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People with mental illness tend to present low levels of physical activity and high levels of sedentary behavior. The study aims to compare these levels in mental illness patients, exploring the role of socioeconomic development and treatment setting. This cross-sectional study used accelerometers and the Simple Physical Activity Questionnaire (SIMPAQ) to assess physical activity and sedentary behavior in mental illness individuals living in 23 countries. Two-way ANOVAs were used to evaluate the interaction between socioeconomic development and the treatment settings on physical activity and sedentary behavior. A total of 884 (men = 55.3%) participants, mean age of 39.3 (SD = 12.8), were evaluated. A significant interaction between socioeconomic development and treatment settings was found in sedentary behavior (F = 5.525; p = 0.019; η2p = 0.009; small effect size). Main effects were observed on socioeconomic development (F = 43.004; p < 0.001; η2p = 0.066; medium effect size) and treatment setting (F = 23.001; p < 0.001; η2p = 0.036; small effect size) for sedentary behavior and physical activity: socioeconomic development (F = 20.888; p < 0.001; η2p = 0.033; small effect size) and treatment setting (F = 30.358; p < 0.001; η2p = 0.047; small effect size), showing that HIC patients were more active, while MIC patients were more sedentary. Moreover, despite of inpatients had presented higher levels of physical activity than outpatients, they also spent more time sitting. Socioeconomic development plays an important role in sedentary behavior in patients with mental disorders, warning the need to develop new strategies to reduce these levels in this population., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Castro Monteiro 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: Recognizing emotional situations may be impaired in people with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Purpose: We examined differences in the comprehension of an emotional situation in healthy older controls (HOC) and individuals with mild and moderate AD. Research Design: cross-sectional study. Study Sample: We assessed a convenience sample of 115 participants in 3 contexts: understanding the situation, ability to name the congruent emotion, and choice of the correct face in 4 emotional situations (sadness, surprise, anger, happiness). Data Colection: Chi-square and Mann-Whitney U tests were used for comparison between groups separated by CDR 1 and 2. Chi-square and Kruskal-Wallis tests were also used for comparison between groups separated by CDR 0, 1, and 2, with a pairwise comparisons analysis. Results: We found that the ability to understand, name, and choose the proper emotion is not linked and depends on the portrayed emotion. Conclusions: The findings suggest an interaction between emotional processing and cognitive functioning. Therefore, knowledge of an emotional condition and the connection to a specific facial choice most likely involve 2 degraded areas of knowledge, resulting in even higher odds of inaccuracy., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Introduction: Executive function (EF) involves a general cognitive process linked to strategic organization and control of complex goal-oriented tasks. In young-onset dementia (YOD), especially Alzheimer's disease, the symptoms that stand out in the initial stage are deficits in attention, visual-spatial function, praxis, and language. The present study aims to investigate what components of EF differ in young and late-onset dementia (LOD) and its impact on awareness and its domains., Methods: Using a cross-sectional design, we included 44 people with YOD and 70 with LOD. We assessed awareness and its domains, cognition, dementia severity, EF, functionality, and neuropsychiatric symptoms., Results: The YOD group was more impaired in general cognition ( P =0.017) and had a worse performance in Wechsler Digit Span Backward (DSB) ( P =0.007) and Phonemic fluency task (FAS) ( P =0.046) tests. In the LOD group, deficits in EF had a greater impact on awareness and on most domains (awareness total score, cognitive functioning and health condition, functional activity impairments and social function)., Conclusions: Our study findings support the heterogeneity of awareness, not only with regard to the difference between the domains and the measures of EF, but also to the groups studied., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Soybean meal (SBM) is a co-product of the soybean oil industry that is rich in bioactive compounds, such as isoflavones. We aimed to study the effects of processing SBM by fermentation ( Saccharomyces cerevisiae ) (FSBM) and enzymatic hydrolysis (CelluMax C, a commercial cellulase) (ESBM) on its chemical composition, with emphasis on isoflavones. Fermentation increased protein content by 9%, ash content by 7%, dietary fiber by 11% and minerals by up to 38%, except for iron, which decreased by 26%. Fermentation completely removed oligosaccharides from SBM, while enzymatic processing decreased oligosaccharides by 45% in SBM. Both processes converted glycosylated isoflavones into the corresponding aglycones, the content of which increased by up to 7.7-fold. Biscuits containing SBM, FSBM and ESBM could be labeled as dietary sources of dietary fibers, potassium, phosphorous, calcium and zinc, as well as high in proteins, copper, iron, manganese and magnesium. While FSBM biscuits had lower sensory scores compared to SBM biscuits, ESBM biscuits had equivalent scores. During storage for 180 days at room temperature, the isoflavone profile of all biscuits remained stable. Moreover, storage did not impair microbiological and sensory qualities of any biscuits. Altogether, ESBM biscuits show great marketing potential.

