Schools reopening and the COVID-19 pandemic: a case study from Macaé, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Since the first reported case of COVID-19 in Brazil, the public and private educational system started to close. Up to November 2020, scientific discussions about the return of schooling activities have been rarely performed by the national scientific community and police-makers. The great delay of school returning in Brazil contrasts with successful international strategies of school reopening worldwide and seems counterintuitive with the reopening of non-essential activities. Here, important issues to be considered before and during school reopening are reviewed and discussed. COVID-19 testing is essential to avoid disease spreading, but high cost of individual RT-qPCRs impairs an extensive testing strategy for school returning. To reduce costs and increase the speed of diagnosis, we tested the efficiency of a pooled-sample PCR strategy in a cohort of the educational staff in the city of Macaé/RJ, finding five asymptomatic individuals (0,66%) among the 754 people tested. Thus, a polled-sample PCR testing strategy of the educational staff might prevent infection spreading in schools at a reasonable cost. We discuss how our test strategy could be coupled with internationally recognized safety rules to allow for a safe school return and how countries from different world regions are dealing with educational activities during COVID-19 pandemic.

A Reinforcement Learning Framework to Discover Natural Flavor Molecules.

Flavor is the focal point in the flavor industry, which follows social tendencies and behaviors. The research and development of new flavoring agents and molecules are essential in this field. However, the development of natural flavors plays a critical role in modern society. Considering this, the present work proposes a novel framework based on scientific machine learning to undertake an emerging problem in flavor engineering and industry. It proposes a combining system composed of generative and reinforcement learning models. Therefore, this work brings an innovative methodology to design new flavor molecules. The molecules were evaluated regarding synthetic accessibility, the number of atoms, and the likeness to a natural or pseudo-natural product. This work brings as contributions the implementation of a web scraper code to sample a flavors database and the integration of two scientific machine learning techniques in a complex system as a framework. The implementation of the complex system instead of the generative model by itself obtained 10% more molecules within the optimal results. The designed molecules obtained as an output of the reinforcement learning model's generation were assessed regarding their existence or not in the market and whether they are already used in the flavor industry or not. Thus, we corroborated the potentiality of the framework presented for the search of molecules to be used in the development of flavor-based products.

Generating Flavor Molecules Using Scientific Machine Learning.

Flavor is an essential component in the development of numerous products in the market. The increasing consumption of processed and fast food and healthy packaged food has upraised the investment in new flavoring agents and consequently in molecules with flavoring properties. In this context, this work brings up a scientific machine learning (SciML) approach to address this product engineering need. SciML in computational chemistry has opened paths in the compound's property prediction without requiring synthesis. This work proposes a novel framework of deep generative models within this context to design new flavor molecules. Through the analysis and study of the molecules obtained from the generative model training, it was possible to conclude that even though the generative model designs the molecules through random sampling of actions, it can find molecules that are already used in the food industry, not necessarily as a flavoring agent, or in other industrial sectors. Hence, this corroborates the potential of the proposed methodology for the prospecting of molecules to be applied in the flavor industry.

Transcriptional landscape of soybean (Glycine max) embryonic axes during germination in the presence of paclobutrazol, a gibberellin biosynthesis inhibitor.

Gibberellins (GA) are key positive regulators of seed germination. Although the GA effects on seed germination have been studied in a number of species, little is known about the transcriptional reprogramming modulated by GA during this phase in species other than Arabidopsis thaliana. Here we report the transcriptome analysis of soybean embryonic axes during germination in the presence of paclobutrazol (PBZ), a GA biosynthesis inhibitor. We found a number of differentially expressed cell wall metabolism genes, supporting their roles in cell expansion during germination. Several genes involved in the biosynthesis and signaling of other phytohormones were also modulated, indicating an intensive hormonal crosstalk at the embryonic axis. We have also found 26 photosynthesis genes that are up-regulated by PBZ at 24 hours after imbibition (HAI) and down-regulated at 36 HAI, which led us to suggest that this is part of a strategy to implement an autotrophic growth program in the absence of GA-driven mobilization of reserves. Finally, 30 transcription factors (mostly from the MYB, bHLH, and bZIP families) were down-regulated by PBZ and are likely downstream GA targets that will drive transcriptional changes during germination.

Patent foramen ovale in trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias and hemicrania continua: a non-specific pathophysiological occurrence?

