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Made available in DSpace on 2021-06-25T10:45:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2020-01-01 Purpose: To present the long-term follow-up outcomes of patients with intestinal neuronal dysplasia type B (IND-B) managed either conservatively or surgically. Methods: We conducted an ambispective, observational, longitudinal, and comparative study. Clinical data were reviewed at the start of treatment. After a minimum period of five years, the patients participated in semi-structured interviews in which the bowel function score (BFS) was applied to assess intestinal function, a proposed intestinal symptom index (ISI) to assess clinical symptoms, and a classification of clinical prognosis to assess treatment success. Comparisons between the two types of treatment were performed by evaluating pre- and post-treatment criteria. Results: Fifty patients diagnosed with IND-B were included in the study. Thirty-eight patients underwent surgical treatment (26 elective surgical treatment for primary colorectal resection and 12 emergency colostomies for intestinal obstruction or enterocolitis). Twelve patients were managed conservatively. With the exception of the patients who required an emergency operation (n = 12), the two groups were composed of patients with severe constipation who had similar clinical and functional characteristics at the time of IND-B diagnosis. A better clinical response was observed in patients submitted to conservative treatment, with a greater increase in the BFS (16.5 [-4/+18] versus 4 [-15/+17]; p = 0.001), indicating better bowel function and a more pronounced drop in ISI (-6 [-7/-4] versus -4 [-6/+1]; p = 0.015), suggesting fewer symptoms. The percentage of patients who had a successful treatment was higher in the group treated conservatively (72.7% versus 42.3%; p = 0.03). Conclusion: Conservative management showed better long-term outcomes than surgical management in children with IND-B. Department of Surgery Division of Pediatric Surgery Botucatu Medical School UNESP - São Paulo State University Botucatu Medical School UNESP - São Paulo State University Department of Pathology Botucatu Medical School UNESP - São Paulo State University Department of Surgery Division of Pediatric Surgery Botucatu Medical School UNESP - São Paulo State University Botucatu Medical School UNESP - São Paulo State University Department of Pathology Botucatu Medical School UNESP - São Paulo State University

Resume Objectif La pneumopathie interstitielle diffuse (PID) est un facteur majeur de pronostic chez les patients atteints de sclerodermie systemique (ScS). L’antigene de carcinome a cellules squameuses (SCCA1) est un inhibiteur des proteases a serine qui joue un role essentiel dans l’inflammation et la fibrose. Le SCCA1 est surexprime dans le tissu pulmonaire des patients presentant une fibrose pulmonaire idiopathique et peut etre detecte dans le serum comme un complexe immun circulant lie a l’IgM (SCCA-IgM). Nous avons souhaite explorer l’association entre le SCCA-IgM et les caracteristiques cliniques des patients atteints de ScS. Methodes Quatre-vingt-dix-sept patients consecutifs atteints de ScS (selon les criteres ACR/EULAR) ont ete recrutes dans l’etude. Les variables cliniques et serologiques et les atteintes d’organe ont ete consignees. L’atteinte pulmonaire a ete exploree par tomodensitometrie haute resolution (TDM-HR) et par des tests de la fonction respiratoire. Les taux seriques de SCCA-IgM ont ete mesures par un test ELISA valide (Hepa-IC, Xeptagen, Venise, Italie). Nous avons defini le seuil des valeurs seriques de SCCA-IgM > 200 UA/mL, calcule comme la moyenne + 3 ecarts types chez 100 sujets en bonne sante. Resultats Quarante-et-un patients (42,3 %) presentaient une PID. Les taux de SCCA-IgM etaient significativement plus eleves chez les patients avec PID que chez les patients sans PID : 218 (80–402) contre 87,5 (59–150) UA/mL, p Conclusion Le SCCA-IgM est associe a la pneumopathie interstitielle diffuse chez les patients sclerodermiques et pourrait etre utilise dans l’evaluation de la PID associee a la ScS.