In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we compared the spatial navigation performance of older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), Alzheimer's Disease (AD), and other dementias, using healthy older adults as controls. In addition, we evaluated the possible influence of the environment type (virtual and real), protocol (object- or environment-based), and the navigation mode (active and passive navigation) on spatial navigation task performance. In total, 1372 articles were identified and 24 studies were included in the meta-analysis. We found a large effect size on the spatial navigation performance of patients with cognitive decline (standardized mean difference (SMD) = 0.87, confidence interval (CI 95% ) = 0.62-1.09, p < 0.001), especially amnestic MCI (SMD = 1.10, CI 95%  = 0.71-1.49, p < 0.001) and patients with AD (SMD = 1.60, CI 95%  = 1.25-1.95, p < 0.001). However, the tasks did not identify mixed and vascular dementia (SMD = 0.92, CI 95%  = -0.33-2.18, p = 0.15 and SMD = 0.65, CI 95%  = -0.67-1.97, p = 0.33, respectively). Spatial navigation ability assessed using the Floor Maze Test showed the largest effect size in differentiating healthy older adults and patients with cognitive decline (SMD = 1.98,CI 95%  = 1.00-2.97, p < 0.001). In addition, tasks that require walking showed the greatest differences between the two groups. These results suggest that spatial navigation impairment is important, but disease-specific behavioral biomarker of the dementia pathology process that can be identified even in the early stages., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Aims: The aim of this study was to validate and update the risk score originally developed at Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, verifying its performance in an infectious disease population., Methods: This is an observational study with consecutive selection of admission in a ward of participants with infectious diseases. Predictors were age, number of medications, intravenous drugs, potentially dangerous drugs, renal dysfunction, liver dysfunction, use of nasoenteral tube, nasogastric tube, gastrostomy feeding, jejunostomy feeding, oral enteral tube, total parenteral nutrition, cardiac or pulmonary dysfunction and immunosuppression. Outcome was defined as preventable prescription incidents by a clinical pharmacist. A GEE model was fit to make predictions each week., Results: A total of 219 patients participated in the study, 79.25% of whom had prescription incidents in the first week of admission. Predictors of the updated model were number of drugs prescribed, number of intravenous drugs, use of tubes, truncated age at 36 years and week of hospitalization. The performance of the original model was poor. The updated model's discrimination and calibration were moderate (overall AUC 0.74). A calculator to apply the model is available at https://pedrobrasil.shinyapps.io/INDWELL/., Conclusion: The updated risk score enabled the user to make predictions at admission and throughout the weeks, allowing for a prioritized weekly update for clinical pharmacy intervention. The updated model has a moderate and satisfactory performance for infectious disease patients., (© 2022 British Pharmacological Society.)

Motivation: Since the identification of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), the scientific community has made a huge effort to understand the virus biology and to develop vaccines. Next-generation sequencing strategies have been successful in understanding the evolution of infectious diseases as well as facilitating the development of molecular diagnostics and treatments. Thousands of genomes are being generated weekly to understand the genetic characteristics of this virus. Efficient pipelines are needed to analyze the vast amount of data generated. Here we present a new pipeline designed for genomic analysis and variant identification of the SARS-CoV-2 virus., Results: PipeCoV shows better performance when compared to well-established SARS-CoV-2 pipelines, with a lower content of Ns and higher genome coverage when compared to the Wuhan reference. It also provides a variant report not offered by other tested pipelines., Availability: https://github.com/alvesrco/pipecov., Competing Interests: Guilherme Oliveira is an Academic Editor for PeerJ. The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© 2022 Oliveira et al.)

