Tuberculosis (TB) is a transmissible disease listed as one of the 10 leading causes of death worldwide (10 million infected in 2019). A swift and precise diagnosis is essential to forestall its transmission, for which the discovery of effective diagnostic biomarkers is crucial. In this study, we aimed to discover molecular biomarkers for the early diagnosis of tuberculosis. Two independent cohorts comprising 29 and 34 subjects were assayed by proteomics, and 49 were included for metabolomic analysis. All subjects were arranged into three experimental groups—healthy controls (controls), latent TB infection (LTBI), and TB patients. LC-MS/MS blood serum protein and metabolite levels were submitted to univariate, multivariate, and ROC analysis. From the 149 proteins quantified in the discovery set, 25 were found to be differentially abundant between controls and TB patients. The AUC, specificity, and sensitivity, determined by ROC statistical analysis of the model composed of four of these proteins considering both proteomic sets, were 0.96, 93%, and 91%, respectively. The five metabolites (9-methyluric acid, indole-3-lactic acid, trans-3-indoleacrylic acid, hexanoylglycine, and N-acetyl-L-leucine) that better discriminate the control and TB patient groups (VIP > 1.75) from a total of 92 metabolites quantified in both ionization modes were submitted to ROC analysis. An AUC = 1 was determined, with all samples being correctly assigned to the respective experimental group. An integrated ROC analysis enrolling one protein and four metabolites was also performed for the common control and TB patients in the proteomic and metabolomic groups. This combined signature correctly assigned the 12 controls and 12 patients used only for prediction (AUC = 1, specificity = 100%, and sensitivity = 100%). This multiomics approach revealed a biomarker signature for tuberculosis diagnosis that could be potentially used for developing a point-of-care diagnosis clinical test.
Metals may be released from toys via saliva during mouthing, via sweat during dermal contact, or via gastric and intestinal fluids after partial or whole ingestion. In this study, we determined the lead migration from toys bought on the Portuguese market for children below 3 years of age. The lead migration was performed according to the European Committee for Standardization EN 71-3, which proposes a 2-hour migration test that simulates human gastric conditions. The voltammetric determination of migrated lead was performed by anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV) at a bismuth film electrode (BiFE). For all the analyzed toys, the values of migrated lead did not exceed the limits imposed by the European Committee for Standardization EN 71-3 (90 mg kg) and by the EU Directive 2009/48/EC (13.5 mg kg) on the safety of toys.
Introduction Violence against the elderly constitutes an undeniable and serious violation of human rights and affects the physical and psychological integrity of the victim. Is not a new phenomenon, is a worldwide problem that has become more pronounce in contemporary societies because of the ageing of the population. World Health Organization [ 1 ] defines elder violence as a single or repeated action, or the absence of an appropriate action, arising in the context of a relationship where there is an expectation of trust that causes suffering or harm to an elderly person. Occurs through several behaviours involving psychological, physical, sexual, financial violence, neglect and self-neglect [ 2 ]. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the work developed by the Victims Information and Assistance Office (GIAV) and by Forensic Psychology Office (GPF) at Egas Moniz Higher Education School about elder abuse. Materials and methods The sample ( n = 14) is derived from the domestic violence risk assessments of GIAV and GPF. We assessed 6 victims: 2 women and 4 man, aged between 64 and 95 years old ( M = 76.67, sd = 10.71); and 8 defendants: 6 women and 2 man, aged between 24 and 77 years old ( M = 46.13, sd = 15.52). The relationship between victims and defendants are 13 sons/daughters and 1 tenant. Data were collected from lawsuits, semi-structured interviews of the victims and defendants, collateral information and criminal record. All ethical issues have been taken due to the sensitive nature of the involved data involved and the respective informed consentient which contained the purpose of the assesses, the confidentiality limits, and information about the ethics and technician’s impartiality was sign by all participants. Results The results demonstrated physical and psychological abuse (in all cases), followed by economical abuse ( n = 13, 92.9%) and social abuse ( n = 3, 21.4%). It is possible to identify several victims’ risk factors, namely gender (female victims – n = 11, 78.6%), physical problems/limitations ( n = 11, 78.6%), age above 75 years old ( n = 8, 57.1%) and previous abuse ( n = 6, 42.9%). The most relevant offender’s risk factors are financial problems ( n = 12, 85.7%), deficit in the coping skills ( n = 12, 85.7%), others blame ( n = 10, 71.4%), history of violence against others ( n = 8, 57.1%), aggressiveness ( n = 8, 57.1%), criminal history ( n = 6, 42.9%), victim of domestic violence in ...
