Iron Status is Associated with Mood,Cognition, and Functional Ability in Older Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study

Several conditions are risk factors for iron deficiency (ID), some of which are highly prevalent in older individuals. Despite the amount of evidence pointing for a role of ID in cognition, mood and physical functional ability, the research addressing these associations in older individuals is still scarce. In the present study, 162 older community-dwelling individuals (29.53% classified as ID) were enrolled in a cross-sectional analysis and characterized regarding cognition, mood, functional ability, general nutritional intake and iron status. Assessment of iron status was performed using several blood biomarkers. Storage and erythropoiesis dimensions were positively associated with memory, along with an interaction (moderator effect) between iron storage and nutritional status. A more depressed mood was negatively associated with (iron) transport, transport saturation and erythropoiesis dimensions, and functional tiredness was positively associated with the erythropoiesis dimension. These observations indicate that lower iron status is associated with depressive mood, functional tiredness and poorer memory ability, with the latter moderated by nutritional status. These findings suggest that using iron as a continuous variable may be useful in finding associations with iron homeostasis, eventually missed when iron levels are considered within the usual classification groups.     

Implementation of an Animal Sporotrichosis Surveillance and Control Program,Southeastern Brazil

We report the implementation of an animal sporotrichosis surveillance and control program that evaluates strategies to identify suspected and infected cats in a municipality in southeastern Brazil. All adopted measures reinforced the program, although strategies had different abilities to detect the presence of infection.     

Development of an Index for the Inspection of Aedes aegypti Breeding Sites in Brazil: Multi-criteria Analysis

BackgroundAedes aegypti is a vector for the transmission of diseases such as dengue fever, chikungunya, Zika fever, and yellow fever. In 2016, over 1 million cases of these diseases were reported in Brazil, which is an alarming public health issue. One of the ways of controlling this disease is by inspecting and neutralizing the places where A. aegypti lays its eggs. The Ministry of Planning, Development, and Administration of Brazil maintains the inspection statistics.ObjectiveWe propose a multi-criteria analysis to create an index for A. aegypti inspections reported through the Ministry of Planning, Development, and Administration system of Brazil.MethodsBased on the repository from urban cleaning services combined with data on inspections conducted by government agencies in several Brazilian cities and municipalities, we selected and combined metrics, which we further ranked using the analytic hierarchy process methodology. We also developed risk maps based on the analytic hierarchy process ranking of the A. aegypti breeding sites.ResultsBased on our analysis and the available data, the priority for inspections should consider the number of sick people (weight 0.350), medical evaluations (weight 0.239), inspections (weight 0.201), mosquito breeding sites (weight 0.126), and days of absence from work (weight 0.096).ConclusionsThe proposed index could aid public health practitioners in preventing the appearance of new A. aegypti breeding sites. This information technology application can help solve such public health challenges.     

Knockdown of STEAP1 inhibits cell growth and induces apoptosis in LNCaP prostate cancer cells counteracting the effect of androgens

Six transmembrane epithelial antigen of the prostate 1 (STEAP1) is overexpressed in numerous types of tumors, especially in prostate cancer. STEAP1 is located in the plasma membrane of epithelial cells and may play an important role in inter- and intracellular communication. Several studies suggest STEAP1 as a potential biomarker and an immunotherapeutic target for prostate cancer. However, the role of STEAP1 in cell proliferation and apoptosis remains unclear. Therefore, the role of STEAP1 in prostate cancer cells proliferation and apoptosis was determined by inducing STEAP1 gene knockdown in LNCaP cells. In addition, the effect of DHT on the proliferation of LNCaP cells knocked down for STEAP1 gene was evaluated. Our results demonstrated that silencing the STEAP1 gene reduces LNCaP cell viability and proliferation, while inducing apoptosis. In addition, we showed that the cellular and molecular effects of STEAP1 gene knockdown may be independent of DHT treatment, and blocking STEAP1 may reveal to be an appropriate strategy to activate apoptosis in cancer cells, as well as to prevent the proliferative and anti-apoptotic effects of DHT in prostate cancer.     

