Persistent asthma in adults: comparison of high resolution computed tomography of the lungs after one year of follow-up

OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study were to evaluate the role of high resolution computed tomography of the torax in detecting abnormalities in chronic asthmatic patients and to determine the behavior of these lesions after at least one year. METHOD: Fourteen persistent asthmatic patients with a mean forced expiratory volume in 1-second that was 63% of predicted and a mean forced expiratory volume in 1-second /forced vital capacity of 60% had two high resolution computed tomographys separated by an interval of at least one year. RESULTS: All 14 patients had abnormalities on both scans. The most common abnormality was bronchial wall thickening, which was present in all patients on both computed tomographys. Bronchiectasis was suggested on the first computed tomography in 5 of the 14 (36%) patients, but on follow-up, the bronchial dilatation had disappeared in 2 and diminished in a third. Only one patient had any emphysematous changes; a minimal persistent area of paraseptal emphysema was present on both scans. In 3 patients, a "mosaic" appearance was observed on the first scan, and this persisted on the follow-up computed tomography. Two patients had persistent areas of mucoid impaction. In a third patient, mucus plugging was detected only on the second computed tomography. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that there are many abnormalities on the high resolution computed tomography of patients with persistent asthma. Changes suggestive of bronchiectasis, namely bronchial dilatation, frequently resolve spontaneously. Therefore, the diagnosis of bronchiectasis by high resolution computed tomography in asthmatic patients must be made with caution, since bronchial dilatation can be reversible or can represent false dilatation. Nonsmoking chronic asthmatic subjects in this study had no evidence of centrilobular or panacinar emphysema.

Chemical composition and acaricidal activity of the leaf and fruit essential oils of Protium heptaphyllum (Aubl.) Marchand (Burseraceae)

Essential oils from leaves and fruits of Protiumheptaphyllum collected in Tamandaré beach Pernambuco/Brazil were analysed by GC/MS and tested for toxicity and repellent effect against the two spotted spider mite (Tetranychus urticae). The major constituent identified in the fruits was alpha-terpinene (47.6 %) whereas oil from leaf contained mainly sesquiterpenes such as 9-epi-caryophyllene (21.4 %), trans-isolongifolanone (10.7 %) and 14-hydroxi-9-epi-caryophyllene (16.7 %). The fruit oil was found to be more effective against the mite when compared to the leaf oil. Both showed mortality properties and oviposition deterrence in higher concentration (10 µl.l-1 air), but only the essential oil from fruits induced repellence on T. urticae.

A structured inventory of spiders (Arachnida, Araneae) in natural and artificial forest gaps at Porto Urucu, Western Brazilian Amazonia

A preliminary survey of the spider fauna in natural and artificial forest gap formations at “Porto Urucu”, a petroleum/natural gas production facility in the Urucu river basin, Coari, Amazonas, Brazil is presented. Sampling was conducted both occasionally and using a protocol composed of a suite of techniques: beating trays (32 samples), nocturnal manual samplings (48), sweeping nets (16), Winkler extractors (24), and pitfall traps (120). A total of 4201 spiders, belonging to 43 families and 393 morphospecies, were collected during the dry season, in July, 2003. Excluding the occasional samples, the observed richness was 357 species. In a performance test of seven species richness estimators, the Incidence Based Coverage Estimator (ICE) was the best fit estimator, with 639 estimated species. To evaluate differences in species richness associated with natural and artificial gaps, samples from between the center of the gaps up to 300 meters inside the adjacent forest matrix were compared through the inspection of the confidence intervals of individual-based rarefaction curves for each treatment. The observed species richness was significantly higher in natural gaps combined with adjacent forest than in the artificial gaps combined with adjacent forest. Moreover, a community similarity analysis between the fauna collected under both treatments demonstrated that there were considerable differences in species composition. The significantly higher abundance of Lycosidae in artificial gap forest is explained by the presence of herbaceous vegetation in the gaps themselves. Ctenidae was significantly more abundant in the natural gap forest, probable due to the increase of shelter availability provided by the fallen trees in the gaps themselves. Both families are identified as potential indicators of environmental change related to the establishment or recovery of artificial gaps in the study area.

