L-Type calcium channels mediate water intake induced by angiotensin injection into median preoptic nucleus

Calcium ions are widely accepted as critically important in responses of neurons to a stimulus. We have show previously the central involvement of angiotensin II (ANGII) in water intake. This study determined whether voltage-dependent calcium channels are involved in ANGII-induced behavioral drinking implicating nitrergic mechanism. The antidipsogenic actions of L-type calcium channel antagonists nifedipine, on ANGII-induced drinking behavior were studied when it is injected into the median preoptic nucleus (MnPO). The influence of nitric oxide (NO) on nifedipine antidipsogenic action was also studied by utilizing the N-W-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) a constitutive nitric oxide synthase inhibitor constitutive (cNOSI) and 7-nitroindazol (7-NIT) a specific neuronal nitric oxide synthase inhibitor (nNOSI) and L-arginine a NO donor. Rats 200-250 g, with cannulae implanted into MnPO, pre-treated into MnPO with either nifedipine, followed by ANGII, drank significantly less water than controls during the first 15 min after injection. However, L-NAME potentiated the dipsogenic effect of ANGII that is blocked by prior injection of nifedipine and L-arginine. 7-NIT injected prior to ANGII into MnPO also potentiated the dipsogenic effect of ANGII but with a less intensity than L-NAME that it is also blocked by prior injection of nifedipine. The results described in this paper provide evidence that calcium channels play important roles in the ANGII-induced behavioral water intake. The structures containing NO in the brain such as MnPO include both endothelial cells and neurons might be responsible for the influence of nifedipine on dipsogenic effect of ANGII. These data shows the correlation between L-type calcium channel and a free radical gas NO produced endogenously from amino acids L-arginine by endothelial and neuronal NO synthase in the control of ANGII-dipsogenic effect. This suggests that an L-type calcium channel participates in both short- and longer-term neuronal actions of ANGII by nitrergic way. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Maternal Thyroid and Glucocorticoid Hormone Interactions in Larval Fish Development, and Their Applications in Aquaculture

Thyroid hormones (THs) have long been known to have regulatory roles in the differentiation and maturation of vertebrate embryos, beginning with the knowledge that hormones of maternal origin are essential for human fetal central nervous and respiratory system development. Precise measurements of circulating THs led to insights into their critically important actions throughout vertebrate growth and development, initially with amphibian metamorphosis and including embryogenesis in fishes. Thyroid cues for larval fish differentiation are enhanced by glucocorticoid hormones, which promote deiodinase activity and thereby increase the generation of triiodothyronine (T-3) from the less bioactive thyroxin (T-4). Glucocorticoids also induce the expression of thyroid hormone receptors in some vertebrates. Maternally derived thyroid hormones and cortisol are deposited in fish egg yolk and accelerate larval organ system differentiation until larvae become capable of endogenous endocrine function. Increases in the T-3/T-4 ratio during larval development may reflect the regulatory importance of maternal thyroid hormones. Experimental applications of individual hormones have produced mixed results, but treatments with combinations of thyroid and corticoid hormones consistently promote larval fish development and improve survival rates. The developmental and survival benefits of maternal endocrine provisioning are increased in viviparous fishes, in which maternal/larval chemical contact is prolonged. Treatments with exogenous thyroid and corticoid hormones consistently promote development and reduce mortality rates in larval fishes, with potential hatchery-scale applications in aquaculture.

Multimedia selection: Allowing educators to act critically and independently

In Brazil, important portals like the Portal do Professor, or Teacher's Portal, from the Ministry of Education, offer multimedia products like audios, videos, games, animations, simulations and others with an accompanying teacher's guide. These guides in general suggest ways to prepare the students to use the products while offering indications on how to practice that knowledge after using the products in the classrooom. Despite this, portals with huge repositories that receive new products every week don't present to teachers a solution for a problem: How to select the appropriate products to use in the classroom and how to assess their use after teaching in order to check if the learning was meaningful? In this way, this paper discusses multimedia selection for meaningful learning while considering concept mapping and abstraction classification. The development of multimedia repositories has created both opportunities for easy access to digital content and areas of serious concerns since the misuse of products by teachers may lead to different problems.

Estudo epidemiológico do gênero Aeromonas, por meio de técnicas moleculares, em diversas etapas do abate bovino

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Dialysis complications in AKI patients treated with extended daily dialysis: is the duration of therapy important?

