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Felipe Rychuv Santos,1 Carmen Lucia Mueller Storrer,1 Emanuelle Juliana Cunha,1 Lucienne M Ulbrich,1 Camilo Andress Villabona Lopez,2,3 Tatiana Miranda Deliberador1 1Department of Dentistry, Universidade Positivo, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil; 2Department of Dentistry, University of Santo Tomás, Bucaramanga, Santander, Colombia; 3Department of Implantology, Federal University of Santa Cataria, Florianópolis, Brazil Abstract: Gingival recession is the most common mucogingival defect, characterized by apical migration of the gingival margin from the cementoenamel junction and root exposure. Several surgical techniques are reported for the treatment of gingival recession. Here we present a comparison of the conventional (coronally advanced flap) and semilunar coronally positioned flap techniques for root coverage in teeth with cervical abrasion restored with pink resin that mimics the color of the gingiva. Although the conventional technique is more predictable, we found that both techniques were effective in achieving satisfactory and esthetic root coverage. Keywords: gingival recession, root coverage, surgical flaps

The water quality of many lakes around the world have declined due to continuous urbanization with runoffs being one of the significant contributors. This narrative review focuses on the presentation of existing papers that dis-cussed runoff as a contributing factor to urban lakes’ declining water quality and the different management approaches that researchers might want to prioritize in future studies. The review paper also explores the different sources of runoffs and the significant contributors to the contamination of lakes in urban areas such as sewage discharges, industrial effluents, and runoff, and their resulting impacts on the quality of these water bodies. Different management practices adopted to enhance Urban Lake water quality such as watershed management, pollution management, stormwater management, and limiting nutrient loading in lakes are also explored in this review paper. The effectiveness of these practices is evaluated, and future research directions are suggested. The findings of this review indicate that runoffs play a significant role in the declining water quality of urban lakes, and effective management practices are necessary to protect these valuable water resources.

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A expansão da fruticultura no Nordeste brasileiro pode sofrer limitações, já que algumas áreas com elevado potencial de cultivo são abastecidas por água de qualidade insatisfatória. Considerando a potencialidade de cultivo da gravioleira (Annona muricata L.) na região e o fato de não existir dados sobre a produção de mudas enxertadas dessa espécie, sob estresse salino, conduziu-se este trabalho com o objetivo de avaliar os efeitos da salinidade da água de irrigação sobre o tipo 'Crioula' tendo 'Morada' como porta-enxerto. A água de irrigação de condutividade elétrica entre 0,5 e 5,5 dS m-1 foi preparada mantendo-se proporção equivalente a 7:2:1, entre Na:Ca:Mg, respectivamente; o delineamento foi em blocos casualizados, com quatro repetições, 54 plantas por parcela. Foram avaliados: germinação, formação do porta-enxerto (número de folhas, altura de plantas, diâmetro do caule, matéria seca de parte aérea e de raiz, área foliar e número de plantas aptas à enxertia) e número de enxertos vivos. A porcentagem de germinação da gravioleira não foi afetada pelo estresse salino, porém a velocidade de emergência e o acúmulo de fitomassa foram reduzidos com aumento da salinidade da água de irrigação. Pode-se usar água com até 1,5 dS m-1 de condutividade elétrica na formação de mudas de graviola.

Increasingly, fiber-reinforced materials are more widely used because of their good mechanical properties. It is usual to join pieces of these materials through screws and rivets, for which it is necessary to make a hole in the piece, usually by drilling. One of the problems of use CFRP resides in the appearance of defects due to the machining. The main defect to be taken into account is the delamination. Delamination implies poor tolerance when assembling parts, reducing the structural integrity of the part, and areas with high wear, as a series of stresses arise when mounting the screws. Much has been published about delamination and the factors that influence its appearance, so we are not going to focus on it. The present study aims to quantify and measure the defects associated with the drilling of compounds reinforced with carbon fibers, in relation to the cutting parameters used in each case. For this purpose, an optical measurement system and a posterior digital image processing will be used through Deltec Vision software.

Relatamos um caso de mielopatia transversa aguda em paciente masculino de 31 anos de idade, branco, portador de leucemia aguda linfoblástica, subtipo L3 (LLA-L3). Esta é uma forma grave de leucemia e compromete mais crianças em relação aos adultos. Menos de 1% dos pacientes leucêmicos apresentam complicações espinais. No paciente em estudo, a sintomatologia instalou-se de modo abrupto e com as seguintes características: dores nas costas, paraplegia crural flácida e perda das funções sensitivas e vegetativas abaixo do segmento afetado. O diagnóstico etiológico foi estabelecido após a realização dos seguintes exames: hemograma, mielograma, análise do líquido cefalorraqueano e ressonância magnética de coluna dorsal. Foi instituído tratamento específico, que não interferiu com a evolução fatal da doença.

