There has been a rapid increase in the number of cases of COVID-19 in Latin America, Africa, Asia and many countries that have an insufficient number of physicians and other health care personnel, ...and the need for the inclusion of medical students on health teams is a very important issue. It has been recommended that medical students work as volunteers, undergo appropriate training, not undertake any activity beyond their level of competence, and receive continuous supervision and adequate personal protective equipment. However, the motivation of medical students must be evaluated to make volunteering a more evidence-based initiative. The aim of our study was to evaluate the motivation of medical students to be part of health teams to aid in the COVID-19 pandemic.
We developed a questionnaire specifically to evaluate medical students' perceptions about participating in the care of patients with suspected infection with coronavirus during the COVID-19 pandemic. The questionnaire had two parts: a) one part with questions on individual characteristics, year in medical school and geographic location of the medical school and b) a second part with twenty-eight statements assessed on a 5-point Likert scale (totally agree, agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree and totally disagree). To develop the questionnaire, we performed consensus meetings with a group of faculty and medical students. The questionnaire was sent to student organizations of 257 medical schools in Brazil and answered by 10,433 students. We used multinomial logistic regression models to analyze the data. Statements associated with greater odds ratios for participation of medical students in the COVID-19 pandemic were related to a sense of purpose or duty ("It is the duty of the medical student to put himself or herself at the service of the population in the pandemic"), altruism ("I am willing to take risks by participating in practice in the context of the pandemic"), and perception of good performance and professional identity ("I will be a better health professional for having experienced the pandemic"). Males were more prone than females to believe that only interns should participate in the care of patients with COVID-19 (odds ratio 1.36 coefficient interval 95%:1.24-1.49) and that all students should participate (OR 1.68 CI:1.4-1.91).
Medical students are more motivated by a sense of purpose or duty, altruism, perception of good performance and values of professionalism than by their interest in learning. These results have implications for the development of volunteering programs and the design of health force policies in the present pandemic and in future health emergencies.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Aquaculture is the fastest-growing farmed food sector and will soon become the primary source of fish and shellfish for human diets. In contrast to crop and livestock production, aquaculture ...production is derived from numerous, exceptionally diverse species that are typically in the early stages of domestication. Genetic improvement of production traits via well-designed, managed breeding programmes has great potential to help meet the rising seafood demand driven by human population growth. Supported by continuous advances in sequencing and bioinformatics, genomics is increasingly being applied across the broad range of aquaculture species and at all stages of the domestication process to optimize selective breeding. In the future, combining genomic selection with biotechnological innovations, such as genome editing and surrogate broodstock technologies, may further expedite genetic improvement in aquaculture.
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FZAB, GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Since its emergence in the 1990s, White Spot Disease (WSD) has had major economic and societal impact in the crustacean aquaculture sector. Over the years shrimp farming alone has experienced billion ...dollar losses through WSD. The disease is caused by the White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV), a large dsDNA virus and the only member of the Nimaviridae family. Susceptibility to WSSV in a wide range of crustacean hosts makes it a major risk factor in the translocation of live animals and in commodity products. Currently there are no effective treatments for this disease. Understanding the molecular basis of disease processes has contributed significantly to the treatment of many human and animal pathogens, and with a similar aim considerable efforts have been directed towards understanding host-pathogen molecular interactions for WSD. Work on the molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis in aquatic crustaceans has been restricted by a lack of sequenced and annotated genomes for host species. Nevertheless, some of the key host-pathogen interactions have been established: between viral envelope proteins and host cell receptors at initiation of infection, involvement of various immune system pathways in response to WSSV, and the roles of various host and virus miRNAs in mitigation or progression of disease. Despite these advances, many fundamental knowledge gaps remain; for example, the roles of the majority of WSSV proteins are still unknown. In this review we assess current knowledge of how WSSV infects and replicates in its host, and critique strategies for WSD treatment.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Numerous studies are continuously being carried out in pursuit of formulations with higher performance. Problems such as poor drug solubility, which hinders drug incorporation into delivery systems ...and bioavailability, or limitations concerning the stability and performance of the formulations may cause difficulties, since solving all these drawbacks at once is a huge challenge. Ionic liquids (ILs), due to their tunable nature, may hypothetically be synthesized for a particular application. Therefore, predicting the impact of a particular combination of ions within an IL in drug delivery could be a useful strategy. Eight ILs, two choline amino acid ILs, two imidazole halogenated ILs, and four imidazole amino acid ILs, were prepared. Their applicability at non-toxic concentrations, for improving solubility and the incorporation of the poorly soluble, ferulic, caffeic, and
-coumaric acids, as well as rutin, into topical emulsions, was assessed. Next, the impact of the ILs on the performance of the formulations was investigated. Our study showed that choosing the appropriate IL leads to a clear upgrade of a topical emulsion, by optimizing multiple features of its performance, such as improving the delivery of poorly soluble drugs, altering the viscosity, which may lead to better sensorial features, and increasing the stability over time.
