Selection of ligand peptides with the ability to detect antibodies in enzootic bovine leukosis

Peptides present in phages were selected using phage display technology and immunoassays to find out the antigenic mimetics of immunodominant epitopes of bovine leukosis virus (BLV). The use of antigenic mimetics may result in the enhancement of the sensitivity and specificity of the serologic diagnosis of enzootic bovine leukosis (EBL), contributing directly to disease control. The selections enabled the choice of clones which can be used as potential antigens in the diagnoses of diseases. The synthetic peptide produced from the selected sequences may be considered as an alternative for antigens in the serologic diagnosis of enzootic bovine leukosis.Key words: Diagnostic, antigens, enzootic bovine leukosis (EBL), phage display

Exercício físico versus programa de exercício pela eletroestimulação com aparelhos de uso doméstico

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of electrical muscle stimulation with devices for home use on neuromuscular conditioning. METHODS: The study sample comprised 20 sedentary, right-handed, voluntary women aged from 18 to 25 years in the city of Maceió, Northeastern Brazil, in 2006. Subjects were randomly divided into two groups: group A included women who underwent muscle stimulation using commercial electrical devices; group B included those women who performed physical activities with loads. The training program for both groups consisted of two weekly sessions for two months, in a total of 16 sessions. Comparisons of body weight, cirtometry, fleximetry, and muscle strength before and after exercise were determined using the paired t-test. For the comparisons between both groups, Student's t-test was used and a 5% significance level was adopted. RESULTS: Muscle strength subjectively assessed before and after each intervention was increased in both groups. Significant increases in muscle mass and strength were seen only in those subjects who performed voluntary physical activity. Resisted knee flexion and extension exercises effectively increased muscle mass and strength when compared to electrical stimulation at 87 Hz which did not produce a similar effect. CONCLUSIONS: The study results showed that electrical stimulation devices for passive physical exercising commercially available are less effective than voluntary physical exercise.OBJETIVO: Avaliar os efeitos da eletroestimulação por aparelhos de uso doméstico sobre o condicionamento neuromuscular. MÉTODOS: A amostra foi composta por 20 mulheres voluntárias, sedentárias, destras, com idades entre 18 a 25 anos em Maceió, estado de Alagoas, em 2006. As mulheres foram divididas aleatoriamente em dois grupos: as do grupo A foram submetidas a eletroestimulação passiva com aparelhos comerciais e as do grupo B, a exercício físico com resistência. O programa de treinamento dos grupos totalizou 16 sessões em dois meses, com duas sessões semanais. As comparações do peso corporal, da cirtometria, fleximetria, e da força muscular antes e após os exercícios, foram utilizadas utilizando-se o teste T pareado. Nas comparações entre os grupos A e B, foi utilizado o teste t de Student. O nível de significância adotado foi de 5%. RESULTADOS: A comparação da força muscular medida de forma subjetiva antes e após cada um dos procedimentos, mostrou que ocorreu aumento da força em ambos os grupos. Foram observados aumentos significantes na massa e na força muscular apenas nos indivíduos que realizaram exercício voluntário. O exercício físico resistido de flexo-extensão dos joelhos foi efetivo em aumentar massa e força muscular, ao contrário das sessões de eletroestimulação com correntes de freqüência de pulsos de 87 Hz, que não tiveram o mesmo efeito. CONCLUSÕES: Os resultados encontrados mostraram que os aparelhos de eletroestimulação para ganho passivo de condicionamento físico comercializados são menos eficientes do que a prática de exercício físico voluntário

Tuberculosis/HIV/AIDS coinfection in Porto Alegre, RS/Brazil - invisibility and silencing of the most affected groups

OBJECTIVE: To analyze how belonging to certain social groups contributes to constituting the vulnerabilities associated with illnesses due to tuberculosis/HIV/AIDS coinfection. METHODOLOGYThis is a qualitative study carried out in the city of Porto Alegre, state of Rio Grande do Sul, in regions of high social vulnerability. Twenty coinfected people were interviewed in specialized health services between August and December 2016. The analysis was based on the frameworks The Sound of Silence and Vulnerability and Human Rights. RESULTS: Socioeconomic conditions were decisive for the constitution of the vulnerability conditions. Processes of people invisibilization, and the silencing of their voices, in a scenario marked by economic, racial and gender inequalities, contributed for their health needs not to be understood and effectively taken into account in the services actions. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS: The more effective strategies are to legitimize voices and to understand the needs of those affected by coinfection, the greater the chances that programmatic responses to the problem will be successful

