To mitigate anthropogenic impacts on plant diversity in tropical montane grasslands, one of the most threatened ecosystems in Brazil, it will be essential to develop ex situ conservation strategies ...to preserve wild species. The lack of basic research on the seed storage behaviour of grassland species may, however, limit their use for reintroduction and restoration projects.
We investigated seed storage behaviour at the community level by comparing the effects of cold–low RH (10 °C; 10% RH) and freezing–low RH (20 °C; 10% RH) conditions on seed viability, germination and dormancy of 47 species.
Fresh seeds of 43% of the species showed primary dormancy. More than half of the species showed high seed survival responses (viability >60%) under both storage temperatures. Despite a variety of dormancy responses among the different species, the low RH storage conditions tested released dormancy for most species during 12‐ and 30‐month storage times. Multivariate analysis of the best (freezing–low RH, 30 months) storage condition evidenced the formation of five distinct groups, three with species having high conservation potential in seed banks.
Although further studies are needed to test dormancy‐breaking treatments and improve seed conservation practices, this first approach to assessing seed banking techniques could contribute to demand for locally adapted seeds for ecological restoration projects in tropical montane grasslands.
Seed banking techniques could contribute to demands for locally adapted seeds for ecological restoration projects of species from threatened tropical montane grasslands in Brazil.
Objective
To evaluate the difference between early and delayed removal of indwelling urinary catheter after radical hysterectomy (RH) or radical trachelectomy (RT).
Methods
An ambispective study was ...conducted in early‐stage cervical cancer patients who underwent RH or RT. Delayed indwelling urinary catheter removal occurred on a postoperative day (POD) 7 in the retrospective group (January 2012‐November 2013), and early removal occurred on POD 1 in the prospective group (May 2014‐June 2017). The postvoid residual (PVR) test was performed after indwelling catheter removal in both groups.
Results
Our sample included 47 patients in the delayed group and 48 in the early one. There was no difference in age, body mass index, tumor size, histology, stage, surgical approach, and intraoperative and postoperative complications. Indwelling urinary catheter reinsertion was needed in 16 (34%) patients in the delayed group and 12 (25%) in the early group (P = .37), with no statistical difference between the median PVR volumes −82.5 and 45 mL (P = .06), respectively. Seven (14.9%) patients in the delayed group presented with 30‐day urinary tract infection vs two (4.2%) in the early group (P = .09).
Conclusions
Early indwelling urinary catheter removal, in regard to the rate of catheter reinsertion and PVR volume, does not differ from delayed removal.
Abstract Opinions regarding the treatment of multicystic ameloblastoma are divergent due to its benign nature and the high rate of recurrence if not adequately excised. The aim of the present study ...was to perform a systematic review of the literature for a qualitative and quantitative assessment of studies addressing primary multicystic ameloblastoma with regard to treatment and recurrence. Searches were conducted of the Ovid Medline and Embase databases for articles published up to January 2014. Based on predefined eligibility criteria, studies were selected in a two-stage screening process conducted by two independent reviewers. Quality assessment of the selected articles was performed using the modified criteria of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The meta-analysis was performed using Review Manager (RevMan) software. Statistical heterogeneity was investigated by performing a χ2 test at the 5% significance level ( P < 0.05) and determining I2 . The relative risk of recurrence was 3.15-fold greater (95% confidence interval 1.98–5.00) when conservative treatment was performed on primary multicystic ameloblastoma in comparison to radical treatment ( P < 0.00001 for treatment effect; I2 = 0% and P = 0.48 for heterogeneity). The findings justify the treatment of primary multicystic ameloblastoma with bone resection.
BACKGROUND: Sarcopenia is defined as a progressive and generalized loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength. The specific threshold of muscle weakness that leads to mobility limitations has not been ...identified. OBJECTIVES: To determine the best cutoff point of handgrip strength for identifying mobility limitation and to investigate the factors associated with muscle weakness and mobility limitation in community-dwelling older people. DESIGN: Transversal study. SETTING: Cities of Belo Horizonte, Barueri and Santa Cruz in Brazil. PARTICIPANTS: 1374 community-dwelling older people from the Frailty study in Brazilian older people (FIBRA Study). MEASUREMENTS: Outcomes included muscle weakness determined according to gender-specific handgrip strength cutoff points generated by Receiver Operating Characteristic curves, mobility limitation defined as a gait speed = 0.8 m/s; and a combination of both muscle weakness and mobility limitation. Associated factors included socio-demographic variables, lifestyle, anthropometrics, health conditions, use of health services and disability. RESULTS: The cutoff points of handgrip strength with the best balancing between sensitivity and specificity for mobility limitation were 25.8 kgf for men (sensitivity 69%, specificity 73%) and 17.4 kgf (sensitivity 60%, specificity 66%) for women. Age and disability in instrumental activities of daily living were associated with all outcomes. Women had greater odds of mobility limitation than men. Physical inactivity, body fat, diabetes, depression, sleeping disturbances, number of medications and occurrence of falls remained as significant associated factors in the final model. CONCLUSIONS: Handgrip strength can be a useful tool to identify mobility limitation in clinical practice. Interventions to prevent or minimize impacts of sarcopenia should stimulate physical activity and improvement of body composition in addition to the management of chronic diseases and disabilities.
