Diastasis of rectus abdominis in the immediate puerperium: correlation between imaging diagnosis and clinical examination.

AIM: Diastasis of rectus abdominis is a condition defined as a separation between this muscle and the linea alba, which leads to weakness in the abdominal muscles. Later, such weakness will influence the biomechanical posture causing back pain in women. In the present study, our aim was to assess the accuracy of clinical examination in measuring diastasis of rectus abdominis in the postpartum period. METHOD: Puerperal women (n=106) were selected for this study, including caesarean delivery (62 %) and vaginal delivery (38 %). Diastasis of rectus abdominis was measured in the postpartum period using clinical examination and ultrasonography, at four levels of the anterior sheath of the rectus abdominis, in the region above the umbilical scar. RESULTS: At each level of measurement, the results were statistically analyzed using the Student's t and Pearson tests (confidence interval 95 %), Bland-Altman plot, and Kappa test. The Student t test showed no significant difference between clinical examination and ultrasonography. The Pearson test showed correlation with positive coefficients; moderate correlation (r > 0.5) in the first levels (3, 6, and 9 cm) and a strong correlation (r > 0.75) in the last level (12 cm). In the Kappa test, 65 % of diagnoses given in the clinical examination were confirmed by ultrasonography. CONCLUSIONS: These results show a good agreement between both forms of examination, allowing clinical examination to be used in the diagnosis of rectus muscle diastasis, when ultrasonography is not available.

Hematologic and immunological indicators are altered by chronic intake of flaxseed in Wistar rats.

This work sought to evaluate the effects of chronic intake of flaxseed upon hematologic parameters and immunological findings on body development of Wistar rats. Female Wistar rats were used after gestation. They were randomly assigned into two groups during lactation period: Control group (CG), fed with casein based diet, made up of 17% protein and flaxseed group (FG), fed with casein based diet with the addition of 25% flaxseed. At weaning, 12 male pups of each group continued to receive the experimental diets of their mothers (with only 10% of protein) until adult age, when they were killed at 250 days of life aiming at blood collection. At 250 days old FG presented significant reduction in body mass (p<0.000) and higher levels of hemoglobin (p=0.019) and albumin (p=0.030) than CG. It was observed smaller percentage of segmented lymphocytes (p=0.016) in rats from FG and bigger percentage of segmented leucocytes (p=0.023) when compared to CG. The chronic consumption of flaxseed altered hematologic and immunological indicators in adult Wistar rats. Supplementation with flaxseed seems to be beneficial to maintenance or reduction of body mass.

Behavioral analysis of Wistar rats fed with a flaxseed based diet added to an environmental enrichment.

Flaxseed has a high content of n-3 fatty acids and its intake associated with an environmental enrichment may promote distinct behavioral results upon habituation and animal behavior. This work aimed to evaluating animal behavior under the use of these two tools in the Open Field Test. Thirty-six male Wistar rats were divided into 6 groups (n = 6): FEEG, receiving chow made up of flaxseed and kept in enriched environment; FSEG, receiving flaxseed based diet and kept in a standard environment; CEEG, receiving casein based diet and kept in enriched environment; CSEG, receiving casein based chow and kept in standard environment; MCEEG, receiving chow made up of casein but modified so as to provide the same content of fibers and lipids found in flaxseed diet and kept in enriched environment; MCSEG, receiving modified casein based diet and kept in standard environment. All animals were kept under controlled temperature, collective cages and dark/light cycle, receiving chow and water ad libitum, except for MCEEG and MCSEG, which were pair fed with FEEG and FSEG, respectively. Chow intake and animal body weight were evaluated twice in a week. Animals were maintained in these groups from the first until the second month of life, by the time when 3 day tests in Open Field Test began. Finishing the tests, animals were sacrificed and their brains were obtained in order to calculate the relative brain weight. Our results show an interplay between flaxseed and environmental enrichment in habituation to a new environment, making the animals more manageable and less stressed.