Metal cross-contamination relationships between sediments and loricariidae species (siluriform) in a neotropical riverine system.

Human activities have changed the natural rates at which metals are moved and accumulated in both land and water environments, resulting in negative impacts on local wildlife. In this study, concentrations of Cr, Ni, Cd, Pb, Cu, Mn, Co, and Zn were evaluated in water and riverbed sediment samples collected from the Verde River basin (VR), as well as in tissue samples from five native Loricariidae species. Sediment samples collected from the central section of the VR riverbed indicated the presence of metal concentrations, which were primarily attributed to scattered pollution sources linked to rural activities in the surrounding areas. The bioconcentration factor in the Loricariids liver presented the highest average values for Zn (1.27-58.21), Co (0.48-14.91) and Cu (1.15-11.14). The same pattern was observed in the muscle, but in a lower proportion. Regarding the bioaccumulation factor, Co (1.54-34.84), Cu (5.85-25.22) and Zn (0.64-18.08) attained the highest average values in the liver. The co-inertia analysis examined the spatial distribution of metal concentrations in riverbed sediments and in tissues of Loricariids from the upper, middle, and lower stretches of the river, including the river mouth. The analysis revealed varying patterns, with samples from some regions showing higher bioaccumulation levels. This suggests that riverbed sediments are a primary source of metal contamination in Loricariids from these areas. The pollution has had a significant impact on the bioaccumulation of metals in the VR' Loricariids, which are good indicators of sediment-associated metal bioaccumulation. The metal concentrations recorded in both the riverbed sediments and Loricariids surpassed international and Brazilian limits set for aquatic health and safe human consumption. Given the importance of the Verde River in terms of its ecological, social, cultural, and economic roles, it is essential to implement biomonitoring and control measures to safeguard both terrestrial and aquatic resources.

Phase III, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical study: a study on the safety and clinical efficacy of AZVUDINE in moderate COVID-19 patients.

Background: In 2019, a highly pathogenic coronavirus named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) surfaced and resulted in the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). With the aim of finding effective drugs to fight against the disease, several trials have been conducted since COVID-19 can only be considered a treatable disease, from a clinical point of view, after the availability of specific and effective antivirals. AZVUDINE (FNC), initially developed for treating HIV, is a potential treatment for COVID-19 as it has the capability to lower the patient's viral load and promote recovery. Methods: Volunteers infected with SARS-CoV-2 confirmed by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), with good kidney and liver function, who were not using other antivirals or monoclonal antibodies were eligible. Samples from patients were assessed for viral load every 48 h during treatment using reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR). Results: The study's primary outcome measure was the percentage of participants showing an improvement in clinical scores, while the secondary outcome measure was the percentage of participants with a clinical outcome of cure. These measures were used to assess the safety and efficacy of FNC for treating COVID-19. In the analysis of sociodemographic variables, no significant differences were detected between patients in the FNC and the placebo group for race, age group, or sex. The results showed a potential benefit to participants who received FNC during the study, as observed in the shorter hospital stay, shorter negative conversion time of SARS-CoV-2, and a significant reduction in viral load. Furthermore, the reduction in fever and chills were significant at D1, D2, and D3. In this study, a total of 112 adverse events cases were noted, with 105 cases being categorized as non-serious and only 7 cases as serious adverse events. Conclusion: The pandemic is not being effectively controlled and is causing multiple waves of infection that require extensive medical resources. However, FNC has demonstrated potential to reduce the treatment duration of moderate COVID-19 cases, thereby saving significant medical resources. This makes FNC a promising candidate for COVID-19 treatment.Clinical trial registration: [clinicaltrials.gov], identifier [NCT04668235].

Evaluation of the mandibular condylar bone microarchitecture in people living with HIV.