Tumor recurrence following treatment remains a major clinical challenge in oral cavity cancer. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) have been isolated from human oral cancers and been considered as the driving ...force of tumor recurrence and metastasis. However, it still remains unclear whether targeting CSCs in oral cancer is a clinically relevant strategy to combat cancer recurrence and metastasis. Here, using clinical cancer specimens and patient-derived xenografts, we show that the self-renewal regulator BMI1 is highly expressed in CSCs of oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma. Inhibition of BMI1 decreases oral CSCs' self-renewal and tumor-initiating potential. Treatment of pre-established human oral cancer xenografts with a BMI1 inhibitor resulted in abrogation of tumor progression and reduced the frequency of CSCs in the xenografts. Remarkably, the BMI1 inhibitor has therapeutic effects in cisplatin-resistant tumors and can reduce metastases initiated by circulating CSCs. Mechanistically, BMI1-inhibition leads to oral CSC necroptotic cell death, which underlies the self-renewal impairment after inhibiting BMI1. Our data provide a pre-clinical proof-of-concept that targeting BMI1-related CSC self-renewal is a clinically relevant anti-cancer therapy in human oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma.
Ketamine (KET) is an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) antagonist with rapid and long-lasting antidepressant effects, but how the drug shows its sustained effects is still a matter of controversy. The ...objectives were to evaluate the mechanisms for KET rapid (30 min) and long-lasting (15 and 30 days after) antidepressant effects in mice. A single dose of KET (2, 5, or 10 mg/kg, po) was administered to male Swiss mice and the forced swim test (FST) was performed 30 min, 15, or 30 days later. Imipramine (IMI, 30 mg/kg, ip), a tricyclic antidepressant drug, was used as reference. The mice were euthanized, separated into two time-point groups (D1, first day after KET injection; D30, 30 days later), and brain sections were processed for glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3), histone deacetylase (HDAC), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) immunohistochemical assays. KET (5 and 10 mg/kg) presented rapid and long-lasting antidepressant-like effects. As expected, the immunoreactivities for brain GSK-3 and HDAC decreased compared to control groups in all areas (striatum, DG, CA1, CA3, and mainly pre-frontal cortex, PFC) after KET injection. Increases in BDNF immunostaining were demonstrated in the PFC, DG, CA1, and CA3 areas at D1 and D30 time-points. GFAP immunoreactivity was also increased in the PFC and striatum at both time-points. In conclusion, KET changed brain BDNF and GFAP expressions 30 days after a single administration. Although neuroplasticity could be involved in the observed effects of KET, more studies are needed to explain the mechanisms for the drug's sustained antidepressant-like effects.
Socioeconomic factors have exacerbated the impact of COVID-19 worldwide. Brazil, already marked by significant economic inequalities, is one of the most affected countries, with one of the highest ...mortality rates. Understanding how inequality and income segregation contribute to excess mortality by COVID-19 in Brazilian cities is essential for designing public health policies to mitigate the impact of the disease. This paper aims to fill in this gap by analyzing the effect of income inequality and income segregation on COVID-19 mortality in large urban centers in Brazil. We compiled weekly COVID-19 mortality rates from March 2020 to February 2021 in a longitudinal ecological design, aggregating data at the city level for 152 Brazilian cities. Mortality rates from COVID-19 were compared across weeks, cities and states using mixed linear models. We estimated the associations between COVID-19 mortality rates with income inequality and income segregation using mixed negative binomial models including city and week-level random intercepts. We measured income inequality using the Gini index and income segregation using the dissimilarity index using data from the 2010 Brazilian demographic census. We found that 88.2% of COVID-19 mortality rates variability was between weeks, 8.5% between cities, and 3.3% between states. Higher-income inequality and higher-income segregation values were associated with higher COVID-19 mortality rates before and after accounting for all adjustment factors. In our main adjusted model, rate ratios (RR) per 1 SD increases in income inequality and income segregation were associated with 17% (95% CI 9% to 26%) and 11% (95% CI 4% to 19%) higher mortality. Income inequality and income segregation are long-standing hallmarks of large Brazilian cities. Risk factors related to the socioeconomic context affected the course of the pandemic in the country and contributed to high mortality rates. Pre-existing social vulnerabilities were critical factors in the aggravation of COVID-19, as supported by the observed associations in this study.
