Os significados de ludoterapia para as protagonistas do processo: crianças em atendimento

The ludic therapy in a Phenomenological-Existential perspective is conceived as a psychotherapeutic process in which, the listening and talking, mediated by playing activities, allow the child to deal with their grief/suffering. This study is based on the need to broaden the understanding of this modality of clinical intervention by emphasizing the speech of the protagonists in the process: children in therapy. The objective was to understand the ludic therapy from the children s perspective, knowing the meanings assigned to the therapeutic process, to the psychologist and to the involvement of the children in clinical consultations. The main ideas that underlie this research are presented in three theoretical chapters covering, respectively, the suffering of children and the demand for psychotherapy, the Phenomenological-Existential clinical psychology, and the psychotherapy for children, in Brazil, under this theoretical-methodological approach. The study was qualitative, on a phenomenological basis, and included six children as participants, aged between six and ten years, undergoing ludic therapy for at least six months, and referred by their own therapists. In the research s corpus construction, individual meetings were held and mediated by tools to support expressiveness (ludic and pictures/figures boxes), added by the storytelling of an incomplete story about a child s visit to the therapy session, and the request for the elaboration of a message to be passed to a child who will go to see a psychologist. The analysis of the data was based on a variant of the phenomenological method proposed by Amedeo Giorgi. The results reveal a lack of knowledge by the children about the psychologist s activities. Thus, the children develop fantasies about this intervention modality because of lack of information. These observations are consistent with the historical meanings assigned to clinical psychology, involving ideas of normality and guilt. The meanings associated with the motives for a referral to a psychologist highlight the conflict "be a problem versus having a problem" and an elitist conception of clinical psychology. Children understand the characteristics of the therapeutic process, such as the specifics of the therapist-client relationship and the notion of freedom. They also demonstrate remarkable pleasure in the therapeutic process. Finally, it was concluded that the meanings attributed to the ludic therapy by the children are consistent with that proposed in the literature about the children s psychotherapy process in the Phenomenological-Existential perspective. Moreover, the relevance of both the children s experience in the therapeutic setting and the meanings of these proceedings understood by the children are highlighted by the listening to the protagonists in the ludic therapeutic process. The comprehension of these aspects and their transference from the clients experience to the reflective field, promote advances in the understanding of child psychotherapy and indicate the need for further studies with children using this approach.

Freshwater stingrays: study of epidemiologic, clinic and therapeutic aspects based on 84 envenomings in humans and some enzymatic activities of the venom

Freshwater stingrays are very common in the Parana, Paraguay, Araguaia, and Tocantins Rivers and tributaries in Brazil. This study presents the clinical aspects of 84 patients injured by freshwater stingrays. Intense pain was the most conspicuous symptom. Skin necrosis was observed in a high percentage of the victims, mostly fishermen and bathers. The initial therapeutic procedures, like immersion of the affected member in hot water were effective in the initial phases of the envenoming, especially in the control of the acute pain; however, they did not prevent skin necrosis. By SDS-PAGE, the freshwater stingray (Potamotrygon falkneri) venom extract presented a major band of approximately 12 kDa. Several other components distributed between 15 and 130 kDa were detected in the venom extract. Many components with molecular mass above 80 and 100 kDa have gelatinolytic and caseinolytic activities, respectively. Hyaluronidase activity was detected only in a component around 84 kDa in P. falkneri venom extract. Our results demonstrated that the presence of these enzymes could explain partially the local clinical pictures presented by patients wounded by freshwater stingray. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Intraspecific Variation of Biological Activities in Venoms from Wild and Captive Bothrops jararaca

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

Uma abordagem no ensino de frações baseadas em atividades para o 6º ano do ensino fundamantal

The objective of this work if constitutes in creation a proposal for activities, in the discipline of mathematics, for the 6th year of Elementary School, that stimulates the students the develop the learning of the content of fractions, from the awareness of the insufficiency of the natural numbers for solve several problems. Thus, we prepared a set with twelve activities, starting by the comparison between measures, presenting afterward some of the meanings of fractions and ending with the operations between fractions. For so much, use has been made of materials available for use in the classroom, of forma ludic, for resolution of challenges proposed. Through these activities, it becomes possible students to recognize the necessity of using fractions for solve a amount larger of problems

