Search

AbstractBrazil, a vital pineapple producer, faces phytosanitary challenges, mainly due to fusariosis caused by Fusarium guttiforme, which can lead to significant harvest losses. The frequent use of chemical fungicides has disadvantages because they are environmental contaminants. One option to avoid using these compounds is essential oils, which are of natural origin, biodegradable and have notable activity in controlling numerous pathogens. Thus, the present research aimed to evaluate in vitrothe potential of citronella essential oil to control the fungus F. guttiforme. The chemical identification of the essential oil components was conducted using gas chromatography with flame ionization detectors and mass spectrometry. The main compounds identified in citronella essential oil were citronellal (35.70%), geraniol (24.63%) and citronellol (15.98%). It was clear that the concentration of 1.050 μL mL−1of citronella essential oil promoted 100% inhibition of mycelial growth, with no statistically significant difference when compared to the positive control (Tecto® SC). These results confirm citronella essential oil’s remarkable in vitro potential in controlling the fungus F. guttiforme.

Adding ibrutinib to standard immunochemotherapy might improve outcomes and challenge autologous stem-cell transplantation (ASCT) in younger (aged 65 years or younger) mantle cell lymphoma patients. This trial aimed to investigate whether the addition of ibrutinib results in a superior clinical outcome compared with the pre-trial immunochemotherapy standard with ASCT or an ibrutinib-containing treatment without ASCT. We also investigated whether standard treatment with ASCT is superior to a treatment adding ibrutinib but without ASCT.

Patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) may be more susceptible to Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) due to age, disease, and treatment-related immunosuppression. We aimed to assess risk factors of outcome and elucidate the impact of CLL-directed treatments on the course of COVID-19. We conducted a retrospective, international study, collectively including 941 patients with CLL and confirmed COVID-19. Data from the beginning of the pandemic until March 16, 2021, were collected from 91 centers. The risk factors of case fatality rate (CFR), disease severity, and overall survival (OS) were investigated. OS analysis was restricted to patients with severe COVID-19 (definition: hospitalization with need of oxygen or admission into an intensive care unit). CFR in patients with severe COVID-19 was 38.4%. OS was inferior for patients in all treatment categories compared to untreated (p< 0.001). Untreated patients had a lower risk of death (HR = 0.54, 95% CI:0.41–0.72). The risk of death was higher for older patients and those suffering from cardiac failure (HR = 1.03, 95% CI:1.02–1.04; HR = 1.79, 95% CI:1.04–3.07, respectively). Age, CLL-directed treatment, and cardiac failure were significant risk factors of OS. Untreated patients had a better chance of survival than those on treatment or recently treated.

The advent of AC/DC microgrids generated the need to research and develop power flow algorithms to assist in the planning of these microgrids. The main objective of the research carried out in this paper is to present a general framework for the power flow in AC/DC microgrids with multiple interlinking converters. This framework is based on the superposition principle and the solution of small nonlinear subproblem to determine the angular frequency, power flow through interlinking converters and voltages at the reference nodes. This framework was used to derive two algorithms: one based on the Current Summation Method, for radial microgrids, and another based on the Gauss-Zbus Method, for meshed microgrids. Test results with 45 and 906 nodes microgrids showed that the proposed power flow algorithms have: (i) the same accuracy as the Newton-Raphson Method; (ii) good scalability in terms of computational cost; (iii) robustness against random variations in microgrid parameters (the number of iterations varies only from 4 to 5) and branches contingencies; (iv) computational costs savings of 81% to 98% compared to the Newton-Raphson Method; (v) speed up from 5 to 44 times in relation to the Newton-Raphson Method; (vi) fast convergence characteristic.

Papain-like cysteine proteases (PLCPs) in plants are essential to prevent phytopathogen invasion. In order to search for cysteine protease inhibitors and to investigate compounds that could be associated to pineapple Fusariumdisease, a chemistry investigation was performed on Fusarium proliferatumisolated from Ananas comosus(pineapple) and cultivated in Czapek medium. From F. proliferatumextracts, nine secondary metabolites were isolated and characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and mass spectrometry experiments: beauvericin (1), fusaric acid (2), N-ethyl-3-phenylacetamide (3), N-acetyltryptamine (4), cyclo(L-Val-L-Pro) cyclodipeptide (5), cyclo(L-Leu-L-Pro) cyclodipeptide (6), cyclo(L-Leu-L-Pro) diketopiperazine (7), 2,4-dihydroxypyrimidine (8), and 1H-indole-3-carbaldehyde (9). Compounds 1, 3, and 6 showed significant inhibition of papain, with IC50values of 25.3 ± 1.9, 39.4 ± 2.5, and 7.4 ± 0.5 μM, respectively. Compound 1 also showed significant inhibition against human cathepsins V and B with IC50of 46.0 ± 3.0 and 6.8 ± 0.7 μM, respectively. The inhibition of papain by mycotoxins (fusaric acid and beauvericin) may indicate a mechanism of Fusariumin the roles of infection process.

