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The objective of this study was to evaluate the cytotoxic activity of rosemary (REO, Rosmarinus officinalis L.), turmeric (CEO, Curcuma longa L.), and ginger (GEO, Zingiber officinale R.) essential oils in HeLa cells. Cytotoxicity tests were performed in vitro, using tetrazolium (MTT) and neutral red assays for evaluation of antiproliferative activity by different mechanisms, trypan blue assay to assess cell viability and evaluation of cell morphology for Giemsa to observe the cell damage, and Annexin V to evaluate cell death by apoptosis. CEO and GEO exhibited potent cytotoxic activity against HeLa cells. IC50 obtained was 36.6 μg/mL for CEO and 129.9 μg/mL for GEO. The morphology of HeLa cells showed condensation of chromatin, loss of cell membrane integrity with protrusions (blebs), and cell content leakage for cells treated with CEO and GEO, from the lowest concentrations studied, 32.81 μg/mL of CEO and 32.12 μg/mL of GEO. The Annexin V assay revealed a profile of cell death by apoptosis for both CEO and GEO. The results indicate cytotoxic activity in vitro for CEO and GEO, suggesting potential use as anticancer agents for cervical cancer cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Axitinib is an oral, second-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitor that is selective for vascular endothelial growth factor receptors (VEGFR). This agent is approved as monotherapy or in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors for the treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Axitinib is associated with a safety profile very similar to other anti-VEGFR inhibitors but usually with fewer hematologic adverse events, due to the selectivity for VEGF. In this report, we presented a rare case of grade 4 axitinib-induced thrombocytopenia, not observed with other antiangiogenic therapies. We discuss the differential diagnostic work-up, the necessary multidisciplinary approach, and the successful management of the case.

The production of proteases by white rot fungi, such as those of the genus Pleurotus, is related to the degradation of wood proteins, the substrate on which these fungi grow in the environment. From the point of view of production, they are still little explored for this purpose. A selection of agro-industrial residues highlighted corn bagasse as the best substrate for solid-state protease production using the basidiomycete Pleurotus pulmonarius. The enzyme production was maximized through a factorial design, where the enzyme activity increased from 137.8 ± 1.9 to 234.1 ± 2.7 U/mL. Factors such as temperature stability, pH, and chemical reagents were evaluated. The optimum temperature was 45 °C, showing low thermal stability at higher temperatures. The enzyme inhibition occurred by Mn 2+ (50.3%) and Ba 2+ (76.4%); SDS strongly inhibited the activity (82.4%), while pepstatin A partially inhibited (56%), suggesting an aspartic protease character. Regarding pH, the highest protease activity was obtained at pH 5.5. Partial characterization resulted in apparent values of the K M and V max constants of 0.61 mg/mL and 1.79 mM/min, respectively., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Grooming is a natural hygienic behaviour of cats that favours the formation of hairballs. Increased fibre concentration in the diets is a strategy to minimize hairball formation, but it is not fully effective. Because cat hair is formed mostly by keratin, the addition of keratinases in the diets might be an alternative for hairball control. Thus, the objective was to evaluate the effect of the combined use of sugarcane fibre and a protease complex to reduce the hairball excretion in cats. Twenty-four adult cats were divided into four treatment groups (n = 6 per treatment) in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement. Treatments were as follows: control diet (Control; containing low concentration of insoluble fibre, 5.34% of total dietary fibre), control diet plus enzyme (Co-e), high-fibre diet (HF; containing high amounts of insoluble fibre, 17.8% of total dietary fibre), and HF diet plus enzyme (HF-e). Proteases from Bacillus licheniformis PWD-1 were administered orally (5 mg/day) as gastro-resistant capsules. Total collection of faeces was carried out to determine the number of excreted hairballs and the coefficient of total tract apparent digestibilities (CTTAD) of the diets. Separate addition of insoluble fibre (HF; p = .5947) or enzyme complex (Co-e; p = .3633) had no effect on the hairballs excreted in the faeces. However, the combined use of insoluble fibre and enzymes (HF-e) reduced (p = .0344) the total number of hairballs excreted. The size distribution of hairballs (small, medium, or large) was not affected by treatments (p = .3763). The CTTAD of crude protein was not affected by protease addition (p = .781) but was reduced by HF and HF-e treatments. Sugarcane fibre associated to keratinolytic enzymes reduces the hairball excretion in cats. This strategy can be adopted for this purpose; however, methods for faecal hairball quantification must be improved. If you have not already completed a Copyright Transfer Agreement, please log on to Wiley Author Serivices, https://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/, sign-in and complete the License Agreement form"., (© 2019 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.)

