IHMT

Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical

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2012

Activity of fourteen new hydantoin compounds on the human ABCB1 efflux pump.

BACKGROUND:
Multidrug resistance (MDR) is one of the major concerns in the treatment of cancer and one of the major causes of therapy failure. The overexpression of an ABC transporter, the ABCB1, is often associated with MDR in cancer. Previously it was observed that hydantoin compounds can modulate the activity of the ABCB1 pump.
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The activity of 16 new hydantoin compounds on the intrinsic and overexpressed efflux pump system of Staphylococcus aureus.

AIM:
To evaluate a new series of 16 hydantoin derivatives for activity against the intrinsic and overexpressed efflux pumps of the ATTC 25923 Staphylococcus aureus and the clinical Staphylococcus aureus HPV-107 strain, respectively.
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Potential therapy of multidrug-resistant and extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis with thioridazine.

Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDRTB) infections that continue to increase in frequency globally have progressed to become extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDRTB). The therapeutic problems associated with MDRTB pale in comparison to those for XDRTB where mortality is high.
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What influences national and foreign physicians’ geographic distribution? An analysis of medical doctors’ residence location in Portugal.

BACKGROUND:
The debate over physicians’ geographical distribution has attracted the attention of the economic and public health literature over the last forty years. Nonetheless, it is still to date unclear what influences physicians’ location, and whether foreign physicians contribute to fill the geographical gaps left by national doctors in any given country.
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Task-shifting: experiences and opinions of health workers in Mozambique and Zambia.

BACKGROUND:
This paper describes the task-shifting taking place in health centres and district hospitals in Mozambique and Zambia. The objectives of this study were to identify the perceived causes and factors facilitating or impeding task-shifting, and to determine both the positive and negative consequences of task-shifting for the service users, for the services and for health workers.
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Health workers’ attitudes toward immigrant patients: a cross-sectional survey in primary health care services.

BACKGROUND:
Health workers’ attitudes toward immigrant patients influence behaviour, medical decisions, quality of care and health outcomes. Despite the increasing number of immigrant patients in health services and the potential influence of health workers’ attitudes, there is little research in this area. This study aimed to examine attitudes of different health workers’ groups toward immigrant patients and to identify the associated factors.
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Hepatitis delta virus infects the cells of hepadnavirus-induced hepatocellular carcinoma in woodchucks.

Hepatitis delta virus (HDV) is a natural subviral agent of human hepatitis B virus (HBV). HDV enhances liver damage during concomitant infection with HBV. The molecular pathogenesis of HDV infection remains poorly understood. To advance our understanding of the relationship between HDV infection and liver cancer, it was determined whether HDV could infect in vivo the cells of hepadnavirus-induced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
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Contribution of efflux activity to isoniazid resistance in the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex.

Resistance to isoniazid (INH), one of the main drugs used in tuberculosis (TB) therapy, is mostly due to chromosomal mutations in target genes. However, approximately 20-30% of INH resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates do not have mutations in any of the genes associated with INH resistance.
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Order and disorder in viral proteins: new insights into an old paradigm.

The conventional dogma stating that proteins must fold into a well-defined structure In order to display biological function is being challenged everyday as new data emerge on the relevance of disordered regions and intrinsically disordered proteins. Viral proteins in particular can benefit greatly from the conformational flexibility granted by partially folded or unfolded protein segments.
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