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Contemporary Art Paradox(es): dialogues between MAC USP’s and Paço das Artes’s Collections
No full textTexto em conjunto com Priscila Arantes, para o folder de apresentação da exposição Paradoxo(s) da arte contemporânea: diálogos entre os acervos do MAC USP e do Paço das Artes, realizada no MAC USP de 26 de maio a 5 de agosto de 2018, com curadoria de Ana Magalhães (Divisão de Pesquisa - Teoria e Crítica MAC USP) e Priscila Arantes (Diretora artística do Paço das Artes)
A mathematical model relates intracellular TLR4 oscillations to sepsis progression
No full textAbstract\ud
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Objective\ud
Oscillations of physiological parameters describe many biological processes and their modulation is determinant for various pathologies. In sepsis, toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) is a key sensor for signaling the presence of Gram-negative bacteria. Its intracellular trafficking rates shift the equilibrium between the pro- and anti-inflammatory downstream signaling cascades, leading to either the physiological resolution of the bacterial stimulation or to sepsis. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of TLR4 increased expression and intracellular trafficking on the course and outcome of sepsis.\ud
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Results\ud
Using a set of three differential equations, we defined the TLR4 fluxes between relevant cell organelles. We obtained three different regions in the phase space: (1) a limit-cycle describing unstimulated physiological oscillations, (2) a fixed-point attractor resulting from moderate LPS stimulation that is resolved and (3) a double-attractor resulting from sustained LPS stimulation that leads to sepsis. We used this model to describe available hospital data of sepsis patients and we correctly characterize the clinical outcome of these patients.This study was supported by CNPq (400662/2014-0 for RCS, 309041/2012-0 for MMDC), FAPESP (11/51778-6 for MMDC)
Impact of alcohol disorder and the use of illicit drugs on tuberculosis treatment outcomes: a retrospective cohort study
No full textAbstract
Background
Alcohol and illicit drugs are associated with the discontinuation of tuberculosis (TB) treatment and can compromise the immune system. We estimated the impact of alcohol disorder and the use of illicit drug on TB treatment outcomes, considering the interaction of both substances in patients from São Paulo state, Brazil.
Methods
This is a retrospective cohort of patients diagnosed with TB from 2011 to 2015. We estimated the relative risk (RR) of an unsuccessful outcome associated with alcohol disorder, use of illicit drugs and their interaction using a multiple regression model. We used the adjusted RR to estimate the population attributable fraction.
Results
Out of a total 77,212 TB patients, 22.2% used at least one of the substances of interest during treatment, while 17% presented an unsuccessful outcome of TB treatment. Compared with no exposure to any substance, alcohol disorder alone (adjusted RR: 1.48; 95% CI: 1.4–1.56), drug use alone (adjusted RR: 2.1; 95% CI: 1.98–2.21) and exposure to both substances (adjusted RR: 2.09; 95% CI: 1.97–2.21) were all associated with a higher risk of an unsuccessful outcome. The adjusted RR of an unsuccessful outcome for people exposed to both substances was 32.7% (95% CI: 26.8–38.2%) and 15.8% (95% CI: 11.5–20.1%) lower than expected on the multiplicative and additive scales respectively. Among all TB patients, 15.8% (95% CI: 15–16.5%) of unsuccessful outcomes was attributable to those exposures.
