Cyntia Ferreira

Arthropods transmit arboviruses via mosquito and tick bites to humans and other animals. The genus flavivirus, which causes diseases, sequelae, and thousands of deaths, mainly in developing and underdeveloped countries, is among the arboviruses of interest to public health. Given the importance of early and accurate diagnosis, this review analyzes the methods of direct detection of flaviviruses, such as reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification, microfluidics, localized surface plasmon resonance, and surface-enhanced Raman scattering, and presents the advantages, disadvantages, and detection limits identified in studies reported in the literature for each methodology. Among the different methods available, it is essential to balance four fundamental indicators to determine the ideal test: good sensitivity, high specificity, low false positive rate, and rapid results. Among the methods analyzed, reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification stands ou...

Arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) are a significant public health problem worldwide. Vaccination is considered one of the most effective ways to control arbovirus diseases in the human population. Nanoparticles have been widely explored as new vaccine platforms. Although nanoparticles’ potential to act as new vaccines against infectious diseases has been identified, nanotechnology’s impact on developing new vaccines to prevent arboviruses is unclear. Thus, we used a comprehensive bibliographic survey to integrate data concerning the use of diverse nanoparticles as vaccines against medically important arboviruses. Our analysis showed that considerable research had been conducted to develop and evaluate nanovaccines against Chikungunya virus, Dengue virus, Zika virus, Japanese encephalitis virus, and West Nile virus. The main findings indicate that nanoparticles have great potential for use as a new vaccine system against arboviruses. Most of the studies showed an increase in neut...

Paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM) is a human systemic granulomatous mycosis caused by thermodimorphic fungi from Paracoccidioides genus. The disease is prevalent in Latin America and triggers a serious clinical condition. Consequently, rapid diagnosis and treatment are crucial to prevent progression of the disease, which can result in death. Currently, there are several established methods for PCM diagnosis. However, many of these tests still present challenges in terms of cost, accessibility and efficiency. In this scenario, gold nanoparticles represent a promising alternative since they have particular optical and electronic properties, which allow its use for biomolecules detection. This review will briefly present techniques available for PCM diagnosis and the perspectives of implementation of gold nanoparticles for diagnosis of this mycosis.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo relatar as experiências das três primeiras edições do Curso de Verão em Biotecnologia da Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto (UFOP), que foram integralmente desenvolvidas pelos alunos da pós-graduação. Esse Curso surgiu da necessidade de dar mais visibilidade às pesquisas realizadas na universidade, configurando uma proposta de educação científica. Assim, ele foi estruturado para proporcionar aos participantes uma oportunidade de interação com o ambiente de pesquisa da UFOP, por meio de estágios em laboratórios, minicursos e palestras. Essas atividades ilustraram os conceitos fundamentais da Biotecnologia, bem como as formas de sua inserção na sociedade, contribuindo para a capacitação profissional dos graduandos. Para os alunos da pós-graduação, responsáveis pela organização, os Cursos proporcionaram um maior entendimento acerca da estruturação física e organizacional do programa de pós-graduação no qual estão inseridos. Além disso, trouxeram para ele...

An accurate and rapid diagnosis of COVID-19 is an effective strategy for pandemic control, allowing disease screening and timely therapeutic intervention. We analyzed scientific reports about rapid tests for the diagnosis of COVID-19 to assess their reliability parameters. Medical Subject Headings terms or keywords related to point-of-care and rapid diagnostic testing for SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 were searched in data published from November 2020 to November 2021 in PubMed and Google Scholar databases. Notable differences were observed in sensitivity among direct tests that used different samples, and good accuracy was reported in a significant number of studies (>80%). Pediatric samples and samples with high Ct values (RT-PCR) had suboptimal sensitivity (range 45.4% to 66%). Further, a lack of sensitivity (<46.2%) was observed in point-of-care tests and in rapid diagnostic tests for antibody detection in the first days after infection, with increasing values in postinfection a...