This trial aimed to compare the dialysis complications occurring during different durations of extended daily dialysis (EDD) sessions in critically ill AKI patients. We included patients older than 18 years with AKI associated with sepsis admitted to the intensive care unit and using noradrenaline dose ranging from 0.3 to 0.7 mu g/kg/min. Patients were divided into two groups randomly: in G1, 6 h sessions were performed and, in G2, 10 h sessions were performed. Seventy-five patients were treated with 195 EDD sessions for 18 consecutive months. The prevalence of hypotension, filter clotting, hypokalaemia, and hypophosphataemia was 82.6, 25.3, 20, and 10.6%, respectively. G1 and G2 were similar in male predominance and SOFA. There was no significant difference between the two groups in hypotension, filter clotting, hypokalaemia, and hypophosphataemia. However, the group treated with sessions of 10 hours showed higher refractory to clinical measures for hypotension and dialysis sessions were interrupted more often. Metabolic control and fluid balance were similar between G1 and G2. In conclusion, intradialysis hypotension was common in AKI patients treated with EDD. There was no difference in the prevalence of dialysis complications in patients undergoing different durations of EDD.

Risk factors for the acquisition of imipenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii in a burn unit: An appraisal of the effect of colonization pressure

Imipenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (IRAB) is a major threat for critically ill patients, including those admitted to burn units. Recent studies have suggested that colonization pressure (the proportion of patients or patient-days harbouring the pathogen of interest) is an important driver of the risk for acquisition of multidrug-resistant organisms. With that in mind, we conducted a cohort study, enrolling 208 patients admitted to a burn unit from November 2008 through December 2009. The outcome of interest was the acquisition of IRAB. In addition to the usual risk factors, we assessed the impact of colonization pressure. The number of wound excisions (odds ratio (OR) 12.06, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.82-51.64) and the number of antimicrobials used (OR 22.82, 95% CI 5.15-101.19) were significant risk factors for the outcome of interest. On the other hand, colonization pressure (measured for whole time of exposure or up to the last 14, 7, or 3 days) was not associated with the risk for IRAB acquisition.

Scales of critically stable few-body halo systems

We review the scaling properties of few-body observables near the critical conditions for binding, with particular attention to light exotic nuclei, molecules and ultracold atoms.

Prevalence and antimicrobial resistance patterns of methicillin-resistant staphylococci (MRS) isolated in a Veterinary Teaching Hospital in Brazil

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Genetic similarity between staphylococcus sp isolated from human and hospital settings, and susceptibility to different antimicrobials

Foram coletadas 143 amostras de mãos de humanos e camas hospitalares, através de swabs no caldo BHI, em um hospital escola da cidade de Ribeirão Preto/SP. As amostras coletadas foram incubadas a 37ºC por 24 horas e após este período as culturas foram semeadas em placas de Petri contendo agar Staphylococcus Médium 110. As colônias típicas do gênero Staphylococcus foram colhidas e estocados a 4ºC até o momento de elaboração das provas de catalase, manitol, hemólise, DNAse e coagulase. As cepas isoladas foram analisadas através da técnica de RAPD-PCR para verificar o grau de similaridade. A sensibilidade das cepas isoladas foi testada frente a 10 diferentes antibióticos. Das 92 cepas de Staphylococcus sp isoladas, 67 (72,8%) foram identificados como Staphylococcus coagulase-negativas e 25 (27,2%) como Staphylococcus coagulase-positivas. A análise de similaridade mostrou uma grande heterogeneidade entre as cepas, entretanto foram isoladas algumas cepas com 100% de similaridade. Resistência a oxacilina foi encontrada em 39 (42%) cepas. Duas cepas de estafilococos coagulase-negativos mostraram-se resistentes a vancomicina. Onze cepas (12%) de estafilococos foram consideradas multirresistentes. Medidas de desinfecção das mãos de pessoal e dos leitos hospitalares e a racionalização do uso indiscriminado de antibióticos podem contribuir para a queda da transmissão de patógenos e diminuição da pressão de seleção, e conseqüentemente diminuindo a freqüência e letalidade das infecções nosocomiais.

