HPV and coronary diseases in menopausal women: an integrative review.

High-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is associated with cervical cancer while low-risk HPV strains mostly cause benign lesions. Multiple studies have also associated HPV with coronary artery (CAD) disease in women. Furthermore, the climacteric period in women, triggers chronic inflammation and has major implications for CAD and associated lipid disorders. The association of HPV with coronary artery disease in climacteric women has few studies, and the objective of this review is to gather and analyse scientific data on the subject. This is an integrative review performed on PubMed and Google Scholar using the keywords "HPV", "coronary heart disease" and "climacteric", among these keywords the boolean operator AND and the publication date filter. (2018 onwards). Five articles were found, whose main results show presence of high-risk vaginal HPV in climacteric women. Climacterium and HPV were associated with a three-fold increased risk of CAD, as well as with factors related to menopause that promote atheroma formation, lipid disorders and chronic inflammation. Thus, these results support the association between HPV infection and CAD in climacteric women, possibly via chronic inflammation, hormonal factors related to menopause and dyslipidemia.

Transcription factors and miRNA act as contrary regulators of gene expression in the testis and epididymis of Bos indicus animals.

Spermatogenesis is highly conserved among mammalians, but its gene expression and regulatory profile are not entirely known. As transcription factors (TFs) and miRNAs are crucial for gene expression regulation, identifying genes negatively regulated by miRNAs and positively regulated by TFs in the testis and epididymis can provide a deeper understanding of gene expression and regulatory patterns. To do this, we used expression data coming from RNA-Seq and miRNA-Seq experiments made with biopsies from testicular parenchyma, head of the epididymis, and tail of the epididymis of four Brahman bulls. We identified miRNA differentially expressed (DE) by comparing the three distinct tissues. A co-expression analysis combined with a regulatory impact factor approach identified miRNAs and TFs with regulatory impact over gene expression regulation in the Bos indicus tissues studied. We identified 116 DE miRNAs, 206 miRNAs and 237 TFs with a significant regulatory impact on mRNA patterns in the tissues' comparisons. bta-miR-196b was the only DE miRNA for all tissue comparisons and it may be a regulator of spermatogenesis through its links with adipogenesis and insulin biosynthesis. DE genes and TFs involved in contrary regulations between the epididymis head and testis parenchyma were associated with spermatogenesis, sexual reproduction, and sperm motility. Our results provide possible mechanisms, governed by the contrary effect of miRNA and TF, leading to the differential expression between the studied tissues. We have demonstrated that our predictions of miRNAs and TFs co-regulations over target DE genes can retrieve known regulatory mechanisms and predict new ones that merit further validation.

HPV and coronary diseases in menopausal women: an integrative review

Abstract High-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is associated with cervical cancer while low-risk HPV strains mostly cause benign lesions. Multiple studies have also associated HPV with coronary artery (CAD) disease in women. Furthermore, the climacteric period in women, triggers chronic inflammation and has major implications for CAD and associated lipid disorders. The association of HPV with coronary artery disease in climacteric women has few studies, and the objective of this review is to gather and analyse scientific data on the subject. This is an integrative review performed on PubMed and Google Scholar using the keywords "HPV", "coronary heart disease" and "climacteric", among these keywords the boolean operator AND and the publication date filter. (2018 onwards). Five articles were found, whose main results show presence of high-risk vaginal HPV in climacteric women. Climacterium and HPV were associated with a three-fold increased risk of CAD, as well as with factors related to menopause that promote atheroma formation, lipid disorders and chronic inflammation. Thus, these results support the association between HPV infection and CAD in climacteric women, possibly via chronic inflammation, hormonal factors related to menopause and dyslipidemia.

The current status of "spirituality and health" teaching in Brazilian medical schools: a nationwide survey.

