Total body percentage and motor coordination among Portuguese schoolchildren

Children’s motor coordination may affect their activity pattern and thereby influence their bodyfatness. The aim of the present study was to analyse the relationship between motor coordination and total body fat percentage, in a Portuguese sample of schoolchildren aged 9–12 years. Method: The sample comprised 596 urban schoolchildren (girls 46?9%), aged 9–12 years (mean 9?61 ( SD 0?55) years) from North of Portugal. Total body fat percentage was cal- culated with Tetrapolar Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis, model Tanita TBF-300. Age- and sex-adjusted Z-scores computed total body fat percentage. Motor coordination levels were assessed with the Ko¨rperkoordination Test fu¨r Kinder (KTK) and children were classified according to age and sex KTK criteria (Schiling 1974). Date of birth, gender and school socio-economic status (eligible for benefit A, B or not eligible) were extracted from the school administrations records systems. School socio-economic status was used as a proxy measure of family socio-economic status. Results: In motor coordination, 22?4 % girls showed disturbance of coordination; 37?7 % insufficiencies of coordination; 39?5 % normal coordination and 0?4 % good coordination. Corresponding figures for boys were 7?3 %; 36?5 %; 54?3 % and 1?9 %, respectively. Linear regression analysis showed that Z-scores total body fat percentage (unstandardized B 5 20?258, SE 0?021, P , 0?001) were negatively associated with motor coordination, after adjustment for socio-economic status. Conclusions: Low motor coordination levels are nega- tively associated with total body fat percentage Z-scores. The early identification of children with poor motor coor- dination and/or high body fat percentage is crucial in order to implement and develop health-related behaviours. Funding: Research relating to this abstract was funded by FCT-MCTES Grant (BD/43808/2008). Reference: Schiling, F (1974) Korperkoordination Test fur Kinder, KTK. Beltz Test Gmbh, Weinheim

Developing a model for cystic fibrosis sociomicrobiology based on antibiotic and environmental stress

Cystic fibrosis (CF) infections are invariably biofilm-mediated and polymicrobial, being safe to assume that a myriad of factors affects the sociomicrobiology within the CF infection site and modulate the CF community dynamics, by shaping their social activities, overall functions, virulence, ultimately affecting disease outcome. This work aimed to assess changes in the dynamics (particularly on the microbial composition) of dual-/three-species biofilms involving CF-classical (Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and unusual species (Inquilinus limosus and Dolosigranulum pigrum), according to variable oxygen conditions and antibiotic exposure. Low fluctuations in biofilm compositions were observed across distinct oxygen environments, with dual-species biofilms exhibiting similar relative proportions and P. aeruginosa and/or D. pigrum populations dominating three-species consortia. Once exposed to antibiotics, biofilms displayed high resistance profiles, and microbial compositions, distributions, and microbial interactions significantly challenged. The antibiotic/oxygen environment supported such fluctuations, which enhanced for three-species communities. In conclusion, antibiotic therapy hugely disturbed CF communities dynamics, inducing significant compositional changes on multispecies consortia. Clearly, multiple perturbations may disturb this dynamic, giving rise to various microbiological scenarios in vivo, and affecting disease phenotype. Therefore, an appreciation of the ecological/evolutionary nature within CF communities will be useful for the optimal use of current therapies and for newer breakthroughs on CF antibiotherapy.This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/ BIO/04469/2013 unit and COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER006684). The authors also acknowledge the financial support provided by FCT through the projects: PTDC/SAU-ESA/646091/2006/ FCOMP01-0124-FEDER-007480FCT; strategic project PEst-OE/EQB/LA0023/2013; “BioHealth – Biotechnology and Bioengineering approaches to improve health quality”, Ref. NORTE-07-0124-FEDER-000027, cofunded by the Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (ON.2–O Novo Norte), QREN, FEDER; RECI/BBB-EBI/0179/2012 – Consolidating Research Expertise and Resources on Cellular and Molecular Biotechnology at CEB/IBB, FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027462, FEDER; and the DNA mimics project PIC/IC/82815/2007. The FCT BPD fellowship of Susana P. Lopes SFRH/BPD/95616/2013 and the support of the COST-Action TD1004:Theragnostics for imaging and therapy is also acknowledged.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Quantitative assessment of individual populations within polymicrobial biofilms

