A total of 115 patients who used everolimus were evaluated. The mean age was 57 (±13.3) years old, and 87 patients were women (75.6%). mTOR inhibitor‐associated stomatitis (mIAS) was observed in 36 ...patients (31.3%). The lesions ranged from 0.5 cm to 1.5 cm, and the tongue was the main site affected. In addition, 21 patients (58.3%) required a dose reduction of everolimus due to mIAS. Patients who had breast cancer presented 2.29‐fold higher risk for developing mIAS when compared to patients with kidney or neuroendocrine tumors. This study emphasizes the high prevalence of mIAS in patients using everolimus, in particular, in patients with breast cancer.
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CMK, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
The purpose of this work is to contribute to a better understanding of the variability of precipitation in the Madeira archipelago. This archipelago is located in the Atlantic subtropical belt under ...the direct influence of the Azores high pressure system. It is formed by Madeira Island (728 km2) and Porto Santo Island (42 km2) and by two other groups of very small inhabited islands. The complex topography of the islands in the Madeira archipelago and their small size play a crucial role in the local precipitation regime, which is marked by high spatial variability. This paper explores the invariance of properties manifested across scales and determines the fractal and multifractal behaviour observed in the temporal structure of precipitation using daily and 10-min time series from several locations scattered over the main islands. The period covered by the precipitation records is 34 years for the daily data and almost 4 months for the 10-min data. The results show that the temporal structure of precipitation in the Madeira Archipelago exhibits scale-invariant and multifractal properties. The empirical exponent functions describing the scaling statistical properties of the precipitation intensity were characterized using multifractal parameters; these parameters are increasing our awareness of the dynamics of this process in these islands.
Since clinical application of conventional cancer therapies is usually limited by drug resistance and toxic side effects, combination of chemotherapeutic agents with gene therapy appears as an ...attractive therapeutic strategy to overcome these issues. Being selectively expressed in tumor tissues, survivin is a promising target for the development of anticancer strategies aimed at eliminating tumor cells while sparing normal tissues. In this work, we achieved substantial protein knockdown in a number of human cell lines, namely, A549, HeLa and MCF-7 cells which overexpress survivin, after treatment with anti-survivin siRNAs, which was associated with a significant reduction of cell viability, when compared to treatment with control siRNAs. Interestingly, when the survivin-silencing approach was combined with a chemotherapeutic agent, an enhancement of the therapeutic effect was achieved. Treatment with anti-survivin siRNAs resulted in high levels of caspase 3/7 activation, and an enhancement of this effect was observed when survivin silencing was combined with vinblastine. In addition, we showed that for A549 and HeLa cells survivin silencing contributes to the reversion of cell resistance to doxorubicin. Overall, we demonstrate that the combination of a survivin-directed silencing strategy with chemotherapeutic agents constitutes a valuable approach for cancer treatment.
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IJS, KILJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM
HbA1c variability has been linked to retinopathy, renal disease and autonomic neuropathy in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D). Although the same ...relationship has been demonstrated for diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) in patients with T2D, data for T1D are still lacking.
Patients older than 17 years of age with ≥ 10 years of T1D duration and follow-up were included. All patients underwent nerve conduction studies and neurological examination. Laboratorial data was retrospectively extracted from chart review. Mean HbA1c (mHbA1c) over 10 years was calculated, as well as HbA1c variability estimated by standard deviation (HbA1c-SD) and coefficient of variation (HbA1c-CV).
Fifty patients with T1D were included (30 females and 21 non-caucasians), with mean age and T1D duration of 25.6 ± 5.0 and 17.9 ± 6.1 years, respectively. The frequency of DPN was 24%. Higher mHbA1c (10.4 ± % vs 8.1 ± %; p < 0.001), HbA1c-SD (1.8 ± 0.8 vs 0.9 ± 0.4; p < 0.001), and HbA1c-CV (1.7 ± 0.8 vs 1.2 ± 1.1; p = 0.006) were observed in patients with DPN compared to others. SD-HbA1c and HbA1c-CV were associated with DPN, diagnosed by either clinical or NCS criteria, independent of mHbA1c, age and gender.
Not only long-term glycemic control, but also its variability is associated with DPN in patients with T1D. Larger studies are required to confirm this finding.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Many efforts have been done towards secure MANETs, but the conventional lines of defense are still inefficient to put all attacks off. This article examines survivable approaches whose goal is to ...enable networks to fulfill correctly their critical functions even in the presence of attacks or intrusions. We introduce the most relevant survivable MANET initiatives where either preventive or reactive defenses are combined with tolerant ones. We classify the defense lines taking into account intrusion tolerance mechanisms and also identify properties and requirements of survivability. The initiatives are categorized in three groups: routing discovery, data transmission and key management. For each one, they are correlated in terms of requirements and properties. The survey shows that security solutions do not yet explore relevant survivability properties and have only focused on one network layer or one type of attack.
