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To describe the perceptions of physiotherapists and the injury prevention practices implemented within elite women's football clubs in Brazil. Cross-sectional study. Online survey. Head physiotherapists from 32 Brazilian elite clubs. Structured questionnaire. Physiotherapists identified ACL rupture as the primary target for prevention. The top-five perceived injury risk factors included ‘early return to sport after injury’, ‘workload too high’, ‘previous injury’, ‘poor sleep/rest’, and ‘muscle strength/power deficit’. ‘Adoption of return to sport criteria’ was almost unanimously recognized as a very important preventive strategy. ‘Poor infrastructure’ was elected as the main barrier to implementing prevention programs. From a practical standpoint, at least two-third of clubs implemented multi-component exercise interventions for injury prevention. These interventions typically encompassed flexibility/mobility, balance/proprioception, lumbo-pelvic stability, and agility exercises, alongside exposure to sprinting. Strength training routines typically included traditional, functional, and eccentric exercises. Most teams also employed other prevention strategies, including adoption of return to sport criteria, internal workload monitoring, post-exercise recovery modalities, preseason risk factor screening, and application of rigid strapping tapes. This study provided unprecedented insights into the physiotherapists' perceptions and injury prevention practices implemented within elite women's football clubs. •ACL rupture is recognized as the primary target for prevention.•‘Adoption of return to sport criteria’ is perceived as a key preventive strategy.•Clubs employ multi-component exercises for injury prevention.•Preventive exercises are both team-wide and personalized by physiotherapists.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to assess if differences in hamstring strength, hamstring-to-quadriceps (H:Q) strength ratio, and biceps femoris long head (BF LH ) fascicle length exist between male and female professional football (soccer) players. Methods One-hundred professional footballers participated in this cross-sectional study: 50 men and 50 women. Ultrasound images of BF LH muscle and isokinetic dynamometry tests were performed. Results Men were stronger than women for hamstring concentric (2.01 ± 0.21 Nm/kg vs. 1.55 ± 0.23 Nm/kg; p  < 0.001; large effect size, 2.08) and eccentric (2.87 ± 0.45 Nm/kg vs. 2.39 ± 0.32 Nm/kg; p  < 0.001; large effect size, 1.23) peak torques. There was no sex-related difference for H:Q conventional ratio (concentric/concentric; 0.55 ± 0.06 vs. 0.55 ± 0.07); but women presented greater H:Q functional ratio (eccentric/concentric; 0.78 ± 0.12 vs. 0.85 ± 0.09; p  = 0.003; moderate effect size, 0.66). Men and women presented similar BF LH fascicle length: 0.24 ± 0.05 vs. 0.23 ± 0.05 (values normalized by muscle length). Conclusions Among the muscular factors assessed in this study, men presented stronger hamstring muscles, women presented greater H:Q functional ratio, and there was no sex-related differences for H:Q conventional ratio or BF LH fascicle length.

Herein is reported the first occurrence of ostracodes from the Iapó Formation, an uppermost Ordovician unit of the Rio Ivaí Group in the Paraná basin, Brazil. Two ostracode species were identified in the Três Barras Farm section: Harpabollia harparum (Troedsson, 1918) and Satiellina paranaensis Adôrno and Salas in Adôrno et al., 2016 were recovered from dropstone-bearing shale overlying glaciogenic diamictites, a feature typical of Hirnantian (uppermost Ordovician) strata throughout Gondwana. The taxonomy of the Genus Harpabollia, as well as its type species Harpabollia harparum, was reviewed, and emended and new diagnoses were respectively proposed for each taxon. Occurrences of Harpabollia harparum and Satiellina species were common in areas influenced by cold waters. Additionally, the occurrence of Harpabollia harparum, an index species to the uppermost Ordovician of several stratigraphic units in Baltica and southern Gondwana, allowed us to infer a Hirnantian age for the deposits of the Iapó Formation. Other than being associated with Harpabollia harparum in Iapó Formation of the Paraná basin, Satiellina paranaensis is also found in lower levels of the Vila Maria Formation; therefore, these are also considered Hirnantian in age. Above these lower levels of the Vila Maria Formation, a well-dated Rhuddanian (lowermost Llandovery, Silurian) palynomorph assemblage is observed within the formation. These occurrences are evidence of a continuous process of sedimentary deposition during the Ordovician–Silurian transition in the Paraná basin.

