Depression mediates the links between climacteric symptoms and food and nutritional insecurity.

OBJECTIVE: This study is perhaps the first to evaluate the influence of depression on the relationship between climacteric symptoms and food and nutritional insecurity (FNI). METHODS: In this cross-sectional study with a relatively large sample of climacteric women (N = 400), sociodemographic and clinical variables were investigated. We measured FNI, depression and climacteric symptoms with psychometrically sound instruments, namely the Brazilian Food Security Scale, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale and the Kupperman Index, respectively. RESULTS: Statistically significant differences were observed in the means of FNI according to education, income, marital status, history of depression, use of antidepressants and current depression. Furthermore, depression had strong indirect effects on the relationship between climacteric symptoms and FNI. CONCLUSION: Our study suggests that targeting depression could benefit climacteric women, especially those with severe symptoms and in FNI.

Relationships between depression and food intake in climacteric women.

Objective: This study evaluated the associations between food intake - especially omega-3 (n-3) - and depressive symptoms in climacteric women.Methods: Four hundred climacteric women were included in this research. The Kupperman Index, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, and a 3-day food diary were used to investigate climacteric symptoms, depressive symptoms, and food intake, respectively. Sociodemographic, clinical, and anthropometric variables were also explored.Results: Statistically significant associations were observed between depression and climacteric symptoms, climacteric phase, previous history of depression, antidepressant drug use, family income, sleep pattern, and consumption of carbohydrates, fiber, polyunsaturated fatty acids, magnesium, zinc, and vitamins C, D, and B12. No association was observed between n-3 consumption and depression.Conclusion: Climacteric symptoms and food intake are important factors linked to depression during the climacteric period. Further studies are needed to clarify the changes in this phase of women's lives, as well as to investigate the role of the diet in the depression treatment or prevention.

Antifungal activity of tyrosol and farnesol used in combination against Candida species in the planktonic state or forming biofilms.

AIM: This study examined the antifungal activity of the combination of tyrosol and farnesol against Candida albicans and Candida glabrata in the planktonic state or forming biofilms. METHODS AND RESULTS: The effect of drug association against Candida planktonic cells was assessed by the fractional inhibitory concentration index. Mono- and dual-species biofilms were developed during 24 h and then treated with the compounds for 3 days, with two daily treatments of 1 min each. After, the total biomass, metabolic activity and the number of cultivable cells were quantified. Planktonic cells of the two species showed a similar susceptibility to the drug combination, however, a synergistic effect was only verified for C. glabrata. Regarding biofilm susceptibility, significant reductions in C. glabrata biomass, metabolism of C. albicans and mixed biofilms, and cultivable cells of single biofilms were verified for the drug combination, indicating an additive effect. For all other experiments, the effects were classified as indifferent. CONCLUSION: The combined use of tyrosol and farnesol was advantageous for some of the analysed parameters against Candida species. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: These findings may contribute to the development of oral care products containing tyrosol and farnesol to combat oral infections caused by Candida species.

Crossover from one- to three-dimensional behavior in the S = 1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet Cu(N2H5)2(SO4)2.

From experimental and theoretical analyses of magnetic and specific-heat properties, we present the complete magnetic phase diagram of the quasi-1D antiferromagnet Cu(N2H5)2(SO4)2. On cooling and at zero magnetic field this compound enters a 1D regime with short-range magnetic correlations, marked by a broad maximum in the specific heat and magnetic susceptibility at [Formula: see text] K, followed by a tridimensional antiferromagnetically ordered phase below [Formula: see text] K induced by small interchain couplings. The intermediate-temperature 1D regime can be modeled using exact quantum-transfer-matrix calculations, which offer a compatible description of the nonmonotonic behavior of [Formula: see text] as a function of the magnetic field, giving [Formula: see text] K for the intrachain exchange parameter. The analysis of magnetic specific-heat and susceptibility data at low temperature indicates that the interchain exchange couplings are an order of magnitude smaller than the coupling inside the chains.

Maier-Saupe model for a mixture of uniaxial and biaxial molecules.

We introduce shape variations in a liquid-crystalline system by considering an elementary Maier-Saupe lattice model for a mixture of uniaxial and biaxial molecules. Shape variables are treated in the annealed (thermalized) limit. We analyze the thermodynamic properties of this system in terms of temperature T, concentration c of intrinsically biaxial molecules, and a parameter Δ associated with the degree of biaxiality of the molecules. At the mean-field level, we use standard techniques of statistical mechanics to draw global phase diagrams, which are shown to display a rich structure, including uniaxial and biaxial nematic phases, a reentrant ordered region, and many distinct multicritical points. Also, we use the formalism to write an expansion of the free energy in order to make contact with the Landau-de Gennes theory of nematic phase transitions.