The catalytic decomposition of soybean oil was studied in a fix bed reactor at 673 and 773 K and using amorphous silica-alumina and the zeolites USY, H-Mordenite and H-ZSM-5 as catalysts. Both the selectivity and the catalytic activity were determined by studying the product composition resulting from the chemical reactions. Physicochemical characteristics of the catalysts were obtained by X-ray fluorescence, Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy, 29Si and 27Al Nuclear Magnetic Ressonance and textural analysis. The zeolites USY and H-ZSM-5, showing higher Brönsted acidity, yielded products with higher concentration in aromatic hydrocarbons, whereas with both H-Mordenite and amorphous silica-alumina the main products were paraffins.

This study compared the efficiency of Kato-Katz thick smear and thick smear techniques for the diagnosis of intestinal helminths. The sensitivity of the thick smear technique was higher than that of the Kato-Katz method for the diagnosis of all helminths except Schistosoma mansoni.

Trata-se de estudo multicêntrico visando levantar as necessidades de saúde da população de idosos residentes em zona urbana, conduzido em 6 países na América Latina e coordenado pela Organização Panamericana da Saúde. No Brasil, 1.602 idosos (60 anos e +) residentes no Distrito de São Paulo, participaram de inquérito domiciliar com questionário de avaliação funcional multidimensional - amostra populacional aleatória, em múltiplos estágios, estratificada por nível socioeconômico. Os resultados mostraram uma população bastante carente (70% tinha uma renda per capita de menos de 100 dólares por mês), vivendo predominantemente em domicílios multigeracionais (59% viviam com os filhos e/ou com netos), com alta prevalência de doenças crônicas (somente 14% referiu não ter nenhuma doença) e distúrbios psiquiátricos (27% foram considerados casos psiquiátricos), e com uma elevada proporção de pessoas com perda de autonomia (47% precisavam de ajuda para realizar pelo menos uma das atividades da vida diária). Os resultados são analisados tendo em vista as demandas futuras por serviços de saúde especializados e suporte social por parte da crescente população de idosos no Brasil.

Abstract Background The need of home care services is becoming an increasingly common scenario. These cares are mainly provided by the dependents’ relatives specifically, by the women part of the family. This situation might take years, decreasing the physical and psychological health of the caregiver. In Spain, the Act of Promotion of Personal Autonomy and Care for dependent persons, guarantees those dependent persons and their caregivers to have access to social services or to financial grants. The aim of this study is to Know the possible effects of the benefits provided by this Act in regards to the mental health, the quality of life and use of health services by the family caregivers assisting their relatives in situation of dependency. Methods and design A longitudinal descriptive study following-up a cohort of patients and caregivers. The study shall be carried out in Andalusia. It shall include the baseline assessment of the variables in those caregivers free from the exposure factor (reception of assistance pursuant to the Act). Following, once the benefits have been received, this cohort shall be followed-up. The study shall take three years, and the starting date for its development as well as its funding is January 2011. Discussion The longitudinal assessment of the rate of change of the variables studied shall allow us to know the implications which might be potentially generated as well as the natural evolution of those.

Abstract Background In recent years it has been found that the combination of evolutionary game theory with population structures modelled in terms of dynamical graphs, in which individuals are allowed to sever unwanted social ties while keeping the good ones, provides a viable solution to the conundrum of cooperation. It is well known that in reality individuals respond differently to disadvantageous interactions. Yet, the evolutionary mechanism determining the individuals' willingness to sever unfavourable ties remains unclear. Results We introduce a novel way of thinking about the joint evolution of cooperation and social contacts. The struggle for survival between cooperators and defectors leads to an arms race for swiftness in adjusting social ties, based purely on a self-regarding, individual judgement. Since defectors are never able to establish social ties under mutual agreement, they break adverse ties more rapidly than cooperators, who tend to evolve stable and long-term relations. Ironically, defectors' constant search for partners to exploit leads to heterogeneous networks that improve the survivability of cooperators, compared to the traditional homogenous population assumption. Conclusion When communities face the prisoner's dilemma, swift reaction to adverse ties evolves when competition is fierce between cooperators and defectors, providing an evolutionary basis for the necessity of individuals to adjust their social ties. Our results show how our innate resilience to change relates to mutual agreement between cooperators and how "loyalty" or persistent social ties bring along an evolutionary disadvantage, both from an individual and group perspective.

