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Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.) is a nutrient-dense crop rich in fibre, minerals, and antioxidant compounds, including carotenoids and phenolic compounds, such as anthocyanins. Dehydrating sweet potato (SP) for flour production enhances its value and produces shelf-stable, health-promoting food products. This study investigated the effects of hot-air drying (HAD: 75 °C/20 h) and freeze-drying (FD: −41–30 °C/70 h) on the bioactive composition of flours from three SP varieties: Bonita (white-fleshed), Bellevue (orange-fleshed), and NP1648 (purple-fleshed). Key assessments included the total phenolic content (TPC), the total carotenoid content (TCC), and the total anthocyanin content (TAC) and the antioxidant activity (DPPH and FRAP). The results revealed distinct raw materials’ bioactive profiles: Bellevue was rich in TCC (49.3 mg of β-carotene/100 g db), NP1648 showed elevated TAC (27.3 mg of cyanidin-3-glucoside/100 g db), and Bonita exhibited minimal content of bioactive compounds. Both drying methods yielded significant losses of bioactive compounds, with the TPC decreasing by over 60%, while TAC and TCC losses did not exceed 32%, revealing higher stability. Multivariate analysis indicated that the variety significantly influenced the bioactive profiles more than the drying method. The interaction between carotenoids and anthocyanins and the SP fibrous composition likely contributed to their stability during drying, indicating that FD showed no advantages over HAD. The appealing colours and high antioxidant content of Bellevue and NP1648 flours suggest their potential as ingredients for enhancing foods’ bioactivity and sensory acceptance.

Introduction: Due to the coronavirus 2019 disease (COVID-19) pandemic, health systems worldwide have suffered interferences, with the interruption of sexual health clinics, limitation of ambulatory consults, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of several diseases, especially syphilis, altering their epidemiology. Objective: To investigate the impact of the pandemic on syphilis diagnosis in Brazil, the main goal of this study was to update and reevaluate data from the Brazilian Unified Health System on the number of syphilis cases reported in all five Brazilian geographic regions and verify the response of the Brazilian health care to the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The data were retrieved from the National Disease Notification System and the Department of Chronic Conditions Diseases and Sexually Transmitted Infections and represent syphilis diagnosis in Brazil, from March to December 2017 to 2019, 2020, and 2021. Results: The increase in the number of syphilis cases was minor compared to 2020, keeping the Southeast region as the most impacted (+146.1%) and an increase of 22,633 cases throughout Brazil (+54.3%). Conclusion: Syphilis disease control measures were ineffective in 2021 as the drop in the number of cases was irrelevant compared to the years before the pandemic. The association between the increase in syphilis cases in Brazil and the COVID-19 pandemic should be further investigated to assist in decision-making processes and in the programming of health actions in addition to finding measures to raise the control of this disease.

Abstract This study aims to reevaluate and compare the data from the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS) on the number of diagnoses of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in the pre-pandemic period with those in the pandemic period, as well as to compare the first year (2020) of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil with the last year (2021), to update the data, and to verify whether SLE disease control measures were effective in 2021. There was a consistent and significant increase in the incidence of SLE cases all over Brazil between the first and second pandemic years and between the pre-pandemic triennium and the second pandemic year. Therefore, it is inescapable to have larger clinical studies with different populations to better understand the relationship between these two conditions and find measures to improve the control of this disease.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) protocols has reduced primary and secondary health care for other diseases, such as leishmaniasis, a parasitic, endemic, chronic and persistent disease in Brazil. To ascertain this, we compared the number of leishmaniasis cases diagnosed before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. In 5 regions of Brazil, there was an increase in the mean number of leishmaniasis clinic visits from 2020 pandemic period (over 57%) compared with 2017-2019 years. Interestingly, this increase was due to tegumentary leishmaniasis (TL) while visceral leishmaniasis consultations decreased considerably. The increase in clinic visits with a diagnosis of TL in all regions of Brazil during the pandemic period in 2020, shows that the epidemiological surveillance of neglected tropical diseases cannot slowdown in the country. Expanding information can minimize the negative impacts of COVID-19 on health promotion, prevention and monitoring of the most prevalent neglected diseases.

