RESUMO
Multi-drug resistant ESKAPE pathogens (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter species) are a global health threat. The severity of the problem lies in its impact on mortality, therapeutic limitations, the threat to public health, and the costs associated with managing infections caused by these resistant strains. Effectively addressing this challenge requires innovative approaches to research, the development of new antimicrobials, and more responsible antibiotic use practices globally. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are a part of the innate immune system of all higher organisms. They are short, cationic and amphipathic molecules with broad-spectrum activity. AMPs interact with the negatively charged bacterial membrane. In recent years, AMPs have attracted considerable interest as potential antibiotics. However, AMPs have low bioavailability and short half-lives, which may be circumvented by chemical modification. This review presents recent in vitro and in silico strategies for the modification of AMPs to improve their stability and application in preclinical experiments.
RESUMO
INTRODUCTION: Early systemic and central nervous system viral replication and inflammation may affect brain integrity in people with HIV, leading to chronic cognitive symptoms not fully reversed by antiretroviral therapy (ART). This study examined associations between cognitive performance and markers of CNS injury associated with acute HIV infection and ART. METHODS: HIV-infected MSM and transgender women (average age: 27 years and education: 13 years) enrolled within 100 days from the estimated date of detectable infection (EDDI). A cognitive performance (NP) protocol was administered at enrollment (before ART initiation) and every 24 weeks until week 192. An overall index of cognitive performance (NPZ) was created using local normative data. Blood (n = 87) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF; n = 29) biomarkers of inflammation and neuronal injury were examined before ART initiation. Regression analyses assessed relationships between time since EDDI, pre-ART biomarkers, and NPZ. RESULTS: Adjusting for multiple comparisons, shorter time since EDDI was associated with higher pre-ART VL and multiple biomarkers in plasma and CSF. NPZ scores were within the normative range at baseline (NPZ = 0.52) and at each follow-up visit, with a modest increase through week 192. Plasma or CSF biomarkers were not correlated with NP scores at baseline or after ART. CONCLUSIONS: Biomarkers of CNS inflammation, immune activation, and neuronal injury peak early and then decline during acute HIV infection, confirming and extending results of other studies. Neither plasma nor CSF biomarkers during acute infection corresponded to NP scores before or after sustained ART in this cohort with few psychosocial risk factors for cognitive impairment.
Assuntos
Infecções por HIV , Adulto , Biomarcadores , Cognição , Estudos de Coortes , Feminino , Infecções por HIV/complicações , Infecções por HIV/tratamento farmacológico , Humanos , Inflamação/complicaçõesRESUMO
The purpose of the present article is to propose an alternative short form for the 199-item Arizona Life History Battery (ALHB), which we are calling the K-SF-42, as it contains 42 items as compared with the 20 items of the Mini-K, the short form that has been in greatest use for the past decade. These 42 items were selected from the ALHB, unlike those of the Mini-K, making direct comparisons of the relative psychometric performance of the two alternative short forms a valid and instructive exercise. A series of secondary data analyses were performed upon a recently completed five-nation cross-cultural survey, which was originally designed to assess the role of life history strategy in the etiology of interpersonal aggression. Only data from the ALHB that were collected in all five cross-cultural replications were used for the present analyses. The single immediate objective of this secondary data analysis was producing the K-SF-42 such that it would perform optimally across all five cultures sampled, and perhaps even generalize well to other modern industrial societies not currently sampled as a result of the geographic breadth of those included in the present study. A novel method, based on the use of the Cross-Sample Geometric Mean as a criterion for item selection, was used for generating such a cross-culturally valid short form.