Some notes on a historical perspective of panic disorder

This article aims to describe important points in the history of panic disorder concept, as well as to highlight the importance of its diagnosis for clinical and research developments. Panic disorder has been described in several literary reports and folklore. One of the oldest examples lies in Greek mythology - the god Pan, responsible for the term panic. The first half of the 19th century witnessed the culmination of medical approach. During the second half of the 19th century came the psychological approach of anxiety. The 20th century associated panic disorder to hereditary, organic and psychological factors, dividing anxiety into simple and phobic anxious states. Therapeutic development was also observed in psychopharmacological and psychotherapeutic fields. Official classifications began to include panic disorder as a category since the third edition of the American Classification Manual (1980). Some biological theories dealing with etiology were widely discussed during the last decades of the 20th century. They were based on laboratory studies of physiological, cognitive and biochemical tests, as the false suffocation alarm theory and the fear network. Such theories were important in creating new diagnostic paradigms to modern psychiatry. That suggests the need to consider a wide range of historical variables to understand how particular features for panic disorder diagnosis have been developed and how treatment has emerged.

Study of Coronary Flow Reserve with Intravenous Use of Microbubbles (Contrast Echocardiography) and Adenosine: Protocol for Clinical Application in Patients Suspected of Having Coronary Heart Disease

OBJECTIVE: To test the feasibility, safety and accuracy of the adenosine protocol in the study of myocardial perfusion with microbubbles contrast echocardiography. METHODS: 81 pts (64 male, 60+11 years) were submitted to contrast echocardiography with PESDA (sonicated solution of albumin 20%-1ml, dextrose 5%-12ml and deca-fluorobutane gas-8ml) to study the myocardial perfusion at rest and after bolus injection of adenosine (6 to 18mg) and to coronary angiography within 1 month each other. For each patient 3 left ventricle perfusion beds were considered (total of 243 territories). 208 territories were analyzed and 35 territories were excluded. PESDA was continuously infused (1-2ml/min), titrated for best myocardial contrast. Triggered (1:1) second harmonic imaging was used. RESULTS: Coronary angiography showed 70 flow limiting (> 75%) lesions and 138 no flow limiting lesions. At rest an obvious myocardium contrast enhancement was seen in at least 1 segment of a territory in all patients. After adenosine injection an unquestionable further increase in myocardial contrast was observed in 136 territories (99%) related to no flow limiting lesions, lasting < 10 s, and a myocardial perfusion defect was detected in 68 territories (97%) related to flow limiting lesions. It was observed only 4 false results. There were no serious complications. CONCLUSION: Myocardial perfusion study with PESDA and adenosine protocol is a practical, safe and accurate method to analyze the coronary flow reserve.

Echocardiographic Assessment of the Pulmonary Venous Flow: An Indicator of Increased Pulmonary Flow in Congenital Cardiac Malformations

OBJECTIVE: To identify the left inferior pulmonary vein as an indirect marker of increased pulmonary flow in congenital heart diseases.METHODS: We carried out a prospective consecutive study on 40 patients divided into 2 groups as follows: G1 - 20 patients diagnosed with congenital heart disease and increased pulmonary flow; G2 (control group) - 20 patients who were either healthy or had congenital heart disease with decreased or normal pulmonary flow. We obtained the velocity-time integral of the left inferior pulmonary vein flow, excluding the "reverse A" wave, with pulsed Doppler echocardiography.RESULTS: In G1, 19 out of the 20 patients had well-identified dilation of the left inferior pulmonary vein. No G2 patient had dilation of the left inferior pulmonary vein. Dilation of the left inferior pulmonary vein in conditions of increased pulmonary flow had sensitivity of 95%, specificity of 100%, positive predictive value of 100%, and negative predictive value of 95% (1 false-negative case). The integral of time and velocity of the pulmonary venous flow obtained with pulsed Doppler echocardiography was greater in the G1 patients (G1=25.0±4.6 cm versus G2=14.8±2.1 cm, p=0.0001).CONCLUSION: The identification of dilation of the left inferior pulmonary vein suggests the presence of congenital heart disease with increased pulmonary flow. This may be used as an indirect sign of increased flow, mainly in malformations of difficult diagnosis, such as atrial septal defects of the venous sinus or coronary sinus type.

Ocorrência de domácias em espécies e híbridos da Família Vitaceae

The paper deals with the ocurrence of domatia in species and hybrids of Vitaceae family. The author found domaãtia in 95 of 157 hybrids studied. The domatia are always in the axils of the first and second ribs, and occasionaly also in ribs of others orders. The domatia found were of the types: "en touffe de poils", "en pertuis" and "en pochette", types according to the Chevalier's Classification (1941). It was found a varation of the type "en pertuis", the hole being not circular but narrow and long. One of the hybrids have domatia of two types: "en touffe de pois" and "en pertuis". Many of the domatia have mites in its interior.

