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Zika virus (ZIKV) is a re-emerging mosquito-transmitted flavivirus associated with congenital abnormalities in newborns and with Guillain–Barré syndrome in adults. The virus can also be sexually transmitted and can persist in the male genital tract. Studies evaluating the kinetics of ZIKV in seminal shedding of men who have been infected, as well as in animal and cellular models of infection, have shown that, in addition to the testis and epididymis, the prostate and seminal vesicles could also be involved in persistent ZIKV infection. Additionally, some studies have reported that men infected with ZIKV can present with genitourinary symptoms such as haematospermia, prostatitis, painful ejaculation, penile discharge, and oligospermia; however, little is known about the effect of ZIKV on fertility. Understanding the mechanisms that underlie persistent ZIKV infections in men is crucial to developing guidelines, effective vaccines, and therapies.The re-emerging mosquito-transmitted flavivirus Zika seems to be sexually transmitted and can persist in the male genital tract, presenting as genitourinary symptoms such as haematospermia, prostatitis, painful ejaculation, penile discharge, and oligospermia. In this Review, the authors explain the mechanisms that underlie persistent Zika infections in men and describe why these are crucial to developing guidelines, effective vaccines, and therapies.

Cervical cancer is one of the most common causes of cancer-related deaths in women worldwide. Despite advances in current therapies, women with advanced or recurrent disease present poor prognosis. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has emerged as an effective therapeutic alternative to treat oncological diseases such as cervical cancer. Phthalocyanines (Pcs) are considered good photosensitizers (PS) for PDT, although most of them present high levels of aggregation and are lipophilic. Despite many investigations and encouraging results, Pcs have not been approved as PS for PDT of invasive cervical cancer yet. This review presents an overview on the pathophysiology of cervical cancer and summarizes the most recent developments on the physicochemical properties of Pcs and biological results obtained both in vitro in tumor-bearing mice and in clinical tests reported in the last five years. Current evidence indicates that Pcs have potential as pharmaceutical agents for anti-cervical cancer therapy. The authors firmly believe that Pc-based formulations could emerge as a privileged scaffold for the establishment of lead compounds for PDT against different types of cervical cancer.

ObjectiveTo assess the rates of co-infections between human papillomavirus (HPV) and 13 key markers of bacterial vaginosis in cervical samples by multiplex polymerase chain reaction in a population with a high rate of abnormal cytology and a positive HPV test.MethodsThe study included a total of 213 women aged 18–72 years screened using Papanicolaou smears for determining cervical abnormalities and for HPV and bacterial vaginosis by single-target and multiplex polymerase chain reaction.ResultsA total of 83 (39%) women were negative for intraepithelial lesion or malignancy cytology and 130 (61%) had abnormal cytology. HPV-DNA prevalence was 69.9% and bacterial vaginosis was 72.7 %. Co-infections between bacterial vaginosis with HPV-DNA and high-risk HPV were associated with an increased risk for squamous intraepithelial lesions of low-grade cytology and high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions plus cervical cancer. The most frequent bacterial vaginosis agent was Gardnerella vaginalis (33.8%), and co-infection with HPV-DNA and high-risk HPV increased the risk for squamous intraepithelial lesions of low grade cytology and high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions plus cervical cancer. Co-infection between Megasphaera type I and high-risk HPV increased the risk for high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions plus cervical cancer.ConclusionsOur results reinforce the hypothesis that some bacterial vaginosis agents may play a role as co-factors in HPV-mediated cervical carcinogenesis, at least in some populations.

Pequi (Caryocar brasiliense Camb.), babaçu (Orbignya phalerata Mart.), buriti (Mauritia flexuosa), and passion fruit (Passiflora edulis) oils were studied to determine their antibacterial, antioxidant and cytotoxic activities, as well as their total phenol and carotenoid contents. The fatty acid contents were determined by GC-MS. The three types of passion fruit oils studied were refined, cold pressed or extracted from seeds in a Soxhlet apparatus. The oils thus obtained showed differences in antioxidant activity and carotenoid content, but were similar in regard to total phenols. Buriti and pequi had the highest carotenoid contents, while refined and cold pressed passion fruit oil displayed the highest antioxidant activity. Pequi oil was the only oil to display antibacterial and cytotoxic activity.

