Objective: The present study aims to assess the associations of adductor pollicis muscle thicknes... more Objective: The present study aims to assess the associations of adductor pollicis muscle thickness (APMT) with age, skin color, sexual maturation, anthropometric indicators and physical activity in Brazilian adolescents. Materials and methods: Cross-sectional study of adolescents aged 14-19 years. Weight, height, body mass index (BMI), arm circumference (AC), APMT, body fat, fat-free mass (FFM), fat-free mass index (FFMI), sexual maturation, time of physical activity and skin color were evaluated. APMT was associated with categorical variables using Mann-Whitney or Kruskal-Wallis tests and correlated with anthropometric variables using Spearman’s correlation. Linear regression was used with APMT as a dependent and the other variables as predictors. Data analysis was carried out in SPSS® software (version 17.0) with a 5% significance level. Results: 828 adolescents were evaluated, 57.6% female, with a mean age of 16.13 ± 1.20 years. APMT had an average value of 18.0 mm in females and...
Background: COVID-19 has been associated with persistent symptoms and functional changes, especia... more Background: COVID-19 has been associated with persistent symptoms and functional changes, especially in those surviving severe disease. Methods: We conducted a prospective multicenter study in patients with severe COVID-19 to determine respiratory sequelae. Patients were stratified into two groups: ward admission (WA) and intensive care unit (ICU) admission. In each follow-up visit, the patient where inquired about cough, dyspnea, and performed spirometry, lung volumes, carbon monoxide diffusion capacity (DLCO), 6-minute walk test (6MWT), and respiratory muscle strength (MIP and MEP). Results of pulmonary function tests at 45 days and 6 months after hospital admission were compared using paired analysis. Results: 211 patients were included, 112 in WA and 99 in ICU. Dyspnea persisted in 64.7% in the WA and 66.7% in the ICU group after 6 months. Lung function measures showed significant improvement between 45 days and 6 months, both in WA and ICU groups in VC, FVC, FEV1, total lung capacity, 6MW distance measures. The improvement in the proportions of the altered functional parameters was significant in the ICU group for VC (44.2% 45 d; 20.8% 6 m; p = 0,014), FVC (47.6% 45 d; 28% 6 m; p = 0,003), FEV1 (45.1% 45 d; 28% 6 m; p = 0,044), DLCO (33.8% 45 d; 7.7% 6 m; p < 0,0001). Conclusion: Six months follow-up of patients with the severe forms of COVID-19 showed significant improvement in the lung function measures compared to 45 days post hospital discharge. The difference was more evident in those requiring ICU admission.
Background The COVID-19 pandemic has brought drastic changes to the lives of the global populatio... more Background The COVID-19 pandemic has brought drastic changes to the lives of the global population. The restrictions imposed by government agencies impacted the daily lives of citizens, influencing several health behaviors, such as physical activity (PA). Thus, the present study aimed to assess the prevalence of physical inactivity (PI) and its associated factors before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods A population-based household seroepidemiological survey was conducted in two Brazilian municipalities located in the state of Minas Gerais, in which 1750 volunteers were interviewed between October and December 2020. Face-to-face interviews were conducted using a structured questionnaire in an electronic format. The moments considered for the PI analysis were M0 (before the pandemic), M1 (from March to July 2020), and M2 (from October to December 2020). Descriptive statistics and univariate and multivariate logistic regression were used to examine the factors associated with ...
Objectives The aim of the study is evaluate the association of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (... more Objectives The aim of the study is evaluate the association of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSA) and vitamin D deficiency (VDD) in shift workers. Methods This cross-sectional study included rotating shift workers in an iron ore extraction company. Participants were classified as VDD when 25(OH)D < 20 ng/mL for a healthy population and 25(OH)D < 30 ng/mL for groups at risk for VDD. Risk of developing OSA classified by Berlin Questionnaire (BQ) and NoSAS score. Data were compared using chi-square analysis with Cramer's V as effect size, and Bonferroni correction. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to investigate whether VDD was associated with OSA risk assessment. Results Among 1461 workers, mostly male (97.4%), younger, aged 30 to 39 years (53.9%), worked shifts for more than 5 years (75.8%). A prevalence of high risk of OSA by BQ was 15.9%, and 32.5% by NoSAS score. Besides, 28.9% had VDD. In multivariate analysis, controlled for confounding facto...