The present study aimed to develop a microemulsion formulation containing thymol and eugenol for field control of Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu lato on dogs, as well to evaluate its safety and the physical characteristics of the formulation. The microemulsion using thymol and eugenol (5.0 + 5.0 mg/mL) had as vehicles water, propylene glycol, polysorbate 80 and canola oil. On the next day the preparation (formulation freshly prepared) and after 24 months, the size of the microemulsion droplets, polydispersion index (PdI), organoleptic properties (color, viscosity), and presence of precipitate in the microemulsion were evaluated. For the field assay, on day -1, 10 English Cocker Spaniel dogs were experimentally infested with 200 larvae, 100 nymphs and 30 adults of R. sanguineus s.l. On day 0, after tick counts, the animals were divided into two groups: treated with the freshly prepared microemulsion (10 mL/kg), and control, which received the vehicle (10 mL/kg). Tick counts on dogs were performed daily for three more days. Engorged females were recovered from the dogs and their biological and reproductive parameters were monitored. The dogs' clinical parameters (temperature, mucosa color, and general physical condition) were evaluated daily. In addition, blood samples were collected before infestation to verify hematological (packed cell volume) and biochemical parameters (total serum protein, albumin, globulins, creatinine, urea, alanine transaminase, aspartate aminotransferase, and alkaline phosphatase). Freshly prepared and 24-month aged microemulsions had droplets with mean sizes of 30.94 nm and 27.93 nm, and PdI values of 0.214 and 0.161, respectively. In addition, no difference in the organoleptic properties and no precipitation formation were observed, indicating physical stability. Treatment with the microemulsion resulted in reduction of larvae (p < 0.05) parasitizing the dogs on day 1 while the number of nymphs and adults was not reduced (P> 0.05). In the evaluation of the reproductive biology of engorged females, the larval hatchability (%) was compromised (p < 0.05), and the microemulsion had control rate of 85.5 %. The microemulsion and its vehicles did not change the clinical, hematological and biochemical parameters of the dogs. We concluded that the microemulsion was efficient against R. sanguineus s.l. by reducing the number of larvae and affecting the reproductive parameters of engorged females, safe for dogs, and stable (physical stability) during a two-year interval., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) ability impairments are clearly related to cognitive and motor decline, as well as to the progression of Dementia. However, more low-cost assessments are necessary to better understand the process of IADL in patients with Dementia., Objective: To compare cognitive, motor and cognitive-motor performance at different stages of dependence on IADL in patients with Dementia., Methods: Dementia patients (n = 53, age range: 63-94) and healthy older adults (n = 39, age range: 62-97) were included, and those with Dementia were separated into IADL 1 (n = 18), IADL 2 (n = 17), IADL 3 (n = 18). All groups performed cognitive (Trail making test A, semantic verbal fluency, and Stroop test), motor (sit to stand, aerobic steps, and 8-foot up-and-go), and cognitive-motor tests (dual-task, and spatial navigation). One-way ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis, and Bonferroni post-hoc tests were used to compare groups. Also, an effect size (ES) has been applied to evaluate differences among the dementia groups while the healthy older adults were used as a reference group., Results: Only cognitive-motor and cognitive tests showed significant differences among groups (IADL 1 x IADL 2 x IADL 3). Compared with the healthy group, the ES analysis exposed that patients in different stages of IADL showed the worst performance on tests combining motor and cognitive demand, but not for motor and cognitive function separately., Conclusion: Poor dual-task and spatial navigation abilities are present in partial dependence in IADL, and these tasks should be considered as a functionality screening tool in patients with Dementia., (© 2020 The Authors.)

