Evaluation of motivation methods used to obtain appropriate oral hygiene levels in schoolchildren.

The aim of the present study is to assess the behaviour of different motivation methods on levels of oral hygiene among schoolchildren aged from 7 to 9 years in Araraquara, SP, Brazil. The methods tested were: indirect instruction using 'The Smiling Robot' (group I), indirect instruction through class presentation (group II) and direct instruction with macromodels (group III). A control group was also constituted, which received no kind of motivation (group IV). The O'Leary Plaque Index was used as the evaluation method, applied before the instruction and 30 days after application of the different methods. It was noted that the plaque index had not decreased in group IV only. In conclusion, all the motivation methods promoted significant decrease of plaque index and among these methods, the 'The Smiling Robot' was the one that provided the best results.

Isolamento de fungos produtores de enzimas pectinolíticas

Soil samples collected in the campus, UNESP, Araraquara, SP, were employed to isolate and characterize fungi strains with potential pectinolytic enzymes. These enzymes have arisen great interest due to its increasing application in the food industry. Two hundred forty six strains were isolated based on the appearance of colony on PDA medium, morphology (septate mycelia, nonseptate conidiophore, black conidia, and clublike spore-bearing head), after 48 h of growth at 30°C. Strains were selected in solid medium containing pectin citrus as sole carbon source and 0.5% rutenium red. The characterization of pectinolytic production was performed in solid culture and batch fermentation medium containing pectin citrus. The enzyme pectinolytic production was evaluated at 30°C, without agitation in 100 mL of medium containing 2% pectin citrus, 0.2% ammonium sulphate, 0.2% magnesium sulphate, and 0.05% potassium phosphate. The maximum pectinolytic activity (15U/mL) was observed in the medium after Aspergillus sp CFCF-0492 growth, while Aspergillus sp CFCF-CC1 showed the higher level of the final biomass. The pectinolytic activity is more preserved when the fungi-spores were maintained in agar-Czapeck medium.

Avaliação da eficiência dos métodos Direto, COPROTEST e Rugai no diagnóstico da estrongiloidíase

Strongyloidiasis, a relatively common parasitism in tropical and sub-tropical areas, is the result of the infection by the smaller nematode, the Strongyloides stercoralis. Humans can be infected by this parasite, which has in its vital cycle free-life forms of male and female individuals able to live in the ground, and with another step necessary parasitism in the intestinal wall. The diagnostic of the infection is routinely done by the microscopic observation of the larva in stool samples and the high sensibility of urn method over another one allows an trustable and efficient diagnostic. The efficiency of three methods (Direct, COPROTEST and Rugai) used in the Parasitology Sector of the NAC-LACAL in Araraquara (SP) to diagnosis the strongiloidiasis were evaluated. A number of 2346 samples of stool of patients from NAC-LACAL and Nestor Goulart Reis Hospital were analyzed in the period between August and December of 2002. The Rugai Method with an positivity index of 65 % was elected as the most efficient of thee ones.

Estudo da bula de medicamentos: Uma análise da situação

This study was carried out in the city of Araraquara (SP, Brazil), where 1829 people selected randomly from 42 districts were interviewed with regard to their use of medicines, in particular whether and how they read the insert information sheet and the most frequently read items and problems encountered in the text. Surveys were performed in two stages, the first when package inserts were regulated in Brazil by Portaria SVS 110/1997 (Ministry of Health directive) and the second after the new regulation (RDC 140/2003) came into force. Out of 1829 people interviewed, 1597 reported using some medicine. The markedly similar results in both stages of the research pointed to the difficulties encounteved in reading the package inserts, due to the small letters, the obscure language and the massive amount of information. This paper shows that package inserts of medicines need to be simpler, so the patients have an idea of the importance of the medicine and are able to realize soon any problem that might appear due to the use of the medicine and what action they should take. Furthermore, it will be helpful to the evaluation of the package inserts of medicines, elaborated in conformity with RDC 140, if they work effectively as a source of information and guidance for the patient are not simply given a new layout, while maintaining items that impede their understanding and use.

Avaliação de diferentes métodos no diagnóstico laboratorial de Giardia lamblia

The protozoan parasite Giardia lamblia is responsible for a common intestinal infection in all regions of the world. In this study, four laboratory tests were evaluated for diagnostic reproducibility in the detection of this infection: Coprotest®, Direct modified method, Faust method and iron-hematoxylin staining. Positive diagnoses were tested for association with factors such as the age group and gender of the subject and the month when the sample was taken. Feces of 200 children in the Araraquara region (SP, Brazil) were examined by all four methods and the results compared. G. lamblia was found to be the most frequent parasite and 8.0% of the children showed giardiasis. There was no apparent correlation with gender, but most of the parasites were found in three- to five-year-olds. The highest frequency of infection occurred in January. The most reliable diagnostic results for G. lamblia were achieved by combining at least two methods of good reproducibility, i.e. Coprotest-Faust, Direct-Faust or Coprotest-Direct (A > 0.81).