Ética e clínica na atenção psicossocial: contribuições da psicanálise de Freud e Lacan

O objetivo central é discutir a possibilidade de uma ética pertinente ao conjunto de ações atualmente realizadas sob o enfoque da Atenção Psicossocial no campo da Saúde Mental Coletiva. Utilizando o método do ensaio, partirei da análise de algumas proposições importantes sobre a ética na Saúde Mental, presentes na literatura recente, e da experiência de vários anos no campo da Atenção Psicossocial como trabalhador, como assessor clínico-institucional do Ministério da Saúde e como formador de psicoterapeutas. Duas vertentes de análise são consideradas: éticas disciplinares, chamadas éticas da psiquiatria, incluindo uma tentativa importante de complementá-las criticamente sob o enfoque da ética do cuidado, e éticas fundadas em concepções psicanalíticas do sujeito e seu sofrimento, que destacam as dimensões do sujeito como entre social e como entre subjetivo ou entre sentido. Com base nas diretrizes do Sistema Único de Saúde e na psicanálise do campo freudiano, procura-se fundamentar a ética da Clínica na Atenção Psicossocial como ética do cuidar-se - base necessária para a construção do protagonismo dos sujeitos do sofrimento na produção do sentido necessário à superação do sofrimento e demais impasses que motivaram a procura de ajuda, e para a possibilidade de seu reposicionamento no entre social e no entre sentido; componentes da saúde em sintonia com a subjetividade singularizada referenciada nos Ideais socioculturais e no devir desejante. Demonstra-se que essa ética exige dos trabalhadores do campo a superação dialética dos modos de produção de saúde e subjetividade em sintonia com o Modo Capitalista de Produção e seus derivados autoritários.

Antimicrobial resistance of isolated Streptococcus pneumoniae in a hospital of the Brazilian public system

Streptococcus pneumoniae is the predominant bacterial agent that affects the human population with pneumonia. This disease is an important cause of death in the elderly and the children under five years old. In this study, 29 strains of invasive S. pneumoniae were isolated from 29 patients of pneumonia, bacteremia and meningitis in the laboratory of the Municipal Hospital in Paulinia, Brazil, from May 2006 to October 2007. Patients' age ranged from 8 months old to 60 years old. These strains of S. pneumoniae were isolated from blood, pleural fluid and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients. After typing of encapsulated strains of S. pneumoniae through quellung reaction, their resistance to antimicrobial agents was gauged through Disc Diffusion Technique followed by determination of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). Among the 29 strains analyzed, 23 were methicillin-sensitive and six were methicillin-resistant and penicillin intermediate resistant. No strain presented full resistance to penicillin. Serotyping was performed only in two samples, which belonged to serotype 18. Our data may alert ambulatory regarding the incidence of pneumococcal strains resistant to the most common drugs due to inappropriate use of antimicrobials and also collaborate to the elaboration of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines specific to each region.

Factors predictive of inappropriateness in requests for parenteral antimicrobials for therapeutic purposes: A study in a small teaching hospital in Brazil

Background: The identification of patterns of inappropriate antimicrobial prescriptions in hospitals contributes to the improvement of antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASP). Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study to identify predictors of inappropriateness in requests for parenteral antimicrobials (RPAs) in a teaching hospital with 285 beds. We reviewed 25% of RPAs for therapeutic purposes from y 2005. Appropriateness was evaluated according to current guidelines for antimicrobial therapy. We assessed predictors of inappropriateness through univariate and multivariate models. RPAs classified as 'appropriate' or 'probably appropriate' were selected as controls. Case groups comprised inappropriate RPAs, either in general or for specific errors. Results: Nine hundred and sixty-three RPAs were evaluated, 34.6% of which were considered inappropriate. In the multivariate analysis, general predictors of inappropriateness were: prescription on week-ends/holidays (odds ratio (OR) 1.67, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.20-2.28, p = 0.002), patient in the intensive care unit (OR 1.57, 95% CI 1.11-2.23, p = 0.01), peritoneal infection (OR 2.15, 95% CI 1.27-3.65, p = 0.004), urinary tract infection (OR 1.89, 95% CI 1.25 -2.87, p = 0.01), combination therapy with 2 or more antimicrobials (OR 1.72, 95% CI 1.15-2.57, p = 0.008) and prescriptions including penicillins (OR 2.12, 95% CI 1.39-3.25, p = 0.001) or 1(st) generation cephalosporins (OR 1.74, 95% CI 1.01-3.00, p = 0.048). Previous consultation with an infectious diseases (ID) specialist had a protective effect against inappropriate prescription (OR 0.34, 95% CI 0.24-0.50, p < 0.001). Factors independently associated with specific prescription errors varied. However, consultation with an ID specialist was protective against both unnecessary antimicrobial use (OR 0.04, 95% CI 0.01-0.26, p = 0.001) and requests for agents with an insufficient antimicrobial spectrum (OR 0.14, 95% CI 0.03-0.30, p = 0.01). Conclusions: Our results demonstrate the importance of previous consultation with an ID specialist in assuring the quality of prescriptions. Also, they highlight prescription patterns that should be approached by ASP policies.