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Distributional records of the Halictinae bees of the genus Halictus (the subgenus Seladonia), viz., H. lucidipennis Smith, H. propinquus Vachal, genus Lasioglossum (the subgenus Ctenomia) albescens (Smith, 1853), L. cavernifrons Bluthgen, 1926, L. sikkimense (Blüthgen, 1926), L. splendidulum (Vachal, 1895), L. vagans (Smith, 1857) and genus Patellapis (Pachyhalictus) liodoma (Vachal, 1895), P. reticulosa (Dalla Torre, 1896) from North-East India, Manipur are listed. Re-described the female specimen, along with the collection site.

Abstract: Among conventional treatment methodologies, surgery, hyperthermia, radiation, and chemotherapy have become integral components of treatment for most cancers. Radiation therapy in the treatment of many malignancies is always the better choice over surgery and chemotherapy. Ionizing radiation produced as a consequence of using these radiations has always been a concern in these treatment methods. Synthetic radio-protectors with their inherent limitations are being used to date to reduce the mortality of these radiations; still, it compromises the clinical efficacy of these administrations. Hence, investigations for alternative methods, including natural resources such as plant and fruit extracts, are being explored to treat radiation-mediated ailments. The present review article endeavors to provide a comprehensive, updated, and chronological account of these promising plants and fruit extracts and their bioactive principles as radio-protectors. We present the merits and demerits of radiation therapy and cell stress generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) associated with radiation need and availability of radio-protectors. Finally, we discuss green-based bioactive compounds that have radioprotective properties.

This is a case report of a 5.6 cm glomangioma supplied by the femoral profunda artery in a 66-year-old male patient with severe peripheral artery disease. The patient complained of discomfort and mild pain at the place of the lesion and an accelerated growth rate in the last two months. A nodular mass located laterally on the left foot, elastic, covered with a thin skin, and mobile, was noted on the clinical exam. Doppler exam demonstrated an active vascular supply. CT angiography showed a femoral profunda artery blood supply and a severe asymptomatic bilateral peripheral artery disease (PAD). The lesion was removed entirely by surgery. A microscopy exam revealed a glomangioma. After surgery, the patient recovered unevenly. However, the patient experienced wound-healing issues that resolved after four weeks of surgery. Although the patient’s PAD was severe, the lesion presented with a burst in dimensions weeks before surgery.

This paper is a review of the book „Dante, Freud and Dalí: What They Might Have in Common? Psychoanalytic Reflections on Dante’s Inferno”, authored by PhD professor Marius Dumitrescu, publiahed by Lumen Publishing House from Iasi, Romania, in 2022.

Introdução: a dor de moderada à grave, em crianças hospitalizadas é comum, mas muitas vezes é mal avaliada e gerenciada. Objetivo: analisar os conhecimentos da equipe de enfermagem sobre instrumentos de avaliação da dor pediátrica. Métodos: estudo descritivo-exploratório, qualitativo, envolvendo enfermeiros e técnicos de enfermagem dos setores de urgência e emergência, clínica médica e Unidade de Terapia Intensiva de um hospital pediátrico de referência, no sudoeste maranhense. Dados coletados entre novembro de 2019 e março de 2020 por meio de entrevista individual e a saturação aconteceu com o 20º participante. Procedeu-se a análise de conteúdo temático. Resultados: a maioria dos participantes eram do sexo feminino, tinham entre 23 e 58 anos, pardos, e trabalhavam na clínica pediátrica de cinco meses a 20 anos. A equipe de enfermagem considera de grande importância a avaliação adequada da dor infantil. Da análise dos dados emergiram as categorias:Entendimento dos profissionais sobre importância da avaliação da dor infantil; desconhecimento dos profissionais sobre instrumentos de avaliação e a falta de aplicação do mesmo no ambiente hospitalar; estratégias utilizadas no alívio da dor; perspectivas dos profissionais de enfermagem no enfrentamento da dor pediátrica. Conclusão: a equipe de enfermagem deve conhecer e aplicar os instrumentos de avaliação da dor pediátrica, bem como incentivar as práticas não farmacológicas no ambiente hospitalar em consonância com as estratégias farmacológicas de alívio à dor.

Objetivo: identificar as evidências científicas relacionadas à interrupção do aleitamento materno exclusivo entre crianças menores de seis meses na Atenção Primária à Saúde. Métodos: Revisão Integrativa da Literatura realizada nas bases LILACS, Scopus e PubMed®, com utilização dos Descritores em Ciências da Saúde em português: “Aleitamento Materno”, “Desmame Precoce”, “Atenção Primaria à Saúde”, no período de 2014 a 2021. Resultados: foram selecionados 11 estudos para análise interpretativa que permitiu a identificação dos principais fatores que levaram ao desmame precoce: desconhecimento da mulher, percepção da mulher de que tem leite fraco/insuficiente e o trabalho materno fora do lar. O apoio e promoção da amamentação foi um fator que contribuiu para a manutenção do aleitamento materno exclusivo até o sexto mês. Conclusão: é primordial que a equipe de saúde identifique os fatores que prejudicam o aleitamento materno exclusivo para promover, apoiar e incentivar esta prática diminuindo os índices de desmame precoce.