Museum collections harbor millions of samples, largely unutilized for long-read sequencing. Here, we use ethanol-preserved samples containing kilobase-sized DNA to show that amplification-free protocols can yield contiguous genome assemblies. Additionally, using a modified amplification-based protocol, employing an alternative polymerase to overcome PCR bias, we assembled the 3.1 Gb maned sloth genome, surpassing the previous 500 Mb protocol size limit. Our protocol also improves assemblies of other difficult-to-sequence molluscs and arthropods, including millimeter-sized organisms. By highlighting collections as valuable sample resources and facilitating genome assembly of tiny and challenging organisms, our study advances efforts to obtain reference genomes of all eukaryotes., Competing Interests: Competing interests The authors have no competing interests.

Introduction: Pro-resolving molecules may curb disease caused by viruses without altering the capacity of the host to deal with infection. AP1189 is a melanocortin receptor-biased agonist endowed with pro-resolving and anti-inflammatory activity. We evaluated the preclinical and early clinical effects of treatment with AP1189 in the context of COVID-19., Methods: C57BL/6j mice were infected intranasally with MHV-A59 or hK18-ACE2 mice with SARS-CoV-2. AP1189 (10 mg·kg -1 , BID, s.c.) was given to the animals from day 2 and parameters evaluated at day 5. Human PBMCs from health donors were infected with SARS-CoV-2 in presence or absence of AP1189 and production of cytokines quantified. In the clinical study, 6 patients were initially given AP1189 (100 mg daily for 14 days) and this was followed by a randomized (2:1), placebo-controlled, double-blind trial that enrolled 54 hospitalized COVID-19 patients needing oxygen support. The primary outcome was the time in days until respiratory recovery, defined as a SpO 2  ≥ 93% in ambient air., Results: Treatment with AP1189 attenuated pulmonary inflammation in mice infected with MHV-A59 or SARS-CoV-2 and decreased the release of CXCL10, TNF-α and IL-1β by human PBMCs. Hospitalized COVID-19 patients already taking glucocorticoids took a median time of 6 days until respiratory recovery when given placebo versus 4 days when taking AP1189 (P = 0.017)., Conclusion: Treatment with AP1189 was associated with less disease caused by beta-coronavirus infection both in mice and in humans. This is the first demonstration of the effects of a pro-resolving molecule in the context of severe infection in humans., (© 2024 British Pharmacological Society.)

The Neotropics are one of the most biodiverse regions of the world, where environmental dynamics, climate and geology resulted in a complex diversity of fauna and flora. In such complex and heterogeneous environments, widely distributed species require deep investigation about their biogeographic history. The gray-breasted sabrewing hummingbird Campylopterus largipennis is a species complex that occurs in forest and open ecosystems of South America, including also high-altitude grasslands. It has been recently split into four distinct species distributed in Amazonia (rainforest) and Cerrado (savanna) biomes with boundaries marked by ecological barriers. Here, we investigated the evolutionary dynamics of population lineages within this neotropical taxon to elucidate its biogeographical history and current lineage diversity. We used a reduced-representation sequencing approach to perform fine-scale population genomic analyses of samples distributed throughout Amazonia and Cerrado localities, representing all four recently recognized species. We found a deep genetic structure separating species from both biomes, and a more recent divergence between species within each biome and from distinct habitats. The population dynamics through time was shown to be concordant with known vicariant events, isolation by distance, and altitudinal breaks, where the Amazon River and the Espinhaço Mountain Range worked as important barriers associated to speciation.

