The techniques used for diagnosis of canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL) in Brazil ELISA and IFAT have been extensively questioned because of the accuracy of these tests. A recent change in the ...diagnosis protocol excluded IFAT and included the Dual-Path Platform (DPP). We evaluated the prevalence and incidence rates of Leishmania spp. before and after the change in the protocol. In addition, based on our results, we propose a new alternative that is less expensive for the screening and confirmation of CVL. Plasma samples were obtained from a serobank from dogs evaluated in a cross-sectional study (1,226 dogs) and in a cohort study of susceptible animals (n = 447), followed for 26 months. Serology testing was performed using ELISA, IFAT, and DPP. The incidence and prevalence of CVL were determined by using the protocol of the Visceral Leishmaniasis Control and Surveillance Program until 2012 (ELISA and IFAT using filter paper) and the protocol used after 2012 (DPP and ELISA using plasma). The prevalence was 6.2% and the incidence was 2.8 per 1,000 dog-months for the protocol used until 2012. For the new diagnosis protocol for CVL resulted in an incidence of 5.4 per 1,000 dog-months and a prevalence of 8.1%. Our results showed that the prevalence and incidence of infection were far greater than suggested by the previously used protocol and that the magnitude of infection in endemic areas has been underestimated. As tests are performed sequentially and euthanasia of dogs is carried out when the serological results are positive in both tests, the sequence does not affect the number of animals to be eliminated by the Control Program. Then we suggest to municipalities with a large demand of exams to use ELISA for screening and DPP for confirmation, since this allows easier performance and reduced cost.
Aims
This study aims to demonstrate the potential of the lactic acid bacteria (LAB) Pediococcus pentosaceus LBM18 against the mycotoxin‐producing Alternaria alternata TEF‐1A and highlight its ...application as an effective grain silage inoculant to control mycotoxin contamination.
Methods and Results
The antifungal properties of Ped. pentosaceus lyophilized (PPL) were assessed by evaluating its effect on A. alternata TEF‐1A grown in a corn silage‐based medium, which included morphological changes by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) observations, growth rate, conidia production assays, and inhibition of Tenuazonic acid (TeA) production by high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC–MS/MS) analyses. Furthermore, TeA biosynthesis was monitored for changes at the molecular level by PKS gene expression. The growth and sporulation processes of A. alternata TEF‐1A were affected by Ped. pentosaceus LBM18 in a concentration‐dependent manner. Moreover, a significant inhibition of TeA production (74.3%) and the transcription level of the PKS gene (42.9%) was observed.
Conclusions
Ped. pentosaceus is one of the promising LAB to be applied as an inoculant for corn silage preservation, aiming to inhibit mycotoxigenic fungi growth and their mycotoxin production.
Significance and impact of the study
Ped. pentosaceus could be used as an inoculant to reduce fungal and mycotoxins contamination in grain silage production.
BACKGROUND:To date, there are no comprehensive data on pediatric COVID-19 from Latin America. This study aims to assess COVID-19 and Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome (MIS-C) in Latin American ...children, to appropriately plan and allocate resources to face the pandemic on a local and international level.
METHODS:Ambispective multicenter cohort study from 5 Latin American countries. Children 18 years of age or younger with microbiologically confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection or fulfilling MIS-C definition were included.
FINDINGS:Four hundred nine children were included, with a median age of 3.0 years (interquartile range 0.6–9.0). Of these, 95 (23.2%) were diagnosed with MIS-C. One hundred ninety-one (46.7%) children were admitted to hospital and 52 (12.7%) required admission to a pediatric intensive care unit. Ninety-two (22.5%) patients required oxygen support8 (2%) were started on continuous positive airway pressure and 29 (7%) on mechanical ventilation. Thirty-five (8.5%) patients required inotropic support. The following factors were associated with pediatric intensive care unit admissionpreexisting medical condition (P < 0.0001), immunodeficiency (P = 0.01), lower respiratory tract infection (P < 0.0001), gastrointestinal symptoms (P = 0.006), radiologic changes suggestive of pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome (P < 0.0001) and low socioeconomic conditions (P = 0.009).
CONCLUSIONS:This study shows a generally more severe form of COVID-19 and a high number of MIS-C in Latin American children, compared with studies from China, Europe and North America, and support current evidence of a more severe disease in Latin/Hispanic children or in people of lower socioeconomic level. The findings highlight an urgent need for more data on COVID-19 in Latin America.