Objetivou-se conhecer as principais dificuldades enfrentadas por mulheres no processo do aleitamento materno exclusivo. Pesquisa quanti-qualitativa realizada entre dezembro de 2020 a abril de 2021 com 42 puérperas que frequentavam as Unidades Básicas de Saúde para consultas de acompanhamento de seus filhos. Os dados quantitativos foram analisados considerando as frequências absolutas e relativas das variáveis categóricas e os dados qualitativos através da análise de conteúdo temático, onde emergiram as categorias: Dificuldades que permeiam a amamentação; Desmame precoce e alimentação artificial; Fontes de informação sobre aleitamento materno. As principais dificuldades foram a pega incorreta, fissuras no mamilo, dor mamária, sangramento e estresse. A introdução precoce de alternativas alimentares ocorre em razão da rotina de trabalho, além de haver incentivos de familiares e conhecidos. Concluiu-se que a mulher necessita de orientações, apoio e de informação adequada desde o pré-natal e no puerpério para que compreenda a técnica correta para a amamentação, além do saber acerca dos benefícios do leite materno, eliminando as dificuldades que permeiam este processo.

Cancer causes significant mortality and morbidity worldwide, but existing pharmacological treatments are greatly limited by the inherent heterogeneity of cancer as a disease, as well as the unsatisfactory efficacy and specificity of therapeutic drugs. Biopharmaceutical barriers such as low permeability and poor water solubility, along with the absence of active targeting capabilities, often result in suboptimal clinical results. The difficulty of successfully reaching and destroying tumor cells is also often compounded with undesirable impacts on healthy tissue, including off-target effects and high toxicity, which further impair the ability to effectively manage the disease and optimize patient outcomes. However, in the last few decades, the development of nanotherapeutics has allowed for the use of rational design in order to maximize therapeutic success. Advances in the fabrication of nano-sized delivery systems, coupled with a variety of surface engineering strategies to promote customization, have resulted in promising approaches for targeted, site-specific drug delivery with fewer unwanted effects and better therapeutic efficacy. These nano systems have been able to overcome some of the challenges of conventional drug delivery related to pharmacokinetics, biodistribution, and target specificity. In particular, lipid-based nanosystems have been extensively explored due to their high biocompatibility, versatility, and adaptability. Lipid-based approaches to cancer treatment are varied and diverse, including liposomal therapeutics, lipidic nanoemulsions, solid lipid nanoparticles, nanostructured lipidic carriers, lipid-polymer nanohybrids, and supramolecular nanolipidic structures. This review aims to provide an overview of the use of diverse formulations of lipid-engineered nanotherapeutics for cancer and current challenges in the field, as researchers attempt to successfully translate these approaches from bench to clinic.

G-proteins function as molecular switches to power cofactor translocation and confer fidelity in metal trafficking. MMAA, a G-protein motor, together with MMAB, an adenosyltransferase, orchestrate cofactor delivery and repair of B12-dependent human methylmalonyl-CoA mutase (MMUT). The mechanism by which the motor assembles and moves a >1300 Da cargo, or fails in disease, are poorly understood. Herein, we report the crystal structure of the human MMUT-MMAA nanomotor assembly, which reveals a dramatic 180° rotation of the B12domain, exposing it to solvent. The nanomotor complex, stabilized by MMAA wedging between two MMUT domains, leads to ordering of the switch I and III loops, revealing the molecular basis of mutase-dependent GTPase activation. The structure explains the biochemical penalties incurred by methylmalonic aciduria-causing mutations that reside at the newly identified MMAA-MMUT interfaces.

Targeting multiple viral proteins is pivotal for sustained viral suppression. In recent years, several broadly neutralizing antibodies that target the influenza virus hemagglutinin and neuraminidase glycoproteins have been developed. However, the impact of dual neutralization of these two glycoproteins on the course of infection has not been thoroughly tested. Here we demonstrate that a bispecific antibody that neutralizes both the hemagglutinin and the neuraminidase has a dual antiviral activity as it blocks infection and prevents the release of progeny viruses from the infected cells. We further show that dual neutralization of the hemagglutinin and the neuraminidase by a bispecific antibody is advantageous over antibody combination as it results in an improved neutralization capacity and augmented antibody effector functions. Notably, the bispecific antibody showed enhanced antiviral activity in influenza virus-infected mice. These findings suggest that dual neutralization of the hemagglutinin and neuraminidase could be effective in controlling influenza virus infection.

Control over transition metal redox state is essential for metalloprotein function and can be achieved via coordination chemistry and/or sequestration from bulk solvent. Human methylmalonyl-Coenzyme A (CoA) mutase (MCM) catalyzes the isomerization of methylmalonyl-CoA to succinyl-CoA using 5′-deoxyadenosylcobalamin (AdoCbl) as a metallocofactor. During catalysis, the occasional escape of the 5′-deoxyadenosine (dAdo) moiety leaves the cob(II)alamin intermediate stranded and prone to hyperoxidation to hydroxocobalamin, which is recalcitrant to repair. In this study, we have identified the use of bivalent molecular mimicry by ADP, coopting the 5′-deoxyadenosine and diphosphate moieties in the cofactor and substrate, respectively, to protect against cob(II)alamin overoxidation on MCM. Crystallographic and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) data reveal that ADP exerts control over the metal oxidation state by inducing a conformational change that seals off solvent access, rather than by switching five-coordinate cob(II)alamin to the more air stable four-coordinate state. Subsequent binding of methylmalonyl-CoA (or CoA) promotes cob(II)alamin off-loading from MCM to adenosyltransferase for repair. This study identifies an unconventional strategy for controlling metal redox state by an abundant metabolite to plug active site access, which is key to preserving and recycling a rare, but essential, metal cofactor.

