Factors associated with the municipal provision of orthodontics in the Brazilian Unified Health System.

BACKGROUND: The Brazilian federal government issued Ministerial Ordinance No. 718 in 2010 to expand the funding of orthodontic treatment provided by Brazilian municipalities via the Unified Health System (SUS in Portuguese). AIM: To identify social and structural factors associated with Brazilian municipalities that provide fixed orthodontic appliance therapy and interceptive orthodontic therapy. METHODS: Official Brazilian government databases were used for data collection. Poisson regression with robust variance was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Municipalities hosting Dental Specialty Centers (DSCs) with greater installed capacity (type III DSC with 7 dental chairs or over), which employed dentists specializing in pediatric dentistry and orthodontics, were more likely to offer orthodontic services via SUS. CONCLUSIONS: Federal, state, and municipal managers need to review the funding of orthodontic services via SUS, which can be used for creating DSCs and hiring professionals with expertise in orthodontics.

Parents' perceptions and related factors of the oral health status of Brazilian children enrolled in public preschools.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to evaluate parents' perceptions of the oral health status of children enrolled in public preschools and associated factors. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study with data collected via self-administered questionnaire. A total of 474 questionnaires were distributed in public preschools in the city of Canoas, Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost state of Brazil. Poisson regression models were used in the multivariate analysis (p < 0.05). RESULTS: The study included 171 (36%) valid questionnaires. The prevalence of parents who perceived the oral health status of their children as negative was 29.8% (n = 51). Mother being unemployed (vs employed) increased by 16% the likelihood of parents perceiving the oral health status of their children as negative (prevalence ratio [PR] 1.16; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.02-1.31. Parents having (vs having not) observed difficulties in the child's ability to eat increased by 27% the likelihood of perceiving the child's oral health status as negative (PR 1.27; 95% CI 1.08-1.48), while child's tooth brushing 1-2 (vs 3 or more) times a day and family income up to 2 (vs 3 or more) minimum wages increased it by 14% (PR 1.14; 95% CI 1.03-1.27 for both). Current or past use (vs no use) of pacifiers increased by 12% the likelihood of parents' negative perceptions (PR 1.12; 95% CI 1.00-1.25). CONCLUSION: We can conclude that unemployed mothers, low-income families, parents having observed child's feeding difficulties, child's tooth brushing 1-2 times a day, and current or past use of pacifiers contributed significantly to parents' negative perception of the child's oral health status. These factors are essential for the planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of actions aimed at controlling the oral health of children enrolled in public preschools.

Effect of strain and nutritional density of the diet on the water-protein ratio, fat and collagen levels in the breast and legs of broilers slaughtered at different ages.

Many requirements are necessary to meet the European Union rules to export poultry, including the amount of physiological water and water-protein ratio (WPR) in carcasses. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify if strain, nutrition, and age affect the amount of collagen and fat and the WPR in cuts and verify whether the latter meets the international export standards. A total of 3,240 male chicks were housed in a completely randomized design in a 3 × 3 × 5 factorial arrangement, which included 3 nutritional densities (regular, medium, and high), 3 strains (021 Embrapa and 2 commercial strains identified as A and B), and 5 ages. Twelve broilers from each treatment (totaling 540 birds) were slaughtered at 28, 35, 42, 49, and 56 D of age to determine collagen and fat levels and WPR (through the calculation of moisture and protein percentage) in broiler breasts and legs using the near-infrared spectroscopy method. The use of feeds with different nutritional densities presented in this study has no effect on the WPR in the breast and legs of broilers slaughtered between 28 and 56 D of age. However, nutritional density influences liveweight and percentage of fat in the breast and legs. Collagen percentage in the legs decreases with increasing nutritional density. The 021 Embrapa strain cuts present a lower WPR than those of other commercial strains. However, the values found for all strains studied are within the limits of the Europe Union and Brazilian legislations. The liveweight, breast weight, leg weight, and leg fat increases linearly with age. Quite the opposite, water protein ratio, breast fat level, and breast collagen level decrease linearly with age. Leg WPR and leg collagen level are not affected by age. Despite the differences found for strains, nutritional densities and age readers should be aware that these factors may interact with each other depending on the response variable studied.

