Anatomy of the septomarginal trabecula in Landrace pig hearts.

The limitations on the availability of organs for transplantation have aroused interest in research on xenotransplantation of whole organs or certain parts of them. Thus, studies that confirm or reject similarities between the organs of different animals have started to have important clinical applications. In the present study, we investigated the septomarginal trabecula in 34 hearts from Landrace pigs with the aim of observing their similarities with the septomarginal trabecula in humans. In pigs, the muscle bundle of the septomarginal trabecula and the right branch of the stimulating complex are dissociated. The right branch is a narrow bridge that, after going out from the upper part of the interventricular septum, is attached to the upper part of the anterior papillary muscle. On the other hand, the muscle bundle of the septomarginal trabecula is generally a resistant crest that goes from the lower part of the septum to the lower part of the anterior papillary muscle. The septomarginal trabecula presents marked anatomical differences between humans and pigs.

Transcanal labyrinthectomy in childhood: report of a case.

Vertigo in children is caused by several factors. One such factor is viruses (e.g., mumps, measles, and rubeola) afflicting the inner ear by various mechanisms. In the majority of cases, affected patients improve with clinical therapy and vestibular rehabilitation. We present the case of a child with vertigo as a sequela of mumps virus infection that did not improve with clinical treatment and vestibular rehabilitation. Consequently, the child was submitted to a transcanal labyrinthectomy followed by vestibular rehabilitation, with significant postprocedure improvement of symptoms. We discuss surgical indications, the technique used in this case, and the importance of vestibular rehabilitation in the postoperative period.

Associaçäo entre raça e incidência de doença renal terminal secundária a glomerulonefrite: influência do tipo histológico e da presença de hipertensäo arterial / Association between race and incidence of end-stage renal disease secondary to glomerulonephritis: influence of the histologic type and presence of arterial hypertension

OBJETIVO: Avaliar retrospectivamente a associaçäo entre raça e incidência de doença renal terminal (DRT) em pacientes com glomerulonefrites em um Hospital Universitário do estado da Bahia. METODOS: A amostra foi composta de 79 pacientes com esclerose glomerular focal (EGF), 50 com glomerulonefrite membranoproliferativa (GNMP) e 44 com outros tipos de glomerulonefrites (OTGN), acompanhados entre 1970 e 1996 por pelo menos 6 meses. NÒo foram incluídos os pacientes com glomerulonefrite aguda, formas crescenticas, lesäo mínima, doenças do colágeno e com níveis de creatinina séica maior ou igual a 4 mg/dl. Quanto à raça, os pacientes foram classificados em brancos, mulatos ou negros. Para idades superiores a 18 anos e na ausência de uso de anti-hipertensivos, definiu-se como hipertensos pacientes que tiveram mÚdias das três primeiras determinaçöes da pressäo arterial sistólica ou diastólica iguais ou superiores a 140 e 90 mmHg, respectivamente; para idades igual ou abaixo de 18 anos foram utilizados critérios recomendados pela "Task Force on Blood Pressure in Children". RESULTADOS: No grupo de normotensos, a incidência de DRT foi 72 por cento menor em mulatos e negros (risco relativo (RR)=0,28; intervalo de confiança (IC) 95 por cento=0,11-0,67). No grupo de hipertensos, a associaçäo entre raça e DRT apresentou direçäo inversa (RR=1,49; IC 95 por cento=0,68-4,34; p=0,316) à observada em normotensos. Esta variaçäo no RR de acordo com a presenç ou ausência de HA foi estatisticamente significante (p=0,01). Entre os normotensos, parte da diferença racial na incidência de DRT pode ser explicada pela distribuiçäo de tipos histológicos de glomerulonefrite entre o grupo de brancos e o grupo de negros e mulatos. CONCLUSOES: Entre os normotensos com glomerulonefrite, a incidência de DRT foi significantemente maior em brancos do que em negros ou mulatos. Contrariamente, entre os hipertensos observou-se uma tendência para um risco maior de DRT no grupo de negros e mulatos. O estudo sugere que HA e o tipo histológico de glomerulonefrite influenciam a associaçäo entre raça e DRT

Attractiveness of black Shannon trap for phlebotomines

A white Shannon-type trap was used for captures of female sand flies in the search for natural infection with flagellates, however, due to its low productivity and as a large number of phlebotomines settled on the researchers' black clothes, we decided to compare the relative attractiveness of black and white Shannon-type traps for sand flies. Several pairs of black and white traps were placed side by side in front of caves in four areas in the Serra da Bodoquena, Bonito county, State of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, for a total of 12 observations and 44 h of capture. The experiment resulted in 889 phlebotomines captured, 801 on the black and 88 on the white trap, representing 13 species. The hourly Williams' means were 8.67 and 1.24, respectively, and the black/white ratio was 7.0:1.0. Lutzomyia almerioi, an anthropophilic species closely associated with caves, was predominant (89 percent). Only two other species, Nyssomyia whitmani and Psathyromyia punctigeniculata, also anthropophilic, were significantly attracted to the black rather than to the white trap (chi2 test; p <= 0.01). The difference between the diversity index of the two traps was not significant at level 0.05. The black trap in these circumstances was much more productive than the white, especially for anthropophilic species