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Gulosibacter molinativorax ON4T is the only known organism to produce molinate hydrolase (MolA), which catalyses the breakdown of the thiocarbamate herbicide into azepane-1-carboxylic acid (ACA) and ethanethiol. A combined genomic and transcriptomic strategy was used to fully characterize the strain ON4T genome, particularly the molA genetic environment, to identify the potential genes encoding ACA degradation enzymes. Genomic data revealed that molA is the only catabolic gene of a novel composite transposon (Tn6311), located in a novel low copy number plasmid (pARLON1) harbouring a putative T4SS of the class FATA. pARLON1 had an ANI value of 88.2% with contig 18 from Agrococcus casei LMG 22410T draft genome. Such results suggest that pARLON1 is related to genomic elements of other Actinobacteria, although Tn6311 was observed only in strain ON4T. Furthermore, genomic and transcriptomic data demonstrated that the genes involved in ACA degradation are chromosomal. Based on their overexpression when growing in the presence of molinate, the enzymes potentially involved in the heterocyclic ring breakdown were predicted. Among these, the activity of a protein related to caprolactone hydrolase was demonstrated using heterologous expression. However, further studies are needed to confirm the role of the other putative enzymes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cariniana estrellensis and Cedrela fissilis are native forest species from Brazil that are widely used for arborization of parks and recuperation of degraded areas. The production of seedlings from these two forest trees in nurseries is severely affected by fungal diseases. Morphological identification, sequencing analysis of three gene regions ( TEF+ ACT+ ITS or TEF+ TUB2 + ITS) and pathogenicity tests confirmed that fungi belonging to Botryosphaeriales are the aetiological agent of the diseases. This is the first report of Phyllosticta capitalensis causing leaf spots on C. estrellensis and Botryosphaeria dothidea causing canker on C. fissilis in forest nurseries in Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), due to its remarkable properties, is one of the most widely used polymers in many industrial and medical applications. In this work, a technique based on a flow focusing technique is used to produce PDMS spherical particles with sizes of a few microns. PDMS precursor is injected through a hypodermic needle to form a film/reservoir over the needle's outer surface. This film flows towards the needle tip until a liquid ligament is steadily ejected thanks to the action of a coflowing viscous liquid stream. The outcome is a capillary jet which breaks up into PDMS precursor droplets due to the growth of capillary waves producing a micrometer emulsion. The PDMS liquid droplets in the solution are thermally cured into solid microparticles. The size distribution of the particles is analyzed before and after curing, showing an acceptable degree of monodispersity. The PDMS liquid droplets suffer shrinkage while curing. These microparticles can be used in very varied technological fields, such as biomedicine, biotechnology, pharmacy, and industrial engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To present the data available and discuss the progress, current advances and challenges of the initiatives, current policies and guidance implemented by the Health and Education Ministries in Brazil to target transformation of health teaching in order to improve the health care offered by the Brazilian National Health System. Study design: Literature review. Methods: Documentary analysis and review of articles identified in a search of electronic databases, along with reports and documents acquired from the Health and Education Ministries between 1988 and 2013. Results: This study identified some important initiatives, including the Programme for the Encouragement of Curricular Changes in Medical Courses (PROMED), implemented in 2002 for medical courses alone. Inspired by PROMED and covering a wider range of graduate courses, the National Programme for Re-orientation of Health Professionals was implemented in 2005. This initiative launched its third edition in 2012, covering 14 health professional areas. Another relevant innovation was the National Policy of Permanent Health Education, implemented in 2007, with the goal of transforming public health services into a locus of teaching-learning through working. The Unified Health System Open University was also implemented. Conclusions: There is general concern and ongoing actions involving different sectors in Brazil in an attempt to improve the health of the Brazilian population in the future. However, the changes pursued involve deep transformations and may take considerable time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unlabelled: Hypertension-associated hypoalgesia is widely recognized in acute pain conditions. In chronic pain states, however, the relationship between blood pressure and pain sensitivity is still ill-defined, with different authors reporting negative, positive, or even no relationship at all. This work addresses this issue, using complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA)-induced monoarthritis in different models of hypertension: Spontaneous (spontaneously hypertensive rats, SHR), induced by infusion of angiotensin II (ANG) or 1,3-dipropyl-8-sulfophenylxanthine (DPSPX, an adenosine receptors' antagonist), and renal artery ligation (RAL). Nociceptive responses associated with monoarthritis were evaluated by different behavioral tests (von Frey, ankle-bend and CatWalk) and by quantification of Fos expression at the dorsal horn upon noxious stimulation. In all hypertension models, higher von Frey thresholds and lower Fos expression were detected in hypertensive rats with chronic inflammatory pain, as compared to normotensive monoarthritic rats. In SHR and DPSPX, but not ANG or RAL models, hypertensive animals displayed lower inflammation than normotensives. Ankle-bend and CatWalk results indicated lower pain sensitivity in hypertensive rats only in SHR and DPSPX models. The present study shows the importance of using multiple models of hypertension, and evaluating pain responses by various methods, to better understand the complexity of the interactions between pain and cardiovascular regulatory systems.Perspective: This study used different models of hypertension to investigate whether chronic pain alters the normal integration of cardiovascular and pain regulatory systems. A complete understanding of the mechanisms underlying the complex interactions between these systems may disclose future therapeutic approaches to treat hypertension/chronic pain comorbidity states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to identify and evaluate the decay capability of fungi that occur naturally in eucalyptus plantations of three cities in Espírito Santo state, Brazil. Hence, discs from deteriorated stumps were collected and samples isolatied to obtain pure fungal cultures. An experiment using Petri dishes with malt-agar medium and eucalyptus sapwood was performed in order to test the decay of each isolate. The experiment was evaluated by mass loss every four weeks during a total of 20 weeks. Fungi with decay capability were selected and identified via extraction of genomic DNA. Seven isolates were identified: Penicillium implicatum, Resinicium confertum, Phanerochaete chrysosporium, Cladosporium sp., Penicillium sp., Trichoderma citrinoviride and Acremonium sp. Isolation and identification of fungi from eucalyptus stumps provided naturally occurring decay fungi that inhabit the eucalyptus plantations that were adapted for this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the detection of the fungus Cercospora appii as the cause of leaf spot diseases on Capsicum chinense, a species of hot peppers, in Brazil.

