Efeitos do tratamento com Hidrogel na cicatrização de úlceras venosas de membros inferiores: revisão sistemática

Chronic venous disease (CVD) is evident among the chronic diseases and affects the elderly population and primarily is responsible for leg ulcers in this population. The use of dressings in the care of a venous ulcer is a fundamental part of the treatment for healing, however, evidence to assist in choosing the best dressing is scarce. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment with hydrogel in the healing of venous ulcers using search methods, synthesis of information and statistical research through a systematic review and meta-analysis. Randomized controlled trials were selected in the following databases: CENTRAL; DARE; NHS EED; MEDLINE; EMBASE; CINAHL. Beyond these databases three websites were consulted to identify ongoing studies: ClinicalTrials.gov, OMS ICTRP e ISRCTN. The primary outcomes were analyzed: complete wound healing, incidence of wound infection and the secondary were: changes in ulcer size, time to ulcer healing, recurrence of ulcer, quality of life of participants, pain and costs of treatment. Four studies are currently included in the review with a total of 250 participants. The use of hydrogel appears to be superior to conventional dressing, gauze soaked in saline, for the healing of venous leg ulcers; 16/30 patients showed complete healing of ulcers (RR 5,33, 95%CI [1,73,16,42]). The alginate gel was shown to be more effective when compared to the hydrogel dressing in reduction of the wound area; 61,2% (± 26,2%) with alginate e 19,4% (± 24,3%) with hydrogel at the end of four weeks of treatment. Manuka honey has shown to be similar to the hydrogel dressings in percentage of area reduction. This review demonstrated that there is no evidence available about the effectiveness of the hydrogel compared to other types of dressings on the healing of venous leg ulcers of the lower limbs, thus demonstrating the need of future studies to assist health professionals in choosing the correct dressing.

Emprego da levomepromazina no bloqueio da arritmia induzida pela adrenalina em cães anestesiados pelo Sevoflurano

Este experimento objetivou estudar o possível efeito antiarritmogênico da levomepromazina em cães anestesiados pelo sevoflurano e submetidos a doses crescentes de adrenalina. Para tal, foram empregados 21 animais adultos, machos e fêmeas, sem raça definida e considerados sadios. Os cães foram separados em dois grupos, sendo um de 11 (G1) e outro de 10 (G2) animais. O G1 recebeu, por via intravenosa, solução salina a 0,9%, na dose de 0,2ml/kg (placebo), seguida 15 minutos após, pela aplicação de tiopental, pela mesma via, na dose suficiente para abolir o reflexo laringotraqueal. Procedeu-se à intubação orotraqueal e iniciou-se a administração de sevoflurano a 2,5V%, em circuito anestésico semi-fechado. Decorridos 20 minutos da indução anestésica, iniciou-se a administração contínua, por via intravenosa, com emprego de bomba de infusão, de solução de adrenalina a 2%, em doses crescentes de 1, 2, 3, 4 e 5m g/kg/min (M1 a M5, respectivamente), com incremento da dose a intervalos de 10 minutos. Para o G2, empregou-se a mesma metodologia substituindo-se o placebo por levomepromazina, na dose de 1mg/kg. Foi tomado o traçado eletrocardiográfico, na derivação D2, a partir da indução da anestesia. Para efeito estatístico, foi considerado o número total de batimentos cardíacos de origem não sinusal, coincidentes com cada dose de adrenalina. Os dados numéricos foram submetidos à Análise de Perfil, quando foi possível constatar que as médias do G1 foram crescentes de M1 a M3, diminuindo a partir deste último, até M5. No G2, foi encontrada arritmia ventricular sustentada apenas em M5. Os achados permitiram concluir que a levomepromazina minimiza a arritmia ventricular sustentada, induzida pela adrenalina em cães anestesiados pelo sevoflurano.