BACKGROUND: Recent data on the teaching of "spirituality and health" (S/H) in medical schools are needed. In this study, we aimed to investigate the current status of S/H teaching in Brazilian medical schools, the opinions of medical directors/deans on this topic and the factors associated with its incorporation into the curriculum. METHODS: A nationwide cross-sectional survey was carried out in 2021. Information concerning the S/H content in the curricula of medical schools was obtained through medical school representatives and other sources. Medical school representatives were asked about their opinions of and barriers to S/H teaching. Regression models were used to evaluate the factors associated with the incorporation of such content into the curriculum. RESULTS: Information on the incorporation of S/H content in medical curricula was retrieved from different sources for all 342 (100%) Brazilian medical schools. Among the representatives, 150 (43.9%) completed the online form. An increase in the S/H content in Brazilian medical schools was observed (from 40% to 2011 to 65.5% in 2021). Most medical school representatives agreed that this issue is important in medical training and that more space in the curriculum is needed. However, they also observed several barriers, such as a lack of knowledge of medical teachers/faculty, a lack of time, and the topic not being included in teaching plans. The most important factors that influenced the incorporation of S/H teaching in medical schools and representatives' opinions were a lack of time and knowledge, professor preparedness and standardized national competency requirements. CONCLUSION: These results could help medical educators rethink the incorporation of S/H content into their curricula.

Repressive epigenetic mechanisms, such as the H3K27me3 histone modification, were predicted to affect muscle gene expression and its mineral content in Nelore cattle.

Epigenetic repression has been linked to the regulation of different cell states. In this study, we focus on the influence of this repression, mainly by H3K27me3, over gene expression in muscle cells, which may affect mineral content, a phenotype that is relevant to muscle function and beef quality. Based on the inverse relationship between H3K27me3 and gene expression (i.e., epigenetic repression) and on contrasting sample groups, we computationally predicted regulatory genes that affect muscle mineral content. To this end, we applied the TRIAGE predictive method followed by a rank product analysis. This methodology can predict regulatory genes that might be affected by repressive epigenetic regulation related to mineral concentration. Annotation of orthologous genes, between human and bovine, enabled our investigation of gene expression in the Longissimus thoracis muscle of Bos indicus cattle. The animals under study had a contrasting mineral content in their muscle cells. We identified candidate regulatory genes influenced by repressive epigenetic mechanisms, linking histone modification to mineral content in beef samples. The discovered candidate genes take part in multiple biological pathways, i.e., impulse transmission, cell signalling, immunological, and developmental pathways. Some of these genes were previously associated with mineral content or regulatory mechanisms. Our findings indicate that epigenetic repression can partially explain the gene expression profiles observed in muscle samples with contrasting mineral content through the candidate regulators here identified.

Stoichiometric excesses of H2O2 as dosimetry strategy: proof of concept for UVC-H2O2, dark-Fenton, and UVC-Fenton.

Hydrochlorothiazide (HCT) is a pharmaceutical micropollutant highly toxic to the environment, being absolutely necessary to oxidize it completely to CO2. Here, the variables stoichiometric H2O2 excess for (a) degradation and (b) mineralization are defined and used as metric to quantify the dosimetry of the H2O2. So that, dose of H2O2 qualifies being under- and over-dose respectively for values below and above such standards. In this work, these concepts have been elucidated across AOPs regarding the H2O2 degradation excess, whereas only UVC-Fenton was used regarding the H2O2 mineralization excess. At a H2O2 mineralization excess of 0.68 (equivalent to degradation excess of 36.74), oxidation via UVC-H2O2 enables absolute (100%) HCT degradation within 60 min; however, the mineralization of HCT demonstrated limited optimization for all AOPs employed in the beaker-like reactor of this work, being the underlying reasons investigated hereby. At best, 26.70% HCT mineralization was observed within 60 min of UVC photo-Fenton using an initial 2.00 H2O2 mineralization excess. Such mineralization of 26.7% is unexpectedly low considering that, in addition, the residual H2O2 concentration almost fully depletes within 30 min of UVC-Fenton oxidation. Taken all that together, the loss of H2O2 due its decomposition induced by the risen temperature from 28 to 70ºC very likely were the underlying reason preventing better mineralization performance. We successfully demonstrated 18% of mean efficiency of radical •OH consumption signals that the overheating is indeed a designer problem with the photo-reactor since a well-refrigerated photo-reactor shows a mean efficiency of 38% for the same H2O2 excess.

Bivariate GWAS reveals pleiotropic regions among feed efficiency and beef quality-related traits in Nelore cattle.