We evaluated the prevalence of pathogenic/likely pathogenic germline variants (PGV) in Brazilian pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PC) patients, that represent a multiethnic population, in a cross-sectional study. We included 192 PC patients unselected for family history of cancer. We evaluated a panel of 113 cancer genes, through genomic DNA sequencing and 46 ancestry-informative markers, through multiplex PCR. The median age was 61 years; 63.5% of the patients presented disease clinical stages III or IV; 8.3% reported personal history of cancer; 4.7% and 16.1% reported first-degree relatives with PC or breast and/or prostate cancer, respectively. Although the main ancestry was European, there was considerable genetic composition admixture. Twelve patients (6.25%) were PGV carriers in PC predisposition genes ( ATM , BRCA1 , BRCA2 , CDKN2A , MSH2 , PALB2 ) and another 25 (13.0%) were PGV carriers in genes with a limited association or not previously associated with PC ( ACD , BLM , BRIP1 , CHEK2 , ERCC4 , FANCA , FANCE , FANCM , GALNT12 , MITF , MRE11 , MUTYH , POLE , RAD51B , RAD51C , RECQL4 , SDHA , TERF2IP) . The most frequently affected genes were CHEK2 , ATM and FANC . In tumor samples from PGV carriers in ACD , BRIP1 , MRE11 , POLE , SDHA , TERF2IP , which were examined through exome sequencing, the main single base substitutions (SBS) mutational signature was SBS1+5+18, probably associated with age, tobacco smoking and reactive oxygen species. SBS3 associated with homologous repair deficiency was also represented, but on a lower scale. There was no difference in the frequency of PGV carriers between: (a) patients with or without first-degree relatives with cancer; and (b) patients with admixed ancestry versus those with predominantly European ancestry. Furthermore, there was no difference in overall survival between PGV carriers and non-carriers. Therefore, genetic testing should be offered to all Brazilian pancreatic cancer patients, regardless of their ancestry. Genes with limited or previously unrecognized associations with pancreatic cancer should be further investigated to clarify their role in cancer risk.

Interactions between multiple genes and environmental factors could be related to the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes (T1D). The Brazilian population results from different historical miscegenation events, resulting in a highly diverse genetic pool. This study aimed to analyze the mtDNA of patients with T1D and to investigate whether there is a relationship between maternal ancestry, self-reported color and the presence of T1D. The mtDNA control region of 204 patients with T1D residing in three geographic regions of Brazil was sequenced following the International Society for Forensic Genetics (ISFG) recommendations. We obtained a frequency of Native American matrilineal origin (43.6%), African origin (38.2%), and European origin (18.1%). For self-declared color, 42.6% of the patients with diabetes reported that they were White, 50.9% were Brown, and 5.4% were Black. Finally, when we compared the self-declaration data with maternal ancestral origin, we found that for the self-declared White group, there was a greater percentage of haplogroups of Native American origin (50.6%); for the self-declared Black group, there was a greater percentage of African haplogroups (90.9%); and for the Brown group, there was a similar percentage of Native American and African haplogroups (42.3% and 45.2%, respectively). The Brazilian population with diabetic has a maternal heritage of more than 80% Native American and African origin, corroborating the country’s colonization history.

Mitochondrial DNA is a stable genetic marker that can be used to investigate maternal ancestry. Some evidence suggests a potential link between specific mtDNA haplogroups and the emergence of certain diseases. Nevertheless, this correlation has yet to be investigated in patients with T1D. This study aimed to investigate the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) ancestry of patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D) and controls in an admixed Brazilian population. The study included 144 patients with T1D and 283 controls. The mtDNA analysis revealed that the most prevalent mtDNA category in both groups was Native American, followed by African. Furthermore, the study showed that the frequency of haplogroup L3 (African) was higher in the T1D group than in the control group, although this difference was not statistically significant after correction for multiple comparisons. The study findings indicate that the higher frequency of Native American and African mtDNA is consistent with historical information about the formation of the population in the State of Maranhão. This finding suggests that future investigations into the correlation between mtDNA and other genetic markers of T1D may offer insights into the etiology and pathogenesis of the disease in admixed populations, such as those in Brazil.