OBJECTIVES: People living with HIV (PLWH) have been shown to have lower bone density at the spine, hip, and radius. However, whether a similar bone phenotype is seen in craniofacial bones is not known. The goal of this study was to evaluate the bone microarchitecture of the mandibular condyle in PLWH. METHODS: We recruited 212 participants, which included 88 HIV-negative participants and 124 PLWH on combination antiretroviral therapy with virological suppression from a single academic center. Each participant filled out a validated temporomandibular disorder (TMD) pain screening questionnaire and had cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) of their mandibular condyles. Qualitative radiographic evidence of temporomandibular joint disorders-osteoarthritis (TMJD-OA) assessment and quantitative microarchitecture analysis of their mandibular condylar bones were conducted. RESULTS: There was no statistically significant difference in either self-reported TMD or in radiographic evidence of TMJD-OA in PLWH compared with HIV-negative controls. Linear regression analysis revealed that positive HIV status remained significantly associated with increased trabecular thickness, decreased cortical porosity, and increased cortical bone volume fraction after adjusting for race, diabetes, sex, and age. CONCLUSION: PLWH have increased mandibular condylar trabecular bone thickness and cortical bone volume fraction compared with HIV-negative controls.

Effect of humic compost on the adsorption of cadmium (II) in aqueous medium.

The humic compost obtained from the treatment of tobacco from smuggled cigarettes (SCT) and industrial sewage sludge (ISS) was evaluated as adsorbent for Cd (II) in aqueous solution, for possible decontamination of water resources. Optimum conditions were found at pH 5 and a 3 g/L adsorbent concentration, which presented 92% Cd (II) removal and maximum adsorption capacity of 28.546 mg/g. The pseudo-second-order kinetic model presented the best fit, pointing 120 min as the time needed to attain a steady state. FTIR and EDX results suggest the formation of coordinated Cd (II) bonds by functional groups between the compost and the solution. The results obtained in real samples showed that, even under different environmental conditions, the Cd (II) adsorption varied between 80.05 and 91.61%. The results indicated that the compost evaluated can be used for remediation of Cd (II)-contaminated water resources.

Phenotypic plasticity in Copaifera langsdorffii Desf. in different forest fragments in São Paulo state, Brazil.

Forest fragments are susceptible to environmental shifts and this demands high phenotypic plasticity of the species growing in these areas. In this context, the objective of the present work was to study the phenotypic plasticity of copaíba (Copaifera langsdorffii Desf.) based on morphological and anatomical metrics of the leaflets of plants from six forest fragments. The leaflets of C. langsdorffii individuals of the different fragments did not show qualitative differences, nonetheless, they demonstrated quantitative plasticity. Stomatal density (p = 0.017), specific leaf area (p = 0.009), palisade parenchyma (p = 0.008) and relative water content (p = 0.002), indicated a high luminous, water and nutritional influence on the development of leaflets. Based on the dry mass of the leaflets and the thickness of the palisade parenchyma, the principal component analysis explained 57.43% of the differences found between the variables. The data presented here provides evidence of the phenotypic plasticity of C. langsdorffii which, although occurring in similar soils, showed significant quantitative differences in its morphoanatomical characters.

Breast cancer pharmacogenetics: a systematic review.

Breast cancer was declared the most prevalent type of cancer in 2020. Among other factors, treatment response can be affected by genetic polymorphisms - which is the focus of pharmacogenetics - and ethnicity is also a contributing factor in this context. Relevant genes in disease treatment pathways were selected to evaluate treatment response from the pharmacogenetic perspective; polymorphism frequencies and ethnic and continental representation across the available literature were also assessed through a systematic review. The identified associations and gaps have been described in this study with the purpose that, in the future, treatments can be personalized and thus be more effective, safer, and accessible to all.

Combined process of chemically enhanced sedimentation and rapid filtration for urban wastewater treatment for potable reuse.