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Roundup and its active ingredient glyphosate are among the most widely used herbicides worldwide and may contaminate surface waters. Research suggests both Roundup and glyphosate induce oxidative ...stress in fish and may also cause reproductive toxicity in mammalian systems. We aimed to investigate the reproductive effects of Roundup and glyphosate in fish and the potential associated mechanisms of toxicity. To do this, we conducted a 21-day exposure of breeding zebrafish (Danio rerio) to 0.01, 0.5, and 10 mg/L (glyphosate acid equivalent) Roundup and 10 mg/L glyphosate. 10 mg/L glyphosate reduced egg production but not fertilization rate in breeding colonies. Both 10 mg/L Roundup and glyphosate increased early stage embryo mortalities and premature hatching. However, exposure during embryogenesis alone did not increase embryo mortality, suggesting that this effect was caused primarily by exposure during gametogenesis. Transcript profiling of the gonads revealed 10 mg/L Roundup and glyphosate induced changes in the expression of cyp19a1 and esr1 in the ovary and hsd3b2, cat, and sod1 in the testis. Our results demonstrate that these chemicals cause reproductive toxicity in zebrafish, although only at high concentrations unlikely to occur in the environment, and likely mechanisms of toxicity include disruption of the steroidogenic biosynthesis pathway and oxidative stress.
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IJS, KILJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM
Silver nanoparticles cause toxicity in exposed organisms and are an environmental health concern. The mechanisms of silver nanoparticle toxicity, however, remain unclear. We examined the effects of ...exposure to silver in nano-, bulk-, and ionic forms on zebrafish embryos (Danio rerio) using a Next Generation Sequencing approach in an Illumina platform (High-Throughput SuperSAGE). Significant alterations in gene expression were found for all treatments and many of the gene pathways affected, most notably those associated with oxidative phosphorylation and protein synthesis, overlapped strongly between the three treatments indicating similar mechanisms of toxicity for the three forms of silver studied. Changes in oxidative phosphorylation indicated a down-regulation of this pathway at 24 h of exposure, but with a recovery at 48 h. This finding was consistent with a dose-dependent decrease in oxygen consumption at 24 h, but not at 48 h, following exposure to silver ions. Overall, our data provide support for the hypothesis that the toxicity caused by silver nanoparticles is principally associated with bioavailable silver ions in exposed zebrafish embryos. These findings are important in the evaluation of the risk that silver particles may pose to exposed vertebrate organisms.
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Background: Poor drug solubility represents a problem for the development of topical formulations. Since ionic liquids (ILs) can be placed in either lipophilic or hydrophilic solutions, they may be ...advantageous vehicles in such delivery systems. Nonetheless, it is vital to determine their usefulness when used at concentrations were cell viability is maintained, which was considered herein.
Method: Five different ILs were prepared-three imidazole-based ILs: C2mimBr, C4mimBr, and C6mimBr; and two choline-based ILs: ChoPhe and ChoGlu. Their cytotoxicity in human keratinocytes (HaCat cells), their influence in drug solubility and in percutaneous permeation, using pig skin membranes, was evaluated.
Results: Caffeine and salicylic acid were used as model actives. Choline-based ILs proved to be more suitable as functional ingredients, since they showed higher impact on drug solubility and a lower cytotoxicity. The major solubility enhancement was observed for caffeine and further solubility studies were carried out with this active in several concentrations of the choline-based ILs (0.1; 0.2; 0.5; 1.0; 3.0 and 5.0%, w/w) at 25 °C and 32 °C. Solubility was greatly influenced by concentrations up to 0.5%. The choline-based ILs showed no significant impact on the skin permeation, for both actives. The size of the imidazole-based ILs alkyl chain enhances the caffeine solubility and permeation, but also the ILs cytotoxicity. Stable O/W emulsions and gels were prepared containing the less toxic choline-based ILs and caffeine.
Conclusions: Our results indicate that the choline-based ILs were effective functional ingredients, since, when used at nontoxic concentrations, they allowed a higher drug loading, while maintaining the stability of the formulations.
