During morphogenesis, molecular mechanisms that orchestrate biomechanical dynamics across cells remain unclear. Here, we show a role of guidance receptor Plexin-B2 in organizing actomyosin network ...and adhesion complexes during multicellular development of human embryonic stem cells and neuroprogenitor cells. Plexin-B2 manipulations affect actomyosin contractility, leading to changes in cell stiffness and cytoskeletal tension, as well as cell-cell and cell-matrix adhesion. We have delineated the functional domains of Plexin-B2, RAP1/2 effectors, and the signaling association with ERK1/2, calcium activation, and YAP mechanosensor, thus providing a mechanistic link between Plexin-B2-mediated cytoskeletal tension and stem cell physiology. Plexin-B2-deficient stem cells exhibit premature lineage commitment, and a balanced level of Plexin-B2 activity is critical for maintaining cytoarchitectural integrity of the developing neuroepithelium, as modeled in cerebral organoids. Our studies thus establish a significant function of Plexin-B2 in orchestrating cytoskeletal tension and cell-cell/cell-matrix adhesion, therefore solidifying the importance of collective cell mechanics in governing stem cell physiology and tissue morphogenesis.
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•The effects of freeze-dried O. dillenii cladodes (FDOd) on gut microbiota were reported.•FDOd has bioactive compounds with prebiotic and antioxidant properties.•FDOd induced positive ...changes in intestinal microbiota composition.•FDOd induced the production of several metabolites during colonic fermentation.•FDOd kept antioxidant capacity during colonic fermentation.
This study evaluated the physicochemical properties, antioxidant capacity, and potential prebiotic effects on the human intestinal microbiota of freeze-dried Opuntia dillenii (Ker Gawl). Haw (Cactaceae) cladodes (FDOd). FDOd had high levels of total fiber (52.36 g/100 g), especially soluble fiber (33.36 g/100 g), as well as minerals, such as potassium (4415.49 mg/100 g), calcium (1593.25 mg/100 g), magnesium (853.55 mg/100 g), and phosphorus (209.04 mg/100 g), high total chlorophyll content (912.00 mg/100 g), presence of various phenolic compounds, such as catechin (41.00 mg/100 g), myricetin (785.00 mg/100 g), isorhamnetin (5.00 mg/100 g), rutin (42 mg/100 g), and antioxidant activity (ABTS•+: 0.51 µmol TEAC/g; DPPH•: 0.32 µmol TEAC/g; FRAP: 2.75 µmol FeSO4/g). Fermentation of FDOd using human fecal inoculum changed the composition and metabolic activity of intestinal microbiota, increasing the relative abundance of Ligilactobacillus (0.03 %–16.44 %), Lactiplantibacillus (0.00 %–1.11 %), and Agathobacter (1.80 %–4.23 %), and decreasing the relative abundance of Prevotella_9 (25.08 %–0.15 %) and Succinivibrio (24.77 %–1.54 %). FDOd influenced the metabolic profile of the intestinal microbiota with the production of various metabolites, including short- and medium-chain fatty acids, organic acids, essential amino acids, and other compound classes with health-promoting properties. The results indicate FDOd as a new ingredient with prebiotic properties in the human intestinal microbiota.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Hydrological models are useful tools for water resources studies, yet their calibration is still a challenge, especially if aiming at improved estimates of multiple components of the water cycle. ...This has led the hydrologic community to look for ways to constrain models with multiple variables. Remote sensing estimates of soil moisture are very promising in this sense, especially in large areas for which field observations may be unevenly distributed. However, the use of such data to calibrate hydrological models in a synergistic way is still not well understood, especially in tropical humid areas such as those found in South America. Here, we perform multiple scenarios of multiobjective model optimization with in situ discharge and the SMOS L4 root zone soil moisture product for the Upper Paraná River Basin in South America (drainage area > 900,000 km²), for which discharge data for 136 river gauges are used. An additional scenario is used to compare the relative impacts of using all river gauges and a small subset containing nine gauges only. Across the basin, the joint calibration (CAL-DS) using discharge and soil moisture leads to improved precision and accuracy for both variables. The discharges estimated by CAL-DS (median KGE improvement for discharge was 0.14) are as accurate as those obtained with the calibration with discharge only (median equal to 0.14), while the CAL-DS soil moisture retrieval is practically as accurate (median KGE improvement for soil moisture was 0.11) as that estimated using the calibration with soil moisture only (median equal to 0.13). Nonetheless, the individual calibration with discharge rates is not able to retrieve satisfactory soil moisture estimates, and vice versa. These results show the complementarity between these two variables in the model calibration and highlight the benefits of considering multiple variables in the calibration framework. It is also shown that, by considering only nine gauges instead of 136 in the model optimization, the model is able to estimate reasonable discharge and soil moisture, although relatively less accurately and with less precision than for the entire dataset. In summary, this study shows that, for poorly gauged tropical basins, the joint calibration of SMOS soil moisture and a few in situ discharge gauges is capable of providing reasonable discharge and soil moisture estimates basin-wide and is more preferable than performing only a discharge-oriented optimization process.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
