Interstitial pneumonitis in canine visceral leishmaniasis

Forty-one naturally infected dogs with visceral leishmaniasis from an urban area of Corumbá (Mato Grosso do Sul-BRAZIL) were studied and three types of lung involvement due to visceral leishmaniasis were characterized; a cellular, a cellular-fibrotic and a fibrotic type. These types seem to represent a sequential evolutive proce'as. Visceral leishmaniasis frequently causes an interstitial pneu monitis in naturally infected dogs (80.5%) as well as in man and experimentally infected hamsters.

Histopathological patterns of the liver involvement in visceral leishmaniasis

The hepatic changes observed in liver specimen from either biopsy or necropsy of 47 patients with visceral leishmaniasis permited us to define three different histopathological patterns of involvement: typical, nodular, and fibrogenic. These patterns seem to be representative of different evolutive stages of the hepatic involvement in the disease either towards a more benign evolution or to more chronic stage with fibrosis and "cirrhosis". These histopathological evolutive stages are related to the prognosis of the disease.

Comparative study of the biological behaviour in hamster of two isolates of leishmania characterized respectively as L. major-like and L. donovani

Hamster inoculated intraperitoneally with 1 x 10(7) parasites of L. donovani and L. major-like of the New World were studied in groups of 15, 30, 60 and 90 days of infection. The parasite load and density showed progressive increase with the evolution of the infection and was higher in the L. donovani groups than in the L. major-like groups. The L. major-like groups showed parasite density higher in the spleen than in the liver and was similar in both organs in L. donovani groups. The histopathology showed a diffuse marked hyperplasia and hypertrophy of the reticuloendothelial system with high parasitism in the L. donovani groups while there was focal involvement of these organs in L. major-like groups, forming nodules of macrophages that were scantly parasitised. The biological behaviour could be useful in the preliminary studies of Leishmania strain in regional laboratories and understanding the histopathology of lesions caused by different leishmania species.

Application of a control banding tool for risk level assessment and control of nanoparticles exposure in welding operations

Scope of study: welding operations result in harmful emissions of nanoparticles; the aim of emissions monitorisation is to evaluate exposure levels and to derive protection measures in order to protect exposed workers; however, the traditional approach of comparing measured concentrations with exposure limits cannot be used; but risk levels can be quantified by using Control Banding Strategies.

Fluorescence in nanostructured fulleride films

Applied Physics Letters, 89

Psychological impact of diagnostic exams

Introduction: Anxiety is a common problem in primary care and specialty medical settings. Treating an anxious patient takes more time and adds stress to staff. Unrecognized anxiety may lead to exam repetition, and impedance of exam performance. Objective: The aim of the study was to examine the anxiety levels of patients who are to undergo diagnostic exams related to cancer diagnostic: PET/CT and mammography. Methods: Two hundred and thirty two patients who undergo PET/CT and one hundred thirteen women who undergo mammography filled out one questionnaire after the procedure to determine their concerns, expectations and perceptions of anxiety. Results: Our results show that the main causes of anxiety in patients who are having a PET/CT is the fear of the procedure itself and fear of the results. Patients who suffered from greater anxiety were those who were scanned during the initial stage of an oncological disease. On the other hand, the diagnostic is the main cause of anxiety in women who are requiring a mammography. 28% of the women reported having experienced pain or intense pain. Conclusions: The performance of diagnostic exams related to cancer diagnostic like a PET/CT and a mammography are important and statistically generators of anxiety. Patients are often poorly informed and present with a range of anxieties that may ultimately affect examination quality. These results provide expertise that can be used in the development of future training programs to integrate post-graduate courses of health professionals.

Two distinct arabinofuranosidases contribute to arabino-oligosaccharide degradation in Bacillus subtilis.

Microbiology 154 (2008) 2719-2729

Comparação das participações oficiais dos acidentes de trabalho entre os países da União Eu

O SHO 2010, Colóquio Internacional de Segurança e Higiene Ocupaciona

Paleolítico médio em Galapos (Arrábida)

Quartz (and silex) lithic artifacts collected at Galapos (Creiro), in the southern part of lhe Serra da Arrábida, Portugal, are described. These artifacts are characteristic of the Middle Paleolithic (Mousterian). This new locality reinforces lhe evidences for an important human occupation of this region at those times, as previously shown by the study of the Figueira Brava cave.

Neuronal counting and parasympathetic dysfunction in the hearts of chronically Trypanosoma cruzi - infected rats

Ten male Wistar rats, chronically infected with Colombian, São Felipe (12SF) and Y strains of Trypanosoma cruzi and ten non-infected control animals were submitted to the bradycardia responsiveness test, an assessment of heart parasympathetic function, after phenylephrine injection. Six chagasic animals showed heart parasympathetic dysfuntion characterized by reduction in the index of bradycardia baroreflex responsiveness, as compared with the control group. Microscopic examination of the atrial heart ganglia of chagasic rats showed ganglionitis, but no statiscally significant reduction in the number of neurons.