The diagnosis of canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL) has been a problem for public health services due to the variety of clinical signs similar to other diseases and low sensitivity and specificity of available tests. In this sense, our main objective was to develop a simple, rapid, and accurate quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) diagnosis for CVL. Thus, low-invasive samples from bone marrow (BM), popliteal lymph nodes (PLN), and conjunctival swabs (CS) were selected from negative and VL-positive dogs, using as gold standard, immunological and parasitological tests performed with different tissues. Oligonucleotides for Leishmania infantum kDNA were designed and the limit of quantification and amplification efficiency of the qPCR were determined using tissue-specific standards produced with DNA from those different tissues, mixed with DNA from a known amount of L. infantum promastigotes. Endogenous control was used to validate a comparative Ct method, and tissue parasite concentrations were estimated by comparison with tissue-specific reference standard samples. The overall analysis of the qPCR data suggests the following ranking for tissue choice: PLN > BM > CS. Finally, we have concluded that this molecular approach simplifies and accelerates the quantitative diagnostic process because it is easy to perform, requiring no DNA dosing or standard curve application, and it shows good diagnostic parameters, especially when using popliteal lymph node samples.

Background: Urinary excretion of isoflavones and their metabolites after the consumption of soybean meal (SBM) and fermented soybean meal (FSBM) biscuits was investigated in humans in a randomized double-blinded crossover clinical trial., Results: Aglycones were the most abundant metabolites in urine in both treatments. After FSBM consumption, total urinary excretion of aglycones and metabolites was 54% higher when compared to SBM biscuits. All metabolites were more rapidly excreted after FSBM biscuit consumption when compared to SBM biscuits. Urinary recovery of isoflavones was higher after FSBM biscuit consumption, reaching 67%. Women excreted higher amounts of colonic metabolites and lower amounts of aglycones than men. The prevalence of O-demethylangolensin-producer, equol-producer and nonproducer metabotypes was 56%, 11% and 36% after SBM consumption and 72%, 11% and 17% after FSBM consumption, respectively., Conclusions: Together, our findings indicate that fermentation improves isoflavone bioavailability and possibly reduces the impact of gut microbiota on the metabolism of isoflavones. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry., (© 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.)

Gait parameters have been investigated as an additional tool for differential diagnosis in neurocognitive disorders, especially among healthy elderly (HE), those with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. A videogrammetry system could be used as a low-cost and clinically practical equipment to capture and analyze gait in older adults. The aim of this study was to select the better gait parameter to differentiate these groups among different motor test conditions with videogrammetry analyses. Different motor conditions were used in three specific assessments: 10-meter walk test (10mWT), timed up and go test (TUGT), and treadmill walk test (TWT). These tasks were compared among HE (n=17), MCI (n=23), and AD (n=23) groups. One-way ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis, and Bonferroni post-hoc tests were used to compare variables among groups. Then, an effect size (ES) and a linear regression analysis were calculated. The gait parameters showed significant differences among groups in all conditions, but not in TWT. Controlled by confounding variables, the gait velocity in 10mWT at usual speed, and TUGT in dual-task condition, predicts 39% and 53% of the difference among diagnoses, respectively. Finally, these results suggest that a low-cost and practical video analysis could be able to differentiate HE, those with MCI, and AD patients in clinical assessments., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Amblyomma sculptum is a tick of medical-veterinary importance. Areas with high infestations need to be monitored, and parasitized hosts treated accordingly. Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) traps and acaricides are commonly deployed as control measures, although with some disadvantages such as high costs, challenging logistics and vertebrate intoxication. Semiochemicals have the potential to improve tick attraction to traps and monitoring devices and alleviate the burden of A. sculptum infestations. Four concentrations (10, 5, 2.5 and 1.25 %) of 13 semiochemical candidates (CO 2 only at 5 % as the standard, benzaldehyde, benzoic acid, salicylic acid, 2,6 diclorophenol, R-limonene, S-limonene, methyl salicylate, 1-octen-3-ol, acetone, ammonium hydroxide, isobutyric acid and lactic acid) were tested on unfed A. sculptum nymphs and adults using a Y-tube olfactometer to evaluated repellence and attraction behaviors. All stages tested were attracted to CO 2 , whereas nymphs were repelled by benzaldehyde and R-limonene, both at 10 %, and isobutyric acid at 5 and 10 %. Nymphs were attracted by methyl salicylate, benzoic acid and salicylic acid, all at 1.25 %, and by ammonium hydroxide at 