O ajustamento à doença crónica: aspectos conceptuais

Quando alguém é afectado por uma doença crónica tem que alterar o seu estilo de vida de modo a poder viver o melhor possível com a doença que o vai acompanhar, se não durante toda a vida, pelo menos durante grande parte da vida. Em função das características pessoais e da interacção como o meio envolvente, social e físico, alguns ajustar-se-ão melhor e mais facilmente do que outros. Estas alterações denominam-se Ajustamento ou Adaptação. Embora estes termos sejam sinónimos, por vezes a denominação expressa orientação teórica diferente: a primeira, mais interactiva, para designar o comportamento resultante dessa interacção, momento a momento, com o meio envolvente, a segunda mais estrutural. “Ajustamento” é um termo do senso comum, utilizado na linguagem de todos os dias. O dicionário diz que ajustamento e adaptação são sinónimos e, em contexto de psicologia, saúde e doenças, os dois termos também são utilizados como sinónimos. No entanto, na psicologia, por vezes, estes termos podem expressar conceitos diferentes, consoante a orientação teórica que os utiliza. O interesse pela mudança subjacente ao ajustamento ou à adaptação considera dois aspectos: a estrutura e o processo. A estrutura refere-se a factores estáveis tais como a traços de personalidade ou estrutura cognitiva e, também, a características estáveis do meio ambiente, enquanto o processo refere-se às mudanças que vão ocorrendo em consequência das interacções, momento a momento, com as situações que surgem, explicam Lazarus e Folkman (1985)

A importância da espiritualidade na percepção de saúde, doença e qualidade de vida em indivíduos com esclerose múltipla

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Cytotoxicity and genotoxicity assessment of the extract and lectins from Moringa oleifera Lam. Seeds / Avaliação da citotoxicidade e genotoxicidade do extrato e lectinas das sementes de Moringa oleifera Lam

Moringa oleifera seeds are used globally as a treatment for water and contain the lectins cMoL and WSMoL, which display coagulant activity. In this study, we sought to determine the cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of the M. oleifera seed extract (SE), prepared with the same procedure that people use for treating water, as well as cMoL and WSMoL, in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Cell viability was assessed using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, while genotoxicity was evaluated using the comet assay, with cell nucleoids categorized in classes ranging from 0 (without damage) to 4 (maximum damage). The PBMCs treated with SE, cMoL, and WSMoL displayed viability higher than 60% in treatments with concentrations up to 100 µg/mL. In addition, SE and cMoL displayed low genotoxicity owing to the detection of nucleoids in class 1. However, the number of nucleoids in all classes increased when 50 and 100 µg/mL of WSMoL was administered, reaching a damage frequency of 50.0%. Although M. oleifera SE, cMoL, and WSMoL were not cytotoxic to PBMCs after 24 h of exposure, dose-dependent genotoxic effects were observed, especially with WSMoL. These findings indicate that caution must be exercised when selecting a lectin/extract concentration for water treatment

Towards a new phenotype for tick resistance in beef and dairy cattle:a review

About 80% of the world's cattle are affected by ticks and tick-borne diseases, both of which cause significant production losses. Cattle host resistance to ticks is the most important factor affecting the economics of tick control, but it is largely neglected in tick-control programs due to technical difficulties and costs associated with identifying individual-animal variation in resistance. The present paper reviews the scientific literature to identify factors affecting resistance of cattle to ticks and the biological mechanisms of host tick resistance, to develop alternative phenotype(s) for tick resistance. If new cost-effective phenotype(s) can be developed and validated, then tick resistance of cattle could be genetically improved using genomic selection, and incorporated into breeding objectives to simultaneously improve cattle productive attributes and tick resistance. The phenotype(s) could also be used to improve tick control by using cattle management. On the basis of the present review, it is recommended that three possible phenotypes (haemolytic analysis measures of skin hypersensitivity reactions simplified artificial tick infestations) be further developed to determine their practical feasibility for consistently, cost-effectively and reliably measuring cattle tick resistance in thousands of individual animals in commercial and smallholder farmer herds in tropical and subtropical areas globally. During evaluation of these potential new phenotypes, additional measurements should be included to determine the possibility of developing a volatile-based resistance phenotype, to simultaneously improve cattle resistance to both ticks and biting flies. Because the current measurements of volatile chemistry do not satisfy the requirements of a simple, cost-effective phenotype for use in commercial cattle herds, consideration should also be given to inclusion of potentially simpler measures to enable indirect genetic selection for volatile-based resistance to ticks