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Sulfur-containing compounds are naturally found in crude oil, and they can be partially removed during the refining process. The wide use of fossil fuels has a significant contribution to sulfur emissions into the atmosphere, and Governments are striving to reduce the amount of the fuels by environmental regulations. The reduction of sulfur levels in diesel and other transportation fuels is beneficial from economic and environmental points, but meeting this standard represents a major operational and economic challenge for the oil and gas industry. Quantitative measurement of the sulfur amount must be taken along the oil refining chains guided by standards of measurement and recommended analytical methods such as various American Society for Testing and Materials methods (ASTM D2622, ASTM D5453, ASTM D7039, and ASTM D7220). Advancement in the refining processes and environmental regulations also require reliable measurements and well-defined criteria for compliance assessment. This work presented a brief review of the ASTM Standards used in the laboratories of the Brazilian oil and gas industry to determine the total sulfur content in fuels. We also presented an approach based on the reproducibility of the measurement methods and the guard band concept to evaluate the conformity statement.

This study aimed to develop films of chitosan (CSF) associated with pentoxifylline (PTX) for healing cutaneous wounds. These films were prepared at two concentrations, F1 (2.0 mg/mL) and F2 (4.0 mg/mL), and the interactions between the materials, structural characteristics, in vitro release, and morphometric aspects of skin wounds in vivo were evaluated. The formation of the CSF film with acetic acid modifies the polymeric structure, and the PTX demonstrates interaction with the CSF, in a semi-crystalline structure, for all concentrations. The release for all films was proportional to the concentration, with two phases: a fast one of ≤2 h and a slow one of >2 h, releasing 82.72 and 88.46% of the drug after 72 h, being governed by the Fickian diffusion mechanism. The wounds of the mice demonstrate a reduction of up to 60% in the area on day 2 for F2 when compared to CSF, F1, and positive control, and this characteristic of faster healing speed for F2 continues until the ninth day with wound reduction of 85%, 82%, and 90% for CSF, F1, and F2, respectively. Therefore, the combination of CSF and PTX is effective in their formation and incorporation, demonstrating that a higher concentration of PTX accelerates skin-wound reduction.

Classical and progeroid congenital lipodystrophies are a collection of rare diseases displaying a large genetic heterogeneity. They occur due to pathogenic variants in genes associated with adipogenesis, DNA repair pathways, and genome stability. Subjects with lipodystrophy exhibit an impairment in the homeostasis of subcutaneous white adipose tissue (sWAT), resulting in low leptin and adiponectin levels, insulin resistance (IR), diabetes, dyslipidemia, ectopic fat deposition, inflammation, mitochondrial and endoplasmic reticulum commitments, among others. However, how pathogenic variants in adipogenesis-related genes modulate DNA repair in some classical congenital lipodystrophies has not been elucidated. In the same way, no data is clarifying how pathogenic variants in DNA repair genes result in sWAT loss in different types of progeroid lipodystrophies. This review will concentrate on the main molecular findings to understand the link between DNA damage/repair and adipogenesis in human and animal models of congenital lipodystrophies. We will focus on classical and progeroid congenital lipodystrophies directly or indirectly related to DNA repair pathways, highlighting the role of DNA repair-related proteins in maintaining sWAT homeostasis.

