Efeitos do treino de marcha em esteira com adição de carga ao membro inferior não parético de indivíduos com acidente vascular cerebral: ensaio clínico controlado e randomizado

Introduction: Gait after stroke is characterized by a significant asymmetry between the lower limbs, with predominant use of the non-paretic lower limb (NPLL) over using the paretic lower limb. Accordingly, it has been suggested that adding load/weight to the NPLL as a form of restricting the movement of this limb may favor the use of the paretic limb, reducing interlimb asymmetry. However, few studies have been conducted up to this moment, which only investigated the immediate effects of this practice. Objectives: 1) Investigating whether there is an influence of adding load to the NPLL during treadmill training on cardiovascular parameters and on gait performance of individuals with stroke, compared to treadmill training without load addition; 2) Analyzing the effects of treadmill training with and without load added to the NPLL on kinematic parameters of each lower limb during gait; 3) Analyzing the effects of treadmill training with and without load added to the NPLL on measurements of functional mobility and postural balance of these patients. Materials and Methods: This is a randomized single blinded clinical trial involving 38 subjects, with a mean age of 56.5 years, at the subacute post-stroke phase (with mean time since stroke of 4.5 months). Participants were randomly assigned into an experimental group (EG) or control group (CG). EG (n= 19) was submitted to gait training on a treadmill with the addition of load to the NPLL by ankle weights equivalent to 5% of body weight. CG (n= 19) was only submitted to gait training on a treadmill. Behavioral strategies which included home exercises were also applied to both groups. The interventions occurred daily for two consecutive weeks (Day 1 to Day 9), being of 30 minutes duration each. Outcome measures: postural balance (Berg Functional Balance Scale – BBS), functional mobility (Timed Up and Go – TUG; kinematic variables of 180° turning) and kinematic gait variables were assessed at baseline (Day 0), after four training sessions (Day 4), after nine training sessions (Day 9), and 40 days after completion of training (Follow-up). Cardiovascular parameters (mean arterial pressure and heart rate) were evaluated at four moments within each training session. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare outcomes between EG and CG in the course of the study (Day 0, Day 4, Day 9 and Follow-up). Unpaired t-tests allowed for intergroup comparison at each training session. 5% significance was used for all tests. Results: 1) Cardiovascular parameters (systemic arterial pressure, heart rate and derivated variables) did not change after the interventions and there were no differences between groups within each training session. There was an improvement in gait performance, with increased speed and distance covered, with no statistically significant difference between groups. 2) After the interventions, patients had increased paretic and non-paretic step lengths, in addition to exhibiting greater hip and knee joint excursion on both lower limbs. The gains were observed in the EG and CG, with no statistical difference between the groups and (mostly) maintained at follow-up. 3) After the interventions, patients showed better postural balance (higher scores on BBS) and functional mobility (reduced time spent on the TUG test and better performance on the 180° turning). All gains were observed in the EG and CG, with no statistically significant difference between groups and were maintained at follow-up. Conclusions: The addition of load to the NPLL did not affect cardiovascular parameters in patients with subacute stroke, similar to treadmill training without load, thus seemingly a safe training to be applied to these patients. However, the use of the load did not bring any additional benefits to gait training. The gait training program (nine training sessions on a treadmill + strategies and exercises for paretic limb stimulation) was useful for improving gait performance and kinematics, functional mobility and postural balance, and its use is suggested to promote the optimization of these outcomes in the subacute phase after stroke.

