Several Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries have introduced pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV-10 or PCV-13) in their routine national immunization programs.
We aimed to summarize the ...evidence of PCV impact and effectiveness in children under 5 years old in the LAC Region.
We conducted a systematic review of the literature on impact or effectiveness of PCVs on deaths or hospitalizations due to invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD), pneumonia, meningitis and sepsis. We searched Medline, WoS, Lilacs, Scopus, Central and gray literature published in any language from 2009 to January 2016. We included studies addressing the outcomes of interest in children in the target age group, and with the following designs: randomized trials, cohort or case-control, interrupted time series with at least three data points before and after the intervention, and before-after studies. Screening of citations, data extraction, and risk of bias assessment were conducted in duplicate by independent reviewers, according to the study protocol registered on PROSPERO. Descriptive analysis of the effectiveness measurements and sensitivity analysis were conducted. Effectiveness is reported as 1-OR or 1-RR for case control or cohort/clinical trials, and as percent change of disease incidence rates for before-after studies.
We identified 1,085 citations, 892 from databases and 193 from other sources. Of these, 22 were further analyzed. Studies were from Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Argentina, Peru and Nicaragua. Effectiveness ranged from 8.8-37.8% for hospitalizations due to X-ray confirmed pneumonia, 7.4-20.6% for clinical pneumonia, and 13.3-87.7% for meningitis hospitalizations, and 56-83.3% for IPD hospitalization, varying by age, outcome definition, type of vaccine and study design.
Available evidence to date indicates significant impact of both PCV-10 and PCV-13 in the outcomes studied, with no evidence of the superiority of one vaccine over the other on pneumonia, IPD or meningitis hospitalization reduction in children under 5 years old.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) acts on the hydrolysis of acetylcholine, rapidly removing this neurotransmitter at cholinergic synapses and neuromuscular junctions as well as in neuronal growth and ...differentiation, modulation of cell adhesion (“electrotactins”) and aryl-acylamidase activity (AAA). This enzyme is also found in erythrocyte, as 160 kDa dimer that anchors to the plasma membrane via glycophosphatidylinositol. The function of this enzyme in erythrocytes has not yet been elucidated; however, it is suspected to participate in cell-to-cell interactions. Here, a review on erythrocyte AChE characteristics and use as biomarker for organophosphorus and carbamate insecticides is presented since it is the first specific target/barrier of the action of these pesticides, besides plasma butyrylcholinesterase (BChE). However, some past and current methods have disadvantages: (a) not discriminating the activities of AChE and BChE; (b) low accuracy due to interference of hemoglobin in whole blood samples. On the other hand, extraction methods of hemoglobin-free erythrocyte AChE allows: (a) the freezing and transporting of samples; (b) samples free of colorimetric interference; (c) data from only erythrocyte AChE activity; (d) erythrocyte AChE specific activity presents higher correlation with the central nervous system AChE than other peripheral ChEs; (e) slow spontaneous regeneration against anti-ChEs agents of AChE in comparison to BChE, thus increasing the chances of detecting such compounds following longer interval after exposure. As monitoring perspectives, hemoglobin-free methodologies may be promising alternatives to assess the degree of exposure since they are not influenced by this interfering agent.
Schistosomiasis represents a serious public health problem, a disease for which the circulating cathodic antigen (CCA) is a relevant biomarker. Quantum dots (QDs) are advantageous fluorescent ...nanoparticles that can be used as specific nanoprobes. In this study, a nanotool based on QDs and anti-CCA antibodies was developed, which, in association with fluorescence microscopy, was applied to trace and evaluate the CCA profile in schistosomiasis-infected tissue samples. Kidney and liver tissues from mice at different disease phases were used as models. QDs and the conjugates were characterized by absorption and emission spectroscopies. Microscopy analyses were used to map and assess CCA accumulation in infected tissue slices in respect to non-infected control samples. The fluorescent microplate assay (FMA) and Zeta potential (ζ) analyses indicated an effective conjugation, which was corroborated by the absence of labeling in non-infected tissue slices (which lack CCA) after incubation with the nanoprobe. Infected liver and kidney tissues exhibited notable staining by the QDs-anti-CCA conjugate. The CCA accumulation increased as follows: 30 < 60 = 120 days post-infection, with 30, 60, and 120 days corresponding to the pre-patent, acute, and beginning of chronic disease phases, respectively. Therefore, this innovative approach, combining imaging acquisition with the sensitivity and specificity of the QDs-anti-CCA conjugate, demonstrated efficiency in locating and comparatively evaluating CCA deposition in biological samples, thereby opening new possibilities for schistosomiasis research.