The objective of this study is to propose a new post-treatment of effluents from Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) using rapid filtration, aiming at the production of water for potable reuse. The final quality of the effluent produced by the treatment using gravel, sand, clinoptilolite and activated carbon associated with disinfection was evaluated by physical chemical analysis, heavy metals and persistent organic contaminants. Experiments were carried out in jar test, filter operation time, evaluation of the efficiency using peracetic acid and free chlorine as disinfectant and all results were statistically analysed. The best conditions were those using 20 mg/L of ferric chloride and natural pH of the effluent (≈ 7.0), which resulted in less reagent consumption. The use of intermediate fund discharges made it possible to obtain approximately 91% of recovered water efficiency. The effluent treated under these conditions showed DOC <2.0 mg/L, COD <1.0 mg/L, BOD <1.0 mg/L, turbidity <1.0 NTU, TSS <1.0 mg/L, ammonia <0.1 mg/L, total phosphorus <0.1 mg/L and surfactants <0.1 mg/L. The disinfection process with free chlorine and PAA allowed the total inactivation of faecal coliforms and total coliforms. The treatment using rapid filtration with disinfection by chlorine reached the appropriate level for urban, environmental, industrial and indirect potable water reuse.

Microcrustaceans in rice fields: A scientometric analysis from 1977 to 2019.

We evaluated the worldwide trends in studies of the active and dormant forms of microcrustaceans in rice fields, and the potential of this environment as a stock of diversity through a scientometric analysis. Web of Science and Scopus databases were used to compile the 77 studies published before 2019. Publications were distributed over 35 years, with a positive correlation between the number of studies and the year of publication (rho = 0.34). The identified studies were from 18 countries, and 58.4% were conducted in Japan, Italy, the United States, and Spain. Most studies addressed more than two groups of microcrustaceans (37.6%), followed by those focused on Cladocera (27.2%) and Ostracoda (18.1%). We quantified 301 species from six groups of microcrustaceans, the majority of which were Cladocera (41.5%) and Ostracoda (39.8%). The greatest richness of microcrustaceans identified in studies were found in Italy, Thailand, Malaysia, Spain, France, Japan, and Brazil. Of the studies, 87% were centered on the active forms of microcrustaceans rather than dormant forms. We found that 15.5% of the countries that grow rice have identified the richness of microcrustaceans, and even though they are artificial environments, rice fields have high potential to store a high diversity of microcrustaceans.

The Effect of Different Formulations of Praziquantel in Reducing Worms in the Prepatent Period of Schistosomiasis in Murine Models.

Schistosomiasis is a widely distributed parasitic disease and one of the most important neglected tropical diseases globally, for which Praziquantel® (PZQ) is the only available treatment. In this context, tests with new PZQ formulations become relevant for disease control. This study evaluated the effects of PZQ treatment in the prepatent phase of schistosomiasis using two formulations: nanoencapsulated (PZQ-NANO) and active pharmaceutical ingredient (PZQ-API). Five experimental groups were established, for which the following serological parameters were evaluated: ALT, AST, ALP, and TP. Animals treated with PZQ-API at 15 and 30 days post-infection showed decreased eggs per gram of feces (EPG) compared to untreated infected animals. The same animals showed reductions of 63.6 and 65.1%, respectively, at 60 days post-infection. Animals treated with PZQ-NANO experienced no significant changes in EPG at any time of observation. Animals treated with either PZQ-API or PZQ-NANO had higher ALT and AST levels in the patent period (60 and 90 days post-infection). Treatment with PZQ, either API or NANO, at 15 days post-infection reduced AST, ALT, and TP levels. It is concluded that prepatent treatment with PZQ-API can reduce the parasite load of infected animals and that treatment at 15 days post-infection can prevent increased serum levels of ALT, AST, and TP.

In vitro anticancer properties of anthocyanins: A systematic review.

Anthocyanins have been associated with beneficial effects on human health. Cancer has been one of the main public health issues due to its aggressiveness and high mortality rate. This systematic review aimed to address recent research (from January 2000 to September 2021) on the anticancer activity of anthocyanins assessed by in vitro assays. The selected studies revealed that anthocyanins have anticancer potential by inhibiting cancer cell viability and proliferation, controlling cell cycle, and promoting apoptosis.