The coalescence of a binary neutron star pair is expected to produce gravitational waves (GW) and electromagnetic radiation, both of which may be detectable with currently available instruments. We ...describe a search for a predicted r-process optical transient from these mergers, dubbed the "kilonova" (KN), using griz broadband data from the Dark Energy Survey Supernova Program (DES-SN). Some models predict KNe to be redder, shorter-lived, and dimmer than supernovae (SNe), but the event rate of KNe is poorly constrained. We simulate KN and SN light curves with the Monte-Carlo simulation code SNANA to optimize selection requirements, determine search efficiency, and predict SN backgrounds. Our analysis of the first two seasons of DES-SN data results in 0 events, and is consistent with our prediction of 1.1 0.2 background events based on simulations of SNe. From our prediction, there is a 33% chance of finding 0 events in the data. Assuming no underlying galaxy flux, our search sets 90% upper limits on the KN volumetric rate of 1.0 Gpc−3 yr−1 for the dimmest KN model we consider (peak i-band absolute magnitude mag) and 2.4 Gpc−3 yr−1 for the brightest ( mag). Accounting for anomalous subtraction artifacts on bright galaxies, these limits are ∼3 times higher. This analysis is the first untriggered optical KN search and informs selection requirements and strategies for future KN searches. Our upper limits on the KN rate are consistent with those measured by GW and gamma-ray burst searches.
The catalytic performance of a Pt/CeZrO2 catalyst was tested for ethanol decomposition, steam reforming, partial oxidation, and oxidative steam reforming. At low temperature, the catalyst underwent ...significant deactivation during ethanol decomposition and steam reforming reactions. Co-feeding oxygen decreased the deactivation rate of the catalyst but adversely affected the selectivity to hydrogen. Increasing the reaction temperature greatly improved the stability of the catalyst. A reaction mechanism was proposed based on results obtained from in situ diffuse reflectance infrared spectroscopy analyses carried out under reaction conditions. Ethanol adsorbs as ethoxy species, which may follow one of two distinct pathways: (i) decomposition and production of CO, CH4, and H2 or (ii) dehydrogenation to acetaldehyde and acetyl species. The dehydrogenated species may undergo oxidation to acetate species. The addition of water to the feed promoted the formation of acetate species. Water also facilitated the decomposition of acetaldehyde and acetate reactions, resulting in the formation of methane, CO, and carbonate. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Chemically defined and electronically benign interfaces are attractive substrates for graphene and other two-dimensional materials. Here, we introduce lipid monolayers as an alternative, structurally ...ordered, and chemically versatile support for graphene. Deposition of graphene on the lipids resulted in a more ordered monolayer than regions without graphene. The lipids also offered graphene a more uniform and smoother support, reducing graphene hysteresis loop and the average value of the charge neutrality point under applied voltages. Our approach promises to be effective towards measuring experimentally biochemical phenomena within lipid monolayers and bilayers.
Upon transferring graphene above a lipid monolayer, lipid tails adopt a more ordered and compact structure, revealed by ATR-IR spectroscopy.
The aim of this study was to determine whether Raman spectroscopy combined with chemometric analysis can be applied to interrogate biofluids (plasma, serum, saliva and urine) towards detecting ...oesophageal stages through to oesophageal adenocarcinoma normal/squamous epithelium, inflammatory, Barrett's, low‐grade dysplasia, high‐grade dysplasia and oesophageal adenocarcinoma (OAC). The chemometric analysis of the spectral data was performed using principal component analysis, successive projections algorithm or genetic algorithm (GA) followed by quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA). The genetic algorithm quadratic discriminant analysis (GA‐QDA) model using a few selected wavenumbers for saliva and urine samples achieved 100% classification for all classes. For plasma and serum, the GA‐QDA model achieved excellent accuracy in all oesophageal stages (>90%). The main GA‐QDA features responsible for sample discrimination were: 1012 cm−1 (C─O stretching of ribose), 1336 cm−1 (Amide III and CH2 wagging vibrations from glycine backbone), 1450 cm−1 (methylene deformation) and 1660 cm−1 (Amide I). The results of this study are promising and support the concept that Raman on biofluids may become a useful and objective diagnostic tool to identify oesophageal disease stages from squamous epithelium to OAC.
Four biofluids (plasma, serum, urine and saliva) were measured through Raman spectroscopy in order to detect oesophageal transformation stages to adenocarcinoma.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
This work evaluated the degradation efficiency of the most used commercial pesticide chlorpyrifos (CP) by UV/H
2
O
2
and UVC photolysis processes. Photodegradation was carried out with 200 μg L
−1
of ...commercial CP for 30, 60, 90, 120, 240, 360, and 480 min. The samples were submitted to the liquid–liquid extraction technique and analyzed by HPLC–DAD. Bioassays were performed using two organisms,
Daphnia magna
and
Aedes aegypti
larvae, at all the degradation times. The degradation rate was 98% and 99% after 30 min of reaction for the UV/H
2
O
2
process and UVC photolysis, respectively. Moreover, during treatment, the main CP by-product, chlorpyrifos oxon (CPO), was identified among other unknown by-products. Acute toxicity with
D. magna
showed a decrease in the immobility at 480 min by the UV/H
2
O
2
process, while in UVC photolysis, 100% immobility was observed for up to 90 min of treatment, and the endpoint oscillated until the end of the process. Bioanalytical monitoring with
A. aegypti
showed no toxic effects on samples treated by the UV/H
2
O
2
process at 60, 90, 120, and 480 min of degradation. Despite the detection of CPO after UVC photolysis from 60 min onwards, no toxicity was verified, indicating that the by-products generated were not toxic to this organism. Therefore, even though high CP degradation rates were reached, for both processes, it was noted that bioassays and the ecotoxicological effect after degradation effluent are important to complement analytical tools.
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