Conclusions
We identified a negative interaction between alcohol disorder and the use of illicit drugs on TB treatment outcomes. Despite this, interventions to reduce substance use in TB patients could have a meaningful contribution to preventing unsuccessful treatment outcomes
Actions of primary health care professionals to reduce maternal mortality in the Brazilian Northeast
No full textAbstract\ud
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Background\ud
Maternal mortality is a global public health problem. Statistics show that in 2013, 289,000 women died from complications during pregnancy, childbirth or the postpartum period worldwide. Between 2010 and 2015, there were 10,075 maternal deaths in Brazil, 3,522of which occurred in the Northeast region. The aim of this study was to investigate the actions taken by primary health care (PHC) professionals to reduce maternal mortality.\ud
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Method\ud
This was a cross-sectional, descriptive field study with a qualitative approach. The sample comprised 81 graduate-level professionals working in PHC in the state of Ceará, Brazil. Data were collected from January to March 2016 using structured interviews, which were digitally audio recorded and transcribed. The results were organized using collective subject discourse and analyzed according with the relevant literature.\ud
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Results\ud
The PHC professionals took both individual and joint measures to reduce maternal mortality. These activities included home visits, health education, active searches, prenatal care consultations, referrals to specialized care and outreach. The challenges that must be overcome to prevent maternal mortality include poor care and ineffective public policies that are associated with a lack of managerial support.\ud
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Conclusion\ud
Interaction among professionals in the health care network is critical to the development of cross-sectoral projects that improve the quality of women’s health care. Prenatal care is a key factor in reducing maternal death and enables the identification and classification of the risks to which pregnant women may be exposed and the implementation of early actions that can ensure a safe and uncomplicated delivery. However, all of these actions require effective public policies and managerial support
Effects of transcranial LED therapy on the cognitive rehabilitation for diffuse axonal injury due to severe acute traumatic brain injury: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial
No full textAbstract\ud
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Background\ud
Photobiomodulation describes the use of red or near-infrared light to stimulate or regenerate tissue. It was discovered that near-infrared wavelengths (800–900 nm) and red (600 nm) light-emitting diodes (LED) are able to penetrate through the scalp and skull and have the potential to improve the subnormal cellular activity of compromised brain tissue. Different experimental and clinical studies were performed to test LED therapy for traumatic brain injury (TBI) with promising results. One of the proposals of this present study is to develop different approaches to maximize the positive effects of this therapy and improve the quality of life of TBI patients.\ud
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Methods/design\ud
This is a double-blinded, randomized, controlled trial of patients with diffuse axonal injury (DAI) due to a severe TBI in an acute stage (less than 8 h). Thirty two patients will be randomized to active coil helmet and inactive coil (sham) groups in a 1:1 ratio. The protocol includes 18 sessions of transcranial LED stimulation (627 nm, 70 mW/cm2, 10 J/cm2) at four points of the frontal and parietal regions for 30 s each, totaling 120 s, three times per week for 6 weeks, lasting 30 min. Patients will be evaluated with the Glasgow Outcome Scale Extended (GOSE) before stimulation and 1, 3, and 6 months after the first stimulation. The study hypotheses are as follows: (1) transcranial LED therapy (TCLT) will improve the cognitive function of DAI patients and (2) TCLT will promote beneficial hemodynamic changes in cerebral circulation.\ud
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Discussion\ud
This study evaluates early and delayed effects of TCLT on the cognitive rehabilitation for DAI following severe acute TBI. There is a paucity of studies regarding the use of this therapy for cognitive improvement in TBI. There are some experimental studies and case series presenting interesting results for TBI cognitive improvement but no clinical trials.\ud
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Trial registration\ud
ClinicalTrials.gov, \ud
NCT03281759\ud
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. Registered on 13 September 2017
Genome-wide characterization of genetic variants and putative regions under selection in meat and egg-type chicken lines
No full textAbstract\ud
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Background\ud
Meat and egg-type chickens have been selected for several generations for different traits. Artificial and natural selection for different phenotypes can change frequency of genetic variants, leaving particular genomic footprints throghtout the genome. Thus, the aims of this study were to sequence 28 chickens from two Brazilian lines (meat and white egg-type) and use this information to characterize genome-wide genetic variations, identify putative regions under selection using Fst method, and find putative pathways under selection.\ud
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Results\ud
A total of 13.93 million SNPs and 1.36 million INDELs were identified, with more variants detected from the broiler (meat-type) line. Although most were located in non-coding regions, we identified 7255 intolerant non-synonymous SNPs, 512 stopgain/loss SNPs, 1381 frameshift and 1094 non-frameshift INDELs that may alter protein functions. Genes harboring intolerant non-synonymous SNPs affected metabolic pathways related mainly to reproduction and endocrine systems in the white-egg layer line, and lipid metabolism and metabolic diseases in the broiler line. Fst analysis in sliding windows, using SNPs and INDELs separately, identified over 300 putative regions of selection overlapping with more than 250 genes. For the first time in chicken, INDEL variants were considered for selection signature analysis, showing high level of correlation in results between SNP and INDEL data. The putative regions of selection signatures revealed interesting candidate genes and pathways related to important phenotypic traits in chicken, such as lipid metabolism, growth, reproduction, and cardiac development.\ud
