Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

About: Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais is a education organization based out in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Immune system. The organization has 41631 authors who have published 75688 publications receiving 1249905 citations.

Ticks produce highly selective chemokine binding proteins with antiinflammatory activity

Abstract: Bloodsucking parasites such as ticks have evolved a wide variety of immunomodulatory proteins that are secreted in their saliva, allowing them to feed for long periods of time without being detected by the host immune system. One possible strategy used by ticks to evade the host immune response is to produce proteins that selectively bind and neutralize the chemokines that normally recruit cells of the innate immune system that protect the host from parasites. We have identified distinct cDNAs encoding novel chemokine binding proteins (CHPBs), which we have termed Evasins, using an expression cloning approach. These CHBPs have unusually stringent chemokine selectivity, differentiating them from broader spectrum viral CHBPs. Evasin-1 binds to CCL3, CCL4, and CCL18; Evasin-3 binds to CXCL8 and CXCL1; and Evasin-4 binds to CCL5 and CCL11. We report the characterization of Evasin-1 and -3, which are unrelated in primary sequence and tertiary structure, and reveal novel folds. Administration of recombinant Evasin-1 and -3 in animal models of disease demonstrates that they have potent antiinflammatory properties. These novel CHBPs designed by nature are even smaller than the recently described single-domain antibodies (Hollinger, P., and P.J. Hudson. 2005. Nat. Biotechnol. 23:1126–1136), and may be therapeutically useful as novel antiinflammatory agents in the future.

Density-functional based tight-binding: an approximate DFT method

Abstract: The DFTB method, as well as its self-consistent charge corrected variant SCC-DFTB, has widened the range of applications of fundamentally well established theoretical tools. As an approximate density-functional method, DFTB holds nearly the same accuracy, but at much lower computational costs, allowing investigation of the electronic structure of large systems which can not be exploited with conventional ab initio methods. In the present paper the fundaments of DFTB and SCC-DFTB and inclusion of London dispersion forces are reviewed. In order to show an example of the DFTB applicability, the zwitterionic equilibrium of glycine in aqueous solution is investigated by molecular-dynamics simulation using a dispersion-corrected SCC-DFTB Hamiltonian and a periodic box containing 129 water molecules, in a purely quantum-mechanical approach.

A randomized formula controlled trial of Bifidobacterium lactis and Streptococcus thermophilus for prevention of antibiotic-associated diarrhea in infants.

Abstract: Goals: This clinical trial was carried out to determine whether oral treatment with a commercial probiotic formula containing Bifidobacterium lactis and Streptococcus thermophilus would reduce the frequency of antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD) in infants. Study: In this double-bind formula controlled study, 80 infants, 6 to 36 months of age, were randomly assigned to receive a commercial formula containing 107 viable cells of B. lactis and 106viable cells of S. thermophilus at the initiation of antibiotics for a duration of 15 days. The infants were assessed daily for formula intake, stool frequency, and stool consistency for a total duration of 30 days. Seventy-seven infants received nonsupplemented formula for the entire duration. Results: There was a significant difference in the incidence of AAD in the children receiving probiotic-supplemented formula (16%) than nonsupplemented formula (31%). Conclusions: The present study shows that prevention against AAD in infants was obtained by oral treatment with daily dose of B. lactis and S. thermophilus.