Burn wounds are highly debilitating injuries, with significant morbidity and mortality rates worldwide. In association with the damage of the skin integrity, the risk of infection is increased, ...posing an obstacle to healing and potentially leading to sepsis. Another limitation against healing is associated with antibiotic resistance mainly due to the use of systemic antibiotics for the treatment of localized infections. Nanotechnology has been successful in finding strategies to incorporate antibiotics in nanoparticles for the treatment of local wounds, thereby avoiding the systemic exposure to the drug. This review focuses on the most recent advances on the use of nanoparticles in wound dressing formulations and in tissue engineering for the treatment of burn wound infections.
Early Treatment with Pegylated Interferon Lambda for Covid-19 Reis, Gilmar; Moreira Silva, Eduardo A.S.; Medeiros Silva, Daniela C. ...
New England journal of medicine/The New England journal of medicine,
02/2023, Letnik:
388, Številka:
6
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Interferons can stimulate early antiviral immunity. In this platform trial, a single dose of pegylated interferon lambda given early was associated with decreased progression to more severe Covid-19.
Chlorins are highly interesting compounds due to their spectroscopic properties in both UV-Vis and NIR regions. Upon coordination to a metal ion, the corresponding metallochlorins exhibit more ...valuable physicochemical properties that enable a broader range of applications, such as in photodynamic therapy (PDT), water splitting catalysis, optical sensor devices and dye-sensitized solar cells. Synthetic chemistry has been in a continuous quest to fulfil most green chemistry requirements through the development of efficient reactions. Being a heating process that does not depend on heat transfer to the reaction medium, ohmic heating accomplishes the mentioned requirements and allows a fast and uniform heating regime thanks to the ionic conductivity of the reaction medium. Herein, we report the metallation of pyrrolidine- and isoxazolidine-fused chlorins with Zn(
ii
), Cu(
ii
) and Pd(
ii
) salts by ohmic heating, using non-toxic aqueous solutions, and their corresponding physico-chemical characterization. All pyrrolidine-fused chlorins showed higher yields, when compared with isoxazolidine ones. From the thermogravimetric analysis performed it is possible to infer that the metal enhances the steadiness of the macrocycle, making it easier to cause the thermal decomposition of the pyrrolidine- and isoxazolidine-fused chlorins. The Zn(
ii
) complexes showed high absorption in the NIR spectral region, a low fluorescence quantum yield and a short excited singlet state, which indicate the high efficiency of intersystem crossing to the triplet state, making them very promising candidates as photosensitizers for PDT.
The ohmic heating synthesis, spectroscopic properties and thermal-behaviour of Zn(
ii
), Cu(
ii
) and Pd(
ii
) complexes of heterocyclic-fused chlorins are described.
Multiple Myeloma (MM) is a hematological malignancy characterized by the clonal proliferation of plasma cells within the bone marrow. Diagnosing MM presents considerable challenges, involving the ...identification of plasma cells in cytology examinations on hematological slides. At present, this is still a time-consuming manual task and has high labor costs. These challenges have adverse implications, which rely heavily on medical professionals' expertise and experience. To tackle these challenges, we present an investigation using Artificial Intelligence, specifically a Machine Learning analysis of hematological slides with a Deep Neural Network (DNN), to support specialists during the process of diagnosing MM. In this sense, the contribution of this study is twofold: in addition to the trained model to diagnose MM, we also make available to the community a fully-curated hematological slide dataset with thousands of images of plasma cells. Taken together, the setup we established here is a framework that researchers and hospitals with limited resources can promptly use. Our contributions provide practical results that have been directly applied in the public health system in Brazil. Given the open-source nature of the project, we anticipate it will be used and extended to diagnose other malignancies.
Multiple medications in common use have been considered for the treatment of Covid-19. In this double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, ivermectin that was administered within 7 days after ...Covid-19 symptom onset was shown not to be of any clinical benefit.
•Yerba mate (YM) leaves are rich in phenolic acids, especially chlorogenic acids.•YM beverages have antioxidant, antibacterial and antitumoral properties.•YM drinks were submitted to in vitro ...digestion (IVD) and colonic fermentation (IVCF)•After IVD and IVCF, YM beverages maintain their functional properties.
Yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis) is a plant that grows naturally in South America. From its leaves and thin stems different kinds of beverages are prepared (chimarrão, tererê and tea mate), all of them rich in bioactive substances. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of in vitro gastrointestinal digestion and colonic fermentation on the stability of the polyphenols and on the antioxidant, antimicrobial and antitumoral activities of the yerba mate beverages. The phenolic chromatographic profile revealed that both the in vitro digestion and the colonic fermentation caused a pronounced decrease in 3,5-O-dicaffeoylquinic acid and 5-O-caffeoylquinic acid in the preparations. However, 3-O-caffeoylquinic acid, 4-O-caffeoylquinic acid and salvianolic acid I were only barely affected in all preparations. Despite the decrease in the phytochemicals content, yerba mate beverages maintain their functional properties such as antioxidant, antibacterial and antitumoral activities.