A small subset of cervical cancers tests negative for human Papillomavirus (HPV) DNA, being associated with poorer prognosis and higher aggressiveness. This study systematically reviewed the current status of HPV DNA-independent cervical cancers from clinical, diagnostic and prognostic perspectives, in comparison to HPV-associated cervical cancers. Relevant terms were searchedin databases including PubMed, EMBASE, LILACS, Web of Science, Scopus, CINAHL and the Cochrane Controlled Trials Registered between January 2018 and December 2023. We focused on studies published in peer-reviewed English-language with available abstracts. Researchers independently screened the titles and abstracts and the selected articles were then read in full text. After reaching a consensus, 31 papers were selected for data extraction. Various techniques were employed for HPV testing, primarily based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and different types of clinical samples were analyzed. A total of 9.2% of the cases were found to be HPV-negative (mean age of 55.8 years). HPV-independent cervical cancers exhibit distinct characteristics; however, several challenges in interpreting the data were identified. Our findings demonstrate the difficulty in distinguishing truly HPV-independent cervical cancers from false-negative ones. Moreover, there is a critical need for new, more comprehensive and rigorously controlled studies to better elucidate the complexities surrounding HPV-independent cervical cancers.

Esse artigo pretende oferecer uma leitura do romance O Gororoba, da autoria de Lauro Palhano (1931), pseudônimo de Juvêncio Lopes da Silva Campos (1881-1947). O Gororoba, que se propõe mostrar cenas da vida proletária no Brasil, foi publicado pela primeira vez em 1931, e é ainda muito pouco conhecido tanto pelo público leitor quanto pela crítica literária. A presente leitura do livro se situa no contexto mais amplo de uma reflexão sobre literatura e política no Brasil dos anos 1930. De início, o artigo mostra a chegada ao país do romance proletário, então muito em voga no ocidente, mostra também a polêmica discussão que se seguiu sobre a sua manifestação na literatura brasileira, situando sobretudo as repercussões da publicação de O Gororoba. Em seguida, se dedica à leitura do romance, procurando mostrar algumas características que o aproximam e outras que o distanciam do gênero romance proletário. Ao mesmo tempo, o artigo defende que O Gororoba, independentemente de ser ou não um romance proletário, ao ser publicado em 1931, com certeza exibiu, para o público leitor e para a crítica literária, impactantes e desconhecidas cenas da vida proletária no Brasil, cenas que, muito provavelmente, apareciam então pela primeira vez nas páginas da literatura brasileira

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) represent a global health problem with variable prevalence depending on the geographical region and the type of population. Human papillomavirus (HPV) encompasses widespread virus types related to cervical carcinogenesis. The present study investigated the molecular prevalence of HPV and seven other important STIs in asymptomatic women working or studying at a Brazilian university. A secondary aim was to assess cytological abnormalities associated with HPV and other STIs coinfections. We recruited 210 women from a Brazilian university. HPV was detected using a single-round polymerase chain reaction (sPCR) followed by a viral genotyping by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP-PCR). The presence of seven STIs: Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Treponema pallidum, Trichomonas vaginalis, Mycoplasma genitalium, herpes simplex virus (HSV)-1 and HSV-2 was detected by multiplex PCR (M-PCR). Furthermore, cytological findings and epidemiological characteristics were evaluated.The mean age of the participants was 27.1 years old. HPV prevalence was 33.8%, and HPV16 was the most frequently detected papillomavirus genotype. Moreover, multiple HPV infections were common (42.2%). We detected at least one STI agent in 11.4% of the tested women, most frequently C. trachomatis (6.7%). Among HPV-positive women, 14.1% were coinfected with other STI agents. Cytological abnormalities were observed in 9.5% of smears, and HPV-DNA, high-risk HPV (HR-HPV), HPV16 and HPV multiple infections were associated with abnormal cytological findings. There was a high prevalence of HPV, and C. trachomatis was the most prevalent STI agent, with low rates of cytological abnormalities. These findings highlight the need of timely STI diagnosis in young asymptomatic women and of a public policy design for STI prevention.