2.5 %. Males were attracted by benzoic acid at 2.5 %, while females were repelled by benzaldehyde at 5 %. Mixtures with the attractive compounds achieved no attraction response. The compounds that caused attractiveness in the olfactometer assay (CO 2 , methyl salicylate, benzoic acid, salicylic acid and ammonium hydroxide) were placed randomly in traps in a grassland plot naturally infested with A. sculptum in triplicate. Notably, dry ice (CO 2 ) remained the best at luring ticks in the field (P < 0.001). Benzoic acid should be further investigated since attractant activity was strongly confirmed in both laboratory and field tests. On the other hand, isobutyric acid and R-limonene could be better exploited due to their repellent role revealed by the lab assay, which makes them worthwhile molecules as natural repellents for the management of this tick., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Motor dysfunction increases in the moderate and severe stages of dementia. However, there is still no consensus on changes in mobility during its early stages. This meta-analysis aimed to measure the level of single-task functional mobility in older subjects with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and/or Alzheimer's disease (AD). In a search of the PubMed, ISI Web of Knowledge, and Scopus databases, 2728 articles were identified. At the end of the selection, a total of 18 studies were included in the meta-analysis. Functional mobility was investigated using the timed up and go (TUG) test in all studies. When compared to healthy elderly (HE) adults, the following mean differences (MD) in seconds were found for the investigated subgroups: no amnestic MCI (MD = 0.26; CI 95% = -0.77, 1.29), amnestic MCI (MD = 0.86; CI 95% = -0.02, 1.73), very mild AD (MD = 1.32; CI 95%  = 0.63, 2.02), mild AD (MD = 2.43; CI 95%  = 1.84, 3.01), mild-moderate AD (MD = 3.01; CI 95%  = 2.47, 3.55), and mild-severe AD (MD = 4.51; CI 95%  = 1.14, 7.88); for the groups, the following MD were found: MCI (MD = 0.97; CI 95%  = 0.51, 1.44) and AD (MD = 2.66; CI 95%  = 2.16, 3.15). These results suggest a transition period in motor capacity between healthy aging and dementia, wherein functional mobility analysis in a single-task (TUG) can contribute to the diagnosis and staging of predementia states and AD., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To investigate the effects of a 12-week multimodal physical exercise program on global cognition, executive function and mobility in elderly people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or Alzheimer's disease (AD)., Design: Randomized controlled trial (RCT) of two groups in parallel; single-blind., Method: Patients were allocated to a control group (CG; n = 28 comprising MCI = 14 and AD = 14) and an exercise group (EG; n = 28 comprising MCI = 14 and AD = 14). The participants' physical and cognitive abilities were evaluated before and three months after the intervention. The training consisted of a 1-hour supervised program of multimodal physical exercises (aerobic, strength, balance and flexibility) of moderate intensity, delivered twice a week., Results: The independent t-test of the delta (Δ = post-intervention - pre-intervention) was used to compare the groups (CG x EG) for each diagnosis (MCI and AD). There was a significant difference only in the simple task mobility test (ΔCG: -0.18 ± 0.53; ΔEG: -1.05 ± 0.57; P =  0.03) and in the verbal fluency (ΔCG: -1.30 ± 2.49; ΔEG: 3.16 ± 1.72, P =  0.05) of the elderly with MCI, showing a beneficial effect of the multimodal exercise in this group., Conclusion: Our findings indicate that a 12-week multimodal physical exercise program contributed to improvements in the mobility and executive function of elderly individuals with MCI, but not of those with AD. Although more RCTs are needed, physical exercise should be recommended to those in the early stages of neurocognitive disorder., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Betanin is the only betalain approved for use in food and pharmaceutical products as a natural red colorant. However, the antioxidant power and health-promoting properties of this pigment have been disregarded, perhaps due to the difficulty in obtaining a stable chemical compound, which impairs its absorption and metabolism evaluation. Herein, betanin was purified by semi-preparative HPLC-LC/MS and identified by LC-ESI(+)-MS/MS as the pseudomolecular ion m / z 551.16. Betanin showed significant stability up to -30 °C and mild stability at chilling temperature. The stability and antioxidant ability of this compound were assessed during a human digestion simulation and ex vivo colon fermentation. Half of the betanin amount was recovered in the small intestine digestive fluid and no traces were found after colon fermentation. Betanin high antioxidant ability was retained even after simulated small intestine digestion. Betanin, besides displaying an inherent colorant capacity, was equally effective as a natural antioxidant displaying peroxy-radical scavenger ability in pork meat. Betanin should be considered a multi-functional molecule able to confer an attractive color to frozen or refrigerated foods, but with the capacity to avoid lipid oxidation, thereby preserving food quality. Long-term supplementation by beetroot, a rich source of betanin, should be stimulated to protect organisms against oxidative stress.