Ventilação e prescrições urbanísticas: uma aplicação simulada para a Orla da Praia do Meio em Natal/RN

This work analyses a study on natural ventilation and its relation to the urban legislation versus the building types in an urban fraction of coastal area of Praia do Meio in the city of Natal/RN, approaching the type or types of land use most appropriate to this limited urban fraction. The objective of this study is to analyse the effects of the present legislation as well as the types of buildings in this area on the natural ventilation. This urban fraction was selected because it is one of the sites from where the wind flows into the city of Natal. This research is based on the hypothesis stating that the reduction on the porosity of the urban soil (decrease in the set back/boundary clearance), and an increase in the form (height of the buildings) rise the level of the ventilation gradient, consequently causing a reduction on the wind speed at the lowest part of the buildings. Three-dimensional computational models were used to produce the modes of occupation allowed in the urban fraction within the area under study. A Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software was also used to analyse the modes of land occupation. Following simulation, a statistical assessment was carried out for validation of the hypothesis. It was concluded that the reduction in the soil porosity as a consequence of the rates that defined the minimum boundary clearance between the building and the boundary of the plot (and consequently the set back), as well as the increase in the building form (height of the buildings) caused a reduction in the wind speed, thus creating heat islands

Novas propriedades do SKTI (Inibidor de tripsina de soja): inibição para elastase neutrofílica humana e efeitos no processo de injúria pulmonar aguda

Seeds from legumes including the Glycine max are known to be a rich source of protease inhibitors. The soybean Kunitz trypsin inhibitor (SKTI) has been well characterised and has been found to exhibit many biological activities. However its effects on inflammatory diseases have not been studied to date. In this study, SKTI was purified from a commercial soy fraction, enriched with this inhibitor, using anion exchange chromatography Resource Q column. The purified protein was able to inhibit human neutrophil elastase (HNE) and bovine trypsin. . Purified SKTI inhibited HNE with an IC50 value of 8 µg (0.3 nM). At this concentration SKTI showed neither cytotoxic nor haemolytic effects on human blood cell populations. SKTI showed no deleterious effects on organs, blood cells or the hepatic enzymes alanine amine transferase (ALT) and aspartate amino transferase (AST) in mice model of acute systemic toxicity. Human neutrophils incubated with SKTI released less HNE than control neutrophils when stimulated with PAF or fMLP (83.1% and 70% respectively). These results showed that SKTI affected both pathways of elastase release by PAF and fMLP stimuli, suggesting that SKTI is an antagonist of PAF/fMLP receptors. In an in vivo mouse model of acute lung injury, induced by LPS from E. coli, SKTI significantly suppressed the inflammatory effects caused by elastase in a dose dependent manner. Histological sections stained by hematoxylin/eosin confirmed this reduction in inflammation process. These results showed that SKTI could be used as a potential pharmacological agent for the therapy of many inflammatory diseases

Efeitos da microgravidade em plantas de cana-de-açúcar

Sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) is a plant from Poaceae family that has an impressive ability to accumulate sucrose in the stalk, making it a significant component of the economy of many countries. About 100 countries produce sugarcane in an area of 22 million hectares worldwide. For this reason, many studies have been done using sugarcane as a plant model in order to improve production. A change in gravity may be one kind of abiotic stress, since it generates rapid responses after stimulation. In this work we decided to investigate the possible morphophysiological, biochemical and molecular changes resulting from microgravity. Here, we present the contributions of an experiment where sugarcane plants were submitted to microgravity flight using a vehicle VSB-30, a sounding rocket developed by Aeronautics and Space Institute teams, in cooperation with the German Space Agency. Sugarcane plants with 10 days older were submitted to a period of six minutes of microgravity using the VSB-30 rocket. The morphophysiological analyses of roots and leaves showed that plants submitted to the flight showed changes in the conduction tissues, irregular pattern of arrangement of vascular bundles and thickening of the cell walls, among other anatomical changes that indicate that the morphology of the plants was substantially influenced by gravitational stimulation, besides the accumulation of hydrogen peroxide, an important signaling molecule in stress conditions. We carried out RNA extraction and sequencing using Illumina platform. Plants subjected to microgravity also showed changes in enzyme activity. It was observed an increased in superoxide dismutase activity in leaves and a decreased in its activity in roots as well as for ascorbate peroxidase activity. Thus, it was concluded that the changes in gravity were perceived by plants, and that microgravity environment triggered changes associated with a reactive oxygen specie signaling process. This work has helped the understanding of how the gravity affects the structural organization of the plants, by comparing the anatomy of plants subjected to microgravity and plants grown in 1g gravity