Introduction: In highly multiracial populations with inadequate newborn screening, knowledge of the various phenotypic presentations of Cystic Fibrosis (CF) can help reach an early diagnosis. This study aims to describe phenotypes and genotypes at the time of CF diagnosis in a state in the Northeast Region of Brazil., Methods: Retrospective cross-sectional study. Clinical data were extracted from the medical records of CF patients. Clinical, laboratory, and genotypic characteristics were described for patients admitted to a tertiary referral center between 2007 and 2021., Results: Fifty-eight (58) patients were included in the study, 53.5% of whom were diagnosed through clinical suspicion. The median age at diagnosis was 4.7 months (IQR: 1.5-14.8 months). Five patients had false-negative results in the newborn screening. Faltering growth was the most frequent clinical manifestation. Bronchiectasis and a history of pneumonia predominated in those older than ten, while thinness, underweight, and electrolyte imbalances were more frequent in children under two. Sequencing of the CFTR gene identified 27 genotypes, with at least one class I-III variant in all patients, and nine variants that are rare, previously undescribed, or have uncertain significance (619delA, T12991, K162Q, 3195del6, 1678del > T, 124del123bp, 3121-3113 A > T). The most frequent alleles were p.Phe508del, p.Gly542*, p.Arg334Trp, and p.Ser549Arg., Conclusions: Malnutrition and electrolyte imbalances were the most frequent phenotypes for children < 2 years and were associated with genotypes including 2 class I-III variants. Rare and previously undescribed variants were identified. The p.Gly542*, p.Arg334Trp, and p.Ser549Arg alleles were among the most frequent variants in this population., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The Neotropical region is the most diverse on the planet, largely owing to its mosaic of tropical rainforests. Multiple tectonic and climatic processes have been hypothesized to contribute to generating this diversity, including Andean orogeny, the closure of the Isthmus of Panama, the GAARlandia land bridge and historical connections among currently isolated forests. Micrathena spiders are diverse and widespread in the region, and thus a complete phylogeny of this genus allows the testing of hypotheses at multiple scales. We estimated a complete, dated phylogeny using morphological data for 117 Micrathena species and molecular data of up to five genes for a subset of 79 species. Employing eventc-based approaches and biogeographic stochastic mapping while considering phylogenetic uncertainty, we estimated ancestral distributions, the timing and direction of dispersal events and diversification rates among areas. The phylogeny is generally robust, with uncertainty in the position of some of the species lacking sequences. Micrathena started diversifying around 25 Ma. Andean cloud forests show the highest in-situ speciation, while the Amazon is the major dispersal source for adjacent areas. The Dry Diagonal generated few species and is a sink of diversity. Species exchange between Central and South America involved approximately 23 dispersal events and started ~20 Ma, which is consistent with a Miocene age for the Isthmus of Panama closure. We inferred four dispersal events from Central America to the Antilles in the last 20 Myr, indicating the spiders did not reach the islands through the GAARlandia land bridge. We identified important species exchange routes among the Amazon, Andean cloud forests and Atlantic forests during the Plio-Pleistocene. Sampling all species of the genus was fundamental to the conclusions above, especially in identifying the Andean forests as the area that generated the majority of species. This highlights the importance of complete taxonomic sampling in biogeographic studies., (© 2024 Willi Hennig Society.)

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second cause of cancer death among men worldwide. Several processes are involved in the development and progression of PCa such as angiogenesis, inflammation and oxidative stress. The present study investigated the effect of short- or long-term Tempol treatment at different stages of prostate adenocarcinoma progression, focusing on angiogenic, proliferative, and stromal remodeling processes in TRAMP mice. The dorsolateral lobe of the prostate of TRAMP mice were evaluated at two different stages of PCa progression; early and late stages. Early stage was again divided into, short- or long-term. 50 mg/kg Tempol dose was administered orally. The results demonstrated that Tempol mitigated the prostate histopathological lesion progressions in the TRAMP mice in all treated groups. However, Tempol increased molecules involved in the angiogenic process such as CD31 and VEGFR2 relative frequencies, particularly in long-term treatment. In addition, Tempol upregulated molecule levels involved in angiogenesis and stromal remodeling process VEGF, TGF-β1, VE-cadherin and vimentin, particularly, in T8-16 group. Thus, it was concluded that Tempol treatment delayed prostatic lesion progression in the dorsolateral lobe of the TRAMP mice. However, Tempol also led to pro-angiogenic effects and glandular stromal microenvironment imbalance, especially, in the long-term treatment., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

The cellulose present in the cell wall of vegetables prevents the greater release of nutrients to the animal. Therefore, the use of the cellulase enzyme is a viable strategy as it is capable of breaking cellulose bonds, releasing nutrients such as glucose, increasing dietary energy, and thus improving the productive performance of birds. Trichoderma reesei is efficient in the production of cellulase, which is produced via submerged fermentation followed by purification, formulation, and drying. Therefore, an experiment was carried out using 240 male broilers of the Cobb-500 ® lineage to verify the effects resulting from the addition of powdered (500 g/t and 1000 g/t) and liquid (500 mL/t) cellulase over a period of 1 to 21 days. A completely randomized experimental design was used, consisting of four treatments with six replications and ten birds per replication that were housed in an experimental cage. It was observed that performance and digestibility results were significantly different with cellulase supplementation. Also, the relative weight of the large intestine in the period between one and seven days increased when cellulase was added at 1000 g/t. In the period of between eight and 14 days of life, the birds that consumed only the basal diet obtained higher levels of liver protein than those that received the treatments with the addition of the enzyme. However, 15 and 21 days, the consumed feed effect did not occur between thus, it is not conclusive whether hepatotoxicity occurs with the addition of cellulase. For the blood parameters, at 21 days, the diets with added cellulase were not significantly different regarding electrolytes. It was concluded that this cellulase produced by Trichoderma reesei can be included in the animals' diet.

