The effects of crocetin supplementation on the blastocyst outcome, transcriptomic and metabolic profile of in vitro produced bovine embryos.

The earliest stages of embryo development are deeply influenced by reactive oxygen species (ROS), byproducts of the mitochondrial oxygen metabolism that play a key role as messengers in normal cell signal transduction and cell cycling. Despite its positive roles, the imbalance caused by the excess of ROS and an inefficient antioxidant system leads to oxidative stress, with negative consequences to the cell such as DNA damage, metabolic changes, mitochondrial stress and cell death. In the present work, crocetin - a natural antioxidant - was added to the culture media of bovine embryos to evaluate the efficiency of its antioxidant capability during embryo culture. Oocytes were in vitro matured (IVM) and fertilized according to standard protocols. Embryos were cultured at 38.5 °C under humidified air with 5% CO2, 7% O2, and 90% N2 in Synthetic Oviduct Fluid (SOF) medium supplemented with amino acids and either 5% of FBS (SOFaa) (control group) or SOFaa supplemented with 1  µM crocetin (crocetin group). After 5 days from the beginning of in vitro culture (IVC) (day 5 - D5), embryos were transferred to individual drops of culture media. At day 7 (D7), embryos were assessed by means of blastocyst rates, morphophysiological analyzes (total cell number, ROS and mitochondrial activity levels), transcript quantitation of 47 genes and metabolomic evaluation of the culture media by Raman spectroscopy. In the crocetin group blastocyst rates were higher and embryos had increased total cell number and decreased intracellular levels of ROS. These embryos also had upregulation of genes related with response to stress and lipid metabolism (ATF4, BAX, FOXO3, GADD45A, GPX1, GPX4, HSF1, SOD2, ACACA, SREBF1 and SREBF2). Raman spectroscopy corroborated these results indicating more active lipid and amino acid production in this group. The absence of crocetin in the culture media resulted in higher ROS level, as well as up regulation of genes related to DNA damage, stress response and energy metabolism (MORF4L2, SOD1, TXN, PFKP, PGK1 and PPARGC1A). In conclusion, crocetin supplementation during culture protects embryos from oxidative stress and influences the adaptive response to stress conditions, leading to an increase in both blastocyst yield and quality, as well as changes in transcriptomic and metabolic profile of in vitro produced bovine embryos.

[Recount of the history of the Brazilian Nurses Association in Paraíba]. / Resgate histórico da Associção Brasileira de Enfermagem da Paraíba.

The purpose of the present study is to outline the trajectory of the Brazilian Association of Nursing(ABEn) in the federal state of Paraiba, from its foundation until the present days. Based on bibliographic review and on the analysis of meeting minute the investigation reports the historical antecedents and the foundation and development of the Nursing School of Paraíba and ABEn. It also points out the organizational structures and events, which were important landmarks in the history of this nursing association.

[Tuberculosis: suffering and illusions in interrupted treatment]. / Tuberculose: sofrimento e ilusões no tratamento interrompido.

This study of tuberculosis patients who interrupt their treatment was carried out in the city of Porto Velho (RO) motivated by my belief that the interruption of this treatment is a challenge to collective health, due to the difficulties which health professional face with respect to the treatment and control of tuberculosis. The adopted qualitative approach and the use of the dialectic-hermeneutic method of analysis of the material, collected through interviews, led me to infer that the subjects of this study possessed little knowledge of tuberculosis, revealing the adoption of attitudes related to the impact which to the diagnosis and the prolonged treatment caused them and the social environment in which they live. For the twelve patients who participated in this study, the motives for interruption of treatment were related to reasons rooted in the non-spoken and in causes like the collateral effects of medicines, the disorganization of services and the illusion of being cured. This has important implications for our technical-methodological positions and for the patient-professional relationship, in our search for an approach which allows us to face the binomial tuberculosis-interruption of treatment as experiences undergone by patients, families and the social networks constructed by them over time.

[Education and health regarding citizenship: a nurses' group practice]. / Educação e saúde visando à cidadania: práxis grupal de enfermeiras.

This study was run in a community committee of Nossa Senhora da Aparecida, a surrounding city of Joao Pessoa, Paraiba. It aimed at characterizing nursing practice there and discussing its occurrence. The analysis was run based on eight inhabitants and four nurses speeches through semistructured interviews whose data were collected qualitatively. It focused on the discussion which evolved from questions regarding to education and health from the perspective of exercising citizenship. In the participants of the study representations, education seemed dynamic and implied awareness ... a question of life. Health is comprehended under 3 points of view: the one of welfare, the one of suffering and the one of biological balance. The perspective of citizenship exercise reveals itself sometimes as conformism, through silence or resignation and sometimes as resistance, through the ideal manifestation and courage for fighting for better life condition.