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Conclusions\ud
In this study, Fst method was applied to identify high confidence putative regions under selection, providing novel insights into selection footprints that can help elucidate the functional mechanisms underlying different phenotypic traits relevant to meat and egg-type chicken lines. In addition, we generated a large catalog of line-specific and common genetic variants from a Brazilian broiler and a white egg layer line that can be used for genomic studies involving association analysis with phenotypes of economic interest to the poultry industry.CB received a fellowship from the program Science Without Borders - National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq, grant 370620/2013–5). GCMM and TFG received fellowships from São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP, grants 14/21380–9 and 15/00616–7). LLC is recipient of productivity fellowship from CNPq. This project was funded by São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) - thematic project (2014/08704–0)
A synthetic medium to simulate sugarcane molasses
No full textAbstract\ud
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Background\ud
Developing novel microbial cell factories requires careful testing of candidates under industrially relevant conditions. However, this frequently occurs late during the strain development process. The availability of laboratory media that simulate industrial-like conditions might improve cell factory development, as they allow for strain construction and testing in the laboratory under more relevant conditions. While sugarcane molasses is one of the most important substrates for the production of biofuels and other bioprocess-based commodities, there are no defined media that faithfully simulate it. In this study, we tested the performance of a new synthetic medium simulating sugarcane molasses.\ud
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Results\ud
Laboratory scale simulations of the Brazilian ethanol production process, using both sugarcane molasses and our synthetic molasses (SM), demonstrated good reproducibility of the fermentation performance, using yeast strains, PE-2 and Ethanol Red™. After 4 cycles of fermentation, the final ethanol yield (gp g\ud
s\ud
−1\ud
) values for the SM ranged from 0.43 ± 0.01 to 0.44 ± 0.01 and from 0.40 ± 0.01 to 0.46 ± 0.01 for the molasses-based fermentations. The other fermentation parameters (i.e., biomass production, yeast viability, and glycerol and acetic acid yield) were also within similar value ranges for all the fermentations. Sequential pairwise competition experiments, comparing industrial and laboratory yeast strains, demonstrated the impact of the media on strain fitness. After two sequential cocultivations, the relative abundance of the laboratory yeast strain was 5-fold lower in the SM compared to the yeast extract-peptone-dextrose medium, highlighting the importance of the media composition on strain fitness.\ud
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Conclusions\ud
Simulating industrial conditions at laboratory scale is a key part of the efficient development of novel microbial cell factories. In this study, we have developed a synthetic medium that simulated industrial sugarcane molasses media. We found good agreement between the synthetic medium and the industrial media in terms of the physiological parameters of the industrial-like fermentations.The authors would like to acknowledge funding from the Novo Nordisk Foundation under the NNF Grant Number: NNF10CC1016517
Moesin expression by tumor cells is an unfavorable prognostic biomarker for oral cancer
No full textAbstract\ud
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Background\ud
Moesin is a member of the ERM (ezrin, radixin and moesin) proteins that participate in cell migration and tumor invasion through transductional signals sent to actin filaments by glycoproteins, such as podoplanin.\ud
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Methods\ud
This study aimed to evaluate the participation of moesin and podoplanin in the invasive tumor front of oral squamous cell carcinomas, and their influence on patients’ prognosis. Podoplanin and moesin immunoexpressions were evaluated by a semi-quantitative score method, based on the capture of 10 microscopic fields, at 400X magnification, in the invasive tumor front of oral squamous cell carcinomas. The association of moesin and podoplanin expression with clinicopathological variables was analyzed by the chi-square, or Fisher’s exact test. The 5 and 10 years survival rates were calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method and the survival curves were compared by using the log-rank test.\ud
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Results\ud
The immunohistochemical expression of moesin in the invasive front of oral squamous cell carcinomas was predominantly strong, homogenously distributed on the membrane and in the cytoplasm of tumor cells. The expression of moesin was not associated with clinical, demographic and microscopic features of the patients. Otherwise, podoplanin expression by malignant epithelial cells was predominantly strong and significantly associated with radiotherapy (p = 0.004), muscular invasion (p = 0.006) and lymph node involvement (p = 0.013). Strong moesin expression was considered an unfavorable prognostic factor for patients with oral squamous cell carcinomas, clinical stage II and III (p = 0.024).\ud
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Conclusions\ud
These results suggested that strong moesin expression by malignant cells may help to determine patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma and poor prognosis.This study was supported by São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP\ud
grant#2012/13411-6) and by the National Council for Scientific and Technological\ud
Development (CNPq). The funding body had no influence on the design of the\ud
study, the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data and the manuscript
Trend analysis of the quality indicators for the Brazilian cervical cancer screening programme by region and state from 2006 to 2013
No full textAbstract
Background
Quality indicators for the Brazilian cervical cancer screening programme can provide a perspective on its effectiveness in Brazilian macro-regions and states. The aim of this study was to perform a trend analysis of the cervical cancer screening program’s quality indicators, according to Brazilian regions and states, from 2006 to 2013.
