Photobiomodulation Effectiveness in Treating Androgenetic Alopecia.

Background: Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is a genetically determined condition, which leads to progressive hair loss (HL) of the vertex, affects hair follicles, and promotes partial or total HL. It may be related to important psychological and social distress. Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of photobiomodulation (PBM) in patients with AGA. Methods: Twenty-five men 20-54 years of age participated in this study. The irradiations were punctual, in contact mode, with 1 cm between each point covering the entire affected area. A red low-level laser (λ = 660 nm) (Recover®, MMOptics, São Carlos, Brazil) was used with 100 mW, 30 sec, and 3 J per point, twice a week on alternate days for 10 weeks. Evaluations were made by photographic records from the same area before any intervention (T1), after 5 weeks (T2), after 10 weeks (T3). Two blinded evaluators using the ImageJ® software assessed the hair density. Results: The hair density evaluation showed a significant increase in hair count between T1 and T2 (p = 0.0004) and between T1 and T3 (p = 0.0285), however between T2 and T3 no statistical difference was found (p > 0.05). Conclusions: PBM provides a stimulus for hair density in 5 weeks. After this period, we observed that after five extra sessions, it does not increase hair density in the treated region. This study showed that the PBM is effective and promoted safe results with a reduced number of sessions for the AGA treatment.

Effects of photobiomodulation on sport performance in swimming para-athletes - a case series.

This study evaluates photobiomodulation (PBM) on cardio-respiratory function and swimming performance in parathletes. Ten swimming parathletes were tested before PBM, after PBM and placebo irradiation applied on upper musculature. After warmup, the parathletes rested for 1 min, and heart rate was recorded. Three sessions of 50 m free style swimming at maximum effort, with 5-min interval were performed and time, peak and recovery heart rate were recorded. After 1 week, biceps, deltoid, and trapezius received 108 J of energy from an LED array or sham-irradiation in a crossover study. After another week, the same protocol was repeated. All athletes improved time in 50 ms swimming. On average, time decreased 4 s after PBM and 1.5 s after placebo. Also, the peak heartbeat was 10% lower after PBM. A muscular pre-conditioning using PBM with an infrared LED could modulate upper musculature and cardio-respiratory function, leading tobetter swimming performance in parathletes.

STUDY OF PALM OIL AND GLUTAMINE AS FUNCTIONAL FOODS ON PEPTIDE TYROSINE TYROSINE AND GLUCAGON-LIKE PEPTIDE 1 IN OBESE PATIENTS FOLLOWING UP ON THE AMBULATORY HEALTH SERVICES OF A PUBLIC HOSPITAL

Incretin-based therapies are an alternative for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and weight reduction. In this respect, functional foods such as palm oil and glutamine are dietary strategies for the stimulation of intestinal peptides. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the palm oil capsules of ileal release (LI) and of glutamine (LI) result in increased secretion of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and Peptide tyrosine tyrosine (PYY). Method: Nineteen obese patients follow-up of the Ambulatory Health Services, received nutritional guidance and supplementation with ileal release capsules containing palm oil and glutamine. Result: Prospective analysis showed an increase in median GLP-1 levels between T0 (before treatment) and T2 (after 2 months of treatment) from 21.9 pmol/liter (2-93) to 25.7 pmol/liter (3-92.5) (p= 0.564). The baseline of peptide YY increased between T0 68.5 pg / mL (46.5 to 150) to 71 pg / mL (46-181) in T2 (p= 0.909). The significant level established for all analyses was 5% (p <0.05). Conclusion: The daily intake of palm oil capsules (LI) and of glutamine (LI) by a period of 2 months did not influence the secretion of GLP-1 and PYY in obese patients. However, weight maintenance was observed during the evaluated period. Further studies are needed for inferences in this population, to determine if functional foods such as palm oil and glutamine are associated with other specific health benefits.

Mobile application for the evaluation and planning of nursing workload in the intensive care unit.

OBJECTIVE: In this study, we present an application type software which employs the Nursing Activities Score (NAS), a management tool for measuring nursing workload prospectively. METHOD: The system was developed in two modules: WEB (controlled from an Internet browser) for data administration using Java Script; and APP (operated from a smartphone or tablet device) for data acquisition using Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP). White and black box tests were performed in the software. RESULTS: A software was developed with an interface that allows the calculation of the scale score by the same professional who provided assistance, generating reports to help nursing management. The functional test was successfully performed using the Android operational system. CONCLUSION: The efficiency of the software was demonstrated by the functional test and the main innovations brought herein are the prospective use and the generation of management reports, which can contribute positively by improving nursing quality and safety in the intensive care unit.