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to µg l, This review provides a critical analysis of the biological effects of the most widely used plasticizers, including dibutyl
phthalate, diethylhexyl phthalate, dimethyl phthalate, butyl benzyl ...phthalate and bisphenol A (BPA), on wildlife, with a focus
on annelids (both aquatic and terrestrial), molluscs, crustaceans, insects, fish and amphibians. Moreover, the paper provides
novel data on the biological effects of some of these plasticizers in invertebrates, fish and amphibians. Phthalates and BPA
have been shown to affect reproduction in all studied animal groups, to impair development in crustaceans and amphibians and
to induce genetic aberrations. Molluscs, crustaceans and amphibians appear to be especially sensitive to these compounds,
and biological effects are observed at environmentally relevant exposures in the low ng l, range. In contrast, most effects in fish (except for disturbance in spermatogenesis) occur at higher concentrations. Most
plasticizers appear to act by interfering with the functioning of various hormone systems, but some phthalates have wider
pathways of disruption. Effect concentrations of plasticizers in laboratory experiments coincide with measured environmental
concentrations, and thus there is a very real potential for effects of these chemicals on some wildlife populations. The most
striking gaps in our current knowledge on the impacts of plasticizers on wildlife are the lack of data for long-term exposures
to environmentally relevant concentrations and their ecotoxicity when part of complex mixtures. Furthermore, the hazard of
plasticizers has been investigated in annelids, molluscs and arthropods only, and given the sensitivity of some invertebrates,
effects assessments are warranted in other invertebrate phyla.
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BFBNIB, NMLJ, NUK, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup formulations, is the most widely used herbicide worldwide, and as a result contaminates surface waters and has been detected in food residues, drinking ...water and human urine, raising concerns for potential environmental and human health impacts. Research has shown that glyphosate and Roundup can induce a broad range of biological effects in exposed organisms, particularly via generation of oxidative stress. However, there has been no comprehensive investigation of the global molecular mechanisms of toxicity of glyphosate and Roundup for any species. We aimed to characterise and compare the global mechanisms of toxicity of glyphosate and Roundup in the liver of brown trout (Salmo trutta), an ecologically and economically important vertebrate species, using RNA-seq on an Illumina HiSeq 2500 platform. To do this, we exposed juvenile female brown trout to 0, 0.01, 0.5 and 10 mg/L of glyphosate and Roundup (glyphosate acid equivalent) for 14 days, and sequenced 6 replicate liver samples from each treatment.
We assembled the brown trout transcriptome using an optimised de novo approach, and subsequent differential expression analysis identified a total of 1020 differentially-regulated transcripts across all treatments. These included transcripts encoding components of the antioxidant system, a number of stress-response proteins and pro-apoptotic signalling molecules. Functional analysis also revealed over-representation of pathways involved in regulating of cell-proliferation and turnover, and up-regulation of energy metabolism and other metabolic processes.
These transcriptional changes are consistent with generation of oxidative stress and the widespread induction of compensatory cellular stress response pathways. The mechanisms of toxicity identified were similar across both glyphosate and Roundup treatments, including for environmentally relevant concentrations. The significant alterations in transcript expression observed at the lowest concentrations tested raises concerns for the potential toxicity of this herbicide to fish populations inhabiting contaminated rivers.
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Tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TDCPP) is frequently present in indoor dust and can be detected in human milk. In order to evaluate the effects of TDCPP on vertebrate development, zebrafish ...embryos/larvae were used as an animal model to examine developmental phenotypes and explore possible mechanisms of toxicity by employing microarrays and iTRAQ labeling quantitative proteomics. The results demonstrated that treatment with TDCPP (3 μM) from 0.75 h postfertilization (hpf) inhibited cell rearrangement at 4 hpf, caused delay in epiboly at 5.7 and 8.5 hpf, and led to abnormal development (e.g., short tail, reduced body size) and lethality between 14 and 45 hpf, which might be related with altered expression of genes regulating embryogenesis. Furthermore, trunk curvature was observed as the main phenotype in 96 hpf zebrafish larvae exposed to 1 or 3 μM TDCPP, possibly by changing somite formation and expression of proteins related to fast muscle and cartilage development. Collectively, our results suggest that exposure to TDCPP causes developmental toxicity in vertebrates and warrant the need for studies to evaluate the potential health risks of TDCPP to developing human embryos/infants/children, due to its frequent presence in indoor dust and potential for human exposure.
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