Avaliação de um programa de intervenção de habilidades sociais educativas parentais: um estudo-piloto

Estudos têm apontado relações entre déficits de habilidades sociais educativas de pais e problemas de comportamento de seus filhos. Nesse sentido, esta pesquisa visa a descrever os efeitos de um procedimento de intervenção com pais, o qual pretendeu promover suas habilidades sociais educativas. Participaram dois pais e sete mães, que elegeram o filho com o qual descreveram ter maiores dificuldades de relacionamento. Para a avaliação: 1) das dificuldades dos pais, foi utilizada uma entrevista estruturada, e 2) dos procedimentos de intervenção, foram utilizados: a) questionário de habilidades sociais educativas parentais (QHSE-P) e b) inventário de habilidades sociais (IHS-Del Prette). Os resultados das comparações pré e pós-intervenção do IHS-Del Prette mostraram aumento no escore dos grupos; as comparações do QHSE-P apontaram aquisições de diversas habilidades sociais educativas: expressar sentimentos positivos, agradecer elogios, dizer não e negociar limites. Discute-se a necessidade de procedimentos de promoção de habilidades sociais educativas para ampliar o repertório social parental.

A cafeína exerce efeitos positivos sobre a memória tipo episódica em ratos adultos sem influenciar a sobrevivência neural no giro dentado

The caffeine is a mild psychostimulant that has positive cognitive effects at low doses, while promotes detrimental effects on these processes at higher doses. The episodic-like memory can be evaluated in rodents through hippocampus-dependent tasks. The dentate gyrus is a hippocampal subregion in which neurogenesis occurs in adults, and it is believed that this process is related to the function of patterns separation, such as the identification of spatial and temporal patterns when discriminating events. Furthermore, neurogenesis is influenced spatial and contextual learning tasks. Our goal was to evaluate the performance of male Wistar rats in episodic-like tasks after acute or chronic caffeine treatment (15mg/kg or 30mg/kg). Moreover, we assessed the chronic effect of the caffeine treatment, as well as the influence of the hippocampus-dependent learning tasks, on the survival of new-born neurons at the beginning of treatment. For this purpose, we used BrdU to label the new cells generated in the dentate gyrus. Regarding the acute treatment, we found that the saline group presented a tendency to have better spatial and temporal discrimination than caffeine groups. The chronic caffeine group 15 mg/kg (low dose) showed the best discrimination of the temporal aspect of episodic-like memory, whereas the chronic caffeine group 30mg/kg (high dose) was able to discriminate temporal order, only in a condition of greater difficulty. Assessment of neurogenesis using immunohistochemistry for evaluating survival of new-born neurons generated in the dentate gyrus revealed no difference among groups of chronic treatment. Thus, the positive mnemonic effects of the chronic caffeine treatment were not related to neuronal survival. However, another plastic mechanism could explain the positive mnemonic effect, given that there was no improvement in the acute caffeine groups

Diferenças funcionais das regiões hipocampais na formação da memória do tipo o quê", "quando" e "onde" em ratos

Episodic memory refers to the recollection of what, where and when a specific event occurred. Hippocampus is a key structure in this type of memory. Computational models suggest that the dentate gyrus (DG) and the CA3 hippocampal subregions are involved in pattern separation and the rapid acquisition of episodic memories, while CA1 is involved in memory consolidation. However there are few studies with animal models that access simultaneously the aspects ‗what-where-when . Recently, an object recognition episodic-like memory task in rodents was proposed. This task consists of two sample trials and a test phase. In sample trial one, the rat is exposed to four copies of an object. In sample trial two, one hour later, the rat is exposed to four copies of a different object. In the test phase, 1 h later, two copies of each of the objects previously used are presented. One copy of the object used in sample trial one is located in a different place, and therefore it is expected to be the most explored object.However, the short retention delay of the task narrows its applications. This study verifies if this task can be evoked after 24h and whether the pharmacological inactivation of the DG/CA3 and CA1 subregions could differentially impair the acquisition of the task described. Validation of the task with a longer interval (24h) was accomplished (animals showed spatiotemporal object discrimination and scopolamine (1 mg/kg, ip) injected pos-training impaired performance). Afterwards, the GABA agonist muscimol, (0,250 μg/μl; volume = 0,5 μl) or saline were injected in the hippocampal subregions fifteen minutes before training. Pre-training inactivation of the DG/CA3 subregions impaired the spatial discrimination of the objects (‗where ), while the temporal discrimination (‗when ) was preserved. Rats treated with muscimol in the CA1 subregion explored all the objects equally well, irrespective of place or presentation time. Our results corroborate the computational models that postulate a role for DG/CA3 in spatial pattern separation, and a role for CA1 in the consolidation process of different mnemonic episodes