The genera Acesines Stål, 1876 and Dunnius Distant, 1902 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Pentatomidae: Pentatominae) were revised and redescribed with the description of Dunnius barpetensis Salini & Rabbani, sp. nov., based on specimens from Assam and Meghalaya, northeastern states of India. The genus Mycterizon Breddin, 1909 is reinstated from Dunnius, removed from the tribe Menidini, and redescribed. Consequently, the following new combinations are proposed: A. sordida (Kirby, 1891), comb. nov., Dunnius laticeps (Zheng & Liu, 1987), comb. nov., D. tridentatus (Xiong & Liu, 1995), comb. nov., and D. trifasciatus (Xiong & Liu, 1995), comb. nov. A lectotype is designated for Araducta bella (Distant, 1900a). Acesines bambusana Distant, 1918, and Mycterizon bellusstat. rev. are redescribed based on both male and female genitalia and Dunnius fulvescens (Dallas, 1851) is redescribed based on female genitalia.

Objetivou-se relatar a experiência vivenciada por professores e alunos de uma universidade pública sobre a utilização das novas práticas educacionais durante a pandemia de Covid-19. Estudo descritivo do tipo relato de experiência realizado em outubro de 2020 com 12 professores e 31 alunos. Informações coletadas através de enquete com quatro perguntas abertas elaborada no formulário digital Google forms e o link enviado pelo aplicativo de mensagens Whatsapp, dirigida a professores e alunos do curso de enfermagem da Universidade Federal do Maranhão, campus Imperatriz. Os participantes relataram que o processo de ensino/aprendizagem no modo remoto é simultaneamente desafiador, enriquecedor e exaustivo. A principal dificuldade elencada foi a falta de acesso a internet de qualidade. A utilização de metodologias e ferramentas digitais como o Google Forms, Kahoot, Padlet, tem efeito inovador na educação, já que aulas presenciais poderiam trazer sérias consequências a saúde de professores e alunos.

RESUMO Objetivo: verificar a associação entre variáveis sociodemográficas, antecedentes obstétricos, gestação atual e puerpério à autoeficácia em amamentar. Método: estudo transversal, realizado no sudoeste maranhense do Brasil, entre os meses de outubro de 2020 a julho de 2021 com a participação de 240 puérperas, utilizando-se a Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale - Short Form. Realizaram-se análise descritiva, possíveis associações, modelos de regressão logística simples e múltiplos. Resultados: 83,3% apresentaram alta autoeficácia em amamentar, 46,7% tinham entre 26 e 35 anos, 81,2% eram casadas ou estavam em união estável, 94,2% amamentaram na primeira hora de vida, 37,9% receberam orientação sobre amamentação na Unidade Básica e 84,2% ofertaram somente leite materno para o recém-nascido na maternidade, sendo esses fatores associados à alta autoeficácia em amamentar (p

Recently, language models have demonstrated strong performance on various natural language understanding tasks. Language models trained on large human-generated corpus encode not only a significant amount of human knowledge, but also the human stereotype. As more and more downstream tasks have integrated language models as part of the pipeline, it is necessary to understand the internal stereotypical representation in order to design the methods for mitigating the negative effects. In this paper, we use counterexamples to examine the internal stereotypical knowledge in pre-trained language models (PLMs) that can lead to stereotypical preference. We mainly focus on gender stereotypes, but the method can be extended to other types of stereotype. We evaluate 7 PLMs on 9 types of cloze-style prompt with different information and base knowledge. The results indicate that PLMs show a certain amount of robustness against unrelated information and preference of shallow linguistic cues, such as word position and syntactic structure, but a lack of interpreting information by meaning. Such findings shed light on how to interact with PLMs in a neutral approach for both finetuning and evaluation., Comment: WIP; to be submitted

RESUMEN Objetivo: verificar la asociación entre las variables sociodemográficas, los antecedentes obstétricos, la gestación actual y el puerperio con la autoeficacia en amamantar. Método: estudio transversal, realizado en el sudoeste maranhense de Brasil, entre los meses de octubre de 2020 a julio de 2021 con la participación de 240 puérperas, utilizando el Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale - Short Form. Se realizaron análisis descriptivos, posibles asociaciones y modelos de regresión logística simple y múltiple. Resultados: El 83,3% mostró una alta autoeficacia para la lactancia materna, el 46,7% tenía entre 26 y 35 años, el 81,2% estaba casada o en unión estable, el 94,2% dio el pecho en la primera hora de vida, el 37,9% recibió orientación sobre la lactancia materna en la Unidad de Atención Primaria y el 84,2% ofreció sólo leche materna al recién nacido en la maternidad, asociándose estos factores con una alta autoeficacia para la lactancia materna (p