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.Selecting appropriate tools providing reliable quantitative measures of individual populations in biofilms is critical as we now recognize their true polymicrobial and heterogeneous nature. Here, plate count, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (q-PCR) and peptide nucleic acid probe-fluorescence in situ hybridization (PNA-FISH) were employed to quantitate cystic fibrosis multispecies biofilms. Growth of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Inquilinus limosus and Dolosigranulum pigrum was assessed in dual- and triple-species consortia under oxygen and antibiotic stress. Quantification methods, that were previously optimized and validated in planktonic consortia, were not always in agreement when applied in multispecies biofilms. Discrepancies in culture and molecular outcomes were observed, particularly for triple-species consortia and antibiotic-stressed biofilms. Some differences were observed, such as the higher bacterial counts obtained by q-PCR and/or PNA-FISH (?4 log10 cells/cm2) compared to culture. But the discrepancies between PNA-FISH and q-PCR data (eg D. pigrum limited assessment by q-PCR) demonstrate the effect of biofilm heterogeneity in method's reliability. As the heterogeneity in biofilms is a reflection of a myriad of variables, tailoring an accurate picture of communities? changes is crucial. This work demonstrates that at least two, but preferentially three, quantification techniques are required to obtain reliable measures and take comprehensive analysis of polymicrobial biofilm-associated infections.The authors thank the financial support from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit and COMPETE2020 – Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (POCI-01–0145-FEDER-006684) and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) under the scope of Norte2020 - Programa Operacional Regional do Norte. This work was also the result of the projects: (i) POCI01-0145-FEDER-006939 (Laboratory for Processing Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy – UID/EQU/00511/2013) funded by the ERDF, through COMPETE2020 and by national funds, through FCT; (ii) NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000005 – LEPABE-2-ECO-INNOVATION, supported by North Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE2020), under the Portugal2020 Partnership Agreement, through the ERDF; (iii) Coded-FISH PTDC/DTP-PIC/4562/2014/16678; (iv) POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029841, through COMPETE2020 - Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização and by national funds, through FCT). Also, the fellowship of Susana P. Lopes SFRH/BPD/95616/2013 is acknowledged. The authors would also like to thanks to Dr Michael Surette (Farncombe Family Digestive Health Research Institute, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada) for kindly providing the I. limosus strain used in this study.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The role of network science in glioblastoma

Network science has long been recognized as a well-established discipline across many biological domains. In the particular case of cancer genomics, network discovery is challenged by the multitude of available high-dimensional heterogeneous views of data. Glioblastoma (GBM) is an example of such a complex and heterogeneous disease that can be tackled by network science. Identifying the architecture of molecular GBM networks is essential to understanding the information flow and better informing drug development and pre-clinical studies. Here, we review network-based strategies that have been used in the study of GBM, along with the available software implementations for reproducibility and further testing on newly coming datasets. Promising results have been obtained from both bulk and single-cell GBM data, placing network discovery at the forefront of developing a molecularly-informed-based personalized medicine.This work was partially supported by national funds through Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) with references CEECINST/00102/2018, CEECIND/00072/2018 and PD/BDE/143154/2019, UIDB/04516/2020, UIDB/00297/2020, UIDB/50021/2020, UIDB/50022/2020, UIDB/50026/2020, UIDP/50026/2020, NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000013, and NORTE-01-0145-FEDER000023 and projects PTDC/CCI-BIO/4180/2020 and DSAIPA/DS/0026/2019. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Grant Agreement No. 951970 (OLISSIPO project)

Unravelling Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans communication in coinfections scenarios: insights through network analysis