Expressão de zif-268 durante a aquisição, evocação e extinção de uma memória aversiva

In the behavioral paradigm of discriminative avoidance task, both short and long-term memories have been extensively investigated with behavioral and pharmacological approaches. The aim of the present study was to evaluate, using the abovementioned model, the hippocampal expression of zif-268 - a calcium-dependent immediate early gene involved with synaptic plasticity process - throughout several steps of memory formation, such as acquisition, evocation and extiction. The behavioral apparatus consisted of a modified elevaated plus-maze, with their enclosed arms disposed in "L". A pre-exposure to the maze was made with the animal using all arms enclosed, for 30 minutes, followed by training and test, during 10 minutes each. The between sections interval was 24h. During training, aversive stimuli (bright light and loud noise) were actived whenever the animals entered one of the enclosed armas (aversive arm). Memory acquisiton, retention and extinction were evaluated by the percentage of the total time spent exploring the aversive arm. The parameters evaluated (time spent in the arms and total distance traveled) were estimated with an animal tracking software (Anymaze, Stoelting, USA). Learning during training was estimated by the decrease of the time spent exploring the aversive arm. One hour after the beginning of each section, animals were anaesthetized with sodium-thiopental (i.p.) and perfused with 0.9% heparinized saline solution followed by 4% paraformaldehyde. Brains were cryoprotected with 20% sucrose, separeted in three blocks and frozen. The middle block, containing the hippocampus, was sectioned at 20 micro meters in the coronal plane and the resutant sections were submitted to zif-268 immunohistochemistry. Our results show an increased expression of zif-268 in the dentate gyrus (DG) during the evocation and extinction stages. There is a distinct participation of the DG during the memory evocation, but not during its acquisition. Inaddition, all hippocampal regions (CA1, CA3 and DG) presented an increased zif-268 expression during the process of extinction.

Expressão de genes imediatos induzidos por vocalizações em sagüis-comuns (Callithrix jacchus)

Immediate-early genes (IEGs) expression has been widely used as a valuable tool to investigate brain areas activated by specific stimuli. Studies of natural vocalizations, specially in songbirds, have largely benefited from this tool. Here we used IEGs expression to investigate brain areas activated by the hearing of conspecific common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) vocalizations and/or utterance of antiphonal vocalizations. Nine adult male common marmosets were housed in sound-attenuating cages. Six animals were stimulated with playbacks of freely recorded natural long distance vocalizations (phee calls and twitters; 45 min. total duration). Three of them vocalized in response (O/V group) and three did not (O/n group). The control group (C) was composed by the remaining animals, which neither heard the playbacks nor spontaneously vocalized. After one hour of the stimulation onset (or no stimulation, in the case of the C group), animals were perfused with 0,9% phosphate-saline buffer and 4% paraformaldehyde. The tissue was coronally sectioned at 20 micro meter in a cryostat and submitted to immunohistochemistry for the IEGs egr-1 and c-fos. Marked immunoreactivity was observed in the auditory cortex of O/V and O/n subjects and in the anterior cingulate cortex, the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex of O/V subjects. In this study, brain areas activated by vocalizations of common marmosets were investigated using IEGs expression for the first time. Our results with the egr-1 gene indicate that potential plastic phenomena occur in areas related to hearing and uttering conspecific vocalizations.