Background: Tempol is a redox-cycling nitroxide considered a potent antioxidant. The present study investigated the tempol effects on oxidative stress and mitochondrial markers on prostate cancer (PCa)., Methods: PC-3 and LnCaP cells were exposed to tempol. Cell viability test, western blot and Amplex Red analyses were performed. In vivo, five experimental groups evaluated tempol effects in the early (CT12 and TPL12 groups) and late stages (CT20, TPL20-I, and TLP20-II) of PCa development. The TPL groups were treated with 50 or 100 mg/kg tempol doses. Control groups received water as the vehicle. The ventral lobe of the prostate and the blood were collected and submitted to western blotting or enzymatic activity analyses., Results: In vitro, tempol decreased cell viability and differentially altered the H 2 O 2 content for PC-3 and LNCaP. Tempol increased SOD2 levels in both cell lines and did not alter Catalase protein levels. In vivo, tempol increased SOD2 levels in the early stage and did not change Catalase levels in the different PCa stages. Systemically, tempol decreased SOD2 levels in the late-stage and improved redox status in the early and late stages, which was confirmed by reduced LDH in tempol groups. Alterations on energetic metabolism and oxidative phosphorylation were observed in TRAMP model., Conclusion: Tempol can be considered a beneficial therapy for PCa treatment considering its antioxidant and low toxicity properties, however the PCa progression must be evaluated to get successful therapy., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest to declare., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

The Brazilian merganser ( Mergus octosetaceus ) is one of the most endangered bird species in South America and comprises less than 250 mature individuals in wild environments. This is a species extremely sensitive to environmental disturbances and restricted to a few "pristine" freshwater habitats in Brazil, and it has been classified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 1994. Thus, biological conservation studies are vital to promote adequate management strategies and to avoid the decline of merganser populations. In this context, to understand the evolutionary dynamics and the current genetic diversity of remaining Brazilian merganser populations, we used the "Genotyping by Sequencing" approach to genotype 923 SNPs in 30 individuals from all known areas of occurrence. These populations revealed a low genetic diversity and high inbreeding levels, likely due to the recent population decline associated with habitat loss. Furthermore, it showed a moderate level of genetic differentiation between all populations located in four separated areas of the highly threatened Cerrado biome. The results indicate that urgent actions for the conservation of the species should be accompanied by careful genetic monitoring to allow appropriate in situ and ex situ management to increase the long-term species' survival in its natural environment.

Myrtaceae is one of the most diverse and abundant botanical families, exhibiting wide diversity in the chemical composition of essential oils (EOs). EOs have various biotechnological applications such as controlling the populations of organisms that negatively impact humans. This study aimed to extract EOs from Myrtaceae species, chemically characterize them, and evaluate their larvicidal and fungicidal effects. EOs were extracted from the leaves of Eugenia brasiliensis, Eugenia uniflora, Psidium cattleyanum, Psidium guajava, and Syzygium cumini by hydrodistillation for 3 h and characterized by chromatographic analysis. Larvaes of Aedes aegypti and colonies of Fusarium oxysporum were subjected to increasing EO concentrations to determine the larvicidal and fungicidal potential. The EOs of Eugenia and Psidium species are primarily composed of sesquiterpenes (>80 %), whereas S. cumini EO is rich in monoterpenes (more than 60 %). The Eugenia species had similar amounts of oxygenated monoterpenes, which may explain their higher larvicidal potential compared to other species, with CL50 of 86.68 and 147.46 PPM, respectively. In addition to these two study species, S. cumini showed a high inhibition of fungal growth, with more than 65 % inhibition. We demonstrated that the actions of five EOs from Myrtaceae with different biological activities are associated with chemical diversity., (© 2023 Wiley-VHCA AG, Zurich, Switzerland.)

Goat (GCW) and sheep cheese whey (SCW) are cheese by-products that can be fermented to develop a new product. However, the limited nutrient availability for lactic acid bacteria (LAB) growth and the low stability of whey are challenges. This work evaluated the addition of protease and/or ultrasound-assisted fermentation as tools to improve GCW and SCW fermentation and the final quality of the products. Results showed that the US/protease increased by 23-32% pH decline rate (for SCW only) and modified the separation of cream (≤ 60% for GCW) and whey (≤ 80% for both whey sources, with higher values for GCW) during storage, explained by changes in the microstructure protein, fat globules, and their interactions. Furthermore, the whey source/composition (mainly lower fat content in SCW) affected the destabilization rate and the LAB viability loss (1.5-3.0 log CFU/mL), caused by nutrient depletion and low tolerance at pH ~ 4.0. Finally, exploratory results showed that fermentation under sonication (with/without protease) resulted in 24-218% higher antioxidant activity in vitro than unfermented samples. Therefore, fermentation associated with proteases/sonication can be an interesting strategy to modify GWC and SCW, and the final process chosen depends on the desired changes in whey., Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13197-023-05767-3., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors declare that there are no Conflicts of interest/Competing interests., (© Association of Food Scientists & Technologists (India) 2023. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.)