Intraspecific variability of dihydrochalcone, chromenes and benzoic acid derivatives in leaves of Piper aduncum L. (Piperaceae)

Chemical analysis carried out in leaves of 18 specimens of Piper aduncum L. (Piperaceae) occurring at Ripasa Reserve, Araraquara, SP, Brazil indicated two distinct populations when investigated over a period of 14 months (January 2000 to February 2001) and then submitted to cluster analysis. The two groups were characterized by accumulation of prenylated benzoic acids, chromenes and dihydrochalcone, respectively. A total of seven compounds were identified by HPLC analysis and compared with standards including two prenylated benzoic acid [aduncumene (1) and 3-(3′-7′-dimethyl-2′-6′-octadienyl)- 4-methoxy-benzoic acid (5)], four chromenes [methyl 2,2-dimethyl-8-(3′- methyl-2′-butenyl)-2H-1-chromene-6-carboxylate (4), methyl 2,2-dimethyl-2H-1-chromene-6-carboxylate (2b), methyl 8-hydroxy-2,2-dimethyl-2H- 1-chromene-6-carboxylate (3) and 2,2-dimethyl-2H-1-chromene-6-carboxylic acid (2a)] and one dihydrochalcone [2′,6′-dihydroxy-4′-methoxy- dihydrochalcone (6)]. © 2009 Academic Journals.

A ótica do usuário na avaliação da qualidade do programa de atenção odontológica à gestante

Objective: To evaluate the pregnant women's perception of the FOA-UNESP's Pregnant Women Dental Care Program (Araraquara, SP, Brazil). Method: The sample included 75 pregnant women and used a questionnaire with 16 closed questions, containing variables grouped in the following categories: the didactic-psychological meetings, clinical treatment, professional's profile, clinical facility, fear/confidence in the treatment, and learning. Except for the variables fear/confidence in the treatment and learning, to which 'yes' or 'no' answers were attributed, the remaining variables were attributed answers varying from weak to excellent. The questionnaire pretested in a pilot-study and applied after informed consent was obtained from all pregnant women treated between 2005 and 2006. Results: Most women rated as excellent the information addressed during the didactic-psychological meetings (81.1%), the clinical treatment (90.6%), the professional as to personal appearance, kindness and attention (88.7%, 96.2% and 90.6%, respectively), and the clinical facility as to cleanness, ventilation and comfort (92.5%, 86.8% and 90.6%, respectively). Most of them stated to feel confident (96.2%) and have no fear (86.8%) during the treatment and also affirmed having learned new information in the didactic-psychological meetings of the program (92.5%). Conclusion: The services and actions developed in the program have reached successful outcomes, providing health to the pregnant women and their forthcoming babies.

Escala de ansiedade odontológica: Reprodutibilidade das respostas dadas em entrevistas telefônicas e pessoais

Objective: To estimate the intra-examiner reproducibility of the Dental Anxiety Scale (DAS) when applied by phone and personal interviews and to evaluate the association between the level of anxiety and the factors of interest. Method: The participants were 50 individuals (n=38 females) with mean age of 23.9±8.9 years, living in the city of Araraquara, SP, Brazil. The volunteers answered the DAS by means of two phone interviews with one-week interval between them. After 30 days, the DAS was applied to the same participants by means of personal interviews at two moments with one-week interval between them. Intra-examiner reproducibility was determined using Kappa (K) statistics by point and by confidence interval. Results: The intra-examiner agreement for the level of anxiety was 0.82 (0.75-0.90) for the phone interview and 0.69 (0.60-0.79) for the personal interview. Two of the DAS questions presented statistically significant difference in the intra-examiner reproducibility, with better agreement for the answers given by the participants during phone calls. The prevalence of dental anxiety in the sample was 92.0%, in such a way that 70.0%, 18.0% and 4.0% of them presented low, moderate and exacerbated anxiety. Conclusion: The classification of the individuals according to the anxiety level performed by means of phone and personal interviews presented statistically similar agreement. However, there was better agreement with phone calls for the questions referring to anxiety in the dental office's waiting room and during preparation of the motor for use in the dental treatment.

Influência das concepções europeias na formulação do pensamento urbanístico paulista

This article aims to present a list of the main influences experimented by architects and urbanists to formulate an urban thought of Sao Paulo City. This way, it will be discussed the main issues raised between the first decades of the XX Century until the 1950s, trying to foresee how the engineers and architects worked to incorporate the urbanistic proposals from Europe and the United States. On the first three sections of this article, it will be presented the concepts that effectively impacted the paulista urban thought of the first half of the XX Century: Sanitarism, the pendulum design: between the Mesologic Theory and the Microbian Theory; Camillo Sitte's historicist formulation; Howard Garden Town and the French experience. Our analysis was formulated by having as a reference a broad and systematic literature, documents stored at Arquivo Histórico Municipal de Araraquara (SP), visits to Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo da USP Library and to Faculdade de Ciências e Letras da Unesp, Araraquara. The analysis shows that two urbanistic planner streams that happened in São Paulo State were clearly influenced by the conceptions that led the urbanistic debates in the first half of the XX Century. So, these conceptions compose a painting of the urban interventions in São Paulo City.

Fumonisina B1 em arroz: desenvolvimento de método analítico, validação e ocorrência

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Avaliação da eficiência de métodos rápidos usados para detecção de coliforme totais e coliforme fecais em amostras de água, em comparação com a técnica de fermentação em tubos múltiplos

Pós-graduação em Alimentos e Nutrição - FCFAR

Estudo da vida-de-prateleira do suco de laranja concentrado e congelado

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Atividade protetora cardiovascular do suco de laranja vermelha em indivíduos adultos

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Suco de laranja reduz colesterol e insulina no sangue de indivíduos saudáveis

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Contribuição da educação nutricional junto a um grupo de isodosos

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)