Alterações na evocação de uma memória aversiva ao liongo do ciclo estral de ratas: influências da transmissão gabaérgica na amígdala

GABAergic neurotransmission has been implicated in many aspects of learning and memory, as well as mood and anxiety disorders. The amygdala has been one of the major focuses in this area, given its essential role in modulating emotionally relevant memories. However, studies with male subjects are still predominant in the field. Here we investigated the consequences for an aversive memory of enhancing or decreasing GABAergic transmission in the basolateral nucleus of the amygdala (BLA). Wistar female rats were trained in the plus-maze discriminative avoidance task, in which they had to learn to avoid one of the enclosed arms where an aversive stimulus consisting of a bright light and a loud noise was given (day 1). Fifteen minutes before the test session (day 2) animals received 0,2 μL infusions of either saline solution, the GABAergic agonist muscimol (0,05 mg/ml), or the GABAergic antagonist bicuculine (0,025 mg/ml) bilaterally intra-BLA. On the test day, females in proestrous or estrous presented adequate retrieval and did not extinguish the task, while females in metestrous or diestrous presented impaired retrieval. In the first group, muscimol infusion impaired retrieval and bicuculline had no effect, suggesting naturally low levels of GABAergic transmission in the BLA of proestrous and estrous females. In the second group, muscimol infusion had no effect and bicuculline reversed retrieval impairment, suggesting naturally high levels of GABAergic transmission in the BLA of metestrous and diestous females. Additionally, proestrous and estrous females presented higher anxiety levels compared to metestrous and diestrous females, which could explain better performance of this group. On the other hand, BLA GABAergic system did not interfere with the innate fear response because drug infusions had no effect in anxiety. Thus, retrieval alterations caused by the GABAergic drugs were probably related specifically to memory processes

Mudanças endógenas e suprafisiológicas nos níveis de estrógeno: efeitos sobre a amnésia induzida pela escopolamina em ratas intactas

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior

Efeito da degradação ambiental nas propriedades de cisalhamento de compósitos PPS/fibra de carbono

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

Influência de atividades antrópicas sobre a salinização da água em área de dunas no Município de Guamaré RN

The municipality of Guamaré is located on the north coast of RN, Salineira zone, with a land area of 259 km2 and a population of approximately 12,500 inhabitants (IBGE, 2010). Presents strong morphological instability caused mainly by the influence of human activities in the region. The present study aims to assess the existing levels of salts in the springs of the region, by evaluating the electrical conductivity, pH, salinity, chlorides, hardness, calcium, magnesium and heavy metals in the water. The collection and analysis methods adopted in the survey are based on APHA (2005). The electrical conductivity, salinity and chloride behaved similarly throughout the study. Some points suffered the direct effect of the salt ponds and others. Given the existence of a drainage ditch between the saline and monitored region, there was little change in the environment, including the native vegetation. The opposite situation occurred in farms where the region is fully committed local vegetation and water holes and wells used in the past for domestic use are practically disabled (high salt content). In Rio Miassaba formation of an estuary is reversed, with the farther out from the sea showing higher salt concentracions, which may be associated with the discharge of organic matter and natural evaporation rate. In periods of no rainfall had a few points higher than the levels of salts found in seawater and may be associated with high evaporation in the region. Detected a positive factor is the high resilience and reducing salt, after periods of rainfall incidence

Síntese e caracterização de poliacrilamidas modificadas para utilização na indústria do petróleo

