The protective effect of Canova homeopathic medicine in cyclophosphamide-treated non-human primates

Background: Canova activates macrophages and indirectly induces lymphocyte proliferation. Here we evaluated the effects of Canova in cyclophosphamide-treated non-human primates.Methods: Twelve Cebus apella were evaluated. Four animals were treated with Canova only. Eight animals were treated with two doses of cyclophosphamide (50 mg/kg) and four of these animals received Canova. Body weight, biochemistry and hematologic analyses were performed for 40 days. Micronucleus and comet assays were performed for the evaluation of DNA damage.Results: We observed that cyclophosphamide induced abnormal WBC count in all animals. However, the group treated with cyclophosphamide plus Canova presented a higher leukocyte count than that which received only cyclophosphamide. Cyclophosphamide induced micronucleus and DNA damage in all animals. the frequency of these alterations was significantly lower in the Canova group than in the group without this medicine.Conclusions: Our results demonstrated that Canova treatment minimizes cyclophosphamide myelotoxicity in C. apella. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Disciplina Genet, Dept Morfol & Genet, BR-04023900 São Paulo, BrazilUniv São Paulo, Dept Anal Clin Toxicol & Bromatol, Fac Ciencias Farmaceut Ribeirao Preto, BR-14040903 Ribeirao Preto, SP, BrazilFed Univ Para, Lab Citogenet Humana, Inst Ciencias Biol, BR-66059 Belem, Para, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Disciplina Ginecol, Dept Tocoginecol, BR-04039032 São Paulo, BrazilFed Univ Para, Serv Cirurgia, Hosp Univ Joao de Barros Barreto, BR-66073000 Belem, Para, BrazilMinist Saude, Ctr Nacl Primatas, BR-77030000 Ananindeua, PA, BrazilUniv Fed Piaui, Lab Genet & Biol Mol, BR-64202020 Parnaiba, PI, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Disciplina Genet, Dept Morfol & Genet, BR-04023900 São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Disciplina Ginecol, Dept Tocoginecol, BR-04039032 São Paulo, BrazilCNPq: 550885/2007-2Web of Scienc

Arbustus unedo essence: morphological and genetic characterization of the strawberry tree of Castelo de Paiva

O medronheiro é um arbusto da região mediterrânica que pode ser encontrada por todo o país. Ao contrário do que verifica na região sul do país, no concelho de Castelo de Paiva é atribuída uma reduzida importância económica a esta espécie. Com o intuito de preservar e potenciar a produção desta espécie e contribuir para a dinamização da economia do concelho, procedeu-se à caracterização morfológica e genética de uma amostra da população de medronheiros de Castelo de Paiva. A caracterização morfológica e genética foi realizada para um total de 10 genótipos. Para tal recolheram-se 70 folhas aleatoriamente em cada árvore. Em 40 folhas mediu-se o comprimento, largura, comprimento do pedúnculo, peso fresco, peso seco e determinou-se a área foliar. Dos caracteres morfológicos analisados, aqueles que se revelaram mais úteis na distinção dos vários genótipos foram: comprimento do pedúnculo, peso fresco e peso seco. As restantes 30 folhas foram utilizadas para a caracterização genética. Esta caracterização foi realizada recorrendo a um marcador de DNA, ISSR. Os 5 primeiros exemplaresutilizados na técnica de ISSR demonstraram-se polimórficos. Os resultados da caracterização genética sugerem que a variabilidade genética na população é média a alta.The strawberry tree is a shrub native in the Mediterranean region and it can be found throughout Portugal. Unlike the case in the southern region of the country, in Castelo de Paiva a minor economic importance is given to this species. In order to preserve, to enhance the production of this species and to contribute to the boosting of the economy of the region, we proceeded to the characterization of a small sample population of this fruit tree of Castelo de Paiva in what concerns to its morphology and genetics. The morphological and genetic characterization was performed for a total of 10 genotypes. For this, 70 leaves were randomly collected from each tree. For 40 leaves, it was measured the length, the width, the peduncle length, the wet weight, the dry weight and determined the leaf area. Of the morphological characteristics analyzed, the ones that proved most useful in distinguishing the various genotypes were: the length peduncle, the wet weight and the dry weight. The remaining 30 leaves were used in the genetic characterization. This characterization was performed using a DNA marker, the ISSR. The 5 primers used in the ISSR technique proved to be polymorphic. The results from the genetic characterization suggest that variability in population genetics is medium to high

Deaths by tuberculosis in a priority city for disease control in the Brazilian Northeast: sociodemographic-operational characteristics and vulnerable territories.