Benznidazole and nifurtimox-treatments regimens currently used in human are supported by very lim... more Benznidazole and nifurtimox-treatments regimens currently used in human are supported by very limited experimental data. This study was designed to evaluate the time and dose dependence for efficacy of the most important nitroheterocyclic drugs in use for Chagas disease. In order to evaluate time dependence, Y strain-infected mice received benznidazole for a total of 1, 3, 7, 10, 20, and 40 days. Treatment courses of 3-10-day were effective in clearing parasitaemia and suppressing mortality, but parasitological cure was not achieved. Extending the treatments to 20 or 40 days clearly improved benznidazole efficacy. The 20-day treatment induced cure in 57.1% of Y strain infections (partially drug resistant) but failed to cure Colombian strain infections (full drug resistant), while the 40-day treatment resulted in cure of 100% of Y and 50% of Colombian strain infected mice. The increased cure rates in T. cruzi infected animals that received nifurtimox for 40 days confirm the relations...
Ischemic strokes have been implicated as a cause of death in Chagas disease patients. Inflammatio... more Ischemic strokes have been implicated as a cause of death in Chagas disease patients. Inflammation has been recognized as a key component in all ischemic processes, including the intravascular events triggered by vessel interruption, brain damage and repair. In this study, we evaluated the association between inflammatory markers and the death risk (DR) and stroke risk (SR) of patients with different clinical forms of chronic Chagas disease. The mRNA expression levels of cytokines, transcription factors expressed in the adaptive immune response (Th1, Th2, Th9, Th17, Th22 and regulatory T cell), and iNOS were analyzed by real-time PCR in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of chagasic patients who exhibited the indeterminate, cardiac, digestive and cardiodigestive clinical forms of the disease, and the levels of these transcripts were correlated with the DR and SR. Cardiac patients exhibited lower mRNA expression levels of GATA-3, FoxP3, AHR, IL-4, IL-9, IL-10 and IL-22 but exhibited ...
Brazilian journal of medical and biological research = Revista brasileira de pesquisas medicas e biologicas / Sociedade Brasileira de Biofisica ... [et al.], Jan 28, 2015
Association studies of genetic variants and obesity and/or obesity-related risk factors have yiel... more Association studies of genetic variants and obesity and/or obesity-related risk factors have yielded contradictory results. The aim of the present study was to determine the possible association of five single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) located in the IGF2, LEPR, POMC, PPARG, and PPARGC1 genes with obesity or obesity-related risk phenotypes. This case-control study assessed overweight (n=192) and normal-weight (n=211) children and adolescents. The SNPs were analyzed using minisequencing assays, and variables and genotype distributions between the groups were compared using one-way analysis of variance and Pearson's chi-square or Fisher's exact tests. Logistic regression analysis adjusted for age and gender was used to calculate the odds ratios (ORs) for selected phenotype risks in each group. No difference in SNP distribution was observed between groups. In children, POMC rs28932472(C) was associated with lower diastolic blood pressure (P=0.001), higher low-density lipo...
Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical, 2005
A leishmaniose visceral no Brasil estava inicialmente associada a áreas rurais, mas devido às div... more A leishmaniose visceral no Brasil estava inicialmente associada a áreas rurais, mas devido às diversas alterações no ambiente como, desmatamentos, urbanização e intenso processo migratório, ocorreu a expansão das áreas endêmicas, levando à urbanização da doença, principalmente nas regiões Sudeste e Centro Oeste do país. No município de Montes Claros, situado ao norte de Minas Gerais, foi feito um estudo para verificação da situação da LV. No ano de 2002 foi realizado inquérito sorológico canino e no período de setembro de 2002 a agosto de 2003 foi feito levantamento entomológico, utilizando armadilhas luminosas de CDC. A prevalência da LV canina apresentou taxa média de infecção em torno de 5%. A fauna de flebotomíneos estimada foi de 16 espécies, totalizando 1043 exemplares. Lutzomyia longipalpis foi a espécie predominante com 74%, o que sugere a sua participação na transmissão de LV em Montes Claros.
ABSTRACTCurrently, diagnosis of Chagas' disease is based on serological methods, but due to t... more ABSTRACTCurrently, diagnosis of Chagas' disease is based on serological methods, but due to the high occurrence of inconclusive results, more reliable methods are needed. The use of recombinant antigens for serodiagnosis of Chagas' disease is recommended in order to increase the sensitivity and specificity of the serological tests. TheTrypanosoma cruzicomplement regulatory protein (CRP) is a surface glycoprotein present on the trypomastigote forms of the parasite, and the recombinant CRP (rCRP) was cloned in a mammalian expression system and purified by affinity chromatography. The purified recombinant protein was used as an antigen in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (rCRP ELISA) in order to verify its sensitivity and specificity compared with other established methods. In this evaluation, a panel of 184 serum samples distributed among chronic chagasic patients (n= 65), blood bank donors (n= 100), and patients infected withLeishmaniaspp. (n= 19) was used. The sensitivit...
