RESUMO

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is the main cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide and is characterized by severe and fatal arrhythmias induced by cardiac ischemia/reperfusion (CIR). However, the molecular mechanisms involved in these arrhythmias are still little understood. To investigate the cardioprotective role of the cardiac Ca2+/cAMP/adenosine signaling pathway in AMI, L-type Ca2+ channels (LTCC) were blocked with either nifedipine (NIF) or verapamil (VER), with or without A1-adenosine (ADO), receptors (A1R), antagonist (DPCPX), or cAMP efflux blocker probenecid (PROB), and the incidence of ventricular arrhythmias (VA), atrioventricular block (AVB), and lethality (LET) induced by CIR in rats was evaluated. VA, AVB and LET incidences were evaluated by ECG analysis and compared between control (CIR group) and intravenously treated 5 min before CIR with NIF 1, 10, and 30 mg/kg and VER 1 mg/kg in the presence or absence of PROB 100 mg/kg or DPCPX 100 µg/kg. The serum levels of cardiac injury biomarkers total creatine kinase (CK) and CK-MB were quantified. Both NIF and VER treatment were able to attenuate cardiac arrhythmias caused by CIR; however, these antiarrhythmic effects were abolished by pretreatment with PROB and DPCPX. The total serum CK and CK-MB were similar in all groups. These results indicate that the pharmacological modulation of Ca2+/cAMP/ADO in cardiac cells by means of attenuation of Ca2+ influx via LTCC and the activation of A1R by endogenous ADO could be a promising therapeutic strategy to reduce the incidence of severe and fatal arrhythmias caused by AMI in humans.

RESUMO

Relevant virulence traits in Candida spp. are associated with dimorphic change and biofilm formation, which became an important target to reduce antifungal resistance. In this work, Co(II) complexes containing a benzotriazole derivative ligand showed a promising capacity of reducing these virulence traits. These complexes exhibited higher antifungal activities than the free ligands against all the Candida albicans and non-albicans strains tested, where compounds 2 and 4 showed minimum inhibitory concentration values between 15.62 and 125 µg mL-1. Moreover, four complexes (2-5) of Co(II) and Cu(II) with benzotriazole ligand were synthesized. These compounds were obtained as air-stable solids and characterized by melting point, thermogravimetric analysis, infrared, Raman and ultraviolet/visible spectroscopy. The analysis of the characterization data allowed us to identify that all the complexes had 1:1 (M:L) stoichiometries. Additionally, Density Functional Theory calculations were carried out for 2 and 3 to propose a probable geometry of both compounds. The conformer Da of 2 was the most stable conformer according to the Energy Decomposition Analysis; while the conformers of 3 have a fluxional behavior in this analysis that did not allow us to determine the most probable conformer. These results provide an important platform for the design of new compounds with antifungal activities and the capacity to attack other target of relevance to reduce antimicrobial resistance.

RESUMO

The antimicrobial activity and biological efficiency of silver nanoparticles (AgNps) have been widely described and can be modeled through stabilizing and reducing agents, especially if they exhibit biocidal properties, which can enhance bioactivity against pathogens. The selective action of AgNps remains a major concern. In this regard, the use of plant extracts for the green synthesis of nanoparticles offers advantages because it improves the toxicity of Nps for microorganisms and is harmless to normal cells. However, biological evaluations of the activity of AgNps synthesized using different reducing agents are determined independently, and comparisons are frequently overlooked. Thus, we investigated and compared the antifungal and cytotoxic effects of two ecological AgNps synthesized from Moringa oleifera aqueous leaf extract (AgNp-M) and glucose (AgNp-G) against azole-resistant clinical isolates of Candida spp. and nontumor mammalian cells. Synthesized AgNps exhibited an antifungal effect on planktonic cells of drug-resistant C. albicans and C. tropicalis (MIC 0.21-52.6 µg/mL). The toxicity was influenced by size. However, the use of M. oleifera extracts allows us to obtain AgNps that are highly selective and nongenotoxic to Vero cells due to modifications of the shape and surface. Therefore, these results suggest that AgNp-M has antimicrobial potential and deserves further investigation for biomedical applications.