Introduction: Incorporating spatial approaches into epidemiological research is a challenge in public health research. The goal in this study was to analyze the spatial distribution of cases of deaths by tuberculosis in Imperatriz – MA (Brazil) and to characterize these events according to sociodemographic and operational characteristics. Methods: In this ecological study, all deaths from tuberculosis as the primary cause registered in the Mortality Information System from 2005 to 2014 were considered. The research variables were subject to descriptive analysis, point density analysis (Kernel Intensity Estimation) and area analysis. Results: Fifty cases of deaths by TB were identified, particularly the pulmonary clinical form. Male patients were predominant, with a median age of 59 years, mulatto race/color, single, who had finished secondary education. Most deaths happened at the hospital, with medical care before death and without autopsy. Most events happened at the hospital, with medical care delivery by an assistant physician and without autopsy. The point density revealed heterogeneity in the spatial distribution of the deaths, with rates of up to 2.33 deaths/km2. The area analysis by census sector presented age standardized mortality rates of 0.00 to 4.00 deaths/100,000 inhabitants-year. Conclusion: The results contributed to the knowledge on the spatial distribution of cases of deaths by Tuberculosis and their characteristics in the research scenario. The importance of space is highlighted as a methodological alternative to support the planning, monitoring and assessment of health actions, targeting interventions to the control of the disease in vulnerable territories. Keywords: Tuberculosis; Health Information Systems; Mortality; Spatial analysis

Síndrome de DiGeorge (deleção do cromossomo 22q11.2): manejo e prognóstico

A síndrome de DiGeorge (SDG), também conhecida como síndrome velocardiofacial, é uma condição neurogenética autossômica dominante de interesse global caracterizada pela microdeleção do cromossomo 22q11.2, na qual não há predileção por gênero ou raça. A doença é conhecida pela tríade clássica as cardiopatias congênitas, timo hipoplásico – ou aplásico – e hipocalcemia decorrente da hipoplasia paratireoidiana O diagnóstico da síndrome baseia-se em dois exames laboratoriais, a Hibridização Genômica Comparativa baseada em microarray (aCGH) e a Hibridização por Fluorescência in situ (FISH), ambas com a finalidade de investigar o distúrbio genético e o tratamento consiste em tratar as alterações decorrentes da patologia. O objetivo estudo é analisar o manejo e o prognóstico da síndrome de DiGeorge por meio de um apanhado de casos clínicos. Trata-se de uma revisão bibliográfica integrativa, de natureza quantitativa, que utilizou as plataformas PubMed (Medline), Scientific Eletronic Library On-line (SciELO) e Cochrane Library como bases de dados para a seleção dos artigos, todos na língua inglesa. Foram utilizadas literaturas publicadas com recorte temporal de 2017 a 2022. De acordo com as literaturas analisadas, foi observado que a SDG requer diligência por parte dos profissionais da saúde no que concerne ao seu manejo, vide os vários fenótipos, desde leves a graves, da patologia. Por ter envolvimento multissistêmico, é essencial que, mesmo antes do diagnóstico, os distúrbios inerentes à síndrome sejam tratados e sujeitos à suspeição por intermédio da equipe, a qual necessita ter conhecimento acerca dessa possibilidade, haja vista a eventualidade de um pior prognóstico aos pacientes portadores

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

estudos artísticos

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Patologias atuais: a compulsão e a sociedade dos excessos: Current pathologies: compulsion and the society of excesses

