Perinatal changes in fetal ventricular geometry, myocardial performance and cardiac function in normal term pregnancies.

Background: The fetal heart at term is exposed to an increase in hemodynamic work as a consequence of fetal growth, increased circulating volume and alteration in loading patterns due to maturational changes in fetoplacental circulation. The extent to which these cardiovascular changes influence the human fetal and neonatal cardiac adaptation has not been fully elucidated. The aim of this study was to evaluate perinatal cardiovascular changes in ventricular geometry and myocardial performance in normal term fetuses. Methods: Prospective study of 108 uncomplicated pregnancies delivering at term. M-mode, twodimensional (2D) or B-mode, pulsed wave (PW) Doppler, PW tissue Doppler and 2D speckle tracking imaging were performed a few days before, and within 24 hours of birth. Results: Analysis of paired fetal and neonatal echoes demonstrated significant perinatal changes (p<0.0001 for all) in right ventricular (RV) and left ventricular (LV) geometry (RV/LV enddiastolic dimension ratio: 1.2 vs. 0.8, RV sphericity index: 0.53 vs. 0.40, LV sphericity index: 0.46 vs. 0.49). There were corresponding significant (p<0.001 for all) perinatal changes in global myocardial performance: LV myocardial performance index (MPI’): 0.60 vs. 0.47, RV MPI’: 0.61 vs. 0.42; systolic function: LV longitudinal systolic strain rate: -1.4 /s vs. -1.0 /s, RV longitudinal systolic strain rate: -1.5 /s vs. -1.0 /s; RV systolic annular peak velocity (S’): 5.3 cm/s vs. 6.5 cm/s; and diastolic function: LV diastolic annular peak velocity ratio (E’/A’): 0.8 vs.1.1. Conclusion: The findings support the concept that the perinatal period is associated with major changes in fetal ventricular geometry and cardiac function in response to significant alterations in loading conditions. Improved knowledge of perinatal cardiac changes in normal fetuses could facilitate better understanding of cardiac adaptation in normal and pathological pregnancies

Effect of Curcuma zedoaria crude extract against tumor progression and immunomodulation

The aim of the present work was to study the effect of the crude extract of Curcuma zedoaria on peripheral blood cells and tumor progression in C57Bl/6J mice injected with B16F10 murine melanoma cells. The intraperitoneal therapy showed a significant increase in total white and red blood cell counts, a decrease in peritoneal cell number and tumor volume reduction, whereas the oral administration revealed a noteworthy augmentation only in total leukocyte count. These results contribute to evaluate the importance of alternative treatments that employ phytotherapic compounds against tumor progression and its possible immunomodulation

Improbable lesion in a child

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Long-term perturbations due to a disturbing body in elliptic inclined orbit

In the current study, a double-averaged analytical model including the action of the perturbing body's inclination is developed to study third-body perturbations. The disturbing function is expanded in the form of Legendre polynomials truncated up to the second-order term, and then is averaged over the periods of the spacecraft and the perturbing body. The efficiency of the double-averaged algorithm is verified with the full elliptic restricted three-body model. Comparisons with the previous study for a lunar satellite perturbed by Earth are presented to measure the effect of the perturbing body's inclination, and illustrate that the lunar obliquity with the value 6.68\degree is important for the mean motion of a lunar satellite. The application to the Mars-Sun system is shown to prove the validity of the double-averaged model. It can be seen that the algorithm is effective to predict the long-term behavior of a high-altitude Martian spacecraft perturbed by Sun. The double-averaged model presented in this paper is also applicable to other celestial systems.Comment: 28 pages, 6 figure

Toxicity of copaiba extracts to armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda)

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of methanolic extracts from leaves, peels, seeds and pulps from fruits of Copaifera langsdorffii on Spodoptera frugiperda. Extracts derived from leaves and fruit peels were more toxic to S. frugiperda than the others. Hence, they were added to the artificial diet and used in further experiments with the second instar larvae of the insect, which presented larval growth reduction, prolonged period of development, increased mortality, and lower fertility and fecundity of adults. Lower egg viability was also observed when the insect was treated with extracts of leaves and fruit peels in the larvae stage. Moreover, when subjected to ultrastructural analysis under a scanning electron microscope, such eggs showed abnormalities in the aeropylar and micropylar regions. Both extracts also increased the excretion of protein in the insect feces and inhibited trypsin activity in the in vitro test. Consequently, C. langsdorffii presents potential to be used in the development of new products to control the fall armyworm.Key words: Copaifera langsdorffii, natural products, trypsin inhibitor, botanical insecticide

Canard Cycles and Poincar\'e Index of Non-Smooth Vector Fields on the Plane

This paper is concerned with closed orbits of non-smooth vector fields on the plane. For a subclass of non-smooth vector fields we provide necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of canard kind solutions. By means of a regularization we prove that the canard cycles are singular orbits of singular perturbation problems which are limit periodic sets of a sequence of limit cycles. Moreover, we generalize the Poincar\'e Index for non-smooth vector fields.Comment: 20 pages, 25 figure

Effects of an aerobic physical training program on psychosocial characteristics, quality-of-life, symptoms and exhaled nitric oxide in individuals with moderate or severe persistent asthma