Individual Venom Profiling of Crotalus durissus terrificus Specimens from a Geographically Limited Region: Crotamine Assessment and Captivity Evaluation on the Biological Activities

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

Aplicativo informatizado com o nursing activities score: instrumento para gerenciamento da assistência em unidade de terapia intensiva

A gravidade do paciente ou o número de intervenções nem sempre serão proporcionais à carga de trabalho de enfermagem. Este estudo descritivo teve como objetivo demonstrar a trajetória da construção de um aplicativo (software) com o conteúdo do Nursing Activities Score e suas características operacionais. Foi realizado um teste piloto com 12 pacientes seguindo-se a coleta de dados por 90 dias consecutivos em 123 pacientes. Houve compatibilidade na transmissão de dados do Personal Digital Assistent para o computador de mesa, via wireless. A construção do aplicativo resultou em um sistema com coleta e administração de dados e permitiu realizar a interface gráfica. A utilização do aplicativo possibilita o uso de um sistema tecnológico para aplicação diária, com alimentação de um banco de dados sobre as características dos cuidados requeridos. Conhecendo a evolução destas variáveis durante a internação, o enfermeiro poderá planejar, intervir e avaliar a qualidade do cuidado.

Screening for In Vitro and In Vivo Antitumor Activities of the Mushroom Agaricus Blazei

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Peroxidase and phenylalanine ammonia-lyase activities, phenolic acid contents, and allelochemicals-inhibited root growth of soybean

The influence of the allelochemicals ferulic (FA) and vanillic (VA) acids on peroxidase (POD, EC 1.11.1.7) and phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL, EC 4.3.1.5) activities and their relationships with phenolic acid (PhAs) contents and root growth of soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) were examined. Three-day-old seedlings were cultivated in nutrient solution containing FA or VA (0.1 to 1 mM) for 48 h. Both compounds (at 0.5 and 1 mM) decreased root length (RL), fresh weight (FW) and dry weight (DW) and increased PhAs contents. At 0.5 and 1 mM, FA increased soluble POD activity (18% and 47%, respectively) and cell wall (CW)-bound POD activity (61% and 34%), while VA increased soluble POD activity (33% and 17%) but did not affect CW-bound POD activity. At I mM, FA increased (82%) while VA reduced (32%) PAL activities. The results are discussed on the basis of the role of these compounds on phenylpropanoid metabolism and root growth and suggest that the effects caused on POD and PAL activities are some of the many mechanisms by which allelochemicals influence plant growth.

Phytotoxic Activities of Mediterranean Essential Oils

Twelve essential oils from Mediterranean aromatic plants were tested for their phytotoxic activity, at different doses, against the germination and the initial radicle growth of seeds of Raphanus sativus, Lactuca sativa and Lepidium sativum. The essential oils were obtained from Hyssopus officinalis, Lavandula angustifolia, Majorana hortensis, Melissa officinalis, Ocimum basilicum, Origanum vulgare, Salvia officinalis and Thymus vulgaris (Lamiaceae), Verbena officinalis (Verbenaceae), Pimpinella anisum, Foeniculum vulgare and Carum carvi (Apiaceae). The germination and radicle growth of tested seeds were affected in different ways by the oils. Thyme, balm, vervain and caraway essential oils were more active against both germination and radicle elongation.