Bacterial wilt (BW) caused by
is responsible for substantial losses in cultivated potato (
) crops worldwide. Resistance genes have been identified in wild species; however, introduction of these ...through classical breeding has achieved only partial resistance, which has been linked to poor agronomic performance. The
(At) pattern recognition receptor elongation factor-Tu (EF-Tu) receptor (EFR) recognizes the bacterial pathogen-associated molecular pattern EF-Tu (and its derived peptide elf18) to confer anti-bacterial immunity. Previous work has shown that transfer of AtEFR into tomato confers increased resistance to
. Here, we evaluated whether the transgenic expression of
would similarly increase BW resistance in a commercial potato line (INIA Iporá), as well as in a breeding potato line (09509.6) in which quantitative resistance has been introgressed from the wild potato relative
Resistance to
was evaluated by damaged root inoculation under controlled conditions. Both INIA Iporá and 09509.6 potato lines expressing
showed greater resistance to
, with no detectable bacteria in tubers evaluated by multiplex-PCR and plate counting. Notably, AtEFR expression and the introgression of quantitative resistance from
had a significant additive effect in 09509.6-AtEFR lines. These results show that the combination of heterologous expression of
with quantitative resistance introgressed from wild relatives is a promising strategy to develop BW resistance in potato.
Objectives: Optical spectrophotometry has been explored to quantify Plasmodium falciparum malaria parasites at low parasitemia, with potential to overcome the limitations of detection in the current ...diagnostic methods. This work presents the design, simulation and fabrication of a CMOS microelectronic detection system to automatically quantify the presence of malaria parasites in a blood sample. Methods: The designed system is composed by an array of 16 n+/p-substrate silicon junction photodiodes as photodetectors and 16 current to frequency (IF) converters. An optical setup was used to individually and jointly characterize the entire system. Results: The IF converter was simulated and characterized in Cadence Tools using UMC 1180 MM/RF technology rules, featuring a resolution of 0.01 nA, a linearity up to 1800 nA and a sensitivity of 4430 Hz/nA. After fabrication in a silicon foundry, the photodiodes' characterization presented a responsivity peak of 120 mA/W (λ = 570 nm) and a dark current of 7.15 pA at 0 V. Regarding the IF converter, it exhibited high linearity (R 2 0.999) up to 30 nA, with a sensitivity of 4840 Hz/nA. Furthermore, the microsystem performance was validated using RBCs (Red Blood Cells) infected with P. falciparum and diluted at different parasitemia (12, 25 and 50 parasites/μL). Conclusion: The microsystem was able to distinguish between healthy and infected RBCs, with a sensitivity of 4.5 Hz/parasites.μL -1 . Significance: The developed microsystem presents a competitive result, when compared to the gold standard diagnosis methods, with increased potential for malaria in field diagnosis.
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Physical exercise is a well-established strategy to control blood pressure. Nonetheless, its effects on protein homeostasis in individuals with hypertension are not clearly ...defined.
AIMS
Evaluate proteostasis, quality of life, and inflammation, oxidative stress, and vasoactive biomarkers in adults with hypertension regarding reported exercise habits.
METHODS
Twenty individuals were recruited in a health-care centre, 10 regular exercisers (age: 68.3 ± 4.2 years) and 10 age-matched individuals without regular exercise participation (age: 67.7 ± 5.1 years). Proteostasis and the levels of ubiquitin, heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70), endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), matrix metalloproteinases 2 (MMP-2), tissue inhibitor of MMP-2 (TIMP-2), connexin 43 (Cx43) and extracellular superoxide dismutase-3 (SOD-3) were assessed in plasma using immunoblotting techniques (western blot or slot blot) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Quality of life was assessed using the Short Form 36 (SF-36) version 2.0 questionnaire.
RESULTS
Significant higher levels of interleukin (IL)-6 (P = 0.014), eNOS (P = 0.011), Cx43 (P = 0.020), TIMP-2 (P = 0.038), and SOD-3 (P = 0.001), with a fold increase of 1.5, 1.2, 2.1, 1.3, and 1.2, respectively, were found in the exercise group. The overall quality of life (60.1 ± 4.3 vs. 53.2 ± 5.9, P = 0.009), as well as mental health domain (59.4 ± 7.9 vs. 50.7 ± 7.2, P = 0.024) were significantly higher in the exercise group. Multivariate analysis by FTIR showed that the age-matched group is characterized by peaks related with antiparallel β-sheet, whereas exercise group is characterized by peaks related to random coils, β-sheet, and α-helix.
CONCLUSIONS
Individuals with regular exercise participation showed better proteostasis, quality of life, inflammatory profile, antioxidant defenses, and eNOS levels.
Overactive bladder (OAB) is the most common voiding dysfunction in children; however, nonneurogenic or idiopathic OAB remains poorly studied. First-line treatment includes conservative measures; ...however, as many patients are refractory, have adverse effects, or are contraindicated for anticholinergics, new options must be explored. This review covers the use of intravesical botulinum toxin (BoNT) for idiopathic OAB treatment in children, emphasizing its efficacy, safety, differences between toxins, doses, and injection techniques. Clinical results were promising, with all 8 studies reporting good results. All authors used BoNT type A (BoNT-A), either onabotulinum or abobotulinum toxin A. Response rates were variable, with full-response percentages of 32%-60%. As proven by the full-response rates of 50%, repeated injections are as safe and effective as first injections. Only a few cases of urinary tract infection, transient urinary retention, and hematuria have been reported, with no major local or systemic adverse effects. Despite these limitations, evidence encourages and supports BoNT-A use as a safe and effective treatment modality for refractory idiopathic OAB in pediatric settings, regardless of dosage and target toxin. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first systematic review of the use of intravesical BoNT-A for idiopathic OAB treatment in children.
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