Counterfeiting is a global ever‐growing problem of immense magnitude that represents a menace to security, economy, and health at a worldwide level. Herein, a new luminescent security ink composed of poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) and the home‐made ionic liquid (IL) 1‐butyl‐3‐methylimidazolium tetra(thenoyltrifluoroacetonato)europate(III) ([Bmim][Eu(tta)4]) is reported. The optimized PVDF/[Bmim][Eu(tta)4] composite is processed by the doctor blade method as a micrometer‐thick film invisible under white light, with porous texture. The material exhibits high thermal stability, high chemical stability (inertness with respect to ethanol), high photostability, and intense red emission when excited with long UV radiation (365 nm) with a maximum quantum yield value of 0.10 ± 0.01. A test of the PVDF/[Bmim][Eu(tta)4] ink screen‐printed on a medical N95 protection mask performed under irradiation with white light and with a commercial 365 nm LED demonstrates its suitability to combat fraud. The exciting possibilities offered by PVDF/luminescent IL pair in terms of chemical modification of PVDF (copolymerization or functionalization) and IL (cation type/lanthanide ion/ligand type) for the tuning of the ink properties allow envisaging the production of tailor‐made tri‐ or biluminescent security inks, for authentication purposes.

In this study, the lactic fermentation of immature tomatoes as a tool for food ingredient production was evaluated as a circular economy-oriented alternative for valorising industrial tomatoes that are unsuitable for processing and which have wasted away in large quantities in the field. Two lactic acid bacteria (LAB) were assessed as starter cultures in an immature tomato pulp fermentation to produce functional food ingredients with probiotic potential. The first trial evaluated the probiotic character of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum (LAB97, isolated from immature tomato microbiota) and Weissella paramesenteroides (C1090, from the INIAV collection) through in vitro gastrointestinal digestion simulation. The results showed that LAB97 and C1090 met the probiotic potential viability criterion by maintaining 6 log10 CFU/mL counts after in vitro simulation. The second trial assessed the LAB starters’ fermentative ability. Partially decontaminated (110 °C/2 min) immature tomato pulp was used to prepare the individually inoculated samples (Id: LAB97 and C1090). Non-inoculated samples, both with and without thermal treatment (Id: CTR-TT and CTR-NTT, respectively), were prepared as the controls. Fermentation was undertaken (25 °C, 100 rpm) for 14 days. Throughout storage (0, 24, 48, 72 h, 7, and 14 days), all the samples were tested for LAB and Y&M counts, titratable acidity (TA), solid soluble content (SSC), total phenolic content (TPC), antioxidant capacity (AOx), as well as for organic acids and phenolic profiles, and CIELab colour and sensory evaluation (14th day). The LAB growth reached ca. 9 log10 CFU/mL for all samples after 72 h. The LAB97 samples had an earlier and higher acidification rate than the remaining ones, and they were highly correlated to lactic acid increments. The inoculated samples showed a faster and higher decrease rate in their SSC levels when compared to the controls. A nearly two-fold increase (p < 0.05) during the fermentation, over time, was observed in all samples’ AOx and TPC (p < 0.05, r = 0.93; similar pattern). The LAB97 samples obtained the best sensory acceptance for flavour and overall appreciation scores when compared to the others. In conclusion, the L. plantarum LAB97 starter culture was selected as a novel probiotic candidate to obtain a potential probiotic ingredient from immature tomato fruits.

The drying process is an essential thermal process for preserving vegetables and can be used in developing dried products as healthy alternative snacks. The effects of air-drying conditions using a convection dryer with hot air at different temperatures (60°, 65°, 70°, 75°, and 80 °C, in the range 5–200 min, at a fixed air speed of 2.3 m/s) were tested on the quality of slices (2.0 ± 0.1 mm) of dried sweet potato (Bellevue PBR). For each time and temperature, drying condition, physicochemical parameters (moisture content, CIELab color, texture parameters, total phenolic and carotenoid contents) and a sensory evaluation by a panel at the last drying period (200 min) were assessed. Drying time was shown to have a more significant effect than temperature on the quality of dried sweet potato as a snack, except for carotenoid content. Given the raw tuber content, thermal degradation (p < 0.05) of total phenolic compounds (about 70%), regardless of tested conditions, contrasted with the higher stability of total carotenoids (

Letter to the editors

Abstract INTRODUCTION: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has limited the access of patients with Hansen's disease (HD) to care due to changes in routine health services. METHODS: To ascertain this, we compared the number of HD cases diagnosed before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. RESULTS: The decrease in HD cases in Brazil reached 18,223 (-48.4%), corresponding to an average reduction of 1,518 cases per month during the COVID-19 pandemic. CONCLUSION: Therefore, effective measures should be implemented to minimize the damage and the consequent negative health impact of COVID-19 on the care of HD patients.

Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the pathogen SARS-CoV-2, was declared a pandemic in March 2020. Recently, studies have discussed reports of patients infected with COVID-19 associated with vesicular manifestations of Herpes Zoster. The objective of this study was to compare the data from the Unified Health System (SUS) on the number of diagnoses of Herpes Zoster from March to August from 2017 to 2019, with the same period in 2020, in the five Brazilian regions (North, Northeast, Southeast, South, and Midwest). The data were extracted from the public database (DATASUS) of Brazil's Ministry of Health. The data showed an increase in the number of Herpes Zoster diagnoses over the years and the negative impact from the COVID-19 disease, revealing an average increase corresponding to an extra 10.7 cases per million inhabitants during the pandemic in all Brazilian Regions. Therefore, although the association between HZ and COVID-19 is not well established, we observed in this study an increase in HZ cases during the COVID -19 pandemic, which suggests a correlation between these diseases.

Lactic fermentation of unripe green tomatoes as a tool to produce food ingredients is a viable alternative for adding value to industrial tomatoes unsuitable for processing and left in large quantities in the fields. Fermentation using starter cultures isolated from the fruit (plant-matrix adapted) can have advantages over allochthonous strains in obtaining fermented products with sensory acceptability and potentially probiotic characteristics. This paper details the characterisation of the unripe green tomato lactic microbiota to screen LAB strains for use as starter cultures in fermentation processes, along with LAB strains available from INIAV’s collection. Morphological, biochemical (API system), and genomic (16S rDNA gene sequencing) identification showed that the dominant LAB genera in unripe green tomato are Lactiplantibacillus, Leuconostoc, and Weissella. Among nine tested strains, autochthonous Lactiplantibacillus plantarum and allochthonous Weissella paramesenteroides showed tolerance to added solanine (200 ppm) and the best in vitro probiotic potential. The results indicate that the two LAB strains are promising candidates for manufacturing probiotic fermented foods from unripe green tomatoes.

O liraglutide é uma substância análoga do hormônio humano Glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) desenvolvida para o tratamento do diabetes mellitus, uma das doenças mais prevalentes no mundo e que pode levar a grande incapacitação em consequência de suas comorbidades nas pessoas que a desenvolvem. Esta revisão sistemática, com o objetivo de revisar a literatura a cerca da eficácia do liraglutide no tratamento do diabetes mellitus, foi realizada através de pesquisa nas bibliotecas médicas digitais: MEDLINE e PUBMED. O liraglutide induz uma secreção de insulina glicose-dependente e pode ser usada em monoterapia ou associada a outros agentes terapêuticos como sulfoniluréias, metformina, tiazolidinedionas, insulina entre outras. Este agente terapêutico não apresentou complicações sérias em sua aplicação além de desconforto gastrointestinal em uma minoria de pacientes, nem necessitou de ajustes na dosagem em pacientes nefropatas leves e hepatopatas. Observou-se que pacientes em uso desta droga podem, além de melhorar parâmetros glicêmicos, apresentar, também, perda de peso e diminuição da pressão arterial. Seus principais efeitos adversos foram náuseas, responsáveis por um mínimo de abandono. Este artigo procura apresentar o que há de mais atual sobre o liraglutide e comparar o seu desempenho com as drogas que atualmente são consideradas como primeira linha no tratamento do diabetes mellitus.

A influência negativa da Diabete Melito, tanto insulino-dependente quanto não insulino-dependente, sobre as funções cognitivas tem sido provada em vários estudos. O objetivo deste trabalho foi reunir dados sobre o papel da resistência insulínica no cérebro provocada pela patogenicidade dos peptídeos Aß na doença de Alzheimer. Esta revisão sistemática foi realizada através de pesquisa nas bibliotecas médicas digitais: MEDLINE e PUBMED. Desta forma, Estudos epidemiológicos sugerem que a Diabete Melito aumenta o risco de doença de Alzheimer, independente da patologia vascular. Essa associação pode ser explicada pela hipótese de que o peptídeo ß-amilóde provoca resistência insulínica em áreas do cérebro dependentes de insulina e de seus receptores, como o hipocampo, através da perturbação da sinalização da insulina. Isso provocaria uma forma específica de diabete cerebral, chamada pela comunidade científica de “Diabete tipo 3”, que prejudicaria o metabolismo glicídico e a função, composição e estrutura sináptica. O objetivo desta revisão é reunir resultados de novas pesquisas sobre o papel da resistência insulínica no cérebro com doença de Alzheimer; discutir relações entre esta doença, Diabete Melito e síndrome metabólica e comentar as novas linhas de pesquisa sobre o tratamento da doença de Alzheimer com medicação para diabéticos. Essas novas estratégias terapêuticas, ainda em fase de ensaio clínico, estão orientadas para a restauração do equilíbrio do metabolismo insulínico na doença de Alzheimer através da aplicação de insulina pela via intranasal ou do uso de tiazolidinedionas. Embora haja outras teorias para a doença de Alzheimer, a da Diabetes tipo 3 é, hoje, uma das áreas de pesquisa mais promissoras para o entendimento do mecanismo desta doença.

