STRUCTURAL LEAF CHANGES IN TREES AROUND A SUBWAY AIR DUCT

ABSTRACTWhile a number of papers have shown that subway systems have an impact on the air quality through the release of particulate matters, no information about the impact of such particles on tree attributes is available. Tree leaves from three different species from the exit side of a subway station in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, were more asymmetrical than leaves from the entrance side. This leaves also presenting changes in leaves cuticle and chlorophyll content.

Adenoma viloso da ampola de Vater

The aim of this paper is to present a case of a 37-year-old female patient with a benign tumor of the Ampulla of Vater and a brief review of the literature. The patient presented with progressive obstructive jaundice and weigth loss due to the presence of two adenomas of the second portion of duodenum. Laboratory tests confirmed the presence of obstruction of the biliary tree. Ultrasound and CT scan of the abdomen revealed bile duct dilatation. ERCP showed a tumor at the site of the Ampulla of Vater. The biopsies revealed tubular adenoma. She was submitted to local resection of the tumors and sphincteroplasty, since the frozen biopsy at the time of surgery showed no malignancy. During the post-operative follow-up she presented recurrence of symptoms. An upper GI endoscopy revealed a tumor at the Ampulla of Vater. She was then submitted to Whipple procedure with an uneventful recovery.

Coleperitônio após colecistectomia convencional tratado por via laparoscopica

Videolaparoscopy is the estabilished treatment for chronic or acute cholecystitis, with low complications rates. Among operative complications, biliar peritonitis, biliar fistula and common bile duct injuries despite rare, can be difficult to treat. The autors present the results of videolaparoscopic treatment of choleperitoneum in four patients submitted previously to a conventional cholecystectomy. Among operative complications, biliar peritonites, biliary fistula and common bile duct injuries. No complications related to laparoscopic procedure were observed.

Cisto de colédoco em adulto

Choledochal cyst is a rare congenital malformation of the biliary tree, and aproximately 25% of them are diagnosed in adults. Appropriate surgical management of these lesions depends on the anatomic site and extension of the cystic process. The recognized association of the bile duct cysts with hepatobiliary malignant disease has important surgical implications. Total cyst removal and cholecistectomy with Roux-en- Y hepaticojejunostomy was performed in a 47 year old female with a common bile duct cyst tipe 1 postoperative period was uneventful. A review of literature is presented.

Perfuração espontânea de colédoco em adolescente

Spontaneous perforation of the common bile duct is rare. It happens predominantly in children and it is related to obstructive disease of the biliary tract. We present a case of an 18 year-old male patient, with ulcerative rectocolitis associated with malignant tumor of the head of pancreas. The patient developed an acute abdomen syndrome and laparotomy, a spontaneous perforation of common bile duct was evidenced. The authors make a revision of the clinical aspects of that pathology.

Hepaticojejunostomia em "y" de roux videoassistida

Management of common bile duct stones in the era of laparoscopic surgery is controversial. The biliary anastomosis is indicated in case of large common bile duct, recurrent stones, giant stones and concomitant common bile duct stricture and duct stones. The development of laparoscopic techniques permits to perform this type of surgery laparoscopically as well as the open procedure.

Anomalia da via biliar extra-hepática

We show an anatomical modification of extrahepatic biliary ducts in a fifty-eight years old female who presented right hipocondric pain, jaundice and fever two months after cholecystectomy. The patient underwent ERCP wich showed an anatomical modification that consists in an union of the right and left hepatic ducts, with insertion into the cystic duct, right hepatic duct, being a choledochus agenesis.