The effects of anaerobic reactor post-treatments by rapid filtration systems and conventional techniques.

Although anaerobic reactors are an excellent alternative in the treatment of domestic effluents, they have the disadvantage of requiring post-treatment. Many technologies have been studied and, recently, rapid filtration systems have been presented as a viable alternative for post-treatment. This work compared post-treatment techniques for anaerobic upflow sludge blanket (UASB) reactors by rapid filtration systems (double filtration (DF); triple filtration with clinoptilolite (TFc); and triple filtration with activated carbon (TFac)) to conventional systems (facultative pond (FP); biological filter (BF); biological filter with recirculation and decantation (BFD)), verifying their potential for improvement of the final effluent quality. The UASB effluent post-treatments by FP, BF, BFD, DF, TFc, and TFac were evaluated. The removal of turbidity in both BFD and FP post-treatments was below 75%. The DF, TFc, and TFac treatments showed over 99% removal of the same parameters. COD removal in the FP, BF, and BFD post-treatments was over 10%, while in the DF, TFc, and TFac treatments, it was over 80%. The greatest total phosphorus removal was observed in TFc and TFac, whose values were over 99%. The best removal of ammoniacal nitrogen, 99% was observed in the TFc treatment. Regarding Al, Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn removal, all rapid filtration systems showed better performance when compared to conventional systems. The DF, TFc, and TFac systems showed over 90% removal of most metals evaluated, while the FP and BF treatments presented values below 50% for most metals, and in the BFD system, the removal values were below 80% for most metals. The results indicate that rapid filtration systems were better at removing all evaluated parameters when compared to conventional systems.

Panoramic Dental Reconstruction for Faster Detection of Dental Pathology on Medical Non-dental CT Scans: a Proof of Concept from CT Neck Soft Tissue.

Even though teeth are often included in the field of view for a variety of medical CT studies, dental pathology is often missed by radiologists. Given the myriad morbidity and occasional mortality associated with sequelae of dental pathology, an important goal is to decrease these false negatives. However, given the ever-increasing volume of cases studies that radiologists have to read and the number of structures and diseases they have to evaluate, it is important not to place undue time restraints on the radiologist to this end. We hypothesized that generating panoramic dental radiographs from non-dental CT scans can permit identification of key diseases, while not adding much time to interpretation. The key advantage of panoramic dental radiographs is that they display the plane of the teeth in two dimensions, thereby facilitating fast and accurate assessment. We found that interpreting panoramic radiographic reconstructions compared to the full CT volumes reduced time-to-diagnosis of key dental pathology on average by roughly a factor of four. This expedition was statistically significant, and the average time-to-diagnosis for panoramic reconstructions was on the order of seconds, without a loss in accuracy compared to full CT. As such, we posit that panoramic reconstruction can serve as a one-slice additional series in any CT image stack that includes the teeth in its field of view.

Anticancer activity of monoterpenes: a systematic review.

Secondary metabolites have been recognized for centuries as medicinal agents, in particular monoterpenes which have been the target of research in the discovery of antineoplastic drugs, as they have potential antitumor effect and low toxicity and are used as additives in foods and cosmetics. Another advantage of monoterpenes is structural diversity, which gives greater plasticity when interacting with cells. The purpose of this review was to summarize and critically discuss the anticancer potential of monoterpenes and their respective mechanisms of action. A systematic review of articles in the MEDLINE/PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus and Science Direct electronic databases was independently conducted by three reviewers using the combination of the following keywords: monoterpenes AND anticancer AND in vitro. Restriction in selecting articles followed pre-established inclusion and exclusion criteria by the reviewers, and also a time limitation with works published between 2015 and 2019 being selected. In total, 39 works were deemed eligible for inclusion in the final review. Monoterpenes have cytotoxic activity in a wide variety of tumor cell lines, and mainly appear to exert this effect by inducing apoptosis caused by oxidative stress. In addition, improved use of monoterpenes when used in drug delivery systems and the synergistic effect with conventional chemotherapeutic drugs are reported. These findings validate this class of compounds as a promising source of chemotherapeutic drugs yet to be explored.