Palaeontological data about the climatic trends from Chattian to present along the Northeastern Atlantic frontage

Climatic changes that affected the Northeastern Atlantic frontage are analyzed on the basis of the evolution of faunas and floras from the late Oligocene onwards. The study deals with calcareous nannoplankton, marine micro- and macrofaunas, some terrestrial vertebrates and vegetal assemblages. The climate, first tropical, underwent a progressive cooling (North-South thermic gradient). Notable climatic deteriorations (withdrawal towards the South or disappearance of taxa indicative of warm climate and appearance of "cold" taxa) are evidenced mainly during the Middle Miocene and the late Pliocene. Faunas and floras of modern pattern have regained, after the Pleistocene glaciations, a new climatic ranging of a temperate type in the northern part.

The Cristo Rei section (Lower Miocene). Distal fluviatile environments in a marine series, plants, vertebrates and other evidence, age

The section at Cristo Rei shows sandy beds with intercalated clayey lenses (IVb division from the Lisbon Miocene series) that correspond to a major regression event dated from between ca. 17.6 and 17 Ma. They also correspond to a distal position (relatively to the typical fluviatile facies in Lisbon), nearer the basin's axis. Geologic data and paleontological analysis (plant fossils, fishes, crocodilians, land mammals) allow the reconstruction of environments that were represented in the concerned area: estuary with channels and ox-bows; upstream, areas occupied by brackish waters where Gryphaea griphoides banks developped; still farther upstream, freshwaters sided by humid forests and low mountain subtropical forests under warm temperate and rainy conditions, as well as not far away, seasonally dry environments (low density tree or shrub cover, or steppe).

Efeitos do fogo controlado no solo na sequência de uma queima experimental: resultados preliminaries

Os impactes dos incêndios florestais são múltiplos (económicos, humanos, paisagísticos, sociais e ambientais - nas árvores; na vegetação arbustiva, subarbustiva e herbácea; no solo, nos organismos do solo; nas aves e mamíferos; no ar; na água; ... - ) e complexos (diretos, indiretos, cumulativos, imediatos, subsequentes, ...), dependendo, segundo Macedo e Sardinha (1993), de fatores tão variados como a grandeza, a intensidade, a época, a duração e a frequência dos incêndios, as dimensões e composição dos povoamentos; volume, concentração, distribuição e características do combustível; natureza e características do solo, ..., sendo que um dos impactes mais significativos, no nosso país, se verifica nos solos (propriedades físicas e químicas, consequências hidrológicas e erosivas, hidrofobicidade, ...). Com esta comunicação pretende-se apresentar e discutir a queima experimental realizada em maio de 2014 em Santo Tirso, num eucaliptal, com o objetivo de reduzir o combustível, a qual resultou de uma cooperação entre a Universidade do Minho e a Camara Municipal de Santo Tirso e que visa estudar dos efeitos deste tipo de fogo no solo, bem como apresentar e discutir os primeiros resultados da referida queima.

Os topónimos algarvios na Paleontologia portuguesa

Since the XIX century, Portuguese and foreign geologists have defined 47 new invertebrate taxa (foraminifera, ostracods, coelenterates, brachiopods, gastropods, ammonoids, echinoids), 2 new fossil plant taxa (charophyte and pteridophyte) and 1 ichnofossil, using toponymy from the Algarve; these taxa refer to 1 genera, 47 species and 2 varieties. Besides the Algarve toponym, the most used as specific name, twenty others have been used, mostly from western Algarve; these toponyms are associated to: – Miocene units, particularly from Ribeira de Cacela and Ferragudo; – Cretaceous units between Zavial and Marim; – Upper Jurassic units from Sagres, Carrapateira and Loulé and Middle Jurassic units from Sagres and Guilhim; – Triassic units from Vila do Bispo to Tavira; – Carboniferous units, particularly from the Aljezur-Bordeira-Carrapateira region. The earliest of these designations were attributed to seven gastropods from the Upper Miocene of Cacela (COSTA, 1866-1867). The majority of the named species are typical of the Algarve, but some have been collected, as well, in the Lusitanian Basin. Although extensively cited in the geological literature, some of these taxa either do not fulfill the ICZN rules, or fall into synonymy with previously established taxa, or should be formally considered as non valid names (nomem nudum and nomen oblitum). Only widespread bibliographical review, associated with the palaeontological revision of some of these groups and the correct interpretation of the ICZN articles, will allow confirming, or not, the doubts that have now arisen.