Made available in DSpace on 2020-12-12T01:57:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2020-01-01 Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) Background: Eighty percent of caustic ingestions occur in children and esophageal neoplasms may develop as a late complication of such injury. The identification of biomarkers is a promising strategy to improve early diagnosis of esophageal cancer or caustic lesions that are at an increased risk of progression. Study design/aims: This study aimed at identifying global microRNA (miRNA) expression changes in esophageal mucosa from children with caustic stenosis. The study included 27 biopsy samples from 15 patients. Samples were divided into two groups, according to the time elapsed after injury (N = 15 in Group A, with less than five years of follow-up and N = 12 in Group B, with more than five years of follow-up). miRNA expression profiles were determined in each lesion, compared with normal esophageal tissues from control group. We used the TaqMan Human MicroRNA Arrays (Thermo Fisher) platform. Furthermore, bioinformatic algorithms were used to identify miRNA target genes and biological pathways including miRNAs and their target genes potentially associated with esophageal disease. Results: Thirteen miRNAs were significantly deregulated (9 over- and 4 underexpressed) in patients from Group A. In patients from Group B, two miRNAs were over- and two were underexpressed. Of note, miR-374 and miR-574 were deregulated in Group B patients and have been linked to esophageal tumorigenesis. We identified signal transduction and transcription factor networks with genes strongly related to development and progression of esophageal cancer. Conclusion: miRNAs identified here contribute to a better understanding of pathways associated with malignant transformation from caustic stenosis to neoplastic lesions. This study may serve as a basis for validation of miRNAs, including miR-374 and miR-574, as potential biomarkers of early cancer detection. Division of Pediatric Surgery-Department of Surgery and Orthopedics Faculty of Medicine São Paulo State University (UNESP), Botucatu Department of Pediatric Surgery Barretos Children's Cancer Hospital from Barretos Cancer Center Department of Surgery and Orthopedics Faculty of Medicine São Paulo State University (UNESP), Botucatu Experimental Research Unity (UNIPEX) Faculty of Medicine São Paulo State University (UNESP), Botucatu Faculty of Medicine São Paulo State University (UNESP), Botucatu Department of Genetics Institute of Biosciences, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Botucatu Department of Pathology Faculty of Medicine São Paulo State University (UNESP), Botucatu Division of Pediatric Surgery-Department of Surgery and Orthopedics Faculty of Medicine São Paulo State University (UNESP), Botucatu Department of Surgery and Orthopedics Faculty of Medicine São Paulo State University (UNESP), Botucatu Experimental Research Unity (UNIPEX) Faculty of Medicine São Paulo State University (UNESP), Botucatu Faculty of Medicine São Paulo State University (UNESP), Botucatu Department of Pathology Faculty of Medicine São Paulo State University (UNESP), Botucatu CAPES: 2014/458734-4 FAPESP: 2015/03287-4

Entoptic phenomena are visual artifacts arising from the interaction of light with the specific anatomic structure of the human eye. While they are usually too subtle to actually enable additional visual abilities, their perception can provide indirect information on the physiological conditions of the visual system. Among the most famous ones, Haidinger's brushes consist in the appearance of a yellowish bow tie perceived in the presence of linearly polarized white light and originate from the particular spatial distribution of dichroic carotenoid molecules forming a sort of embedded radial polarizer in the foveal region. In this work, we develop a compact and versatile optical setup for the psychophysical analysis of the perceptual threshold of such entoptic effect. The tests performed on a group of 113 healthy individuals under conditions of maximum contrast (blue light) reveal the capability to perceive an average polarization degree around 16%. The developed prototype outlines a new optical platform to train the users in the perception of the phenomenon and infer information on the polarization-degree sensitivity of the human visual system.

Highlights • Males are slightly more susceptible to SARS-CoV2 infection (M:F ratio 1: 0.8). • Male patients affected by COVID 19 have higher chance to present with a more severe disease. • Mortality of COVID-19 is nearly twice as high in males than females. • Mechanisms underlying this susceptibility are due to genetic, hormonal and biological factors., Background Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV) has been recently characterized, and soon spread around the world generating a pandemic. It has been suggested that men are more severely affected by the viral disease (COVID-19) than women. Objective the aim of the present Systematic Literature Review (SRL) and meta-analysis was to analyse the influence of gender on COVID-19 mortality, severity and disease outcomes. A SRL was performed in PubMed and Embase searching terms corresponding to the “PEO” format (Population = adult patients affected with COVID-19, Exposure = gender; Outcome = any available clinical outcomes by gender, including mortality and disease severity), search dates 01/01/2020-31/04/2020. Exclusion criteria were: case reports/series, reviews, commentaries, language other than English. We included full-text original articles. Data about study type, country, patients characteristics were extracted. Study quality was evaluated by Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). From a total of 950 hits generated by databases search, 85 articles fulfilling inclusion/exclusion criteria were selected. Results A random-effect meta-analysis was performed to compare mortality, recovery rates and disease severity in men versus women. Male to female ratio was 1: 0.8. A significant association between male sex and mortality (OR = 1.81; 95%CI: 1.25-2.62), as well as a lower chance of recovery in men (OR = 0.72; 95% CI: 0.55- 0.95). Male patients had a higher odd to present with a severe form of COVID-19 (OR = 1.46; 95%CI: 1.10-1.94). Conclusions male are more susceptible to COVID-19 infection, present with a more severe disease and have a worse prognosis. Further studies are warranted to unravel biological mechanisms underlying these observations.

