PORTO

BACKGROUND: Dengue virus (DENV) and malaria parasites (MP) are among the common febrile diseases affecting the tropics and subtropics of the world. Both are mosquito-borne pathogens affecting humans and other animals. METHODS: Blood samples were collected from 280 consented out-patients attending the selected hospitals and were analyzed. Malaria parasites were detected using microscopy and Malaria Ag Pf/Pan Rapid Test Device. Dengue virus was detected by serology and heminested reverse transcriptase PCR (hnRT-PCR) to target the flavivirus polymerase (NS5) gene...

INTRODUCTION: Natural Language Processing (NLP)-based data extraction from electronic health records (EHRs) holds significant potential to simplify clinical management and aid research. This review aims to evaluate the current landscape of NLP-based data extraction in prostate cancer (PCa) management. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a literature search of PubMed and Google Scholar databases using the keywords: "Natural Language Processing," "Prostate Cancer," "data extraction," and "EHR...

Behçet's disease (BD) is an autoinflammatory disease of multifactorial and polygenic etiology, potentially involving arteries and veins of any size resulting in variable vessel vasculitis. We report a case of an Iranian male that presented with porto-sinusoidal vascular disorder due to venous vasculitis as initial manifestation of BD. Despite immunosuppression and anticoagulation, he subsequently developed severe nephrotic-range proteinuria that mimicked a primary renal disease but was completely and immediately ameliorated by stenting of the vena cava...

To control immune responses, regulatory CD4+ CD25+ Foxp3+ T cells (Treg) maintain their wide and diverse repertoire through continuous arrival of recent thymic emigrants (RTE). However, during puberty, the activity of RTE starts to decline as a natural process of thymic involution, introducing consequences, not completely described, to the repertoire. Type 1 diabetes (T1D) patients show quantitative and qualitative impairments on the Treg cells. Our aim was to evaluate peripheral Treg and RTE cell frequencies, in T1D patients from two distinct age groups (young and adults) and verify if HLA phenotypes are concomitant associated...

OBJECTIVE: We investigated the effect of a 7-month healthy lifestyle intervention on cardiometabolic risk factors (CMRF) among male career military firefighters (FFs). METHODS: 49 FFs participated in a 7-month workplace multi-disciplinary healthy lifestyle intervention designed to reduce CMRF through exercise, diet, and improved sleep. Medical assessments, accelerometry, and surveys at the beginning and end determined program effectiveness. RESULTS: At the end of the intervention period, there was a significant improvement in measures of body composition and blood glucose...

INTRODUCTION: Spinal cord stimulation is a widespread treatment of chronic neuropathic pain from different conditions. Several novel and improving technologies have been recently developed to increase the effect of neuromodulation in patients refractory to pharmacological therapy. RESEARCH QUESTION: To explore spinal cord stimulation's mechanisms of action, indications, and management. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The paper initially explores the mechanism of action of this procedure based on the generation of an electric field between electrodes placed on the posterior dural surface of the spinal cord probably interfering with the transmission of pain stimuli to the brain...

Non-cirrhotic portal hypertension (NCPH) is a well-recognized clinico-pathological entity, which is associated with clinical signs and symptoms, imaging, and endoscopic features of portal hypertension (PHT), in absence of cirrhosis. In patients with NCPH without known risk factors of PHT or extrahepatic portal vein thrombosis, the condition is called idiopathic non-cirrhotic portal hypertension (INCPH). There are multiple infectious, immune related causes, systemic diseases, drug and toxin exposures, haematological disorders, and metabolic risk factors that have been associated with this INCPH...

Kombucha is created through the fermentation of Camellia sinensis tea leaves, along with sucrose, utilizing a symbiotic consortium of bacteria and yeast cultures. Nonetheless, there exists a dearth of comprehensive information regarding the spectrum of metabolites that constitute this beverage. To explore this intricate system, metabolomics was used to investigate fermentation kinetics of Kombucha. For that, an experimental framework was devised to assess the impact of varying sucrose concentrations and fermentation temperatures over a ten-day period of kombucha fermentation...

The present study aimed to evaluate the accuracy of four different Electronic Foraminal Locators (EFLs): Root ZX II (J. Morita, Tokyo, Japan), RomiApex A15 (Romidan, Kiryat-Ono, Israel), FinePex (Schuster, Porto Alegre, Brazil) and VDW Gold (VDW, Munich, Germany), in determining root length during endodontic retreatment steps. Twenty-seven human unirooted teeth had their crowns sectioned to standardize the teeth to 17 mm. The actual tooth length was visualized with an operating microscope and a #15 file juxtaposed to the apical foramen...

This study compared the follicular growth, superovulatory response, and in vivo embryo production after administering two doses of porcine follicle-stimulating hormone (pFSH) in Santa Inês ewes. The estrous cycle of 36 multiparous ewes was synchronized with the Day 0 protocol and superovulated with 133 mg (G133, n=18) or 200 mg (G200, n=18) of pFSH. Ultrasonographic evaluations of the ovaries were performed, ewes were mated and submitted to non-surgical embryo recovery. Viable blastocysts were stained with Nile Red and Hoechst...

