Neurocognitive impairment (NCI) is frequently observed in patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and results from the compromise of subcortical brain structures by the virus. The ...manifestations of NCI range from asymptomatic impairment to dementia. In addition to cognitive impairment resulting from HIV infection, other factors such as depression are associated with the loss of cognitive functions. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of NCI in HIV-positive patients in a city in southern Brazil and to establish possible associations for the prevalence of NCI with HIV-related and other risk factors. This cross-sectional study of HIV-positive outpatients was conducted in a specialized care service in the city of Pelotas in Southern Brazil. Sociodemographic data and HIV-related information were collected, and all patients underwent psychiatric and neurocognitive evaluations. The prevalence of NCI among the 392 patients was 54.1% when tracked using the IHDS (International HIV Dementia Scale) and 36.2% when the IHDS was associated with a battery of complementary tests. A bivariate analysis suggested an association of NCI with gender, age, educational level, depression, current CD4 count and lowest CD4 count. The association of NCI with depression remained in the Poisson regression (PR=1.96, 95%CI=1.12-3.42). The prevalence of cognitive impairment in HIV-positive patients estimated in this study is in accordance with international and Brazilian data. Of the factors analyzed, depression showed the greatest evidence of association with neurocognitive loss. Based on our findings, the inclusion of instruments to evaluate depression in our services for patients with HIV and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is recommended.
Suicide is an important problem in people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). The importance of mental disorders and social vulnerability on suicidal behaviors is described in the literature; however, the ...impact of childhood traumatic events in this scenario is not clear. The aim of this study was to verify the mediation effect of mental disorder comorbidities and social vulnerability in association with childhood trauma intensity and suicide risk level. This cross-sectional study of HIV-positive outpatients was conducted in a specialized care service in the city of Pelotas in Southern Brazil. Sociodemographic data and HIV-related information were collected and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire was applied. A total of 364 patients underwent psychiatric evaluation using MINI Plus including module C of suicide risk severity. Suicide risk was present in 39.3% of the sample. The relation between childhood traumatic events and the level of suicide risk is mediated by mental disorder comorbidities and socioeconomic vulnerability. Specific psychosocial interventions in PLWHA should consider the potential role of abusive traumatic experiences in the current mental health conditions and suicidal behaviors.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VSZLJ
This work presents a new class of Boron-Doped Diamond (BDD) anode for electrochemical degradation. BDD deposition on carbon nanotubes (CNT) is the base for the electrode, because the nanodiamond ...seeding of oxidized CNT makes diamond nucleation and onset growth very efficient. For the tests presented in this work, the CNT was grown on a carbon fiber (CF) cloth. The BDD electrodes developed with only 10 min of diamond growth (named BDD-10) were tested for brilliant green (BG) dye degradation and showed excellent electrochemical characteristics as large surface area, large potential window, low charge transfer resistance and high degradation rates (kapp). For precise kapp determination in a setup using 360 mL of solution with 100 mg/L of the BG dye, the degradation experiments operated at low current density (5 and 10 mA/cm2). Dye degradation characterization used both UV/Vis color removal and HPLC. Few experiments at higher current densities and at a fixed time of 10 min showed an increase of color removal compatible with a linear dependence of kinetics on current. The kapp found are relatively high (≈0.033 min−1 at 10 mA/cm2), and an important result is the low value of energy consumption to decrease BG dye concentration by one order-of-magnitude (EEO < 0.4 Wh/L). The low energy consumption correlated with the low average voltage during degradation and with the electrode low charge transfer resistance. FEG-SEM and Raman spectroscopy surface characterization show that BDD-10 electrode preserves their morphological and structural characteristics after BG dye degradation, showing that the short time BDD growth is enough to preserve electrode from surface deterioration. The BDD-10 outperformed all anodes of intermediary phases of electrode production: the CF, the oxidized CNT deposited on CF with and without purification to remove surface iron particles. Lifetime tests showed the electrode fails soon, after 8–9 h under a current of 25 mA/cm2. However, the analysis and characterization of the lifetime test shows that erosion of CF/CNT interfaces caused the failure. The BDD/CNT structure remains completely preserved. These findings may suggest this as an excellent and economical method to produce BDD degradation anodes.
Display omitted
•The nanodiamond seeding method developed in this work was very efficient.•The BDD/CNT structure developed in this work has excellent electrochemical characteristics.•The BDD/CNT structure showed a high potential to apply as a pollutant degradation electrode.•The low average voltages applied in all electrodes of this work contributes for the low energy consumption at EAOPs.
ESTES guidelines: acute mesenteric ischaemia Tilsed, J. V. T.; Casamassima, A.; Kurihara, H. ...
European journal of trauma and emergency surgery (Munich : 2007),
04/2016, Letnik:
42, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Purpose
Acute mesenteric ischaemia (AMI) accounts for about 1:1000 acute hospital admissions. Untreated, AMI will cause mesenteric infarction, intestinal necrosis, an overwhelming inflammatory ...response and death. Early intervention can halt and reverse this process leading to a full recovery, but the diagnosis of AMI is difficult and failure to recognize AMI before intestinal necrosis has developed is responsible for the high mortality of the disease. Early diagnosis and prompt treatment are the goals of modern therapy, but there are no randomized controlled trials to guide treatment and the published literature contains a high ratio of reviews to original data. Much of that data comes from case reports and often small, retrospective series with no clearly defined treatment criteria.
Methods
A study group of the European Society for Trauma and Emergency Surgery (ESTES) was formed in 2013 with the aim of developing guidelines for the management of AMI. A comprehensive literature search was performed using the Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) thesaurus keywords “mesenteric ischaemia”, “bowel ischaemia” and “bowel infarction”. The bibliographies of relevant articles were screened for additional publications. After an initial systematic review of the literature by the whole group, a steering group formulated questions using a modified Delphi process. The evidence was then reviewed to answer these questions, and recommendations formulated and agreed by the whole group.
Results
The resultant recommendations are presented in this paper.
Conclusions
The aim of these guidelines is to provide recommendations for practice that will lead to improved outcomes for patients.
Pleomorphic adenoma is the most common salivary gland neoplasm, and it can be locally invasive, despite its slow growth. This study aimed to establish a novel cell line (AP-1) derived from a human ...pleomorphic adenoma sample to better understand local invasiveness of this tumor. AP-1 cell line was characterized by cell growth analysis, expression of epithelial and myoepithelial markers by immunofluorescence, electron microscopy, 3D cell culture assays, cytogenetic features and transcriptomic study. Expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their tissue inhibitors (TIMPs) was also analyzed by immunofluorescence and zymography. Furthermore, epithelial and myoepithelial markers, MMPs and TIMPs were studied in the tumor that originated the cell line. AP-1 cells showed neoplastic epithelial and myoepithelial markers, such as cytokeratins, vimentin, S100 protein and smooth-muscle actin. These molecules were also found in vivo, in the tumor that originated the cell line. MMPs and TIMPs were observed in vivo and in AP-1 cells. Growth curve showed that AP-1 exhibited a doubling time of 3.342 days. AP-1 cells grown inside Matrigel recapitulated tumor architecture. Different numerical and structural chromosomal anomalies were visualized in cytogenetic analysis. Transcriptomic analysis addressed expression of 7 target genes (VIM, TIMP2, MMP2, MMP9, TIMP1, ACTA2 e PLAG1). Results were compared to transcriptomic profile of non-neoplastic salivary gland cells (HSG). Only MMP9 was not expressed in both libraries, and VIM was expressed solely in AP-1 library. The major difference regarding gene expression level between AP-1 and HSG samples occurred for MMP2. This gene was 184 times more expressed in AP-1 cells. Our findings suggest that AP-1 cell line could be a useful model for further studies on pleomorphic adenoma biology.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The chemical vapor deposition of diamond film on steel substrate remains with main drawbacks demanding a proper solution. Some proposed interlayers tackled with the high carbon diffusivity into steel ...and with the graphitic sp2 bonds catalyzed by transition metal. However, the large mismatch of the coefficient of thermal expansion between steel and diamond produces cracked and delaminated diamond films. Thermodiffused vanadium carbide (TDVC) interlayer for straight CVD diamond deposition on steel, showed disruptive results; nevertheless, the coating thickening is limited to substrate with high carbon content and low alloy steel. This work introduces the use of laser cladding (LC) to form an intermediate layer of vanadium carbide (VC) from V4C3 powder. The LC process has a short cycle time and a high VC growth rate (5.6 μm/min). Comparing with TDVC, it represents a reduction of approximately 26 times in the process cycle time. We used AISI D6 steel as substrate and overlapped VC layers to raise the coat thickness up to 25 μm. The layers showed good adherence, low porosity, and the formation of V8C7 phase. Diamond films 2.8 μm thick were deposited by hot filament chemical vapor deposition (HFCVD) at 700 °C. The Raman spectroscopy of the diamond film on four overlapped VC layers (25 μm thick) showed a compressive residual stress of 2.7 GPa. The residual stress reduction was 1.8 GPa, when compared with the 7 μm thick single cladded VC layer.
•Laser cladding applied to vanadium carbide deposition•Laser cladding vanadium carbide interlayer mitigating residual stress in diamond film•Laser cladding vanadium carbide coating as excellent carbon diffusional barrier•CVD diamond deposition on tool steel•High quality and adhesion of hot filament CVD diamond film
ESTES guidelines: acute mesenteric ischaemia Tilsed, J. V. T.; Casamassima, A.; Kurihara, H. ...
European journal of trauma and emergency surgery,
04/2016, Letnik:
42, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Mercury exposure is considered to be a public health problem due to the generation of toxic effects on human health as a result of environmental and occupational conditions. The inorganic form of ...mercury (HgCl
) can cause several biological changes in cells and tissues through its cumulative toxic potential, but little has been experimentally proven about the effects of inorganic mercury on salivary glands, an important modulator organ of oral health. This study analyzes the effects of prolonged low dose exposure to HgCl
on the salivary glands of rats. Adult animals received a dose of 0.375 mg kg
day
over a period of 45 days. The parotid and submandibular glands were collected for analysis of the mercury levels and evaluation of oxidative stress, histological parameters and immunomodulation for metallothionein I and II (MT-I/II). In this investigation, biochemical and tissue changes in the salivary glands were verified due to the mercury levels, causing reduction in antioxidant capacity against peroxyl radicals, with consequent cellular lipid peroxidation and an increase in nitrite levels, volumetric changes and cytoskeletal damage in the submandibular glands, with less severe damage to the parotid glands. The results also have shown the occurrence of a cytoprotection mechanism due to increased MT-I/II expression, but not enough to avoid the morphology and oxidative damage. This evidence highlights, for the first time, that inorganic mercury is able to alter the morphology and oxidative biochemistry in salivary glands when exposed for a long time in low doses.
Main conclusion
The ex vitro hairy root system from petioles of detached soybean leaves allows the functional validation of genes using classical transgenesis and CRISPR strategies (e.g., sgRNA ...validation, gene activation) associated with nematode bioassays.
Agrobacterium rhizogenes
-mediated root transformation has been widely used in soybean for the functional validation of target genes in classical transgenesis and single-guide RNA (sgRNA) in CRISPR-based technologies. Initial data showed that in vitro hairy root induction from soybean cotyledons and hypocotyls were not the most suitable strategies for simultaneous performing genetic studies and nematode bioassays. Therefore, an ex vitro hairy root system was developed for in planta screening of target molecules during soybean parasitism by root-knot nematodes (RKNs). Applying this method, hairy roots were successfully induced by
A. rhizogenes
from petioles of detached soybean leaves. The soybean
GmPR10
and
GmGST
genes were then constitutively overexpressed in both soybean hairy roots and tobacco plants, showing a reduction in the number of
Meloidogyne incognita
-induced galls of up to 41% and 39%, respectively. In addition, this system was evaluated for upregulation of the endogenous
GmExpA
and
GmExpLB
genes by CRISPR/dCas9, showing high levels of gene activation and reductions in gall number of up to 58.7% and 67.4%, respectively. Furthermore, morphological and histological analyses of the galls were successfully performed. These collective data validate the ex vitro hairy root system for screening target genes, using classical overexpression and CRISPR approaches, directly in soybean in a simple manner and associated with nematode bioassays. This system can also be used in other root pathosystems for analyses of gene function and studies of parasite interactions with plants, as well as for other purposes such as studies of root biology and promoter characterization.
Among neglected tropical diseases, visceral leishmaniasis (VL) shows great relevance in global terms and is a serious public health concern due to the possibility of severe and lethal forms in ...humans. In this study, we evaluate entomological factors such as diversity and abundance of phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera:Psychodidae) and the Leishmania species circulating in these species in possible association with VL transmission in the Brazilian town Itaúna. The entomological collections were performed during three consecutive nights, always in the third week of each month, within a period of 12 mo. A total of 1,786 sand fly specimens were collected, from which 20% were collected inside houses. The influence of three local climatic variables (temperature, rainfall, relative humidity) on the population sizes of these insects was evaluated. Temperature was the most influential factor, with a significant positive correlation with the local population size of phlebotomine sand flies collected per month. Lutzomyia longipalpis (Lutz & Neiva, 1912) was the predominant species in the study area. Leishmania DNA was detected in nine out of 133 pools of sand fly females, using nested/ PCR, which resulted in a minimal natural infection rate of 2.91%. DNA from Leishmania infantum Nicolle, 1908 (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatida), was detected in Evandromyia cortelezzii (Bréthes, 1923), Ev. evandroi (Costa, Lima & Antunes, 1936), Ev. lenti (Mangabeira, 1938), and Ev. termitophila (Martins, Falcão & Silva, 1964), besides Lu. longipalpis. Our study indicates favorable conditions for VL spreading in Itaúna due to the presence of Lu. longipalpis and Le. infantum-infected phlebotomine sand flies.
PDF
