Primary conjunctival sporotrichosis in three cats from Northeastern Brazil.

INTRODUCTION: Classically, sporotrichosis occurs as a chronic granulomatous lymphocutaneous infection. The extracutaneous form is uncommon and may affect the eye without cutaneous involvement. The most frequent form of ocular sporotrichosis reported in humans is a granulomatous conjunctivitis. There are no previous reports on primary ocular sporotrichosis in cats. PROCEDURES: Three mixed breed cats rescued from shelters were referred by the veterinarian for ophthalmic evaluation with a complaint of conjunctivitis nonresponsive to treatment with no evidence of skin disease or systemic disease. Complete ophthalmic examination, conjunctival cytology, and microbiological analysis were performed. RESULTS: Ophthalmic examinations revealed epiphora, purulent ocular discharge, conjunctival hyperemia, and a mass in the palpebral conjunctiva. Conjunctival cytology revealed segmented and degenerated neutrophils, conjunctival epithelial cells, and an abundant number of round and oval cells compatible with Sporothrix spp. Microbiological culture was performed and confirmed the presence of fungi from the Sporothrix schenckii complex. All animals were treated with oral itraconazole; two animals received topical itraconazole in association with oral treatment. Case 1 was refractory to treatment, and iodate potassium was combined with itraconazole therapy without resolution at the time of this publication. Cases 2 and 3 had complete resolution of conjunctival lesions with four months of oral and topical itraconazole therapy. CONCLUSION: Conjunctival sporotrichosis should be considered as a differential diagnosis of conjunctivitis in cats from endemic regions. Conjunctival cytology is an important tool that can aid early diagnosis.

Polymorphisms of the genes CTLA4, PTPN22, CD40, and PPARG and their roles in Graves' disease: susceptibility and clinical features.

PURPOSE: CTLA4, PTPN22, and CD40 are immune-regulatory genes strongly associated with GD, as well as PPARG, but their clinical significance in different populations is still uncertain. METHODS: We genotyped 282 Brazilian GD patients (234 women and 48 men, 39.80 ± 11.69 years old), including 144 patients with GO, and 308 healthy control individuals (246 women and 62 men, 36.86 ± 12.95 years old). RESULTS: A multivariate analysis demonstrated that the inheritance of the GG genotype rs3087243 of CTLA4 (OR = 2.593; 95% CI = 1.630-4.123; p < 0.0001) and the CC genotype of rs3789607 of PTPN22 (OR = 2.668; 95% CI = 1.399-5.086; p = 0.0029) consisted in factors independent of the susceptibility to GD. The inheritance of polymorphic genotypes of rs5742909 of CTLA4 was associated with older age at the time of diagnosis (42.90 ± 10.83 versus 38.84 ± 11.81 years old; p = 0.0105), with higher TRAb levels (148.17 ± 188.90 U/L versus 112.14 ± 208.54 U/L; p = 0.0229) and the need for higher therapeutic doses of radioiodine (64.23 ± 17.16 versus 50.22 ± 16.86; p = 0.0237). The inheritance of the CC genotype of rs1883832 CD40 gene was more frequent among women (69.65%) than men (52.00%; p = 0.0186). The polymorphic genotype of PPARG gene (rs1801282) was associated with TPOAb positivity (p = 0.0391), and the GG genotype of rs2476601 of PTPN22 gene was associated with positivity for both TgAb (p = 0.0360) and TPOAb (p < 0.0001). Both polymorphic genotypes rs2476601 and rs3789607 of the PTPN22 gene were more frequent among nonsmoking patients (p = 0.0102 and p = 0.0124, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Our data confirm the important role of CTLA4 polymorphisms in GD susceptibility; demonstrate the role of PTPN22 polymorphisms in patients' clinical features; and suggest these genes may influence the severity of the disease.

Regulação assistencial ambulatorial no Município do Rio de Janeiro, RJ: efeitos da inserção da APS na regulação / Ambulatory assistance regulation in Rio de Janeiro-RJ: effects of APS inserting in regulation

A regulação assistencial adequada melhora a equidade no acesso à atenção especializada conforme a necessidade das pessoas, tornando-se um instrumento para a garantia da atenção integral. A crescente regulamentação do SUS responsabilizou os municípios pela regulação assistencial para garantir a integralidade e o adequado funcionamento das redes de atenção à saúde. O município do Rio de Janeiro, após diferentes configurações, passou a regular as vagas de procedimentos especializado através da plataforma web SISREG, desenvolvida pelo DATASUS. Em junho de 2012, a gestão municipal descentralizou a regulação ambulatorial e empoderou os médicos responsáveis técnicos das unidades básicas de saúde para exercer tal função. O presente estudo objetivou analisar os efeitos da inserção dos profissionais da Atenção Primária à Saúde no processo de regulação assistencial ambulatorial no município do Rio de Janeiro, RJ na qualidade da regulação e nas filas de espera. Quatro procedimentos foram analisados, tomados como marcadores: consulta em oftalmologia geral-geral, consulta em cirurgia geral-geral, consulta em obstetrícia – alto risco geral e mamografia bilateral- rastreamento. A partir de dados do SISREG foram comparados número de vagas, status das solicitações, tempo médio de espera geral e de acordo com a classificação de risco dos quatro procedimentos, entre janeiro de 2011 e dezembro de 2013...