O artigo em tela tem por objetivo analisar os aspectos biopsicossociais da conduta compulsiva de consumo. Propõe-se a apresentar os elementos psicológicos contidos nesse comportamento, além de verificar quais são os resultados decorrentes dessa compulsão. O consumo compulsivo, também chamado de oniomania, é um transtorno causado pela ansiedade despertada pela necessidade de comprar e saciada, somente, quando é materializada a aquisição daquilo que se deseja comprar. O estudo em questão pode ser classificado como sendo de cunho bibliográfico, a partir da análise de documentos publicados em forma de artigos científicos e livros em formato digital

Geographic patterns of tree dispersal modes in Amazonia and their ecological correlates

Aim: To investigate the geographic patterns and ecological correlates in the geographic distribution of the most common tree dispersal modes in Amazonia (endozoochory, synzoochory, anemochory and hydrochory). We examined if the proportional abundance of these dispersal modes could be explained by the availability of dispersal agents (disperser-availability hypothesis) and/or the availability of resources for constructing zoochorous fruits (resource-availability hypothesis). Time period: Tree-inventory plots established between 1934 and 2019. Major taxa studied: Trees with a diameter at breast height (DBH) ≥ 9.55 cm. Location: Amazonia, here defined as the lowland rain forests of the Amazon River basin and the Guiana Shield. Methods: We assigned dispersal modes to a total of 5433 species and morphospecies within 1877 tree-inventory plots across terra-firme, seasonally flooded, and permanently flooded forests. We investigated geographic patterns in the proportional abundance of dispersal modes. We performed an abundance-weighted mean pairwise distance (MPD) test and fit generalized linear models (GLMs) to explain the geographic distribution of dispersal modes. Results: Anemochory was significantly, positively associated with mean annual wind speed, and hydrochory was significantly higher in flooded forests. Dispersal modes did not consistently show significant associations with the availability of resources for constructing zoochorous fruits. A lower dissimilarity in dispersal modes, resulting from a higher dominance of endozoochory, occurred in terra-firme forests (excluding podzols) compared to flooded forests. Main conclusions: The disperser-availability hypothesis was well supported for abiotic dispersal modes (anemochory and hydrochory). The availability of resources for constructing zoochorous fruits seems an unlikely explanation for the distribution of dispersal modes in Amazonia. The association between frugivores and the proportional abundance of zoochory requires further research, as tree recruitment not only depends on dispersal vectors but also on conditions that favour or limit seedling recruitment across forest types

Geography and ecology shape the phylogenetic composition of Amazonian tree communities

Aim: Amazonia hosts more tree species from numerous evolutionary lineages, both young and ancient, than any other biogeographic region. Previous studies have shown that tree lineages colonized multiple edaphic environments and dispersed widely across Amazonia, leading to a hypothesis, which we test, that lineages should not be strongly associated with either geographic regions or edaphic forest types. Location: Amazonia. Taxon: Angiosperms (Magnoliids; Monocots; Eudicots). Methods: Data for the abundance of 5082 tree species in 1989 plots were combined with a mega-phylogeny. We applied evolutionary ordination to assess how phylogenetic composition varies across Amazonia. We used variation partitioning and Moran\u27s eigenvector maps (MEM) to test and quantify the separate and joint contributions of spatial and environmental variables to explain the phylogenetic composition of plots. We tested the indicator value of lineages for geographic regions and edaphic forest types and mapped associations onto the phylogeny. Results: In the terra firme and várzea forest types, the phylogenetic composition varies by geographic region, but the igapó and white-sand forest types retain a unique evolutionary signature regardless of region. Overall, we find that soil chemistry, climate and topography explain 24% of the variation in phylogenetic composition, with 79% of that variation being spatially structured (R$^{2}$ = 19% overall for combined spatial/environmental effects). The phylogenetic composition also shows substantial spatial patterns not related to the environmental variables we quantified (R$^{2}$ = 28%). A greater number of lineages were significant indicators of geographic regions than forest types. Main Conclusion: Numerous tree lineages, including some ancient ones (>66 Ma), show strong associations with geographic regions and edaphic forest types of Amazonia. This shows that specialization in specific edaphic environments has played a long-standing role in the evolutionary assembly of Amazonian forests. Furthermore, many lineages, even those that have dispersed across Amazonia, dominate within a specific region, likely because of phylogenetically conserved niches for environmental conditions that are prevalent within regions