Estudo da padronização visando à interoperabilidade: o caso das organizações de saúde na cidade de Marília- São Paulo

Pós-graduação em Ciência da Informação - FFC

Reproductive indices in natural nests of giant Amazon river turtles Podocnemis expansa (Schweigger, 1812) (Testudines, Podocnemididae) in the Environmental Protection Area Meanders of the Araguaia river

Realizou-se a contagem dos ovos não eclodidos, dos filhotes vivos e mortos de Podocnemis expansa oriundos de 327 ninhos naturais, localizados nas praias da Área de Proteção Ambiental (APA) - Meandros do Rio Araguaia, onde se determinou a porcentagem de eclosão dos ovos (94,63%); não eclosão (5,37%); sobrevivência (94,24%) e mortalidade dos filhotes (5,76%), e a média de filhotes mortos durante os 15 dias no berçário (0,97%). A média do total de filhotes por ninho foi determinada pela soma do número de filhotes vivos e mortos divididos pelo total de ninhos, enquanto que a média do total de ovos por ninho foi determinada pela soma do número de filhotes vivos, mortos e ovos não eclodidos divididos pelo total de ninhos. Com isso, obtiveram-se os valores médios do número de filhotes vivos (88,98 ± 23,94); mortos (0,37 ± 0,93); ovos não eclodidos (5,07 ± 9,57), e total de ovos (94,42 ± 21,30). A eficiência reprodutiva da população selvagem de P. expansa pode ser afetada por muitos fatores ambientais, como temperatura, umidade e precipitação. Além disso, fatores influenciados pelo homem, como a presença de produtos químicos na água e a possibilidade de doenças infecciosas, também têm impacto significativo. Os dados dos índices reprodutivos obtidos neste estudo são indispensáveis para futuras investigações de anomalias de incubação.

Hymenolepis diminuta: Praziquantel removal of adult tapeworms is followed by apoptotic down-regulation of mucosal mastocytosis

The rat tapeworm, Hymenolepis diminuta, induces mastocytosis, hypertrophy of enteric smooth muscle, alteration of enteric myoelectric activity, and slowed enteric transit of the rat host's intestine. This report examines the resolution of both tapeworm-induced mastocytosis and tissue changes during the period following removal of the tapeworm with Praziquantel (PZQ). The dynamics of the mucosal mast cell (MMC) population following removal of the tapeworms was assessed by histochemical identification of MMC and morphometric techniques. As a possible mechanism of MMC population regulation, MMC apoptosis was examined over the same experimental period using the in situ nick end labeling of fragmented DNA (TUNEL). Shifts in MMC numbers were correlated with functional and morphological changes of the intestine following removal of the adult-stage tapeworm. Ileal tissues from rats infected 32 days with H. diminuta (the beginning of plateau phase of tapeworm-induced chronic mastocytosis) were harvested 1, 2, 3, and 4 weeks after the PZQ treatment. Control ilea were obtained either from rats which were never infected and never treated with PZQ or from rats infected with H, diminuta for 32 days but not treated with PZQ. In order to detect MMC and apoptosis, tissue sections of ileum were doubled stained sequentially with Astra blue for MMC granules followed by a modification of the TUNEL technique. No alteration in MMC numbers were observed in PZQ-treated animals until 3 weeks after the removal of the tapeworms. The decline of MMC occurred in the mucosa and submucosa. MMC numbers first approached uninfected control levels at 4 weeks posttreatment. Coincident with the decline in mucosal MMC numbers, the rate of MMC entering apoptosis also declined. Simultaneously, ileal smooth muscle layers, hypertrophied by infection, and mucosal structures began the process of involution and atrophy. Apoptosis of MMC in the submucosa and muscularis mucosa was not detected. In conclusion, H. diminuta elicited mastocytosis and increased thickness of both mucosa and muscularis externa do not begin a decline toward control Values until 3 weeks after the parasites are gone and normal intestinal motility is restored. These data are consistent with the lack of MMC mediation of altered motility, and the decline in the rate of MMC apoptosis at 3 weeks post-PZQ suggests that apoptosis may play an important role in the involution of tapeworm-induced mastocytosis. (C) 1999 Academic Press.