Patent foramen ovale (PFO), a relatively common abnormality in adults, has been associated with migraine. Few studies also linked PFO with cluster headache (CH). To verify whether right-to-left shunt (RLS) is related to headaches other than migraine and CH, we used transcranial Doppler following microbubbles injection to detect shunts in 24 CH, 7 paroxysmal hemicrania (PH), one SUNCT, two hemicrania continua (HC) patients; and 34 matched controls. RLS was significantly more frequent in CH than in controls (54% vs. 25%, p=0.03), particularly above the age of 50. In the HC+PH+SUNCT group, RLS was found in 6 patients and in 2 controls (p=0.08). Smoking as well as the Epworth Sleepiness Scale correlated significantly with CH, smoking being more frequent in patients with RLS. PFO may be non-specifically related to trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias and HC. The headache phenotype in PFO patients probably depends on individual susceptibility to circulating trigger factors.

Neuropeptide glutamic acid-isoleucine may induce luteinizing hormone secretion via multiple pathways.

Neuropeptide glutamic acid-isoleucine (NEI) is a 14-amino acid peptide processed from prepro-melanin-concentrating hormone (ppMCH). In males, the localization of NEI is almost identical to that of MCH, the cell bodies of both being located primarily in the lateral hypothalamic area and zona incerta, projecting fibers throughout the brain. Although MCH has been widely studied, the role that NEI plays in brain circuitry has been poorly investigated. Recently, we showed that intracerebroventricular injection of NEI increases serum luteinizing hormone (LH) levels. In order to identify the anatomical substrate underlying this effect, we used combined immunohistochemistry methods to analyze the forebrains of females on the diestrus and proestrus days, as well as those of ovariectomized females treated with estradiol benzoate, with estradiol benzoate plus progesterone or with sesame oil (control animals). We found that ovariectomized females with no steroid treatment showed an increased number of NEI-immunoreactive neurons in the medial zona incerta. In addition, we observed dense to moderate NEI innervation of areas related to reproduction, including the organum vasculosum of the lamina terminalis, the anteroventral periventricular nucleus (AVPV) and the median eminence. The NEI fibers were in close apposition with the AVPV and gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons expressing Fos in the afternoon of the proestrus day or following administration of estradiol benzoate plus progesterone. In the median eminence, NEI varicosities and terminal-like structures were in close proximity to blood vessels and GnRH fibers. Our results suggest that NEI might induce LH secretion in one of the following ways: by direct release into the median eminence, by modulation of GnRH neurons located in the preoptic area, by modulation of the GnRH terminals located in the median eminence or by an additive effect involving other neurotransmitters or neurohormones. Release of NEI might also induce LH secretion indirectly by modulating AVPV neurons.

Patent foramen ovale in trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias and hemicrania continua: a non-specific pathophysiological occurrence? / Foramen oval patente em cefaleias trigêmino-autonômicas e hemicrania contínua: uma ocorrência fisiopatológica não específica?

Patent foramen ovale (PFO), a relatively common abnormality in adults, has been associated with migraine. Few studies also linked PFO with cluster headache (CH). To verify whether right-to-left shunt (RLS) is related to headaches other than migraine and CH, we used transcranial Doppler following microbubbles injection to detect shunts in 24 CH, 7 paroxysmal hemicrania (PH), one SUNCT, two hemicrania continua (HC) patients; and 34 matched controls. RLS was significantly more frequent in CH than in controls (54 percent vs. 25 percent, p=0.03), particularly above the age of 50. In the HC+PH+SUNCT group, RLS was found in 6 patients and in 2 controls (p=0.08). Smoking as well as the Epworth Sleepiness Scale correlated significantly with CH, smoking being more frequent in patients with RLS. PFO may be non-specifically related to trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias and HC. The headache phenotype in PFO patients probably depends on individual susceptibility to circulating trigger factors.

O forame oval patente (FOP), uma anormalidade cardíaca relativamente comum em adultos, tem sido associado à enxaqueca, mas raramente às cefaléias trigêmino-autonômicas (TACs). Utilizamos o Doppler transcraniano (DTC) para detecção de shunt direito-esquerdo (SDE) em 24 pacientes com cefaléia em salvas (CS), sete com hemicrania paroxística (HP), dois com hemicrania continua (HC) e um com SUNCT; alem de 34 controles. O SDE foi mais frequente nos pacientes com CS do que nos controles (54 por cento vs. 25 por cento p=0,03), particularmente acima de 50 anos. No grupo HP+HC+SUNCT, o SDE foi encontrado em seis pacientes e dois controles (p=0,08). O hábito de fumar, bem como sonolência excessiva diurna foram mais frequentes em paciente com CS. O FOP pode ter importância inespecífica na fisiopatologia das TACs e HC, na dependência da susceptibilidade individual a fatores desencadeantes.