Lesão complexa da via biliar principal: a ligadura como opção associada a colecistojejunostomia

The authors present a case of distal common bile duct injury. Ligation of the bile duct and a bypass cholecystojejunostomy were chosen as treatment. Diagnosis of blunt traumatic injury to the extrahepatic biliary ducts may be difficult due to the benign nature of initial bile peritonitis. Surgical treatment for associated abdominal injuries usually makes the diagnosis possible. One of the challenges in the treatment of these injuries relates to the small diameter of the, usually, normal common bile duct. Primary repair and T tube drainage is the best option for non-complex injuries. End-to-end anastomosis and, preferentially, biliary-enteric anastomosis are the best surgical options for more complex injuries. Severe injuries have high complication rates, especially when the distal portion of the common bile duct is affected. Early leaks and late strictures are likely to develop in these situations. Cholecistojejunostomy and ligation of the injuried common bile duct are good surgical options for complex injuries. They carry a low complication rate and consequently low morbidity.

Perfuração espontânea de ducto hepático comum

Perforation of common bile duct (CBD) is usually associated with invasive procedures. Spontaneous perforation is rare, and more often described in neonates. We report a case of a spontaneous perforation of CBD in an adult with a family history of cholelithiasis, but with no calculus found during exploration of the biliary tree. The patient was successfully treated by cholecystectomy and T - tube drainage of the CBD.

Pancreatite aguda sem etiologia aparente: a microlitíase deve ser pesquisada?

In a large number of patients, with episodes of acute pancreatitis the etiology is not identified, even after initial clinical history, detailed physical examination, laboratory tests and biochemical exams and an transabdominal ultrasound. This patient are considered with a unexplained acute pancreatitis. In this cases the treatment is restricted to improvement of symptoms. These patients after treated tend to have new episodes with the risk of raising the rates of morbidity and mortality. Therefore, the identification of a cause and its prompt treatment prevent at recurrent episodes of pancreatitis. This review aims to draw attention to how best diagnostic approach when the light of evidence-based medicine, to search for causes of difficult identification with microlithiasis, occult stones, the anatomical variations of biliary and pancreatic duct and in addition to sphincter of Oddi dysfunction.

Avulsão da via biliar principal: relato de caso

Common bile duct disruption from blunt trauma is very rare. Management, diagnosis and therapy by a non-specialist surgeon can be difficult. We describe a bile duct injury after a motor vehicle crash in a young male, treated with cholecystojejunostomy at his third laparotomy. We also briefly review some diagnostic aspects and therapeutic options from the literature.

Influence of distal ileum exclusion on hepatic and renal functions in presence of extrahepatic cholestasis

OBJECTIVE: To verify whether the ileal exclusion interferes with liver and kidney functional changes secondary to extrahepatic cholestasis.METHODS: We studied 24 rats, divided into three groups with eight individuals each: Group 1 (control), Group 2 (ligation of the hepatic duct combined with internal biliary drainage), and Group 3 (bile duct ligation combined with internal biliary drainage and exclusion of the terminal ileum). Animals in Group 1 (control) underwent sham laparotomy. The animals of groups 2 and 3 underwent ligation and section of the hepatic duct and were kept in cholestasis for four weeks. Next, they underwent an internal biliary bypass. In Group 3, besides the biliary-enteric bypass, we associated the exclusion of the last ten centimeters of the terminal ileum and carried out an ileocolic anastomosis. After four weeks of monitoring, blood was collected from all animals of the three groups for liver and kidney biochemical evaluation (albumin, ALT, AST, direct and indirect bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase, cGT, creatinine and urea).RESULTS: there were increased values of ALT, AST, direct bilirubin, cGT, creatinine and urea in rats from Group 3 (p < 0.05).CONCLUSION: ileal exclusion worsened liver and kidney functions in the murine model of extrahepatic cholestasis, being disadvantageous as therapeutic procedure for cholestatic disorders.

