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The development of low-temperature piezoresistive materials provides compatibility with standard silicon-based MEMS fabrication processes. Additionally, it enables the use of such material in flexible substrates, thereby expanding the potential for various device applications. This work demonstrates, for the first time, the fabrication of a 200 nm polycrystalline silicon thin film through a metal-induced crystallization process mediated by an AlSiCu alloy at temperatures as low as 450 °C on top of silicon and polyimide (PI) substrates. The resulting polycrystalline film structure exhibits crystallites with a size of approximately 58 nm, forming polysilicon (poly-Si) grains with diameters between 1-3 µm for Si substrates and 3-7 µm for flexible PI substrates. The mechanical and electrical properties of the poly-Si were experimentally conducted using microfabricated test structures containing piezoresistors formed by poly-Si with different dimensions. The poly-Si material reveals a longitudinal gauge factor (GF) of 12.31 and a transversal GF of -4.90, evaluated using a four-point bending setup. Additionally, the material has a linear temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) of -2471 ppm/°C. These results illustrate the potential of using this low-temperature film for pressure, force, or temperature sensors. The developed film also demonstrated sensitivity to light, indicating that the developed material can also be explored in photo-sensitive applications.

Gastric cancer is one of the most frequent types of neoplasms worldwide, usually presenting as aggressive and difficult-to-manage tumors. The search for new structures with anticancer potential encompasses a vast research field in which natural products arise as promising alternatives. In this scenario, piperine, an alkaloid of the Piper species, has received attention due to its biological activity, including anticancer attributes. The present work proposes three heating-independent, reliable, low-cost, and selective methods for obtaining piperine from Piper nigrum L. (Black pepper). Electronic (SEM) and optical microscopies, X-ray diffraction, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopies ( 13 C and 1 H NMR), and optical spectroscopies (UV-Vis, photoluminescence, and FTIR) confirm the obtention of piperine crystals. The MTT assay reveals that the piperine samples exhibit good cytotoxic activity against primary and metastasis models of gastric cancer cell lines from the Brazilian Amazon. The samples showed selective cytotoxicity on the evaluated models, revealing higher effectiveness in cells bearing a higher degree of aggressiveness. Moreover, the investigated piperine crystals demonstrated the ability to act as a good cytotoxicity enhancer when combined with traditional chemotherapeutics (5-FU and GEM), allowing the drugs to achieve the same cytotoxic effect in cells employing lower concentrations. These results establish piperine as a promising molecule for therapy investigations in aggressive gastric cancer, both in its isolated form or as a bioenhancer.

Pressure injuries (PIs) are a major public health problem and can be used as quality-of-care indicators. An incipient development in the field of medical devices takes the form of Smart Health Textiles, which can possess innovative properties such as thermoregulation, sensing, and antibacterial control. This protocol aims to describe the process for the development of a new type of smart clothing for individuals with reduced mobility and/or who are bedridden in order to prevent PIs. This paper's main purpose is to present the eight phases of the project, each consisting of tasks in specific phases: (i) product and process requirements and specifications; (ii and iii) study of the fibrous structure technology, textiles, and design; (iv and v) investigation of the sensor technology with respect to pressure, temperature, humidity, and bioactive properties; (vi and vii) production layout and adaptations in the manufacturing process; (viii) clinical trial. This project will introduce a new structural system and design for smart clothing to prevent PIs. New materials and architectures will be studied that provide better pressure relief, thermo-physiological control of the cutaneous microclimate, and personalisation of care.

This study aimed to evaluate a clothing prototype that incorporates sensors for the evaluation of pressure, temperature, and humidity for the prevention of pressure injuries, namely regarding physical and comfort requirements. A mixed-method approach was used with concurrent quantitative and qualitative data triangulation. A structured questionnaire was applied before a focus group of experts to evaluate the sensor prototypes. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics and the discourse of the collective subject, followed by method integration and meta-inferences. Nine nurses, experts in this topic, aged 32.66 ± 6.28 years and with a time of profession of 10.88 ± 6.19 years, participated in the study. Prototype A presented low evaluation in stiffness (1.56 ± 1.01) and roughness (2.11 ± 1.17). Prototype B showed smaller values in dimension (2.77 ± 0.83) and stiffness (3.00 ± 1.22). Embroidery was assessed as inadequate in terms of stiffness (1.88 ± 1.05) and roughness (2.44 ± 1.01). The results from the questionnaires and focus groups' show low adequacy as to stiffness, roughness, and comfort. The participants highlighted the need for improvements regarding stiffness and comfort, suggesting new proposals for the development of sensors for clothing. The main conclusions are that Prototype A presented the lowest average scores relative to rigidity (1.56 ± 1.01), considered inadequate. This dimension of Prototype B was evaluated as slightly adequate (2.77 ± 0.83). The rigidity (1.88 ± 1.05) of Prototype A + B + embroidery was evaluated as inadequate. The prototype revealed clothing sensors with low adequacy regarding the physical requirements, such as stiffness or roughness. Improvements are needed regarding the stiffness and roughness for the safety and comfort characteristics of the device evaluated.