The net acid extruders NHE1, NBCn1 and MCT4 promote mammary tumor growth through distinct but overlapping mechanisms

High metabolic and proliferative rates in cancer cells lead to production of large amounts of H⁺ and CO₂, and as a result, net acid extruding transporters are essential for the function and survival of cancer cells. We assessed protein expression of the Na⁺/H⁺ exchanger NHE1, the Na⁺‐ cotransporter NBCn1, and the lactate‐H⁺ cotransporters MCT1 and ?4 by immunohistochemical analysis of a large cohort of breast cancer samples. We found robust expression of these transporters in 20, 10, 4 and 11% of samples, respectively. NHE1 and NBCn1 expression both correlated positively with progesterone receptor status, NHE1 correlated negatively and NBCn1 positively with HER2 status, whereas MCT4 expression correlated with lymph node status. Stable shRNA‐mediated knockdown (KD) of either NHE1 or NBCn1 in the MDA‐MB‐231 triple‐negative breast cancer (TNBC) cell line significantly reduced steady‐state intracellular pH (pH_i) and capacity for pH_i recovery after an acid load. Importantly, KD of any of the three transporters reduced in vivo primary tumor growth of MDA‐MB‐231 xenografts. However, whereas KD of NBCn1 or MCT4 increased tumor‐free survival and decreased in vitro proliferation rate and colony growth in soft agar, KD of NHE1 did not have these effects. Moreover, only MCT4 KD reduced Akt kinase activity, PARP and CD147 expression and cell motility. This work reveals that different types of net acid extruding transporters, NHE1, NBCn1 and MCT4, are frequently expressed in patient mammary tumor tissue and demonstrates for the first time that they promote growth of TNBC human mammary tumors in vivo via distinct but overlapping mechanisms.     

Survey of Bacteroides fragilis group susceptibility patterns in Brazil

A total of 83 clinical isolates of the Bacteroides fragilis group collected from two Brazilian hospitals during 1993 and 1994, were tested for susceptibility to six antimicrobial agents by using an agar dilution method. The species most frequently isolated was B. fragilis (63.8%), followed by B. thetaiotaomicron (15.6%), B. vulgatus (9.6%) and B. distasonis (7.2%). The various species of the B. fragilis group had different patterns of resistance; B. fragilis was the most susceptible species in both medical centers. All isolates were susceptible to metronidazole and chloramphenicol. The following resistance rates were observed: 89.1% (Penicillin G); 77.1% (tetracycline); 18% (clindamycin) and 7.2% (cefoxitin). These results reflect the value of identification of clinical important isolates and the periodic determination of B. fragilis group susceptibility patterns at each medical institution.     

Nitrogen dioxide

In order to assess level of human exposure to nitrogen dioxide, 22 traffic police from the city of Rio de Janeiro were monitored during their working hours for 3 consecutive days. Samples were taken by using a passive sampler (badge) and analyzed spectrophotometrically after reacting with sulphanilic acid followed by coupling with N-naphtilethylenediamine dihydrochloride. Results ranged from 13.3 to 193.6 mg/m3. According to the literature, these levels are not associated with any acute damage to human health but care should be taken to avoid long-term problems.     

The process if teaching-learning in blood pressure monitoring

The nurse is considered the professional that obtains more trustworthy data in the measures insinuations of arterial pressure for inducing less reactions of alert in the customer, generating of values falsely high. Even so, a lot of times, she presents spaces in the knowledge of the subject, so much in the technical aspects, as in the anátomo-physiologic ones. That prioritizes the development of teaching strategies, seeking to minimize flaws and to turn the effective learning process. Objectifying to promote the knowledge of the technique of measurement of the arterial pressure close to a research group, it took place a reciclation and avaliation questionnaire of the knowledge of the group was applied before and after the same. The effectiveness of that method was evidenced, because 100% of the sample (nine) they referred contribution for better of the fundamentation theoretical-practice, decreasing difficulties originating from of the verification of the arterial pressure. It is ended that, being the education actions in extremely valid and necessary health, the male nurse, as educator that is, needs to recycle its knowledge and its better techniques continually.     

Atmospheric carcinogens in Rio de Janeiro during the summer of 1998/99: benzo[a]pyrene and benzene

Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city in Brazil, is affected by severe pollution episodes and presents a high respiratory cancer incidence in comparison with the rest of the country. To monitor atmospheric pollution during the summer of 1998/1999 and to estimate the impact of organic pollution on public health, we determined the levels of two carcinogenic organic chemicals, benzo[a]pyrene and benzene, in four distinct sites throughout the city. A review of the levels recorded in other urban areas worldwide during the last ten years indicates that the benzo[a]pyrene (< or = 0.70 ng/m3) and benzene (< or = 11 micrograms/m3) concentrations found in Rio are relatively low. The highest levels were generally recorded in developing Asian countries, whereas the lowest values were found in North America. Unlike urban areas in temperate zones, pollution derived from domestic heating is minor in Rio de Janeiro, where most of the benzo[a]pyrene and benzene pollution originates from vehicular traffic. The quite distinct fuels used in light-duty vehicles in Brazil, combined with strong light incidence and increased rainfall during the summer, also contribute to diminish the levels of such pollutants.