Studies using resistance training with partial restriction of blood flow (BRF) have shown significant gains in muscle performance, such as gains in strength and hypertrophy, however, few studies have evaluated the hemodynamic effects after using the technique.

Ventilatory variability (vVE) constitutes the dynamic and complex breath-to-breath oscillation of pulmonary ventilation. However, vVE has only recently been investigated in heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) using the Poincaré approach. Briefly, the Poincaré analysis generates, through scatter plots, two pieces of information: called SD1 (standard deviation 1) and SD2 (standard deviation 2); SD1 is defined as the dispersion of data points perpendicular to the line of identity across the plot's centroid and is a short-term variability descriptor; SD2 describes the dispersion of points along the line of identity and reflects the long-term variability of the signal.

Dysmenorrhea is the most common gynecological condition reported by women, and 33% to 50% of them report moderate to severe symptoms. It is defined by menstrual pain in the pelvic region and lower abdomen that can be associated or not to other secondary gynecological conditions (e.g., endometriosis, myoma, adenomyosis). The symptoms are frequently associated with others and can affect women's quality of life and functioning, such as missing school/university/work, decreased sleep quality and fatigue. Those symptoms can be intensified by emotional stress, lower social support and lower socioeconomic conditions. Given the great interference of dysmenorrhea in various spheres of life, a comprehensive evaluation of disability and functioning is necessary for this population.

Lower limb stabilizing muscle strength imbalance and changes in functional performance and dynamic balance have been reported as predictors of lower extremity injuries. Lower limb functional tests are commonly applied in clinical practice to assess functional performance as well as used as a measure of progression during rehabilitation. Among them, the Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT) and the Single Leg Hop Test (SLHT) stand out as easy-to-apply and low-cost tools.

Relevant thermochemical data of γ-butyrolactone (GBL), a compound of considerable industrial and environmental significance, obtained from experimental and computational studies are reported in this work. The standard (p° = 0.1 MPa) molar enthalpy of formation, at T= 298.15 K, in the gaseous phase, was determined from the enthalpy of combustion and vaporization, obtained by static bomb calorimetry in oxygen and by Calvet microcalorimetry, respectively. The enthalpy of formation in the gaseous phase was also determined from G3 calculations. The excellent agreement between the experimental and computational thermochemical data provided a critical literature review of GBL and the proposal of new reference values for this lactone.

An experimental and computational study of the thermochemical and structural properties of ethylenethiourea (ETU) has been carried out. The enthalpies of combustion and sublimation, measured respectively by rotating-bomb combustion calorimetry and Calvet microcalorimetry, yielded the gas-phase enthalpy of formation of ETU at T= 298.15 K. This latter parameter was also derived from high-level molecular orbital calculations at the G3(MP2)//B3LYP level of theory, leading to a value in excellent agreement with the one obtained from experimental data. With the purpose of evaluating the influence of the ring size in the enthalpy of formation of cyclic N,N′-thiourea derivatives, the calculation of the enthalpy of formation of N,N′-trimethylenethiourea (MTU) was performed using the G3(MP2)//B3LYP approach. The effects of substituents (carbonyl and thiocarbonyl) on the molecular stability of several N-alkyl (cyclic) ureas/thioureas were also studied.

-The NK receptor ligands, PVR and B7-H6, are required for AML cell recognition and immunological synapse formation with Delta One T cells;-PVR expression predicts primary AML sample targeting by cytotoxic Delta One T cells.

This study evaluated effects of watermelon fermentation using different non-Saccharomycesyeast strains (Brettanomyces lambicus, Brettanomyces bruxellensis, and Lachancea thermotolerans) on the chemical profile of the derived wines. A control product was produced using Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Analytical techniques, namely HPLC-DAD-RID and LLE-GC/MS, were used to evaluate sugars, organic acids, alcohols, phenolic compounds, amino acids, and volatile compounds profiles. Fermentation reduced the sugar (glucose and fructose) and amino acid contents and increased alcohol (ethanol and glycerol), organic acids (lactic and acetic acids), phenolics, and volatile compounds. The use of the B. bruxellensisstrain resulted in an alcoholic beverage with quality parameters similar to that from S. cerevisiaebut with higher concentrations of phenolics (rutin, gallic acid, caftaric acid, and caffeic acid) and important volatile compounds (isoamyl acetate). The watermelon wine had a higher content of bioaccessible phenolic compounds than the must, especially catechin, procyanidin B1, procyanidin B2 and gallic acid, due to their high bioaccessibility (>70%). The yeast type influenced the chemical profile of the beverages. B. bruxellensisis a promising tool to obtain watermelon alcoholic beverage in an industrial scale.