Sheep farming has shown expressive growth, even in the Northeast region of Brazil, with rainfall below expectations in the last decade. This growth has been observed not only in the number of herds, but also in the number of properties involved in sheep farming. Although expressive, the production of small ruminants still presents low levels of performance, mainly due to the occurrence of diseases, which constitute an obstacle to this activity. The aim of this study was to determine the factors associated with the seroprevalence of leptospirosis in sheep in Northeastern Brazil. Blood samples were collected from 3438 sheep in 190 herds from 48 municipalities, belonging to the states of Ceará, Paraíba, Piauí, Rio Grande do Norte and Sergipe. Serological diagnosis was performed using the microscopic agglutination test (MAT). In 76.3 % (95 % CI = 69.79-81.81) of the herds there was at least one animal seropositive for at least one of the Leptospira spp. serogroups and 14.94 % (95 %CI = 13.8-16.18) of the animals were seropositive. The state of Paraíba had the highest herd (95.7 %) and animal (26.6 %) prevalences, followed by Ceará (93.9 % and 23.7 %, respectively). The most frequent serogroups were Autumnalis (18.68 %), Australis (17.9 %) and Pyrogenes (15.18 %). There was no association between the studied variables and the herd-level prevalence of leptospirosis. High herd and animal-level seroprevalences was found for sheep leptospirosis in the semiarid region of Northeastern Brazil, and there is a need to implement control and prevention measures, such as quarantine, serology, vaccination and adequate treatment, in addition to the introduction of proven healthy animals, mainly in the states of Paraíba and Ceará, aiming to reduce the prevalence of disease., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The immune system plays an important role in the control of cancer development. To investigate the possible association of inflammasome genes to childhood leukemia we performed a case-control study with 158 patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and 192 healthy individuals. The IL1B and IL18 genetic polymorphisms were genotyped by Polymerase Chain Reaction-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and NLRP1, NLRP3 and P2RX7 were genotyped using Real Time quantitative PCR (qPCR). The IL1B C/T rs19644 genotype was associated with the risk of developing ALL (C/C vs. C/T + T/T OR: 2.48 [95% CI: 1.26-4.88, p = 0.006]; C/C vs C/T OR: 2.74 [95% CI: 1.37-5.51, p = 0.003]) and the NLRP1 A/T rs12150220 (OR: 0.37 [95% CI: 0.16-0.87, p = 0.023]) was associated with protection against infectious comorbidities. It was not found association between NLRP3 and P2RX7 polymorphisms and acute lymphoblastic leukemia in our study. Our results suggest that the inflammasome single-variant polymorphisms (SNVs) may play a role in the development and prognostic of childhood leukemia. However, this finds requires further study within a larger population in order to prove it.

Recently, cell-mediated immune response in malignant neoplasms has become the focus in immunotherapy against cancer. However, in leukemia, most studies on the cytotoxic potential of T cells have concentrated only on T cells that recognize peptide antigens (Ag) presented by polymorphic molecules of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). This ignores the great potential of unconventional T cell populations, which include gamma-delta T cells ( γδ ), natural killer T cells (NKT), and mucosal-associated invariant T cells (MAIT). Collectively, these T cell populations can recognize lipid antigens, specially modified peptides and small molecule metabolites, in addition to having several other advantages, which can provide more effective applications in cancer immunotherapy. In recent years, these cell populations have been associated with a repertoire of anti- or protumor responses and play important roles in the dynamics of solid tumors and hematological malignancies, thus, encouraging the development of new investigations in the area. This review focuses on the current knowledge regarding the role of unconventional T cell populations in the antitumor immune response in leukemia and discusses why further studies on the immunotherapeutic potential of these cells are needed., Competing Interests: The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Nilberto Dias de Araújo et al.)