Background and Aims: Endocan has been scarcely explored in COVID-19, especially regarding its modulation by veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VV-ECMO), hypertension or previous renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) inhibitors treatment. We compared endocan and other endotheliitis markers in hospitalized COVID-19 patients and assessed their modulation by VV-ECMO, hypertension and previous RAAS inhibitors treatment., Material and Methods: Serum endocan, intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) and E-selectin were measured in "severe" (n = 27), "critically ill" (n = 17) and "critically ill on VV-ECMO" (n = 17) COVID-19 patients at admission, days 3-4, 5-8 and weekly thereafter, and in controls (n = 23) at a single time point., Results: Admission endocan and VCAM-1 were increased in all patients, but "critically ill on VV-ECMO" patients had higher endocan and E-Selectin. Endocan remained elevated throughout hospitalization in all groups. "Severe" and "critically ill" hypertensive patients or previously treated with RAAS inhibitors had higher endocan and/or VCAM-1, but in VV-ECMO patients the raised endocan values seemed unrelated with these factors. Among all COVID-19 hypertensive patients, those with previous RAAS inhibitors treatment had higher endocan., Conclusions: In our study, endocan stands out as the best marker of endotheliitis in hospitalized COVID-19 patients, being upregulated by VV-ECMO support, hypertension and previous RAAS inhibitor treatment., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The CHUSJ Health Ethics Committee approved this study [CES 75-16], with project amended specifically for inclusion of subjects with COVID-19, within the scope of a RESEARCH 4 COVID-19 grant from FCT (special support for rapid implementation projects for innovative response solutions to COVID-19 pandemic)]. All eligible patients provided written informed consent to participate in the study. For ICU patients unable to give consent, this was solicited to their next of kin. These patients provided informed consent retrospectively, where possible. Blood donor volunteers provided oral informed consent. Consent for publication: All authors agree to publish this article., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

This study examined the effect of simulation on readiness for collaborative practice and learning using a randomized-controlled trial design that used the same education protocol with interprofessional and uniprofessional groups. The sample consisted of 43 students from four different majors. The students were assessed with the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale, and a care plan measurement instrument. The interprofessional group showed a small increase (0.1 ± 0.43; p = .02) in readiness for teamwork and collaboration; the uniprofessional group showed a smaller increase for teamwork and collaboration (0.04 ± 0.31; p = .04) and for patient-centred care (0.0 ± 0.35; p = .01). The enriching work of interprofessional learning was evident within the care plan activity, suggesting that interprofessional simulation is an effective learning method for interprofessional education.