The battle against cancer is so important that all possible weapons must be considered. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a therapeutic approach which has proved its capacity to give many excellent results, but it is having some difficulty in being imposed. The simplicity of the mechanism of action of this technique has been compromised by the multidisciplinary approach required for its implementation, which makes its adoption for more general use by health professionals difficult. This review aims to give a perspective of the performance of current approved PDT drugs, and their clinical applications against cancer. Basic investigation in PDT, particularly in the design of new sensitizers, is still ongoing, and needs to be further exploited. Emergent and diversified solutions with excellent results in pre-clinical phases are described to raise the multidisciplinary interest required to boost the clinical use of PDT.

OBJETIVO: Avaliar o uso a longo prazo do flavonóide quercetina em ratos cirróticos por ligadura de ducto biliar comum (LDB). MÉTODOS: Foram utilizados 32 ratos machos Wistar, sendo submetidos à LDB ou simulação, e distribuídos em 4 grupos: 1) controle, 2) cirróticos, 3) cirróticos tratados com quercetina 50mg/kg, intraperitonealmente, desde o segundo dia após o procedimento cirúrgico; e 4) cirróticos tratados após o décimo quarto dia do procedimento cirúrgico. Analisou-se a função hepática por meio de testes bioquímicos (BT e BD) e atividade enzimática (ALT, AST, FA e GGT). Na análise anatomopatológica, utilizou-se a coloração de Hematoxilina & Eosina (H&E) e de Picrosírius para fibrose. A análise estatística para avaliação de sobrevivência foi realizada pelo teste Kaplan-Meier. RESULTADOS: Os resultados de sobrevivência dos oito animais de cada grupo foram: Grupo 1 = 200 dias de sobrevivência; Grupo 2 = 46 dias; Grupo 3 = 71 dias; e o Grupo 4 = 90 dias. Nos animais com ligadura de ducto biliar comum houve aumento das provas de função hepática e enzimáticas que se reduziu hipoteticamente com o tratamento com quercetina. Foram identificadas cirrose, congestão vascular porta e centrolobular na análise histopatológica por H&E e Picrosírius. CONCLUSÃO: O uso da quercetina diminuiu de maneira significante as alterações bioquímicas provocadas pela cirrose, aumentando o tempo de sobrevivência dos animais com cirrose biliar secundária à LDB, como verificado pelo teste de análise de sobrevivência.PURPOSE: The long term use of quercetin flavonoid was evaluated in cirrhotic rats by common biliary duct bondage (LDB). METHODS: 32 male Wistar rats were submitted to LDB or simulation, and distributed in 4 groups: 1) control, 2) cirrhotic, 3) cirrhotic treated with quercetin the second day after the surgical procedure; and 4) cirrhotic treated with quercetin after the fourteenth day of the surgical procedure. The hepatic function was analyzed through biochemical tests (TB and DB) and enzymatic activity (ALT, AST, AP and GGT). In the anatomopatological analysis, Hematoxilin & Eosin (H&E) coloration, and Picrosirius (for fibrosis) were used.The statistical analysis for survival evaluation was accomplished by the Kaplan-Meier test. RESULTS: The results of survival of the eight animals of each group were: Group 1 = 200 days of survival; Group 2 = 46 days; Group 3 = 71 days; and the Group 4 = 90 days. In the animals with bondage of common biliary duct, there was an increase of the hepatic and anzymatic function tests, which was reduced with the treatment with quercetin. Cirrhosis, portal and centrolobular vascular congestion, were identified in the histopatological analysis with H&E and Picrosirius. CONCLUSION: The use of quercetin decreased significantly the biochemical alterations caused by cirrhosis, increasing the time of survival of the animals with secondary biliary cirrhosis due to LDB.