The present article compares clinical trial regulations in Brazil, India, Canada, and the European Union with the aim of providing evidence for an evaluation of the Brazilian regulatory policy. For that, a document analysis approach was used, in four steps: preliminary exploratory analysis; descriptive study; categorization of information; contrasting contents. Noteworthy differences between the Brazilian regulatory framework as compared to the other regions studied include the existence of several laws and regulations in Brazil vs. a single rule in the other countries; the absence of requirements regarding drug traceability and collection and disposal of unused drugs if a study is interrupted or cancelled; and a higher time of 180 days for approval of clinical trials (vs. 30 days in the European Union or Canada, for example). This suggests opportunities for improvement and update of the Brazilian regulations vis-à-vis the international scenario., Competing Interests: Conflito de interesses. Nada declarado pelos autores.

Introduction: Leukemia is the most common cancer in children and has the highest rates of incidence in industrialized countries, followed by developing countries. This epidemiologic profile can mainly be attributed to the availability of diagnostic resources. In Brazil, leukemia diagnosis is a challenge due to financial viability, lack of hemovigilance services in isolated regions and the vast size of the territory. Its incidence in the state of Amazonas has been increasing since 2010. Therefore, this study aims to describe the epidemiological pattern and spatial distribution of patients with acute lymphoid leukemia and acute myeloid leukemia in Amazonas and identify the predictors of comorbidity and death., Materials and Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was carried out based on patients' data which was obtained from the database of a referral center for the period of 2005 to 2015. Variables included age, gender, ethnicity, civil status, schooling, income, location of residence, subtype of leukemia, comorbidities, and date of death. The spatial distribution was performed using QGIS v.2.18. Stata software was used for univariable and multivariable logistic regression to evaluate the association between both comorbidities and death for all characteristic groups of ALL and AML., Results: The group that was studied was composed of 577 ALL and 266 AML patients. For both, most patients were male, with a schooling period of 1-4 years, received<1 minimum wage, and lived mostly in Manaus, followed by the municipality of Tefé. There was no association between the development of comorbidities and analyzed variables in patients with ALL. AML patients that were >60 years old and with family history of the disease had the highest risk of developing comorbidities (OR = 5.06, p = 0.038; OR = 2.44, p = 0.041, respectively). Furthermore, patients with ALL and in the 41-50-year age group had a higher risk of death (OR = 31.12; p = 0.001). No association between death and explanatory variables were found in patients with AML. In addition, significant difference was observed in time to death (chi2 = 4,098.32, p = 0.000), with 50% of patients with AML dying within two years after diagnosis, whereas in ALL, this percentual of death only is reached in approximately 5 years., Conclusion: Our study describes the data of patients with acute leukemia in Amazonas, a remote region in the north of Brazil. In addition, it highlights the importance of hemovigilance in an Amazon region state, while focusing on peripheral areas which don't have prevention, diagnosis and treatment tools for this disease., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Objectives: To evaluate the serum concentrations of vitamin D and their variations in patients with severe sepsis or septic shock and in control subjects upon admission and after 7 days of hospitalization in the intensive care unit and to correlate these concentrations with the severity of organ dysfunction., Methods: This case-control, prospective, observational study involved patients aged > 18 years with severe sepsis or septic shock paired with a control group. Serum vitamin D concentrations were measured at inclusion (D0) and on the seventh day after inclusion (D7). Severe deficiency was defined as vitamin D levels < 10ng/ml, deficiency as levels between 10 and 20ng/ml, insufficiency as levels between 20 and 30ng/ml, and sufficiency as levels ≥ 30ng/mL. We considered a change to a higher ranking, together with a 50% increase in the absolute concentration, to represent an improvement., Results: We included 51 patients (26 with septic shock and 25 controls). The prevalence of vitamin D concentration ≤ 30ng/ml was 98%. There was no correlation between the serum concentration of vitamin D at D0 and the SOFA score at D0 or D7 either in the general population or in the group with septic shock. Patients with improvement in vitamin D deficiency had an improved SOFA score at D7 (p = 0.013)., Conclusion: In the population studied, patients with septic shock showed improvement in the serum concentrations of vitamin D on the seventh day compared with the controls. We also found a correlation between higher vitamin D concentrations and a greater decrease in the severity of organ dysfunction.