OBJETIVO: Avaliar o papel de um programa de condicionamento físico aeróbio nos aspectos psicossociais, qualidade de vida, sintomas e óxido nítrico exalado (NOe) de adultos com asma persistente moderada ou grave. MATERIAIS E MÉTODOS: Vinte pacientes foram divididos aleatoriamente em Grupo Controle (GC, n= 10; programa de educação e exercícios respiratórios) e Grupo Treinado (GT, n= 10; programa de educação e exercícios respiratórios mais condicionamento aeróbio, 70% potência máxima obtida). A intervenção aconteceu duas vezes por semana durante três meses. Antes e após, foram avaliados a capacidade aeróbia máxima, a função pulmonar, a dispnéia ao esforço, os níveis de ansiedade e depressão e a qualidade de vida. Mensalmente, eram avaliados o NOe em repouso e o número de dias livres de sintomas. RESULTADOS: Apenas o GT apresentou redução dos sintomas (GT 24,8 [IC95%= 23-27] versus GC 15,7 [IC95%= 9-21] dias livres de sintomas, p< 0,05), dos níveis de NOe (GT 25,8 [IC95%= 15,3-44] versus GC 44,3 [IC95%= 24-60] ppb, p< 0,05), da ansiedade (GT 39,3 [IC95%= 37-50] versus GC 40,9 [IC95%= 37-50] escore, p< 0,001) e da depressão (GT 6,6 [IC95%= 1-21] versus GC 9 [IC95%= 1-20] escore, p< 0,001), melhora da qualidade de vida (GT 42,8 [IC95%= 34,3-71,7] versus GC 69,7 [IC95%= 45,1-87,9] %, p< 0,001), e incremento da aptidão aeróbia (GT 25,7 [IC95%= 16,2-31,3] versus GC 20,5 [IC95%= 17,3-24,1] mL/kg/min, p< 0,001). CONCLUSÕES: Os resultados sugerem que o treinamento físico reduz o NOe, os sintomas e melhora a qualidade de vida e os aspectos psicossociais de adultos com asma persistente moderada ou grave.OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the role of an aerobic physical training program on psychosocial characteristics, quality of life, symptoms and exhaled nitric oxide of adults with moderate or severe persistent asthma. METHODS: Twenty patients were randomly assigned to a Control Group (CG, n= 10, education program and respiratory exercises) and a Trained Group (TG, n= 10, education program and respiratory exercises plus aerobic training at 70% of the maximum power obtained). The intervention took place twice a week for three months. Maximum aerobic capacity, pulmonary function, effort dyspnea, anxiety levels, depression levels and quality of life were assessed before and after the treatment. Exhaled nitric oxide at rest and the number of days without asthma symptoms were evaluated every month. RESULTS: The TG presented increased numbers of symptom-free days (TG 24.8 days [95%CI= 23-27] versus CG 15.7 days [95%CI= 9-21]; p< 0.05), decreased exhaled nitric oxide levels (TG 25.8 ppb [95%CI= 15.3-44.0] versus CG 44.3 ppb [95%CI= 24-60]; p< 0.05), decreased anxiety scores (TG 39.3 [95%CI= 37-50] versus CG 40.9 [95%CI= 37-50]; p< 0.001), decreased depression scores (TG 6.6 [95%CI= 1-21] versus CG 9 [95%CI= 1-20]; p< 0.001), improved quality of life (TG 42.8% [95%CI= 34.3-71.7] versus CG 69.6% [95%CI= 45.1-87.9]; p< 0.001) and improved aerobic aptitude (TG 25.7 mL/kg/min [95%CI= 6.2-31.3] versus CG 20.5 mL/kg/min [95%CI= 17.3-24.1]; p< 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that physical training reduces exhaled nitric oxide and symptoms and improves the quality of life and psychosocial characteristics of adults with moderate or severe persistent asthma.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa (CNPq

Colonoscopia diagnóstica e terapeutica no adulto

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Compositeness, Triviality and Bounds on Critical Exponents for Fermions and Magnets

We argue that theories with fundamental fermions which undergo chiral symmetry breaking have several universal features which are qualitatively different than those of theories with fundamental scalars. Several bounds on the critical indices $\delta$ and $\eta$ follow. We observe that in four dimensions the logarithmic scaling violations enter into the Equation of State of scalar theories, such as $\lambda\phi^4$, and fermionic models, such as Nambu-Jona-Lasinio, in qualitatively different ways. These observations lead to useful approaches for analyzing lattice simulations of a wide class of model field theories. Our results imply that $\lambda\phi^4$ {\it cannot} be a good guide to understanding the possible triviality of spinor $QED$.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures (not included), ILL-(TH)-93-2

Regarding the axial-vector mesons

The implications of the $f_1(1285)-f_1(1420)$ mixing for the $K_1(^3P_1)-K_1(^1P_1)$ mixing angle is investigated. Based on the $f_1(1285)-f_1(1420)$ mixing angle $\sim 50^\circ$ suggested from the analysis for a substantial body of data concerning the $f_1(1420)$ and $f_1(1285)$, the masses of the $K_1(^3P_1)$ and $K_1(^1P_1)$ are determined to be $\sim 1307.35\pm 0.63$ MeV and $1370.03\pm 9.69$ MeV, respectively, which therefore suggests that the $K_1(^3P_1)-K_1(^1P_1)$ mixing angle is about $\pm (59.55\pm 2.81)^\circ$. Also, it is found that the mass of the $h^\prime_1(^1P_1)$ (mostly of $s\bar{s}$) state is about $1495.18\pm 8.82$ MeV. Comparison of the predicted results and the available experimental information of the $h_1(1380)$ shows that without further confirmation on the $h_1(1380)$, the assignment of the $h_1(1380)$ as the $s\bar{s}$ member of the $^1P_1$ meson nonet may be premature.Comment: 11 pages, some typos corrected, accepted for publication in Eur. Phys. J.