Vestibulospinal reflexes elicited with a tone burst method are dependent on spatial orientation.

Balance involves several sensory modalities including vision, proprioception and the vestibular system. This study aims to investigate vestibulospinal activation elicited by tone burst stimulation in various muscles and how head position influences these responses. We recorded electromyogram (EMG) responses in different muscles (sternocleidomastoid-SCM, cervical erector spinae-ES-C, lumbar erector spinae-ES-L, gastrocnemius-G, and tibialis anterior-TA) of healthy participants using tone burst stimulation applied to the vestibular system. We also evaluated how head position affected the responses. Tone burst stimulation elicited reproducible vestibulospinal reflexes in the SCM and ES-C muscles, while responses in the distal muscles (ES-L, G, and TA) were less consistent among participants. The magnitude and polarity of the responses were influenced by the head position relative to the cervical spine. When the head was rotated or tilted, the polarity of the vestibulospinal responses changed, indicating the integration of vestibular and proprioceptive inputs in generating these reflexes. Overall, our study provides valuable insights into the complexity of vestibulospinal reflexes and their modulation by head position. However, the high variability in responses in some muscles limits their clinical application. These findings may have implications for future research in understanding vestibular function and its role in posture and movement control.

Pre-Natal Monitoring in the Primary Attention of the Brazilian Unified Health System

Objective: To analyze prenatal care in the primary care of the Brazilian Unified Health System. Material and Methods: This is a survey cross sectional research with inquiry-type quantitativequalitative approach. Data collection was performed in 28 cities of the São Paulo state, through on- site observations and interviews with health secretaries, coordinators of primary and oral health care. The following variables were analyzed: Primary health care services for pregnant woman as educational activities, presence of care and referral protocol and the organization of oral health care. Content analysis was performed for the answers of the open questions and the quantitative treatment of the discursive data was obtained through the categorial analysis. For the answers of the closed questions a descriptive analysis was performed. Results: The total number of participants interviewed was 84 managers. It was observed that 78.6 %% of cities carried out educational activities; 42.9% do not have an active care protocol and 57.1% do not have formal referral guidelines to high-risk pregnancies. The rapid tests for HIV, Syphilis, Hepatitis B and C were confirmed by 53.6% of managers and only 39.3% reported evaluating the vaccine situation. As to dental care, 71.4% of the municipalities do not have an established guideline; 46.4% reported that access occurs through spontaneous demand; 32.1% do not consider pregnant woman a priority care group and 67.9% have instituted prenatal dental care. Conclusion: Prenatal care has guaranteed educational activities, but it has deficiencies related to the work process and to the management of services, due, for the most part, to the inexistence of assistance and organizational protocols.

Can transcutaneous carbon dioxide pressure be a surrogate of blood gas samples for spontaneously breathing emergency patients? The ERNESTO experience.

BACKGROUND: It is known that the arterial carbon dioxide pressure (PaCO2) is useful for emergency physicians to assess the severity of dyspnoeic spontaneously breathing patients. Transcutaneous carbon dioxide pressure (PtcCO2) measurements could be a non-invasive alternative to PaCO2 measurements obtained by blood gas samples, as suggested in previous studies. This study evaluates the reliability of a new device in the emergency department (ED). METHODS: We prospectively included patients presenting to the ED with respiratory distress who were breathing spontaneously or under non-invasive ventilation. We simultaneously performed arterial blood gas measurements and measurement of PtcCO2 using a sensor placed either on the forearm or the side of the chest and connected to the TCM4 CombiM device. The agreement between PaCO2 and PtcCO2 was assessed using the Bland-Altman method. RESULTS: Sixty-seven spontaneously breathing patients were prospectively included (mean age 70 years, 52% men) and 64 first measurements of PtcCO2 (out of 67) were analysed out of the 97 performed. Nineteen patients (28%) had pneumonia, 19 (28%) had acute heart failure and 19 (28%) had an exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Mean PaCO2 was 49 mm Hg (range 22-103). The mean difference between PaCO2 and PtcCO2 was 9 mm Hg (range -47 to +54) with 95% limits of agreement of -21.8 mm Hg and 39.7 mm Hg. Only 36.3% of the measurement differences were within 5 mm Hg. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that PtcCO2 measured by the TCM4 device could not replace PaCO2 obtained by arterial blood gas analysis.