Modified polyacrylamides with ≅ 0.2 mol % of N,N-dihexylacrylamide and hydrolysis degree from 0 to 25 % were synthesized by micellar copolymerization. The hydrophobic monomer was obtained by the reaction between acryloyl chloride and N,Ndihexylamine and characterized by infrared (IR) and proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) spectroscopy. The polymer molecular structures were determined through 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy and the polymers were studied in dilute and semi-dilute regimes by viscometry, rheometry, static light scattering and photon correlation spectroscopy, at the temperature range from 25 to 55 ºC. The data obtained by viscometry showed that the intrinsic viscosity from the hydrolyzed polymers is larger than the precursor polymers at the same ionic strength. The comparison between the charged polymers showed that the polymer with higher hydrolysis degree has a more compact structure in formation water (AFS). The increase of temperature led to an enhanced reduced viscosity to the polymers in Milli-Q water (AMQ), although, in brine, only the unhydrolyzed polymer had an increase in the reduced viscosity with the temperature, and the hydrolyzed derivatives had a decrease in the reduced viscosity. The static light scattering (SLS) analyses in salt solutions evidenced a decrease of weight-average molecular weight (⎯Mw) with the increase of the hydrolysis degree, due to the reduction of the thermodynamic interactions between polymer and solvent, which was evidenced by the decrease of the second virial coefficient (A2). The polymers showed more than one relaxation mode in solution, when analyzed by photon correlation spectroscopy, and these modes were attributed to isolated coils and aggregates of several sizes. The aggregation behavior depended strongly on the ionic strength, and also on the temperature, although in a lower extension. The polymers showed large aggregates in all studied conditions, however, their solutions did not displayed a good increase in water viscosity to be used in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) processes

Aplicação de sabões de ácidos graxos epoxidados como inibidores de corrosão em oleoduto

Corrosion usually occurs in pipelines, so that it is necessary to develop new surface treatments to control it. Surfactants have played an outstanding role in this field due to its capacity of adsorbing on metal surfaces, resulting in interfaces with structures that protect the metal at low surfactant concentrations. The appearance of new surfactants is a contribution to the area, as they increase the possibility of corrosion control at specific conditions that a particular oil field presents. The aim of this work is to synthesize the surfactants sodium 12 hydroxyocadecenoate (SAR), sodium 9,10-epoxy-12 hydroxyocadecanoate (SEAR), and sodium 9,10:12,13-diepoxy-octadecanoate (SEAL) and apply them as corrosion inhibitors, studying their action in environments with different salinities and at different temperatures. The conditions used in this work were chosen in order to reproduce oil field reality. The study of the micellization of these surfactants in the liquid-gas interface was carried out using surface tensiometry. It was observed that cmc increased as salt concentration was increased, and temperature and pH were decreased, while cmc decreased with the addition of two epoxy groups in the molecule. Using the values of cmc and the Gibbs equation, the values of Gibbs free energy of adsorption, area per adsorbed molecule, and surface excess were calculated. The surface excess increases as salt concentration and temperature decreases, increasing as pH is increased. The area per adsorbed molecule and the free energy of adsorption decrease with salt concentration, temperature, and pH increase. SAXS results showed that the addition of epoxy group in surfactant structure results in a decrease in the repulsion between the micelles, favoring the formation of more oblong micellar structures, ensuring a better efficiency of metal coverage. The increase in salt and surfactant concentrations provides an increase in micellar diameter. It was shown that the increase in temperature does not influence micellar structure, indicating thermal stability that is advantageous for use as corrosion inhibitor. The results of inhibition efficiency for the surfactants SEAR and SEAL were considered the best ones. Above cmc, adsorption occurred by the migration of micelles from the bulk of the solution to the metal surface, while at concentrations below cmc film formation must be due to the adsorption of semi-micellar and monomeric structures, certainly due to the presence of the epoxy group, which allows side interactions of the molecule with the metal surface. The metal resistance to corrosion presented values of 90% of efficiency. The application of Langmuir and Frumkin isotherms showed that the later gives a better description of adsorption because the model takes into account side interactions from the adsorbing molecules. Wettability results showed that micelle formation on the solid surface occurs at concentrations in the magnitude of 10-3 M, which isthe value found in the cmc study. This value also justifies the maximum efficiencies obtained for the measurements of corrosion resistance at this concentration. The values of contact angle as a function of time suggest that adsorption increases with time, due to the formation of micellar structures on metal surface