Feed-efficient cattle selection is among the most leading solutions to reduce cost for beef cattle production. However, technical difficulties in measuring feed efficiency traits had limited the application in livestock. Here, we performed a Bivariate Genome-Wide Association Study (Bi-GWAS) and presented candidate biological mechanisms underlying the association between feed efficiency and meat quality traits in a half-sibling design with 353 Nelore steers derived from 34 unrelated sires. A total of 13 Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) were found explaining part of the phenotypic variations. An important transcription factor of adipogenesis in cattle, the TAL1 (rs133408775) gene located on BTA3 was associated with intramuscular fat and average daily gain (IMF-ADG), and a region located on BTA20, close to CD180 and MAST4 genes, both related to fat accumulation. We observed a low positive genetic correlation between IMF-ADG (r = 0.30 ± 0.0686), indicating that it may respond to selection in the same direction. Our findings contributed to clarifying the pleiotropic modulation of the complex traits, indicating new QTLs for bovine genetic improvement.

Prune homolog 2 with BCH domain (PRUNE2) gene expression is associated with feed efficiency-related traits in Nelore steers.

Animal feeding is a critical factor in increasing producer profitability. Improving feed efficiency can help reduce feeding costs and reduce the environmental impact of beef production. Candidate genes previously identified for this trait in differential gene expression studies (e.g., case-control studies) have not examined continuous gene-phenotype variation, which is a limitation. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between the expression of five candidate genes in the liver, measured by quantitative real-time PCR and feed-related traits. We adopted a linear mixed model to associate liver gene expression from 52 Nelore steers with the following production traits: average daily gain (ADG), body weight (BW), dry matter intake (DMI), feed conversion ratio (FCR), feed efficiency (FE), Kleiber index (KI), metabolic body weight (MBW), residual feed intake (RFI), and relative growth ratio (RGR). The total expression of the prune homolog 2 (PRUNE2) gene was significantly associated with DMI, FCR, FE, and RFI (P < 0.05). Furthermore, we have identified a new transcript of PRUNE2 (TCONS_00027692, GenBank MZ041267) that was inversely correlated with FCR and FE (P < 0.05), in contrast to the originally identified PRUNE2 transcript. The cytochrome P450 subfamily 2B (CYP2B6), early growth response protein 1 (EGR1), collagen type I alpha 1 chain (COL1A1), and connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) genes were not associated with any feed efficiency-related traits (P > 0.05). The findings reported herein suggest that PRUNE2 expression levels affects feed efficiency-related traits variation in Nelore steers.

Impact of early mobilization on clinical and functional outcomes in patients submitted to coronary artery bypass grafting.

INTRODUCTION: Heart surgery is a feature that has grown a lot in recent years. Due to the complications that can be generated, the importance of prevention emerges, thus seeking effective protocols that generate improvement in clinical and functional outcomes to promote a shorter hospital stay and readmission. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of early mobilization on clinical and functional outcomes in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting. METHODOLOGY: This was a prospective cohort study. Patients were evaluated preoperatively through the Medical Research Council (MRC), Functional Independence Measurement (FIM), Six-Minute Walk Test (6MWT). After the surgery they were divided into two groups: the mobilized group (MG) where patients performed bed transfer to armchair on the 1st postoperative day and ambulated on the 2nd day, and the non-mobilized group (NMG) who underwent passive kinesiotherapy in bed. At ICU discharge, mechanical ventilation (MV) time, intensive care unit stay (ICU) and mortality were compared. At hospital discharge, preoperative tests were repeated to compare with admission. RESULTS: A total of 103 patients were admitted, 59 (57.3%) males, mean age 64 ± 8 years. Time of MV it was 6 ± 2 (MG) vs 10 ± 3 (NMG) hours, P = 0.02, ICU stay it was 2 ± 2 (MG) vs 4 ± 3 (NMG) days (P ≤ 0.001), length of stay hospital was 8 ± 4 (MG) vs 14 ± 5 (NMG) days (P ≤ 0.001), FIM -4 ± 2 (MG) vs -11 ± 4 (NMG) points (P ≤ 0.001) and distance traveled 37 ± 10 (MG) vs 78 ± 11 (NMG) meters (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Early mobilization is associated with improvement in clinical outcomes such as MV time, ICU stay, hospital and functional outcomes, on the FIM scale and distance traveled.

Surgical contraception of free-ranging female capybaras: Description and comparison of open and minimally invasive techniques.

