"The blue catheter" - case report.

The ventriculoperitoneal shunt placement procedure is common throughout the world, with a prevalence of approximately 30,000 procedures per year in the United States (5). However, the rate of complications is still important and must be remembered, with a percentage of 11 to 25% after the first year of implantation. Abdominal complications are described in 5-47% of the cases (6), and the abdominal pseudocyst is one of them. We present the case of a patient colonized by multidrug-resistant bacteria, who underwent exteriorization surgery of a ventriculoperitoneal shunt. Intraoperatively, a blue coloration was observed in the catheter, a phenomenon previously described in urinary infections (1)(2) but not before in pathologies of the central nervous system. Our objective is to present an atypical case of dysfunction of the ventriculoperitoneal shunt, whose diagnosis couldbe evidenced through the coloration of the catheter exteriorized in surgery.

Brassinosteroids improve photosystem II efficiency, gas exchange, antioxidant enzymes and growth of cowpea plants exposed to water deficit.

Water deficit is considered the main abiotic stress that limits agricultural production worldwide. Brassinosteroids (BRs) are natural substances that play roles in plant tolerance against abiotic stresses, including water deficit. This research aims to determine whether BRs can mitigate the negative effects caused by water deficiency, revealing how BRs act and their possible contribution to increased tolerance of cowpea plants to water deficit. The experiment was a factorial design with the factors completely randomised, with two water conditions (control and water deficit) and three levels of brassinosteroids (0, 50 and 100 nM 24-epibrassinolide; EBR is an active BRs). Plants sprayed with 100 nM EBR under the water deficit presented significant increases in ΦPSII, qP and ETR compared with plants subjected to the water deficit without EBR. With respect to gas exchange, PN, E and gs exhibited significant reductions after water deficit, but application of 100 nM EBR caused increases in these variables of 96, 24 and 33%, respectively, compared to the water deficit + 0 nM EBR treatment. To antioxidant enzymes, EBR resulted in increases in SOD, CAT, APX and POX, indicating that EBR acts on the antioxidant system, reducing cell damage. The water deficit caused significant reductions in Chl a, Chl b and total Chl, while plants sprayed with 100 nM EBR showed significant increases of 26, 58 and 33% in Chl a, Chl b and total Chl, respectively. This study revealed that EBR improves photosystem II efficiency, inducing increases in ΦPSII, qP and ETR. This substance also mitigated the negative effects on gas exchange and growth induced by the water deficit. Increases in SOD, CAT, APX and POX of plants treated with EBR indicate that this steroid clearly increased the tolerance to the water deficit, reducing reactive oxygen species, cell damage, and maintaining the photosynthetic pigments. Additionally, 100 nM EBR resulted in a better dose-response of cowpea plants exposed to the water deficit.

Protective role of free and quercetin-loaded nanoemulsion against damage induced by intracerebral haemorrhage in rats.

Intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) is a worldwide public health problem. Experimental studies have shown that oxidative stress plays an important role in the pathogenesis of ICH and could represent a target for its treatment. However, the blood-brain barrier is an obstacle to be overcome, as it hampers the administration of compounds to the central nervous system. In this study, we compared the effects of a quercetin-loaded nanoemulsion (QU-N) with the free form of the drug (QU-SP) in a collagenase-induced ICH rat model. Quercetin (QU) is a polyphenol that has an antioxidant effect in vitro, but due to its high lipophilicity, it has low bioavailability in vivo. In this study, animals submitted or not to ICH were treated with a single intraperitoneal QU dose (free or nanoemulsion) of 30 mg kg(-1). Motor assessment was evaluated by the open field, foot fault and beam walking behavioural tests. 72 h after surgery the haematoma size was evaluated and biochemical measurements were performed. Animals treated with QU-N had a significant improvement in the beam walking and open field tests. Also, QU-N was able to reduce the size of the haematoma, preserving the activity of glutathione S-transferase (GST), increasing GSH content, and the total antioxidant capacity. QU-SP recovered locomotor activity and increased the GSH content and the total antioxidant capacity. Thus, it can be observed that QU presented antioxidant activity in both formulations, but the incorporation into nanoemulsions increased its antioxidant effect, which was reflected in the improvement of the motor skills and in the haematoma size decrement. These results suggest that the nanoemulsion containing QU developed in this study could be promising for future studies on treatments for ICH.