Tratamento de borra de petróleo com sistemas microemulsionados

During the storage of oil, sludge is formed in the bottoms of tanks, due to decantation, since the sludge is composed of a large quantity of oil (heavy petroleum fractions), water and solids. The oil sludge is a complex viscous mixture which is considered as a hazardous waste. It is then necessary to develop methods and technologies that optimize the cleaning process, oil extraction and applications in industry. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the composition of the oil sludge, to obtain and characterize microemulsion systems (MES), and to study their applications in the treatment of sludge. In this context, the Soxhlet extraction of crude oil sludge and aged sludge was carried out, and allowing to quantify the oil (43.9 % and 84.7 % - 13 ºAPI), water (38.7 % and 9.15 %) and solid (17.3 % and 6.15 %) contents, respectively. The residues were characterized using the techniques of X-ray fluorescence (XRF), Xray diffraction (XRD) and transmission Infrared (FT-IR). The XRF technique determined the presence of iron and sulfur in higher proportions, confirming by XRD the presence of the following minerals: Pyrite (FeS2), Pyrrhotite (FeS) and Magnetite (Fe3O4). The FT-IR showed the presence of heavy oil fractions. In parallel, twelve MES were prepared, combining the following constituents: two nonionic surfactants (Unitol L90 and Renex 110 - S), three cosurfactants (butanol, sec-butanol and isoamyl alcohol - C), three aqueous phase (tap water - ADT, acidic solution 6 % HCl, and saline solution - 3.5 % NaCl - AP) and an oil phase (kerosene - OP). From the obtained systems, a common point was chosen belonging to the microemulsion region (25 % [C+S] 5 % OP and AP 70 %), which was characterized at room temperature (25°C) by viscosity (Haake Rheometer Mars), particle diameter (Zeta Plus) and thermal stability. Mixtures with this composition were applied to oil sludge solubilization under agitation at a ratio of 1:4, by varying time and temperature. The efficiencies of solubilization were obtained excluding the solids, which ranged between 73.5 % and 95 %. Thus, two particular systems were selected for use in storage tanks, with efficiencies of oil sludge solubilization over 90 %, which proved the effectiveness of the MES. The factorial design delimited within the domain showed how the MES constituents affect the solubilization of aged oil sludge, as predictive models. The MES A was chosen as the best system, which solubilized a high amount of aged crude oil sludge (~ 151.7 g / L per MES)

Evapotranspiração da cultura da melancia irrigada com água de diferentes salinidades

Sabe-se que a determinação precisa da evapotranspiração da cultura (ETc) é de grande importância para o uso eficiente da água, principalmente em regiões áridas e semiáridas onde se faz necessária a utilização de água salina para irrigação. O objetivo deste trabalho foi determinar a evapotranspiração da melancia, cultivar Mickylee, com o uso de diferentes níveis de salinidade da água de irrigação. O experimento foi conduzido na Fazenda Experimental da Alagoinha, pertencente à Universidade Federal Rural do Semiárido, Mossoró - RN. Os níveis de salinidade da água de irrigação foram: S1 = 0,55; S2 = 1,65; S3 = 2,35; S4 = 3,5, e S5 = 4,5 dS m-1, sendo os tratamentos dispostos no delineamento de blocos ao acaso, com quatro repetições. A determinação da evapotranspiração de referência (ETo) foi realizada pelo método FAO-Penmam-Monteith, e a ETc, pelas leituras obtidas em lisímetros de pesagem, instalados nos tratamentos S1 e S5. Os resultados mostraram que a ETc da melancia diminui com o aumento da salinidade da água aplicada e que a evapotranspiração total durante o ciclo foi de 245 e 214 mm, respectivamente, para os tratamentos S1 e S5. Os valores médios de Kc obtidos para cada fase fenológica foram 0,23; 0,68; 1,12; 0,90 e 0,24; 0,61; 0,98 e 0,78, respectivamente, para as águas S1 e S5.