Low-back pain is one of the most common health conditions worldwide. It is defined as pain below the costal margin and above the inferior gluteal folds. Current guidelines recommend management of ...chronic health (e.g., low back pain) conditions in older people at primary health care settings using active strategies (e.g., exercise). In non-specific low back pain, high quality evidence supports active strategies for general population. However, the management of non-specific low back pain in the older people has been overlooked and evidence is limited to a small number of low powered randomized controlled trials with high risk of bias.
This is a prospectively registered, open, two-arm randomised controlled trial comparing the group-based exercise and waiting list in pain intensity (11-item Pain Numerical Rating Scale) and disability (Roland Morris questionnaire) of older people (i.e., 60 years old or over) with chronic non-specific low back pain. One hundred and twenty patients will be recruited from Diamantina, Brazil. Follow-ups will be conducted in post-treatment (8 week) and 6- and 12-months post-randomisation.
Our hypothesis is that group-based exercise will be better than waiting list in reducing pain intensity and disability in older people with chronic non-specific low back pain.
The practice of individualized exercise has been studied for the management of chronic non-specific low back pain in older people. However, the group exercise, even showing high quality evidence for the improvement of several important outcomes in this population, has been ignored until now. Thus, the results of this study have the potential to indicate a viable and accessible strategy for managing chronic non-specific low back pain in the older people.
The study was prospectively registered at www.ensaiosclinicos.gov.br (RBR-9j5pqs). Date-11/18/2020.
The objective of this systematic review was to evaluate the association between ankle dorsiflexion (ADF) and dynamic knee valgus (DKV).
Electronic searches were conducted in MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL ...and SPORTDiscus. A modified Downs and Black checklist was used for quality assessment and meta-analysis was performed to compare standardised mean differences (SMD) of ADF.
Seventeen studies met the inclusion criteria. Meta-analysis showed that reduced ADF is associated with participants presenting with DKV compared to controls (SMD -0.65, 95% CI -0.88 to -0.41). Subgroup analysis showed consistent results regarding different forms of ADF measurement; restriction in ADF measured in weight-bearing position (SMD -1.25, 95% CI -2.24 to -0.25), non-weight-bearing with knee flexed (SMD -0.56, 95% CI -0.97 to -0.16) or non-weight-bearing with knee extended (SMD -0.54, 95% CI -0.80 to -0.28) was significantly associated with DKV.
The meta-analysis results provide evidence that reduced ADF is correlated with DKV. The assessment of ADF in the clinical setting is important, as it may be related to harmful movement patterns of the lower limbs.
•This systematic review showed that limited ADF is associated with DKV.•The ADF is associated with DKV regardless whether it is measured in a weight bearing or non-weight bearing position.•Clinicians must address ADF and DKV in their preventive programs as these may be related to increased risk of injury.
Variability of the HIV reverse transcriptase (RT) and protease (PR) genes has been used as indicators of drug resistance and as a mean to evaluate phylogenetic relationships among circulating virus. ...However, these studies have been carried in HIV mono-infected populations. The goal of this study was to evaluate, for the first time, the HIV PR and RT sequences from HIV/HBV and HIV/HCV co-infected patients. HIV PR and RT genes were amplificated and sequenced to resistance analysis. The bioinformatics analysis was performed to infer about sequences clustering and molecular evolution. The results showed that the most frequent amino acid substitutions in RT were L214F (67.6%), I135T (55.9%), and in PR was V15I (41.2%). The molecular clock analysis showed that the HIV circulating in co-infected patients were separated in two clusters in the years 1999-2000. Some patients included as HIV mono-infected according patients' medical records and inside the co-infected cluster were, in fact, co-infected by PCR analysis. Analysis of the decision trees showed susceptibility to lamivudine and emtricitabine were important attribute to characterize co-infected patients. In conclusion, the results obtained in this study suggest, for the first time, that HIV RT and PR genes variability could be a genetic biomarker to coinfection.