The Supplementary Material for this article canbe found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2020.550505/ full#supplementary-materialModern medicine is currently facing huge setbacks concerning infection therapeutics as microorganisms are consistently knocking down every antimicrobial wall set before them. The situation becomes more worrying when taking into account that, in both environmental and disease scenarios, microorganisms present themselves as biofilm communities that are often polymicrobial. This comprises a competitive advantage, with interactions between different species altering host responses, antimicrobial effectiveness, microbial pathogenesis and virulence, usually augmenting the severity of the infection and contributing for the recalcitrance towards conventional therapy. Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans are two opportunistic pathogens often co-isolated from infections, mainly from mucosal tissues like the lung. Despite the billions of years of co-existence, this pair of microorganisms is a great example on how little is known about cross-kingdom interactions, particularly within the context of coinfections. Given the described scenario, this study aimed to collect, curate, and analyze all published experimental information on the molecular basis of P. aeruginosa and C. albicans interactions in biofilms, in order to shed light into key mechanisms that may affect infection prognosis, increasing this area of knowledge. Publications were optimally retrieved from PubMed and Web of Science and classified as to their relevance. Data was then systematically and manually curated, analyzed, and further reconstructed as networks. A total of 641 interactions between the two pathogens were annotated, outputting knowledge on important molecular players affecting key virulence mechanisms, such as hyphal growth, and related genes and proteins, constituting potential therapeutic targets for infections related to these bacterial-fungal consortia. Contrasting interactions were also analyzed, and quorum-sensing inhibition approaches were highlighted. All annotated data was made publicly available at www.ceb.uminho.pt/ISCTD, a database already containing similar data for P. aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus communication. This will allow researchers to cut on time and effort when studying this particular subject, facilitating the understanding of the basis of the inter-species and inter-kingdom interactions and how it can be modulated to help design alternative and more effective tailored therapies. Finally, data deposition will serve as base for future dataset integration, whose analysis will hopefully give insights into communications in more complex and varied biofilm communities.This work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2020 unit and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020–Programa Operacional Regional do Norte. The authors also acknowledge COMPETE2020 and FCT for the project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029841 and FCT for the PhD Grant of TG [grant number SFRH/BD/136544/2018].info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Resultados da intervenção de enfermagem na prevenção e cicatrização da dermatite associada à incontinência (DAI): revisão sistemática da literatura

A dermatite associada à incontinência (DAI) trata-se de uma complicação frequente nas pessoas com perda de continência de esfíncteres, que induz irritação e rotura da pele, com impacto na qualidade de vida e vulnerabilidade para úlceras por pressão e infeções secundárias

Characterization of phenolic compounds of OMW : toxicity and degradability by yeasts

The characterization of Olive Mill Wastewaters (OMW), focusing the phenolic compounds, is one of the aims of the present work. As a first approach to characterize the phenolic compounds of OMW, the extraction methods used were: a liquid-liquid extraction by acidified ethyl acetate and a solid-liquid extraction with acidified methanol. The analysis of these extracts by reversed phase liquid chromatography confirmed that hydroxytyrosol was the most abundant phenolic compound in OMW, and that this compound was more efficiently recovered by the solid-liquid extraction technique. It was also a goal of this work to study the phenolic compounds toxicity to some yeast strains. Among the phenolic compounds tested catechol is the most inhibitory one to the cells. The phenols degradation was quite difficult, particularly when more easily degradable carbon source is still present in the medium.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - PTDC/AMB/69379/2006, SFRH/BD/27915/200

Characterization of phenolic compounds of OMW: toxicity and degrability by yeasts

The olive oil extraction, performed by the 3-phases process, results on a large amount of an effluent, usually known as Olive Mill Wastewater (OMW). It is mainly produced in the Mediterranean area, with the exception of Spain that is one of the major producers but mostly use the 2-phases process. OMW represents a major environmental problem due to its high organic content, being characterized by a strong acidic smell and an intensive brown to dark color due to the presence of biodegradable, recalcitrant and biostatic compounds. OMW phytotoxicity can be attributed to the phenolic compounds (Lanciotti et al, 2005). Owing to their instability, OMW phenols tend to polymerise during storage into condensed high-molecular-weight polymers that are difficult to degrade (Crognale et al, 2006). Thus, uncontrolled OMW disposal can create severe risks to water and soil quality. OMW is currently concentrated by evaporation in open pools, but this method is not satisfactory because a black foul-smelling sludge, difficult to remove, is produced. Instead of disposal solutions an approach of using this waste as a resource to be valorized is of greater interest. In fact, OMW contains sugars, lipids, mineral elements and phenolic compounds (10 % of the organic matter) that could be either directly recovered by chemical extraction and subsequent purification, or utilized as a basis for fermentative processes