Typologies of post-divorce coparenting and parental well-being, parenting quality and children’s psychological adjustment

First published online: 30 October 2015

Epworth's sleepiness scale in outpatients with different values of arterial blood pressure

OBJECTIVE: To compare sleepiness scores of the Epworth scale in patients with different levels of arterial pressure when undergoing outpatient monitoring within the context of clinical evaluation. METHODS: A total of 157 patients selected for outpatient monitoring of arterial pressure during hypertension evaluation were divided into 3 groups: group 1 - normotensive; group 2 - hypertensive; group 3 - resistant hypertensive. For analysis, values > or = 11 were considered as associated with respiratory disturbances during sleep. RESULTS: Seventeen (10.8%) patients in group 1, 112 (71.3%) in group 2, and 28 (17.8%) in group 3, which was composed of aged, more severely hypertensive individuals, were analyzed. Groups were similar relative to sex and body mass index, but different in relation to systolic and diastolic pressure levels and age. Despite an absolute difference, no statistically significant difference occurred between Epworth scores and in the proportion of patients with values > or = 11 (5.9% vs. 18.8% vs. 212.4%; P=0.37). Despite the positive association between degree of sleepiness measured with the scale and the severity of the hypertension, no statistical significance occurred following control by age (p=0.18). CONCLUSION: A positive correlation exists between degree of sleepiness and hypertension severity. The absence of a statistical significance shown in the present study could be due to a beta type of error. Instruments that render this complaint into an objective finding could help in the pursuit of an investigation of respiratory disturbances during sleep in more severely hypertensive patients, and should therefore be studied better.

Evaluation of the Medical Care of Patients with Hypertension in an Emergency Department and in Ambulatory Hypertension Unit

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the characteristics of the patients receiving medical care in the Ambulatory of Hypertension of the Emergency Department, Division of Cardiology, and in the Emergency Unit of the Clinical Hospital of the Ribeirão Preto Medical School. METHODS: Using a protocol, we compared the care of the same hypertensive patients in on different occasions in the 2 different places. The characteristics of 62 patients, 29 men with a mean age of 57 years, were analyzed between January 1996 and December 1997. RESULTS: The care of these patients resulted in different medical treatment regardless of their clinical features and blood pressure levels. Thus, in the Emergency Unit, 97% presented with symptoms, and 64.5% received medication to rapidly reduce blood pressure. In 50% of the cases, nifedipine SL was the elected medication. Patients who applied to the Ambulatory of Hypertension presenting with similar features, or, in some cases, presenting with similar clinically higher levels of blood pressure, were not prescribed medication for a rapid reduction of blood pressure at any of the appointments. CONCLUSION: The therapeutic approach to patients with high blood pressure levels, symptomatic or asymptomatic, was dependent on the place of treatment. In the Emergency Unit, the conduct was, in the majority of cases, to decrease blood pressure immediately, whereas in the Ambulatory of Hypertension, the same levels of blood pressure, in the same individuals, resulted in therapeutic adjustment with nonpharmacological management. These results show the need to reconsider the concept of hypertensive crises and their therapeutical implications.

Reproductive aspects of Dendropsophus sanborni (Anura, Hylidae) in northeastern Argentina

Reproductive aspects of Dendropsophus sanborni (Anura, Hylidae) in northeastern Argentina. The aim of this investigation was to characterize reproductive aspects of Dendropsophus sanborni (Schmidt, 1944) (Anura, Hylidae) in the northwest of Corrientes province, in northeastern Argentina. The reproductive cycles of males and females, the existence of sexual dimorphism and the male’s vocalization period were analyzed. Samplings were made from September 2011 to August 2012. Dendropsophus sanborni showed a prolonged reproductive pattern because reproductive activity was observed during most part of the year. Calling males were recorded all months except in July. The spermatogenic cycle can be characterized as potentially continuous. In males, snout-vent length was significantly correlated with mean testicular volume. The species showed sexual dimorphism in body mass, with females larger than males. Post-ovulatory females were found from March to June and most females had oocytes at different stages of maturity, with abundant post-vitellogenic oocytes from August to December.