To describe and compare the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients admitted to intensive care units during the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In this retrospective ...single-center cohort study, data were retrieved from the Epimed Monitor System; all adult patients admitted to the intensive care unit between March 4, 2020, and October 1, 2021, were included in the study. We compared the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients admitted to the intensive care unit of a quaternary private hospital in São Paulo, Brazil, during the first (May 1, 2020, to August 31, 2020) and second (March 1, 2021, to June 30, 2021) waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In total, 1,427 patients with COVID-19 were admitted to the intensive care unit during the first (421 patients) and second (1,006 patients) waves. Compared with the first wave group median (IQR), the second wave group was younger 57 (46-70) versus 67 (52-80) years; p<0.001, had a lower SAPS 3 Score 45 (42-52) versus 49 (43-57); p<0.001, lower SOFA Score on intensive care unit admission 3 (1-6) versus 4 (2-6); p=0.018, lower Charlson Comorbidity Index 0 (0-1) versus 1 (0-2); p<0.001, and were less frequently frail (10.4% versus 18.1%; p<0.001). The second wave group used more noninvasive ventilation (81.3% versus 53.4%; p<0.001) and high-flow nasal cannula (63.2% versus 23.0%; p<0.001) during their intensive care unit stay. The intensive care unit (11.3% versus 10.5%; p=0.696) and in-hospital mortality (12.3% versus 12.1%; p=0.998) rates did not differ between both waves.
In the first and second waves, patients with severe COVID-19 exhibited similar mortality rates and need for invasive organ support, despite the second wave group being younger and less severely ill at the time of intensive care unit admission.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Background Monitoring of hand hygiene is an important part of the improvement of hospital quality indicators. Methods This study was prospectively performed over a 14-week (electronic observer) ...period from December 3, 2013-March 9, 2014, to evaluate hand hygiene compliance in an adult step-down unit. We compared electronic handwash counters with the application of radiofrequency identification (RFID - ZigBee; i-Healthsys, São Carlos, Brazil) (electronic observer), which counts each activation of the alcohol gel dispenser to direct observation (human observer) using the iScrub application. Results For the overall time period of simultaneous electronic and human observation, we found that the electronic observer identified 414 hand hygiene episodes, whereas the human observers identified 448 episodes. Therefore, we found 92% (95% confidence interval CI, 90%-95%) overall concordance (414/448), with an intraclass correlation coefficient of .87 (95% CI, 0.77-0.92). Conclusion Our RFID (ZigBee) system showed good accuracy (92%) and is a useful method to monitor hand hygiene compliance.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
RESUMO: Objetivo: Realizar a adaptação transcultural e a validação, no contexto cultural brasileiro, do instrumento de impacto da obesidade Patient-Reported Outcomes in Obesity (PROS). Métodos: O ...processo de adaptação transcultural contou com a tradução do idioma original, inglês, para o português, executada por dois tradutores qualificados e independentes. A retrotradução foi realizada por dois professores de inglês, nativos, sem qualquer conhecimento médico nem da escala original. Um comitê de especialistas foi composto de pesquisadores para avaliar as equivalências semântica, idiomática, experiencial e conceitual. O pré-teste da versão brasileira, denominada PROS-Br, foi realizado com dez indivíduos adultos com obesidade. Para a avaliação das propriedades psicométricas, foi realizado um estudo epidemiológico de delineamento transversal. A população foi composta de 120 indivíduos adultos com obesidade, brasileiros, presentes para consulta médica em ambulatório-escola. Para análises psicométricas, foram utilizadas a Teoria de Resposta ao Item e análise fatorial com extração de componentes principais. Para aferição da confiabilidade foi utilizado o indicador α-Cronbach. Resultados: Na análise de confiabilidade, o PROS-Br apresentou α-Cronbach de 0,82. Dois fatores explicaram 58,3% da variância total na análise de componentes principais, envolvendo aspectos comportamentais e físicos. As curvas da Teoria de Resposta ao Item mostraram que todas as perguntas apresentam características discriminatórias, apontando para a adequação da versão brasileira proposta. Conclusão: A versão brasileira mostrou-se válida e confiável para aferir a qualidade de vida de indivíduos com obesidade, possibilitando desenvolver estratégias de intervenção, planejamento e execução de ações nos serviços e na política pública de saúde.
