Molecular detection of Salmonella serovars Enteritidis, Heidelberg and Typhimurium directly from pre-enriched poultry samples.

1. Salmonella is one of the most important pathogens in public health and it is usually associated with food-borne diseases. Salmonella serovars Enteritidis and Typhimurium are widespread in the world with outbreaks frequently associated with consumption of poultry products; furthermore, there is an increasing public health concern with the wide dissemination of the serovar Heidelberg in poultry flocks. 2. The aim of the experiment was to develop and to validate rapid methods to detect Salmonella serovars Enteritidis, Typhimurium, and Heidelberg by real-time PCRs and test isolates from pre-enriched poultry samples. 3. Three real-time PCRs were developed and used in combination to detect the serovars Enteritidis, Typhimurium and Heidelberg. These assays were validated by the analysis of 126 Salmonella isolates, eight other enteric bacterial species and 34 naturally contaminated poultry samples after pre-enrichment with buffered peptone water (BPW). 4. Real-time PCRs detected the isolates of the most important poultry serovars (Enteritidis, Typhimurium and Heidelberg) with 100% inclusivity and exclusivity in each assay. The PCR identified monophasic variants of the serovars Typhimurium and Heidelberg. All PCRs were validated in detecting these specific serovars directly from pre-enriched poultry samples. The whole analytical procedure was performed in less than 24 h in a veterinary diagnostic laboratory.

Study of N-vinylpyrrolidone-N-vinylformamide copolymers labelled with indium-113m.

The procedure of the directed synthesis of N-vinylpyrrolidone-N-vinylformamide (VP-VFA) copolymers with grafted iminodiacetate (IDA) chelating units is presented. The methods for labelling resulting conjugates with indium-113m were developed. The metal-copolymer conjugates were characterized by different physicochemical methods, including IR and NMR, viscometry, light scattering, and exclusion high-performance liquid chromatography. Parameters of radiochemical synthesis of the conjugates labelled with indium-113m were optimized. It was shown that the VP-VFA-IDA copolymer firmly binds indium-113m both in the acid and alkaline solutions, with pH of the reaction mixture having almost no effect on the complexation. VP-VFA-IDA-In conjugates were found to be unstable in histidine challenge reaction.

Metal-Polymer Complexes of Gallium/Gallium-68 with Copolymers of N-Vinylpyrrolidonewith N-Vinylformamideand N-Vinyliminodiacetic Acid: A Hint for Radiolabeling of Water-Soluble Synthetic Flexible Chain Macromolecules.

Copolymer of N-vinylpyrrolidone (VP) with vinylformamide (VFA) and N-vinyliminodiacetic acid (VIDA) was synthesized; its metal-polymer complexes (MPCs) with gallium were obtained. The complexes were characterized by size exclusion chromatography, hydrodynamic and optical methods, scanning electron microscopy, and spectral methods (UV, IR, 1Н NMR spectroscopy). It was demonstrated that in going from polymer to complex, hydrodynamic parameters of macromolecules change only slightly, although the polymer contains intramolecular Ga(VIDA)2 fragments in its structure. A new method for preparation of MPCs with gallium and gallium-68 radionuclide was suggested. The obtained metal-polymer complex is stable over a wide range of pH values as well as in the histidine challenge reaction. In vivo distribution experiments in intact animals showed high primary accumulation of thegallium-68 MPC in blood with subsequent excretion via urinary tract.

[To what extent do parents have the right to decide for their children?]. / Até onde os pais têm o direito de decidir por seus filhos?

OBJECTIVE: To review the hierarchy of bioethical principles when there are conflicting interests between the medical team and the child's parents in decision making in pediatrics. Our hypothesis is that when the parents decisions can be questioned, they loose the right to decide for their children. METHODS: The case of a 9-year-old girl from a Jehova's Witness family is presented. She was a candidate for renal transplantation but her parents were against blood transfusion in case it was required. A member of the medical team presented a denounce to the hospital Medical Ethic Committee and asked for advice. Several materials were reviewed for the ethic aspects involved: the Bioethic Live Plus 1973-4/96, literature provided by people from Jehova's Witnesses, the chapters about ethics in the main pediatric text-books, a journal on Bioethics published by the Brazilian Federal Medical Board, and the Child and Adolescent Act (Brazilian Law 8,069 from January 13th, 1990). RESULTS: The Committee's finding, based on ethic and legal aspects reviewed in the literature about similar cases, favors the beneficence principle under the justification of preserving life as an ultimate goal, and recommends the interference of the Children and Youth Court so that the patient's interest and greater benefits prevail. Nevertheless, it also recommends that the medical team should make every possible effort to avoid blood transfusion in order to respect this conception of life and protect the people who believe in it, in accordance with the fundamental principle of bioethics which postulates the respect for human dignity and autonomy of belief.

[Autonomic dysfunction in Guillain-Barré Syndrome: a 13 year experience in pediatric intensive care unit]. / Distúrbios autonômicos na Síndrome de Guillain-Barré: experiência de 13 anos em UTI pediátrica.

The acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (Guillain-Barré Syndrome) might have a severe presentation but a good prognosis in children. It is an immune-mediated and inflammatory disorder of the peripheral nervous system. This retrospective study observed that GBS is frequently complicated by hypertension and other autonomic disorders. Cardiovascular instability is due to the involvement of the autonomic nervous system and results in labile blood pressure, cardiac dysrhythmias and hypovolemia. During a 13-year period (1982-1995), 21 children were admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit of São Lucas Hospital, Porto Alegre, south of Brazil. Eight patients were mechanically ventilated. Symptoms of autonomic disturbance were frequently seen, especially in patients with severe clinical evolution. Previous investigations of the mechanism of hypertension associated with GBS did not evaluate the etiology of these phenomena. With modern pediatric intensive care support the deaths are rare. There is no death in this studied group.

Performance of criminals and neurotics on the Kahn test of symbol arrangement.

The diagnostic power of the Kahn Test of Symbol Arrangement (KTSA) in differentiating between criminals and neurotics was examined. Three groups of males--30 incarcerated criminal recidivists, 30 neurotics, and 30 trainees in a work-placement bureau--were given the KTSA and an intelligence test. The groups were equated for age and socioeconomic status. Qualitative differences between the symbol-patterns of the criminals and the neurotics were noted. The KTSA scores of the two groups differed from those of the control group but not from each other.

Dimensions of assertiveness: factors underlying the college self-expression scale.

A total of 447 Israeli students, both males and females, from four educational institutions were administered the College Self-expression Scale, a measure of assertiveness. The obtained responses were factor analyzed using the principal axis solution and the varimax rotation method. The results showed four main factors which included 43 of the 50 items of the original scale. These factors were identified as the willingness to take risks in interpersonal interactions, the ability to communicate feelings, setting rules and rectifying injustices, and the presence or absence of a tendency to invoke a self-punitive attitude. The findings were interpreted as adding support to the validity of the scale as a measure of assertiveness.

Psychodrama: group psychotherapy through role playing.

The theory and the therapeutic procedure of classical psychodrama are described along with brief illustrations. Classical psychodrama and sociodrama stemmed from role theory, enactments, "tele," the reciprocity of choices, and the theory of spontaneity-robopathy and creativity. The discussion focuses on key concepts such as the therapeutic team, the structure of the session, transference and reality, countertransference, the here-and-now and the encounter, the group-as-a-whole, resistance and difficult clients, and affect and cognition. Also described are the neoclassical approaches of psychodrama, action methods, and clinical role playing, and the significance of the concept of behavioral simulation in group psychotherapy.

Role-playing techniques: locus of control and the attraction to behavior simulation interventions.

This study investigated the relationship between internal-external locus of control and preferences to enact conflict situations designed as spontaneous, mimetic-replication or a combination of these two behavior simulation (role playing) conditions. Four groups of females, high-school students (N = 10 each), indicated their portrayal preferences on a Role Playing Situation Questionnaire. Two of these, an internal and an external group, participated in a task designed to create feelings of failure (lack of success) prior to taking the questionnaire. Spontaneous portrayals were preferred by internals, and portrayals that involved mimetic-replication were favored by externals. Unsuccessful internals preferred the combined spontaneous/mimetic-replication alternative more than did the other internals. The relationship between personality and role playing, as well as the implications for clinical uses of behavior simulation conditions, is discussed.

The effect of two kinds of role playing on self-evaluation of improved assertiveness.

The study investigated the "differential effect of role-playing enactments" hypothesis through self-evaluations of improvement in assertiveness by participants in an assertive training program. Twenty-two nonassertive Israeli students were trained in two groups: mimetic-replications (action modeling, n = 12) and spontaneous (self-produced action, n = 10) role-playing interventions. Comparisons of their scores on the Self-Expression College Scale (CSES) before and after the training showed that both groups significantly improved their self-evaluations, but the mimetic-replication group did better. In particular, this group scored significantly higher on the CSES first factor (the willingness to take risks in situations that involved other, significant persons).

The Kahn Test of Symbol Arrangement and criminality.

Two groups of male Ss--33 incarcerated criminal recidivists and 33 trainees in a work placement bureau--were tested on two versions of the Kahn Test of Symbol Arrangement (KTSA). These were the original KTSA, which used the free responding technique, and a modified KTSA, which used the forced-choice responding technique. The groups were equated for average age and sociocultural status and did not differ in their intellignece scores. The results showed that the criminals scored significantly lower than their controls on the original KTSA with a symbol-pattern characterized by repetitive and concrete types of responses. The groups did not differ on the modified KTSA. The discriminative power of the free responding technique of the KTSA proved to be superior to that of the forced-choice in the area of identifying criminal recidivists.

The effectiveness of the psychodramatic double method, the reflection method, and lecturing in the training of empathy.

Studied the effectiveness of the psychodramatic Double method, the Reflection method, and the Lecture method in improving empathic ability. Sixty-four high school sophomores were assigned randomly to four groups of 16 Ss, 8 males and 8 females, each. Three groups received one of the three training methods and the fourth served as no-training control. The Ss' level of empathy, before and after the training, was measured by a modified version of the Accurate Empathic Scale. The results showed that all three training methods produced significant improvements compared with the control group. The effect of the Double method was significantly greater than that of the other two methods. The Reflection method ranked second, yet was not significantly better than the Lecture method. Females scored higher than males both before and after the training, but there was no significant sex and training method interaction effect.