During the colonial period in South America, many autochthonous populations were affected by relocation by European missionary reductions and other factors that impacted and reconfigured their genetic makeup. Presently, the descendants of some "reduced" and other isolated groups are distributed in the Amazonian areas of Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil, and among them, speakers of Takanan and Panoan languages. Based on linguistics, these peoples should be closely related, but so far no DNA comparison studies have been conducted to corroborate a genetic relationship. To clarify these questions, we used a set of 15 short tandem repeats of the non-recombining part of the Y-chromosome (Y-STRs) and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region sequence data. Paternal line comparisons showed the Takanan-speaking peoples from Peru and Bolivia descended from recent common ancestors; one group was related to Arawakan, Jivaroan, and Cocama and the other to Panoan speakers, consistent with linguistics. Also, a genetic affinity for maternal lines was observed between some Takanan speakers and individuals who spoke different Amazonian languages. Our results supported a shared ancestry of Takanan, Panoan, Cocama, and Jivaroan-speaking communities who appeared to be related to each other and came likely from an early Arawak expansion in the western Amazonia of South America., (© 2023 The Authors. Annals of Human Genetics published by University College London (UCL) and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Purpose: To explore the clinical practice development of different surgical techniques when installing bone-anchored hearing implants and their associated trends in outcomes., Design: Retrospective study of 228 bone-anchored hearing implants in 200 patients, performed over a 10-year period between 2012 and 2022 in a referral hospital., Method: Real-world data of demography, etiology, surgical setup, complications, and audiological outcomes were collected. Eligibility criteria from clinical practice were applied., Results: The minimally invasive technique is associated with shorter surgery duration, 20 vs. 44 min as compared to a linear incision technique. The minimally invasive technique was also associated with a lower occurrence of complications when compared to linear incision techniques (intraoperative; 1.8% vs. 4.9%, postoperative; 49% vs. 66%). Most differences were seen in complications relating to skin and wound healing., Conclusion: Adoption of a minimally invasive surgical technique for the installations of bone-anchored hearing implants can reduce surgical complexity without compromising safety aspects or clinical benefits., Competing Interests: MaH, MJ and FD are paid employees of Oticon Medical. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (© 2023 Cruz, Danieli, Håkansson, Johansson, dos Santos, Mirândola Barbosa Reis and Hyppolito.)

Background: Depression is common in medical students and the Mexican state of Guerrero has the highest rates of depression in the country. Acapulco, the seat of the state medical school, is a tourist destination that experienced early high rates of COVID-19. The COVID-19 pandemic closed all schools in Mexico, obliging a shift from face-to-face to virtual education. In this new context, medical students faced challenges of online teaching including inadequate connectivity and access technologies. Prolonged isolation during the pandemic may have had additional mental health implications., Aim: Assess depression prevalence and its associated factors affecting medical students in Acapulco, Mexico during the COVID-19 pandemic., Methods: A cross-sectional survey of students of the Faculty of Medicine of the Universidad Autónoma de Guerrero, in November 2020. After informed consent, students completed a self-administered questionnaire collating socio-demographic, academic and clinical variables, major life events and changes in mood. The Beck inventory provided an assessment of depression. Bivariate and multivariate analyses relied on the Mantel-Haenszel procedure to identify factors associated with depression. We estimated the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals., Results: 33.8% (435/1288) of student questionnaires showed evidence of depression in the two weeks prior to the study, with 39.9% (326/817) of young women affected. Factors associated with depression included female sex (OR 1.95; 95%CI 1.48-2.60), age 18-20 years (OR 1.36; 95%CI 1.05-1.77), perceived academic performance (OR 2.97; 95%CI 2.16-4.08), perceived economic hardship (OR 2.18; 95%CI 1.57-3.02), and a family history of depression (OR 1.85; 95%CI 10.35-2.54). Covid-19 specific factors included a life event during the pandemic (OR 1.99; 95%CI 1.54-2.59), connectivity problems during virtual classes and difficulties accessing teaching materials (OR 1.75; 95%CI 1.33-2.30)., Conclusions: The high risk of depression in medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with perceived academic performance and technical barriers to distance learning, in addition to known individual and family factors. This evidence may be useful for the improvement of programs on prevention and control of depression in university students., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Juanico-Morales et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Background: The delimitation of cryptic species is a challenge for biodiversity conservation. Anurans show high cryptic diversity levels, and molecular species delimitation methods could help identify putative new species. Additionally, species delimitation approaches can provide important results for cryptic species conservation, with integrative methods adding robustness to results. Ischnocnema manezinho was described from Santa Catarina Island (SCI), southern Brazil. More recently, some inventories indicated continental populations supposedly similar in morphology to it. If these records are confirmed as I. manezinho, it would likely change its endangered status on National Red List, removing the species from conservation agendas. We investigated the threatened frog Ischnocnema manezinho , to evaluate if the continental populations belong to this species or if they form an undescribed species complex., Methods: We used coalescent, distance, and allele-sharing-based species delimitation methods and integrative analyses of morphometric and bioacoustics traits to test evolutionary independence between I. manezinho from SCI, Arvoredo Island, and continental populations., Results: Ischnocnema manezinho is restricted to Santa Catarina Island, while the five remaining lineages should be further investigated through a taxonomic review. Our results point to a small geographic range of Ischnocnema manezinho . Additionally, the species occurs in isolated fragments of forest in SCI surrounded by expanding urban areas, confirming its status as Endangered. Thus, the protection and monitoring of I. manezinho and the taxonomic description of the continental and Arvoredo Island candidate species should be priorities., Competing Interests: The authors declare there are no competing interests., (©2023 Oswald et al.)