Designing innovative, accurate, universal, and accessible diagnostic tests is mandatory to improve screening, prevention, and management of hepatitis D (HD), especially in endemic areas with poor infrastructure and restricted access to public health care. Recombinant proteins (RP), recombinant multiepitope proteins (RMP), and synthetic peptides have been extensively reported as tools for efficient immunodiagnosis of several diseases. This review aimed to discuss the use of these antigens for the immunodiagnosis of HD. To this end, a bibliographic study was conducted in the PubMed database by searching the primary (“Hepatitis D” and “Hepatitis Delta”), secondary (“Detection”, “Diagno*”, “Diagnosis”, “Immunodiagnosis”, and “Serodiagnosis”), and tertiary (“Chimera”, “Epitope”, “Peptide”; “Protein” and “Recombinant”) descriptors, including papers published up to January 2025. Review articles and case reports were excluded. Only nine articles (five for RP, three for synthetic peptides, and one for RMP) met the inclusion criteria, revealing that there are very few studies on this subject, particularly when compared to the advances made in the diagnosis of hepatitis A, B, and C. Despite the scarcity of articles published in the literature, six of the nine analyzed studies corroborate the potential of these antigens to effectively replace traditional diagnostic methods, including development of rapid tests. These data highlight the need for further studies to assess the potential of RP, RMP, and synthetic peptides for immunodiagnosis of HD, aiming to increase the accuracy of diagnosis, as well as improve monitoring and prevention.

The rapid and disorderly urbanization in the Amazon has resulted in the insertion of forest fragments into cities, causing the circulation of arboviruses, which can involve hematophagous arthropods and free-ranging birds in the transmission cycles in urban environments. This study aimed to evaluate the circulation of arboviruses in free-ranging birds and hematophagous arthropods captured in an Environmental Protection Area in the Belem metropolitan area, Brazil. Birds were captured using mist nets, and hematophagous arthropods were collected using a human protected attraction technique and light traps. The birds’ sera were subjected to a hemagglutination inhibition test to detect antibodies against 29 arbovirus antigens. Arthropod macerates were inoculated into C6/36 and VERO cell cultures to attempt viral isolation and were tested using indirect immunofluorescence, subsequent genetic sequencing and submitted for phylogenetic analysis. Four bird sera were positive for arbovirus, and one batch of Psorophora ferox was positive for Flavivirus on viral isolation and indirect immunofluorescence. In addition, the Ilheus virus was detected in the sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. The presence of antibodies in sera from free-ranging birds and the isolation of Ilheus virus in Psorophora ferox indicate the circulation of arboviruses in forest remnants in the urban center of Belem.

Brazil has experienced an unprecedented epidemic of Zika virus (ZIKV), with ~30,000 cases reported to date. ZIKV was first detected in Brazil in May 2015, and cases of microcephaly potentially associated with ZIKV infection were identified in November 2015. We performed next-generation sequencing to generate seven Brazilian ZIKV genomes sampled from four self-limited cases, one blood donor, one fatal adult case, and one newborn with microcephaly and congenital malformations. Results of phylogenetic and molecular clock analyses show a single introduction of ZIKV into the Americas, which we estimated to have occurred between May and December 2013, more than 12 months before the detection of ZIKV in Brazil. The estimated date of origin coincides with an increase in air passengers to Brazil from ZIKV-endemic areas, as well as with reported outbreaks in the Pacific Islands. ZIKV genomes from Brazil are phylogenetically interspersed with those from other South American and Caribbean countries. Mapping mutations onto existing structural models revealed the context of viral amino acid changes present in the outbreak lineage; however, no shared amino acid changes were found among the three currently available virus genomes from microcephaly cases. Municipality-level incidence data indicate that reports of suspected microcephaly in Brazil best correlate with ZIKV incidence around week 17 of pregnancy, although this correlation does not demonstrate causation. Our genetic description and analysis of ZIKV isolates in Brazil provide a baseline for future studies of the evolution and molecular epidemiology of this emerging virus in the Americas.

BackgroundAging is accompanied by the inability to optimally respond to anabolic stimulus of nutrition, with consequent loss of muscle mass and functionality. It has been speculated that not only total protein intake, but also the per meal protein dose may have important implications to protein balance and, hence, muscle mass in middle-aged and older adults, but evidence is lacking in a more vulnerable population such as the frail elderly. The aim was to investigate possible associations between total protein intake and its per meal dose with multiple measures of muscle mass, strength, and functionality in a cohort of pre-frail and frail elderly individuals.MethodsOne-hundred-and-fifty-seven pre-frail and frail elderly individuals were assessed for total and per meal protein intake (food diaries), total and appendicular lean mass (DXA), vastus lateralis cross-sectional area [(CSA) B-mode ultrasound], and muscle function [leg-press and bench press 1-RM, timed-stands test, timed-up-and-go test, handgrip, and risk of falls (Biodex Balance System®)].ResultsProtein intake and number of meals with either ≥20 g or ≥30 g of protein were significantly associated (after controlling for confounding factors) with greater total and appendicular lean mass and vastus lateralis CSA.ConclusionsWe found that not only total protein intake but also the number of high-protein containing meals are associated with muscle mass in frail and pre-frail elderly.