Objective: to verify the association between sociodemographic variables, obstetric history, current pregnancy, and puerperium with breastfeeding self-efficacy. Method: cross-sectional study conducted in southwestern Maranhão, Brazil, between October 2020 and July 2021 with the participation of 240 postpartum women, using the Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale - Short Form. Descriptive analysis, possible associations, simple and multiple logistic regression models were performed. Results: 83.3% had high breastfeeding self-efficacy, 46.7% were between 26 and 35 years old, 81.2% were married or in a stable union, 94.2% breastfed in the first hour of life, 37.9% received orientation on breastfeeding in the Primary Health Care Unit, and 84.2% offered only breast milk to the newborn in the maternity hospital. These factors were associated with high breastfeeding self-efficacy (p

Mutations in theGBA1gene cause the lysosomal storage disorder Gaucher disease (GD) and are the greatest genetic risk factor for Parkinson’s disease (PD). Communication between gut and brain and immune dysregulation are increasingly being implicated in neurodegenerative disorders such as PD. Here, we show that flies lacking theGba1bgene, the main fly orthologue ofGBA1, display widespread innate immune up-regulation, including gut inflammation and brain glial activation. We also demonstrate gut dysfunction in flies lackingGba1b, with increased intestinal transit time, gut barrier permeability and microbiome dysbiosis. Remarkably, modulating the microbiome ofGba1bknockout flies, by raising them under germ-free conditions, can partially ameliorate lifespan, locomotor and some neuropathological phenotypes. Lastly, direct stimulation of autophagy by rapamycin treatment achieves similar beneficial effects. Overall, our data reveal that the gut microbiome drives systemic immune activation inGba1bknockout flies and that reducing innate immune response activation either by eliminating the microbiota or clearance of immunogens by autophagy may represent potential therapeutic avenues forGBA1-associated neurodegenerative disease.

In this study

The experiments were conducted at ICAR Research Complex for North Eastern Hill Region, Umiam, Meghalaya, India to evaluate of some insecticides against major insect pests of brinjal and cabbage under field condition. All treatments viz. indoxacarb 14.5 SC (75 and 150 g a.i. ha-1), chlorfenapyr 10 SC (100 and 200 g a.i. ha-1), chlorpyrifos 20EC (200 and 400 g a.i. ha-1) and control (water spray) were applied thrice in brinjal and twice in cabbage at 15 days intervals. Shoot infestation in brinjal was counted from randomly selected five tagged plants from each replication before spray and on 7 and 14 days after application of insecticides. Fruits infestations were counted during harvesting only. In cabbage, larval population was counted from five randomly selected tagged plants from each replication on 1 day before and on 1, 3, 7, 14 days of each spray. Results revealed that the mean shoot infestation of brinjal was lowest in indoxacarb at double the recommended dose (4.82%) followed by indoxacarb at recommended dose (6.65%) with 80.19 and 72.66% reduction respectively over control check. The lowest brinjal fruit infestation (8.25%) also recorded at double the recommended dose of indoxacarb followed recommended dose (11.48%) of same insecticide. In cabbage, pooled of two years results revealed that indoxacarb @ 150 g a.i. ha-1 was very effective treatment with lowest number of larvae (0.98 larvae plant-1) followed by indoxacarb @ 75 g a.i. ha-1 (2.21 larvae plant-1) with higher marketable yield at both these treatments.

Objetivou-se identificar as percepções das gestantes que vivem com o HIV sobre a maternidade e conhecer as expectativas e os sentimentos vivenciados por essas mulheres. Pesquisa descritiva, documental, qualitativa, com a participação de 17 gestantes soropositivas para o HIV, atendidas no Serviço de Atendimento Especializado em HIV/aids do Hospital Regional Materno Infantil de Imperatriz-MA realizada entre setembro de 2019 e julho de 2020. Pesquisa aprovada pelo Comitê de Ética em Pesquisa da Universidade Federal do Maranhão sob parecer 2.496.047. As falas das participantes foram gravadas e analisadas segundo a análise do conteúdo e encontrou-se quatro categorias: Sentimentos vivenciados ao diagnóstico do HIV e perspectivas para o futuro; Sentimentos relacionados a gestação no contexto do HIV; Esperanças e expectativas com o futuro do filho; Sensação de impotência diante da impossibilidade de amamentar. Para algumas a descoberta do diagnóstico de soropositividade gerou sentimentos de medo e raiva, algumas se decidiram pela gravidez e para outras a gravidez não foi planejada. Percebeu-se a importância da equipe multidisciplinar para o processo de adaptação da gestante no seu contexto, principalmente no momento de pré-natal.

This study aimed to examine the trends in the prevalence of overweight and obesity and to determine the associated socioeconomic and household environmental factors among women in Nepal. Using nationally representative data from the 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011, and 2016 cross-sectional Nepal Demographic and Health Surveys (NDHSs) (n = 33,507), the prevalence of overweight–obesity (body mass index (BMI) ≥ 25 kg/m2) and obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2) among women aged 15–49 years were examined. From the latest NDHS 2016, non-pregnant women with recorded anthropometric measurements (n = 6165) were included in the final analyses. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to determine the socioeconomic and household environmental factors associated with BMI ≥ 25 and BMI ≥ 30. Between 1996 and 2016, the prevalence of overweight–obesity increased from 1.8% to 19.7%, while the prevalence of obesity increased from 0.2% to 4.1%. Age, marital status, wealth index, province of residence, type of cooking fuel, and household possessions—refrigerator and bicycle were significantly associated with having overweight–obesity and obesity. Similarly, educational status, religion, type of toilet facility, and household possessions—television and mobile phone were significantly associated with having overweight–obesity. Given the alarming increase in the prevalence of overweight and obesity among Nepalese women, there is an urgent need for interventions addressing these critical socioeconomic and household environmental factors.