Assuntos
Características de História de Vida , Psicometria/instrumentação , Inquéritos e Questionários/normas , Adulto , Austrália/etnologia , Comparação Transcultural , Feminino , Humanos , Itália/etnologia , Masculino , México/etnologia , Singapura/etnologia , Estados Unidos/etnologia , Adulto JovemRESUMO
Life History (LH) theory predicts that psychosocial traits will be selected to cluster into functionally coherent and coordinated suites of coadapted behavioral tactics. Among these coadapted tactics are behavioral dispositions, or "sociosexual orientations", towards either short-term mating (STM) and long-term mating (LTM), which are associated with fast and slow LH strategies, respectively. We predicted that certain specific mental abilities, executive functions (EF) and emotional intelligence (EI) should be higher in slow LH strategies, and should differentially predict STM and LTM, and partially mediate the relations between LH strategy and these different sociosexual orientations. 527 female undergraduates completed questionnaires measuring their LH strategies, EI, EF, and sociosexual orientations towards STM or LTM. The data were found to be consistent with our theoretically specified structural model. The results suggest that EF partially mediates both the relation between slow LH strategy and STM and the relation between slow LH and EI, and only indirectly influences LTM through its effects on STM and EI. In addition, EI partially mediates the relation between slow LH strategy and LTM. Implications for how LH strategy coordinates behavioral dispositions and the mental abilities required to implement them are discussed.(AU)
A teoria da História de Vida (Life History - LH) prevê que traços psicossociais serão selecionados de modo a se agruparem em conjuntos coordenados e coerentes de táticas comportamentais coadaptadas. Entre tais táticas coadaptadas estão disposições comportamentais, ou "orientações sócio-sexuais", dirigidas tanto a uniões de curto prazo (short-term mating - STM) e uniões de longo prazo (long-term mating - LTM), as quais são associadas a estratégias lentas e rápidas de LH, respectivamente. Predizemos que algumas habilidades mentais específicas, funções executivas (executive funcions - EF) e inteligência emocional (emotional intelligente - EI) devem ser altas em estratégias lentas de LH, e devem diferencialmente predizer STM e LTM, e parcialmente mediar as relações entre estratégias de LH e tais diferentes orientações sócio-sexuais. 572 estudantes de graduação do sexo feminino completaram questionários medindo suas estratégias de LH, EI, EF e orientações sócio-sexuais dirigidas a STM ou LTM. Os dados encontrados foram consistentes com nosso modelo estrutural teoricamente especificado. Os resultados sugerem que as EF parcialmente mediam ambas relações entre as estratégias LH lentas e STM e a relação entre LH lento e EI, e somente de maneira indireta influencia a LTM por meio de seus efeitos na STM e EI. Além do que, a EI parcialmente media a relação entre estratégia de LH lenta e LTM. Implicações para como a estratégia de LH coordena disposições comportamentais e habilidades mentais requeridas para implementá-las são discutidas.(AU)
RESUMO
O objetivo deste estudo e correlacionar os conhecimentos da Neurofisiologia Aplicada e da Neuropsicologia atual com os sintomas da experimentacao de Gelsemium. Como metodologia, os autores correlacionaram os sintomas de um paciente diagnosticado como Gelsemium com a literatura neurofisiologica e neuropsicologica. Atraves da compreensao da dinamica de tais disciplinas, os autores puderam apreender o significado da materia medica de Gelsemium de uma maneira ordenada, sequencial e justificavel. Concluem que Gelsemium, assim como outros medicamentos, tem uma sequencia hierarquicamente logica de desenvolvimento de seus sintomas. Nesta escala hierarquica, os sintomas mais importantes sao as ilusoes e temores, o que vem confirmar a veracidade da nossa fisiologia medica homeopatica
Assuntos
Humanos , Gelsemium sempervirens/farmacologia , Neurofisiologia , SensaçãoRESUMO
O objetivo deste estudo e correlacionar os conhecimentos da Neurofisiologia Aplicada e da Neuropsicologia atual com os sintomas da experimentacao de Gelsemium. Como metodologia, os autores correlacionaram os sintomas de um paciente diagnosticado como Gelsemium com a literatura neurofisiologica e neuropsicologica. Atraves da compreensao da dinamica de tais disciplinas, os autores puderam apreender o significado da materia medica de Gelsemium de uma maneira ordenada, sequencial e justificavel. Concluem que Gelsemium, assim como outros medicamentos, tem uma sequencia hierarquicamente logica de desenvolvimento de seus sintomas. Nesta escala hierarquica, os sintomas mais importantes sao as ilusoes e temores, o que vem confirmar a veracidade da nossa fisiologia medica homeopatica