Objective: The present study aims to assess the associations of adductor pollicis muscle thicknes... more Objective: The present study aims to assess the associations of adductor pollicis muscle thickness (APMT) with age, skin color, sexual maturation, anthropometric indicators and physical activity in Brazilian adolescents. Materials and methods: Cross-sectional study of adolescents aged 14-19 years. Weight, height, body mass index (BMI), arm circumference (AC), APMT, body fat, fat-free mass (FFM), fat-free mass index (FFMI), sexual maturation, time of physical activity and skin color were evaluated. APMT was associated with categorical variables using Mann-Whitney or Kruskal-Wallis tests and correlated with anthropometric variables using Spearman’s correlation. Linear regression was used with APMT as a dependent and the other variables as predictors. Data analysis was carried out in SPSS® software (version 17.0) with a 5% significance level. Results: 828 adolescents were evaluated, 57.6% female, with a mean age of 16.13 ± 1.20 years. APMT had an average value of 18.0 mm in females and...
Background: COVID-19 has been associated with persistent symptoms and functional changes, especia... more Background: COVID-19 has been associated with persistent symptoms and functional changes, especially in those surviving severe disease. Methods: We conducted a prospective multicenter study in patients with severe COVID-19 to determine respiratory sequelae. Patients were stratified into two groups: ward admission (WA) and intensive care unit (ICU) admission. In each follow-up visit, the patient where inquired about cough, dyspnea, and performed spirometry, lung volumes, carbon monoxide diffusion capacity (DLCO), 6-minute walk test (6MWT), and respiratory muscle strength (MIP and MEP). Results of pulmonary function tests at 45 days and 6 months after hospital admission were compared using paired analysis. Results: 211 patients were included, 112 in WA and 99 in ICU. Dyspnea persisted in 64.7% in the WA and 66.7% in the ICU group after 6 months. Lung function measures showed significant improvement between 45 days and 6 months, both in WA and ICU groups in VC, FVC, FEV1, total lung capacity, 6MW distance measures. The improvement in the proportions of the altered functional parameters was significant in the ICU group for VC (44.2% 45 d; 20.8% 6 m; p = 0,014), FVC (47.6% 45 d; 28% 6 m; p = 0,003), FEV1 (45.1% 45 d; 28% 6 m; p = 0,044), DLCO (33.8% 45 d; 7.7% 6 m; p < 0,0001). Conclusion: Six months follow-up of patients with the severe forms of COVID-19 showed significant improvement in the lung function measures compared to 45 days post hospital discharge. The difference was more evident in those requiring ICU admission.
Background The COVID-19 pandemic has brought drastic changes to the lives of the global populatio... more Background The COVID-19 pandemic has brought drastic changes to the lives of the global population. The restrictions imposed by government agencies impacted the daily lives of citizens, influencing several health behaviors, such as physical activity (PA). Thus, the present study aimed to assess the prevalence of physical inactivity (PI) and its associated factors before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods A population-based household seroepidemiological survey was conducted in two Brazilian municipalities located in the state of Minas Gerais, in which 1750 volunteers were interviewed between October and December 2020. Face-to-face interviews were conducted using a structured questionnaire in an electronic format. The moments considered for the PI analysis were M0 (before the pandemic), M1 (from March to July 2020), and M2 (from October to December 2020). Descriptive statistics and univariate and multivariate logistic regression were used to examine the factors associated with ...
Objectives The aim of the study is evaluate the association of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (... more Objectives The aim of the study is evaluate the association of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSA) and vitamin D deficiency (VDD) in shift workers. Methods This cross-sectional study included rotating shift workers in an iron ore extraction company. Participants were classified as VDD when 25(OH)D < 20 ng/mL for a healthy population and 25(OH)D < 30 ng/mL for groups at risk for VDD. Risk of developing OSA classified by Berlin Questionnaire (BQ) and NoSAS score. Data were compared using chi-square analysis with Cramer's V as effect size, and Bonferroni correction. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to investigate whether VDD was associated with OSA risk assessment. Results Among 1461 workers, mostly male (97.4%), younger, aged 30 to 39 years (53.9%), worked shifts for more than 5 years (75.8%). A prevalence of high risk of OSA by BQ was 15.9%, and 32.5% by NoSAS score. Besides, 28.9% had VDD. In multivariate analysis, controlled for confounding facto...
