Larval settlement and spat recovery rates of the oyster Crassostrea brasiliana (Lamarck, 1819) using different systems to induce metamorphosis.

This study aimed at the assessment, in the laboratory, of the larval settlement and spat recovery rates of oysters of the species Crassostrea brasiliana using plastic collectors, epinephrine (C9H13NO3 C4H6O6) and shell powder in settlement tanks. Polypropylene was used attached to bamboo frames. The material was chosen due to its pliability--that favours the spat detachment. Two experiments were carried out; the first between February and April 2008, and the second between November and December 2008 at the Marine Mussel Laboratory of Santa Catarina Federal University (Laboratório de Moluscos Marinhos da Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina). In the first experiment, the scratched plastic collectors were tested consorting them with shell powder; on the second, the plastic collectors were tested consorted with shell powder, only shell powder and epinephrine as the metamorphosis stimulator. The quantification was carried out of the larvae settled in the plastic collectors, and of the recovery and integrity of the spats after their detachment. The first experiment has shown a recovery rate of 48.83% of the spats in comparison with the D larvae used. From this percentage, 4.9% settled in the plastic collectors and 43.93% in shell powder. The second experiment revealed 55.78% regarding the settled spats in comparison with the total of larvae used (using epinephrine), 78.62% in the treatment with the collector plus shell powder and 58.33% in the treatment only with shell powder. Thus, the use of the collector plus shell powder resulted in a greater spat recovery when compared to the other treatments.

Cerebellar growth in very low birth weight infants.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess cerebellar growth of very low birth weight infants from birth to discharge and compare it with term infants. STUDY DESIGN: Very low birth weight infants were matched by gender, adequacy of weight to gestational age at birth and postmenstrual ages at hospital discharge to term newborns. Exclusion criteria were central nervous system malformation, peri-intraventricular hemorrhage, cerebellar hemorrhage and meningitis. Transverse cerebellar diameter was measured by cranial ultrasound at birth and at hospital discharge in cases, and at birth in matched controls. Very low birth weight infants had magnetic resonance imaging done in the first year. RESULT: Cerebellar growth was similar in very low birth weight infants without periventricular leukomalacia and controls, and smaller in cases with periventricular leukomalacia than in controls. CONCLUSION: We suggest that cerebellar growth is normal in the absence of supratentorial injury.

Organ donation: acceptance and refusal among users of the public health system from Brazil.

The present study sought to identify the perception of a given group of users of the Brazilian Public Health System (Sistema Unico de Saúde) regarding organ donation and to implement an educational policy. Structured interviews were conducted with the aim of describing the profile of donor and nondonor subjects, the importance of organ donation, and the knowledge regarding donation and brain death. One hundred subjects were interviewed: 33% of them considered themselves potential donors; 40% were donors; 13% were nondonors; and 14% were ill-informed potential donors. However, only 40% of users have already officially expressed to their families a willingness to donate. Regarding their knowledge about the propitious moment for organ donation, only 64% of them associated the donation act with brain death. Although the present results revealed that users of the Brazilian Public Health System are prone to organ donation, there actually was a high amount of refusals, which may be due to lack of information and knowledge regarding the donation-transplantation process.

Umbilical cord blood and neonatal endothelin-1 levels in preterm newborns with and without respiratory distress syndrome

Increased pulmonary vascular resistance in preterm newborn infants with respiratory distress syndrome is suggested, and endothelin-1 plays an important role in pulmonary vascular reactivity in newborns. We determined umbilical cord blood and neonatal (second sample) levels of endothelin-1 in 18 preterm newborns with respiratory distress syndrome who had no clinical or echocardiographic diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension and 22 without respiratory distress syndrome (gestational ages: 31.4 ± 1.6 and 29.3 ± 2.3 weeks, respectively). Umbilical cord blood and a second blood sample taken 18 to 40 h after birth were used for endothelin-1 determination by enzyme immunoassay. Median umbilical cord blood endothelin-1 levels were similar in both groups (control: 10.9 and respiratory distress syndrome: 11.4 pg/mL) and were significantly higher than in the second sample (control: 1.7 pg/mL and respiratory distress syndrome: 3.5 pg/mL, P < 0.001 for both groups). Median endothelin-1 levels in the second sample were significantly higher in children with respiratory distress syndrome than in control infants (P < 0.001). There were significant positive correlations between second sample endothelin-1 and Score for Neonatal Acute Physiology and Perinatal Extension II (r = 0.36, P = 0.02), and duration of mechanical ventilation (r = 0.64, P = 0.02). A slower decline of endothelin-1 from birth to 40 h of life was observed in newborns with respiratory distress syndrome when compared to controls. A significant correlation between neonatal endothelin-1 levels and some illness-severity signs suggests that endothelin-1 plays a role in the natural course of respiratory distress syndrome in preterm newborns.

Evaluation of interleukin-6, tumour necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin-1beta for early diagnosis of neonatal sepsis.

The objective of this study was to assess the contribution of interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) to an early diagnosis of early-onset neonatal sepsis. A cohort of 117 newborn infants delivered during a 1-y period had IL-6, TNF-alpha and IL-1beta, blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cultures, leucocyte and platelet count collected on the initial evaluation of possible early-onset sepsis. They were divided into four groups: I, positive blood and/or CSF cultures; II, probably infected with clinical sepsis but negative cultures; III, same as group II but mother received antibiotic antepartum; and IV, newborn infants that did not receive any antibiotic therapy. There were no differences among the four groups with respect to mean gestational ages and birthweights, median Apgar scores, type of delivery, or number of newborn infants with leucocyte count <5000 mm(-3) or >25000 mm(-3), platelet count <100000 mm(-3), immature/total neutrophil ratio >0.2, absolute neutrophil count <1000mm(-3) and median IL-1beta levels. Median IL-6 and TNF-alpha levels were significantly higher in groups with patients with a diagnosis of clinical sepsis than in controls. The optimal cut-off point was 32 pg ml(-1) for IL-6 and 12 pg ml(-1) for TNF-alpha. The combination of both provided a sensitivity of 98.5%. In conclusion, the combination of IL-6 and TNF-alpha is a highly sensitive marker of sepsis in the immediate postnatal period.

Fibro-histiocitoma maligno de tecidos moles / Malignant fibrous histiocytoma ofthe soft tissues

O fibro-histiocitoma maligno é um tumor incomum e frequentemente indistinguível de várias outras patologias. Os autores descrevem 2 casos onde a doença ocorre nas partes moles (um do retroperitôneo e outro de membro inferior) e discutem os diagnósticos diferenciais e o papel dos métodos radiológicos na determinaçäo diagnóstica