Memory deficit in Swiss mice exposed to tannery effluent.

Although it is known that tannery effluents constitute highly toxic pollutants whose effects in humans represent public health problems in several countries, studies involving experimental mammalian models are rare. In this context, the objective of the present study was to assess the effect of the exposure to tannery effluent on the memory of male and female Swiss mice. Animals of each sex were distributed into two experimental groups: the control group, in which the animals received only drinking water and the effluent group, in which the mice received 1% of gross tannery effluent diluted in water. The animals were exposed to the effluent by gavage, oral dosing, for 15days, ensuring the administration of 0.1mL of liquid (water or effluent)/10g of body weight/day. On the 14th and 15th experimental days the animals were submitted to the object recognition test. It was observed that the new object recognition indices calculated for the animals exposed to the effluent (males and females) were significantly lower than those obtained with the control group. The exposure to tannery effluent caused memory deficit in Swiss mice in a similar way for both sexes, reinforcing previous findings that these pollutants affect the central nervous system. It contributes to the knowledge in the area by attesting harmful effects to the cognition of such animals.

Ocorrência de Staphylococcus aureus em fisioterapeutas que atuam em clínicas e hospitais de Governador Valadares – Minas Gerais / Staphylococcus aureus occurrence in physical therapists of Governador Valadares – Minas Gerais

Trinta profissionais fisioterapeutas foram selecionados para verificar o estado de portador de Staphylococcus aureus na mucosa nasal. A coleta foi realizada por meio de um swab esterilizado que, posteriormente foi inserido em um tubo contendo caldo de enriquecimento. Para o isolamento e identificação utilizaram-se as provas bioquímicas manita, Dnase, catalase e coagulase. Verificou-se que todos os indivíduos pesquisados eram portadores de uma espécie de estafi lococo, sendo que 52% eram portadores de S. aureus, 43% de S. epidermidis e 5% possuíam S. saprophyticcus. Fatores como idade, sexo, área de atuação profissional, internações prévias e uso de medicamentos não influenciaram de forma significativa os resultados obtidos (p<0,05). O presente estudo demonstrou que a maioria dos profissionais pesquisados possuía S. aureus na mucosa nasal. O estado de portador assintomático desse microrganismo pelos fisioterapeutas pode apresentar risco potencial de transmissão aos pacientes por eles atendidos.

Thirty physical therapists from Governador Valadares (Southeast of Brazil) were selected to investigate the nasal carrier occurrence of Staphylococcus aureus. Specimens for culture were collected from the nares with cotton swabs. The nasal swabs were cultured on enrichment broth. After that, culture was transferred to manitol salt agar, Dnase agar and citrated serum to identify the isolates. Our data revealed that all investigated professionals were nasal carrier of one Staphylococcus specie (52% - S. aureus; 43% - S. epidermidis; 5% - S. saprophyticcus). Conditions as age, sex, place of work, medicine use and previous diseases didn’t significantly influence obtained results (p<0.05). This work demonstrated that the majority of investigated professionals was nasal carriers of S. aureus, and there is a transmission risk of the microorganism to their patients.