Concentrações séricas de retinol de éguas gestantes em haras do Vale do Rio Doce e Sul de Minas Gerais / Retinol serum concentration in pregnant mares in farms of Vale do Rio Doce and Sul de Minas Gerais, Brazil

Foram analisadas as concentrações séricas de retinol de 16 éguas gestantes em haras de duas diferentes regiões de Minas Gerais (Vale do Rio Doce e Sul de Minas). Os animais foram mantidos em pastagens com sal mineral à vontade, sem qualquer suplementação concentrada. Amostras de sangue foram coletadas a cada 30 dias, nos meses de maio a novembro de 2002, objetivando verificar a necessidade de suplementação das éguas com vitamina A nos meses de seca. A concentração de betacaroteno das pastagens também foi correlacionada com as concentrações sorológicas de vitamina A, a fim de verificar a utilização da reserva hepática dessa vitamina pelos eqüinos. As análises do retinol sorológico e do betacaroteno das pastagens foram realizadas por cromatografia líquida de alta eficiência (HPLC). O experimento foi em parcelas subdivididas, no delineamento inteiramente ao acaso, e os resultados foram comparados pelo teste Duncan. A correlação entre as concentrações séricas de retinol e betacaroteno das pastagens foi estimada pelo método de Pearson. Os resultados demonstraram que, no ano de 2002, não houve necessidade de suplementação das éguas dos haras das regiões estudadas nos meses de seca e que não houve correlação entre os teores de retinol plasmático das éguas com os de betacaroteno das pastagens.

Retinol serum concentrations were analyzed from 16 pregnant mares raised in farms of two different regions of Minas Gerais state, Brazil (Vale do Rio Doce and Sul de Minas). The animals were maintained on pasture with free access to mineral supplement without grain concentrate supplementation. Blood samples were collected monthly from May to November 2002, aiming to verify the need of vitamin A supplementation during the dry season. The concentration of beta-carotene from pasture samples was also correlated with blood plasma concentration to verify the utilization of hepatic stock of vitamin A. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to determine vitamin A and beta-carotene concentrations. The used statistics was the split plot design and the results were compared by Duncan test. The Pearson correlation between the serum concentration of retinol and beta-carotene from pasture was estimated. The results demonstrated that the supplementation of pregnant mares in farms of the studied regions was not necessary during the dry season and that no significant correlation between the serum concentration of retinol and beta-carotene from pasture was observed.

[Nursing diagnosis related with oxygenation, in trauma victims admitted to ICUs]. / Diagnósticos de enfermagem relacionados à oxigenação, atribuídos a vítimas de trauma admitidos em CTI.

This is a descriptive study carried out at a public hospital in the city of João Pessoa--PB, with the objective of establishing a profile of nursing diagnoses related to the component oxygenation in trauma victims. Roy's Theory on physiologic mode of adaptation was used as theoretical reference. The study population was composed of trauma victims admitted to the Intensive Care Unit, after initial assistance in the emergency unit of the hospital. For sample organization, a "time setting" framework was determined during which time data from twenty-two patients was collected. Six different nursing diagnoses related to the component oxygenation were established for these patients, four of which reached a frequency > = 50% in the sample studied and were incorporated into the expected diagnostic profile: Altered tissue peripheral perfusion (81.8%), Ineffective breathing pattern (77.3%), Inadequate gas exchange (77.3%) and Hipoxia (77.3%).

["I will never forget it!": the experience of a woman with induced abortion]. / "Não vou esquecer nunca!": a experiência feminina com o abortamento induzido.

Based on the symbolic interactionist approach, we aimed to verify the meanings attributed to induced abortion by women who adopted such behavior as well as to analyze the impact of the experience on their self-image. The results point out the contradiction in women's discourse when they evaluate the experience, and the emotional negative reactions they had developed: remorse/guilty conscience, regret, feeling of grief, and mainly guilt, which, according to their accounts, they will carry for the rest of their lives.

[Burns: characteristics of cases treated in a teaching hospital in Ribeirão Preto (São Paulo), Brazil]. / Queimaduras: características dos casos tratados em um hospital escola em Ribeirão Preto (SP), Brasil.

Burns are a significant health problem in Brazil, but there have been few data collected that could shape treatment and prevention programs. To help overcome that knowledge gap, this study looked at the types of accidents and the characteristics of 138 burn patients admitted into the burn unit of the University of São Paulo Hospital in Ribeirão Preto, state of São Paulo, Brazil, between November, 1991, and December, 1993. Patient charts were reviewed to collect data on age, sex, region of the body affected, burn depth and surface affected, agent causing the burn, and circumstances in which the burn happened. Of the 138 cases, 71% occurred in the home. In 50% of all accidents the victims were children. Boiling water was the agent responsible for 59% of the accidents among children younger than 3 years of age; fuel alcohol used in the home for cooking and other purposes caused 57% of the accidents among children between 7 and 11 years, the most affected pediatric group. Among adults, the group between 20 and 39 years of age was the most affected (23%); 84% of the victims in this age group were male. Seventeen percent of all cases involved adult males at work. Women suffered burns in accidents at home (67%) and in suicide-related events (33%). Seventy-five percent of the suicide cases were women. The strategies to reduce the incidence of burn injuries should aim at eliminating environmental risk factors and implementing educational programs disseminated through radio and television.

[Risk factors for pressure ulcer in bedridden patients]. / Fatores de risco para úlcera de pressão em pacientes acamados.

Exploratory-descriptive study in which we aimed to identify, in the specialized literature, which predisposing conditions and risks factors would be related to the development of pressure ulcer, and to verify how often these predisposing conditions and risk factors would be present in bedridden patients, hospitalized in an institution that renders health services in João Pessoa-PB. From the analysis of results obtained, we concluded that there is the need to construct an instrument to measure this risk must suit our reality and that incorporates risk factors identified with a significant frequency in this study and are not contemplated in most of the available scales in the literature.

[Nursing research and positivism]. / Pesquisa em enfermagem e o positivismo.

The authors discuss positivism foundations; the most remarkable influences to comtian's philosophy structuration; how Comte's ideas, as doctrine in so far as method, dominate society's thoughts, passing beyond XIX century and reaching XX century; and how the positivist doctrine and empirical method influenced Nursing conceptions about science and about human being/environment/disease.

[Historical retrospective of nursing education in Brazil and current tendencies]. / Retrospectiva histórica do ensino de enfermagem no brasil e tendências atuais.

This paper analyses the laws and resolutions that regulate Brazilian nursing education since 1923, emphasizing the circumstances that surrounded them and evidencing the major tendencies at the present time.

[Scientific production in nursing in northeastern Brazil (1988-1992)]. / Produção científica de enfermagem na região nordeste (1988-1992).

Descriptive exploratory study accomplished with the purpose of identifying nurses' scientific productions in the Northeast Region during the period of 1988-1992, checking the rind of papers presented, the predominating theme area and the divulgation used. We observe that there is a sensitive increase in these productions since 1990. Scientific articles and assistentcal area themes predominated, as did the divulgation through national events.