ICE Proceedings

In addition to Civil Engineering, ICE Proceedings includes 18 specialist journals. Papers and articles published in the most recent issues are listed here. Summaries of all these and other papers and articles published can be read free in the ICE Virtual Library at www.icevirtuallibrary.com/content/journals .

Factors associated with mortality or survival of patients with tuberculosis: an integrative review

Objective: To identify factors associated with mortality or survival of patients with isolated Tuberculosis (TB) or TB/HIV co-infection. Methods: A literature review was performed in the following databases: PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Health Virtual Library, and SciELO sing the following search terms: “Survival” OR “Mortality” AND “Epidemiological factors” OR “Epidemiological determinants” OR “Associated factors.” Recommendations of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyzes methodology were used. Results: The factors associated with mortality or reduced survival were male sex, age >30 years in TB/HIV co-infection cases, advanced age in isolated TB cases, low schooling or up to 8 years of schooling, unemployment, TB/HIV co-infection, recent diagnosis of HIV, CD4 <50 cells, other immunosuppressive diseases, diabetes, renal disease, smoking, alcoholism, weight loss, and recently treatment started. Final considerations: Factors associated with TB mortality or survival did not differ from those associated with TB morbidity. However, excluding TB/HIV co-infection, the socioeconomic factors are evidenced.

Selection of Promising Novel Fragment Sized S. aureus SrtA Noncovalent Inhibitors Based on QSAR and Docking Modeling Studies

Sortase A (SrtA) of Staphylococcus aureus has been identified as a promising target to a new type of antivirulent drugs, and therefore, the design of lead molecules with a low nanomolar range of activity and suitable drug-like properties is important. In this work, we aimed at identifying new fragment-sized starting points to design new noncovalent S. aureus SrtA inhibitors by making use of the dedicated molecular motif, 5-arylpyrrolidine-2-carboxylate, which has been previously shown to be significant for covalent binding SrtA inhibitors. To this end, an in silico approach combining QSAR and molecular docking studies was used. The known SrtA inhibitors from the ChEMBL database with diverse scaffolds were first employed to derive descriptors and interpret their significance and correlation to activity. Then, the classification and regression QSAR models were built, which were used for rough ranking of the virtual library of the synthetically feasible compounds containing the dedicated motif. Additionally, the virtual library compounds were docked into the “activated” model of SrtA (PDB:2KID). The consensus ranking of the virtual library resulted in the most promising structures, which will be subject to further synthesis and experimental testing in order to establish new fragment-like molecules for further development into antivirulent drugs.

METACRITICISM AS A LITERARY PROBLEM

The latest decades are associated with an active rethinking of the existing literary and philosophical achievements, which are reflected significantly in changes and refinements in contemporary literary terminology. Along with the already known concepts such as "literature", "postmodernism", "criticism", the concepts "metafiction", "metamodernism" and "metacriticism" exist and become popular. At the same time, one may notice that the widely used now prefix meta- lays claim to a greater depth and coverage of higher horizons. If criticism marks the analysis, comprehension, and interpretation of literary works, then metacriticism focuses on literary-critical, historical-literary, and methodological researches, thus showing "criticism of criticism". The article deals with a complex analysis of the concept of "metacriticism". On the one hand, both aesthetic and philosophical approaches to the understanding of the notion of criticism are taken into account – starting from the antique times to Karl Popper’s critical-rationalistic approach. On the other hand, it is found that metacriticism as a phenomenon dates back to the end of the XVIII century when the works of two famous German philosophers Johann Georg Hamann’s "Metacritique on Purism of Reason" and Johan Gottfried Herder’s "Metacriticism of Critique of Pure Reason" were published as a debate on Immanuel Kant’s ideas. Based on the available data, it is found that metacriticism is a rather convenient multilevel term that may qualitatively contain various interpretations, including the criticism of criticism, metascience concerning criticism, criticism of the highest level, short form of the term "metaphysical critique" as a critique of "metaphysical realism". At the same time, while taking into account the current trends of the digital age, metacriticism becomes a product of digital technology - popular platforms for writing reviews, making discussions, and even creating a virtual library, such as site Metacritic, the English-language portal Goodreads and its Russian equivalent Livelib. The article itself does not exhaust the problem of metacriticism as a multidimensional phenomenon, but it provides opportunities for further and deeper studies of the outlined issues, in particular within the context of theoretical and literary discourse.