Background: Neoadjuvant treatment has become a standard of care for borderline or locally advanced pancreatic cancer and is increasingly considered even for up-front resectable disease. The aim of this article is to present the case of a 62-year-old patient with locally advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma who was successfully treated with gemcitabine plus nab-paclitaxel after the failure of the first line treatment., Case Summary: Computerized tomography scan and magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated a nodular lesion of ill-defined limits in the body of the pancreas, measuring approximately 4.2 cm × 2.7 cm, with an infiltrative aspect. The tumor had contact with the superior mesenteric vein, splenomesenteric junction and the proximal segment of the splenic artery, causing focal reduction of its lumens. Due to vascular involvement, neoadjuvant chemotherapy treatment with eight cycles of "folinic acid, 5-fluorouracil, irinotecan and oxaliplatine" (FOLFIRINOX) were performed. At the end of the cycles, surgery was performed, but the procedure was interrupted due to finding of lesions suspected of metastasis. Gemcitabine plus nab-paclitaxel was then successfully used for neoadjuvant treatment with subsequent R0 surgical resection., Conclusion: Gemcitabine plus nab-paclitaxel may be effective as an alternative regimen when FOLFIRINOX fails as the first line of treatment, suggesting the need for further studies to identify which patients would benefit from each type of therapeutic approach., Competing Interests: Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: The application of measurement instruments is a strategy to evaluate the patient's knowledge about the disease. This study aims to build an instrument that evaluates the patient's knowledge about liver cirrhosis., Method: This study includes three phases. The first one was the construction of the instrument based on a literature review. In the second phase, five experts were participated in the evaluation of the instrument, to check the validity of the content. Quantitative and qualitative analyzes were made. The tool used was the CVI (Content Validity Index) and it was used the semantic study of the questions. The third phase was the process of the restructuring the instrument., Results: The final version of the instrument consisted of 36 questions. The instrument was evaluated in 91.7 by the average CVI and 94.4% by the universal CVI., Conclusions: The questions are properly structured and clear, therefore, understandable. Thus, the final instrument presented satisfactory content validity, so that, it reached the aim of this study.

Purpose: To evaluate the influence of autonomic vagal and splenic activities on renal histomorphometric aspects in obese rats., Methods: Thirty male Wistar rats were used, of which, 24 received subcutaneous injections of monosodium glutamate (MSG) during the first 5 days of life (4 g/kg body weight) and six control animals received injections of saline solution (CON). Five experimental groups were organized (n = 6/group): falsely-operated control (CON-FO); falsely-operated obese (MSG-FO); vagotomized obese (MSG-VAG); splenectomized obese (MSG-SPL); vagotomized and splenectomized obese (MSG-VAG-SPL)., Results: The MSG-FO group animals showed a significant reduction in body weight and nasal-anal length when compared to CON-FO group animals (p < 0.05). The MSG-VAG-SPL group showed significant reduced in most biometric parameters associated with obesity. Falsely-operated obese animals showed a significant reduction in renal weight, glomerular diameters, glomerular tuff and capsule areas and Bowman's space compared to CON-FO group animals (p < 0.05). There was a significant reduction in diameter, glomerular tuft and capsule areas, and Bowman's space in MSG-VAG, MSG-SPL, MSG-VAG-SPL groups when compared to the MSG-FO group., Conclusions: Vagotomy associated with splenectomy induces a reduction in the adiposity and causes histological changes in the kidney of obese rats.