Antagonism of myotoxic and paralyzing activities of bothropstoxin-I by surarnin

Polyanionic substances are known to inhibit the myotoxic effects of some crotalide snake venoms. Bothropstoxin-I (BthTX-I), a basic Lys49 phospholipase (PLA(2)) homologue from Bothrops jararacussu venom, besides inducing muscle damage, also promotes the blockade of both directly and indirectly evoked contractions in mouse neuromuscular preparation. In this work, we evaluated the ability of suramin, a polysulfonated naphtylurea derivative, to antagonize the myotoxic and the paralyzing activities of BthTX-I on mice neuromuscular junction in vitro. Myotoxicity was assessed by light and electronic microscopic analysis of extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles; paralyzing activity was evaluated through the recording of both directly and indirectly evoked contractions of phrenic-diaphragm (PD) preparations. BthTX-I (1 muM) alone, or pre-incubated with suramin (10 muM) at 37degreesC for 15 min was added to the preparations for 120 min. BthTX-I induced histological alterations typical of myonecrosis in 14.6 +/- 1.0% of EDL muscle fibers. In addition, BthTX-I blocked 50% of both directly and indirectly evoked contractions in PD preparations in 72.1 +/- 9.1 and 21.1 +/- 2.0 min, respectively. Pre-incubation with suramin abolished both the muscle-damaging and muscle-paralyzing activities of BthTX-I. Since suramin is a polyanionic substance, we suggested that its effects result from the formation of inactive acid-base complexes with BthTX-I. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Crotoxin: Novel activities for a classic beta-neurotoxin

Crotoxin, the main toxin of South American rattlesnake (Crotalus durissus terrificus) venom, was the first snake venom protein to be purified and crystallized. Crotoxin is a heterodimeric beta-neurotoxin that consists of a weakly toxic basic phospholipase A(2) and a nonenzymatic, non-toxic acidic component (crotapotin). The classic biological activities normally attributed to crotoxin include neurotoxicity, myotoxicity, nephrotoxicity and cardiotoxicity. However, numerous studies in recent years have shown that crotoxin also has immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, anti-tumor and analgesic actions. In this review, we describe the historical background to the discovery of crotoxin and its main toxic activities and then discuss recent structure-function studies and investigations that have led to the identification of novel pharmacological activities for the toxin. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Influence of Quaternary Conformation on the Biological Activities of the Asp49-phospholipases A(2)s from Snake Venoms

One of the main components of snake venoms are the Asp49-phospholipases A(2), also known as svPLA(2)s. The study of these toxins is a matter of great scientific interest due to their wide variety of biological effects. In this work we present strong evidences found in literature and other aspects which strengthen the importance of quaternary assembly for understanding the activities and molecular evolution of svPLA(2)s.

Insights into the role of oligomeric state on the biological activities of crotoxin: crystal structure of a tetrameric phospholipase A(2) formed by two isoforms of crotoxin B from Cratalus durissus terrificus venom

Crotoxin B (CB or Cdt PLA(2)) is a basic Asp49-PLA(2) found in the venom of Crotalus durissus terrificus and it is one of the subunits that constitute the crotoxin (Cro). This heterodimeric toxin, main component of the C. d. terrificus venom, is completed by an acidic, nontoxic, and nonenzymatic component (crotoxin A, CA or crotapotin), and it is related to important envenomation effects such as neurological disorders, myotoxicity, and renal failure. Although Cro has been crystallized since 1938, no crystal structure of this toxin or its subunits is currently available. In this work, the authors present the crystal structure of novel tetrameric complex formed by two dimers of crotoxin B isoforms (CB1 and CB2). The results suggest that these assemblies are stable in solution and show that Ser1 and Glu92 of CB1 and CB2, respectively, play an important role in the oligomerization. The tetrameric and dimeric conformations resulting from the association of the isoforms may increase the neurotoxicity of the toxin CB by the creation of new binding sites, which could improve the affinity of the molecular complexes to the presynaptic membrane.

Evaluation of the analgesic and antiedematogenic activities of Quassia amara bark extract

We evaluated the possible antiedematogenic, antinociceptive and/or sedative effects of four different extracts obtained from the bark of Quassia amara namely, 70% ethanol (70EtOH), 100% ethanol (100EtOH), dichloromethane (DCM) and hexane extracts (HEX). The oral administration (100, 250 and 500 mg/kg) of these extracts did not show significant effects in any experiment. However, when administered intraperitoneally, the HEX extract decreased the paw edema induced by carrageenan, showed antinociceptive effects on the hot-plate test and on acetic acid-induced writhing, and showed sedative effects on pentobarbital-induced sleep. Naloxone did not reverse the antinociceptive effect of this extract. In conclusion, although the mechanisms are uncertain, the results demonstrated that these effects are apparently related to sedative and muscle relaxant or psychomimetic activities of the HEX extract of the plant. (C) 2002 Elsevier B.V. Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.