Exposure to pollutants present in Iguaçu River Southern Brazil affect the health of Oreochromis niloticus (Linnaeus, 1758): Assessment histological, genotoxic and biochemical.

Urban sewage is a source of major contamination in aquatic systems and contributes to environmental and human health disturbances. This study investigates the effects of sewage-polluted waters from Iguaçu River on the health of juvenile Oreochromis niloticus. Two hundred four specimens were exposed to riverine water in four groups: no diluted, 25 and 50 % diluted water and a control group without tested water for 72 days. Biological samples were obtained for histopathological, neurotoxicity, antioxidant defenses, genotoxicity, metallothionines expression and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) metabolites. The results showed histopathological alterations in liver and gills, genotoxic alteration in erythrocytes, reduction of acetylcholinesterase activity in brain and muscle, activation of antioxidant defenses in the liver, recruitment of metals by metallothionein and the detection of PAHs metabolites in bile. These results demonstrate that juveniles of O. niloticus are susceptible to Iguaçu River exposure water and they can be used as indicator of water quality.

Bioaccumulation and bioconcentration of metals in Characidae from a Neotropical river basin under anthropic activities.

Natural rates of metal mobilization and deposition in terrestrial and aquatic environments have been changed due to anthropic activities, exposing the native biota to dangerous effects related to bioconcentration and bioaccumulation of metals. This study assessed the concentrations of Cr, Ni, Cd, Pb, Cu, Mn, Co, and Zn in the water and riverbed sediment samples from the Verde River basin (VR), and in tissue samples from two native fishes, the Psalidodon paranae, a VR inhabitant, and the Psalidodon aff. fasciatus, a migratory species. Arithmetic mean values of metal concentrations recorded in waters were Cr: 46.16, Ni: 40.29, Cd 43.19, Pb: 57.74, Cu: 63.72, Mn: 98.36, Co: 64.53, Zn: 81.19, while for riverbed sediments were Cr: 11.84, Ni: 10.52, Cd: 7.14, Pb: 15.00, Cu: 22.16, Mn: 334.77, Co: 24.62, Zn: 434.44. For several analyzed samples, metal concentrations found were higher than Brazilian and international limits set for healthy aquatic life and human uses. Analyzed fish tissues also presented metal concentrations higher than Brazilian and international limits set, indicating a high ecological and health risk for the region. Psalidodon paranae showed affinity to bioconcentrate Pb, Zn, and Cd, while Psalidodon. aff. fasciatus tended to bioconcentrate Ni, Zn, and Cr. Multivariate analyses revealed spatial and temporal patterns in the metal contaminations in VR. These patterns were associated with rural and urban activities developed along VR, which practice inadequate soil handling, indiscriminate use of agrochemicals, and the dumping of domestic garbage and untreated and treated sewage into the river. The implementation of public policies for biomonitoring and pollution control by metals in VR is essential to safeguard regional water resources and their biota.

Micropollutants impair the survival of Oreochromis niloticus and threat local species from Iguaçu River, Southern of Brazil.

The wastewater contamination of urban rivers is a concern for biodiversity and a consequence from poor urban conservation policies. In the current study, the impact of urban and industrial activities was investigated in Iguaçu river (Southern Brazil) using juvenile Oreochromis niloticus, after trophic and chronic exposure (25, 50 and 100 %), over 81 days. After exposure liver, gills, gonads, brain, muscle, and blood were sampled for chemical, biochemical, histopathological, genotoxic and molecular analyses. Water levels of persistent organic pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls, organochlorine pesticides, polycyclic aromatics hydrocarbon (PAHs) and metals were investigated. The redox unbalance, histopathological and increase in vitellogenin expression in fish revealed both the bioavailability of micropollutants and their harmful effects. According to the results, the level of Iguaçu river pollution negatively impacts the health of O. niloticus revealing and highlighting the risk of this pollution exposure to biota and human populations.