Intracellular parasites from the Leishmania genus cause Leishmaniasis, a disease affecting millions of people worldwide. NLRP3 inflammasome is key for disease outcome, but the molecular mechanisms ...upstream of the inflammasome activation are still unclear. Here, we demonstrate that despite the absence of pyroptosis, Gasdermin-D (GSDMD) is active at the early stages of Leishmania infection in macrophages, allowing transient cell permeabilization, potassium efflux, and NLRP3 inflammasome activation. Further, GSDMD is processed into a non-canonical 25 kDa fragment. Gsdmd
macrophages and mice exhibit less NLRP3 inflammasome activation and are highly susceptible to infection by several Leishmania species, confirming the role of GSDMD for inflammasome-mediated host resistance. Active NLRP3 inflammasome and GSDMD are present in skin biopsies of patients, demonstrating activation of this pathway in human leishmaniasis. Altogether, our findings reveal that Leishmania subverts the normal functions of GSDMD, an important molecule to promote inflammasome activation and immunity in Leishmaniasis.
•Central AT1R-mediated ERK1/2 activation is involved in sodium appetite in SHRs.•AT1R-mediated ERK1/2 activation is involved in central ANG II-induced pressor response in SHRs.•Central injections of ...U0126 or PEP7 reduce NaCl intake and pressor responses in SHRs.•Acute inhibition of central ERK1/2 pathway does not change baseline blood pressure in SHRs.
Spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs) have increased daily or induced sodium intake compared to normotensive rats. In normotensive rats, angiotensin II (ANG II)-induced sodium intake is blocked by the inactivation of p42/44 mitogen-activated protein kinase, also known as extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase1/2 (ERK1/2). Here we investigated if inhibition of ERK1/2 pathway centrally would change sodium appetite and intracerebroventricular (icv) ANG II-induced pressor response in SHRs. SHRs (280−330 g, n = 07–14/group) with stainless steel cannulas implanted in the lateral ventricle (LV) were used. Water and 0.3 M NaCl intake was induced by the treatment with the diuretic furosemide + captopril (angiotensin converting enzyme blocker) subcutaneously or 24 h of water deprivation (WD) followed by 2 h of partial rehydration with only water (PR). The blockade of ERK1/2 activation with icv injections of U0126 (MEK1/2 inhibitor, 2 mM; 2 μl) reduced 0.3 M NaCl intake induced by furosemide + captopril (5.0 ± 1.0, vs. vehicle: 7.3 ± 0.7 mL/120 min) or WD-PR (4.6 ± 1.3, vs. vehicle: 10.3 ± 1.4 mL/120 min). PEP7 (selective inhibitor of AT1 receptor-mediated ERK1/2 activation, 2 nmol/2 μL) icv also reduced WD-PR-induced 0.3 M NaCl (2.8 ± 0.7, vs. vehicle: 6.8 ± 1.4 mL/120 min). WD-PR-induced water intake was also reduced by U0126 or PEP7. In addition, U0126 or PEP7 icv reduced the pressor response to icv ANG II. Therefore, the present results suggest that central AT1 receptor-mediated ERK1/2 activation is part of the mechanisms involved in sodium appetite and ANG II-induced pressor response in SHRs.
The aim of the present study was to evaluate the oral resveratrol effects associated with diet and physical training changes on anthropometric and biochemical parameters.
25 individuals aged from 30 ...to 60 years old; with Body Mass Index (BMI) ≥ 30 kg/m2 were included in the study. Following the primary evaluation (anthropometric and clinical), the patients were randomly divided into 2 groups: (1) Placebo: Physical activity program + Diet + Placebo; (2) Resveratrol: Physical activity program + Diet + Resveratrol (RVS) (250 mg/day) for three months. Anthropometric and biochemical parameters were evaluated at baseline and after the treatment period.
The main findings showed that the resveratrol supplementation improved total cholesterol (TC), High-density Lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c), Very-low density Lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDL-c), urea, creatinine and albumin serum levels.
These findings indicate that this polyphenol may be an option to potentiate the beneficial effects induced by dietary and physical activity programs in the Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) treatment.
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