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The persistence of varicella outbreaks in Brazil has underscored the high concern with the low vaccine coverage in the last 4 years. Using publicly available data from the Brazilian Health System (SUS), this study analyzed varicella vaccine coverage and incidence trends from 2019 to 2022 in Brazilian States. Vaccine coverage decreased nationally in 2020, possibly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic's initial phase. In Bahia State, we have the persistence of varicella with an incidence rate of 3.0 cases per 100,000 inhabitants (higher incidence compared to other States) in 2023. Under 15 months children and young children (4-6 Years old) faced the highest risk, urging the importance of vaccination. Despite a monovalent varicella vaccine being available through Brazil's National Immunization Program (NIP), Bahia fell short of achieving the ≥95 % disease control target for coverage. The study highlight the importance of vaccines to prevent some infectious diseases, as varicella, in poor tropical regions. Addressing vaccine hesitancy and misinformation, and augmenting awareness campaigns, are important to achieve and sustain high vaccine coverage over 80% as WHO guidelines to obtain a safe rate of protection for Brazilian population (Brazil's national immunization program has a target of 95% coverage)., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The development of restorative materials containing antibacterial agents is an alternative to reduce the progression of caries lesions., Objective: to compare the influence of the degree of crosslinking of chitosan particles loaded with dibasic calcium phosphate (DCPA) on the mechanical properties, degree of conversion (DC), and antimicrobial properties of experimental composites., Methods: Chitosan/DCPA particles were synthesized by the electrospraying, crosslinked by 0, 8, or 16 h in glutaraldehyde, and characterized by zeta potential and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) against S. mutans. Experimental resin composites of Bis-GMA and TEGDMA and 59.5% of barium glass were synthesized, chitosan/DCPA particles were added at 0 or 0.5 wt% with the different crosslinking time. The materials were subject to DC analysis, three-point bending test at 24 h and 7 days, and antimicrobial assays. Data were submitted to one-way ANOVA and Tukey test (α = 0.05)., Results: The particles with longer crosslinking time presented higher zeta potential and MIC, and the composite containing these particles showed significantly higher biofilm inhibition than the control group. The other two groups were similar to each other and the control. The composite containing particles with 88 h crosslinking time showed the lowest flexural strength at 7 days in water, and materials with non-crosslinked particles and longer crosslinking time presented flexural strength similar to control. The flexural modulus and DC showed no statistical difference among groups., Significance: composite resin containing 0.5% chitosan/DCPA particles crosslinked by 16 h showed a reduction of biofilm formation without affecting the mechanical properties in relation to the control., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Leptospirosis is a worldwide distributed zoonosis that affects most mammal species, including dogs and humans. Vaccination is the main strategy to control disease and urinary shedding of leptospires in dogs; however, there are few studies in the literature reporting the efficacy of commercially available vaccines., Objectives: To access and compare the efficacy of commercially available leptospiral vaccines dogs using a quali-quantitative systematic review., Methods: The main outcome of interest was the ability to protect dogs against clinical disease and renal carrier state, as well as promoting duration of immunity. Experimental and observational study designs were eligible for inclusion, and methodology was validated by PROSPERO, under registration CRD42020178194. Five electronic databases were searched. Data about population, methodology and outcomes were extracted in a dichotomous or continuous manner. Evaluation of risk of bias for individual studies was assessed using SYRCLE tool., Results: Thirteen challenge trials and eight observational studies were included, comprising 12 vaccine brands. In the calculated pooled effect, vaccinated dogs had a reduced Relative Risk of developing clinical disease (0.16) and renal carrier state (0.12) when compared to unvaccinated controls. The heterogeneity between studies was low; however, methodologies and different parameters were used in the studies to define the outcomes., Conclusions and Clinical Importance: Our study has demonstrated that commercially available vaccines against leptospirosis can provide an overall 84% protection against clinical disease and 88% against renal carrier status. Protection against clinical disease and carrier status by serovars Canicola, Australis and Grippotyphosa is inconsistent for some vaccine brands, and such hurdle is mostly attributed to methodological difficulties in inducing experimental infection using these serovars. Evidence shows that immunity provided by the vaccines included in our meta-analysis can persist for at least one year under experimental conditions. However, the duration of MAT titers induced by vaccination do not correlate with protection., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Chronic Rhinosinusitis with Nasal Polyps (CRSwNP) is a disease that features a mechanical dysfunction involving chronic inflammation and