Despite the recent announcement of the new pathogenic coronavirus to man, SARS-CoV2, a large number of publications are presented to the scientific community. An organized and systematic review of the epidemiological, etiological, and pathogenic factors of COVID-19 is presented. This is a systematic review using the databases MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, SCIELO; the descriptors coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, etiology, epidemiology, pathophysiology, pathogenesis, COVID-19, with publications from December 2019 to January 2021, resulting in more than 800 publications and 210 selected. The data suggest that COVID-19 is associated with SAR-CoV-2 infection, with the transmission of contagion by fomites, salivary droplets, and other forms, such as vertical and fecal-oral. The bat and other vertebrates appear to be reservoirs and part of the transmission chain. The virus uses cell receptors to infect human cells, especially ACE2, like other coronaviruses. Heat shock proteins have different roles in the infection, sometimes facilitating it, sometimes participating in more severe conditions, when not serving as a therapeutic target. The available data allow us to conclude that COVID-19 is a pandemic viral disease, behaving as a challenge for public health worldwide, determining aggressive conditions with a high mortality rate in patients with risk factors, without treatment, but with the recent availability of the first vaccines., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Objective: The objective of this systematic review was to analyze the main morphofunctional changes in the involvement of multiple organs in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2, correlating anatomopathological findings with the clinical picture., Methods: The present study selected articles through electronic search of indexed journals in the PubMed and SciVerse Scopus databases, from December 2019 to May 2020, using the keywords "autopsy," "pathogenicity," and "COVID-19." Two hundred nine articles were identified, and the full texts of 18 articles were reviewed, 5 of them being selected for this review., Results: The ACE2 receptor plays a role in introducing viral material into the cell, having high expression in type II alveoli. Histopathological analyzes of the lungs of patients with COVID-19 show that SARS-CoV-2 produces, in this organ, in addition to an inflammatory process, a diffuse alveolar damage (DAD), which can cause acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Macroscopically, the lungs become heavier, firmer, and redder. The clinical features of these patients are variable; the most common are respiratory symptoms associated with fever, myalgia, or fatigue., Conclusion: The observations points to the consensus that the lungs are the main targets of COVID-19, with morphological and functional changes of interest, including important sequels, and presenting diffuse alveolar damage as a substrate for an unfavorable outcome with ARDS. Changes in micro and macroscopic levels corroborate to the clinical progression of the disease and that these alterations are not specific, which ratify, in addition to the anatomopathological examination, a need to use the association of clinical and epidemiological data for diagnostic confirmation., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Cardiovascular diseases are responsible for high morbidity and mortality rates worldwide. Among treatment options, medicinal plants are frequently used, especially in developing countries, such as Brazil. Despite social development that has been observed in the last decades, the use of medicinal plants is still driven by popular knowledge, especially by healers. The present study sought to identify medicinal species that are used for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases by healers in the microregion of Francisco Beltrão, Paraná, Brazil. The snowball technique was used to select informants, and data were collected through interviews. The research was performed in two stages: (1) a structured interview and (2) the collection and botanical identification of the species that were mentioned by the healers. Medicinal plants were classified into the following categories of cardiovascular agents: hypotensive and antihypertensive agents, lipid-lowering agents, diuretic agents, and cardiotonic agents. To analyze the data, the frequency was determined, Spearman correlations were calculated, and the informant consensus factor (ICF) and use value were obtained. Some characteristics, such as female gender and old age, were associated with knowledge about medicinal plants. Overall, 77 different species and 149 medicinal uses were cited by the healers. With regard to categories of use, the highest number of species was found among lipid-lowering plants, and the highest ICF was found for species that are used as cardiotonics. Moreover, a literature review indicated that among the cited species, several still lack studies that have proven their effects on the cardiovascular system. The traditional use of medicinal plants for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases is broad in the study regions. The present results are important for clarifying popular knowledge in this region and providing a framework for selecting species with potential for the development of new pharmacological studies.

Despite inguinal hernias being a common problem in public health, there is still scarce information about the epidemiology of the complications, especially incarceration, and their influence on the laparoscopic surgical methods considering the role of the learning process of the surgeon. Compare laparoscopic totally extraperitoneal (TEP) approach in the repair of incarcerated and non-incarcerated inguinal hernias from the perspective of technical difficulty for trained surgeons. We obtained data about sex, age, location and type of hernia, surgery duration, ASA score, postoperative complications, previous surgeries and BMI. Groups were descriptively analyzed and statistically compared to verify how similar the samples were. 265 (90.1%) patients had non-incarcerated hernias and 29 (9.9%) incarcerated. We observed that there was no significant difference in the pattern of location (right, left or bilateral), sex, ASA, previous or complications between the two groups. Unilateral incarcerated hernias had longer operative times compared to non-incarcerated. No difference was found between bilateral hernias. We didn´t find significant epidemiological differences between incarcerated and non-incarcerated hernias. In our experience, with the limitation of a single-surgeon series, laparoscopic hernia repair achieved satisfactory results in terms of feasibility (especially for bilateral hernias) and safety.

The number of non-cardiac major surgeries carried out has significantly increased in recent years to around 200 million procedures carried out annually. Approximately 30% of patients submitted to non-cardiac surgery present some form of cardiovascular comorbidity. In emergency situations, with less surgery planning time and greater clinical severity, the risks become even more significant. The aim of this study is to determine the incidence and clinical outcomes in patients with cardiovascular disease submitted to non-cardiac surgical procedures in a single cardiovascular referral center. This is a prospective cohort study of patients with cardiovascular disease submitted to non-cardiovascular surgery. All procedures were carried out by the same surgeon, between January 2006 and January 2018. 240 patients included were elderly, 154 were male (64%), 8 patients presented two diagnoses. Of the resulting 248 procedures carried out, 230 were emergency (92.8%). From the data obtained it was possible to estimate the day from which the occurrence of mortality is less probable in the postoperative phase. Our research evaluated the epidemiological profile of the surgeries and we were able to estimate the survival and delimit the period of greatest risk of mortality in these patients. The high rate of acute mesenteric ischemia was notable, a serious and frequently fatal condition.