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•Circulating cathodic antigen (CCA) is an important biomarker of schistosomiasis.•A fluorescent QDs-anti-CCA nanotool was developed.•The conjugate was applied to trace and evaluate the CCA in infected mice tissue samples.•Infected kidney and liver tissues were remarkably stained by the conjugate, from the 60th day of infection.•The nanotool combined with microscopy showed potential to identify the CCA, collaborating to schistosomiasis studies.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Responsible for hydrolysis of tannins present in several beverages, tannase is an industrial enzyme of the great potential for applications in the food industry. Tannase was covalently immobilized ...onto magnetic nanoparticles composed of diatomaceous earth coated with polyaniline (mDE-PANI-TANNASE). This enzyme derivative showed 41% of residual specific activity, higher optimum temperature (40 °C) than the free enzyme (30 °C) and proved to be more thermostable at 40 °C, whereas both preparations presented the same optimum pH (6.0). The apparent Km values for the free and immobilized enzyme were statistically different (p = 0.03) and equal to, respectively, 18 ± 7 μM and 10 ± 2 μM. mDE-PANI-TANNASE after ten reuses and 90 days of storage at 4 °C kept as much as 66% and 71% of its initial activity, respectively. Even though the tannins content of boldo tea was reduced by only 23–25% after 120 min treatment with either free or immobilized enzyme, mDE-PANI-TANNASE has the advantage of being simply recovered and recycled from the reaction mixture by an outer magnet, thus preventing contamination of the treated tea.
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•Magnetic diatomite nanoparticles coated with PANI as carrier to tannase immobilization•First biocatalyst applied to tannins hydrolytic process in boldo tea•Thermal stability of the immobilized tannase was increased 23% over the free enzyme.•Magnetic immobilized tannase showed 66% residual activity after 10th cycles of reuse.•Magnetic immobilized tannase was able to remove 25% tannin from the boldo tea.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
Cassava polyploid breeding has drastically improved our knowledge on increasing root yield and its significant tolerance to stresses. In polyploid cassava plants, increases in DNA content highly ...affect cell volumes and anatomical structures. However, the mechanism of this effect is poorly understood. The purpose of the present study was to compare and validate the changes between cassava cultivar NZ199 diploid and autotetraploid at proteomic levels. The results showed that leaf proteome of cassava cultivar NZ199 diploid was clearly differentiated from its autotetraploid genotype using 2-DE combined MS technique. Sixty-five differential protein spots were seen in 2-DE image of autotetraploid genotype in comparison with that of diploid. Fifty-two proteins were identified by MALDI-TOF-MS/MS, of which 47 were up-regulated and 5 were down-regulated in autotetraploid genotype compared with diploid genotype. The classified functions of 32 up-regulated proteins were associated with photosynthesis, defense system, hydrocyanic acid (HCN) metabolism, protein biosynthesis, chaperones, amino acid metabolism and signal transduction. The remarkable variation in photosynthetic activity, HCN content and resistance to salt stress between diploid and autotetraploid genotypes is closely linked with expression levels of proteomic profiles. The analysis of protein interaction networks indicated there are direct interactions between the 15 up-regulation proteins involved in the pathways described above. This work provides an insight into understanding the protein regulation mechanism of cassava polyploid genotype, and gives a clue to improve cassava polyploidy breeding in increasing photosynthesis and resistance efficiencies.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Quantum dot–Cramoll lectin as novel conjugates to glycobiology Cunha, Cássia R.A.; Andrade, Camila G.; Pereira, Maria I.A. ...
Journal of photochemistry and photobiology. B, Biology,
January 2018, 2018-Jan, 2018-01-00, 20180101, Volume:
178
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
The optical properties of quantum dots (QDs) make them useful tools for biology, especially when combined with biomolecules such as lectins. QDs conjugated to lectins can be used as nanoprobes for ...carbohydrate expression analysis, which can provide valuable information about glycosylation changes related to cancer and pathogenicity of microorganisms, for example. In this study, we evaluated the best strategy to conjugate Cramoll lectin to QDs and used the fluorescent labeling of Candida albicans cells as a proof-of-concept. Cramoll is a mannose/glucose–binding lectin with unique biological properties such as immunomodulatory, antiparasitic, and antitumor activities. We probed covalent coupling and adsorption as conjugation strategies at different pH values. QDs conjugated to Cramoll at pH7.0 showed the best labeling efficiency in the fluorescence microscopy analysis. Moreover, QD-Cramoll conjugates remained brightly fluorescent and preserved identical biological activity according to hemagglutination assays. Flow cytometry revealed that approximately 17% of C. albicans cells were labeled after incubation with covalent conjugates, while approximately 92% of cells were labeled by adsorption conjugates (both at pH7.0). Inhibition assays confirmed QD-Cramoll specificity, which reduced the labeling to at most 3%. Therefore, the conjugates obtained by adsorption (pH7.0) proved to be promising and versatile fluorescent tools for glycobiology.