The Amazon forest is the largest source of isoprene emissions, and the seasonal pattern of leaf-out phenology in this forest has been indicated as an important driver of seasonal variation in emissions. Still, it is unclear how emissions vary between different leaf phenological types in this forest. To evaluate the influence of leaf phenological type over isoprene emissions, we measured leaf-level isoprene emission capacity and leaf functional traits for 175 trees from 124 species of angiosperms distributed among brevideciduous and evergreen trees in a central Amazon forest. Evergreen isoprene emitters were less likely to store monoterpenes and had tougher and less photosynthetically active leaves with higher carbon-to-nitrogen ratios compared to non-emitters. Isoprene emission rates in brevideciduous trees were higher with a higher diversity of stored sesquiterpenes and total phenolics content. Our results suggest that the way isoprene emissions relate to growth and defense traits in central Amazon trees might be influenced by leaf phenological type, and that isoprene may participate in co-regulating a chemical-mechanical defense trade-off between brevideciduous and evergreen trees. Such knowledge can be used to improve emission estimates based on leaf phenological type since, as a highly-emitted biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC), isoprene affects atmospheric processes with implications for the Earth's radiative balance., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Robin, Römermann, Niinemets, Gershenzon, Huang, Nelson, Taylor, de Souza, Pinho, Falcão, Lacerda, Duvoisin Júnior, Schmidt and Gomes Alves.)

The evolution in the biomedical engineering field boosts innovative technologies, with microfluidic systems standing out as transformative tools in disease diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring. Numerical simulation has emerged as a tool of increasing importance for better understanding and predicting fluid-flow behavior in microscale devices. This review explores fabrication techniques and common materials of microfluidic devices, focusing on soft lithography and additive manufacturing. Microfluidic systems applications, including nucleic acid amplification and protein synthesis, as well as point-of-care diagnostics, DNA analysis, cell cultures, and organ-on-a-chip models (e.g., lung-, brain-, liver-, and tumor-on-a-chip), are discussed. Recent studies have applied computational tools such as ANSYS Fluent 2024 software to numerically simulate the flow behavior. Outside of the study cases, this work reports fundamental aspects of microfluidic simulations, including fluid flow, mass transport, mixing, and diffusion, and highlights the emergent field of organ-on-a-chip simulations. Additionally, it takes into account the application of geometries to improve the mixing of samples, as well as surface wettability modification. In conclusion, the present review summarizes the most relevant contributions of microfluidic systems and their numerical modeling to biomedical engineering.

Over the last decade, researchers have developed a variety of new analytical and clinical diagnostic devices. These devices are predominantly based on microfluidic technologies, where biological samples can be processed and manipulated for the collection and detection of important biomolecules. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is the most commonly used material in the fabrication of these microfluidic devices. However, it has a hydrophobic nature (contact angle with water of 110°), leading to poor wetting behavior and issues related to the mixing of fluids, difficulties in obtaining uniform coatings, and reduced efficiency in processes such as plasma separation and molecule detection (protein adsorption). This work aimed to consider the fabrication aspects of PDMS microfluidic devices for biological applications, such as surface modification methods. Therefore, we studied and characterized two methods for obtaining hydrophilic PDMS surfaces: surface modification by bulk mixture and the surface immersion method. To modify the PDMS surface properties, three different surfactants were used in both methods (Pluronic ® F127, polyethylene glycol (PEG), and polyethylene oxide (PEO)) at different percentages. Water contact angle (WCA) measurements were performed to evaluate the surface wettability. Additionally, capillary flow studies were performed with microchannel molds, which were produced using stereolithography combined with PDMS double casting and replica molding procedures. A PDMS microfluidic device for blood plasma separation was also fabricated by soft lithography with PDMS modified by PEO surfactant at 2.5% ( v / v ), which proved to be the best method for making the PDMS hydrophilic, as the WCA was lower than 50° for several days without compromising the PDMS's optical properties. Thus, this study indicates that PDMS surface modification shows great potential for enhancing blood plasma separation efficiency in microfluidic devices, as it facilitates fluid flow, reduces cell aggregations and the trapping of air bubbles, and achieves higher levels of sample purity.

