Dioclea violacea seed mannose-binding lectin (DvL) has attracted considerable attention because of its interesting biological activities, including antitumor, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory ...activities. This study evaluated the cytotoxic effect of DvL on tumor and normal cells using the mitochondrial activity reduction (MTT) assay, the carcinogenic and anti-carcinogenic activity by the epithelial tumor test (ETT) in Drosophila melanogaster, and the anti-angiogenic effect by the chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay. Data demonstrated that DvL promoted strong selective cytotoxicity against tumor cell lines, especially A549 and S180 cells, whereas normal cell lines were weakly affected. Furthermore, DvL did not promote carcinogenesis in D. melanogaster at any concentration tested, but modulated DXR-induced carcinogenesis at the highest concentrations tested. In the CAM and immunohistochemical assays, DvL inhibited sarcoma 180-induced angiogenesis and promoted the reduction of VEGF and TGF-β levels at all concentrations tested. Therefore, our results demonstrated that DvL is a potent anticancer, anti-angiogenic, and selective cytotoxic agent for tumor cells, suggesting its potential application as a prototype molecule for the development of new drugs with chemoprotective and/or antitumor effects.
•Dioclea violacea lectin (DvL) promoted high selective cytotoxicity against A549 and S180 tumor cells.•DvL associated with α-d-mannose partially reversed the inhibitory effect of the lectin on A549 cell and S180 cell.•DvL modulated doxorubicin-induced tumorigenesis in Drosophila melanogaster.•DvL inhibits sarcoma 180-tumor angiogenesis and reduced VEGF and TGF-β expression in CAM assay.
A child with Down syndrome, like any other child, may benefit from interacting with memory stimuli, but needs additional support and help. The use of special teaching methods, which add playfulness ...and use of the computer, can enhance the memory processes of these children. In this work, we present the virtual environment "Nossa Vida (Our Life)", which was developed to assist children with Down syndrome to memorize action sequences of their daily routine. A daily routine memorization test (DRMT), consisting of a weekly reminder of typical daily routines completed by the children and parents, was performed before (pre-test) and after (post-test) the intervention. The work involved a multidisciplinary team and assessed the effectiveness of the test performed by 30 children with Down syndrome from APAE, a special education school for children with intellectual disabilities in São Paulo, Brazil. The children were separated into two groups (Experimental - GE and Control - GC) with homogeneity and normality of the data. Two hypotheses were tested in this study: H0 and H1, where: H0 = There is no statistical difference between memorizing daily tasks between individuals with Down syndrome who used our ludic virtual environment and those who used the conventional memory method.H1 = There is a difference between the group of subjects with Down Syndrome who used our virtual game environment and the group that did not use it in relation to memorizing the daily task. This produces t = -14.98 and p <0.0001, with H1 being accepted. The results showed that the EG presented significance in relation to the CG and the evolution mean of the children in the EG was 81.82% higher. According to experts (psychologist and pedagogue) from APAE and parents, the playful activities implemented in this virtual environment have been of great interest to children, who had fun, tested hypotheses and questioned them about the sequences of actions performed in their routine daily.
Background
Telomeres are specialized DNA structures that are critical to maintain cell homeostasis and to avoid genomic instability. Epidemiological studies have examined the association between ...leukocyte telomere length (LTL) and risk of cancers, but the findings remain conflicting.
Methods
Mean LTL was measured by quantitative PCR in 97 patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) and 262 healthy controls. The association between LTL and patients' clinical status, such as smoke, alcoholism, and overall survival, were also evaluated.
Results
The age‐adjusted LTL was significantly shorter in patients with HNC in comparison to healthy controls (P = .0003). Patients with shortest LTL had an increased risk to develop HNC (P < 0.0001). No significant correlation was observed between LTL and patients' clinical features and personal habits.
Conclusions
Our data support the hypothesis that LTL is a risk factor for HNC. The use of LTL as a biomarker can help physicians to identify high‐risk individuals for HNC.
ABSTRACT Objective: To understand the social representations of people with tuberculosis about the disease and its implications for following treatment. Method: A descriptive, qualitative study based ...on the Theory of Social Representations. It was conducted in a municipal health unit in the city of Belém. The participants were people diagnosed with tuberculosis and undergoing directly observed treatment, with the sample size defined by the data saturation technique. Data collection was done through semi-structured interviews. For data analysis it was used thematic content analysis. Results: The records converged into three categories: Representations of tuberculosis and its impacts on the diagnosis; The faces of treatment: challenges facing follow-up and hope; and Constructions of living with the disease in family and society. Final considerations: Living with the disease transforms everyday life and relationships. Discrimination and prejudice denote the need to reconfigure such representations for patients to be embraced.
