Different morphological and gene expression profile in placentas of the same sickle cell anemia patient in pregnancies of opposite outcomes.

IMPACT STATEMENT: Environmentally induced changes in placental morphological and molecular phenotypes may provide relevant insight towards pathophysiology of diseases. The rare opportunity to evaluate the same patient, with sickle cell anemia (SCA), in two different pregnancies, of opposite outcomes (one early onset severe preeclampsia (PE) and the other mostly non-complicated) can prove such concept. In addition, the comparison to other conditions of known placental and vascular/inflammatory involvement strengthens such findings. Our results suggest that the clinical association between SCA and PE can be supported by common pathophysiological mechanisms, but that pathways involving response to copper and triglyceride metabolism may be important drivers of the pathophysiology of PE. Future studies using in a larger number of samples should confirm these findings and explore pathways involved in the pathophysiology of PE and its relationship with SCA.

Functional planning units for the management of an endangered Brazilian titi monkey.

Conservation practices in the tropics often rely on the data available for a few, better-known species and the adoption of an appropriate spatial scale. By defining a set of landscape units that account for critical aspects of the focal species, the information available on these conservation targets can support regional conservation policies. Here, we define and classify adjacent landscapes, termed planning units, to orientate management decisions within and among these landscapes, which are occupied by an endangered flagship primate species (Coimbra-Filho's titi monkey, Callicebus coimbrai) from eastern Brazil. We use landscape boundaries (highways and river systems), and a high-resolution map of forest remnants to identify continuous and manageable landscapes. We employed functional landscape metrics based on the species' dispersal ability and home range size to characterize and classify these landscapes. We classified planning units by scoring them according to a suite of selected metrics through a Principal Component Analysis. We propose 31 planning units, containing one to six C. coimbrai populations, most with low values of habitat availability, functional connectivity and carrying capacity, and a high degree of degradation. Due to this poor landscape configuration, basic management practices are recommendable. However, additional aspects of the landscapes and the populations they contain (e.g., matrix type and genetic variability) should improve the scheme, which will require a closer integration of research aims with socio-political strategies. Even so, our scheme should prove useful for the combination of information on conservation targets (i.e., focal species) with management strategies on an administrative scale.

Importância da nasofibroscopia na presença do RX cavum normal para diagnóstico da hiperpasia adenoideana / The importance of nasal fiberoptic examination to diagnose adenoid hiperplasia in children with normal paranasal sinuses X-ray

Introdução: A introdução da fibra óptica no exame das cavidades nasais e orofaringe na criança é de grande valor clínico, especialmente para a indicação de adenoidectomia. Forma do estudo: C1ínico prospectivo. Material e método: Nesta pesquisa, foram estudadas 45 crianças com idade entre quatro e 12 anos, dos Ambulatórios de Rinossinusologia Infantil do Hospital de Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto /SP, e 15 do Hospital São Paulo, em Cianorte /PR, num total de 60 pacientes apresentando obstrução nasal crônica refratária a tratamento clínico e Rx de cavum sem alterações. Todas foram submetidas a nasofibroscopia, com o objetivo de demonstrar a presença de adenóide como causa da obstrução nasal crônica, apesar do exame radiológico ser normal. Resultados: Os resultados obtidos mostraram a presença de 27 por cento (17 casos) de adenóides consideradas grandes, 42 por cento (24 casos)de adenóides de tamanho moderado e 31 por cento (19 casos) de adenóides pequenas. Os exames detectaram também a presença de oito casos de hipertrofia de cauda de cornetos inferiores (13,3 por cento) e quatro casos de desvio septal posterior (6,6 por cento). Conclusão: Esses dados sugerem a importância da indicação da nasofibroscopia em crianças, por permitir uma avaliação direta, tridimensional e dinâmica da área do cavum