Computational Tracking of Mental Health in Youth: Latin American Contributions to a Low-Cost and Effective Solution for Early Psychiatric Diagnosis

The early onset of mental disorders can lead to serious cognitive damage, and timely interventions are needed in order to prevent them. In patients of low socioeconomic status, as is common in Latin America, it can be hard to identify children at risk. Here, we briefly introduce the problem by reviewing the scarce epidemiological data from Latin America regarding the onset of mental disorders, and discussing the difficulties associated with early diagnosis. Then we present computational psychiatry, a new field to which we and other Latin American researchers have contributed methods particularly relevant for the quantitative investigation of psychopathologies manifested during childhood. We focus on new technologies that help to identify mental disease and provide prodromal evaluation, so as to promote early differential diagnosis and intervention. To conclude, we discuss the application of these methods to clinical and educational practice. A comprehensive and quantitative characterization of verbal behavior in children, from hospitals and laboratories to homes and schools, may lead to more effective pedagogical and medical intervention

Estudo imuno-histoquímico da expressão da glut-1 e mensuração do índice angiogênico (CD34) em adenomas pleomórficos, carcinomas adenóides císticos e carcinomas mucoepidermóides de glândulas salivares

The expression of glucose transporter protein 1 (GLUT-1), as well the angiogenesis has been associated to clinical behavior and aggressiveness in tumors of various origin. It is believed that the expression of this protein denotes metabolic demand of the tumor cells and, thus its influence upon the formation of new blood vessels. Pleomorphic adenoma (PA) and the adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) and mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC) represent, respectively, the most commom benign and malignant tumors of salivary glands. The aim of this study was to analyze and compare the immunohistochemical expression of GLUT-1 and its correlation with angiogenesis in cases of PAs, ACCs and MECs considering their histological grades. The sample consisted of 20 PAs, 20 ACCs and 10 MECs. The cases were analyzed and classified according to their histological grades. The expression of GLUT-1 was evaluated in the parenchyma lesions, establishing the percentage of immunopositive cells, according to the following scores: 0 (no cell immunomarked), 1 (up to 25% of tumor cells immunostained), 2 (25 - 50% of tumor cells immunostained) and 3 (more than 50% of tumor cells immunostained). The angiogenic index was analyzed by counting the microvessels immunostained by anti-CD34 antibody, in 5 fields (200X). The analysis of the expression of GLUT-1 in tumor parenchyma showed statistically significant differences between benign and malignant groups (p = 0.022). The average number of microvessels in PAs was 40.4, 21.2 in ACCs and 66.5 in MECs, with significant differences between groups (p <0.001). When compared to the expression of GLUT-1 and angiogenic index as a whole, there was no significant correlation between the number of microvessels and the expression of GLUT-1 (r = 0.211, p = 0.141). In conclusion, the results of this study suggest not only that differences in biological behavior between PAs, ACCs and MECs may be associated to the expression of GLUT-1, but also that benign and malignant salivary gland present differences in the average number of microvessels, with higher levels considered more aggressive tumors. Furthermore, the number of newly formed microvessels can be independent of the metabolic demand of the tumor cells

Expressão imuno-histoquímica do cd8, foxp3, Tgf β, tnf α e nf-кb em displasias epiteliais e Carcinomas epidermóides orais

The Oral Epithelial Dysplasia (OED) is the lesion that precedes or co-exists with the Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC), presenting molecular and/or histological similar alterations. The divergences about the malignization potential of OEDs and the role of inflammation in this process make hard the early diagnosis and evaluation of OSCCs aggressiveness. Thus, it became the goal of this study to evaluate the role of inflammation in oral carcinogenesis and tumoral aggressiveness. For this purpose a morphological study was performed in 20 OED cases and 40 OSCC cases to detect the malignization potential of OEDs and the histologic malignancy grading (HMG) of OSCCs, analyzing superficial masses for dismorphism evaluation and the invasive front for evaluation of tumoral growing; and immunohistochemical, using anti-CD8, anti-FOXP3, anti-TGFβ, anti-TNFα and anti-NF-кB antibodies, comparing their with the types lesion, histological degree and intensity of the inflammatory infiltrate. The results were statistically significant for the parameters: cell maturity (p=0,0001), masses presence (p=0,038) and dismorphism (p=0,037), when associated to HMG. To compare the expression of the markers with the types lesion, a significantly higher expression of CD8 (p=0,001) and NF-кB (p=0,002) in the OED, and also a smaller expression of the epithelial TGFβ in the severe OEDs (p=0,011), without significant expression between OSCC degrees. By relating the expression of the studied markers with the inflammatory infiltrate intensity, a positive relation was observed with: inflammatory TNFα(p=0,003), epithelial TNFα and NF-кB (p=0,051 and p=0,004), in OEDs; and with CD8 (p=0,021) and TNFα (p=0,015) in conjunctive OSCCs; and a negative relation with epithelial TNFα (p=0,034) in OSCCs. No significant relation was found between FOXP3 with any of the studied variables. These findings lead to the conclusion that, the study of the invasive front is as important as the study of superficial masses for the evaluation of tumoral aggressiveness; the intensity of the inflammatory infiltrate has no use as a parameter for prognostic evaluation of OSCC in routine exams, but, the molecular events detected in this study may be necessary to give basis for determining the malignant potential in OEDs and aggressiveness in OSCCs

Perfil imuno-histoquímico do infiltrado inflamatório no front de invasão em carcicomas epidermóides de língua e lábio inferior

The progression of the oral squamous cells carcinomas (OSCCs) seems to suffer influence from related factors to the host, as local and systemic immunologic response, which are essential to the antineoplasic defenses. The purpose of this study was evaluate the local immunity in 30 tongue and 20 lower lip SCC by immunohistochemistry method, utilizing antibodies anti-CD3, CD4, -CD8, -CD25 e -ζ(zeta), which immunoexpressions were compared considering the anatomical localization, the intensity of the inflammatory infiltrate into the front of invasion and metastases. The CD4/CD8+ ratio was calculated for each case and associate with the mentioned variable, being the intensity of the inflammatory infiltrated also compared with the anatomical localization and metastase and for this the cases had been grouped in two categories: (n = 10) absent/scarce inflammatory infiltrate; and (n = 40) moderate/intense infiltrate. Fisher´s exact test was performed (α= 0.05) and it was not observed any significant correlation between these groups with anatomical sites and metastases. With regard to the immunoexpression, the CD3+, CD4+, CD8+ and CD25+ cells count was higher in the lower lip SCCs while the anti-ζimmunomarcation was more evident in the non metastatic cases. Through the statistical analyses, it was verified that the CD3 exhibited positive-significant correlation with the inflammatory infiltrate (p = 0.023). Furthermore, antibodies against CD8 and CD25 cells were also significantly correlated with the inflammatory infiltrate (p = 0.002 and 0.030, respectively) and with the anatomical site (p = 0.004 and p = 0.004) mainly in the lower lip SCCs. CD4/CD8 ratio did not show significant association with metastase nor with anatomical localization. We conclude that the inflammatory infiltrated of the Bryne s (1998) system did not constitute an indicator of aggressiveness in the tongue and lower lip SCCs analyzed and that clinical behavior of the SCCs studied was related in part to the immunohistochemical profile of infiltrated the inflammatory present in tumoral invasion front