Os ácaros do cafeeiro

Five species of mites are related to coffee leaves, in the States of São Paulo and Minas Gerais, Brazil: 1. Tetranychidae - Oligonychus ilicis (McGregor, 1919) P. & B. 1955. 2. Tenuipalpidae - Brevipalpus phoenicis (Geijskes, 1939) Sayed, 1946. 3. Tydeidae - Lorryia, lwiroensis group, and Tydeus sp. 4. Phytoseiidae - Amblyseius hibisci (Chant) Schuster & Pritchard, 1963.

Sobre alguns ácaros associados a um sauveiro

Five genera of mites and one hypopus of Acaridae are reported as to occur associated with the fungi cultivated by the leaf cutting ant Atta sexdens rubropilosa (Hymenoptera, Formicidae).

Caso de um mosquito intensamente parasitado por larvas de ácaros aquáticos

One female of Culex fatigans Wied., 1828, was collected in a light trap at CENA-ESA«LQ»-USP, Piracicaba, at about 500 meters off the Piracicaba River banks. This mosquito exhibited 15 partially engorged pionid larvae of water mites (Prostigmata, Hydrachnellae) of the genus Arrenurus, attached to the articular membranes of the abdominal segments; no mites were found on the thorax or coxae. The larva is drawn, dorsad and ventrad. Since species cannot be identified from larvae, no specific name is given.

Palpimanid spiders from Guyana: new species of the genera Fernandezina and Otiothops (Araneae, Palpimanidae, Otiothopinae)

Two new species of the spider family Palpimanidae from Guyana are described: Fernandezina takutu, the first species of this genus known from this country andOtiothops giralunas, that seems to be the sister species of O. goloboffi Grismado, 1996 from northwestern Argentina.

Abundância de microartrópodes do solo em fragmentos de mata com araucária no sul do Brasil

The abundance of soil microarthropods from seven fragments of Araucaria Forest, Muitos Capões, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, was compared. The size of the fragments ranged from 0.25 ha to 35 ha, the two largest fragments are situated within the Aracuri Ecological Station and the remaining five are situated in a cattle ranching farm. In June 2000, three plots (10 m x 10 m) were established in the central area of each patch, and three soil cores (7 cm diameter x 6 cm deep) were taken per plot. The abundance of microarthropods in the upper six centimeters (soil + litter) varied between 63209 and 102704 ind.m-2, with oribatid mites (Acari, Cryptostigmata) being dominant in all fragments (between 46.9 % and 61.3 % of total individuals). Most microarthropod groups presented a decrease in abundance with decreasing fragment area, with a statistically significant difference between smaller and larger fragments. The proportion of oribatids also decreased with decreasing fragment area. The results suggest that the growing fragmentation process of Araucaria forests in southern Brazil, associated to a tendency for reducing the size of remnant fragments, can affect the abundance of soil microarthropods, and therefore, the quality and health of this ecosystem.

Macrocheles muscaedomesticae (Acari, Macrochelidae) and a species of Uroseius (Acari, Polyaspididae) phoretic on Musca domestica (Diptera, Muscidae): effects on dispersal and colonization of poultry manure

Differences in the phoresy of the mites Macrocheles muscaedomesticae (Scopoli, 1972) (Macrochelidae) and Uroseius sp. (Polyaspidae) on the house fly, Musca domestica (Linnaeus, 1758) and the similarities in their phoretic dispersal and parasitism are discussed, altogether with the effects on predator-prey interactions. The prevalence and intensity of phoresy in the mite species were significantly related to the attachment site on the hosts. The phoresy of Uroseius sp. was correlated with temperature but not with rainfall and relative humidity. Selective pressure in the environment resulted in displacement and the emergence of local and regional populations. These results suggest that in each habitat the populations will use different resources and will show several relationships with other species, as well as a selection for morphological and behavioral types.

Hidracáridos (Acari, Hydrachnidia) de la cuenca Andina del río Beni, Bolivia

Water mites from Andean part of the Bolivian Amazonian rivers were examined. A new species is described, Limnesia aymara. New records and redescription are made for Hygrobatella multiacetabulata Cook,1980, Atractides brasiliensis (Lundblad, 1937) and Krendowskia convexa (Ribaga, 1902). A new subgenus Schwoerbelobatella for hygrobatelids poliacetabulated is proposed and characterized. Ecological characteristics of the river area sampled and ecological preferences of the analyzed species are discussed.

Description and ecological notes on Isoctenus malabaris sp. nov. (Araneae, Ctenidae) from southern Brazil

A new species, Isoctenus malabaris, is described from southern Brazil. This spider was abundantly collected with pitfall traps at Araucaria Forests (Mixed Ombrophilous Forest) domain. The activity of this species was studied in three distinct habitats (primary and secondary forests and silvicultures) during 20 months. A bimodal seasonal activity pattern, of males, was observed. Abundance differences of this species between habitats were not significant.