Methods
Using information from approximately 62,000,000 exams obtained from the Information System of Cervical Cancer Screening (SISCOLO), joinpoint analysis was used to calculate the Annual Percentage Change (APC).
Results
The estimated number of women in the target age group (25–64 years) who underwent Pap testing over a three-year interval was lower than that recommended by international guidelines in the North, Northeast and Midwest regions, and the trends for this indicator remained stationary over the years in all regions of Brazil. Overall, the index of positivity in Brazilian regions and states is below that preconized by the Brazilian National Cancer Institute (INCA). Additionally, the frequencies of unsatisfactory cases are in line with international guidelines but above those preconized by INCA guidelines. All positive cytological diagnoses were lower than those preconized by INCA.
Conclusions
The results show that the cervical cancer screening programme is still far from efficient because most of the quality indicators in Brazilian regions and states are outside of the parameters preconized by national and international organizations
Effect of correcting for gestational age at birth on population prevalence of early childhood undernutrition
No full textAbstract\ud
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Background\ud
Postmenstrual and/or gestational age-corrected age (CA) is required to apply child growth standards to children born preterm (< 37 weeks gestational age). Yet, CA is rarely used in epidemiologic studies in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), which may bias population estimates of childhood undernutrition. To evaluate the effect of accounting for GA in the application of growth standards, we used GA-specific standards at birth (INTERGROWTH-21st newborn size standards) in conjunction with CA for preterm-born children in the application of World Health Organization Child Growth Standards postnatally (referred to as ‘CA’ strategy) versus postnatal age for all children, to estimate mean length-for-age (LAZ) and weight-for-age (WAZ) z scores at 0, 3, 12, 24, and 48-months of age in the 2004 Pelotas (Brazil) Birth Cohort.\ud
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Results\ud
At birth (n = 4066), mean LAZ was higher and the prevalence of stunting (LAZ < −2) was lower using CA versus postnatal age (mean ± SD): − 0.36 ± 1.19 versus − 0.67 ± 1.32; and 8.3 versus 11.6%, respectively. Odds ratio (OR) and population attributable risk (PAR) of stunting due to preterm birth were attenuated and changed inferences using CA versus postnatal age at birth [OR, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.32 (95% CI 0.95, 1.82) vs 14.7 (95% CI 11.7, 18.4); PAR 3.1 vs 42.9%]; differences in inferences persisted at 3-months. At 12, 24, and 48-months, preterm birth was associated with stunting, but ORs/PARs remained attenuated using CA compared to postnatal age. Findings were similar for weight-for-age z scores.\ud
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Conclusions\ud
Population-based epidemiologic studies in LMICs in which GA is unused or unavailable may overestimate the prevalence of early childhood undernutrition and inflate the fraction of undernutrition attributable to preterm birth.No funding was involved in the conduct of this study. This research was supported in part by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research Doctoral Research Award training grant to NP. The Pelotas Birth Cohort, 2004 study is conducted by the Postgraduate Program in Epidemiology at Universidade Federal de Pelotas, with the collaboration of the Brazilian Public Health Association (ABRASCO). From 2009 to 2013, the Wellcome Trust supported the 2004 birth cohort study. The World Health Organization, National Support Program for Centers of Excellence (PRONEX), Brazilian National Research Council (CNPq), Brazilian Ministry of Health, and Children’s Pastorate supported previous phases of the study. The sponsors had no role in the design of the study, the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, or in the writing of the manuscript