Microbiological Evaluation of Chicken Carcasses in an Immersion Chilling System with Water Renewal at 8 and 16 Hours

Since 2004, Brazil has been the leading exporter of chicken. Because of the importance of this sector in the Brazilian economy, food safety must be ensured by control and monitoring of the production stages susceptible to contamination, such as the chilling process. The goal of this study was to evaluate changes in microbial levels on chicken carcasses and in chilling water after immersion in a chilling system for 8 and 16 h during commercial processing. An objective of the study was to encourage discussion regarding the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture Livestock and Food Supply regulation that requires chicken processors to completely empty, clean, and disinfect each tank of the chilling system after every 8-h shift. Before and after immersion carcasses were collected and analyzed for mesophilic bacteria, Enterobacteriaceae, conforms, and Escherichia coli. Samples of water from the chilling system were also analyzed for residual free chlorine. The results do not support required emptying of the chiller tank after 8 h; these tanks could be emptied after 16 h. The results for all carcasses tested at the 8- and 16-h time points indicated no significant differences in the microbiological indicators evaluated. These data provide both technical and scientific support for discussing changes in federal law regarding the management of immersion chilling water systems used as part of the poultry processing line.

HTRIdb: an open-access database for experimentally verified human transcriptional regulation interactions

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Regulation of angiotensin type 2 receptor in bovine granulosa cells

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Immunodominant Antigens of Leishmania chagasi Associated with Protection against Human Visceral Leishmaniasis

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

The role of nitric oxide in regulation of the cardiovascular system in reptiles

The roles that nitric oxide (NO) plays in the cardiovascular system of reptiles are reviewed, with particular emphasis on its effects on central vascular blood flows in the systemic and pulmonary circulations. New data is presented that describes the effects on hemodynamic variables in varanid lizards of exogenously administered NO via the nitric oxide donor sodium nitroprusside (SNP) and, preliminary data on the effects of SNP inhibition of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) by L-nitroarginine methyl ester (L-NAME). Furthermore. on hemodynamic variables in the tegu lizard are presented. The findings are compared with previously published data from Our laboratory on three other species of reptiles: pythons (Skovgaard, N., Galli, G., Taylor, E.W., Conlon, J.M., Wang.. T., 2005. Hemodynamic effects of python neuropeptide gamma in the anesthetized python, Python regius. Regul. Pept. 18, 15-26), rattlesnakes (Galli, G., Skovgaard, N., Abe, A.S., Taylor, E.W., Wang, T., 2005. The role of nitric oxide in the regulation of the systemic and the pulmonary vasculature of the rattlesnake, Crotalus durissus terrificus. J. Comp. Physiol. 175B, 201-208) and turtles (Crossley, D.A., Wang, T., Altimiras, J., 2000. Role of nitric oxide in the systemic and pulmonary circulation of anesthetized turtles (Trachemys scripta). J. Exp. Zool. 286, 683-689). These five species of reptiles possess different combinations of division of the heart and structural complexity of the lungs. Comparison of their responses to NO donors and NOS inhibitors may reveal whether the potential contribution of NO to vascular tone correlates with pulmonary complexity and/or with blood pressure. All existing studies oil reptiles have clearly established a potential role for NO in regulating vascular tone in the systemic circulation and NO may be important for maintaining basal systemic vascular tone in varanid lizards, pythons and turtles, through a continuous release of NO. In contrast., the pulmonary circulation is less responsive to NO donors or NOS inhibitors, and it was only in pythons and varanid lizards that the lungs responded to SNP. Both species have a functionally separated heart, so it is possible that NO may exert a larger role in species with low pulmonary blood pressures, irrespective of lung complexity. (C) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Regulation of ventilation in the caiman (Caiman latirostris): effects of inspired CO2 on pulmonary and upper airway chemoreceptors

In order to study the relative roles of receptors in the upper airways, lungs and systemic circulation in modulating the ventilatory response of caiman (Caiman latirostris) to inhaled CO2, gas mixtures of varying concentrations of CO2 Were administered to animals breathing through an intact respiratory system, via a tracheal cannula by-passing the upper airways (before and after vagotomy), or via a cannula delivering gas to the upper airways alone. While increasing levels of hypercarbia led to a progressive increase in tidal volume in animals with intact respiratory systems (Series 1), breathing frequency did not change until the CO2 level reached 7%, at which time it decreased. Despite this, at the higher levels of hypercarbia, the net effect was a large and progressive increase in total ventilation. There were no associated changes in heart rate or arterial blood pressure. on return to air, there was an immediate change in breathing pattern; breathing frequency increased above air-breathing values, roughly to the same maximum level regardless of the level of CO2 the animal had been previously breathing, and tidal volume returned rapidly toward resting (baseline) values. Total ventilation slowly returned to air breathing values. Administration of CO2 via different routes indicated that inhaled CO2 acted at both upper airway and pulmonary CO2-sensitive receptors to modify breathing pattern without inhibiting breathing overall. Our data suggest that in caiman, high levels of inspired CO2 promote slow, deep breathing. This will decrease deadspace ventilation and may reduce stratification in the saccular portions of the lung.

