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Objective: To validate the General Medication Adherence Scale (GMAS) in Brazilian Portuguese for hypertensive patients., Methods: The GMAS-English was translated into Brazilian Portuguese and adapted for cultural appropriateness by a translation process and expert panel. A cross-sectional study was conducted in northeast Brazilian cardiology divisions of public and private hospitals, interviewing hypertensive patients. Reliability was assessed using Cronbach's alpha, intraclass correlation, and Pearson's correlation. Convergent validity was tested against the BMQ using chi-square. Criterion validity was assessed by comparing GMAS with blood pressure control using chi-square., Results: The GMAS was translated and adapted according to standard procedures. In a validation study with 167 hypertensive patients, Cronbach's alpha was 0.79, and Pearson's correlation showed significant test-retest reliability ( p  < 0.001). Convergent validity with BMQ was significant (p < 0.001), with 89.4 % sensitivity for behaviors considered adherent (High adherence and good adherence), but between the strata that measure low adherence (Partial adherence, low adherence and very low adherence), the specificity rate was 50 %. Criterion validity between GMAS and blood pressure control was not observed., Conclusion: The Brazilian Portuguese version of the GMAS exhibited good consistency and reproducibility, modest agreement with BMQ scale and did not demonstrate acceptable criterion validity for hypertensive patients., 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., (© 2024 The Authors.)

Purpose: Our study aimed to explore real-world treatment scenarios for children and adolescents with neurotrophic tropomyosin receptor kinase (NTRK)-fused tumors, emphasizing access, responses, side effects, and outcomes., Patients and Methods: Pooled clinical data from 17 pediatric cases (11 soft-tissue sarcomas, five brain tumors, and one neuroblastoma) treated with larotrectinib and radiologic images for 14 patients were centrally reviewed. Testing for gene fusions was prompted by poor response to treatment, tumor progression, or aggressiveness., Results: Six different NTRK fusion subtypes were detected, and various payment sources for testing and medication were reported. Radiologic review revealed objective tumor responses (OR) in 11 of 14 patients: Complete responses: two; partial responses: nine; and stable disease: three cases. Grades 1 or 2 Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events adverse effects were reported in five patients. Regarding the entire cohort's clinical information, 15 of 17 patients remain alive (median observation time: 25 months): four with no evidence of disease and 11 alive with disease (10 without progression). One patient developed resistance to the NTRK inhibitor and died from disease progression while another patient died due to an unrelated cause., Conclusion: This real-world study confirms favorable agnostic tumor OR rates to larotrectinib in children with NTRK-fused tumors. Better coordination to facilitate access to medication remains a challenge, particularly in middle-income countries like Brazil.

Aim: We investigated a proteome profile, protein-protein interaction and morphological changes of Mycobacterium tuberculosis after different times of eupomatenoid-5 (EUP-5) induction to evaluate the cellular response to the drug-induced damages., Methods: The bacillus was induced to sub-minimal inhibitory concentration of EUP-5 at 12 h, 24 h and 48 h. The proteins were separated by 2D gel electrophoresis, identified by LC/MS-MS. Scanning electron microscopy and Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes/Proteins analyses were performed., Results: EUP-5 impacts mainly in M. tuberculosis proteins of intermediary metabolism and interactome suggests a multisite disturbance that contributes to bacilli death. Scanning electron microscopy revealed the loss of bacillary form., Conclusion: Some of the differentially expressed proteins have the potential to be drug targets such as citrate synthase (Rv0896), phosphoglycerate kinase (Rv1437), ketol-acid reductoisomerase (Rv3001c) and ATP synthase alpha chain (Rv1308).