Schistosomiasis and herpes diseases represent serious issues to the healthcare systems, infecting a large number of people worldwide, mainly in developing countries. Arctium lappa L. (Asteraceae), known as "bardana" and "burdock", is a medicinal plant popularly used for several purposes, including as antiseptic. In this study, we evaluated the in vitro schistosomicidal and antiherpes activities of the crude extract of A. lappa, which have not yet been described. Fruits of A. lappa L. were extracted by maceration with ethanol: H 2 O (96:4 v/v) in order to obtain the hydroalcoholic extract of A. lappa (AL). In vitro schistosomicidal assays were assessed against adult worms of Schistosoma mansoni, while the in vitro antiviral activity of AL was evaluated on replication of Herpes simplex virus type-1 (HSV-1). Cell viability was measured by MTT assay, using Vero cells and chemical composition of AL was determined by qualitative UPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS analysis. UPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS analysis of AL revealed the presence of dibenzylbutyrolactone lignans, such as arctiin and arctigenin. Results showed that AL was not cytotoxic to Vero cells even when tested at 400μg/mL. qPCR results indicated a significant viral load decreased for all tested concentrations of AL (400, 50, and 3.125μg/mL), which showed similar antiviral effect to acyclovir (50μg/mL) when tested at 400μg/mL. Also, AL (400, 200, and 100μg/mL) caused 100% mortality and significantly reduction on motor activity of all adult worms of S. mansoni. Confocal laser scanning microscopy showed tegumental morphological alterations and changes on the numbers of tubercles of S. mansoni worms in a dose-dependent manner after treatment with AL. This report provides the first evidence for the in vitro schistosomicidal and antiherpes activities of AL, opening the route to further schistosomicidal and antiviral studies with AL and their compounds, especially lignans., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

UV-B radiation induces several physiological and biochemical effects that can influence regulatory plant processes. Vaccinium corymbosum responds differently to UV-B radiation depending on the UV-B resistance of cultivars, according to their physiological and biochemical features. In this work, the effect of two levels of UV-B radiation during long-term exposure on the phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, and the expression of genes associated with flavonoid biosynthesis as well as the absolute quantification of secondary metabolites were studied in two contrasting UV-B-resistant cultivars (Legacy, resistant and Bluegold, sensitive). Multivariate analyses were performed to understand the role of phenylpropanoids in UV-B defense mechanisms. The amount of phenylpropanoid compounds was generally higher in Legacy than in Bluegold. Different expression levels of flavonoid biosynthetic genes for both cultivars were transiently induced, showing that even in longer period of UV-B exposure; plants are still adjusting their phenylpropanoids at the transcription levels. Multivariate analysis in Legacy indicated no significant correlation between gene expression and the levels of the flavonoids and phenolic acids. By contrast, in the Bluegold cultivar higher number of correlations between secondary metabolite and transcript levels was found. Taken together, the results indicated different adjustments between the cultivars for a successful UV-B acclimation. While the sensitive cultivar depends on metabolite adjustments to respond to UV-B exposure, the resistant cultivar also possesses an intrinsically higher antioxidant and UV-B screening capacity. Thus, we conclude that UV-B resistance involves not only metabolite level adjustments during the acclimation period, but also depends on the intrinsic metabolic status of the plant and metabolic features of the phenylpropanoid compounds., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Lectins constitute a class of glycoproteins, which are capable of selectively and reversibly binding to carbohydrates, distinguishing small structural differences in complex oligosaccharides. Studies have shown that the binding of lectins to cell-surface carbohydrates can lead to various effects such as cellular proliferation, histamine release and cytokine production. Canavalia brasiliensis lectin (ConBr) is a (D-mannose) D-glucose lectin. In this study, murine splenocytes were cultured to determine the effect of ConBr on cell proliferation, nitric oxide (NO) release and cytokine secretion. In addition, cellular viability assays were performed to evaluate any mitogenic activity induced by this lectin. ConBr significantly increased cell proliferation with minimal cell damage. This lectin was able to induce an increased production of cytokines such as IL-2, IL-6 and IFN-γ and a decreased production of IL- 10. The release of NO was also observed. The results of this study indicate that ConBr could potentially be used as an immunomodulator.