Specialized pro-resolving mediators (SPMs) have recently emerged as promising therapeutic approaches for neuropathic pain (NP). We evaluated the effects of oral treatment with the SPM Maresin 1 (MaR1) on behavioral pain responses and spinal neuroinflammation in male and female C57BL/6J mice with spared nerve injury (SNI)-induced NP. MaR1, or vehicle, was administered once daily, on post-surgical days 3 to 5, by voluntary oral intake. Sensory-discriminative and affective-motivational components of pain were evaluated with von Frey and place escape/avoidance paradigm (PEAP) tests, respectively. Spinal microglial and astrocytic activation were assessed by immunofluorescence, and the spinal concentration of cytokines IL-1β, IL-6, IL-10, and macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) were evaluated by multiplex immunoassay. MaR1 treatment reduced SNI-induced mechanical hypersensitivity on days 7 and 11 in both male and female mice, and appeared to ameliorate the affective component of pain in males on day 11. No definitive conclusions could be drawn about the impact of MaR1 on the affective-motivational aspects of pain in female mice, since repeated suprathreshold mechanical stimulation of the affected paw in the dark compartment did not increase the preference of vehicle-treated SNI females for the light side, during the PEAP test session (a fundamental assumption for PAEP's validity). MaR1 treatment also reduced ipsilateral spinal microglial and astrocytic activation in both sexes and marginally increased M-CSF in males, while not affecting cytokines IL-1β, IL-6 and IL-10 in either sex. In summary, our study has shown that oral treatment with MaR1 (i) produces antinociception even in an already installed peripheral NP mouse model, and (ii) this antinociception may extend for several days beyond the treatment time-frame. These therapeutic effects are associated with attenuated microglial and astrocytic activation in both sexes, and possibly involve modulation of M-CSF action in males., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Teixeira-Santos et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

We present a method for solving two minimal problems for relative camera pose estimation from three views, which are based on three view correspondences of (i) three points and one line and the novel case of (ii) three points and two lines through two of the points. These problems are too difficult to be efficiently solved by the state of the art Gröbner basis methods. Our method is based on a new efficient homotopy continuation (HC) solver framework MINUS, which dramatically speeds up previous HC solving by specializing hc methods to generic cases of our problems. We characterize their number of solutions and show with simulated experiments that our solvers are numerically robust and stable under image noise, a key contribution given the borderline intractable degree of nonlinearity of trinocular constraints. We show in real experiments that (i) sift feature location and orientation provide good enough point-and-line correspondences for three-view reconstruction and (ii) that we can solve difficult cases with too few or too noisy tentative matches, where the state of the art structure from motion initialization fails.

Hand gesture recognition from images is a critical task with various real-world applications, particularly in the field of human-robot interaction. Industrial environments, where non-verbal communication is preferred, are significant areas of application for gesture recognition. However, these environments are often unstructured and noisy, with complex and dynamic backgrounds, making accurate hand segmentation a challenging task. Currently, most solutions employ heavy preprocessing to segment the hand, followed by the application of deep learning models to classify the gestures. To address this challenge and develop a more robust and generalizable classification model, we propose a new form of domain adaptation using multi-loss training and contrastive learning. Our approach is particularly relevant in industrial collaborative scenarios, where hand segmentation is difficult and context-dependent. In this paper, we present an innovative solution that further challenges the existing approach by testing the model on an entirely unrelated dataset with different users. We use a dataset for training and validation and demonstrate that contrastive learning techniques in simultaneous multi-loss functions provide superior performance in hand gesture recognition compared to conventional approaches in similar conditions.

Background: Cysteinyl leukotrienes (CysLT) are potent inflammation-promoting mediators, but remain scarcely explored in COVID-19. We evaluated urinary CysLT (U-CysLT) relationship with disease severity and their usefulness for prognostication in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. The impact on U-CysLT of veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VV-ECMO) and of comorbidities such as hypertension and obesity was also assessed., Methods: Blood and spot urine were collected in "severe" (n = 26), "critically ill" (n = 17) and "critically ill on VV-ECMO" (n = 17) patients with COVID-19 at days 1-2 (admission), 3-4, 5-8 and weekly thereafter, and in controls (n = 23) at a single time point. U-CysLT were measured by ELISA. Routine markers, prognostic scores and outcomes were also evaluated., Results: U-CysLT did not differ between groups at admission, but significantly increased along hospitalization only in critical groups, being markedly higher in VV-ECMO patients, especially in hypertensives. U-CysLT values during the first week were positively associated with ICU and total hospital length of stay in critical groups and showed acceptable area under curve (AUC) for prediction of 30-day mortality (AUC: 0.734, p = 0.001) among all patients., Conclusions: U-CysLT increase during hospitalization in critical COVID-19 patients, especially in hypertensives on VV-ECMO. U-CysLT association with severe outcomes suggests their usefulness for prognostication and as therapeutic targets., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

