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The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted daily life, impacting relationships, work, and education. This has led to increased stress, anxiety, and depression, along with altered sleep patterns and eating behaviors. Quarantine and isolation have worsened mental health, especially in children and the elderly, due to the loss of activities and physical contact. Sleep disorders and negative dreams perpetuate poor sleep quality, increasing the risk of health issues. Sedentary lifestyles and emotional effects contribute to unhealthy eating patterns and obesity, exacerbated by disrupted routines and limited outdoor activities. Addressing these challenges requires prioritizing mental health, promoting healthy sleep habits, and addressing obesity factors. The pandemic has profoundly affected human well-being, but resilience, mental health, sleep, and nutrition can enhance overall well-being and adaptability in the post-COVID era. This comprehensive opinion aims to raise awareness of the wide-ranging impacts of this pandemic on various aspects of human well-being and to emphasize the importance of implementing strategies that prioritize mental health, improve sleep habits, address eating behaviors, and foster resilience to navigate and thrive in the face of future challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aims: Glucose homeostasis is a critical cornerstone in both health and disease. It is described to be regulated by the balance of insulin and glucagon secretion but, this bi-hormonal perspective is long overdue since glucose homeostasis is now known to be a multi-hormonal process. Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a cluster of metabolic features that includes impaired glucose metabolism and obesity. Obesity promotes a low chronic inflammation state due to the release of bioactive molecules like cytokines, ultimately contributing to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer. The gastrointestinal tract (GIT), namely the stomach and intestine, has a vital role not only in the food uptake and absorption but also in the production of incretin hormones, such as GLP-1. We aim to evaluate the GLP-1 receptor (GLP-1R) in the GIT of a MetS animal model and to assess whether it correlates with inflammatory levels. Material and method: The expression of GLP-1R and interleukin-6 (IL-6) was evaluated in the stomach and intestine of mice subjected to normal diet (ND) and high fat diet (HFD) by immunohistochemistry. Results: We observed that HFD fed animals presented lower levels of GLP-1R in the stomach and intestine when compared with animals fed with ND. Concomitantly, these mice expressed increased levels of IL-6. Conclusions: GLP-1R expression is inversely correlated with the expression of the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-6. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Doxorubicin (DOXO) is an adjuvant chemotherapy agent and is also commonly used in cell biology research. Cytotoxic assays in cell culture are frequently used in order to stablish drug concentrations that are useful for controlling cell proliferation. One common cytotoxic method used is 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-Diphenyltetrazolium Bromide (MTT). Our present research aims to support future studies in engaging MTT assay using DOXO that exhibits a strong red coloration and fluorescence, and so it is assumed that DOXO may interfere with commonly used colorimetric assays such as MTT. The interference of DOXO in the MTT determination was evaluated in a Breast Cancer cell line Michigan Cancer Foundation-7 (MCF-7). The interference was evaluated by means of spectroscopic methods in particular spectrophometry and fluorescence spectroscopy of MTT and DOXO. We postulate that the medium and the MTT reagent itself can interfere on the metabolic activity method, so in order to achieve better results, DMEM was replaced by a neutral buffer like Phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). This protocol may be extremely useful in future studies involving DOXO.