Differences among children, adolescents and adults with severe leptospirosis: A comparative analysis.

Leptospirosis is a zoonosis of global importance caused by Leptospira interrogans. The aim of this study was to compare the data between children, adolescents and adults with leptospirosis. This is a retrospective study including a total of 373 consecutive patients with leptospirosis, admitted to tertiary hospitals in Northeast of Brazil, from May 1985 to August 2010. The patients were divided into two groups (age ≤21 years and >21 years). The adults were 304 (81.5%) of the population, with a mean ge of 41 ± 13 (range 22-84) years. The pediatric group was 16 ± 3 (range 9-21) years. Signs and symptoms where similar between the groups, excepting arrhythmia, which was more frequent in adults and vomiting, more common in children (16% vs. 0%, P = 0.04 and 65% vs. 79%, P = 0.02), respectively. Adult group presented with higher serum urea (137 vs. 97 mg/dl, P = 0.002) and creatinine (4.3 vs. 3.0 mg/dl, P = 0.007). Acute kidney injury (AKI) was observed in 80%, mainly in adults (83% vs. 70% P < 0.005). Adults required renal replacement therapy more frequently than children (38% vs. 11%, P < 0.0001). Mortality was higher in adults (14.8% vs. 2.8%, P = 0.005) and in adults with AKI (93% vs. 7%, P < 0.05). There are important differences between the adults and children with leptospirosis. AKI was more frequent in adults and it was associated with increased mortality.

Evaluation of renal function in sickle cell disease patients in Brazil.

The objective of this study was to investigate renal function in a cohort of 98 patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) followed up at a tertiary hospital in Brazil. Clinical and laboratory characteristics at the time of the most recent medical examination were analyzed. Renal function was evaluated by the estimation of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) by the criteria of the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI). We compared patients with normal GFR to patients with decreased GFR (<60 mL·min(-1)·(1.73 m(2))(-1)) and hyperfiltration (>120 mL·min(-1)·(1.73 m(2))(-1)). Comparison between patients according to the use of hydroxyurea and comparison of clinical and laboratory parameters according to GFR were also carried out. Average patient age was 33.8 ± 13.3 years (range 19-67 years), and 57 (58.1%) patients were females. The comparison of patients according to GFR showed that patients with decreased GFR (<60 mL·min(-1)·(1.73 m(2))(-1)) were older, had lower levels of hematocrit, hemoglobin and platelets and higher levels of urea and creatinine. Independent risk factors for decreased GFR were advanced age (OR = 21.6, P < 0.0001) and anemia (OR = 39.6, P < 0.0001). Patients with glomerular hyperfiltration tended to be younger, had higher levels of hematocrit, hemoglobin and platelets and lower levels of urea and creatinine, with less frequent urinary abnormalities. Hydroxyurea, at the dosage of 500-1000 mg/day, was being administered to 28.5% of the patients, and there was no significant difference regarding renal function between the two groups. Further studies are required to establish the best therapeutic approach to renal abnormalities in SCD.

Phase diagram of a model for a binary mixture of nematic molecules on a Bethe lattice.

We investigate the phase diagram of a discrete version of the Maier-Saupe model with the inclusion of additional degrees of freedom to mimic a distribution of rodlike and disklike molecules. Solutions of this problem on a Bethe lattice come from the analysis of the fixed points of a set of nonlinear recursion relations. Besides the fixed points associated with isotropic and uniaxial nematic structures, there is also a fixed point associated with a biaxial nematic structure. Due to the existence of large overlaps of the stability regions, we resorted to a scheme to calculate the free energy of these structures deep in the interior of a large Cayley tree. Both thermodynamic and dynamic-stability analyses rule out the presence of a biaxial phase, in qualitative agreement with previous mean-field results.

Auto-transplantation of central incisor with root dilaceration. Technical note.

A case of central incisor with root dilaceration and ensuing impactation was treated by means of auto-transplantation. The 7-year follow-up period shows a stable result.

Correlated disordered interactions on Potts models.

Using a weak-disorder scheme and real-space renormalization-group techniques, we obtain analytical results for the critical behavior of various q-state Potts models with correlated disordered exchange interactions along d(1) of d spatial dimensions on hierarchical (Migdal-Kadanoff) lattices. Our results indicate qualitative differences between the cases d-d(1)=1 (for which we find non-physical random fixed points, suggesting the existence of non-perturbative fixed distributions) and d-d(1)>1 (for which we do find acceptable perturbative random fixed points), in agreement with previous numerical calculations by Andelman and Aharony [Phys. Rev. B 31, 4305 (1985)]. We also rederive a criterion for relevance of correlated disorder, which generalizes the usual Harris criterion.