Benznidazole and nifurtimox-treatments regimens currently used in human are supported by very lim... more Benznidazole and nifurtimox-treatments regimens currently used in human are supported by very limited experimental data. This study was designed to evaluate the time and dose dependence for efficacy of the most important nitroheterocyclic drugs in use for Chagas disease. In order to evaluate time dependence, Y strain-infected mice received benznidazole for a total of 1, 3, 7, 10, 20, and 40 days. Treatment courses of 3-10-day were effective in clearing parasitaemia and suppressing mortality, but parasitological cure was not achieved. Extending the treatments to 20 or 40 days clearly improved benznidazole efficacy. The 20-day treatment induced cure in 57.1% of Y strain infections (partially drug resistant) but failed to cure Colombian strain infections (full drug resistant), while the 40-day treatment resulted in cure of 100% of Y and 50% of Colombian strain infected mice. The increased cure rates in T. cruzi infected animals that received nifurtimox for 40 days confirm the relations...
Ischemic strokes have been implicated as a cause of death in Chagas disease patients. Inflammatio... more Ischemic strokes have been implicated as a cause of death in Chagas disease patients. Inflammation has been recognized as a key component in all ischemic processes, including the intravascular events triggered by vessel interruption, brain damage and repair. In this study, we evaluated the association between inflammatory markers and the death risk (DR) and stroke risk (SR) of patients with different clinical forms of chronic Chagas disease. The mRNA expression levels of cytokines, transcription factors expressed in the adaptive immune response (Th1, Th2, Th9, Th17, Th22 and regulatory T cell), and iNOS were analyzed by real-time PCR in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of chagasic patients who exhibited the indeterminate, cardiac, digestive and cardiodigestive clinical forms of the disease, and the levels of these transcripts were correlated with the DR and SR. Cardiac patients exhibited lower mRNA expression levels of GATA-3, FoxP3, AHR, IL-4, IL-9, IL-10 and IL-22 but exhibited ...
Brazilian journal of medical and biological research = Revista brasileira de pesquisas medicas e biologicas / Sociedade Brasileira de Biofisica ... [et al.], Jan 28, 2015
Association studies of genetic variants and obesity and/or obesity-related risk factors have yiel... more Association studies of genetic variants and obesity and/or obesity-related risk factors have yielded contradictory results. The aim of the present study was to determine the possible association of five single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) located in the IGF2, LEPR, POMC, PPARG, and PPARGC1 genes with obesity or obesity-related risk phenotypes. This case-control study assessed overweight (n=192) and normal-weight (n=211) children and adolescents. The SNPs were analyzed using minisequencing assays, and variables and genotype distributions between the groups were compared using one-way analysis of variance and Pearson's chi-square or Fisher's exact tests. Logistic regression analysis adjusted for age and gender was used to calculate the odds ratios (ORs) for selected phenotype risks in each group. No difference in SNP distribution was observed between groups. In children, POMC rs28932472(C) was associated with lower diastolic blood pressure (P=0.001), higher low-density lipo...
Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical, 2005
A leishmaniose visceral no Brasil estava inicialmente associada a áreas rurais, mas devido às div... more A leishmaniose visceral no Brasil estava inicialmente associada a áreas rurais, mas devido às diversas alterações no ambiente como, desmatamentos, urbanização e intenso processo migratório, ocorreu a expansão das áreas endêmicas, levando à urbanização da doença, principalmente nas regiões Sudeste e Centro Oeste do país. No município de Montes Claros, situado ao norte de Minas Gerais, foi feito um estudo para verificação da situação da LV. No ano de 2002 foi realizado inquérito sorológico canino e no período de setembro de 2002 a agosto de 2003 foi feito levantamento entomológico, utilizando armadilhas luminosas de CDC. A prevalência da LV canina apresentou taxa média de infecção em torno de 5%. A fauna de flebotomíneos estimada foi de 16 espécies, totalizando 1043 exemplares. Lutzomyia longipalpis foi a espécie predominante com 74%, o que sugere a sua participação na transmissão de LV em Montes Claros.
ABSTRACTCurrently, diagnosis of Chagas' disease is based on serological methods, but due to t... more ABSTRACTCurrently, diagnosis of Chagas' disease is based on serological methods, but due to the high occurrence of inconclusive results, more reliable methods are needed. The use of recombinant antigens for serodiagnosis of Chagas' disease is recommended in order to increase the sensitivity and specificity of the serological tests. TheTrypanosoma cruzicomplement regulatory protein (CRP) is a surface glycoprotein present on the trypomastigote forms of the parasite, and the recombinant CRP (rCRP) was cloned in a mammalian expression system and purified by affinity chromatography. The purified recombinant protein was used as an antigen in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (rCRP ELISA) in order to verify its sensitivity and specificity compared with other established methods. In this evaluation, a panel of 184 serum samples distributed among chronic chagasic patients (n= 65), blood bank donors (n= 100), and patients infected withLeishmaniaspp. (n= 19) was used. The sensitivit...
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Papers by GEORGE LUIZ LINS MACHADO COELHO