Abstract
The risk of contamination and dissemination by SARS-CoV-2 has a strong link with nasal, oral and pharyngeal cavities. Recently, our research group observed the promising performance of an ...anionic phthalocyanine derivative (APD) used in a mouthwash protocol without photoexcitation; this protocol improved the general clinical condition of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2. The present two-arm study evaluated in vitro the antiviral activity and cytotoxicity of APD. Additionally, a triple-blind randomized controlled trial was conducted with 41 hospitalized patients who tested positive for COVID-19. All the included patients received World Health Organization standard care hospital treatment (non-intensive care) plus active mouthwash (experimental group AM/n = 20) or nonactive mouthwash (control group NAM/n = 21). The adjunct mouthwash intervention protocol used in both groups consisted one-minute gargling/rinsing / 5 times/day until hospital discharge. Groups were compared considering age, number of comorbidities, duration of symptoms prior admission and length of hospital stay (LOS). The associations between group and sex, age range, presence of comorbidities, admission to Intensive care unit (ICU) and death were also evaluated. The in vitro evaluation demonstrated that APD compound was highly effective for reduction of SARS-CoV-2 viral load in the 1.0 mg/mL (99.96%) to 0.125 mg/mL (92.65%) range without causing cytotoxicity. Regarding the clinical trial, the median LOS of the AM group was significantly shortened (4 days) compared with that of the NAM group (7 days) (p = 0.0314). Additionally, gargling/rinsing with APD was very helpful in reducing the severity of symptoms (no ICU care was needed) compared to not gargling/rinsing with APD (28.6% of the patients in the NAM group needed ICU care, and 50% of this ICU subgroup passed way, p = 0.0207). This study indicated that the mechanical action of the protocol involving mouthwash containing a compound with antiviral effects against SARS-CoV-2 may reduce the symptoms of the patients and the spread of infection. The use of APD in a mouthwash as an adjuvant the hospital COVID-19 treatment presented no contraindication and reduced the hospital stay period.
Trial registration:
The clinical study was registered at REBEC—Brazilian Clinical Trial Register (RBR-58ftdj).
The present study offers detailed insights into the antifungal and anti-mycotoxigenic potential of a biofilm forming lactic acid bacterium (Pediococcus pentosaceus) against one atoxigenic ...(Aspergillus flavus) and two toxigenic (Aspergillus nomius and Fusarium verticillioides) fungal strains. The antifungal effect of P. pentosaceus LBM18 strain was initially investigated through comparative analysis of fungi physiology by macroscopic visual evaluations and scanning electron microscopy examinations. The effects over fungal growth rate and asexual sporulation were additionally accessed. Furthermore, analytical evaluations of mycotoxin production were carried out by HPLC-MS/MS to provide insights on the bacterial anti-mycotoxigenic activity over fungal production of the aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 and G2 as well as fumonisins B1 and B2. Finally, reverse transcription quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) analysis was employed at the most effective bacterial inoculant concentration to evaluate, at the molecular level, the down-regulation of genes aflR, aflQ and aflD, related to the biosynthesis of aflatoxins by the strain of Aspergillus nomius. The effects over mycotoxin contamination were thought to be result of a combination of several biotic and abiotic factors, such as interaction between living beings and physical-chemical aspects of the environment, respectively. Several possible mechanisms of action were addressed along with potentially deleterious effects ascribing from P. pentosaceus misuse as biopesticide, emphasizing the importance of evaluating lactic acid bacteria safety in new applications, concentrations, and exposure scenarios.
•Pediococcus pentosaceus presents potentially deleterious effects on mycotoxins•Promising use of Pediococcus pentosaceus as a biopesticide•Antifungal effect of Pediococcus pentosaceus•Morphological changes of atoxigenic and toxigenic fungi by Pediococcus pentosaceus
Most of the bioinformatics tools for enzyme annotation focus on enzymatic function assignments. Sequence similarity to well‐characterized enzymes is often used for functional annotation and to assign ...metabolic pathways. However, these approaches are not feasible for all sequences leading to inaccurate annotations or lack of metabolic pathway information. Here we present the mApLe (metabolic pathway predictor of plant enzymes), a high‐performance machine learning‐based tool with models to label the metabolic pathway of enzymes rather than specifying enzymes’ reactions. The mApLe uses molecular descriptors of the enzyme sequences to perform predictions without considering sequence similarities with reference sequences. Hence, mApLe can classify a diversity of enzymes, even the ones without any homolog or with incomplete EC numbers. This tool can be used to improve the quality of genomic annotation of plants or to narrow down the number of candidate genes for metabolic engineering researches. The mApLe tool is available online, and the GUI can be locally installed.
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