Assuntos

RESUMO

RESUMO Objetivo: avaliar o efeito de intervenções lúdicas digitais na qualidade de vida, depressão, ansiedade, estresse e apoio social em pacientes oncológicosna pandemia da Covid-19. Método: estudo quase-experimental, com 15 pacientes de uma organização não governamental brasileira, de agosto de 2020 a outubro de 2021.As intervenções digitais consistiram emcontar histórias, jogos, culinária, expressão artística e corporal. Foram utilizados: questionário sociodemográfico e clínico,questionário de qualidade de vida,escalas de depressão, ansiedade e estresseeapoio social, todos validados em versão brasileira. Os participantesforam avaliados nos tempos: pré-,pós-intervenção1 (após 4 meses) e pós-intervenção2 (após 10 meses).A análise inferencial verificou diferenças entre os tempos utilizando modelos lineares generalizados e testes não paramétricos de Friedman e Nemenyi, considerando-se p≤0,05. Resultados: a percepção da qualidade de vida melhorouna função emocional pós-intervenção2 em relação ao tempo pré-intervenção,com significância estatística (p=0,0020); depressão (p= 0,0106), ansiedade (p=0,0002), estresse (p=0,0032) e apoio emocional, interação social positiva (p<0,0001)melhoraram com significância estatística pós-intervenção1 e pós-intervenção2relacionadas ao tempo pré-intervenção. Conclusão: as intervenções contribuíram para melhorar a qualidade de vida emocional, depressão, ansiedade, estresse, apoio emocional einteração social positiva em pacientes oncológicosna pandemia, podendo ser estimuladasentre esta população.

RESUMEN Objetivo: evaluar el efecto de intervenciones lúdicas digitales en la calidad de vida, depresión, ansiedad, estrés y apoyo social en pacientes oncológicos en la pandemia de Covid-19. Método: estudio cuasi-experimental, con 15 pacientes de una organización no gubernamental brasileña, de agosto de 2020 a octubre de 2021. Las intervenciones digitales consistieron en contar historias, juegos, culinaria, expresión artística y corporal. Fueron utilizados: cuestionario sociodemográfico y clínico, cuestionario de calidad de vida, escalas de depresión, ansiedad y estrés y apoyo social, todos validados en versión brasileña. Los participantes fueron evaluados en los tiempos: pre, posintervención1 (tras 4 meses) y posintervención2 (tras 10 meses). El análisis inferencial encontró diferencias entre los tiempos, utilizando modelos lineales generalizados y prueba no paramétricas de Friedman y Nemenyi, considerándose p≤0,05. Resultados: la percepción de la calidad de vida mejoró en la función emocional posintervención2 en relación al tiempo preintervención, con significación estadística (p=0,0020); depresión (p=0,0106), ansiedad (p=0,0002), estrés (p=0,0032) y apoyo emocional, interacción social positiva (p<0,0001) mejoraron con significación estadística posintervención1 y posintervención2 relacionadas al tiempo preintervención. Conclusión: las intervenciones contribuyeron a mejorar la calidad de vida emocional, depresión, ansiedad, estrés, apoyo emocional e interacción social positiva en pacientes oncológicos en la pandemia, pudiendo ser fomentadas entre esta población.

ABSTRACT Objective: to assess the effect of digital playful interventions on quality of life, depression, anxiety, stress and social support in patients with cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: a quasi-experimental study, with 15 patients from a Brazilian non-governmental organization, from August 2020 to October 2021.Digital interventions consisted of storytelling, games, cooking, artistic and body expression. Sociodemographic and clinical questionnaire, quality of life questionnaire, depression, anxiety and stress scales and social support were used, all validated in the Brazilian version. Participants were assessed pre-intervention, post-intervention 1 (after 4 months) and post-intervention 2 (after 10 months).Inferential analysis verified differences between times using generalized linear models and Friedman and Nemenyi non-parametric tests, considering p≤0.05. Results: improved perceived quality of life in post-intervention 2 emotional function compared to pre-intervention time, with statistical significance (p=0.0020).Depression (p=0.0106), anxiety (p=0.0002), stress (p=0.0032) and emotional support, positive social interaction (p<0.0001) improved with statistical significance post-intervention 1 and post-intervention 2 related to pre-intervention time. Conclusion: the interventions contributed to improving emotional quality of life, depression, anxiety, stress, emotional support and positive social interaction in patients with cancer during the pandemic, and can be encouraged among this population.