OBJECTIVE: To develop, describe, and evaluate 2 surgical techniques for contraception of free-ranging female capybaras. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective study. ANIMALS: Cadaveric (n = 3) and free-ranging female capybaras (n = 21). METHODS: Preliminary studies of surgical anatomy were performed on 3 capybara cadavers. Two different techniques for partial salpingectomy were evaluated in free-ranging female capybaras: bilateral minilaparotomy (LTG; n = 11) or bilateral laparoscopy (LCG; n = 10). Data concerning body weight, tubal ligation time, total surgical time, incision size, and intraoperative and postoperative complications were analyzed, as well as the clinical status and incisional healing 1 week postoperatively. RESULTS: Body weight (P = .214), ligation time of the left uterine tube (P = .901), and total surgical time (P = .473) were similar between the experimental groups. The ligation time of the right uterine tube was shorter in the LCG group (P = .0463). In the LTG, no differences were observed between the sides regarding the incision size (P = .478). No major intraoperative or postoperative complications occurred in either group. One LCG procedure had to be converted to LTG due to technical issues. All skin incisions healed without complication. CONCLUSION: Both procedures showed similar and satisfactory outcomes. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The proposed techniques may be a suitable alternative to conventional laparotomy for contraception of female capybaras, especially under field conditions.

Fatores de risco e intervenções preventivas para lesão por pressão em pacientes oncológicos / Risk factors and preventive interventions for pressure injuries in cancer patients / Factores de riesgo e intervenciones preventivas de las lesiones por presión en pacientes oncológicos

Objetivo:identificar e descrever os fatores de risco para desenvolvimento de lesão por pressão em pacientes oncológicos adultos e as intervenções preventivas interdisciplinares. Método: revisão integrativa da literatura. A coleta de dados foi realizada no período de março e abril de 2019 e dezembro de 2020, utilizando as bases de dados: BDENF; PubMed/Medline; Embase; Scopus; Cinahal e Web of Science. Resultados: a amostra foi composta por 16 artigos publicados no período de 2008 a 2019. Dentre os fatores de risco identificados destacam-se: situação nutricional, idade avançada, incontinência e imobilidade; as intervenções preventivas interdisciplinares identificadas foram: mudança de decúbito, avaliação e acompanhamento nutricional, cuidados com a pele e uso de superfícies de suporte. Conclusão: há necessidade de mais estudos para um olhar cuidadoso e assertivo para os pacientes oncológicos.

Objective:identify and describe the risk factors for the development of pressure injuries in adult cancer patients and interdisciplinary preventive interventions. Method: integrative literature review. Data collection was carried out between March and April 2019 and December 2020, using the databases: BDENF; PubMed/Medline; Embase; Scopus; Cinahal and Web of Science. Results: the sample consisted of 16 articles published from 2008 to 2019. Among the risk factors identified, the following stand out: nutritional status, advanced age, incontinence and immobility; the interdisciplinary preventive interventions identified were: decubitus change, nutritional assessment and monitoring, skin care and use of support surfaces. Conclusion: further studies are needed to take a careful and assertive look at cancer patients.

Objetivo:Identificar y describir los factores de riesgo para el desarrollo de úlcera por presión en pacientes adultos con cáncer e intervenciones preventivas interdisciplinarias. Método: Revisión integrativa de la literatura. https://doi.org/10.30886/estima.v19.1005_PTESTIMABrazilian Journal of Enterostomal Therapy. La recolección de datos se realizó en el período de marzo y abril de 2019 y diciembre de 2020 utilizando las bases de datos: BDENF; PubMed/Medline; Embase; Scopus; Cinahal y Web of Science. Resultados: la muestra estuvo conformada por 16 artículos publicados en el período de 2008 a 2019. Entre los factores de riesgo identificados están el estado nutricional, la edad avanzada, la incontinencia y la inmovilidad; Las intervenciones preventivas interdisciplinarias identificadas fueron reposicionamiento, evaluación y seguimiento nutricional, cuidado de la piel y uso de superficies de apoyo. Conclusión: se necesitan más estudios para una mirada cuidadosa y asertiva de los pacientes oncológicos

Dose-response effect of prebiotic ingestion (ß-glucans isolated from Saccharomyces cerevisiae) in diabetic rats with periodontal disease.