We address the problem of recognizing emotion cause in conversations, define two novel sub-tasks of this problem, and provide a corresponding dialogue-level dataset, along with strong Transformer-based baselines. The dataset is available at https://github.com/declare-lab/RECCON. Introduction: Recognizing the cause behind emotions in text is a fundamental yet under-explored area of research in NLP. Advances in this area hold the potential to improve interpretability and performance in affect-based models. Identifying emotion causes at the utterance level in conversations is particularly challenging due to the intermingling dynamics among the interlocutors. Method: We introduce the task of Recognizing Emotion Cause in CONversations with an accompanying dataset named RECCON, containing over 1,000 dialogues and 10,000 utterance cause-effect pairs. Furthermore, we define different cause types based on the source of the causes, and establish strong Transformer-based baselines to address two different sub-tasks on this dataset: causal span extraction and causal emotion entailment. Result: Our Transformer-based baselines, which leverage contextual pre-trained embeddings, such as RoBERTa, outperform the state-of-the-art emotion cause extraction approaches Conclusion: We introduce a new task highly relevant for (explainable) emotion-aware artificial intelligence: recognizing emotion cause in conversations, provide a new highly challenging publicly available dialogue-level dataset for this task, and give strong baseline results on this dataset., https://github.com/declare-lab/RECCON, Accepted at Cognitive Computation

Detecting and correcting misspelled words in a written text are of great importance in many natural language processing applications. Errors can be broadly classified into two groups, namely spelling error and contextual errors. Spelling errors occur when the misspelled words do not exist in a dictionary and are meaningless, while contextual errors occur when the words do exist in the dictionary, but their use is not as intended by the writer. This paper presents an “Urdu Spell Checker” that detects incorrect spellings of a word using widely used lexicon lookup approach and provides a list of candidate words containing correct spellings by applying the edit distance technique which covers all types of spelling errors. To identify the best candidate word, this paper proposes a hybrid model that ranks the words in the candidate word list. Multiple ranking techniques such as Soundex, Shapex, LCS and N-gram are used standalone, as well in combination, to determine the best technique in terms of F1 score. A dictionary containing 48,551 words is developed from UMC corpus and Urdu newspaper corpus. Our hybrid model achieves an F1 score of 94.02% when considering top five suggested words and an F1 score of 88.29% when considering top one suggested word.

This study aimed to evaluate the role of chest radiographs and electrocardiograms in predicting the hemodynamics of congenital heart disease (CHD). This retrospective study included 50 patients with a diagnosis of CHD who had undergone any form of cardiac intervention, either surgical or nonsurgical between September 2019 and September 2020. Chest radiographs and electrocardiograms were evaluated and compared with the diagnostic gold standard echocardiography. Chest radiographs had the highest sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy, with all being 100%, in detecting situs and cardiac position. There was a very good agreement between chest radiographs and echocardiography in the detection of both situs and cardiac position (κ = 1.00, p < 0.001), while moderate agreement was observed for the detection of cardiomegaly, position of aortic knuckle, main pulmonary artery dilation, and right pulmonary artery dilation. Electrocardiograms had a high sensitivity (100.00%), but modest specificity and accuracy for the detection of left ventricle pressure overload. For the detection of left atrial enlargement and left ventricle volume overload, electrocardiograms had high specificity (94.12% and 94.29%, respectively) but low sensitivity and modest accuracy. There was a moderate agreement between electrocardiograms and echocardiography in the detection of right ventricle pressure overload (κ = 0.43, p = 0.002) and left ventricle volume overload (κ = 0.46, p < 0.001). The study findings indicate that chest radiographs and electrocardiograms alone are not adequate for the assessment of hemodynamics of CHD and reinstates the recommendation that in addition to routine chest radiographs and electrocardiograms, echocardiography should be performed.

The upsurge of emerging infectious diseases over the past few years especially from bacteria is a major global threat. The antibiotic used for the treatment purposes has adverse health effects. Hence, there is a need for novel natural alternates to overcome such issues. In this research work, the antibacterial effects of bio-inspired silver nanoparticles from Azadirachta indica bark were explored. Herein, the AgNPs were synthesized using aqueous extract of A. indica bark. The optimization of parameters was carried out using Box-Behnken Design ver. 12. Using response surface methodology the conditions for biosynthesis of small sized and uniformly distributed nanoparticles were optimized. The physicochemical characterizations of AgNPs were done by DLS, SEM, Zeta potential and FTIR. The DLS and SEM data revealed the average size of particles to be 76.35 nm and 30.6 nm respectively. FTIR analysis has shown the involvement of conjugated alkenes in the biosynthesis and capping process. In this research, the biological applications of AIB-AgNPs were also explored. The antimicrobial activities were determined by disc diffusion, Congo red agar and Crystal violet assays. The antimicrobial activity was found to be increased in a dose dependent manner. We have also looked into the mechanistic aspect of antibacterial activity. For this, cellular damages caused by AgNPs treatment were studied by membrane leakage analysis. The binding of AgNPs with bacterial cell and cellular leakage were visualized by SEM. Lastly, changes in the functional groups of membrane composition of bacterial cells were depicted by FTIR.