Background: We are a reporting a rare case of retroperitoneal schwanomma with atypical pre and postoperative manifestations. Retroperitoneal schwannomas are rare tumors that are difficult to preoperatively diagnose., Case Presentation: This is a case report of a male patient, 41 years old, with symptoms of hipogastric and lower right member pain, as well as a history of a papilliferous thyroid tumor. Computerized tomography exams were inconclusive, showing a mass in the presacral region with dimensions of 4.4 × 3.9 × 3.4 cm. Removal was carried out by laparoscopic surgery, with self-limited postoperative complications. Diagnosis was carried out by anatomopathological examination, and syndromic hypotheses were discarded., Conclusions: The postoperative complications of schwanomma are little reported in the literature. In the simultaneous occurrence of schwanomma and other endocrine tumors, further studies are warranted to better differentiate the cases that need investigation of syndromic causes.

Background: We are reporting a rare case of MUTYH-associated polyposis, a colorectal cancer hereditary syndrome, diagnosticated after an intussusception. Colorectal cancer is an important cause of cancer related mortality that can be manifested by an intussusception, a rare occurrence in adults and almost always related to tumors. Approximately 5% of colorectal cancers can be attributed to syndromes known to cause hereditary colorectal cancer, such as MUTYH-associated polyposis, autosomal genetic syndrome associated with this disease., Case Presentation: We present the case of a 44 years old male, that sought medical consultation with a complaint of abdominal discomfort, that after five days changed its characteristics. The patient was sent to the emergency department were a CT-scan revealed intestinal sub-occlusion by ileocolic invagination. Right colectomy was carried out. The anatomic-pathological examination revealed a moderately differentiated mucinous adenocarcinoma and multiples sessile polyps, which led to the suspicion of a genetic syndrome. In the genetics analysis two mutations were observed in the MUTYH gene, and MUTYH-associated polyposis was diagnosticated., Conclusion: This case demonstrates the importance of meticulous analysis of the patient examinations results to identify possible discrete alterations that can lead to improved understanding of disease.

We developed a rules-based scoring system to classify DNA variants into five categories including pathogenic, likely pathogenic, variant of uncertain significance (VUS), likely benign, and benign. Over 16,500 pathogenicity assessments on 11,894 variants from 338 genes were analyzed for pathogenicity based on prediction tools, population frequency, co-occurrence, segregation, and functional studies collected from internal and external sources. Scores were calculated by trained scientists using a quantitative framework that assigned differential weighting to these five types of data. We performed descriptive and comparative statistics on the dataset and tested interobserver concordance among the trained scientists. Private variants defined as variants found within single families (n = 5,182), were either VUS (80.5%; n = 4,169) or likely pathogenic (19.5%; n = 1,013). The remaining variants (n = 6,712) were VUS (38.4%; n = 2,577) or likely benign/benign (34.7%; n = 2,327) or likely pathogenic/pathogenic (26.9%, n = 1,808). Exact agreement between the trained scientists on the final variant score was 98.5% [95% confidence interval (CI) (98.0, 98.9)] with an interobserver consistency of 97% [95% CI (91.5, 99.4)]. Variant scores were stable and showed increasing odds of being in agreement with new data when re-evaluated periodically. This carefully curated, standardized variant pathogenicity scoring system provides reliable pathogenicity scores for DNA variants encountered in a clinical laboratory setting., (© 2015 The Authors. **Human Mutation published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

The lizard cortex has remarkable similarities with the mammalian hippocampus. Both regions process memories, have similar cytoarchitectural properties, and are important neurogenic foci in adults. Lizards show striking levels of widespread neurogenesis in adulthood and can regenerate entire cortical areas after injury. Nitric oxide (NO) is an important regulatory factor of mammalian neurogenesis and hippocampal function. However, little is known about its role in nonmammalian neurogenesis. Here, we analyzed the distribution, morphology, and dendritic complexity (Neurolucida reconstructions) of NO-producing neurons through NADPH diaphorase (NADPHd) activity, and how they compare with the distribution of doublecortin-positive (DCX+) neurons in the hippocampal formation of the neotropical lizard Tropidurus hispidus. NADPHd-positive (NADPHd+) neurons in the dorsomedial cortex (DMC; putatively homologous to mammalian CA3) were more numerous and complex than the ones in the medial cortex (MC; putatively homologous to the dentate gyrus). We found that NADPHd+ DMC neurons send long projections into the MC. Interestingly, in the MC, NADPHd+ neurons existed in 2 patterns: small somata with low intensity of staining in the outer layer and large somata with high intensity of staining in the deep layer, a pattern similar to the mammalian cortex. Additionally, NADPHd+ neurons were absent in the granular cell layer of the MC. In contrast, DCX+ neurons were scarce in the DMC but highly numerous in the MC, particularly in the granular cell layer. We hypothesize that NO-producing neurons in the DMC provide important input to proliferating/migrating neurons in the highly neurogenic MC., (© 2017 S. Karger AG, Basel.)