This study was aimed at investigating the anticonvulsant activity of lipoic acid (LA) against pilocarpine-induced seizures as well as the effects of this metabolic antioxidant on the hippocampal extracellular concentrations of amino acid neurotransmitters glutamate, aspartate, glycine and glutamate and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA). In vivo microdialysis demonstrated that an intraperitoneal administration of pilocarpine induced a pronounced increment of hippocampal glutamate and aspartate concentrations, whereas no significant change was observed in the levels of glycine or GABA. LA (10, 20 or 30 mg/kg) pretreatment completely blocked pilocarpine-evoked increases in extracellular glutamate and aspartate concentrations. Significant reductions in hippocampal GABA and glycine concentrations were also observed although not as pronounced as those shown by glutamate and aspartate. Based on the finding that LA protected rats against pilocarpine-induced seizures, it could be suggested that the reduction in inhibitory amino acid neurotransmitters levels was comparatively minor and offset by a more pronounced reduction in glutamate and aspartate extracellular concentrations. Therefore, the fact that LA could drastically reduce pilocarpine-induced increases in glutamate and aspartate should account, at least partly, for its anticonvulsant activity observed in pilocarpine-induced seizure in rats., (© 2010 The Authors Fundamental and Clinical Pharmacology © 2010 Société Française de Pharmacologie et de Thérapeutique.)

Protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) is a porphyrin derivative that is accumulated in cancerous tissue in consequence of the tumor-specific metabolic alterations. The aim of this study was to evaluate the accumulation of PpIX in mice bearing renal cell carcinoma by spectroscopy analysis. A total of 24 male Balb/c mice, 6 weeks old, were divided into six groups: Normal (without inoculation of tumor cells) and 4, 8, 13, 16, and 20 days after inoculation of tumor cells. The orthotopic tumor model of renal cancer was used. Murine renal cell carcinoma (Renca cells) were inoculated into the subcapsular space of the kidney. Normal and tumor-bearing kidneys in different progression stages were removed and analyzed by ex-vivo spectroscopy and by microscopy, for tumor histometric analysis. Emission spectra were obtained by exciting the samples at 405 nm. Significant differences between normal and tumor-bearing kidneys in autofluorescence shape occurred in the 600-700 nm spectral region. A good correlation was found between emission band intensity at 635 nm and the tumor area.

Azithromycin, an azalide antibiotic, is highly concentrated within different phagocytic cells, especially macrophages. The potential antileishmanial activity of azithromycin against three species of Leishmania from the New World was assessed using in vitro models. Azithromycin decreased viability of promastigote cultures of Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis, Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis, and Leishmania (Leishmania) chagasi as determined by the colorimetric Alamar blue assay. In amastigote intracellular cultures, a significant decrease in infected macrophages counts was observed for all three species with IC(50) of 20.83 (27 micromol/L), 2.18 (2.7 micromol/L), and 6.12 (7.8 micromol/L) microg/mL, respectively. Azithromycin showed in vitro activity against L. (L.) amazonensis, L. (V.) braziliensis, and L. (L.) chagasi and may offer an alternative to current leishmaniasis treatment.

Studies on in vitro skin permeation and in vivo anti-leishmanial activity in mice experimentally infected with Leishmania (Leishmania) major pointed out to the potential of a new paromomycin (PA) formulation (hydrophilic gel) for treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL). In this study, the activity of this formulation was evaluated in animals experimentally infected by Leishmania species that prevail in the New World. PA gel activity was compared to antimony treatment, since it is still the first choice treatment to the different clinical forms of leishmaniasis. The topical treatment activity with 10% PA gel in BALB/c mice infected by Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis was higher than that observed for parenteral antimony treatment, while the efficacy of these two regimes in hamsters infected by Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis was similar. These results suggest that this formulation could be suitable for clinical studies and may represent an alternative novel formulation for topical treatment of CL.