Introdução: Segundo o Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente, é proibida qualquer forma de trabalho até os 13 anos de idade, sendo dever do Estado e da sociedade a proteção da infância (BRASIL, 1990a). No entanto, segundo Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios Contínua, no Brasil em 2019, havia uma população de 38,3 milhões de indivíduos com idade entre 5 e 17 anos, sendo que 1,8 milhão destas estavam em situação de trabalho infantil (IBGE, 2019). Apesar da redução de 16,8% observada, com relação a 2016, esses dados ainda permanecem elevados, percebendo-se um longo caminho até a erradicação e cumprimento dos direitos das crianças e adolescentes, o que proporcionaria assim um crescimento e desenvolvimento saudável. Diante de tal realidade, o Sistema Único de Saúde, deve contribuir com o combate à exploração do trabalho infantil, oferecendo atenção integral à saúde de crianças e adolescentes. Neste contexto, a educação em saúde tem se apresentado como um instrumento de fortalecimento para construção do conhecimento em saúde, através de práticas e saberes, que promovem a mudança social dos sujeitos e comunidade (AGUIAR, 2020). Objetivos: Relatar a experiência vivenciada por discentes da graduação em enfermagem ao realizar ações de educação em saúde mediados pela ludoterapia, direcionadas para a prevenção do trabalho infantil. Descrição da Experiência: Trata-se de uma ação de educação em saúde realizada em alusão ao dia 12 de junho, Dia Mundial Contra o Trabalho Infantil, ocorrida em 13 de junho de 2022, em local público, com crianças estudantes da Escola Municipal Frei Manuel Procópio, em Imperatriz. Aconteceram apresentações relacionadas ao tema "Para que o nosso futuro não chore, precisamos ser melhores", com a participação dos graduandos do curso de enfermagem, vinculados ao projeto de extensão Enfermeiros do Riso, da Universidade Federal do Maranhão. Os extensionistas propuseram reflexão acerca da temática citada ao expor e exemplificar os prejuízos provocados pelo trabalho infantil na sociedade. As atividades desenvolvidas foram mediadas pela ludoterapia e compreenderam a contação e interpretação de histórias, como a representação da rotina de Benedito, uma criança que tinha de trabalhar no lixão para auxiliar no sustento da família. Associada à narração, também houve cantigas de roda e cirandas enfatizando o significado do brincar na infância. Resultados: A invisibilidade do trabalho infantil converge no déficit da identificação de agravos à saúde de crianças e adolescentes trabalhadores. Mostrou-se relevante a abordagem lúdica em ambiente social e para comunidade, pois permitiu um pensamento crítico-reflexivo, pelo qual se apresentou algumas faces do problema, suas consequências para a saúde infantil que levam a danos, como a evasão escolar, acidentes de trabalho, e mudanças comportamentais. Ademais, a participação dos graduandos do curso de Enfermagem permitiu compreender o papel de atores sociais que acompanham a sua profissão. Conclusão: A experiência foi construtiva e viável, e percebeu-se significativa compreensão dos presentes, adultos e crianças, quanto à urgência da temática. Embora ainda haja muito a ser desempenhado, a ação educativa impulsiona os autores e ouvintes a permanecer no enfrentamento destes desafios, visando a atenuá-los e, por fim, saná-los.

Explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) aims to reduce the opacity of AI-based decision-making systems, allowing humans to scrutinize and trust them. Unlike prior work that attributes the responsibility for an algorithm's decisions to its inputs as a purely associational concept, we propose a principled causality-based approach for explaining black-box decision-making systems. We present the demonstration of Lewis, a system that generates explanations for black-box algorithms at the global, contextual, and local levels, and provides actionable recourse for individuals negatively affected by an algorithm's decision. Lewis makes no assumptions about the internals of the algorithm except for the availability of its input-output data. The explanations generated by Lewis are based on probabilistic contrastive counterfactuals, a concept that can be traced back to philosophical, cognitive, and social foundations of theories on how humans generate and select explanations. We describe the system layout of Lewis wherein an end-user specifies the underlying causal model and Lewis generates explanations for particular use-cases, compares them with explanations generated by state-of-the-art approaches in XAI, and provides actionable recourse when applicable. Lewis has been developed as open-source software; the code and the demonstration video are available at lewis-system.github.io.