Despite the options available for breast cancer (BC) therapy, several adverse effects and resistance limit the success of the treatment. Furthermore, the use of a single drug is associated with a high failure rate. We investigated through a systematic review the in vitro effects of the combination between conventional drugs and bioactive compounds derived from cinnamic acid in BC treatment. The information was acquired from the following databases: PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Scopus, Lilacs and Cochrane library. We focused on “Cinnamates”, “Drug Combinations” and “Breast neoplasms” for publications dating between January 2012 and December 2022, based on the PRISMA statement. The references of the articles were carefully reviewed. Finally, nine eligible studies were included. The majority of these studies were performed using MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-468 and BT-20 cell lines and the combination between cisplatin, paclitaxel, doxorubicin, tamoxifen, dactolisib and veliparib, with caffeic acid phenethyl ester, eugenol, 3-caffeoylquinic acid, salvianolic acid A, ferulic acid, caffeic acid, rosmarinic acid and ursolic acid. The combination improved overall conventional drug effects, with increased cytotoxicity, antimigratory effect and reversing resistance. Combining conventional drugs with bioactive compounds derived from cinnamic acid could emerge as a privileged scaffold for establishing new treatment options for different BC types.

The management of forest species in the recovery of degraded areas of semi-arid regions is mainly limited by the availability of water and nutrients. Thus, the objective of this research was to evaluate the growth, yield, and energy characteristics of the wood of two forest species of the Brazilian semi-arid region subjected to deficient irrigation with sewage effluent by drip in degraded soil. For this, a field experiment was conducted in an agroforestry system with two native species of the Caatinga biome: sabiá (Mimosa caesalpiniifolia Benth) and aroeira (Myracrodruon urundeuva Allemão), intercropped with forage palm (Opuntia stricta (Haw) Haw). The wastewater used was domestic, coming from kitchen and bathroom sinks, which underwent primary and secondary treatment. The irrigation treatments were applied in the first two years: in the first year, water supply in the volume of 0.5 L/plant/week (WS0.5), treated effluent in the volume of 0.5 L/plant/week (TE0.5), and treated effluent in the volume of 1 L/plant/week (TE1). In the second year, all treatments were leveled at 0.5 L/plant/week, and in the following two years, all irrigation treatments were discontinued. Growth variables were monitored and, at the end of the study period, wood production was calculated and energetic analyses were performed. The Richards model adjusted satisfactorily to the growth variables for the species studied. The treated effluent at a volume of 1 L/week increased the yield in condensed liquid and decreased the volatile materials (VM) of sabiá, while in aroeira it increased the basic density and VM, with a decrease in the gravimetric yield.

Carboxymethyl-glucan (CM-G) is a water-soluble derivative of β(1→3)(1→6) glucan, a well-known immunostimulant and antioxidant compound. In this experimental, randomized and placebo-controlled study, the effects of oral CM-G intake over a 60-day period on the peripheral blood, cholesterol, glycemic index and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels of healthy men was assessed. The CM-G was obtained from spent brewer’s yeast (S. uvarum) with DS 0.8 and molecular weight of 2.2 × 105 Da. Following CM-G administration, no changes were observed in red and white blood cell, hematocrit, hemoglobin and platelet counts, or in cholesterol and glycemic indices. After 30 days of CM-G administration, the MDA levels decreased significantly (p ≤ 0.05) in men receiving CM-G. The results showed for the first time that CM-G may act as an adjuvant in preventing oxidative damage in healthy humans.