Anatomy of the left atrioventricular valveapparatus in landrace pigs

The aim of this study was to describe the structures and variations of the left atrioventricular valve apparatus in pigs’ hearts. The valve apparatus elements were investigated using morphometric criteria such as the implantation base width, maximum cuspid depth and fibrous ring circumference, and using morphological criteria such as the numbers and sites of the cuspids, tendon cords and papillary muscles. We concluded that morphometric criteria such as the implantation base width and greater cuspid depth could be used to characterize the cuspids of the left atrioventricular valve apparatus; and that morphological criteria such as the number of papillary muscles, fibrous ring circumference and number of tendon cords were generally not associated with the variations in the number of cuspids. We can state that the number of cuspids in the left atrioventricular valve in pigs is variable and that commissural cuspids are frequently present.

[Living the inexorability of time and its changes with losses and possibilities: women in climacteric]. / Vivenciando a inexorabilidade do tempo e as suas mudanças com perdas e possibilidades: a mulher na fase do climatério.

This research deals with the experience of women in climacterium. Symbolic interactionism and Grounded Theory were the theoretical and methodological framework of the study. Its objectives were to understand: how the experience of the climacterium is defined by the women; what were the psychosocial processes of interaction lived by the women; and to develop a theoretical model representing the experience of the women in climacterium. The strategies used to collect the data were participant observation and open ended interviews. The subjects were women in the age group of 45 to 60. The sample was of 30 women. The study revealed that the climacterium experience may be constituted of two phenomena: REJECTING CHANGES which is characterized by the women as a moment of loss and TRYING TO COPE WITH CHANGES, which represents the moment construction of new concepts with possibilities of reconstruction of life. Supported by these two phenomena, the central category was generated: LIVING THE INEXORABILITY OF TIME AND ITS CHANGES WITH LOSSES AND POSSIBILITIES which is fundamental to the generation of the theoretical model representing the experience of women in climacterium.

Antagonistic effect of Lactobacillus acidophilus, Saccharomyces boulardii and Escherichia coli combinations against experimental infections with Shigella flexneri and Salmonella enteritidis subsp. typhimurium in gnotobiotic mice.

Lactobacillus acidophilus, Saccharomyces boulardii and Escherichia coli are probiotic strains used individually to protect against enteropathogenic agents. In order to determine if a synergistic effect of the individual protective mechanisms ordinarily attributed to each of these biotherapeutic agents is possible, we orally administered Lact. acidophilus H2B20, S. boulardii and E. coli EMO (LSE) to germfree mice. Ten days after colonization of the digestive tract, groups of animals associated (experimental) or not (control) with LSE were challenged orally with streptomycin resistant (Sfr) or streptomycin sensitive (Sfs) Shigella flexneri strains or Salmonella enteritidis subsp. typhimurium. Bacterial counts in faeces from experimental mice showed that the Sfr strain was eliminated 11 d after challenge while Sfs and S. enteritidis subsp. typhimurium colonized the digestive tract and continued to be present at high population levels (108 CFU g-1 of faeces), which is similar to that observed in control animals. All possible di- and monoassociations of the three probiotics with gnotobiotic mice were also performed before experimental oral infection with Sfr. The data showed that antagonism was obtained only when E. coli EMO was present. Different sensitivity of Sh. flexneri Sfr and Sfs to E. coli EMO antagonism could be explained by the different generation times between Sfr and Sfs, as shown by colonization kinetic experiments in the digestive tract of gnotobiotic mice.

[Unstable angina. An evaluation of a diagnostic and therapeutic methodology]. / Angina instável. Avaliação de uma metodologia diagnóstica e terapêutica.

The authors describe the diagnostic and therapeutic management of 55 patients with the diagnosis of unstable angina admitted at a medical intensive care unit. According to Braunwald classification, 52 patients had primary angina and the remaining three had post-infarction angina. Risk stratification was based on non invasive procedures such as 2D echocardiogram and exercise test after clinical stabilization. Coronary angiography was performed in all patients. Most of the patients needed revascularization: 62% by percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) and 13% were submitted to coronary artery by-pass graft (CABG). None of the patients died during hospitalization.