Assuntos

RESUMO

Nas últimas décadas observa-se aumento na prevalência mundial de alergia alimentar, que já acomete aproximadamente 6% das crianças, atribuído à interação entre fatores genéticos, ambientais e alterações na resposta imunológica e pode envolver reações mediadas por IgE, não mediadas e mistas. As formas não IgE mediadas decorrem de reação de hipersensibilidade tardia, mediada por linfócitos T e afetam prioritariamente o trato gastrointestinal, como a Síndrome da enterocolite induzida por proteína alimentar (FPIES), Síndrome da proctocolite alérgica induzida por proteína alimentar (FPIAP), Síndrome da enteropatia induzida por proteína alimentar (FPE) e doença celíaca. As características destas reações podem ser diferenciadas por sua apresentação clínica, gravidade, idade de início e história natural. Entre as reações alérgicas aos alimentos não IgE mediadas, a proctocolite alérgica é a mais frequente. Geralmente ocorre no primeiro ano de vida e apresenta excelente prognóstico. Embora costume ter um curso benigno, traz grande preocupação aos cuidadores por frequentemente cursar com quadro de hematoquezia exigindo diagnóstico diferencial adequado. O conhecimento e manejo da proctocolite alérgica é de suma importância para a prática médica em Alergia e Imunologia. Seu diagnóstico é baseado na história clínica seguindo-se dieta de exclusão, especialmente do leite de vaca, com subsequente provocação oral, que geralmente pode ser realizada no domicílio. O diagnóstico preciso é importante, para se evitar dietas de exclusão desnecessárias. Nesta revisão foram utilizados artigos publicados nos últimos anos, com busca realizada através da base PubMed envolvendo revisões, diagnóstico e tratamento de alergias não IgE mediadas, com foco em proctocolite alérgica.

An increase in the worldwide prevalence of food allergies has been observed in the past decades, currently affecting 6% of children. This increase has been associated with the interaction between genetic, environmental, and immune response factors and can be observed in IgE, non-IgE, and mixed mediated reactions. Non-IgE mediated food allergies result from delayed-type hypersensitivity and mostly affect the gastrointestinal tract, such as food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome (FPIES), food protein-induced allergic proctocolitis (FPIAP), food protein-induced enteropathy (FPE), and celiac disease. These reactions can be differentiated by their clinical presentation, severity, age at onset, and natural history. Among non-IgE-mediated allergic reactions to food, allergic proctocolitis is the most frequent. It usually develops in the first year of life and has excellent prognosis. Although it has a benign course, allergic proctocolitis is challenging for health care professionals because it often presents with hematochezia, requiring an accurate differential diagnosis. Knowledge and management of allergic proctocolitis is of paramount importance for medical practice in allergy and immunology. Its diagnosis is based on clinical history followed by elimination diet, especially cow's milk, with subsequent oral food challenge, which may usually be performed at home. Accurate diagnosis is important to avoid unnecessary elimination diets. For this review, PubMed database was searched for recently published literature reviews and studies on the diagnosis and treatment of non- IgE mediated allergies, with a focus on allergic proctocolitis.