ABSTRACT: Objective: To perform a cross-cultural adaptation and validation in the Brazilian cultural context of questionnaire Patient-Reported Outcomes in Obesity (PROS). Methods: The cross-cultural adaptation process involved the translation from original English language into Brazilian Portuguese by two qualified and independent translators. The back-translation was performed by two English language teachers who were native speakers, without any medical knowledge of the original scale. An expert committee was created with researchers to assess semantic, idiomatic, experiential and conceptual equivalence. The pre-test of the Brazilian version, named PROS-Br, was carried out with ten adults with obesity. To assess the psychometric properties of the instrument, a cross-sectional epidemiological study was carried out. The population consisted of 120 Brazilian adults with obesity who went to the appointment at a school-clinic. The Item Response Theory and Factor Analysis with Principal Component Extraction was used for the psychometrics analysis. To measure reliability, the α-Cronbach indicator was used. Results: In the reliability analysis, α-Cronbach was 0.82. Two factors explained 58.3% of the total variance in the principal component analysis, involving behavioral and physical aspects. Item Response Theory curves showed that all questions have discriminatory characteristics, pointing to the adequacy of the proposed version. Conclusion: The Brazilian version was proven valid and reliable to measure the quality of life of individuals with obesity, allowing one to develop intervention strategies, plan and execute actions at services and for public health policies.
Background Hand hygiene (HH) is widely regarded as the most effective preventive measure for health care-associated infection. However, there is little robust evidence on the best interventions to ...improve HH compliance or whether a sustained increase in compliance can reduce rates of health care-associated infection. Methods To evaluate the effectiveness of a real-time feedback to improve HH compliance in the inpatient setting, we used a quasiexperimental study comparing the effect of real-time feedback using wireless technology on compliance with HH. The study was conducted in two 20-bed step-down units at a private tertiary care hospital. Phase 1 was a 3-month baseline period in which HH counts were performed by electronic handwash counters. After a 1-month washout period, a 7-month intervention was performed in one step-down unit while the other unit served as a control. Results HH, as measured by dispensing episodes, was significantly higher in the intervention unit (90.1 vs 73.1 dispensing episodes/patient-day, respectively, P = .001). When the intervention unit was compared with itself before and after implementation of the wireless technology, there was also a significant increase in HH after implementation (74.5 vs 90.1 episodes/patient-day, respectively, P = .01). There was also an increase in mean alcohol-based handrub consumption between the 2 phases (68.9 vs 103.1 mL/patient-day, respectively, P = .04) in the intervention unit. Conclusion We demonstrated an improvement in alcohol gel usage via implementation of real-time feedback via wireless technology.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Brazilian coffee cultivation was boosted over the last few decades by the mechanization of various field operations. Considering the influence of genetic factors on coffee harvesting efficiency, we ...aimed to evaluate the use of mechanized harvesting characteristics as a criterion to select progenies derived from ‘Icatu’ germplasm, previously evaluated for agronomic characteristics, resistance to rust and cercosporiosis. We also investigated genotypic and phenotypic correlations between semi-mechanized harvesting characteristics. Ten progenies of Coffea arabica L. were analyzed in two experimental farms during two consecutive harvests. Genetic parameters were evaluated to trace selection strategies. Four progenies that were suitable for mechanization were selected, supporting our hypothesis of the use of harvest characteristics as selection criteria.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
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