NADPH oxidase isoform-2 (NOX2) has been implicated in the pathophysiology of neuropathic pain (NP), mostly through the modulation of neuroinflammation. Since it is also accepted that some neuroimmune mechanisms underlying NP are sex-dependent, we aimed to evaluate the effects of early systemic treatment with the NOX2-selective inhibitor (NOX2i) GSK2795039 on behavioral responses and spinal neuroinflammation in spared nerve injury (SNI)-induced NP in male and female mice. Mechanical sensitivity was evaluated with the von Frey test, while general well-being and anxiety-like behavior were assessed with burrowing and light/dark box tests. Spinal microglial activation and cytokines IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-10, as well as macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) were evaluated by immunofluorescence and multiplex immunoassay, respectively. NOX2i treatment reduced SNI-induced mechanical hypersensitivity and early SNI-induced microglial activation in both sexes. SNI-females, but not males, showed a transient reduction in burrowing activity. NOX2i treatment did not improve their burrowing activity, but tendentially reduced their anxiety-like behavior. NOX2i marginally decreased IL-6 in females, and increased M-CSF in males. Our findings suggest that NOX2-selective inhibition may be a potential therapeutic strategy for NP in both male and female individuals, with particular interest in females due to its apparent favorable impact in anxiety-like behavior.

The efficient separation of blood components using microfluidic systems can help to improve the detection and diagnosis of several diseases, such as malaria and diabetes. Therefore, a novel multi-step microfluidic device, based on passive crossflow filters was developed. Three different designs were proposed, fabricated and tested in order to evaluate the most suitable geometry to perform, simultaneously, blood cells separation and cell deformability measurements. All the proposed geometries include a main channel and three sequential separation steps, all comprised of symmetrical crossflow filters, with multiple rows of pillars, to reduce the amount of red blood cells (RBCs) flowing to the outlets of the microfluidic device (MD). Sets of hyperbolic constrictions located at the outlets allow the assessment of cells deformability. Based on the proposed geometries, the three correspondent MD were evaluated and compared, by measuring the RBCs velocities, the cell-free layer (CFL) effect through the microchannels and by quantifying the amount of RBCs at the outlets. The results suggest that the proposed MD 3 configuration was the most effective one for the desired application, due to the formation of a wider CFL. As a result, a minor amount of RBCs flow through the hyperbolic contraction at the third separation level of the device. Nevertheless, for all the proposed geometries, the existence of three separation levels shows that it is possible to achieve a highly efficient cell separation. If needed, such microdevices have the potential for further improvements by increasing the number of separation levels, aiming the total separation of blood cells from plasma., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

The development of cancer models that rectify the simplicity of monolayer or static cell cultures physiologic microenvironment and, at the same time, replicate the human system more accurately than animal models has been a challenge in biomedical research. Organ-on-a-chip (OoC) devices are a solution that has been explored over the last decade. The combination of microfluidics and cell culture allows the design of a dynamic microenvironment suitable for the evaluation of treatments' efficacy and effects, closer to the response observed in patients. This systematic review sums the studies from the last decade, where OoC with cancer cell cultures were used for drug screening assays. The studies were selected from three databases and analyzed following the research guidelines for systematic reviews proposed by PRISMA. In the selected studies, several types of cancer cells were evaluated, and the majority of treatments tested were standard chemotherapeutic drugs. Some studies reported higher drug resistance of the cultures on the OoC devices than on 2D cultures, which indicates the better resemblance to in vivo conditions of the former. Several studies also included the replication of the microvasculature or the combination of different cell cultures. The presence of vasculature can influence positively or negatively the drug efficacy since it contributes to a greater diffusion of the drug and also oxygen and nutrients. Co-cultures with liver cells contributed to the evaluation of the systemic toxicity of some drugs metabolites. Nevertheless, few studies used patient cells for the drug screening assays.

