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The global prevalence of obesity among adults, adolescents, and children has increased to alarming levels, making this disease a serious public health problem. The etiology of obesity is complex and multifactorial. Currently, epigenetic alterations are being investigated to understand the mechanisms of interaction between genes and environmental and behavioral risk factors involved in the genesis of obesity. In this study, we examined the association of the DNA methyltransferase 3 (DNMT3B) gene-149 C>T variant (rs2424913) genotypes with global DNA methylation and the changes in anthropometric parameters in a cohort of 171 children followed from birth to 12 years old. Genotypes were obtained using real-time polymerase chain reaction, and global DNA methylation was measured in blood samples collected at 4 years old through enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Our results showed that the TT genotype is associated with an increase in global methylation levels at 4 years old and higher changes in body mass index, waist circumference, subscapular subcutaneous fat, body fat mass, body lean mass, and basal metabolic rate from 4 to 12 years. Our results suggest that this promoter DNMT3B gene variant and DNA methylation can be factors relevant to the increased risk of children developing obesity at an early age.

This work aimed to verify if there is a temporal effect on the viability of black oat seeds under natural conditions after harvesting, under burial. The treatments were arranged in a bifactorial scheme, with five black oat genotypes and eight exhumation periods (90; 180; 270; 360; 450; 540; 630 and 720 days after burial), distributed in four repetitions of one hundred seeds buried at 10 cm deep. After each exhumation, seeds separation and count, those that did not germinate, did not rot or were predated were considered as whole seeds, which underwent a process of asepsis and disinfection to verify viability through the germination test and vigor through the tetrazolium test (live seeds). The genotypes showed a decreasing percentage of seeds over time, Agro Planalto showed the lowest percentage at 360 days after burial, Agro Esteio at 450 days, Agro Coxilha, Agro Quaraí and Agro Zebu at 540 days. The percentage of live seeds differed between the genotypes only in the third period of exhumation (270 days after burial), the lowest percentages of live seeds were identified in the genotypes Agro Esteio and Agro Planalto at 360 days after burial, in Agro Coxilha and Agro Quaraí at 450 days and Agro Zebu at 540 days. Black oat seeds remain viable in the soil for a period of 450 days after burial.

Abstract Background Teaching professionalism in medical schools is central to medical education and society. We evaluated how medical students view the values of the medical profession on their first day of medical school and the influence of a conference about the competences of this profession on these students’ levels of reflection. Methods We studied two groups of medical students who wrote narratives about the values of the medical profession and the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on these values. The first group wrote the narratives after a conference about the competences of the medical profession (intervention group), and the second group wrote the same narratives after a biochemistry conference (control group). We also compared the levels of reflection of these two groups of students. Results Among the 175 medical students entering in the 2022 academic year, 159 agreed to participate in the study (response rate = 90.8%). There were more references to positive than negative models of doctor‒patient relationships experienced by the students (58.5% and 41.5% of responses, respectively). The intervention group referred to a more significant number of values than the control group did. The most cited values were empathy, humility, and ethics; the main competences were technical competence, communication/active listening, and resilience. The students’ perspectives of the values of their future profession were strongly and positively influenced by the pandemic experience. The students realized the need for constant updating, basing medical practice on scientific evidence, and employing skills/attitudes such as resilience, flexibility, and collaboration for teamwork. Analysis of the levels of reflection in the narratives showed a predominance of reflections with a higher level in the intervention group and of those with a lower level in the control group. Conclusions Our study showed that medical students, upon entering medical school, already have a view of medical professionalism, although they still need to present a deeper level of self-reflection. A single, planned intervention in medical professionalism can promote self-reflection. The vision of medical professional identity was strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, positively impacting the formation of a professional identity among the students who decided to enter medical school.

Osteolyses are common findings in elderly patients and most frequently represent malignant or locally aggressive bone tumors, infection, inflammatory and endocrine disorders, histiocytoses, and rare diseases such as Gorham-Stout syndrome. We here report on a novel entity of massive multifocal osteolyses in both shoulders, the right hip and left knee joint and the dens of an 83-year-old patient not relatable to any previously known etiopathology of bone disorders. The soft tissue mass is of myxoid stroma with an unspecific granulomatous inflammatory process, aggressively destroying extensive cortical and cancellous bone segments and encroaching on articulating bones in diarthrodial large joints. Radiological, nuclear medical, serological, histological, and immunohistochemical analyses were incapable of further classifying the disease pattern within the existing scheme of pathology. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction and next generation sequencing revealed that mutations are not suggestive of any known hereditary or acquired bone disease. Possible treatment options include radionuclide therapy for pain palliation and percutaneous radiation to arrest bone resorption while surgical treatment is inevitable for pathological fractures. This case study shall increase the awareness of the musculoskeletal community and motivate to collect further information on this rare but mutilating disorder.