We synthesized NaOH-activated hydrochars via hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) of Brazilian pine fruit shells at HTC residence times of 24, 48, and 72 h. The hydrochars were used as adsorbents to remove bisphenol A (BPA) from aqueous solutions. The surface area of the samples can reach up to 2220 m 2 g -1 , and the maximum adsorption of BPA onto the surfaces was achieved at a pH of 7.0 (708 mg g -1 ). Adsorption occurred mainly via monolayer formation with a low retention time of the adsorbate (τ) on the surfaces, indicating that the BPA molecules reached the already occupied active sites and returned after undergoing heat exchange (τ > 0). Adsorption is an endothermic spontaneous process that results in a balance between entropic and enthalpic contributions. In such a reaction, ΔG°< 0, even with ΔH°> 0, the process occurs with an important increase in the entropy. The desorption was more efficient with ethanol and methanol than with HCl, NaOH, and NaCl owing to the dipole-dipole forces between the adsorbate and the alcohols. Additionally, the low desorption efficiency using acid, base, and salts can be attributed to competitive effects between the desorption agents and the active sites of the adsorbents., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Background: We aim to describe the long term follow-up of a cohort of children exposed in utero to the Zika virus., Methods: Descriptive study of a cohort of microcephalic children due to Zika virus. Logistic regression was used to evaluate variables associated with worse prognosis epilepsy., Results: We followed 28 children (15 females), with a median follow-up of 24 months (IQR = 12-28). During the follow-up, 1 infant died. The median head circumference at birth was 29 cm (IQR = 27-31). All presented a global developmental delay. The most frequent central nervous system abnormalities were on cortical development in 22 participants; dysgenesis of corpus callosum in 13; ventriculomegaly in 25; and calcifications in 24. A total of 9 presented ocular abnormalities, 4 auditory impairment. During follow-up, 12 presented with sleep disorders, 10 with irritability, and 23 with epilepsy (2 with generalized tonic-clonic, 3 with generalized tonic-clonic and spasms, 12 with spasms, 3 tonic and spasms, and 3 motor focal and spasms). The median age at the begin of the epilepsy was 4 months (IQR = 2-10), the median number of drugs used to control the epilepsy was 2 (IQR = 2-3). Maternal illicit drug use during pregnancy was associated with worse prognosis epilepsy (Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, West syndrome, or status epilepticus). A total of 19 presented with dysphagia, 10 children required gastrostomy., Conclusion: Children with microcephaly due to Zika virus presented with several complications during follow-up, as epilepsy, spastic diplegia, and global developmental delay.

The aim of this study was to (i) gain an overview of the protocols of food preference tests in cats through a systematic review, (ii) assess the effects of test duration, time of day, and sex, and (iii) propose a statistical approach based on power analysis to determine sample size and analyze the results. The manuscripts included in this review had marked variations in the number of days (2-56), sample size (9-60 cats), feeding times (2.5-1440 min), and number of meals per day (1-2) during the test. Additionally to the literature review, three palatability tests (lasting 10 days each) were conducted with 40 cats (22 males and 18 females, 1.8 ± 0.16 years, 3.73 ± 0.90 kg) to assess the effects of test duration, time of day, and gender on the results. From the second day of the test, the sensitivity of the results was higher, because on the first day the results in one of the tests differed from the others (p = .0058). There was no difference (p > .05) between times of day (morning vs afternoon) or gender (males vs females) on the results of the feed intake ratio. For a SD of 0.20, p < .05, and delta of 0.10, the minimum number of cats for two-bowl assays is 23 (test power higher than 0.75).The sample size and test duration are critical factors in the decision making by the investigators about the design of food preference tests in cats. The use of a power test is recommended upon planning a food preference test protocol in cats., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Hospitals consume a large volume of water to carry out their activities and, hence, generate a large volume of effluent that is commonly discharged into the local sewage system without any treatment. Among the various sectors of healthcare facilities, the laundry is responsible for the majority of water consumption and generates a highly complex effluent. Although several advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) are currently under investigation on the degradation of a variety of contaminants, few of them are based on real wastewater samples. In this paper, the UV/H 2 O 2 AOP was evaluated on the treatment of a hospital laundry wastewater, after the application of a physicochemical pretreatment composed of coagulation-flocculation and anthracite filtration. For the UV/H 2 O 2 process, a photoreactor equipped with a low-pressure UV-C lamp was used and the effects of initial pH and [H 2 O 2 ]/chemical oxygen demand (COD) ratio on COD removal were investigated through a randomized factorial block design that considered the batches of effluent as blocks. The results indicated that the initial pH had no significant effect on the COD removal, and the process was favored by the increase in [H 2 O 2 ]/COD ratio. Color and turbidity were satisfactorily reduced after the application of the physicochemical pretreatment, and COD was completely removed by the UV/H 2 O 2 process under suitable conditions. The results of this study show that the UV/H 2 O 2 AOP is a promising candidate for hospital laundry wastewater treatment and should be explored to enable wastewater reuse in the washing process.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the cytotoxic activity of rosemary (REO, Rosmarinus officinalis L.), turmeric (CEO, Curcuma longa L.), and ginger (GEO, Zingiber officinale R.) essential oils in HeLa cells. Cytotoxicity tests were performed in vitro , using tetrazolium (MTT) and neutral red assays for evaluation of antiproliferative activity by different mechanisms, trypan blue assay to assess cell viability and evaluation of cell morphology for Giemsa to observe the cell damage, and Annexin V to evaluate cell death by apoptosis. CEO and GEO exhibited potent cytotoxic activity against HeLa cells. IC 50 obtained was 36.6  μ g/mL for CEO and 129.9  μ g/mL for GEO. The morphology of HeLa cells showed condensation of chromatin, loss of cell membrane integrity with protrusions (blebs), and cell content leakage for cells treated with CEO and GEO, from the lowest concentrations studied, 32.81  μ g/mL of CEO and 32.12  μ g/mL of GEO. The Annexin V assay revealed a profile of cell death by apoptosis for both CEO and GEO. The results indicate cytotoxic activity in vitro for CEO and GEO, suggesting potential use as anticancer agents for cervical cancer cells., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflict of interests.