Migrations have had a role in forming the economies and cultures of practically all countries. Their nature and effects must be studied objectively. In her lecture delivered in October 2020 in memory of Professor Satish Chandra, Professor Romila Thapar discusses the nature and effects of three migrations, distant from each other in time, viz. the Aryan, (second millennium BC), the Kuṣāṇa (early centuries AD) and Arab (tenth century onward). These migrations contributed to both economic change and cultural evolution. These were fundamentally different in nature from migrations accompanying colonial conquests and the forced shifting of people in the colonial era. The current prejudice against migrants, by those who claim this to be an expression of nationalism, should not cloud our judgement of earlier migrations into India and their role in our history and culture

Objetivos: investigar o conhecimento de puérperas acerca da prática do aleitamento materno exclusivo. Método: Pesquisa com abordagem qualitativa realizada no período de dezembro de 2020 a abril de 2021 na Unidade Básica de Saúde Nova Imperatriz em Imperatriz (MA). Foram incluídas puérperas frequentadoras da unidade básica, em processo de amamentação ou desmame, residentes na área de abrangência. Participaram da pesquisa 42 puérperas que foram entrevistadas e responderam a um questionário semi-estruturado. A pesquisa atendeu aos princípios éticos e foi aprovada pelo comitê de Ética em pesquisa da Universidade Federal do Maranhão sob o parecer de número 4.378.168. Resultados: A faixa etária das puérperas variou de 18 a 37 anos, se autodeclararam pardas 76,1%, eram casadas 57%, possuíam o ensino médio completo 47,6%, eram donas de casa 66,7%, com renda familiar de 1 a 2 salários mínimos 38,1%, e sem moradia própria 54,8%. Eram primíparas 52,4%, todas realizaram o pré-natal, tendo a maioria (83,3%) comparecido a mais de seis consultas. Os dados qualitativos foram analisados e emergiram as seguintes categorias: Promoção do aleitamento materno e aleitamento materno exclusivo; Mitos e tabus sobre o Aleitamento materno; Riscos da interrupção precoce do aleitamento materno exclusivo. Considerações finais: Notou-se que o conhecimento materno acerca do aleitamento ainda é pequeno. As orientações fornecidas nos serviços de saúde foram insuficientes para a adequada compreensão da relevância do aleitamento materno exclusivo, bem como para a sua adesão.

The CblC and CblD chaperones are involved in early steps in the cobalamin trafficking pathway. Cobalamin derivatives entering the cytoplasm are converted by CblC to a common cob(II)alamin intermedi...

The field of mechatronic/robotic wearable exoskeletons, specifically those designated for assistance/rehabilitation in severe neuro-/locomotor disabling conditions in the lower limbs, is considered to have a great potential for radically changing the harsh condition of wheelchairs users, by restoring their defining human traits: bipedal, vertical, stance and gait. But even the most advanced such complex devices, are not yet effectively able to largely replace the wheelchairs. Therefore, until the overall complete wheelchairs’ substitutes, will meet, in this purpose, all the necessary related requirements, we have determined, and accordingly, designed – from a double perspective: of professionals and of (a) consumer – a series of necessary and rather accessible/feasible, consistent: mechanical and electro-mechanical improvements, to the current common type of wheelchairs, in order to improve the global functioning, autonomy and consequently, the quality of life in the needing people, with severe mobility restraints. These, for now, narratively innovative concepts and specifically designed, practical/technological-constructive solutions, target 10 main kinds of beneficial outcomes, i.e. a decalogue and their derivatives to be expected (most of them previously imagined by us but not completely designed until now, two of them already achieved but which need updating and other four entirely new), that could result in an “all-in-one” product paradigm which, to our knowledge, is not available at present. This model of wheelchair we propose is, at the same time, modular, so a certain consumer can purchase/ be offered only his/her own case-specific needed optimization components of it

Knowing the predominant sensory perception of a handball player is important for the coach and the player equally. In this paper, we aim to identify the predominant sensory perception of a junior handball team. Subjects were 16 handball players born in 2005 or younger, at the category juniors III from Sporting Ghimbav Sports Club. The initial testing took place on 22nd December 2018 and 9th January 2019 and the final testing on 23rd November 2019. The method used is the application of psychological tests and interpretation of the results received. The conclusions of the study have highlighted useful information on how to improve the training of the junior players.

Histone proteins regulate cellular factors’ accessibility to DNA, and histone dosage has previously been linked with DNA damage susceptibility and efficiency of DNA repair pathways. Surplus histones are known to impede the DNA repair process by interfering with the homologous recombination-mediated DNA repair in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Here, we discuss the recent finding of association of methyl methanesulfonate (MMS) resistance with the reduced histone H4 gene dosage in the pathogenic yeast Candida glabrata. We have earlier shown that while the low histone H3 gene dosage led to MMS susceptibility, the lack of two H4-encoding ORFs, CgHHF1 and CgHHF2, led to resistance to MMS-induced DNA damage. This resistance was linked with a higher rate of homologous recombination (HR). Taking these findings further, we review the interactome analysis of histones H3 and H4 in C. glabrata. We also report that the arginine residue present at the 95th position in the C-terminal tail of histone H4 protein is required for complementation of the MMS resistance in the Cghhf1Δhhf2Δ mutant, thereby pointing out a probable role of this residue in association with HR factors. Additionally, we present evidence that reduction in H4 protein levels may constitute an important part of varied stress responses in C. glabrata. Altogether, we present an overview of histone H4 dosage, HR-mediated repair of damaged DNA and stress resistance in this opportunistic human fungal pathogen.