Dynamic matching and bargaining: the role of deadlines

We consider a dynamic model where traders in each period are matched randomly into pairs who then bargain about the division of a fixed surplus. When agreement is reached the traders leave the market. Traders who do not come to an agreement return next period in which they will be matched again, as long as their deadline has not expired yet. New traders enter exogenously in each period. We assume that traders within a pair know each other's deadline. We define and characterize the stationary equilibrium configurations. Traders with longer deadlines fare better than traders with short deadlines. It is shown that the heterogeneity of deadlines may cause delay. It is then shown that a centralized mechanism that controls the matching protocol, but does not interfere with the bargaining, eliminates all delay. Even though this efficient centralized mechanism is not as good for traders with long deadlines, it is shown that in a model where all traders can choose which mechanism to

Five-year evolution of drug prescribing in a university adult intensive care unit

Introduction: Drug prescription is difficult in ICUs as prescribers are many, drugs expensive and decisions complex. In our ICU, specialist clinicians (SC) are entitled to prescribe a list of specific drugs, negotiated with intensive care physicians (ICP). The objective of this investigation was to assess the 5-year evolution of quantity and costs of drug prescription in our adult ICU and identify the relative costs generated by ICP or SC. Methods: Quantities and costs of drugs delivered on a quarterly basis to the adult ICU of our hospital between 2004 and 2008 were extracted from the pharmacy database by ATC code, an international five-level classification system. Within each ATC first level, drugs with either high level of consumption, high costs or large variations in quantities and costs were singled out and split by type of prescriber, ICP or SC. Cost figures used were drug purchase prices by the hospital pharmacy. Results: Over the 5-year period, both quantities and costs of drugs increased, following a nonsteady, nonparallel pattern. Four ATC codes accounted for 80% of both quantities and costs, with ATC code B (blood and haematopoietic organs) amounting to 63% in quantities and 41% in costs, followed by ATC code J (systemic anti-infective, 20% of the costs), ATC code N (nervous system, 11% of the costs) and ATC code C (cardiovascular system, 8% of the costs). Prescription by SC amounted to 1% in drug quantities, but 19% in drug costs. The rate of increase in quantities and costs was seven times larger for ICP than for SC (Figure 1 overleaf ). Some peak values in costs and quantities were related to a very limited number of patients. Conclusions: A 5-year increase in quantities and costs of drug prescription in an ICU is a matter of concern. Rather unexpectedly, total costs and cost increases were generated mainly by ICP. A careful follow-up is necessary to try influencing this evolution through an institutional policy co-opted by all professional categories involved in the process.

Ant genomics sheds light on the molecular regulation of social organization.

Ants are powerful model systems for the study of cooperation and sociality. In this review, we discuss how recent advances in ant genomics have contributed to our understanding of the evolution and organization of insect societies at the molecular level.

Interconnecting race and gender relations: racism, sexism and the attribution of sexism to the racialized Other

This article analyzes the way that attitudes about gender and race relations are interconnected. Based on a survey study conducted in Switzerland with a sample of 273 Swiss nationals (125 men and 148 women), it shows that the attribution of a higher level of sexism to "racialized Others" than to Swiss individuals is a racist process resulting in the justification and naturalization of the ordinary Swiss sexism seen in the gendered division of labor. However, this study also shows that the attribution of a higher level of sexism to the Other can be countered by simultaneously adopting both feminist and non-racist attitudes.

Neural Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein modulates Wnt signaling and is required for hair follicle cycling in mice.

The Rho family GTPases Cdc42 and Rac1 are critical regulators of the actin cytoskeleton and are essential for skin and hair function. Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome family proteins act downstream of these GTPases, controlling actin assembly and cytoskeletal reorganization, but their role in epithelial cells has not been characterized in vivo. Here, we used a conditional knockout approach to assess the role of neural Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein (N-WASP), the ubiquitously expressed Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome-like (WASL) protein, in mouse skin. We found that N-WASP deficiency in mouse skin led to severe alopecia, epidermal hyperproliferation, and ulceration, without obvious effects on epidermal differentiation and wound healing. Further analysis revealed that the observed alopecia was likely the result of a progressive and ultimately nearly complete block in hair follicle (HF) cycling by 5 months of age. N-WASP deficiency also led to abnormal proliferation of skin progenitor cells, resulting in their depletion over time. Furthermore, N-WASP deficiency in vitro and in vivo correlated with decreased GSK-3beta phosphorylation, decreased nuclear localization of beta-catenin in follicular keratinocytes, and decreased Wnt-dependent transcription. Our results indicate a critical role for N-WASP in skin function and HF cycling and identify a link between N-WASP and Wnt signaling. We therefore propose that N-WASP acts as a positive regulator of beta-catenin-dependent transcription, modulating differentiation of HF progenitor cells.

Taxonomy of the genus Leishmania: present and future trends and their implications

The application of different taxonomic methods (Cladistic, Evolutionary Taxonomy and Numerical Taxonomy) to the taxonomy of the Genus Leishmania are reviewed. The major groupings of the most recent classifications obtained using the cladistical approach agree with the major divisions of previous classifications which used traditional taxonomy (Evolutionary Taxonomy). The advantage of the cladistical approach is that it produces cladograms whose branches indicate more accurately levels of relationships between the different taxa. Numerical Taxonomy is useful for identification but not as good as the cladistical approach for classification. The ancient division of this monophyletic genus into two major evolutionary lines supports the use of the subgeneric names Leishmania and Viannia.