An adequate healthcare regulation improves the equity to the access to the specialized care according to the person needs, and became a tool to assure an access to a comprehensive health care. The increasing regulation of the Brazilian Unified Health System (hereby SUS) passed the responsibility to the municipalities for the healthcare regulation to assure the comprehensiveness and the adequate operation of the healthcare network. Rio de Janeiro city, after several configuration attempts, began to regulate the specialized procedures through the web SISREG platform, developed by DATASUS. In June 2012, the municipal management decentralized the outpatient regulation and empowered doctors that were technical managers of the basic health care units to serve as refugators. (...) The quality of the regulation presented improvement for the four precedures, with the increase in the returned and denied requisitions, showing a more careful evaluation from the managers. From the data analysis, based on the literature, it can be concluded that the set of measurements taken by the Rio Janeiros SMS incurred in the reduction of the average waiting time, and that increase of the number of schedule is one of the most effective measurement. It is necessary to search for new perspectives for the accountability of APS and the oncoming of the providers of several levels to coordinate the care in a way the healthcare regulation became a tool for the improvement in the equity and not another barrier to the access of the users...

Case for diagnosis.

An 80-year-old Caucasian male patient was referred for evaluation of a rapidly growing, asymptomatic, erythematous nodule measuring 2 cm in diameter on his left cheek. The lesion had been present for four months. Dermoscopy revealed a homogeneous pink background with polymorphous telangiectatic vessels. Histopathology showed tumors in the deep dermis and subcutis composed of round cells with scant cytoplasm. Immunohistochemical staining was positive for CK20 confirming the diagnosis of Merkel cell carcinoma.

Case for diagnosis / Caso para diagnóstico

An 80-year-old Caucasian male patient was referred for evaluation of a rapidly growing, asymptomatic, erythematous nodule measuring 2 cm in diameter on his left cheek. The lesion had been present for four months. Dermoscopy revealed a homogeneous pink background with polymorphous telangiectatic vessels. Histopathology showed tumors in the deep dermis and subcutis composed of round cells with scant cytoplasm. Immunohistochemical staining was positive for CK20 confirming the diagnosis of Merkel cell carcinoma.

Paciente de 80 anos, branco, sexo masculino, encaminhado para avaliação de nódulo eritematoso de 2 cm, assintomático, de crescimento rápido, localizado na região malar esquerda, com quatro meses de evolução. À dermatoscopia visualizou-se fundo homogêneo róseo com telangiectasias polimorfas. O exame anatomopatológico revelou massas tumorais atingindo a derme profunda e o subcutâneo, compostas por células arredondadas, de citoplasma escasso. A imunohistoquímica foi positiva para CK20, confirmando o diagnóstico de carcinoma de células de Merkel.

Análisis de eficiencia técnica de la red pública de presentadores de servicios dentro del Sistema General de Seguridad Social en Salud / Analysis of technical efficiency of the public network of presenters of services within the General System of Social Security in Health

La evaluación de eficiencia para los hospitales públicos a nivel nacional se hace bajo la premisa de que la unidad hospitalaria es parte del sistema general de salud y en particular de la red de atención. La eficiencia se mide desde dos perspectivas, la primera la dada por los indicadores de recursos, aprovechamiento, funcionamiento y calidad; y la segunda perspectiva es la dada por un modelo de frontera estocástica. Los resultados indican que los hospitales públicos de segundo y tercer nivel, así como los centros de salud, son eficientes técnicamente, mientras que en los hospitales de primer nivel se evidencia un comportamiento ineficiente desde el punto de vista técnico, y la evidencia indica que esta ineficiencia es un problema de las unidades en el sistema, donde el componente del sistema refiere a una inadecuada asignación de recursos.

The evaluation of the efficiency of public hospitals at national level is done under the assumption that the country has a general health system, and the hospitals belongs to this system, especiallybelongs to safety public health net. The efficiency is measure in two paths, the first given by the indicators of use, resources, functioning and quality. The second way is given by the adjustmentof the stochastic frontier. The results show that the public hospitals in second and third level, and primary health attention centers are efficient technically, while the evidence say that the first level public hospitals are inefficient like units, in the sense of technical use of the raw materials - technically inefficient -, and the exploratory analysis show that inefficient occurs because there are anot optimum assignation of resources, and according to the law this assignation is not a function of the hospital, it is a function of the system.

Exposure to cadmium during gestation and lactation decreases cocaine self-administration in rats.

This investigation examined the effects of perinatal cadmium exposure on subsequent self-administration of cocaine during the adult cycle. Female Sprague-Dawley rats were gavaged daily with 0.0 (14% sucrose solution, w/v) or 5.0 mg cadmium chloride (dissolved in 14% sucrose solution, w/v) for 30 days prior to breeding with non-exposed males. Dams continued to experience cadmium exposure through gestation and until pups were weaned at postnatal day (PND) 21. On PND 70, offspring were anesthetized and chronic indwelling jugular catheters were implanted. Following recovery, test subjects were trained in operant chambers to self-administer 0.500 mg/kg infusion (inf) intravenous cocaine on a fixed-ratio (FR) 2 schedule of reinforcement. Following acquisition, self-administration rates were tested for saline, 0.030, 0.060, 0.125, 0.250, and 0.500 mg/kg inf cocaine. Rats exposed developmentally to cadmium self-administered significantly less than controls at saline, 0.030, and 0.060 mg/kg inf cocaine. These data indicate that early-life cadmium exposure, a common exposure vector of which is the use of tobacco products, may affect cocaine sensitivity.