The Ocean decade (2021-2030) for sustainable development proclaimed in 2017 by the UN, seeks to promote and conserve the sustainable use of oceans, seas, and marine resources. For this, the distribution of n-alkanes, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and biomarkers, in sediments from the Fortaleza coastal zone (Mucuripe harbor (MH) and Inner Continental shelf (ICS)) were used to assess the impacts of anthropogenic activities in the area. The concentrations of total n-alkanes (Σ16 n-alkanes) in MH and ICS sediments varied from 35.9 to 94.9 and 17.9 to 197.3 μg g -1 , respectively, while the isoprenoids phytane and pristane in MH and ICS sediments ranged from 0.1 to 1.69 ug g -1 and from 0.14 and 1.20 μg g -1 , respectively. Most of the sediment samples presented carbon preference index (CPI) values close to unity, indicating that the area is submitted to petroleum-related sources. The concentrations of Σ16 PAHs in MH and ICS sediments varied from 87.0 to 562.0 and 98 to 288.0 ng g -1 . This work presents the first investigation of the petroleum biomarkers hopanes and steranes in the Fortaleza coastal zone, in which ΣBiomarkers varied from 0.10 to 1.79 and 0.02 to 0.24 ug g -1 in MH and ICS sediments, respectively. The presence at stations of biomarkers also indicates petrogenic input. The diagnosis of the distribution of pollutants in the investigated zones of the Fortaleza coast suggests contamination from urban areas and oil spills and vessel traffic., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Zika virus (ZIKV), a mosquito-borne pathogen, is an emerging arbovirus associated with sporadic symptomatic cases of great medical concern, particularly among pregnant women and newborns affected with neurological disorders. Serological diagnosis of ZIKV infection is still an unmet challenge due to the co-circulation of the dengue virus, which shares extensive sequence conservation of structural proteins leading to the generation of cross-reactive antibodies. In this study, we aimed to obtain tools for the development of improved serological tests for the detection of ZIKV infection. Polyclonal sera (pAb) and a monoclonal antibody (mAb 2F2) against a recombinant form of the ZIKV nonstructural protein 1 (NS1) allowed the identification of linear peptide epitopes of the NS1 protein. Based on these findings, six chemically synthesized peptides were tested both in dot blot and ELISA assays using convalescent sera collected from ZIKV-infected patients. Two of these peptides specifically detected the presence of ZIKV antibodies and proved to be candidates for the detection of ZIKV-infected subjects. The availability of these tools opens perspectives for the development of NS1-based serological tests with enhanced sensitivity regarding other flaviviruses.