CD157/BST1 glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored glycoprotein is an evolutionary conserved dual-function receptor and β-NAD+-metabolizing ectoenzyme of the ADP-ribosyl cyclases gene family. Identified as bone marrow stromal cell and myeloid cell differentiation antigen, CD157 turned out to have a wider expression than originally assumed. The functional significance of human CD157 as an enzyme remains unclear, while it was well established in mouse models. Conversely, the receptor role of CD157 has been clearly delineated. In physiological conditions, CD157 is a key player in regulating leukocyte adhesion, migration and diapedesis. Underlying these functional roles is the ability of CD157 to bind with high affinity selected extracellular matrix components within their heparin-binding domains. CD157 binding to extracellular matrix promotes its interaction with β1 and β2-integrins and induces the organization of a multimolecular complex that is instrumental to the delivery of synergistic outside-in signals leading to optimal cell adhesion and migration, both in physiological and in pathological situations. CD157 also regulates cell adhesion and migration and is a marker of adverse prognosis in epithelial ovarian cancer and pleural mesothelioma. This review focuses on human CD157 expression and functions and provides an overview on its role in human pathology and its emerging potential as target for antibody-mediated immunotherapy.

Vital wheat gluten is an important ingredient in the baking industry. Its technological quality is associated to its protein content and protein chemical and structural characteristics. The aim of this study was to evaluate these protein characteristics of commercial vital wheat glutens from different origins (VGA and VGB), improving information for application in baking. Besides, non-vital gluten (NVG) was produced through severe heat treatment to verify the effect of high temperature on its chemical and structural characteristics and gluten network development. Relative amounts of gluten fractions, protein solubility, linkages involved in gluten network structure, secondary structure and gluten network micrographs were analyzed. Differences in the chemical and structural characteristics of VGA and VGB were observed. The differences observed revealed that VGA showed a better balance between gliadin (extensibility) and glutenin (elasticity) than VGB, and also VGA presented a greater amount of β-turn structure, involved in the elastic properties of the gluten network. Furthermore, NVG formed insoluble protein aggregates with high amounts of β-turn structure and undefined secondary structure; as a result, NVG did not form a network-like structure. These differences showed the need for more information about vital gluten proteins that will be used in bread making, contributing to its commercial specifications.

Sugarcane ethanol is an alternative to fossil fuels that can mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and offer socioeconomic benefits, but at the same time have a series of negative impacts. Brazil is the second largest producer of fuel ethanol globally, with this production predicted to almost double over the next 15 years. However sugarcane ethanol production in the country has been shown to interact with a range of ecosystem services. It is only when such interactions are understood that we can fully determine the potential trade-offs, synergies and sustainability outcomes of biofuel production in the country. This paper explores the local perceptions about the impacts of sugarcane production on ecosystem services in two municipalities in the state of Sao Paulo with significant sugarcane production: Capivari and Rancharia. Impact perceptions have been elicited through interviews with local residents, with the results showing that perceptions vary between the two study sites and are affected considerably by the different local experiences with sugarcane production. For example, although sugarcane farming has been traditionally performed in Capivari, it has been Rancharia that has experienced more recently a rapid sugarcane expansion that has caused considerable changes in land use and farming patterns. Interview results also suggest that the negative effects of sugarcane farming can be reduced through the adoption of good agricultural practices and the enforcement of existing laws, as many respondents cited considerable improvements in ecosystem health from such actions. Assessing the perception of local communities such as the one reported in this paper can be crucial in designing policies and planning land uses that enhance the sustainability of biofuel production.