Computational Screening for the Anticancer Potential of Seed-Derived Antioxidant Peptides: A Cheminformatic Approach

Some seed-derived antioxidant peptides are known to regulate cellular modulators of ROS production, including those proposed to be promising targets of anticancer therapy. Nevertheless, research in this direction is relatively slow owing to the inevitable time-consuming nature of wet-lab experimentations. To help expedite such explorations, we performed structure-based virtual screening on seed-derived antioxidant peptides in the literature for anticancer potential. The ability of the peptides to interact with myeloperoxidase, xanthine oxidase, Keap1, and p47phox was examined. We generated a virtual library of 677 peptides based on a database and literature search. Screening for anticancer potential, non-toxicity, non-allergenicity, non-hemolyticity narrowed down the collection to five candidates. Molecular docking found LYSPH as the most promising in targeting myeloperoxidase, xanthine oxidase, and Keap1, whereas PSYLNTPLL was the best candidate to bind stably to key residues in p47phox. Stability of the four peptide-target complexes was supported by molecular dynamics simulation. LYSPH and PSYLNTPLL were predicted to have cell- and blood-brain barrier penetrating potential, although intolerant to gastrointestinal digestion. Computational alanine scanning found tyrosine residues in both peptides as crucial to stable binding to the targets. Overall, LYSPH and PSYLNTPLL are two potential anticancer peptides that deserve deeper exploration in future.

EARLY WEANING AND THE INFLUENCE ON THE APPEARANCE OF HARMFUL ORAL HABITS:

Breastfeeding is essential for the child’s physical and psychological development, contributing to the mother-child relationship, reducing the risks of infections and malnutrition. The present work aims to verify the relationship between early weaning and the appearance of harmful oral habits, through a review of narrative literature, a search was performed in the Bireme, VHL, Pubmed/MEDILINE data bases and virtual library platform my library, in the Portuguese and English languages of the last 16 years. Therefore, it is observerd that there is a direct interconnection between these two aspects, which highlights the importance of health actions aimed at pregnant women and women who have recently given birth.

Socio-demographic and clinical characterization of intestinal ostomized people: an integrative literature review

This study aims to identify and analyze the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of people with intestinal ostomy in the Brazilian literature. This is an Integrative Review of Scientific Literature, whose search for studies occurred in the following databases: Lilacs, CINAHL, PubMed/MedLine, BDENF, Scopus, SciELO Virtual Library and reverse search of selected articles. Of the 14 articles compiled, 78.57% have a descriptive design; the Lilacs database had the highest number of articles (64.28%); the Revista Brasileira de Coloproctologia was the one that published the most (42.85%), with a predominance of publications equally in the years 2017 and 2018 (21.42%); the Northeast region predominated in the number of articles published (49.98%). The predominant age ranged from 60 to 100 years (47.86%); married (26.64%); male (53.83%), of mixed ethnicity (20.97%), Catholic (6.51%), retired (23.11%), with elementary education (33.95%) and salary income ≤ 1 minimum wage (24.60%). There was a predominance of colostomy (83.95%), urgent (11.83%), without preoperative demarcation (4.22%), temporary permanence (42.69%), having the neoplasm as the cause main (51.14%), with complication of dermatitis (3.88%), diameter 20-40mm (1.69%), of 1 piece (16.15%), with pasty effluent (3.03%). The scarcity of Brazilian research on the subject is highlighted. However, it was possible to expand knowledge about the studied population.

Redesigning library orientation for first-year medical students during the pandemic

Background: Prior to 2020, library orientation for first-year medical students at Weill Cornell Medicine took the form of an on-site treasure hunt competition. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the orientation for the MD class of 2024 was shifted to an all-virtual format. This shift mandated a full redesign of the library orientation.Case Presentation: The Samuel J. Wood Library sought to preserve the excitement and fun of the treasure hunt in the new virtual format. The competition was redesigned as a Zoom meeting using breakout rooms, with library faculty and staff serving as team facilitators. Tasks were rewritten, shifting the focus from the library’s physical spaces to its virtual services and online resources. The redesigned orientation was evaluated using two data sources: a postsession survey of student participants and a debriefing of the library employees who participated. Student evaluations were positive, while the faculty and staff provided numerous suggestions for improving future virtual orientations.Conclusions: A successful virtual library orientation requires careful preparation, including testing the competition tasks, full rehearsal with library facilitators, and a thoughtful approach to technology and logistics. We have chosen to share the materials we developed for other academic health sciences libraries that may wish to take a similar approach to their own virtual orientations.