Since microorganisms are evolving rapidly, there is a growing need for a new, fast, and precise technique to analyse blood samples and distinguish healthy from pathological samples. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy can provide information related to the biochemical composition and how it changes when a pathological state arises. FTIR spectroscopy has undergone rapid development over the last decades with a promise of easier, faster, and more impartial diagnoses within the biomedical field. However, thus far only a limited number of studies have addressed the use of FTIR spectroscopy in this field. This paper describes the main concepts related to FTIR and presents the latest research focusing on FTIR spectroscopy technology and its integration in lab-on-a-chip devices and their applications in the biological field. This review presents the potential use of FTIR to distinguish between healthy and pathological samples, with examples of early cancer detection, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) detection, and routine blood analysis, among others. Finally, the study also reflects on the features of FTIR technology that can be applied in a lab-on-a-chip format and further developed for small healthcare devices that can be used for point-of-care monitoring purposes. To the best of the authors' knowledge, no other published study has reviewed these topics. Therefore, this analysis and its results will fill this research gap.

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Significant advances in the molecular mechanisms underlying colorectal cancer have been made; however, the clinical approval of new drugs faces many challenges. Drug discovery is a lengthy process causing a rapid increase in global health care costs. Patient-derived tumour organoids are considered preclinical models with the potential for preclinical drug screening, prediction of patient outcomes, and guiding optimized therapy strategies at an individual level. Combining microfluidic technology with 3D tumour organoid models to recapitulate tumour organization and in vivo functions led to the development of an appropriate preclinical tumour model, organoid-on-a-chip, paving the way for personalized cancer medicine. Herein, a low-cost microfluidic device suitable for culturing and expanding organoids, OrganoidChip, was developed. Patient-derived colorectal cancer organoids were cultured within OrganoidChip, and their viability and proliferative activity increased significantly. No significant differences were verified in the organoids' response to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) treatment on-chip and on-plate. However, the culture within the OrganoidChip led to a significant increase in colorectal cancer organoid-forming efficiency and overall size compared with conventional culture on a 24-well plate. Interestingly, early-stage and late-stage organoids were predominantly observed on-plate and within the OrganoidChip, respectively. The OrganoidChip thus has the potential to generate in vivo-like organotypic structures for disease modelling and drug screening applications.

In blood flow studies, image analysis plays an extremely important role to examine raw data obtained by high-speed video microscopy systems. This work shows different ways to process the images which contain various blood phenomena happening in microfluidic devices and in microcirculation. For this purpose, the current methods used for tracking red blood cells (RBCs) flowing through a glass capillary and techniques to measure the cell-free layer thickness in different kinds of microchannels will be presented. Most of the past blood flow experimental data have been collected and analyzed by means of manual methods, that can be extremely reliable, but they are highly time-consuming, user-intensive, repetitive, and the results can be subjective to user-induced errors. For this reason, it is crucial to develop image analysis methods able to obtain the data automatically. Concerning automatic image analysis methods for individual RBCs tracking and to measure the well known microfluidic phenomena cell-free layer, two developed methods are presented and discussed in order to demonstrate their feasibility to obtain accurate data acquisition in such studies. Additionally, a comparison analysis between manual and automatic methods was performed.

Drug administration to experimental rodents is often invasive and stressful, thus reducing animal welfare and potentially confounding experimental results. Methods of oral drug delivery in which rodents cooperate voluntarily minimize stress, pain and morbidity. We herein describe a method for oral administration through voluntary intake of strawberry jam, developed for C57BL/6J mice. During a 3-day habituation period, animals were placed in individual cages once daily and presented with a drop of jam. Five days later, the jam was again offered with admixed drug. Mice ingested it in less than 5 min, with latency times below 1 min, confirming the suitability of the administration method.

Neuropathic pain (NP) is a chronic condition that results from a lesion or disease of the nervous system, greatly impacting patients' quality of life. Current pharmacotherapy options deliver inadequate and/or insufficient responses and thus a significant unmet clinical need remains for alternative treatments in NP. Neuroinflammation, oxidative stress and their reciprocal relationship are critically involved in NP pathophysiology. In this context, new pharmacological approaches, aiming at enhancing the resolution phase of inflammation and/or restoring redox balance by targeting specific reactive oxygen species (ROS) sources, are emerging as potential therapeutic strategies for NP, with improved efficacy and safety profiles. Several reports have demonstrated that administration of exogenous specialized pro-resolving mediators (SPMs) ameliorates NP pathophysiology. Likewise, deletion or inhibition of the ROS-generating enzyme NADPH oxidase (NOX), particularly its isoforms 2 and 4, results in beneficial effects in NP models. Notably, SPMs also modulate oxidative stress and NOX also regulates neuroinflammation. By targeting neuroinflammatory and oxidative pathways, both SPMs analogues and isoform-specific NOX inhibitors are promising therapeutic strategies for NP., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)