BACKGROUND: Periodontal disease is one of the most frequent comorbidities in diabetic patients and can contribute to poor blood glucose control. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of ingesting different doses of beta-glucans (BG) isolated from Saccharomyces cerevisiae on alveolar bone loss (ABL) and inflammatory/metabolic parameters in normal and diabetic rats with ligature-induced periodontal disease (PD). DESIGN: Sixty male rats were assigned into two groups: non-diabetic or diabetic (i.p. 70 mg/kg streptozotocin) with PD. Then, groups were subdivided into five subgroups according BG doses: 0 mg/Kg; 10 mg/Kg; 20 mg/Kg; 40 mg/Kg or 80 mg/Kg. Animals received BG for 28 days and ligatures were placed on lower first molars during the last 14 days. RESULTS: ABL of diabetic and non-diabetic animals receiving BG 40 mg/kg (1.33 ± 0.03 mm and 0.77 ± 0.07 mm, respectively) and 80 mg/kg (1.26 ± 0.07 mm and 0.78 ± 0.05 mm, respectively) doses was lower (p < 0.05) in comparison to respective controls (1.59 ± 0.11 mm and 0.90 mm ±0.08). COX-2 (Control: 1.66 ± 0.12; 40 mg/kg: 1.13 ± 0.07; 80 mg/kg: 0.92 ± 0.18) and RANKL expressions (Control: 1.74 ± 0.34; 40 mg/kg: 1.03 ± 0.29 ;80 mg/kg: 0.75 ± 0.21), together with the RANKL/OPG ratio (Control: 1.17 ± 0.08; 40 mg/kg: 0.67 ± 0.09; 80 mg/kg: 0.63 ± 0.28) were attenuated above the same dose (p < 0.05). BG did not influence (p > 0.05) metabolic parameters in non-diabetic rats. In diabetic animals, doses above 40 mg/kg reduced IL-1ß (Control: 387 ± 66; 40 mg/kg: 309 ± 27; 80 mg/kg: 300 ± 14) and TNF-α (Control: 229 ± 19; 40 mg/kg: 128 ± 53; 80 mg/kg: 71 ± 25), blood glucose levels (Control: 402 ± 49; 40 mg/kg: 334 ± 32; 80 mg/kg: 287 ± 56), total cholesterol (Control: 124 ± 8; 40 mg/kg: 120 ± 10; 80 mg/kg: 108 ± 9), LDL-c + VLDL-c (Control: 106 ± 8; 40 mg/kg: 103 ± 10; 80 mg/kg: 87 ± 10) and triacylglycerols (Control: 508 ± 90; 40 mg/kg: 301 ± 40; 80 mg/kg: 208 ± 61), whereas increased HDL-c (Control: 18 ± 0.5; 40 mg/kg: 19 ± 1; 80 mg/kg: 21 ± 1) (p < 0.05). Optimal dose needed to reduce ABL was higher in diabetic animals with PD. CONCLUSIONS: BG ingestion reduced ABL and improved inflammatory profile in a dose-dependent manner. Best effects were achieved with doses above 40 mg/kg.

Inclusion of a phytogenic bend in broiler diet as a performance enhancer and anti-aflatoxin agent: Impacts on health, performance, and meat quality.

The objective of this study was to determine whether a phytogenic blend (PB), formulated based on organic acids, tannins, curcumin, and essential oils, could replace the antimicrobials commonly used as growth promoters in the poultry industry without compromising zootechnical performance, health, or meat quality. In addition, our goal was to report the anti-aflatoxin effect of this phytogenic blend. Four treatments were used: TC, or control; T250, T500, and T1000, representing test doses of 250, 500, 1000 mg PB/kg of feed, respectively, or a 34-day experiment (initial and growth phases). On day 22 of the study and age of the birds, 500 ppb of aflatoxin was included in the diet to represent an intestinal challenge and to evaluate the growth-promoting effects of PB. In the initial phase (up to 21 days), there were no differences between groups in weight gain, feed intake, or feed conversion. After adding an aflatoxin-contaminated feed, doses of 250 and 500 mg/kg minimized the adverse effects on feed consumption and feed conversion caused by aflatoxin; but 1000 mg/kg did not differ between groups. In birds that consumed PB (T250, T500, and T1000) compared to the control, there were the following changes: 1) lower counts of heterophiles, lymphocytes, and monocytes; 2) lower lipid peroxidation and high non-protein thiols levels in breast meat; 3) lower bacteria counts in broiler litter; and 4) lower ALT levels. Greater intestinal villus/crypt ratios were observed at T250 and T500. The dose of 250 mg/kg reduced saturated fatty acids and increased unsaturated fatty acids. The chemical-physical composition of the meat did not differ between treatments. The findings suggest that the addition of a PB has a high potential to improve performance for chickens in the growing stage and minimize the adverse effects of aflatoxicosis.

