Bromazepam increases the error of the time interval judgments and modulates the EEG alpha asymmetry during time estimation.

AIM: This study investigated the bromazepam effects in male subjects during the time estimation performance and EEG alpha asymmetry in electrodes associated with the frontal and motor cortex. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This is a double-blind, crossover study with a sample of 32 healthy adults under control (placebo) vs. experimental (bromazepam) during visual time-estimation task in combination with electroencephalographic analysis. RESULTS: The results demonstrated that the bromazepam increased the relative error in the 4 s, 7 s, and 9 s intervals (p = 0.001). In addition, oral bromazepam modulated the EEG alpha asymmetry in cortical areas during the time judgment (p ≤ 0.025). CONCLUSION: The bromazepam decreases the precision of time estimation judgments and modulates the EEG alpha asymmetry, with greater left hemispheric dominance during time perception. Our findings suggest that bromazepam influences internal clock synchronization via the modulation of GABAergic receptors, strongly relating to attention, conscious perception, and behavioral performance.

Efeito da ultrassonografia no ensino-aprendizagem da anatomia comparada a peças cadavéricas: revisão sistemática / Effect of ultrasonography on the teaching-learning of anatomy compared to cadaveric prosections: systematic review

Introdução: Com as novas determinações curriculares na educação médica e as dificuldades na obtenção de cadáveres, foi verificada a necessidade da inclusão de novas metodologias de ensino-aprendizagem na Anatomia. A ultrassonografia pode ser uma alternativa viável, pois oportuniza uma avaliação visual-espacial, dinâmica e em tempo real das estruturas anatômicas. Objetivos: Avaliar o efeito da ultrassonografia no ensino-aprendizagem da Anatomia comparada ao uso de peças cadavéricas por meio de uma revisão sistemática. Métodos: Trata-se de uma revisão sistemática, na qual foram coletados artigos das bases PubMed, LILACS e SciELO. Com os descritores utilizados foram obtidos 3.963 artigos. Após a leitura dos títulos e resumos foram selecionados 27 artigos para análise completa. Quatro artigos foram inclusos para serem utilizados após análise de elegibilidade. Resultados: Dois dos estudos demonstraram aprendizagem equivalente entre as condições de ensino cadáver e ultrassom. Duas pesquisas avaliaram a associação das metodologias (ultrassonografia mais estudo com cadáver) comparando com alunos expostos somente a peças cadavéricas. Em uma delas o grupo com ultrassonografia obteve pontuações maiores que o grupo controle, mas com tamanho de efeito moderado a pequeno e a outra pesquisa apresentou valores inferiores no grupo ultrassom, no entanto, sem significância estatística. Conclusão: Essa revisão evidenciou resultados favoráveis ao uso da ultrassonografia no ensino da anatomia, entretanto, poucos estudos comparativos com o uso de peças cadavéricas foram realizados o que impede a generalização desses efeitos. Portanto, mais pesquisas são necessárias, a fim de obter maior confiança para a sua inclusão no ensino-aprendizagem da anatomia na graduação médica.

Introduction: With the new curricular determinations in medical education and the difficulties in obtaining corpses, the need to include new teachinglearning methodologies in anatomy was seen. Ultrasonography can be a viable alternative, as it provides a visual-spatial, dynamic, and real-time assessment of anatomical structures. Objectives: Evaluate the effect of ultrasound in teaching-learning anatomy compared to the use of cadaveric specimens through a systematic review. Methods: It is a systematic review, in which articles were collected from the PubMed, LILACS and SciELO databases. With the keywords used, 3,963 articles were obtained. After reading the titles and abstracts, 27 articles were selected for complete analysis. Four were included for use after eligibility analysis. Results: Among them, two studies showed equivalent learning between the conditions of cadaver and ultrasound teaching. Two studies evaluated the association of methodologies (ultrasound plus cadaver study) comparing students exposed only to cadaveric parts. In one of them, the ultrasound group obtained higher scores than the control group, but with a moderate to small effect size, and the other study showed lower values in the ultrasound group, however, without statistical significance. Conclusion: This review showed favorable results for the use of ultrasound in the teaching of anatomy; however, few comparative studies with the use of cadaveric parts were carried out, which prevents the generalization of these effects. Therefore, more research is needed in order to obtain greater confidence for its inclusion in the teaching and learning of anatomy in medical graduation.

Cases of leprosy notified in the municipality of Parnaíba, state of Piauí, Brazil, 2007-2016

This study aimed to describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of leprosy cases reported in the municipality of Parnaíba, State of Piauí. This was a cross-sectional study of leprosy cases, living in Parnaíba, State of Piauí, reported to the National System of Notifiable Diseases (SINAN), from 2007 to 2016. There were 582 cases of leprosy with hyperendemic detection in the general population in 2008, 2009 and 2016; and under < 15 years of age in 2008, 2014 and 2016, with a predominance of females (53.1%), brown (62.2%), aged 20-64 years (74.7%), complete and incomplete elementary school (56.4%), housewives (20.7%), living in the urban area (87.1%), reported by primary care (69.2%). The most frequent clinical and therapeutic findings were: multibacillary operational classification (53.8%); clinical forms: undetermined (30.6%) and virchowian (24.3%); single lesion (34.8%); no affected nerves (86.7%); degree of disability zero (70.6%); bacilloscopy not performed (26.7%); therapeutic regimen 12 doses (53.7%) and no reaction (70.8%). Regarding the mode of input, predominated new case (88.8%); mode of output, cure (87.9%) and detection mode: spontaneous demand (45.8%). Out of 2,106 registered contacts, 60.6% were examined. Leprosy is endemic to Parnaíba, State of Piauí. It is noteworthy that the hyperendemic detection rates occurred during years when there was intensification of active search for contacts and cases in the population.

Methylphenidate modifies activity in the prefrontal and parietal cortex accelerating the time judgment.

Methylphenidate produces its effects via actions on cortical areas involved with attention and working memory, which have a direct role in time estimation judgment tasks. In particular, the prefrontal and parietal cortex has been the target of several studies to understand the effect of methylphenidate on executive functions and time interval perception. However, it has not yet been studied whether acute administration of methylphenidate influences performance in time estimation task and the changes in alpha band absolute power in the prefrontal and parietal cortex. The current study investigates the influence of the acute use of methylphenidate in both performance and judgment in the time estimation interpretation through the alpha band absolute power activity in the prefrontal and parietal cortex. This is a double-blind, crossover study with a sample of 32 subjects under control (placebo) and experimental (methylphenidate) conditions with absolute alpha band power analysis during a time estimation task. We observed that methylphenidate does not influence task performance (p > 0.05), but it increases the time interval underestimation by over 7 s (p < 0.001) with a concomitant decrease in absolute alpha band power in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and parietal cortex (p < 0.001). Acute use of methylphenidate increases the time interval underestimation, consistent with reduced accuracy of the internal clock mechanisms. Furthermore, acute use of methylphenidate influences the absolute alpha band power over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, and parietal cortex.

Neuroplasticity in visual impairments.

The visual acuity loss enables the brain to access new pathways in the quest to overcome the visual limitation and this is wellknown as neuroplasticity which have mechanisms to cortical reorganization. In this review, we related the evidences about the neuroplasticity as well as cortical anatomical differences and functional repercussions in visual impairments. We performed a systematic review of PUBMED database, without date or status publication restrictions. The findings demonstrate that the visual impairment produce a compensatory sensorial effect, in which non-visual areas are related to both cross (visual congenital) and multimodal (late blind) neuroplasticity.