Assuntos

RESUMO

Artemia salina, an ecotoxicity bioindicator, isa microcrustacean belonging to the order Anostraca. Glyphosate is an herbicide widely used to control weeds. However, its intoxication can cause serious damage to human health and the balance of the environment, given its effects as an endocrine disruptor.Objective:verify the possible protection of the artemia exposed to glyphosate by the addition of its isotherapic into water, by means of the evaluation of the behavioral and morphological features of nauplii and of the physical properties of remedies andtreated water, to elucidate the involved mechanisms. Methods:Artemia salinacysts were kept in culture bottles containing artificial seawatercontaining glyphosate at LC 10 (lethal concentration 10%), to promote hatching within 48 hours. The isotherapic preparations were inserted in each bottle in a 10% of the total water volume. Part of the nauplii was distributed in transparent tubes, being 10 nauplii per tube and 6 tubes per group, for behavioral analysis, and part were collected for a detailed morphological analysis, under an optical microscope. About 80 to 270 nauplii were analyzed per group. The reserved water was divided into aliquots for physicochemical analysis, that is, evaluation of the water dipole behavior by Cartwright ́s method.Results:Gly 6cH presented selective effects on nauplii hatching (p=0.02) and on defected/healthy ratio (p=0.001), representing some protective action. This result was dependent of the salinity of water and presented correspondence with the effects on solvatochromic dyes, indicating that charges and ions can be critical factors involved in the mechanism of action. We concluded that the use of isotherapics could be a plausible tool to reduce the environmental impact of the indiscriminate use of glyphosate, since these results can be reproduced in further studies.

Assuntos

RESUMO

Solvatochromic dyes are probes to detect variations on the dipole moment of solvents after the insertion of homeopathic potencies. Recent studies have shown they can be useful tools in laboratory and field studies to detect the activity of homeopathic remedies.Objective: Determine whether solvatochromic dyes can be a diagnostic tool for cells infected by different agents and/or markers to identify the activity of homeopathic medicines. Methods: Ethilicum1cH, Siliceaterra6, 30, 200cH; Zincummetallicum6, 30, 200cH and Phosphorus6, 30 and 200cH were analyzed by pouring the samples (in a 1:60 rate) into a series of seven dyes (rhodamine, ET 33, ET 30, coumarin 7, NN DMIA, Nile red, methylene violet) diluted in absolute ethanol using pre-established working concentrations. Oscillations of dye absorbance were observed at visible light spectrophotometry according to the remedy and potency. Water and succussed water were used as controls. In a second moment, the absorbance profile of the remedies will be compared with those of biological samples (supernatants) and checked with the biological effect previously obtained from each treatment.Supernatants of RAW 264.7 macrophages stimulated by Calmette-Guérin bacilli (BCG) or infected with Encephalitozoon cuniculiwill be analyzed. Results: Preliminary results have shown that Siliceaterra6cH, Phosphorus30 and 200cH and Zincummetallicum6, 30 and 200cH reduced the absorbance of methylene violet (p=0.01). Repetitions and analysis of supernatants are expected to be performed in the next steps of the study. Future perspectives: Establish a pattern of reactivity of the studied medicines with different dyes and the putative relation with the corresponding supernatants, as an attempt to obtain a "physicochemical signature" for each kind of infection and/or treatment.

Assuntos

RESUMO

Considering that there are few published studies that specifically address the exclusive use of Carcinosinumin different potencies and, most of them focused on genotypic and clinical effects, the present study was proposed to identify possible phenotypic changes, including viability, expression of HER-2 and metastatic abilities, using 4T1 cells in vitroas a model. Carcinosinum was tested in different homeopathic potencies (12cH; 30cH; 200cH) mechanically prepared using sterile pure water. The time space between preparing the potencies and using them was 24 hours.The final dilutions were inserted into the culture medium in a volume equal to 10%, at the time of cell seeding. The same succussed vehicle used to prepare the drugs (70% ethanol) diluted 1:100 in sterile pure water was used as control. All treated cells were cultured in 25 mL flasks, with cell density of 5 x 105cells/mL. After 24 hours of treatment, cells were analyzed for apoptosis index using Annexin V kit and the Countess® system. The morphology of 4T1 cells was monitored by staining cell smears with hematoxylin-eosin and Giemsa methods. HER-2 expression was assessed by immunocytochemistry and metalloproteinase activity was assessed by zymography. The determination of the cytokine profile was performed using Cytometric Bead Array (CBA). The samples were evaluated in quadruplicate and the data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA. Carcinosinum30cH presented the highest apoptotic index and reduction of MMP-9-Pro expression; Carcinosinum200cH produced the highest positivity for HER-2 and no specific effect was seen after the treatment with Carcinosinum12cH. No change in cytokine expression was seen among treatments. We conclude that Carcinosinum30cH and 200cH can change phenotypic features important totumor development in vitro. The clinical meaning of these data deserves further investigation.