Effects of different filtration techniques on quality and toxicology of post treatment effluent from an anaerobic reactor.

The early stages of the fish life cycle correspond to the phase that is most susceptible to deleterious effects caused by exposure to pollution. The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of the anaerobic reactor effluent after three filtration-based treatments, namely, Double-Filtration in gravel and sand (DF), Triple-Filtration in gravel, sand and Activated Charcoal (TF-AC) and Triple-Filtration in gravel, sand and clinoptilolite (TF-C). The toxic effects on the population dynamics of larvae and embryos of catfish (Rhamdia quelen) to the final effluent were evaluated using an individual-based model (IBM). The results indicate that the three post-treatments produced effluents with significant improvement of the physicochemical parameters evaluated in relation to the anaerobic reactor effluent. In addition, all post-treatments improved the removal of metal ions. Experimental data showed high mortality rates for Rhamdia quelen embryos and larvae for most treatments, except for the effluent treated by TF-C. The results demonstrated that the concentration of ammoniacal nitrogen in relation to AR treatments (69.0); DF (44.0); TF-AC (46.6) and TF-C (0.33) in mg/L can be a limiting factor for the development of embryos and larvae during the ecotoxicity tests.

Chemometrics Applied in the Development of a Water Quality Indicator System for the Brazilian Amazon.

The objective of this work was to develop a method to calculate the water quality index (WQI) using chemometric methods. The study was carried out at the Curuá-Una hydroelectric power plant in the state of Pará in the Brazilian Amazon. Eight collection stations in four periods (winter, intermediate I, summer, and intermediate II) and 29 parameters were selected. Multivariate analysis was applied to the results to verify the quality of the data and to select the most sensitive variables to be used as indicators for the WQI calculation. The 10 parameters selected were E h, dissolved oxygen, total dissolved solids, chlorophyll a, phosphate, Ba, Ca, Fe, Na, and Sn. The WQI proposed herein was effective in the classification of water quality for the periods analyzed.

Comparison of Peri-implant Soft Tissue Color with the Use of Pink-Neck vs Gray Implants and Abutments Based on Soft Tissue Thickness: A 6-Month Follow-up Study.

PURPOSE: To compare the optical effects of an immediately placed anodized pink-neck implant and abutment vs a conventional gray implant and abutment in relation to soft tissue thickness 6 months after the restoration was completed. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty patients with a hopeless maxillary anterior tooth received an immediate implant and an immediate provisional or custom healing abutment after flapless extraction. Participants were randomized to receive either a conventional titanium implant (control) or a pink-neck implant (test). All patients then received two identical CAD/CAM titanium abutments (one conventional gray, delivered first, and one anodized to appear pink, delivered 3 weeks after) and a zirconia crown. A spectrophotometer was used to record the color of the peri-implant mucosa and gingiva 3 weeks after delivery of each abutment and 6 months after the final restoration was delivered. The color difference between the two sites was calculated (ΔL*, Δa*, Δb*), and correlations with soft tissue thickness, change in ridge dimension, and implant position were assessed. RESULTS: Irrespective of the randomization group, changing the abutments from gray to pink showed a change in color between the peri-implant mucosa and the natural gingiva. Patients with a thin gingival biotype showed a statistically significant color change (P = .00089) in the a* axis, meaning that the gingiva appeared more pink (Δa*). No significant correlation between the soft tissue color and buccolingual collapse, vertical recession, or implant position was observed in either group. CONCLUSION: The difference in color observed between the peri-implant mucosa and the gingiva was considerable in all groups. Anodized pink implants and abutments could reduce the difference in the red aspect (Δa*) of the peri-implant mucosa compared to the adjacent gingiva in patients with a thin biotype.