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•Covalent coupling or adsorption was probed to conjugate QD with Cramoll lectin.•The best conjugation strategy was evaluated by the labeling of C. albicans cells.•The adsorption at pH7.0 was a superior strategy for QD-Cramoll lectin conjugation.•QD-Cramoll conjugates provided a homogenous, effective and bright labeling.•QD-Cramoll conjugates are versatile tools for carbohydrate expression studies.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
: Astaxanthin is a carotenoid known to have antioxidant and antiinflammatory properties. This study examined if shrimp astaxanthin modulates the production of superoxide (O−2), nitric oxide (NO), ...and tumor necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α) in rat alveolar macrophages. The oxidative effect was induced by phorbol myristate acetate and lipopolysacharide. The treatment was compared with superoxide dismutase, butylated hydroxytoluene, commercial astaxanthin, N‐nitric‐L‐arginine methyl ester and L‐ canavanine, all administered as a 43.5‐μg/mL dose in the presence of 1% EtOH/0.5% DMSO. All treatments maintained cell viability, as observed in the MTT assay, and shrimp extract increased the viable alveolar macrophages to 168%. Shrimp extract and commercial astaxanthin showed a suppressive effect on the generation of both free radicals O−2 and NO, while purified shrimp astaxanthin was specific to NO. TNF‐α secretion was correlated with NO production. However, in this correlation, the shrimp extract completely inhibited TNF‐α. In the light of these findings, the antioxidant action demonstrated in this study suggests that the shrimp extract could be considered as a promising source of bioactive substances with antioxidant and anti‐inflammatory activity.
Practical Application: The hydrolysis process of shrimp waste generates bioactive products that add economic value to shrimp processing, mainly because they may have applications in nutraceutical and animal feed industry.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Valuable female cattle are continuously subject to follicular puncture (ovum pick-up - OPU). This technique is commonly used for in-vitro embryo production, but may result in ovarian lesion. ...Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) ameliorate the function of injured tissues, but their use to treat ovarian lesions in cattle has not been established. We investigated whether a local injection of MSC would reduce the negative effects of repeated OPU under acute and chronic scenarios in bovines. First, we performed four OPU sessions and injected 2.5 × 10
MSCs immediately after the 4th OPU procedure (n = 5). The treated organs (right ovary) were compared to their saline-treated counterparts (left), and presented superior production of oocytes and embryos in the three following OPU sessions (P < 0.05). Then, cows with progressive fertility loss went through three OPU sessions. Animals received MSC, saline, or MSC + FSH in both ovaries after the first OPU. In the two following OPU sessions, the MSC and MSC + FSH - treated groups failed to present any significant alteration in the number of oocytes and embryos compared to saline-treated animals. Thus, MSC have beneficial effects on the fertility of OPU-lesioned cows, but not in cows with cystic ovarian disease and chronic ovarian lesions.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
► An integrated method to recover protein, chitin, carotenoids and GAGs from shrimp processing waste. ► The use of endogenous enzymes instead of commercial. ► Characterization of the polysaccharides ...obtained.
Shrimp head waste is a major byproduct of crustacean processing in North-eastern Brazil and represents an interesting source of bioactive molecules. Additionally, its use increases the sustainability of processing fishery products. The present study reports a process developed for recovering bioactive molecules from shrimp heads through autolysis. A protein hydrolysate (120±0.4g) formed by a 9% (w/v) solution was recovered and lyophilized from 1kg of shrimp heads. Approximately 195±0.5mg of carotenoids was recovered as an ethanolic extract. The recovery of chitin and chitosan were 25±2gkg−1 and 17±4gkg−1 wet processing waste, respectively. Chitosans were characterized by 13C NMR, and FT-IR analysis and exhibited a variable degree of deacetylation (60–80%). Sulfated glycosaminoglycans that exhibited electrophoretic migration similar to mammalian standards were also recovered (79±2mgkg−1 wet processing waste), and their degradation products suggested the presence of C6-sulfated heparan sulfate. These data point to the feasibility of an integrated process for isolating highly bioactive molecules, such as sulfated- and amino-polysaccharides, with a broad spectrum of applications from shrimp processing waste.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Cell surface glycoconjugates play an important role in differentiation/dedifferentiation processes and lectins are employed to evaluate them by several methodologies. Fluorescent probes are ...considered a valuable tool because of their ability to provide a particular view, and are more detailed and sensitive in terms of cell structure and molecular content. The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the expression and distribution of glycoconjugates in normal human breast tissue, and benign (fibroadenoma), and malignantly transformed (invasive ductal carcinoma) breast tissues. For this, we used mercaptosuccinic acid-coated Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) quantum dots (QDs) conjugated with concanavalin A (Con A) or Ulex europaeus agglutinin I (UEA I) lectins to detect α-D-glucose/mannose and L-fucose residues, respectively. The QD-lectin conjugates were evaluated by hemagglutination activity tests and carbohydrate inhibition assays, and were found to remain functional, keeping their fluorescent properties and carbohydrate recognition ability. Fluorescence images showed that different regions of breast tissue expressed particular types of carbohydrates. While the stroma was preferentially and intensely stained by QD-Con A, ductal cells were preferentially labeled by QD-UEA I. These results indicate that QD-lectin conjugates can be used as molecular probes and can help to elucidate the glycoconjugate profile in biological processes.
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