Assuntos

RESUMO

Apocrine gland carcinomas are rare malignant neoplasms that occur in cats. Available treatment is surgical, would lead to total ablation of the external acoustic meatus and usually recurrent [1,2].Methodology:In December 2020, a homeopathic consultation of the feline, male, Persian, 13 years old, a history of the disease was reported, which started in 2015, adding up to six recurrences of tumor processes in the eyelids and recent formation in the left ear canal.The result of the histopathological examination confirmed apocrine adenocarcinoma.Prior to homeopathic treatment, tumors recurred despite surgical interventions and prophylactic treatment with trichloracetic acid.However, remaining formations were noted in the eyelids and ear canal. It has a rounded blackened shape in the upper right eyelid measuring 0.4 cm and the lower 0.2 cm, round. In the left ear canal, around 1.6 cm, in addition to 4 points scattered in the ear folds. Homeopathic treatment was started for two months with Arsenicum album30 cH, twice a day; Carcinosinum 200 cH, once a day, and complex containing Avena sativa4 cH, Echinacea angustifolia4 cH, Conium maculatum6 cH, Thuja officinalis6 cH and Silicea terra6 cH, four times a day. Every two months, the clinical picturewas reassessed, potenciesand frequencies readjusted.In a few months,there was complete remission of the tumor, recovery of welfare, and improvement in mood and appetite. The free and informed consent term was signed. There was no recurrence of tumors until May2022. Conclusion:This study proved to be effective, documented with photos and exams. Approaching a rare case may provide a new therapeutic possibility. The credibility of quality homeopathic case reports has been increasing due to methodological requirements using tools developed in recent studies.

Assuntos

RESUMO

Isotherapics preparedfromtoxic substances have been described as attenuation factors for heavy metal intoxicationin aquatic animals. Herein, Artemia salinaand mercury chloride were usedas a model to identify treatment-related bioresilience. The aim was to describe the effects of Mercurius corrosivus(MC) in different potencies on Artemia salinacyst hatching and on mercury bioavailability. Artemia salinacysts were exposed to 5.0 µg/mL of mercury chloride during the hatching phase. MC6cH, 30cH, and 200cHwere prepared and poured into artificial seawater. Different controls were used (nonchallenged cysts and challenged cysts treated with water, succussed water, and Ethilicum 1cH). Four series of nine experiments were performed for4 weeks to evaluate the percentage of cyst hatchingconsidering all moon phases. Soluble total mercury (THg) levels and precipitated mercury content were also evaluated. Solvatochromic dyes were used to check for eventual physicochemical markers of MCbiological activity. Two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with mixed modelswas used for evaluating the effect of different treatments andthe simultaneous influence of the moon phases on the cystshatching rate, at both observation times (24 and 48 hours).When necessary, outliers were removed, using the Tukeycriterion.Thelevel of significance αwas set at 5%. Significant delay (p<0.0001) in cyst hatching was observed after treatment with MC30cH, compared with the controls. An increase inTHg concentration in seawater (p<0.0018) and of chlorine/oxygen ratio (p<0.0001) in suspended micro-aggregateswas also seen, with possiblerelation with mercury bioavailability. Specific interaction of MC30cH with the solvatochromic dye ET33 (p<0.0017) was found. The other observed potencies of Mercurius corrosivus6 and 200 cH were not significant in relation to the observed groups.The results werepostulated as being protective effects of MC30cH on Artemia salina, by improving its bioresilience.

Assuntos