Evaluation of outpatient discharge in patients with cutaneous melanoma

OBJECTIVE: to evaluate discharge in a group of patients with cutaneous melanoma according to recently established criteria. METHODS: we conducted an observational, cross-sectional study with 32 patients at the Hospital Universitário Clementino Fraga Filho (HUCFF) / Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), between 1995 and 2013, in the following stages: IA (17 cases, 53.12%), IB (4 cases, 12.5%), IIA (3 cases, 9.37%), IIC (1 case, 3.12%), IIIB (1 case, 3.12%), IIIC (3 cases, 9.37%), melanomas in situ (2 cases, 6.25%), Tx (1 case, 3.12%). RESULTS: the follow-up time varied from one to 20 years (stage IA), five to 15 years (stage IB), six to 17 years (stage IIA), 20 years (stage IIC), 23 years (stage IIIB) and 14 to 18 years (stage IIIC). One melanoma in situ (subungueal) was discharged in the fourth year of follow-up and the other was promptly discharged. The Tx melanoma was followed for 12 years. We observed no relapses or recurrences in the period. CONCLUSION: although a controversial issue, it was possible to endorse the discharge of the patients since our follow-up time had already exceeded the one recommended by the other authors.

Evaluation of left ventricular diastolic echocardiographic parameters in healthy dogs by pulsed-wave Doppler

Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction plays an important role on heart failure progression. In order to obtain additional reference values of left ventricular diastolic parameters and investigate influence of common variables, peak E wave (peak E), peak A wave (peak A), E/A ratio (E/A), E wave deceleration time (EDT) and isovolumic relaxation time (IRVT) were studied in 40 clinically healthy dogs, by pulsed wave Doppler. The following values were obtained: peak E = 0.747 ± 0.117 m/s, peak A = 0.487 ± 0.062 m/s, E/A = 1.533 ± 0.198, EDT = 88.7 ± 9.2 ms and IRVT = 0.080 ± 0.009 s. Some parameters were influenced by heart rate (peak E, peak A and IRVT), by age (peak A and E/A) and by body weight (TRIV). Gender influence was absent. Values obtained can be used as reference for canine specimens but its interpretation should consider on the influence of related variables.

The pulsed wire anemometer: review and further developments

The purpose of the present paper is to review work that has been done on the pulsed wire anemometer technique and also suggest further developments that could be made in its range of application. The aper discusses the three types of probes that have been used in pulsed wire anemometry: the crossed wire velocity probe, the parallel wire wall shear stress probe and the parallel wire velocity probe. The work shows that the crossed wire and the parallel wire techniques can be used to make velocity, turbulence and wall shear stress measurements in highly turbulent flows without any upper restriction on turbulence level. Comments are also made on the potential of a parallel wire probe for use in highly turbulent flows that would enable higher order velocity cross-product terms to be measured.

Influence of duty factor on the die-sinking Electrical Discharge Machining of high-strength aluminum alloy under rough machining

The use of high-strength aluminium alloys as material for injection molding tools to produce small and medium batches of plastic products as well as prototyping molds is becoming of increasing demand by the tooling industry. These alloys are replacing the traditional use of steel in the cases above because they offer many advantages such as very high thermal conductivity associated with good corrosion and wear resistance presenting good machinability in milling and electrical discharge machining operations. Unfortunately there is little technological knowledge on the Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) of high-strength aluminium alloys, especially about the AMP 8000 alloy. The duty factor, which means the ratio between pulse duration and pulse cycle time exerts an important role on the performance of EDM. This work has carried out an experimental study on the variation of the duty factor in order to analyze its influence on material removal rate and volumetric relative wear under roughing conditions of EDM process. The results showed that high values of duty factor are possible to be applied without bringing instability into the EDM process and with improvement of material removal rate and volumetric relative wear.

Serotonergic neurons in the caudal raphe nuclei discharge in association with activity of masticatory muscles

There is a dense serotonergic projection from nucleus raphe pallidus and nucleus raphe obscurus to the trigeminal motor nucleus and serotonin exerts a strong facilitatory action on the trigeminal motoneurons. Some serotonergic neurons in these caudal raphe nuclei increase their discharge during feeding. The objective of the present study was to investigate the possibility that the activity of these serotonergic neurons is related to activity of masticatory muscles. Cats were implanted with microelectrodes and gross electrodes. Caudal raphe single neuron activity, electrocorticographic activity, and splenius, digastric and masseter electromyographic activities were recorded during active behaviors (feeding and grooming), during quiet waking and during sleep. Seven presumed serotonergic neurons were identified. These neurons showed a long duration action potential (>2.0 ms), and discharged slowly (2-7 Hz) and very regularly (interspike interval coefficient of variation <0.3) during quiet waking. The activity of these neurons decreased remarkably during fast wave sleep (78-100%). Six of these neurons showed tonic changes in their activity positively related to digastric and/or masseter muscle activity but not to splenius muscle activity during waking. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that serotonergic neurons in the caudal raphe nuclei play an important role in the control of jaw movements

Typing of Enterococcus faecium by polymerase chain reaction and pulsed field gel electrophoresis

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with JB1 or REP consensus oligonucleotides and pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) were used to study genomic DNA extracted from 31 strains of enterococci. Eleven ATCC strains, representative of 11 species of Enterococcus, were initially tested by JB1-PCR, revealing that Enterococcus malodoratus and Enterococcus hirae presented identical banding patterns. Eight Enterococcus faecium isolates from Stanford University and 12 from São Paulo Hospital were studied by JB1-PCR, REP-PCR 1/2R and PFGE. Among the isolates from Stanford University, 5 genotypes were defined by JB1-PCR, 7 by REP-PCR 1/2R and 4 by PFGE. Among the isolates from São Paulo Hospital, 9 genotypes were identified by JB1-PCR, 6 by REP-PCR and 5 by PFGE. The three methods identified identical genotypes, but there was not complete agreement among them.

Pulsed ultrasound therapy accelerates the recovery of skeletal muscle damage induced by Bothrops jararacussu venom

We studied the effect of pulsed ultrasound therapy (UST) and antibothropic polyvalent antivenom (PAV) on the regeneration of mouse extensor digitorum longus muscle following damage by Bothrops jararacussu venom. Animals (Swiss male and female mice weighing 25.0 ± 5.0 g; 5 animals per group) received a perimuscular injection of venom (1 mg/kg) and treatment with UST was started 1 h later (1 min/day, 3 MHz, 0.3 W/cm², pulsed mode). Three and 28 days after injection, muscles were dissected and processed for light microscopy. The venom caused complete degeneration of muscle fibers. UST alone and combined with PAV (1.0 mL/kg) partially protected these fibers, whereas muscles receiving no treatment showed disorganized fascicules and fibers with reduced diameter. Treatment with UST and PAV decreased the effects of the venom on creatine kinase content and motor activity (approximately 75 and 48%, respectively). Sonication of the venom solution immediately before application decreased the in vivo and ex vivo myotoxic activities (approximately 60 and 50%, respectively). The present data show that UST counteracts some effects of B. jararacussu venom, causing structural and functional improvement of the regenerated muscle after venom injury.