Network Analyses Predict Small RNAs That Might Modulate Gene Expression in the Testis and Epididymis of Bos indicus Bulls.

Spermatogenesis relies on complex molecular mechanisms, essential for the genesis and differentiation of the male gamete. Germ cell differentiation starts at the testicular parenchyma and finishes in the epididymis, which has three main regions: head, body, and tail. RNA-sequencing data of the testicular parenchyma (TP), head epididymis (HE), and tail epididymis (TE) from four bulls (three biopsies per bull: 12 samples) were subjected to differential expression analyses, functional enrichment analyses, and co-expression analyses. The aim was to investigate the co-expression and infer possible regulatory roles for transcripts involved in the spermatogenesis of Bos indicus bulls. Across the three pairwise comparisons, 3,826 differentially expressed (DE) transcripts were identified, of which 384 are small RNAs. Functional enrichment analysis pointed to gene ontology (GO) terms related to ion channel activity, detoxification of copper, neuroactive receptors, and spermatogenesis. Using the regulatory impact factor (RIF) algorithm, we detected 70 DE small RNAs likely to regulate the DE transcripts considering all pairwise comparisons among tissues. The pattern of small RNA co-expression suggested that these elements are involved in spermatogenesis regulation. The 3,826 DE transcripts (mRNAs and small RNAs) were further subjected to co-expression analyses using the partial correlation and information theory (PCIT) algorithm for network prediction. Significant correlations underpinned the co-expression network, which had 2,216 transcripts connected by 158,807 predicted interactions. The larger network cluster was enriched for male gamete generation and had 15 miRNAs with significant RIF. The miRNA bta-mir-2886 showed the highest number of connections (601) and was predicted to down-regulate ELOVL3, FEZF2, and HOXA13 (negative co-expression correlations and confirmed with TargetScan). In short, we suggest that bta-mir-2886 and other small RNAs might modulate gene expression in the testis and epididymis, in Bos indicus cattle.

Single nucleotide polymorphisms affect miRNA target prediction in bovine.

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) can have significant effects on phenotypic characteristics in cattle. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, non-coding RNAs that act as post-transcriptional regulators by binding them to target mRNAs. In the present study, we scanned ~56 million SNPs against 1,064 bovine miRNA sequences and analyzed, in silico, their possible effects on target binding prediction, primary miRNA formation, association with QTL regions and the evolutionary conservation for each SNP locus. Following target prediction, we show that 71.6% of miRNA predicted targets were altered as a consequence of SNPs located within the seed region of the mature miRNAs. Next, we identified variations in the Minimum Free Energy (MFE), which represents the capacity to alter molecule stability and, consequently, miRNA maturation. A total of 48.6% of the sequences analyzed showed values within those previously reported as sufficient to alter miRNA maturation. We have also found 131 SNPs in 46 miRNAs, with altered target prediction, occurring in QTL regions. Lastly, analysis of evolutionary conservation scores for each SNP locus suggested that they have a conserved biological function through the evolutionary process. Our results suggest that SNPs in microRNAs have the potential to affect bovine phenotypes and could be of great value for genetic improvement studies, as well as production.

Maternal SARS-CoV-2 Infection Associated to Systemic Inflammatory Response and Pericardial Effusion in the Newborn: A Case Report.

Vertical transmission of SARS-CoV-2 has already been described, while clinical consequences to the fetus are still under investigation. This article reports a case of systemic fetal inflammatory response and pericardial effusion. As far as is known, this is the first case of fetal/neonatal cardiac complications related to SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Genetic regulators of mineral amount in Nelore cattle muscle predicted by a new co-expression and regulatory impact factor approach.