Optogenetics has become an emerging technique for neuroscience investigations owing to the great spatiotemporal precision and the target selectivity it provides. Here we extend the optogenetic strategy to GABAA receptors (GABAARs), the major mediators of inhibitory neurotransmission in the brain. We generated a light-regulated GABAA receptor (LiGABAR) by conjugating a photoswitchable tethered ligand (PTL) onto a mutant receptor containing the cysteine-substituted α1-subunit. The installed PTL can be advanced to or retracted from the GABA-binding pocket with 500 and 380 nm light, respectively, resulting in photoswitchable receptor antagonism. In hippocampal neurons, this LiGABAR enabled a robust photoregulation of inhibitory postsynaptic currents. Moreover, it allowed reversible photocontrol over neuron excitation in response to presynaptic stimulation. LiGABAR thus provides a powerful means for functional and mechanistic investigations of GABAAR-mediated neural inhibition.

The present study aimed to entrap and characterize the morphology and antitumor effects of a dermaseptin (DStomo01) peptide in chitosan nanoparticles, in vitro. DStomo01 nanoparticles showed moderate polydispersivity, excellent colloidal stability, and slow release. It was noted that free DStomo01 induced DNA fragmentation and mitochondrial hyperpolarization in HeLa cells. However, when entrapped in chitosan nanoparticles, DStomo01 was slightly more active against HeLa cells than the free peptide. In conclusion, the present sustained release system was efficient in entrapping the peptide and reducing tumor cell viability, which are promising steps for future studies involving specific targeting of nanoparticles and in-vivo treatments.

Graduate students in chemistry, and in biological and biomedical fields must learn the fundamentals and practices of peptide and protein chemistry as early as possible. A project-oriented approach was conducted by first-year M.Sc and Ph.D students in biological sciences. A blind glass slide containing a cellular smear and an aqueous cellular extract were offered to the students. Qualitative and quantitative cell morphological parameters were analyzed by atomic force microscopy. The fractionation of the aqueous extract was conducted by reversed-phase chromatography followed by analysis of the isolated and partially purified proteins and peptides by mass spectrometry (MS). The proteins were treated by peptidases and the obtained peptide fragments were sequenced by de novo MS/MS, together with peptides already present in the extract. The most abundant protein fractions were identified as the alpha and beta chains of hemoglobin from an amphibian of the Leptodactylus genera. Two of the peptides sequenced by the students were synthesized by the solid-phase methodology, one of those being obtained by the split-and-pool library synthesis method. Thus, the students were able to learn some advanced principles and practices of protein chemistry and bionanotechnology in a 6-weeks project-oriented approach., (Copyright © 2011 The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.)

Photochromic ligands, molecules that can be induced to change their physical properties through applied light, are currently the topic of much chemical biology research. This specialized class of small organic structures are, surprisingly to many, fairly common in nature. At the core of a number of natural biological processes lies a small molecule that changes shape or some other measurable property in response to light absorption. For instance, conformational changes invoked by reversible photoisomerization of a retinoid small molecule found in the photoreceptors of the human eye leads to vision. In plants, photoisomerization of a cinnamate moiety leads to altered gene expression. The photosensitive molecule can be viewed simply as a nanosensor of light, much like a photosensitive electrical component might be added to a circuit to sense day versus night to turn an electrical circuit on or off. Synthetic organic chemists and chemical biologists have been, for at least the last 15years, trying to either mimic or exploit the native photochromism found in nature. Here, we describe the design process to develop a photochromic molecule to be used in neurobiology., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)