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Acinetobacter baumannii is an important Gram-negative opportunistic pathogen that is responsible for many nosocomial infections. This etiologic agent has acquired, over the years, multiple mechanisms of resistance to a wide range of antimicrobials and the ability to survive in different environments. In this context, our study aims to elucidate the resistome from the A. baumannii strains based on phylogenetic, phylogenomic, and comparative genomics analyses. In silico analysis of the complete genomes of A. baumannii strains was carried out to identify genes involved in the resistance mechanisms and the phylogenetic relationships and grouping of the strains based on the sequence type. The presence of genomic islands containing most of the resistance gene repertoire indicated high genomic plasticity, which probably enabled the acquisition of resistance genes and the formation of a robust resistome. A. baumannii displayed an open pan-genome and revealed a still constant genetic permutation among their strains. Furthermore, the resistance genes suggest a specific profile within the species throughout its evolutionary history. Moreover, the current study performed screening and characterization of the main genes present in the resistome, which can be used in applied research to develop new therapeutic methods to control this important bacterial pathogen.

Macrophages play important roles in the innate and acquired immune responses against Leishmania parasites. Depending on the subset and activation status, macrophages may eliminate intracellular parasites; however, these host cells also can offer a safe environment for Leishmania replication. In this sense, the fate of the parasite may be influenced by the phenotype of the infected macrophage, linked to the subtype of classically activated (M1) or alternatively activated (M2) macrophages. In the present study, M1 and M2 macrophage subsets were analyzed by double-staining immunohistochemistry in skin biopsies from patients with American cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL) caused by L. ( L. ) amazonensis , L. ( V. ) braziliensis , L. ( V. ) panamensis ,and L. ( L. ) infantum chagasi. High number of M1 macrophages was detected in nonulcerated cutaneous leishmaniasis (NUCL) caused by L. ( L. ) infantum chagasi (M1 = 112 ± 12, M2 = 43 ± 12 cells/mm 2 ). On the other side, high density of M2 macrophages was observed in the skin lesions of patients with anergic diffuse cutaneous leishmaniasis (ADCL) (M1 = 195 ± 25, M2 = 616 ± 114), followed by cases of localized cutaneous leishmaniasis (LCL) caused by L . ( L .) amazonensis (M1 = 97 ± 24, M2 = 219 ± 29), L. ( V .) panamensis (M1 = 71 ± 14, M2 = 164 ± 14), and L . ( V .) braziliensis (M1 = 50 ± 13, M2 = 53 ± 10); however, low density of M2 macrophages was observed in NUCL. The data presented herein show the polarization of macrophages in skin lesions caused by different Leishmania species that may be related with the outcome of the disease., Competing Interests: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Carmen M. Sandoval Pacheco et al.)

Despite the wide variety of variables commonly employed to measure the success of rehabilitation, the assessment and subsequent definition of indicators of environmental rehabilitation status are not simple tasks. The main challenges are comparing rehabilitated sites with target ecosystems as well as integrating individual environmental and eventually collinear variables into a single tractable measure for the state of a system before effective indicators that track rehabilitation may be modeled. Furthermore, a consensus is lacking regarding which and how many variables need to be surveyed for a reliable estimation of rehabilitation status. Here, we propose a multivariate ordination to integrate variables related to ecological processes, vegetation structure, and community diversity into a single estimation of rehabilitation status. As a case, we employed a curated set of 32 environmental variables retrieved from nonrevegetated, rehabilitating and reference sites associated with iron ore mines from the Urucum Massif, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. By integrating this set of environmental variables into a single estimation of rehabilitation status, the proposed multivariate approach is straightforward and able to adequately address collinearity among variables. The proposed methodology allows for the identification of biases towards single variables, surveys or analyses, which is necessary to rank environmental variables regarding their importance to the assessment. Furthermore, we show that bootstrapping permitted the detection of the minimum number of environmental variables necessary to achieve reliable estimations of the rehabilitation status. Finally, we show that the proposed variable integration enables the definition of case-specific environmental indicators for more rapid assessments of mineland rehabilitation. Thus, the proposed multivariate ordination represents a powerful tool to facilitate the diagnosis of rehabilitating sites worldwide provided that sufficient environmental variables related to ecological processes, diversity and vegetation structure are gathered from nonrehabilitated, rehabilitating and reference study sites. By identifying deviations from predicted rehabilitation trajectories and providing assessments for environmental agencies, this proposed multivariate ordination increases the effectiveness of (mineland) rehabilitation., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Introduction:: The epithelial rests of Malassez (ERM) represent a group of cells in the periodontal ligament classically consisting of latent or quiescent structures associated with pathological processes. However, recent evidence shows that these structures cannot be considered only as cellular debris. The ERM is a major tissue structure, with functions in maintaining the homeostasis of periodontal tissue, including the maintenance of orthodontic movement., Objective:: The present literature review aims at presenting the potential functions of ERM, with emphasis on orthodontic movement and the functional structure of the periodontium., Conclusion:: ERM cells have a functional activity in modulation of orthodontic movement, trough their potential for differentiation, maintenance functions and the capacity of repairing periodontium.

Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer among men in western populations, and despite its high mortality, its etiology remains unknown. Inflammatory processes are related to the etiology of various types of tumors, and prostate inflammation, in particular, has been associated with prostate cancer carcinogenesis and progression. Human papillomavirus (HPV) is associated with benign and malignant lesions in the anogenital tract of both females and males. The possible role of HPV in prostate carcinogenesis is a subject of great controversy. In this study, we aimed to examine the prevalence of HPV infections in prostate carcinomas of patients from northeastern Brazil. This study included 104 tissue samples from primary prostate carcinoma cases. HPV DNA was purified and then amplified using MY09/11 and GP5+/GP6+ degenerate primer sets that detect a wide range of HPV types, and with specific PCR primers sets for E6 and E7 HPV regions to detect HPV 16. None of the samples showed amplification products of HPV DNA for primer sets MY09/11 and GP5+/GP6+, or the specific primer set for the E6 and E7 HPV regions. HPV infection, thus, does not seem to be one of the causes of prostate cancer in the population studied.