Tyzzeria boae n. sp., (Apicomplexa: Eimeriidae), a New Coccidium from the Kidney of the snake Boa constrictor constrictor (Serpentes: Boidae)

A new species of Tyzzeria is described from the kidney of the snake Boa constrictor constrictor Linnaeus, from the State of Pará, north Brazil. Oocysts from the coacal contents matured in eight days, at approximately 24°C. They measured 19.0 x 18.0 (15.0 x 15.0 - 22.5 x 21.5) µm, shape-index (length/width) 1.0 (1.0 - 1.1). The oocyst wall is of an extremely delicate single, colourless layer, with no micropyle. Division of the oocyst contents into the 8 naked sporozoites leaves a bulky, spherical oocyst residuum averaging 15.5 x 14.8 (13.5 x 13.5 - 18.5 x 17.5) µm; the sporozoites measure an average of 11.0 x 1.8 (8.5 x 1.25 - 12.5 x 2.0) µm, and possess both anterior and posterior refractile bodies. Tyzzeria boae n.sp. is unique among the recorded species of the genus by virtue of its development in the epithelial cells of the distal convoluted tubules and collecting tubules of the kidney: stages in the merogony and gametogony of the parasite are described and figured.

FOXC2 controls formation and maturation of lymphatic collecting vessels through cooperation with NFATc1.

The mechanisms of blood vessel maturation into distinct parts of the blood vasculature such as arteries, veins, and capillaries have been the subject of intense investigation over recent years. In contrast, our knowledge of lymphatic vessel maturation is still fragmentary. In this study, we provide a molecular and morphological characterization of the major steps in the maturation of the primary lymphatic capillary plexus into collecting lymphatic vessels during development and show that forkhead transcription factor Foxc2 controls this process. We further identify transcription factor NFATc1 as a novel regulator of lymphatic development and describe a previously unsuspected link between NFATc1 and Foxc2 in the regulation of lymphatic maturation. We also provide a genome-wide map of FOXC2-binding sites in lymphatic endothelial cells, identify a novel consensus FOXC2 sequence, and show that NFATc1 physically interacts with FOXC2-binding enhancers. As damage to collecting vessels is a major cause of lymphatic dysfunction in humans, our results suggest that FOXC2 and NFATc1 are potential targets for therapeutic intervention.

Oxytocin enhances the inhibitory effects of diazepam in the rat central medial amygdala.

Oxytocin is a neuropeptide that can reduce neophobia and improve social affiliation. In vitro, oxytocin induces a massive release of GABA from neurons in the lateral division of the central amygdala which results in inhibition of a subpopulation of peripherally projecting neurons in the medial division of the central amygdala (CeM). Common anxiolytics, such as diazepam, act as allosteric modulators of GABA(A) receptors. Because oxytocin and diazepam act on GABAergic transmission, it is possible that oxytocin can potentiate the inhibitory effects of diazepam if both exert their pre, - respectively postsynaptic effects on the same inhibitory circuit in the central amygdala. We found that in CeM neurons in which diazepam increased the inhibitory postsynaptic current (IPSC) decay time, TGOT (a specific oxytocin receptor agonist) increased IPSC frequency. Combined application of diazepam and TGOT resulted in generation of IPSCs with increased frequency, decay times as well as amplitudes. While individual saturating concentrations of TGOT and diazepam each decreased spontaneous spiking frequency of CeM neurons to similar extent, co-application of the two was still able to cause a significantly larger decrease. These findings show that oxytocin and diazepam act on different components of the same GABAergic circuit in the central amygdala and that oxytocin can facilitate diazepam effects when used in combination. This raises the possibility that neuropeptides could be clinically used in combination with currently used anxiolytic treatments to improve their therapeutic efficacy.

Elections in 2009? Progress and obstacles in the construction of peace in the Ivory Coast

In 2002 in the Ivory Coast three months of armed conflict ended with the division of the country. Two regions were separated by an interposition line controlled by the French Forces Licorne. This significant peace process was maintained over time, but characterized for lack of mutual confidence and political immobility, which led to an impasse and the continuation of Laurent Gbagbo in the presidency. Moreover, the peace building process was less successful because the different political agreements failed to address some of the main national problems, such as land property and identity issues. The following paper aims first to analyze the main facts and causes that instigated the conflict since the coup d’état in 2002. Secondly, the paper will analyze the peace process and point out the key elements of the Ouagadougou Peace Agreement (2007): the creation of a new and unique armed forces structure, as well as the identification of the population and implementation of an electoral process. The main goal is to provide the International Catalan Institute for Peace (ICIP) a working tool in order to send an electoral observation mission to this African country by November 2009.