Formyl-peptide receptor is not involved in the protection afforded by annexin 1 in murine acute myocardial infarct

Recent interest in the annexin 1 field has come from the notion that specific G-protein-coupled receptors, members of the formyl-peptide receptor (FPR) family, appear to mediate the anti-inflammatory actions of this endogenous mediator. Administration of the annexin 1 N-terminal derived peptide Ac2-26 to mice after 25 min ischemia significantly attenuated the extent of acute myocardial injury as assessed 60 min postreperfusion. Evident at the dose of 1 mg/kg (similar to9 nmol per animal), peptide Ac2-26 cardioprotection was intact in FPR null mice. Similarly, peptide Ac2-26 inhibition of specific markers of heart injury (specifically myeloperoxidase activity, CXC chemokine KC contents, and endogenous annexin 1 protein expression) was virtually identical in heart samples collected from wild-type and FPR null mice. Mouse myocardium expressed the mRNA for FPR and the structurally related lipoxin A(4) receptor, termed ALX; thus, comparable equimolar doses of two ALX agonists (W peptide and a stable lipoxin A4 analog) exerted cardioprotection in wild-type and FPR null mice to an equal extent. Curiously, marked (>95%) blood neutropenia produced by an anti-mouse neutrophil serum did not modify the extent of acute heart injury, whereas it prevented the protection afforded by peptide Ac2-26. Thus, this study sheds light on the receptor mechanism(s) mediating annexin 1-induced cardioprotection and shows a pivotal role for ALX and circulating neutrophil, whereas it excludes any functional involvement of mouse FPR. These mechanistic data can help in developing novel therapeutics for acute cardioprotection.

AORTIC BARORECEPTORS PLAY A PREDOMINANT ROLE IN THE REGULATION OF HINDLIMB VASCULAR-RESISTANCE IN RATS

In previous studies using bilateral carotid occlusion in conscious freely moving rats we suggested that aortic baroreceptors may play a more important role in the regulation of hindlimb than in renal and mesenteric vascular resistances. In the present study we performed electrical stimulation of the aortic baroreceptor nerve and analyzed the changes in mean arterial pressure and in hindlimb, renal, and mesenteric vascular resistances. All the experiments were performed under urethan anesthesia. Unilateral electrical stimulation (3 V, 2 ms, 50 Hz) of the aortic baroreceptor nerve produced a fall in arterial pressure (-27 +/- 3 mmHg) and an important reduction in hindlimb vascular resistance (-43 +/- 5%), with an increase in renal (+3 +/- 14%) and mesenteric (+48 +/- 12%) vascular resistances. Similar changes in arterial pressure as well as in the resistance of the three vascular beds studied were also observed during electrical stimulation of the aortic baroreceptor nerve in rats with bilateral carotid baroreceptor denervation or in rats treated with methylatropine. The data obtained with electrical stimulation indicated that aortic baroreceptors play a more important role in the regulation of blood flow in hindlimb than in renal and mesenteric vascular beds.

Sino-aortic denervation causes right atrial beta adrenoceptor down-regulation

Rat isolated right atria obtained 1 wk after sinoaortic denervation were less sensitive to the chronotropic actions of beta-agonists than were tissues obtained from animals that underwent sham surgery or no surgery at all. The potencies, but not the maximal responses for two high efficacy agonists, norepinephrine and isoproterenol, were reduced about 3- to 4-fold. Sinoaortic denervation (SAD) caused about a 3-fold decrease in potency and about a 60% decrease in maximal response for a low efficacy agonist, prenalterol. The changes in the actions of these agonists occurred in the absence of any changes in the subtype of beta receptor mediating the chronotropic response. The results of analyses of the data for prenalterol showed that SAD caused a decrease in the operational efficacy of this agonist without any changes in its K-D value for beta-1 adrenoceptors. SAD had no effect on the responses of the tissue to blockade of uptake 1 and uptake 2, suggesting no compensatory changes in the removal processes caused the decreased potency. The results of radioligand binding assays showed that SAD caused a decrease in the maximal binding of I-125-cyanopindolol without altering its K-D. Also, the results of competition binding assays confirmed the lack of effect of SAD on the K-D for prenalterol. The SAD-induced changes in the actions of agonists acting at right atrial beta-1 receptors were caused by a down-regulation of beta-1 adrenoceptors, which probably occurred in response to SAD-induced increases in sympathetic tone.

