José Williams Gomes de Oliveira Filho

The study aimed to evaluate the antitumor and toxicogenetic effects of liposomal nanoformulations containing citrinin in animal breast carcinoma induced by 7,12-dimethylbenzanthracene (DMBA). Mus musculus virgin females were divided into six groups treated with (1) olive oil (10 mL/kg); (2) 7,12-DMBA (6 mg/kg); (3) citrinin, CIT (2 mg/kg), (4) cyclophosphamide, CPA (25 mg/kg), (5) liposomal citrinin, LP-CIT (2 μg/kg), and (6) LP-CIT (6 µg/kg). Metabolic, behavioral, hematological, biochemical, histopathological, and toxicogenetic tests were performed. DMBA and cyclophosphamide induced behavioral changes, not observed for free and liposomal citrinin. No hematological or biochemical changes were observed for LP-CIT. However, free citrinin reduced monocytes and caused hepatotoxicity. During treatment, significant differences were observed regarding the weight of the right and left breasts treated with DMBA compared to negative controls. Treatment with CPA, CIT, and LP-CIT reduced the weight of both breasts, with better results for liposomal citrinin. Furthermore, CPA, CIT, and LP-CIT presented genotoxic effects for tumor, blood, bone marrow, and liver cells, although less DNA damage was observed for LP-CIT compared to CIT and CPA. Healthy cell damage induced by LP-CIT was repaired during treatment, unlike CPA, which caused clastogenic effects. Thus, LP-CIT showed advantages for its use as a model of nanosystems for antitumor studies.

Introduction: azithromycin was one of the most employed medications during the beginning of the SARS-CoV2 pandemic, despite the lack of scientific basis for its use treatment of COVID-19. Its uncontrolled adoption has risen as a public health problem, as it promotes the appearance of drug-resistant bacterial strains, making it difficult to effectively treat many bacterial infections. Objective: to understand the implications of bacterial resistance to azithromycin in the treatment of infections in the fight against COVID-19. Methods: we surveyed a total of 38 scientific articles. The inclusion criteria were: studies whose central theme was bacterial resistance to azithromycin in the treatment of bacterioses and azithromycin in the fight against COVID-19, published from 2015 to 2022. Results: the widespread use of antibiotics may act in the selection of bacterial strains which had long held genetic traits for drug resistance, but which, not representing adaptative advantages, did not proliferate in the subsequent lineages. This direct proportionality between the widespread use and bacterial resistance to azithromycin is yet more aggravated in COVID-19 times, when part of the medical community and layman population self-medicates with azithromycin, without a scientific basis that justifies choosing this drug. Conclusion: there is a direct relationship between the indiscriminate use of azithromycin and a potential bacterial resistance to this drug. The appearance of resistant bacteria represents a serious public health problem due to the broad use of azithromycin against several bacterial infections.

Poultry meat is a major source of animal protein in the world. Research indicates a high inbreeding rate derived from a relative absence of heterozygous subpopulations of chicken from different suppliers. Molecular markers can provide information for the genetic basis of chicken consumed in rural areas and help establishing a chicken database for product quality and warranty. The bibliometric research, comprises between 1994 and 2018, from five previously selected databases: Google Scholar, PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus and Web of Science, using the following descriptors: ‘microsatellites’, ‘SSR’, ‘ISSR’, ‘genetic variability’ and ‘genetic diversity’, all of them coupled to ‘chicken’ and/or ‘birds’ results in 66 scientific publications. The publications were then categorized according to their titles to the use of ISSR or SSR markers. They were also addressed by countries according first author cited. The publications data appointed that countries with the height production of poultry meat and hens are the most interested in the genetic diversity study of these species. The SSR markers, due to its more specific characteristic, are more frequently applied to genetic diversity assignment, compared to ISSR.