Desempenho e metabolizabilidade de dietas em codornas alimentadas com níveis crescentes de óleo ácido de soja / Performance and metabolizability of diets in quails fed with increasing levels of soybean acid oil

Objetivou-se avaliar os efeitos do óleo ácido de soja (OAS) sobre coeficientes de extinção específica da oxidação (K232 e K270) e a metabolizabilidade das dietas e o desempenho produtivo em codornas. Um total de 80 codornas de duplo propósito foram usadas num experimento com duração de 56 dias. Foi utilizado um delineamento completamente ao acaso com cinco níveis de tratamentos para OAS (0, 25, 50, 75 e 100%), com oito repetições de duas aves cada, como substituto ao óleo de soja refinado (OS) incluído até um nível máximo de 8% na formulação da dieta. O índice de acidez e os coeficientes K232 e K270 mostraram um efeito linear crescente (P<0,001) com o aumento dos níveis de inclusão de OAS na formulação das dietas. Os coeficientes K232 e K270 não foram alterados com o armazenamento das rações durante 7 dias. A suplementação com OAS durante 56 dias não afetou o desempenho produtivo das codornas. Os resultados não mostraram efeitos do OAS sobre a metabolizabilidade de ingredientes, exceto para gordura bruta que exibiu um efeito quadrático decrescente até o nível de 50% de substituição do óleo de soja por OAS (y= 94,31-1,186x+0,018x2, R2= 0,28, P= 0,02). Em conclusão, a inclusão de até 8% de OAS na dieta durante um período curto de tempo (56 dias) não produz efeitos adversos no desempenho produtivo de codornas.(AU)

This study evaluated the effects of soybean acid oil (OAS) on oxidation products specific extinctions coefficients (K232 and K270) and metabolizability of diets and productive performance in quails. A total of 80 dual-purpose quails were used in a 56-days experiment. A completely randomised design with five treatment levels of OAS (0, 25, 50, 75 and 100%) as a dietary replacer for soybean oil (OS) included up to 8% in the diet formulation were used, with eight replicates of two birds each. The acidity index and K232 and K270 coefficients showed a crescent linear effect (P<0.001), with increasing levels of OAS in the diet formulation. There were no changes in K232 and K270 values during 7-days of diet storage. Supplementation with OAS during 56 days has no effect on quail's productive performance. The results showed no effects of OAS on metabolizability of ingredients except for crude fat that exhibited a quadratic effect that was decrescent to the level of 50% of OAS supplementation as soybean oil replacer (y= 94.31-1.186x+0.018x2, R2= 0.28, P= 0.02). In conclusion, dietary inclusion of OAS up to 8% in the diet during a short period of time (56-days) produce no adverse effects on productive performance of quails.(AU)

In vitro stimulation of oxidative stress in cerebral cortex of rats by the guanidino compounds accumulating in hyperargininemia.

Hyperargininemia is a metabolic disorder biochemically characterized by tissue accumulation of arginine and other guanidino compounds. Convulsions, lethargy and psychomotor delay or cognitive deterioration are predominant clinical features of this disease. Although neurologic symptoms predominate in this disorder, their pathophysiology is still unknown. In the present study we investigated the in vitro effects of arginine, N-acetylarginine, argininic acid and homoarginine on some oxidative stress parameters in rat brain in the hope to identify a possible mechanism for the brain damage in hyperargininemia. Chemiluminescence, total radical-trapping antioxidant potential (TRAP), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activities were measured in the cerebral cortex of rats in the presence of various concentrations of these compounds. The results showed that all guanidino compounds tested significantly increased chemiluminescence and decreased TRAP at concentrations similar to those observed in the tissue of hyperargininemic patients. Furthermore, these compounds inhibited CAT and GSH-Px activities to varying extents, with GSH-Px activity being more susceptible to their action. In turn, argininic acid inhibited all enzyme activities, and its main action was also directed towards GSH-Px. The results suggest that oxidative stress caused by guanidino compounds may be involved in the brain dysfunction amongst other potential pathophysiological mechanisms observed in hyperargininemia.

Nitric oxide synthase inhibition by L-NAME prevents the decrease of Na+,K+-ATPase activity in midbrain of rats subjected to arginine administration.

In the present study we investigated the effect of acute administration of L-arginine on Na(+),K(+)-ATPase and Mg(2+)-ATPase activities and on some parameters of oxidative stress (chemiluminescence and total radical-trapping antioxidant parameter-TRAP) in midbrain of adult rats. We also tested the effect of L-NAME on the effects produced by arginine. Sixty-day-old rats were treated with an acute intraperitoneal injection of saline (group I, control), arginine (0.8 g/kg) (group II), L-NAME (2 mg/kg) (group III) or arginine (0.8 g/kg) plus L-NAME (2 mg/kg) (group IV). Na(+),K(+)-ATPase activity was significantly reduced in the arginine-treated rats, but was not affected by other treatments. In contrast, Mg(2+)-ATPase activity was not altered by any treatment. Furthermore, chemiluminescence was significantly increased and TRAP was significantly decreased in arginine-treated rats, whereas the simultaneous injection of L-NAME prevented these effects. These results demonstrate that in vivo arginine administration reduces Na(+),K(+)-ATPase activity possibly through free radical generation induced by NO formation.