Photodynamic inactivation assisted by localized surface plasmon resonance of silver nanoparticles: In vitro evaluation on Escherichia coli and Streptococcus mutans.

Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of gold nanoparticles has been reported to increase the antimicrobial effect of the photodynamic therapy. Although silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are an efficient growth inhibitor of microorganisms, no studies exploring LSPR of AgNPs to enhance the photodynamic inactivation (PDI) have been related. In this work, we described the LSPR phenomenon of AgNP sand investigated its interaction with riboflavin, a natural photosensitizer. We evaluated the use of AgNPs coated with pectin (p-AgNP) in riboflavin (Rb)-mediated PDI of Escherichia coli (Gram- bacteria) and Streptococcus mutans (Gram + bacteria) using a blue light-emitting diode (λ = 455 ±â€¯20 nm) of optical power 200 mW. Irradiance was 90 mW/cm2 and radiant exposure varied according to the time exposure. Uptake of Rb and p-AgNP by the cells was evaluated by measuring the supernatant absorption spectra of the samples. We observed that LSPR of p-AgNPs was able to enhance the riboflavin photodynamic action on S. mutans but not on E. coli, probably due to the lower uptake of Rb by E. coli. Taken together, our results provide insights to explore the use of the LPRS promoted by silver nanostructures to optimize antimicrobial PDI protocols.

Photodynamic damage predominates on different targets depending on cell growth phase of Candida albicans.

Photodynamic inactivation (PDI) has been reported to be effective to eradicate a wide variety of pathogens, including antimicrobial-resistant microorganisms. The aim of this study was to identify the potential molecular targets of PDI depending on growth phase of Candida albicans. Fungal cells in lag (6h) and stationary (48h) phases were submitted to PDI mediated by methylene blue (MB) combined with a (662±21) nm-LED, at 360mW of optical power. Pre-irradiation time was 10min and exposure times were 12min, 15min and 18min delivering radiant exposures of 129.6J/cm2, 162J/cm2 and 194.4J/cm2, respectively, on a 24-well plate of about 2cm2 at an irradiance of 180mW/cm2. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force spectroscopy (AFS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) were employed to evaluate the photodynamic effect in young and old fungal cells following 15min of irradiation. Morphological analysis revealed wrinkled and shrunk fungal cell membrane for both growth phases while extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) removal was only observed for old fungal cells. Damaged intracellular structures were more pronounced in young fungal cells. The surface nanostiffness of young fungal cells decreased after PDI but increased for old fungal cells. Cellular adhesion force was reduced for both growth phases. Fungal cells in lag phase predominantly showed degradation of nucleic acids and proteins, while fungal cells in stationary phase showed more pronounced degradation of polysaccharides and lipids. Taken together, our results indicate different molecular targets for fungal cells in lag and stationary growth phase following PDI.

Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy as a strategy to arrest enamel demineralization: a short-term study on incipient caries in a rat model.

In this study we developed a rat model of incipient caries to investigate the short-term effects of antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) on oral microbiota regulation and demineralization arrestment. Twenty-nine male rats were submitted to caries induction. Early carious lesion was confirmed by optical coherence tomography (OCT) 5 days after experiment beginning in five animals. The remaining animals (n = 24) were randomly divided into two groups: control (n = 12), animals were untreated; and aPDT (n = 12), animals were treated with 100 µM of methylene blue for 5 min and irradiated by a light emitting diode at λ = 645 ± 30 nm, fluence rate of 480 mW cm(-2) and exposure time of 3 min. Bacterial burden was evaluated before, immediately after, 3, 7 and 10 days following treatment, and total number of microaerophilic bacteria was counted. OCT was also used to quantify teeth demineralization. A significant bacterial decrease of about 1.6 log was observed immediately after aPDT. Besides, bacterial load in aPDT group remained lower than control until 10 days post-treatment (P < 0.05) and variation of optical attenuation coefficient before and after aPDT was 15%, corroborating to caries arrestment. Put together, these findings suggest that aPDT was competent to reduce cariogenic bacteria and to avoid further mineral loss.

Paracoccidioides brasiliensis RNA biogenesis apparatus revealed by functional genome analysis.

