Etanercept reduces thermal and mechanical orofacial hyperalgesia following inflammation and neuropathic injury.

BACKGROUND: This study evaluated the involvement of tumour necrosis factor α (TNF-α) in orofacial thermal and mechanical hyperalgesia induced by an inflammatory stimulus or by chronic constriction of the infraorbital nerve (CION) using etanercept (Eta), a TNF-receptor fusion protein that inhibits TNF-α action. METHODS: Animals were treated with Eta (0.5 and 5.0 mg/kg, s.c.) or dexamethasone (Dex, 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 mg/kg, s.c.) and orofacial thermal (cold and heat) and mechanical hyperalgesia induced by an inflammatory stimulus (carrageenan, Cg 50 and 100 µg/lip) or by chronic CION, a model of neuropathic pain in the orofacial region was evaluated. Treatments with Dex or Eta were carried out before Cg or before or after CION. RESULTS: Eta or Dex abolished inflammatory thermal and mechanical hyperalgesia. Also, each drug, when given at the day of the surgery and the subsequent day, was effective to abolish thermal and mechanical hyperalgesia induced by CION, assessed on day 4 and on day 13 after the surgery, respectively. However, Eta, but not Dex, given after the CION, abolished thermal and mechanical hyperalgesia and reduced TNF-α level in the trigeminal ganglion. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that TNF-α has an important role in cold, heat and mechanical hyperalgesia induced by inflammation or neuropathy in the orofacial region and this may contribute for the establishment of new therapeutic strategies to treat orofacial pain.

[Nutrition in adolescence] / Nutrição na adolescência.

OBJECTIVE: To emphasize the importance of nutrition for healthy growth and development during adolescence. METHODS: 1 - National and international bibliographic review of the main anthropometric data to be used during puberty. 2 - Description of practical questions for the evaluation of the nutritional status of adolescents. 3 - Main interventions and prevention activities for nutritional and health risk situations to be planned by the pediatrician in his professional activities with the multidisciplinary team. RESULTS: Adolescence is a life period between 10 and 20 years of age, marked by intense body changes resulting from puberty and psychosocial development that influence nutritional requirements. The routine follow-up of adolescents should include the evaluation of growth velocity and sexual maturation, and also the anthropometric measures for the evaluation of the nutritional status. During the pubertal growth spurt, there is an increase in the protein, calorie, and nutrient requirements, in addition to the extras recommended for growth and for several activities, according to different life styles. CONCLUSIONS: Dealing with adolescents consists of opening new opportunities for nutritional counseling and health education. The dissemination of healthy eating concepts is one of the basic recommendations concerning community and clinical intervention. It is also one of the pediatrician s obligations towards adolescents.

Infestação de Tunga penetrans siphonaptera: Tungidae em cascos de vacas leiteiras F1 Holandês-Zebu / Infestation of Tunga penetrans siphonaptera: Tungidae in hooves of F1 Holstein-Zebu cows

Tunga penetrans rate of infestation in hooves of confined F1 Holstein-Zebu cows during the dry season was recorded. First parturition cows showed an infestation rate of 90.5 percent in the thorax and 96.9 in the pelvic members, second parturition cows showed an infestation rate of 95.3 percent in the thorax and 100 percent in the pelvic members while third parturition cows showed rate of infestation of 100 percent for both members.