From the terrible loneliness to the wonderful agreement of human beings

What would be the ""terrible loneliness"" and what would be the ""wonderful agreement"" in the present paper? The ""terrible loneliness"" is the only reality that a person perceives and/or thinks during the now going on. For the person, an enormous quantity of occurrences is in the present moment absent. A very small quantity of occurrences is present. The person is the only being in having this. And, this is only during a little moment. The person never thinks about his loneliness in this moment. On the contrary, he thinks he is plenty of people and full of occurrences. But, if he were thinking about reality, he would live in a terrible loneliness. How does he escape himself from this loneliness? He thinks that the probable occurrences are real occurrences. He may be right in a plenty of times. Going through what I call opening hypotheses-basic hypotheses and non-basic but important hypotheses-and going through what I call simply hypotheses he is able to sanction a wonderful agreement of human beings about the known parts of the Universe. However, they are hypotheses, not absolute realities.

The impact of mortality from external causes on human development in the Brazilian borderland

This article estimates the impact of mortality from external causes on the human development index (HDI) along the Brazilian borderland from 2000 to 2005. Data obtained from Brazilian government agencies were combined using the methodology defined by the United Nations Development Program, revealing the HDI according to actual conditions. Subsequently, deaths from external causes were excluded in order to estimate their impact on the index, recalculating life expectancy using the technique of competing causes. HDI showed a gradual increase from North to South, with the most developed regions concentrated in the South, consistent with studies using other sets of economic indicators. By excluding mortality from external causes, the highest gains appeared in regions where the HDI (under actual conditions) were lower, and the magnitude of gains declined towards the South.

PTTG expression in different experimental and human prolactinomas in relation to dopaminergic control of lactotropes

Abstract Background Pituitary tumor transforming gene (pttg) is a novel oncogene that is expressed at higher level in most of the tumors analyzed to date compared to normal tissues. Nevertheless, its expression in prolactinomas and its relation with the pituitary dopamine receptor 2 (D2R) are not well defined. We sought to determine the pituitary level of pttg in three different experimental models of prolactinomas with altered dopaminergic control of the pituitary: the dopaminergic D2R knockout female mouse, the estrogen-treated rat, and the senescent female rat. These three models shared the characteristics of increased pituitary weight, hyperprolactinemia, lactotrope hyperplasia and reduced or absent dopaminergic action at the pituitary level. We also studied samples from human macroprolactinomas, which were characterized as responsive or resistant to dopamine agonist therapy. Results When compared to female wild-type mice, pituitaries from female D2R knockout mice had decreased PTTG concentration, while no difference in pttg mRNA level was found. In senescent rats no difference in pituitary PTTG protein expression was found when compared to young rats. But, in young female rats treated with a synthetic estrogen (Diethylstylbestrol, 20 mg) PTTG protein expression was enhanced (P = 0.029). Therefore, in the three experimental models of prolactinomas, pituitary size was increased and there was hyperprolactinemia, but PTTG levels followed different patterns. Patients with macroprolactinomas were divided in those in which dopaminergic therapy normalized or failed to normalize prolactin levels (responsive and resistant, respectively). When pituitary pttg mRNA level was analyzed in these macroprolactinomas, no differences were found. We next analyzed estrogen action at the pituitary by measuring pituitary estrogen receptor α levels. The D2R knockout female mice have low estrogen levels and in accordance, pituitary estrogen receptors were increased (P = 0.047). On the other hand, in senescent rats estrogen levels were slightly though not significantly higher, and estrogen receptors were similar between groups. The estrogen-treated rats had high pharmacological levels of the synthetic estrogen, and estrogen receptors were markedly lower than in controls (P < 0.0001). Finally, in patients with dopamine resistant or responsive prolactinomas no significant differences in estrogen receptor α levels were found. Therefore, pituitary PTTG was increased only if estrogen action was increased, which correlated with a decrease in pituitary estrogen receptor level. Conclusion We conclude that PTTG does not correlate with prolactin levels or tumor size in animal models of prolactinoma, and its pituitary content is not related to a decrease in dopaminergic control of the lactotrope, but may be influenced by estrogen action at the pituitary level. Therefore it is increased only in prolactinomas generated by estrogen treatment, and not in prolactinomas arising from deficient dopamine control, or in dopamine resistant compared with dopamine responsive human prolactinomas. These results are important in the search for reliable prognostic indicators for patients with pituitary adenomas which will make tumor-specific therapy possible, and help to elucidate the poorly understood phenomenon of pituitary tumorigenesis.

Mycobacterium Bovis como agente causal da tuberculose humana

O Mycobacterium bovis incluído no complexo Mycobacterium tuberculosis pode infectar várias espécies de animais domésticos e silvestres. Embora acometa principalmente animais da espécie bovina também pode infectar outros mamíferos e inclusive os seres humanos, nos quais determina um quadro clínico indistinguível do causado pelo M. tuberculosis. Em diversos países desenvolvidos, devido à aplicação de rigorosas medidas de controle e consequente redução da prevalência da tuberculose bovina, bem como de infecções em outras espécies de animais pelo M. bovis houve em decréscimo dos níveis de ocorrência desta patologia e o tema passou a ser considerado de menor importância. No entanto, nos países em desenvolvimento, a infecção por M. bovis ainda representa um importante risco para a saúde pública, pois tem sido observada nos animais domésticos, silvestres e em seres humanos. O presente trabalho analisa a importância da infecção pelo Mycobacterium bovis em termos de saúde pública.