inflammatory miRNA profile in ALS patients and in mice models suggesting that they represent potential targets for therapeutic intervention. Such cellular miRNAs are known to be released into the secretome and to be carried by small extracellular vesicles (sEVs), which may be harmful to recipient cells. Thus, ALS astrocyte secretome may disrupt cell homeostasis and impact on ALS pathogenesis. Previously, we identified a specific aberrant signature in the cortical brain of symptomatic SOD1-G93A (mSOD1) mice, as well as in astrocytes isolated from the same region of 7-day-old mSOD1 mice, with upregulated S100B/HMGB1/Cx43/vimentin and downregulated GFAP. The presence of downregulated miR-146a on both cases suggests that it can be a promising target for modulation in ALS. Here, we upregulated miR-146a with pre-miR-146a, and tested glycoursodeoxycholic acid (GUDCA) and dipeptidyl vinyl sulfone (VS) for their immunoregulatory properties. VS was more effective in restoring astrocytic miR-146a, GFAP, S100B, HMGB1, Cx43, and vimentin levels than GUDCA, which only recovered Cx43 and vimentin mRNA. The miR-146a inhibitor generated typical ALS aberrancies in wild type astrocytes that were abolished by VS. Similarly, pre-miR-146a transfection into the mSOD1 astrocytes abrogated aberrant markers and intracellular Ca2+ overload. Such treatment counteracted miR-146a depletion in sEVs and led to secretome-mediated miR-146a enhancement in NSC-34-motor neurons (MNs) and N9-microglia. Secretome from mSOD1 astrocytes increased early/late apoptosis and FGFR3 mRNA in MNs and microglia, but not when derived from pre-miR-146a or VS-treated cells. These last strategies prevented the impairment of axonal transport and synaptic dynamics by the pathological secretome, while also averted microglia activation through either secretome, or their isolated sEVs. Proteomic analysis of the target cells indicated that pre-miR-146a regulates mitochondria and inflammation via paracrine signaling. We demonstrate that replenishment of miR-146a in mSOD1 cortical astrocytes with pre-miR-146a or by VS abrogates their phenotypic aberrancies and paracrine deleterious consequences to MNs and microglia. These results propose miR-146a as a new causal and emerging therapeutic target for astrocyte pathogenic processes in ALS.This work was supported by the Research Grant of the Santa Casa Scientific Research Program on ALS, by Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa (SCML), Portugal, Project Ref. ELA-2015-002 (to DB). Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) also supported the project PTDC/MED-NEU/31395/2017 (to DB), PTDC/MED-QUI/30021/2017 (to RM) and iMed. ULisboa (UIDB/04138/2020 and UIDP/04138/2020), together with Programa Operacional Regional de Lisboa and the Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (LISBOA-01-0145-FEDER-031395 to DB). Individual fellowships MB (SFRH/BD/129586/2017), CG (SFRH/BD/102718/2014), AV (SFRH/BPD/76590/2011), and JG-R PD/BD/150342/2019 were from FCT. CS was a research fellowship recipient from SCML.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio