The complications of Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) include kidney disease, and most dialysis patients are diagnosed with MetS. The benefit of exercise training (ET) for MetS treatment is already well ...defined in the literature, but the antidiabetic and antihyperlipidemic benefits of okra (O) have been discovered only recently. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of O and/or ET supplementation on renal function and histology; serum urea and creatinine value; inflammation (IL-6, IL-10, TNF-α) and oxidative stress in renal tissue. For this, 32 Zucker rats (fa/fa) were randomly separated into four groups of 8 animals each: Metabolic Syndrome (MetS), MetS + Okra (MetS + O), MetS + Exercise Training (MetS + ET), and MetS + Exercise Training and Okra (MetS + ET + O), and 8 Zucker lean (fa/+) rats comprised the Control group (CTL). Okra was administered by orogastric gavage 2x/day (morning and night, 100 mg/kg) and ET performed on the treadmill, at moderate intensity, 1h/day, 5x/week for 6 weeks. Although the renal function was not altered, the animals with MetS showed greater fibrotic deposition accompanied by a worse stage of renal injury, in addition to increased kidney weight. Although all interventions were beneficial in reducing fibrosis, only ET combined with O was able to improve the degree of renal tissue impairment. ET improved the anti-inflammatory status and reduced nitrite levels, but the combination of ET and O was more beneficial as regards catalase activity. Okra consumption alone did not promote changes in inflammatory cytokines and oxidative stress in the kidney. In conclusion, ET combined or not with O seems to be beneficial in preventing the progression of renal disease when renal function is not yet altered.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
•CE versus HPLC for the determination of organic acids in sour cassava starch wastewater.•Fast and simple methods for the determination of organic acids in sour cassava starch wastewater.•Established ...methods were validated through matrix effects, precision, accuracy, recovery, linearity, LOD and LOQ.•CE as a shorter time method to determine organic acids in sour cassava starch wastewater.
Fast and efficient analytical methods to determine the concentrations of lactic, acetic, propionic and butyric acids in sour cassava starch wastewater using reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and capillary electrophoresis (CE), were developed and validated. Good linearity (R2>0.999) and significance with F>25,000 for all acids was showed. The matrix effect was not detected. The coefficient of variation values indicated good repeatability. The limits of detection (LOD) ranged from 1.0 to 3.7 and 2.0 to 3.0, and the limits of quantification (LOQ) from 3.1 to 12.2, and 8.0 to 12.5mg/L for HPLC and CE, respectively. The quantification of the samples did not reveal significant differences between the methods for all compounds analyzed. However, the benefits of CE in relation to HPLC, such as lower costs and less waste generation, along with shorter analysis times, need to be taken into consideration.
Display omitted
•Low-alcohol uvaia wines were elaborated with four different treatments.•Ultrasound-assisted enzymatic treatment resulted in the highest antioxidant activity.•13 phenolic compounds ...were identified in the uvaia wine by LC-ESI-MS/MS.•The bioaccessibility in vitro of phenolic compounds in uvaia wine was evaluated.•In the intestinal phase, p-coumaric acid showed a bioaccessibility index of 31%.
The uvaia (Eugenia pyriformis Cambess) is a Brazilian native fruit that has potential for the preparation of low-alcohol beverages. Ultrasound-assisted enzymatic treatments can be applied in the steps which precede the fermentation, aiming the extraction of bioactive compounds. Thus, the goal of this study was to evaluate the influence of different treatments using pectinase and ultrasound on the bioactive properties of uvaia wine. The uvaia wine treated with pectinase and ultrasound showed the highest levels of malic acid, total phenolic compounds, and antioxidant activity. In the in vitro digestion, the treatment with pectinase and ultrasound increased the antioxidant activity (ABTS) by 50% and showed the highest p-coumaric acid content in the intestinal phase. This work is a pioneer in the preparation of low-alcohol uvaia wine using pre-fermentation treatments with enzyme and ultrasound which, when simultaneously applied, optimized the chemical characteristics of this beverage.
Rhabdomyolysis is characterized by muscle damage and leads to acute kidney injury (AKI). Clinical and experimental studies suggest that glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β) inhibition protects against ...AKI basically through its critical role in tubular epithelial cell apoptosis, inflammation and fibrosis. Treatment with a single dose of lithium, an inhibitor of GSK3β, accelerated recovery of renal function in cisplatin and ischemic/reperfusion-induced AKI models. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a single dose of lithium in the treatment of rhabdomyolysis-induced AKI. Male Wistar rats were allocated to four groups: Sham, received saline 0.9% intraperitoneally (IP); lithium (Li), received a single IP injection of lithium chloride (LiCl) 80 mg/kg body weight (BW); glycerol (Gly), received a single dose of glycerol 50% 5 mL/kg BW intramuscular (IM); glycerol plus lithium (Gly+Li), received a single dose of glycerol 50% IM plus LiCl IP injected 2 hours after glycerol administration. After 24 hours, we performed inulin clearance experiments and collected blood / kidney / muscle samples. Gly rats exhibited renal function impairment accompanied by kidney injury, inflammation and alterations in signaling pathways for apoptosis and redox state balance. Gly+Li rats showed a remarkable improvement in renal function as well as kidney injury score, diminished CPK levels and an overstated decrease of renal and muscle GSK3β protein expression. Furthermore, administration of lithium lowered the amount of macrophage infiltrate, reduced NFκB and caspase renal protein expression and increased the antioxidant component MnSOD. Lithium treatment attenuated renal dysfunction in rhabdomyolysis-associated AKI by improving inulin clearance and reducing CPK levels, inflammation, apoptosis and oxidative stress. These therapeutic effects were due to the inhibition of GSK3β and possibly associated with a decrease in muscle injury.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Guiana dolphins (Sotalia guianensis) inhabit shallow waters of the tropical western Atlantic, an area that is now mostly occupied by cities and harbours. Demographic studies have been concentrated in ...sheltered areas of south/south‐eastern Brazil.
This study investigated site fidelity and estimated population abundance and apparent survival of Guiana dolphins in Mucuripe Embayment (ME), on the north‐eastern Brazilian coast, through photo‐identification surveys and closed and open population mark–recapture models, from October 2009 to September 2011.
Forty‐six Guiana dolphin groups were recorded (in groups of between one and eight dolphins, with a mean ± SD of 3.49 ± 2.33) in 27 out of 40 surveys. Twenty‐five animals were photo‐identified, with eight considered to have a ‘poor health’ status. The standardized site fidelity index (SSFI) was low (0.25).
Using the program capture, the time and heterogeneity model (Mth) resulted in a total abundance estimate of 39, with a Coefficient of Variation (CV) of 21% (95% CI 35–80%). In program mark, model averaging resulted in a total abundance estimate of 33 (CV 32%, 95% CI 30–100%). Using a CV of 21%, the power to detect a decline of 50% during the study period was 0.44 and the power to detect a decline of 5% a year was 0.11. To detect these declines with a 0.90 power, 12 years of monitoring would be necessary.
The annual adult apparent survival rate was low (0.71; CV 19%; 95% CI 0.40–0.90), and differed for dolphins in ‘good’ (0.64; CV 28%, 95% CI 0.27–0.89) and ‘poor’ (0.85; CV 22%; 95% CI: 0.23–0.99) health.
The low abundance of Guiana dolphins in ME indicates that conservation actions should start immediately, such as creating a marine protected area, continuing awareness campaigns, using by‐catch reduction technologies, developing new regulations, and promoting law enforcement. Monitoring studies must continue with increased effort to reduce uncertainty in estimates and to improve the power to detect trends of decline.
Guanabara Bay is the second largest bay in the coast of Brazil, with an area of 384 km(2). In its surroundings live circa 16 million inhabitants, out of which 6 million live in Rio de Janeiro city, ...one of the largest cities of the country, and the host of the 2016 Olympic Games. Anthropogenic interference in Guanabara Bay area started early in the XVI century, but environmental impacts escalated from 1930, when this region underwent an industrialization process. Herein we present an overview of the current environmental and sanitary conditions of Guanabara Bay, a consequence of all these decades of impacts. We will focus on microbial communities, how they may affect higher trophic levels of the aquatic community and also human health. The anthropogenic impacts in the bay are flagged by heavy eutrophication and by the emergence of pathogenic microorganisms that are either carried by domestic and/or hospital waste (e.g., virus, KPC-producing bacteria, and fecal coliforms), or that proliferate in such conditions (e.g., vibrios). Antibiotic resistance genes are commonly found in metagenomes of Guanabara Bay planktonic microorganisms. Furthermore, eutrophication results in recurrent algal blooms, with signs of a shift toward flagellated, mixotrophic groups, including several potentially harmful species. A recent large-scale fish kill episode, and a long trend decrease in fish stocks also reflects the bay's degraded water quality. Although pollution of Guanabara Bay is not a recent problem, the hosting of the 2016 Olympic Games propelled the government to launch a series of plans to restore the bay's water quality. If all plans are fully implemented, the restoration of Guanabara Bay and its shores may be one of the best legacies of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Any condition leading to chronic liver disease is a potential oncogenic agent for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Alterations in the expression of antioxidant enzymes could alter the redox balance. ...Our aim was to evaluate the expression of the genes GPX1, GPX4, SEP15, SELENOP, SOD1, SOD2, GSR, CAT, and NFE2L2 in patients with HCC. Differential gene expression analysis was performed using RNA-Seq data from the TCGA and GTEx databases, and RT-qPCR data from HCC patient samples. Bioinformatic analysis revealed significant differential expression in most genes. GPX4 expression was significantly increased (p=0.02), while SOD2 expression was significantly decreased (p=0.04) in experimental data. In TCGA samples, alpha-fetoprotein levels (mg/dL) were negatively correlated with the expression of SEP15 (p<0.001), SELENOP (p<0.001), SOD1 (p<0.001), SOD2 (p<0.001), CAT (p<0.001), and NFE2L2 (p=0.004). Alpha-fetoprotein levels were positively correlated with the expression of GPX4 (p=0.02) and SELENOP (p=0.01) in the experimental data. Low expression of GPX1 (p=0.006), GPX4 (p=0.01), SELENOP (p=0.006), SOD1 (p=0.007), CAT (p<0.001), and NFE2L2 (p<0.001), and higher levels of GSR, were associated with low overall survival at 12 months. These results suggest a significant role for these antioxidant enzymes in HCC pathogenesis and severity.
In Brazil, malaria is concentrated in the Amazon Basin, where more than 99% of the annual cases are reported. The main goal of this study was to investigate the population structure and genetic ...association of the biting behavior of Nyssorhynchus (also known as Anopheles) darlingi, the major malaria vector in the Amazon region of Brazil, using low-coverage genomic sequencing data.
Samples were collected in the municipality of Mâncio Lima, Acre state, Brazil between 2016 and 2017. Different approaches using genotype imputation and no gene imputation for data treatment and low-coverage sequencing genotyping were performed. After the samples were genotyped, population stratification analysis was performed.
Weak but statistically significant stratification signatures were identified between subpopulations separated by distances of approximately 2-3 km. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) were performed to compare indoor/outdoor biting behavior and blood-seeking at dusk/dawn. A statistically significant association was observed between biting behavior and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers adjacent to the gene associated with cytochrome P450 (CYP) 4H14, which is associated with insecticide resistance. A statistically significant association between blood-seeking periodicity and SNP markers adjacent to genes associated with the circadian cycle was also observed.
The data presented here suggest that low-coverage whole-genome sequencing with adequate processing is a powerful tool to genetically characterize vector populations at a microgeographic scale in malaria transmission areas, as well as for use in GWAS. Female mosquitoes entering houses to take a blood meal may be related to a specific CYP4H14 allele, and female timing of blood-seeking is related to circadian rhythm genes.
PDF