BackgroundPhoenix dactyliferaL. has a diverse set of pharmacological properties due to its distinct phytochemical profile. The purpose of this study was to investigate the anticancer potential ofPhoenix dactyliferaseed extract (PDSE) in human breast cancer MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells, as well as liver cancer HepG2 cells, and to investigate the anticancer efficacy in triple-negative MDA-MB-231 cells, followed by in silico validation of the molecular interaction between active components of PDSE and caspase-3, an apoptosis executioner protein .MethodsIn this study, human cancer cell lines were cultured and subsequently treated with 10 to 100 μg/mL of PDSE. MTT test was performed to determine the cell viability, MMP was measured using fluorescent probe JC-1, nuclear condensation was determined by Hoechst 33258 dye, Annexin V-FITC & PI staining and cell cycle analysis were evaluated through flow cytometer, and apoptotic markers were detected using western blotting. The bioactive agents in PDSE were identified using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis. The binding affinity was validated using molecular docking tools AutoDock Vina and iGEMDOCK v2.1.ResultsCell viability data indicated that PDSE inhibited cell proliferation in both breast cancer cells and liver cancer cells. MDA-MB-231 cells showed maximum growth inhibition with an IC50value of 85.86 μg/mL for PDSE. However, PDSE did not show any significant toxicity against the normal Vero cell line. PDSE induced MMP loss and formation of apoptotic bodies, enhanced late apoptosis at high doses and arrested cells in the S phase of cell cycle. PDSE activated the enzymatic activity of cleaved caspase-3 and caused the cleavage of poly-ADB ribose polymerase (PARP) protein. PDSE upregulated pro-apoptotic Bax protein markedly but no significant effect on tumor suppressor protein p53, while it downregulated the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 protein expression. HPLC analysis showed the presence of rutin and quercetin bioactive flavonols in ethanolic extract of PDS. Interestingly, both active components revealed a strong binding interaction with amino acid residues of caspase-3 (PDB ID: 2XYP; Hetero 4-mer - A2B2) protein.ConclusionPDS could serve as a potential medicinal source for apoptotic cell death in human breast cancer cells and, thus, could be used as a promising and crucial candidate in anticancer drug development. This study warrants further in vivo research, followed by clinical investigation.

Medicinal plants (MPs) are natural sources of active compounds with potential therapeutic benefits in alleviating various illnesses for decades. Fijian people also are using these MPs for the management/prevention of Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and associated complications. However, till date, none of these Fijian MP’s antidiabetic potential have been explored or evaluated. Here, we investigated the antidiabetic potential of Fijian MPs scientifically. Phytochemicals such as polyphenols were detected to inhibit the activity of α-amylase and α-glucosidase, the two key carbohydrate enzymes linked to T2DM. Therefore, in the present study, the total phenolic content (TPC), α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory activity of five Fijian MPs: Vobo (Mussaenda raiateensis, MR), Vula walu (Blechnum orientale, BO), Gasau (Miscanthus floridulus, MF), Molikaro (Citrus limon, CL) and Beki ni sina (Dicranopteris caudate, DC) collected from mainland region of Vitilevu, Fiji Islands, were evaluated in vitro. The hydromethanolic (ME) and dichloromethane (DM) extracts of these selected MPs were investigated. The ME extracts of BO (0.102 ± 0.009 mM CE) and DC (0.098 ± 0.09 mM Catechin Equivalence [CE]) showed a higher TPC compared with the control [vanillic acid (0.052 ± 0.003 mM CE, *P value < 0.05)]. However, the TPC of MF, MR and CL were found in the range of 0.020 ± 0.009 to 0.009 ± 0.01 mM CE. The ME extracts of MF and MR inhibited α-glucosidase significantly in comparison with acarbose as evidenced from the IC50 values (IC50 of MF = 1.58 ± 0.03 ng/µl; IC50 of MR = 1.87 ± 0.43 ng/µl and IC50 of acarbose = 3.34 ± 0.15 ng/µl). Moreover, DM extracts of MR (IC50 = 1.31 ± 0.29 ng/µl) also showed significantly higher α-glucosidase inhibitory activity. In contrary, MR (IC50 = 16.18 ± 0.16 ng/µl) and CL (IC50 = 9.21 ± 0.51 ng/µl) also showed significant α-amylase inhibitory activity in ME and DM extracts, respectively. These, results suggest that Fijian MPs could be a potential source of natural inhibitors of enzymes involved in carbohydrate digestion and thus may possibly be used in managing T2DM.

Heart failure is one of the main morbidity and mortality factors in the general population and especially in elderly patients. Thus, at the European level, the prevalence of heart failure is 1% in people under 55 years of age but increases to over 10% in people over 70 years of age. The particularities of the elderly patient, which make the management of heart failure difficult, are the presence of comorbidities, frailty, cognitive impairment and polypharmacy. However, elderly patients are under-represented in clinical trials on the diagnosis and treatment of heart failure. The need for complementary methods (biomarkers) for differential and early diagnosis of heart failure is becoming more and more evident, even in its subclinical stages. These methods need to have increased specificity and sensitivity and be widely available. Natriuretic peptides, in particular B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and its fraction NTproBNP, have gained an increasingly important role in the screening, diagnosis and treatment of heart failure in recent years.