INTRODUCTION: Urethral stricture is a common, albeit complex, condition that predominantly affects men. The aim of this study was to translate, culturally adapt, and validate the Patient-Reported Outcome Measure questionnaire for patients undergoing urethroplasty (USS-PROM) into Brazilian Portuguese using validated psychometric criteria. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The process involved translating and culturally adapting the original USS-PROM into Brazilian Portuguese (USS-PROMbr), synthesizing, back-translating, cross-culturally adapting, and analyzing the pre-final version with experts from our committee...

In this paper, we use a Bayesian method to estimate the effective reproduction number ( R ( t ) ), in the context of monitoring the time evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil at different geographic levels. The focus of this study is to investigate the similarities between the trends in the evolution of such indicators at different subnational levels with the trends observed nationally. The underlying question addressed is whether national surveillance of such variables is enough to provide a picture of the epidemic evolution in the country or if it may hide important localized trends...

Nowadays, in Italy, researchers from various disciplines and institutions are referring to environmental justice to promote health equity in relation to environmental risks and benefits. This presents an opportunity for the convergence of bottom-up and top-down perspectives, which differ in nature, to advance environmental justice at the local level. This contribution presents the experience of researchers from the Italian National Institute of Health in the contaminated area of Porto Torres (Sardinia). The experience began with the development of study activities aimed at describing the health profile of the population residing in Porto Torres...

The pleomorphic adenoma gene (PLAG1) encodes a DNA-binding, C2H2 zinc finger protein which acts as a transcription factor that regulates the expression of diverse genes across different organs and tissues; hence, the name pleomorphic. Rearrangements of the PLAG1 gene, and/or overexpression, are associated with benign tumors and cancers in a variety of tissues. This is best described for pleomorphic adenoma of the salivary glands in humans. The most notable expression of PLAG1 occurs during embryonic and fetal development, with lesser expression after birth...

The natural history and epidemiological aspects of traumatic cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) are not fully understood. Due to the concomitant occurrence with intracranial hemorrhages, guidelines for medical treatment have been highly controversial. In this study, our objective was to carry out an analysis description of the population and to conduct a literature review. A prospectively gathered radiology registry data of patients hospitalized at the tertiary hospital of Centro Hospitalar Universitário do São João, Porto, Portugal, between 2016 and 2021 was carried out...

Latent autoimmune diabetes of adults (LADA) is a form of autoimmune diabetes that typically occurs in adulthood and has intermediate characteristics between type 1 and type 2 diabetes. To optimize the diagnostic and therapeutic approach, recently, a subclassification of LADA has been proposed based on some clinical features, antibodies, and beta cellular function at onset. In this paper, we expose an interesting case showing the effectiveness of early treatment with a glucagon-like peptide receptor agonist (semaglutide) in maintaining long-term good glycemic control and associated with the preservation of beta-cell function over a five-year observation period in a young woman with LADA...

BACKGROUND: Cognitive dysfunction is regarded as one of the most severe aftereffects following coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Eye movements, controlled by various brain regions, including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and frontal-thalamic circuits, offer a potential metric for evaluating cognitive dysfunction. We aimed to examine the utility of eye movement measurements in identifying cognitive impairments in long COVID patients. METHODS: We recruited 40 long COVID patients experiencing subjective cognitive complaints and 40 healthy controls and used a certified eye-tracking medical device to record saccades and antisaccades...

Robotic assisted (RA) total hip arthroplasty (THA) offers improved acetabular component placement and radiographic outcomes, but inconsistent assessment methods of its learning curves render the evaluation of adopting novel platforms challenging. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review to assess the learning curve associated with RA-THA, both tracking a surgeon's performance across initial cases and comparing their performance to manual THA (M-THA). PubMed, MEDLINE, EBSCOhost, and Google Scholar were searched on June 16, 2023, to identify studies published between January 1, 2000 and June 16, 2023 (PROSPERO registration: CRD42023437339)...

The presence of different mutations in the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) genome can be related to changes in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infection. Besides, these viral alterations associated with factors such as massive number of positive cases, vaccination and reinfections can be important in the viral evolution process. As well as, mutations found at low frequencies may have a more neutral action and consequently be less inclined to negative selection, facilitating their spread through the population...

Mobile herbicides have a high potential for groundwater contamination. An alternative to decrease the mobility of herbicides is to apply materials with high sorbent capacity to the soil, such as biochars. The objective of this research was to evaluate the effect of eucalyptus, rice hull, and native bamboo biochar amendments on sorption and desorption of hexazinone, metribuzin, and quinclorac in a tropical soil. The sorption-desorption was evaluated using the batch equilibrium method at five concentrations of hexazinone, metribuzin, and quinclorac...