The RNA biogenesis machinery of Paracoccidioides brasiliensis was assessed by comparative analyses of PbAESTs (P. brasiliensis assembled expressed sequence tags (ESTs)) with sequences from Saccharomyces cerevisiae MIPS database. PbAESTs related to almost all categories of S. cerevisiae RNA biogenesis were found. Two of the 12 S. cerevisiae RNA Pol II core subunits, Rpb3 and Rpb7, were found, probably reflecting the growth phase from which the cDNA libraries used in ESTs generation were constructed, as well as the low abundance of some of these transcripts. We have also found orthologs to TATA-box-binding protein (TBP), and at least one subunit of each TBP-associated factors (TFII) in P. brasiliensis transcriptome, except TFIIB. Genes associated to the chromatin remodeling complex, as well as transcription factors probably involved in the control of genes associated to a sexual cycle and virulence, were also identified. With respect to the pre-mRNA processing, 65 PbAEST orthologs to S. cerevisiae basal splicing machinery and 21 orthologs of 5'- and 3'-end formation processes were found. Components involved in RNA interference were detected, suggesting that this gene expression regulation mechanism is probably used by P. brasiliensis. Twelve PbAESTs related to Pol I and Pol III machineries were assigned as S. cerevisiae orthologs. Finally, 25 and 10 PbAESTs associated to rRNA and tRNA processing, respectively, were detected. Taken together, our results enable us to depict, for the first time, a global view of transcription and RNA processing in P. brasiliensis.

Paracoccidioides brasiliensis translation and protein fate machineries revealed by functional genome analysis.

The translational and post-translational modification machineries of Paracoccidioides brasiliensis were assessed by means of comparative analyses of PbAESTs (P. brasiliensis assembled expressed sequence tags) with sequences deposited on different databases. Of the 79 sequences corresponding to cytosolic ribosomal proteins, we were able to find 78 in the P. brasiliensis transcriptome. Nineteen of the 27 Saccharomyces cerevisiae genes related to translation initiation were also found. All eukaryotic elongation factors were detected in P. brasiliensis transcriptome, with eEF1A as one of the most expressed genes. Translation termination is performed, in eukaryotes, by factors 1 and 3 (eRF1, eRF3). In P. brasiliensis transcriptome it was possible to identify eRF3, but not eRF1. Sixteen PbAESTs showing aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase-predicted activities were found in our analyses, but no cysteinyl-, leucyl-, asparagyl- and arginyl-tRNA synthetases were detected. Among the mitochondrial ribosomal proteins, we have found 20 and 18 orthologs to S. cerevisiae large and small ribosomal subunit proteins, respectively. We have also found three PbAESTs similar to Neurospora crassa mitochondrial ribosomal genes, with no similarity with S. cerevisiae genes. Although orthologs to S. cerevisiae mitochondrial EF-Tu, EF-G and RF1 have been found in P. brasiliensis transcriptome, no sequences corresponding to functional EF-Ts were detected. In addition, 64 and 28 PbAESTs associated to protein modification and degradation, respectively, were found. These results suggest that these machineries are well conserved in P. brasiliensis, when compared to other organisms.

Extravasamento de drogas antineoplásicas: notificação e cuidados prestados / Antineoplastic drugs extravasation: notification and delivered care

Este estudo, desenvolvido no Ambulatório de Quimioterapia de Adultos de um hospital universitário da cidade de São Paulo teve por objetivos: identificar a incidência de extravasamentos de drogas citostáticas em pacientes atendidos nesse Ambulatório no período de 1998 e 1999; verificar os sinais e sintomas apresentados por estes pacientes após a ocorrência do extravasamentos dessas drogas; analisar os cuidados prestados pelo pessoal de enfermagem, visando o tratamento deste evento adverso. Trata-se de uma pesquisa descritiva retrospectiva que utilizou como fonte de dados primários os registros nas fichas de notificação desse evento adverso no biênio 1998/1999. Concluiu-se que nestes anos a incidência de extravasamento foi a de 1,2 por cento e 1,0 por cento respectivamente, proporções estas bem menores do que o limite máximo observado na literatura consultada. Dos 82 pacientes que sofreram extravasamento, 42 (51,2 por cento) apresentaram sinais e sintomas, sendo os principais: ardor, dor e edema. Como efeito indesejável um paciente apresentou escaras no antebraço, cinco dias após o extravasamento da vinblastina, necessitando de tratamento especializado. A indicação e aplicação de compressas quentes no local do extravasamento, foram adequadas aos tipos de drogas infundidas e dentre os 58 pacientes que receberam compressas frias, em dois deveriam ser aplicadas compressas quentes (3,4 por cento), implicando na revisão dos cuidados prestados. Identificou-se também a necessidade de melhoria dos registros para subsidiar o processo avaliativo nesse serviço de saúde.