RESUMO Objetivo: Compreender as representações sociais de pessoas com tuberculose sobre a doença e implicações no tratamento. Método: Estudo descritivo, de abordagem qualitativa, com base na Teoria das Representações Sociais. Realizado em uma unidade municipal de saúde no município de Belém. Os participantes foram pessoas com diagnóstico de tuberculose e em tratamento diretamente observado, cujo quantitativo foi definido pela técnica da saturação de dados. A coleta de dados foi realizada por meio de entrevista semiestruturada. Para análise dos dados utilizou-se a análise temática de conteúdo. Resultados: Os registros convergiram em três categorias: Representações da tuberculose e seus impactos frente ao diagnóstico; as faces do tratamento: desafios frente ao seguimento e esperança; e Construções do conviver com a doença em família e sociedade. Considerações finais: O conviver com a doença transforma o cotidiano e as relações. A discriminação e preconceito denotam a necessidade de reconfigurar tais representações, para o doente ser acolhido.
RESUMEN Objetivo: Comprender las representaciones sociales de personas con tuberculosis sobre la enfermedad y sus implicaciones para el seguimiento del tratamiento. Método: Estudio descriptivo, con abordaje cualitativo, basado en la Teoría de las Representaciones Sociales. Se llevó a cabo en una unidad de salud municipal de la ciudad de Belém. Los participantes fueron personas con diagnóstico de tuberculosis y en tratamiento bajo observación directa, cuyo cuantitativo fue definido por la técnica de saturación de datos. La recolección de datos se realizó a través de una entrevista semiestructurada. Para analizar dos datos, utilice un análisis de contenido temático. Resultados: Los registros convergieron en tres categorías: Representaciones de la tuberculosis y sus impactos en el diagnóstico; Como enfrenta el tratamiento: desafíos que enfrenta el seguimiento y la esperanza; y Construcciones de convivencia con la enfermedad en familia y sociedad. Consideraciones finales: O vivir con una enfermedad transforma la vida cotidiana y las relaciones. La discriminación y el prejuicio denotan la necesidad de reconfigurar estas representaciones, para que el docente sea aceptado.
The Semi-Arid region of Brazil (SAB) has been periodically affected by moderate to extreme droughts, jeopardizing livelihoods and severely impacting the life standards of millions of family farmers. ...In the early 1990s the Human Coexistence with Semi-Aridity (HCSA) emerged as a development approach. The debate on HCSA is limited to Brazilian literature but as a technological and a bottom-up governance experience, researches on the topic could add some insights to international debate on living with drought. The present paper adopts an historical perspective on HCSA before discussing the main HCSA’s rainwater-harvesting methods found in two case studies in the SAB as a local appropriate and advanced technological package for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Qualitative analysis of 32 semi-structured interviews with key local stakeholders, 29 unstructured interviews with family farmers, and surveys in 499 family farms are used. The results show that regardless the highly adaptive potential, the technologies are adopted in differ rates among them and in between case studies chosen, influenced by non-technological factors and interacting the broader public policies context. Scaling up the HCSA’s technologies in the rural SAB is a development path towards the SDGs.
Chagas' disease is a condition caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi that affects millions of people, mainly in Latin America where it is considered endemic. The chemotherapy for Chagas disease ...remains a problem; the standard treatment currently relies on a single drug, benznidazole, which unfortunately induces several side effects and it is not successful in the cure of most of the chronic patients. In order to improve the drug armamentarium against Chagas' disease, in the present study we describe the synthesis of the compound 3-chloro-7-methoxy-2-(methylsulfonyl) quinoxaline (quinoxaline 4) and its activity, alone or in combination with benznidazole, against Trypanosoma cruzi in vitro.
Quinoxaline 4 was found to be strongly active against Trypanosoma cruzi Y strain and more effective against the proliferative forms. The cytotoxicity against LLCMK2 cells provided selective indices above one for all of the parasite forms. The drug induced very low hemolysis, but its anti-protozoan activity was partially inhibited when mouse blood was added in the experiment against trypomastigotes, an effect that was specifically related to blood cells. A synergistic effect between quinoxaline 4 and benznidazole was observed against epimastigotes and trypomastigotes, accompanied by an antagonistic interaction against LLCMK2 cells. Quinoxaline 4 induced several ultrastructural alterations, including formations of vesicular bodies, profiles of reticulum endoplasmic surrounding organelles and disorganization of Golgi complex. These alterations were also companied by cell volume reduction and maintenance of cell membrane integrity of treated-parasites.
Our results demonstrated that quinoxaline 4, alone or in combination with benznidazole, has promising effects against all the main forms of T. cruzi. The compound at low concentrations induced several ultrastructural alterations and led the parasite to an autophagic-like cell death. Taken together these results may support the further development of a combination therapy as an alternative more effective in Chagas' disease treatment.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, in its opinion of the Committee on Midwifery Practice, points out that planned home birth is a woman's and family's right to experience, but ...also to choose and be informed about, their baby's place of birth. The aim of this study was to understand obstetric nurses' perceptions of planned home childbirth care within the framework of the Brazilian obstetric model.