Introduction: The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the work developed by the Forensic Psychology Office (GPF) at Forensic Sciences and Psychology Laboratory located at the Egas Moniz Higher Education School. GPF's main goals are performing forensic psychological assessments, especially violence risk assessments, as well as scientific research. The main purpose of violence risk assessment is the prevention and development of management strategies to minimise risk and try to identify factors that may contribute to the violent behaviour [1] supporting the criminal justice system in allocating more appropriate measures (e.g. sentence, intervention) [2]. GPF presents itself as the main response to cases with higher complexity and it provides guidance about the necessary measures to protect victims [3,4]. Materials and methods: This is a quantitative study and the sample (n ¼ 90) is derived from violence risk assessments of GPF (2016GPF ( -2019. We evaluate 52 victims: 39 women/girls and 13 man/boys, aged between 5 and 95 years old (M ¼ 33.04, SD ¼ 21.82); and 38 defendants: 30 men and 8 women, aged between 23 and 82 years old (M ¼ 44.64, SD ¼ 14.75). Data was collected from lawsuits, semi-structured interviews of the victims and defendants, collateral information and clinical and forensic assessment tools. All participants signed an informed consent term, which contained the purpose of the assessment, the limits of the confidentiality, and also information about the ethics and technicians impartiality. All ethical principles have been taken due to the sensitive nature of the data involved and the respective informed consent. Results: In 90 criminal processes assessed, 66 cases was about reported situations of domestic violence. In these cases the relationship between victims and defendants was: 33 ex-partners; 12 ex-spouses; 10 ex-boyfriend/girlfriend; 6 married; 3 parents and 2 son/daughter. We assessed 11 child abuse cases (5 parents; 3 relatives; 2 son/daughter; 1 stepdaughter). We also evaluate 9 child sex abuse cases (2 son/daughter; 2 classmates; 2 stepdaughters; 2 relatives and 1 stranger). Finally, we evaluate 4 elderly abuse cases (2 relatives; 1 son/daughter and 1 parent). In the violence risk assessments, most of the cases presented high risk level (n ¼ 33, 36.7%), followed by moderate risk (n ¼ 23, 25.6%) and low risk (n ¼ 11, 12.2). In defendant's testimony credibility, 39.5% (n ¼ 15) was undetermined, 34.2% probably not credible (n ¼ 13), 7.9% (n ¼ 3) probably credible and 2.6% (n ¼ 1) did not collaborate in the assessment. In victim's credibility of testimony, 73.1% (n ¼ 38) was probably credible, 15.4% (n ¼ 8) undetermined and 3.8% (n ¼ 2) probably not credible. Discussion and conclusions: Higher and moderate risk are the most common levels in the Office assessed cases. These results demonstrate evidences of violence risk assessment importance in criminal justice system and an good practices example between Forensic Psychology and Law. Currently, through psychological assessment protocols defin...
Background:The response to treatment in spondylarthropaties is heterogeneous, due to factors yet to be better described. For that reason, it is important to find tools that might help clinicians to decide what is the best available therapeutic option for each patient.Objectives:The goal of this study is to use comprehensive molecular profiling to characterize clinical response to therapy in a real-world setting. Specifically, to identify molecular biomarkers differentiating good responders and non-responders to TNF inhibitors (TNFi) treatment, using adalimumab, in radiographic axial spondyloarthritis | ankylosing spondylitis (r-axSpA|AS) patients context.Methods:Whole-blood mRNA and plasma proteins were measured in a cohort of biologic naïve r-axSpA|AS patients (n = 35) from the Bioefficacy study (Biomarkers identification of anti-TNF alpha agent efficacy in AS patients using RNA sequencing and mass spectrometry), pre and post (14 weeks) TNFi treatment using adalimumab. Response to treatment was categorized according to ASAS20. Results of differential expression analysis were used to identify the most enriched pathways and in predictive models to distinguish responses to TNFi.Results:A treatment-related signature, independent of the type of response, suggests a reduction in inflammatory disease activity. We found genes and proteins robustly differentially expressed between baseline and week 14 in responders, including the GWAS AS-associated genes TNFRSF1A, FCGR2A, TYK2, TBKBP1, IL1R1, IL6R, ICOSLG, IL7R, HHAT and LTBR. Moreover, CRP and HP proteins showed strong and early decrease in the plasma of AS patients, while a cluster of apolipoproteins (APO1, APO2, APO3) showed an increased expression at week 14. Good responders to TNFi treatment tend to have higher expression of innate immunity genes at baseline, and lower expression of markers associated with adaptive immunity, particularly B-cells. A logistic regression model incorporating ASDAS-CRP, gender and Gene x, the top differentially expressed gene at baseline between responders and non-responders, enabled an accurate prediction of response to adalimumab in our cohort (AUC=0.97).Conclusion:Differences in disease activity and/or innate/adaptive immune cell type composition at baseline may be a major contributor to response to adalimumab in r-axSpA|AS. Alternatively, a model including clinical and gene expression variables could be considered, particularly in patients with mild disease activity.Disclosure of Interests:None declared
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.