Hybridization is known to be part of many species' evolutionary history. Sea turtles have a fascinating hybridization system in which species separated by as much as 43 million years are still capable of hybridizing. Indeed, the largest nesting populations in Brazil of loggerheads (Caretta caretta) and hawksbills (Eretmochelys imbricata) have a high incidence of hybrids between these two species. A third species, olive ridleys (Lepidochelys olivacea), is also known to hybridize although at a smaller scale. Here, we used restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (RAD-Seq) markers, mitogenomes, and satellite-telemetry to investigate the patterns of hybridization and introgression in the Brazilian sea turtle population and their relationship with the migratory behaviours between feeding and nesting aggregations. We also explicitly test if the mixing of two divergent genomes in sea turtle hybrids causes mitochondrial paternal leakage. We developed a new species-specific PCR-assay capable of detecting mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) inheritance from both parental species and performed ultra-deep sequencing to estimate the abundance of each mtDNA type. Our results show that all adult hybrids are first generation (F1) and most display a loggerhead migratory behaviour. We detected paternal leakage in F1 hybrids and different proportions of mitochondria from maternal and paternal species. Although previous studies showed no significant fitness decrease in hatchlings, our results support genetically-related hybrid breakdown possibly caused by cytonuclear incompatibility. Further research on hybrids from other populations in addition to Brazil and between different species will show if backcross inviability and mitochondrial paternal leakage is observed across sea turtle species., (© 2022 The Authors. Molecular Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Understanding the correlation between the methods of monitoring surface cleaning and disinfection (SCD) is fundamental for better infection control., Purpose: This study aims to correlate the SCD monitoring methods in a Brazilian pediatric unit. This is an exploratory, longitudinal, and correlational study., Methods: The study was conducted in a pediatric hospitalization unit of a medium-sized hospital from December 2020 to March 2021. Four high-contact surfaces were analyzed before and after the cleaning and disinfection process by means of visual inspection, quantification of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), and colony-forming unit (CFU) count. The study consisted of three stages: stage I involving situational diagnosis of the SCD process; stage II referring to the implementation of the Surface Cleaning and Disinfection Standardization Program (SCDSP); and stage III involving long-term assessment after implementing the program. A total of 192 assessments were performed in each stage, totaling 576 in the three study stages., Conclusions: A significant correlation was found between the ATP quantification methods and microbial count in the bed railing ( p  = 0.009) and companion's armchair ( p  = 0.018) surfaces. In both cases, Spearman's correlation coefficients were positive, indicating a positive correlation between ATP and microbial count scores, that is, the higher the ATP values (in RLUs), the greater the microbial counts (in CFUs/cm 2 ). The analysis of the ROC curves suggests that the surfaces presenting ATP below 108 RLUs can be considered approved. The ATP method yielded 78.6% sensitivity; in turn, microbial count presented a sensitivity of 85.7%. It is important to use different methods to monitor the cleaning and disinfection of surfaces, as each one has different sensitivity and specificity., Competing Interests: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article., (© The Author(s), 2023.)

Yellow fever virus (YFV) is a potentially lethal, zoonotic, blood-borne flavivirus transmitted to humans and non-human primates by mosquitoes. Owing to multiple deadly epidemics, the WHO classifies YFV as a "high impact, high threat disease" with resurgent epidemic potential. At present, there are no approved antiviral therapies to combat YFV infection. Herein we report on 2'-halogen-modified nucleoside analogs as potential anti-YFV agents. Of 11 compounds evaluated, three showed great promise with low toxicity, high intracellular metabolism into the active nucleoside triphosphate form, and sub-micromolar anti-YFV activity. Notably, we investigated a 2'-fluoro,2'-bromouridine phosphate prodrug (C9), a known anti-HCV agent with good stability in human blood and favorable metabolism. Predictive modeling revealed that C9 could readily bind the active site of the YFV RdRp, conferring its anti-YFV activity. C9 displayed potent anti-YFV activity in primary human macrophages, 3D hepatocyte spheroids, and in mice. In an A129 murine model, shortly after infection, C9 significantly reduced YFV replication and protected against YFV-induced liver inflammation and pathology with no adverse effects. Collectively, this work identifies a potent new anti-YFV agent with strong therapeutic promise.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) most likely derived from natural sources were observed in two sediment cores covering the last 100 years in an Amazon estuarine region. A considerable change in the PAHs main source was observed in the 1960s. Before the 1960s, the sources of PAHs seem to be related to biogenic and/or early-diagenetic processes. Concentrations of perylene were higher before the 1960s and suggest that its primary source to the sediments in the Amazon region is linked to a short-term diagenetic transformation of their biogenic precursors. The natural formation of alkylated PAHs in sediments was linked to the methylation of the parental aromatic hydrocarbons due to sediment maturation processes and the dehydrogenation of sterols in the sediments. The relatively rapid reaction occurring in recent sediments of the Amazon region suggests the importance of the microbial community in the transformation of biogenic precursors to alkylated-PAHs in the sediments., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)