Synthesis of Antibacterial Hybrid Hydroxyapatite/Collagen/Polysaccharide Bioactive Membranes and Their Effect on Osteoblast Culture.

Inspired by the composition and confined environment provided by collagen fibrils during bone formation, this study aimed to compare two different strategies to synthesize bioactive hybrid membranes and to assess the role the organic matrix plays as physical confinement during mineral phase deposition. The hybrid membranes were prepared by (1) incorporating calcium phosphate in a biopolymeric membrane for in situ hydroxyapatite (HAp) precipitation in the interstices of the biopolymeric membrane as a confined environment (Methodology 1) or (2) adding synthetic HAp nanoparticles (SHAp) to the freshly prepared biopolymeric membrane (Methodology 2). The biopolymeric membranes were based on hydrolyzed collagen (HC) and chitosan (Cht) or κ-carrageenan (κ-carr). The hybrid membranes presented homogeneous and continuous dispersion of the mineral particles embedded in the biopolymeric membrane interstices and enhanced mechanical properties. The importance of the confined spaces in biomineralization was confirmed by controlled biomimetic HAp precipitation via Methodology 1. HAp precipitation after immersion in simulated body fluid attested that the hybrid membranes were bioactive. Hybrid membranes containing Cht were not toxic to the osteoblasts. Hybrid membranes added with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) displayed antibacterial action against different clinically important pathogenic microorganisms. Overall, these results open simple and promising pathways to develop a new generation of bioactive hybrid membranes with controllable degradation rates and antimicrobial properties.

Uncovering the Counterfeit: A study of whiskey authenticity through volatile organic compound fingerprinting, aroma and color sensory analysis.

This study presents a method employing gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry and headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME-GC-MS), supplemented with chemometrics (Soft independent modelling of class analogies - SIMCA), to analyze volatile organic compound (VOCs) profiles in suspect whiskey samples. Furthermore, a sensory analysis of aroma and color was conducted with a panel of 52 non-trained volunteers to evaluate their ability to discriminate and preference for counterfeit whiskeys. The HS-SPME-GC-MS method successfully distinguished 41 seized samples from authentic beverages. Interestingly, sensory analysis revealed that panelists could differentiate between counterfeit and authentic samples with a reference standard but did not consistently show a preference for aroma. In some cases, there was even a preference for the color of counterfeit whiskeys. The findings suggest that sensorial tests alone may not effectively distinguish counterfeit from authentic whiskeys, especially for non-expert consumers, highlighting the need for analytical instrumentation methods in fraud detection.

Contribution of Pharmaceutical Care to Person-centered Health Care and the Safety of Pharmacotherapy for Hospitalized Older Individuals in Brazil: An Investigative Single-arm Intervention Trial.

BACKGROUND: Adverse drug events (ADE) and medication errors (ME) provide large numbers of victims. Older people are more susceptible to these events, due to the continuing search for several chronic degenerative disease treatments. The Third Global Patient Safety Challenge announced the objective of reducing unnecessary polypharmacy, encouraging deprescription, and aiming to ensure the prescription of medications in an appropriate manner, based on the best evidence and taking into account the individual factors of people. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether Pharmaceutical Care (PC), when inserted in a geriatric ward and the context of person-centered health care, cooperates with the safety of pharmacotherapy in older individuals in Brazil. METHODS: This is an investigative, single-arm, preliminary study. INCLUSION CRITERIA: individuals aged ≥60 years and admitted to the geriatric ward between August 2019 to January 2020. The PC (with the practice of pharmacotherapeutic follow-up, medication reconciliation, and pharmacotherapy review) was made available to identify ADE and ME, as well as the associated factors and clinical outcomes, were analyzed. RESULTS: 60 participants were included. It was found that, on hospital admission, 93.3% of them were polymedicated and 86.7% had a history of using potentially inappropriate medications (PIM). ADE and ME were detected in 43 individuals (71.7%) and, in total, 115 incidents were identified, with drugs that act on the nervous system associated with them (31.9%). Acceptance of the PC's recommendations reached the rate of 85.2%. Polypharmacy (p=0.03) and the presence of multiple diseases (p=0.03) had an effect on the presentation of ADE and ME. The number of medications in use decreased in the comparison between admission and hospital discharge (p<0.0001). CONCLUSION: This investigative study indicated that ADE and ME are linked to the polypharmacy in use at the beginning of hospitalization. On the other hand, we showed that the PC (inserted in the multidisciplinary team) contributed to the deprescribing of medications at hospital discharge. Therefore, the PC can provide improvements in this scenario.

A Review of Software and Mobile Apps to Support the Clinical Diagnosis of Hansen Disease.

This scoping review indicates a lack of scientific articles that specifically explore software and mobile applications designed to assist in the clinical diagnosis of leprosy, and our findings have provided insights into the available tools, their usage methods, and the benefits offered by health technologies.