A qualitative study, with Snowball Sampling recruitment, totaling 20 obstetric nurses through semi-structured interviews between September 2022 and January 2023, remotely, using the Google Meet application and the recording feature. After the data had been collected, the material was transcribed in full and subjected to content analysis in the thematic modality with the support of ATLAS.ti 8.0 software.
Obstetric care at home emerged as a counterpoint to hospital care and the biomedical model, providing care at home based on scientific evidence and humanization, bringing qualified information as a facilitator of access and financial costs as an obstacle to effective home birth.
Understanding obstetric nurses' perceptions of planned home birth care in the context of the Brazilian obstetric model shows the need for progress as a public policy and for strategies to ensure quality and regulation.
Resumo Os objetivos deste artigo são identificar e mapear as ações de promoção, proteção e apoio à amamentação que são realizadas dentro do sistema prisional. Revisão de escopo cujas buscas foram ...realizadas nas bases de dados Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde, Biblioteca Virtual em Saúde, Medical Literature, Analysis, and Retrieval System Online, via PubMed, Scientific Electronic Library Online e no Portal de Periódicos da Capes, entre outros. Obtiveram-se 465 estudos, destes, removeram-se 177 duplicatas e 175 por exclusão de título, 56 foram eliminados pelo resumo e 8 não foram encontrados. Após seleção e leitura pelo time de revisão, retiraram-se 16 artigos, constituindo-se então 10 artigos com resultados relevantes para promoção à amamentação no espaço prisional, 13 com resultados importantes para proteção à amamentação no espaço prisional e 10 com potenciais achados para apoio à amamentação no espaço prisional. É necessário fomentar a amamentação no cárcere com ações de promoção, proteção e apoio, pois muitas crianças ainda são impedidas de ser amamentadas logo após o nascimento, o que caracteriza desigualdade em relação à população em liberdade.
Abstract This article aims to identify and map the actions to promote, protect and support breastfeeding that are carried out within the prison system. Scope review, whose searches were performed in the Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature and Nursing databases, Virtual Health Library, Medical Literature, Analysis, and Retrieval System Online, via PubMed, Scientific Electronic Library Online and the Capes Periodicals Portal. A total of 465 studies were obtained, 177 duplicates and 175 by title exclusion were removed, 56 articles were eliminated by abstract, and eight articles were not found. After selection and reading by the review team, 16 articles were removed, thus constituting ten articles with relevant results for breastfeeding promotion in prison, 13 articles with important results for breastfeeding protection in prison, and ten articles with potential findings for breastfeeding support in prison. It is necessary to promote breastfeeding in prison with promotion, protection and support actions, because many children are still prevented from being breastfed soon after birth, which characterizes inequality in relation to the population in freedom.
Objetivo: compreender as representações sociais de pessoas com problemas de saúde mental decorrentes do uso de álcool e outras drogas que frequentam os Narcóticos Anônimos. Método: trata-se de um ...estudo descritivo-exploratório, com enfoque qualitativo, empregando as Representações Sociais para a temática da pesquisa, em que foram implementadas as etapas do Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research. Resultados: as informações obtidas foram transformadas em três unidades temáticas: as Representações Sociais de pessoas com problemas de saúde mental decorrentes do uso de álcool e outras drogas; Representações Sociais de álcool e outras drogas: doença da adicção; frequentar Narcóticos Anônimos significa liberdade, uma autoavaliação e aceitação. Considerações finais: a compreensão das representações sociais e suas implicações na obtenção da abstinência, possibilita atuar mediante às especificidades de cada sujeito, partindo de uma abordagem integral considerando-se as percepções acerca de sua condição, vivências e contexto no qual está inserido.
Objetivo: analisar as representações sociais dos cuidadores familiares sobre os cuidados paliativos em pacientes com doença grave, progressiva e que ameaça a continuidade de sua vida. Método: o ...estudo foi do tipo descritivo, utilizando abordagem qualitativa. Para a interpretação dos resultados foi empregado como aporte teórico a Teoria das Representações Sociais, criada por Serge Moscovici e Denise Jodelet. A pesquisa foi realizada com 30 cuidadores familiares de pacientes com câncer em estágio final de vida. A coleta foi feita por meio da entrevista semiestruturada e a técnica de análise temática. Resultados: após a análise dos dados, emergiram três categorias: o senso comum e o câncer; os cuidados paliativos, o doente e os cuidadores e os cuidadores e sua representação social. Considerações finais: as representações sociais do cuidador familiar possibilitaram identificar a verdadeira extensão das questões diárias no cotidiano profissional.
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