Background and Objectives: Understand, through the theory of social representations, the influence exerted by the establishment a residency program in anesthesiology on anesthetic care and professional motivation in a tertiary teaching hospital in the Northeast of Brazil., Method: Qualitative methodology. The theoretical framework comprised the phenomenology and the Social Representation Theory. Five multidisciplinary focus groups were formed with 17 health professionals (five surgeons, five anesthesiologists, two nurses, and five nursing technicians), who work in operating rooms and post-anesthesia care units, all with prior and posterior experience to the establishment of residency., Results: From the response content analysis, the following empirical categories emerged: motivation to upgrade, recycling of anesthesiologists and improving anesthetic practice, resident as an interdisciplinary link in perioperative care, improvements in the quality of perioperative care, recognition of weaknesses in the perioperative process. It was evident upper gastrointestinal bleeding secondary to prolonged intubation that the creation of a residency in anesthesiology brings advancements that are reflected in the motivation of anesthesiologists; the resident worked as an interdisciplinary link between the multidisciplinary team; there was recognition of weaknesses in the system, which were identified and actions to overcome it were proposed., Conclusion: The implementation of a residency program in anesthesiology at a tertiary education hospital in the Northeast of Brazil promoted scientific updates, improved the quality of care and processes of interdisciplinary care, recognized the weaknesses of the service, developed action plans and suggested that this type of initiative may be useful in remote areas of developing countries., (Copyright © 2014 Sociedade Brasileira de Anestesiologia. Publicado por Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.)

The items bank of the Fatigue domain is part of an American system developed for evaluation of results reported by patients, called Patient-Reported-Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS). This study aimed to translate and cross-culturally adapt this item bank for the Brazilian population, as a promising new tool for evaluating health-related quality of life. The items in this bank were translated using rigorous translation and back-translation protocols. The translated version was pre-tested in twenty Brazilians with a brief cognitive and retrospective interview in order to test the items' conceptual, cultural, and semantic equivalences. In the translation and back-translation process, only three of the 82 items had to be reworded due to the culturally inadequate content. In the pretest, only four items needed to be reworded, but without conceptual and semantic alterations. The results showed that the translated version of this item bank is conceptually, culturally, and semantically equivalent to the original version.

Unlabelled: Acoustic rhinometry, rhinomanometry and Inspiratory Peak Nasal Flow (IPNF) are used in order to objectively assess nasal patency. These are expensive not very practical tests, except for IPNF, which is a fast, simple and low cost method., Objective: To assess IPNF in healthy individuals complaining of nose obstruction caused by allergic rhinitis., Method: IPNF use in 78 individuals with and without rhinitis symptoms., Study Design: Contemporary cross-sectional cohort., Results: IPNF showed significant results for nasal obstruction, rhinorrhea, pruritus, sneezes and tearing (p < 0. 001). There was no correlation between the presence of nasal septum deviation and IPNF (p = 0. 561). We found a positive correlation between IPNF and the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for nasal obstruction (p = 0. 002). In the multiple linear regression model, there was a statistical significance between the values found in IPNF with allergic rhinitis and age (p = 0. 005 and p = 0. 023 respectively)., Conclusions: IPNF proved to be a reliable method to detect changes in nasal patency, by obstructive causes as well as inflammatory causes, with an acceptable level of statistical significance, simple, easy to handle, inexpensive and reproducible.

By measuring the ratio between the major and minor axes of closed elliptical loops created by a magnetic field, the ratio between the bend (K33) and splay (K11) elastic constants of a lyotropic mixture of potassium laurate, decanol, and water in the calamitic nematic phase is measured as a function of temperature. Since these systems present two nematic-isotropic phase transitions--the usual one, at high temperatures, and a reentrant one, at low temperatures--such measurements are used to compare the behavior of these elastic constants at the neighborhoods of these two distinct regions, which have in common the vanishing of the order parameter. The experimental data have revealed the existence of two elastic constant branches, characterizing a distinct low- and high-temperature behavior. To explain such asymmetry we support that, because of the lyotropic nature of the compound, the micellar variation, which is mainly responsible for the reentrant phase, plays a distinct role at these two phase transitions.

In this work experimental and theoretical results will be used to show that under convenient conditions; appropriated geometry, well chosen boundary conditions, and suitable external fields, the elastic and dynamic behavior of a sample of a biaxial nematic liquid crystal can become similar to the one observed on usual uniaxial nematic liquid crystals. It is shown that this result can be used to determine the values of some combinations of the rheologic parameters of the biaxial phase.

Post-mortem examination of 658 goats showed that 17 (2.5%) exhibited hepatic abscesses. The following bacteria were isolated: Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis (58.9%), Escherichia coli (11.8%), Corynebacterium sp. (11.8%), Pasteurella haemolytica (5.9%), Proteus sp. (5.9%) and Staphylococcus aureus (5.9%). Hepatic abscesses occurred more frequently in adult animals. Eleven of the 17 goats (64.7%) were older than 12 months of age. Four goats (23.5%) were 12 months of age and only two (11.8%) were less than 1 year of age. All of the goats with hepatic abscesses were in poor nutritional condition and the abscesses were invariably associated with accompanying pathological disorders at other body sites.