altered tissue remodeling. In this study, we aim to evaluate the fibroblast morphology and its cellular traction force in primary fibroblasts cell cultures obtained from both healthy individuals (n=7) and patients with CRSwNP (n=8)., Methods: Using a Traction-force Microscopy we analyzed parameters of Force/Tension in fibroblasts cultures in both experimental groups., Results: The analysis of the Projected Area of Cell revealed that fibroblasts derived from nasal mucosa of healthy individuals have an area on average 39.24% larger than the fibroblasts obtained from the nasal polyp tissue. We also observed that the parameters directly related to the force of the cell, Max Cumulative Force and Net Contractile Moment, presented a high Force/Tension per unit of area in the fibroblasts derived from the healthy nasal mucosa (on average 41% and 52.54% higher than the fibroblasts of the nasal polyp respectively)., Conclusion: Our results demonstrate a cellular mechanism that may be associated with the mechanical dysfunction found in the Nasal Polyp tissue. The weak traction force of nasal polyp-derived fibroblast may, in lower dimensions, impact on the remodeling of nasal mucosa in CRSwNP., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: The objective of this study was to perform a meta-analysis of clinical and laboratory studies to compare the performance of bulk-fill and conventional composite resins in terms of polymerization shrinkage, polymerization stress, cusp deflection, marginal quality, degree of conversion, microhardness, flexural strength, fracture strength and clinical performance., Data: One hundred three articles were included in this study, and the Peto method was used to compare the bulk-fill and conventional composites using the RevMan software., Sources: Searches were performed in the PubMed and Scopus databases., Study Selection: Laboratory studies and randomized clinical trials comparing one of the previous detailed outcomes between bulk-fill and control composites were included., Conclusions: The bulk-fill composite resins showed less shrinkage, polymerization stress, cusp deflection and microhardness than conventional composites, while both materials presented a similar marginal quality, flexural strength and fracture strength. Also, bulk-fill materials with regular viscosity showed similar shrinkage. The conversion of bulk-fill materials with flowable consistency were similar to conventional composite resins with a thickness of up to 2mm and greater than conventional composites with a thickness greater than 2mm. Despite these in vitro differences, the clinical performance of bulk-fill and conventional composite resins was similar in randomized clinical trials, with one to ten years of follow up. In conclusion, the bulk-fill materials show better or similar performance to the conventional materials in clinical trials and laboratory studies in terms of volumetric shrinkage, polymerization stress, cusps deflection and marginal quality, with the only exception being the lower level of microhardness observed for bulk-fill composites with thickness up to 2mm., (Copyright © 2019 The Academy of Dental Materials. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objeticve: The aim of this study was to develop a composite material with antibacterial activity using MMT loaded with clorhexidine (CHX). For that it was used a BisGMA/TEGDMA matrix and added low concentration of MMT/CHX. The aim was to evaluate the drug release capacity of MMT, and not to provide reinforcement., Methods: Six experimental composites were made with organic matrix of BisGMA/TEGDMA in equal proportions by weight. The composites received organophlizated montmorillonite with or without CHX. The concentrations were 2,5; 5 or 10% by weight. Degree of conversion (DC) was evaluated using FTIR (peak 6165 cm-1; n=5). Specimens for flexural properties (10×2×1mm) were immediate tested (24h). Elastic modulus(E) and flexural strength (FS) was measured using the three point bending test (n=10). Inibition halo was used to test the antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus mutans, and Porphyromonas gingivalis (n=5 for each bacteria). The inhibition of biofilm formation (BF) was evaluated by inserting polymerized disc of composite in to a culture media colonized with Streptococcus mutans (n=10). The release of CHX was measured using ultraviolet (255nm) for 10 days (n=5). The data of degree of conversion was analysed using Kruskal-Wallis/ Mann-Whitney, and the other variables using two-way ANOVA/Tukey, always considering a global level of significance of 5%., Results: DC ranged from 71% to 74%. E ranged from 5.7 to 8.1GPa. FS ranged from 61.4 to 74.7MPa. There were no statistical differences among the groups for all the variables. For the three bacteria tested the composites with CHX loaded presented inhibition of growth for all concentration, except for 2,5% that did not inihibited the growth of P. gingivalis. BF was lower for the groups with 10% MMT/CHX, all groups presented BF, even those without CHX loaded. All concentrations presented release off CHX during all the 28 days analyzed., Conclusions: Within the limitation of this study it can be concluded that: all concentrations tested presented release of CHX and reduced BF. All concentration presented antibacterial activity for the three bacteria tested, except for 2,5% that did not inhibit the growth of P. gingivalis. The presence of MMT with CHX loaded did not interfere in the properties evaluated., (Copyright © 2019 The Academy of Dental Materials. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)