The role of hydration on the mechanism of allosteric regulation: In situ measurements of the oxygen-linked kinetics of water binding to hemoglobin

We report here the first direct measurements of changes in protein hydration triggered by a functional binding. This task is achieved by weighing hemoglobin (Hb) and myoglobin films exposed to an atmosphere of 98%, relative humidity during oxygenation. The binding of the first oxygen molecules to Hb tetramer triggers a change in protein conformation, which increases binding affinity to the remaining empty sites giving rise to the appearance of cooperative phenomena. Although crystallographic data have evidenced that this structural change increases the protein water-accessible surface area, isobaric osmotic stress experiments in aqueous cosolutions have shown that water binding is linked to Hb oxygenation. Now we show that the differential hydration between fully oxygenated and fully deoxygenated states of these proteins, determined by weighing protein films with a quartz crystal microbalance, agree with the ones determined by osmotic stress in aqueous cosolutions, from the linkage between protein oxygen affinity and water activity. The agreements prove that the changes in water activity brought about by adding osmolytes to the buffer solution shift biochemical equilibrium in proportion to the number of water molecules associated with the reaction. The concomitant kinetics of oxygen and of water binding to Hb have been also determined. The data show that the binding of water molecules to the extra protein surface exposed on the transition from the low-affinity T to the high-affinity R conformations of hemoglobin is the rate-limiting step of Hb cooperative reaction. This evidences that water binding is a crucial step on the allosteric mechanism regulating cooperative interactions, and suggests the possibility that environmental water activity might be engaged in the kinetic control of some important reactions in vivo.

Screening Brazilian C gasoline quality: Application of the SIMCA chemometric method to gas chromatographic data

A total of 2400 samples of commercial Brazilian C gasoline were collected over a 6-month period from different gas stations in the São Paulo state, Brazil, and analysed with respect to 12 physicochemical parameters according to regulation 309 of the Brazilian Government Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANP). The percentages (v/v) of hydrocarbons (olefins, aromatics and saturated) were also determined. Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) was employed to select 150 representative samples that exhibited least similarity on the basis of their physicochemical parameters and hydrocarbon compositions. The chromatographic profiles of the selected samples were measured by gas chromatography with flame ionisation detection and analysed using soft independent modelling of class analogy (SIMCA) method in order to create a classification scheme to identify conform gasolines according to ANP 309 regulation. Following the optimisation of the SIMCA algorithm, it was possible to classify correctly 96% of the commercial gasoline samples present in the training set of 100. In order to check the quality of the model, an external group of 50 gasoline samples (the prediction set) were analysed and the developed SIMCA model classified 94% of these correctly. The developed chemometric method is recommended for screening commercial gasoline quality and detection of potential adulteration. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Expression of LH receptor mRNA splice variants in bovine granulosa cells: Changes with follicle size and regulation by FSH in vitro

In cattle, most evidence suggests that granulosa cells express LH receptors (LHR) after (or as) the follicle becomes dominant, however there is some suggestion that granulosa cells from smaller pre-dominant follicles may express several LHR mRNA splice variants. The objective of this study was to measure LHR expression in bovine follicles of defined size and steroiclogenic ability, and in granulosa cells from small follicles (< 6 mm diameter) undergoing differentiation in vitro. Serniquantitative RT-PCR demonstrated that LHR mRNA was undetectable in granulosa cells of follicles < 7 mm diameter (nondominant follicles), and increased with follicle diameter in follicles > 7 mm diameter. Splice variants with deletions of exon 10 and part of exon 11 were detected as previously described, and we detected a novel splice variant with a deletion of exon 3. Cultured granulosa cells contained LHR mRNA, but with significantly greater amounts of variants with deletions of exon 10 and/or exon 11 compared with cells from dominant follicles. FSH increased the abundance of some but not all LHR mRNA splice variants in cultured granulosa cells. The addition of LH to cultured cells did not increase progesterone secretion, despite the presence of LHR mRNA. Collectively, these data suggest that granulosa cells do not acquire functional LHR until follicle dominance occurs.