Endoscopic biliary procedures: studies on cannulation and stenting

Deep cannulation is a prerequisite for successful endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) procedures. Of the biliary procedures, stenting is one of the most common. This study was carried out to investigate current and controversial issues regarding biliary cannulation and stenting. The double guidewire (DGW) technique was studied to analyze its safety and feasibility in biliary cannulation as a single procedure and as a part of the novel three-step cannulation protocol. Female gender was evaluated in regard to difficult cannulation. The use of an angled and a straight tipped guidewire in biliary cannulation was studied in a prospective, randomized trial. Additionally, the patency of the novel antireflux plastic biliary stent was compared to the patency of the conventional plastic biliary stent in a prospective, randomized setting. The DGW method seems safe and feasible as an alternative cannulation technique in biliary cannulation. Female gender was not associated significantly with difficult biliary cannulation in our study, although the cannulation times seemed to be longer and the alternative cannulation techniques seemed to be needed more often in females than males. According to the results of this thesis, an angled tipped guidewire may facilitate biliary cannulation. In controversy to the previous result presented in the literature, the antireflux plastic biliary stent tested herein should not be used, as the patency of the stent was significantly shorter compared to the conventional plastic stent.

Inhibitory effect of high [Mg2+] on the vasopressin-stimulated hydroosmotic permeability of the isolated perfused cortical collecting duct

High magnesium concentration inhibits the effect of arginine vasopressin (AVP) on smooth muscle contraction and platelet aggregation and also influences hepatocyte AVP receptor binding. The aim of this study was to determine the role of magnesium concentration [Mg2+] in AVP-stimulated water transport in the kidney collecting duct. The effect of low and high peritubular [Mg2+] on the AVP-stimulated osmotic water permeability coefficient (Pf) was evaluated in the isolated perfused rabbit cortical collecting duct (CCD). Control tubules bathed and perfused with standard Ringer bicarbonate solution containing 1 mM Mg2+ presented a Pf of 223.9 ± 27.2 µm/s. When Mg2+ was not added to the bathing solution, an increase in the AVP-stimulated Pf to 363.1 ± 57.2 µm/s (P<0.05) was observed. An elevation of Mg2+ to 5 mM resulted in a decrease in Pf to 202.9 ± 12.6 µm/s (P<0.05). This decrease in the AVP-stimulated Pf at 5 mM Mg2+ persisted when the CCDs were returned to 1 mM Mg2+, Pf = 130.2 ± 20.3 µm/s, and was not normalized by the addition of 8-[4-chlorophenylthio]-adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate, a cAMP analogue, to the preparation. These data indicate that magnesium may play a modulatory role in the action of AVP on CCD osmotic water permeability, as observed in other tissues.

BAFF promotes regulatory T-cell apoptosis and blocks cytokine production by activating B cells in primary biliary cirrhosis

Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is a chronic and slowly progressive cholestatic liver disease of autoimmune etiology. A number of questions regarding its etiology are unclear. CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) play a critical role in self-tolerance and, for unknown reasons, their relative number is reduced in PBC patients. B-cell-activating factor (BAFF) is a key survival factor during B-cell maturation and its concentration is increased in peripheral blood of PBC patients. It has been reported that activated B cells inhibit Treg cell proliferation and there are no BAFF receptors on Tregs. Therefore, we speculated that excessive BAFF may result in Treg reduction via B cells. To prove our hypothesis, we isolated Tregs and B cells from PBC and healthy donors. BAFF and IgM concentrations were then analyzed by ELISA and CD40, CD80, CD86, IL-10, and TGF-β expression in B cells and Tregs were measured by flow cytometry. BAFF up-regulated CD40, CD80, CD86, and IgM expression in B cells. However, BAFF had no direct effect on Treg cell apoptosis and cytokine secretion. Nonetheless, we observed that BAFF-activated B cells could induce Treg cell apoptosis and reduce IL-10 and TGF-β expression. We also showed that BAFF-activated CD4+ T cells had no effect on Treg apoptosis. Furthermore, we verified that bezafibrate, a hypolipidemic drug, can inhibit BAFF-induced Treg cell apoptosis. In conclusion, BAFF promotes Treg cell apoptosis and inhibits cytokine production by activating B cells in PBC patients. The results of this study suggest that inhibition of BAFF activation is a strategy for PBC treatment.