Mineral contents in bovine muscle can affect meat quality, growth, health, and reproductive traits. To better understand the genetic basis of this phenotype in Nelore (Bos indicus) cattle, we analysed genome-wide mRNA and miRNA expression data from 114 muscle samples. The analysis implemented a new application for two complementary algorithms: the partial correlation and information theory (PCIT) and the regulatory impact factor (RIF), in which we included the estimated genomic breeding values (GEBVs) for the phenotypes additionally to the expression levels, originally proposed for these methods. We used PCIT to determine putative regulatory relationships based on significant associations between gene expression and GEBVs for each mineral amount. Then, RIF was adopted to determine the regulatory impact of genes and miRNAs expression over the GEBVs for the mineral amounts. We also investigated over-represented pathways, as well as pieces of evidences from previous studies carried in the same population and in the literature, to determine regulatory genes for the mineral amounts. For example, NOX1 expression level was positively correlated to Zinc and has been described as Zinc-regulated in humans. Based on our approach, we were able to identify genes, miRNAs and pathways not yet described as underlying mineral amount. The results support the hypothesis that extracellular matrix interactions are the core regulator of mineral amount in muscle cells. Putative regulators described here add information to this hypothesis, expanding the knowledge on molecular relationships between gene expression and minerals.

Potential Biomarkers for Feed Efficiency-Related Traits in Nelore Cattle Identified by Co-expression Network and Integrative Genomics Analyses.

Feed efficiency helps to reduce environmental impacts from livestock production, improving beef cattle profitability. We identified potential biomarkers (hub genes) for feed efficiency, by applying co-expression analysis in Longissimus thoracis RNA-Seq data from 180 Nelore steers. Six co-expression modules were associated with six feed efficiency-related traits (p-value ≤ 0.05). Within these modules, 391 hub genes were enriched for pathways as protein synthesis, muscle growth, and immune response. Trait-associated transcription factors (TFs) ELF1, ELK3, ETS1, FLI1, and TCF4, were identified with binding sites in at least one hub gene. Gene expression of CCDC80, FBLN5, SERPINF1, and OGN was associated with multiple feed efficiency-related traits (FDR ≤ 0.05) and were previously related to glucose homeostasis, oxidative stress, fat mass, and osteoblastogenesis, respectively. Potential regulatory elements were identified, integrating the hub genes with previous studies from our research group, such as the putative cis-regulatory elements (eQTLs) inferred as affecting the PCDH18 and SPARCL1 hub genes related to immune system and adipogenesis, respectively. Therefore, our analyses contribute to a better understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying feed efficiency in bovine and the hub genes disclosed can be used as biomarkers for feed efficiency-related traits in Nelore cattle.

Induction, biochemical trait and phytochemical screening of calluses of Amburana cearensis (Allemão) A. C. Smith

Amburana cearensisis an arboreal legume of the Fabaceaefamily,with high phytotherapic and medicinal potential due the presence of secondary metabolites. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and 4-amino-2,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridinecarboxylic acid (picloram) on the in vitroinduction of callogenesis of A. cearensisand analyze the biochemical and phytochemical potential of these calluses. For callus induction, leaf and cotyledon segments were used as explants, which were inoculated in woody plant medium (WPM) supplemented with different concentrations of 2,4-D (0, 5, 10, 20, 40 μM) or picloram (0, 5, 10, 20, 40, 80 μM). The callus growth curve was estimated based on fresh weight, measured at 7-day intervals until 28 days after inoculation. The calluses were analyzed by biochemical tests to quantify the reducing sugars and total proteins. Phytochemical screening and high-performance liquid chromatography were performed to establish the phytochemical profile of extracts from calluses. The concentrations of 21.94 μMand 26.46 μMof 2,4-Dinduced the greatest formation of compact and friable calluses from the leaf and cotyledon segments, respectively. The growth curve had two distinct phases(lag and exponential) for both types of calluses evaluated. The maximum levels of reducing sugars and total proteins in the calluses from leaf and cotyledon segments were obtained on the day of inoculation and after 28 days of cultivation, respectively. The results of the phytochemical analysis identified the presence of coumarin in all the extracts evaluated, this secondary metabolite has high pharmacological potential.