Objective: The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of non-adherence to antihypertensive drug treatment and its association with factors bio-socio-economic and welfare., Method: It was a descriptive, cross-sectional study, performed with 422 hypertensive individuals. Data were collected through home interviews, conducted between December 2011 and March 2012., Results: The results showed that the respondents were mostly female, married, elderly, low income and little time of diagnosis. Were considered non adherent to medication 42.65% of participants. Non-Caucasian hypertensive patients, with fewer than eight years of schooling, who did not regularly attend doctor's appointments, took more than two anti-hypertensive medications and did not have private health insurance, showed higher likelihood of not complying with the drug treatment., Conclusion: These findings suggest that hypertensive patients with unfavorable socioeconomic characteristics and difficulty of access to the service require different interventions in order to encourage them to adhere to medication treatment.

Asiatic citrus canker (ACC) is an important disease of citrus in Brazil and elsewhere in the world. Infection with the causal pathogen, Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri, can cause severe disease on the fruit. Visual estimation of severity is the usual method used to quantify ACC on diseased fruit. The objective of this research was to construct and validate standard area diagram (SAD) sets as assessment aids for raters to improve the accuracy and reliability of visual estimates of ACC on unripe (green) fruit of sweet orange. Two SAD sets were constructed. A five-diagram SAD set had five severities depicted (0.5, 2.0, 8.0, 27.0, and 40.0%) and a six-diagram SAD set had six severities depicted (0.5, 1.0, 3.0, 9.0, 20.0, and 40.0%). Fifteen raters evaluated 40 images of cankered, unripe fruit. Both the five- and six-diagram SAD sets significantly improved the accuracy and reliability of estimates. Agreement, measured by Lin's concordance correlation coefficient, was 0.220 to 0.913 when not using SADs, 0.814 to 0.955 when using five-diagram SAD sets, and 0.863 to 0.925 when using six-diagram SAD sets. The five-diagram SAD set was significantly more accurate and reliable compared with the six-diagram set. Possible reasons for this are discussed. Based on the results, the five-diagram SAD set is preferable to use. Although the SAD set was developed for sweet orange, it doubtless has applicability to other citrus, including grapefruit. These SAD sets should be useful for research endeavors where accurate and reliable estimates of the severity of ACC are required.

Aflatoxins are highly toxic, mutagenic, teratogenic and carcinogenic mycotoxins. Consumption of aflatoxin-contaminated food and commodities poses serious hazards to the health of humans and animals. Turmeric, Curcuma longa L., is a native plant of Southeast Asia and has antimicrobial, antioxidant and antifungal properties. This paper reports the antiaflatoxigenic activities of the essential oil of C. longa and curcumin. The medium tests were prepared with the oil of C. longa, and the curcumin standard at concentrations varied from 0.01% to 5.0%. All doses of the essential oil of the plant and the curcumin standard interfered with mycotoxin production. Both the essential oil and curcumin significantly inhibited the production of aflatoxins; the 0.5% level had a greater than 96% inhibitory effect. The levels of aflatoxin B(1) (AFB(1)) production were 1.0 and 42.7 μg/mL, respectively, for the samples treated with the essential oil of C. longa L. and curcumin at a concentration of 0.5%., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Reproduction of most insects depend on nutrients accumulated during the larval stage, but many lepidopteran species will also depend on nutrients obtained at the adult stage. Feeding at the adult stage allows the intake of carbohydrate and amino acid rich solutions, which may have an effect on the species reproduction and population growth. The objectives of the current study were to characterize the effects of sugar consumption by adults of the potato tuber moth, Phthorimaea operculella (Zeller), on its reproduction. To initially test the food intake by adults, a 10% honey solution or water (control), both containing a liquid dye were offered to adult insects 24 h after emergence, and the presence of the dye was observed by analysis of their digestive system. The effects of adult feeding on a 10% honey solution on the reproductive performance of P. operculella were evaluated by assessing the oviposition rate, fecundity and fertility. Adult feeding was proved by the presence of the dye within the digestive system of adults of P. operculella. Although the oviposition rate and fertility were not affected by adult feeding, female fecundity was higher in honey-fed females as compared to the water-fed females.