Analysis of Plasma Proteins Involved in Inflammation, Immune Response/Complement System, and Blood Coagulation upon Admission of COVID-19 Patients to Hospital May Help to Predict the Prognosis of the Disease.

The development of new approaches allowing for the early assessment of COVID-19 cases that are likely to become critical and the discovery of new therapeutic targets are urgently required. In this prospective cohort study, we performed proteomic and laboratory profiling of plasma from 163 COVID-19 patients admitted to Bauru State Hospital (Brazil) between 4 May 2020 and 4 July 2020. Plasma samples were collected upon admission for routine laboratory analyses and shotgun quantitative label-free proteomics. Based on the course of the disease, the patients were divided into three groups: (a) mild (n = 76) and (b) severe (n = 56) symptoms, whose patients were discharged without or with admission to an intensive care unit (ICU), respectively, and (c) critical (n = 31), a group consisting of patients who died after admission to an ICU. Based on our data, potential therapies for COVID-19 should target proteins involved in inflammation, the immune response and complement system, and blood coagulation. Other proteins that could potentially be employed in therapies against COVID-19 but that so far have not been associated with the disease are CD5L, VDBP, A1BG, C4BPA, PGLYRP2, SERPINC1, and APOH. Targeting these proteins' pathways might constitute potential new therapies or biomarkers of prognosis of the disease.

Influence of genetic polymorphisms on mechanical pain sensitivity and endogenous pain modulation of trigeminal and spinal areas.

BACKGROUND: Previous evidence indicates significant association between genetic polymorphisms and phenotypes related to pain sensitivity in patients with temporomandibular disorders (TMD). Despite the important advances in cataloguing diverse factors such as sleep disorders, anxiety and depression, the interrelated mechanisms of painful TMD aetiopathogenesis still need investigation. OBJECTIVES: This case-control study aimed to evaluate the influence of genetic polymorphisms (rs6296, rs6295, rs1799971, rs4680, rs4633, rs4818) and psychosocial factors on the mechanical pain sensitivity and endogenous pain modulation in women with painful TMD and asymptomatic controls. METHODS: We evaluated six independent variables: anxiety levels, depression, stress, sleep quality, pain catastrophising and genetic polymorphisms, and four dependent variables: mechanical pain threshold (MPT), pressure pain threshold (PPT), wind-up ratio (WUR) and conditioned pain modulation (CPM) collected at masseter (trigeminal) and hand (spinal) areas in a sample of 95 painful TMD patients and 85 controls. A regression model was used to test the possible effect of the independent variables on dependent variables. RESULTS: The regression model was significant for MPT (F11,168  = 9.772; R2  = .390). Painful TMD diagnoses and sleep quality were associated with trigeminal MPT (B coefficient = -.499; and B coefficient = -.211, respectively). WUR was associated with rs6295 and rs6746030, respectively, for the spinal and the trigeminal area. CONCLUSION: Genetic polymorphisms had a slight contribution to endogenous pain modulation as indicated by the significant association with WUR but did not contribute to mechanical pain sensitivity. On the other hand, the presence of painful TMD and the sleep quality contributed significantly to mechanical pain sensitivity.

Forensic parameters and allele frequency distributions of 16 STR in a Paraguayan population.

Paraguay is a Latin American country located in the central zone of South America. There is no official data on the ethnic composition of its population. The European colonization and the wars through which the country crossed were fundamental for its current genetic composition. Here, we analyzed sixteen short tandem repeats (STRs) used in the CODIS system in 259 Paraguayan individuals.

Viability analysis of subepithelial connective tissue grafts subjected to a mechanical expansion process: a histologic study in dogs.

The aim of this study was to histologically evaluate the viability of mechanically expanded subepithelial connective tissue grafts. Sixteen samples of palatal connective tissue were collected from eight beagle dogs. Half of the samples were subjected to the expansion procedure and used as subepithelial grafts in the canine region, and the samples not subjected to expansion were grafted at the contralateral side. After 60 days, biopsies were collected and examined histologically by light and confocal laser microscopy and immunohistochemically with anti-CD31 antibody for endothelial cells. There were no significant differences between the control and test groups. It was concluded that this new method to expand the area of connective tissue grafts was not only viable biologically, but also decreased surgical risks without increasing processing time.