Identifying critically important vascular access outcomes for trials in haemodialysis : an international survey with patients, caregivers and health professionals

BACKGROUND: Vascular access outcomes reported across haemodialysis (HD) trials are numerous, heterogeneous and not always relevant to patients and clinicians. This study aimed to identify critically important vascular access outcomes. METHOD: Outcomes derived from a systematic review, multi-disciplinary expert panel and patient input were included in a multilanguage online survey. Participants rated the absolute importance of outcomes using a 9-point Likert scale (7-9 being critically important). The relative importance was determined by a best-worst scale using multinomial logistic regression. Open text responses were analysed thematically. RESULTS: The survey was completed by 873 participants [224 (26%) patients/caregivers and 649 (74%) health professionals] from 58 countries. Vascular access function was considered the most important outcome (mean score 7.8 for patients and caregivers/8.5 for health professionals, with 85%/95% rating it critically important, and top ranked on best-worst scale), followed by infection (mean 7.4/8.2, 79%/92% rating it critically important, second rank on best-worst scale). Health professionals rated all outcomes of equal or higher importance than patients/caregivers, except for aneurysms. We identified six themes: necessity for HD, applicability across vascular access types, frequency and severity of debilitation, minimizing the risk of hospitalization and death, optimizing technical competence and adherence to best practice and direct impact on appearance and lifestyle. CONCLUSIONS: Vascular access function was the most critically important outcome among patients/caregivers and health professionals. Consistent reporting of this outcome across trials in HD will strengthen their value in supporting vascular access practice and shared decision making in patients requiring HD

Migraine: a major debilitating chronic non-communicable disease in Brazil, evidence from two national surveys

Background Even though migraine and other primary headache disorders are common and debilitating, major health surveys in Brazil have not included them. We repair this omission by combining data on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the Brazilian National Health Survey (PNS) 2013 with epidemiological data on migraine prevalence and severity in Brazil. The purpose is to rank migraine and its impact on public healthh among NCDs in order to support public-health policy toward better care for migraine in Brazil. Methods Data from PNS, a cross-sectional population-based study, were merged with estimates made by the Brazilian Headache Epidemiology Study (BHES) of migraine prevalence (numbers of people affected and of candidates for migraine preventative therapy) and migraine-attributed disability. Results Migraine ranked second in prevalence among the NCDs, and as the highest cause of disability among adults in Brazil. Probable migraine accounted for substantial additional disability. An estimated total of 5.5 million people in Brazil (or 9.5 million with probable migraine included) were in need of preventative therapy. Conclusion On this evidence, migraine should be included in the next health surveys in Brazil. Public-health policy should recognize the burden of migraine expressed in public ill health, and promote health services offering better diagnosis and treatment

Applications of the “respirometric” method as a tool for on-line control of composting processes

The environmental crisis in our contemporary, globalized world, is facing a paradigm: the company now has a major technological development, and is also a society that destroys most in history. All the achievements of our civilization provide various negative factors, such as fast-paced population growth, depletion of natural resources, expansion of consumption of materials and production systems that use polluting production processes and waste, which if not treated and/or properly designed produce imbalances in the biosphere, changing vital ecosystems. In seeking solutions to the disposal of waste organic solids, we find that the composting process can be considered one of the most appropriate alternatives in the environmental point of view, promoting greater recycling and more appropriate in terms of material and energy when compared with other methods. This search of the society for better environmental conditions, points to a tendency to experience a substantial increase in the amount of sludge to be disposed of in the coming years, it appears, therefore, need to be presented techniques that allow an efficient and adequate treatment of them. The use of the composting process in Brazil is still very limited, the high degree of empiricism used in the control and evaluation process for lack of more indepth technical knowledge, not giving rise to the implementation of new forms of analysis and effective control. In the evaluation process called the method "respirometric", uses a new methodology in which the parameters of biological degradation of waste is not measured in the solid phase, but in the gas phase. The analysis in the gas phase has the advantage of greater representativeness, precision and reliability, to be totally homogeneous. The parameters measured in the gas phase of the composting process of sewage sludge, determine the temporal evolution of O2 consumption and CO2 and their generation, these gases are analyzed, recorded, the data are sent to a computer that displays the results instantly.A crise ambiental no nosso mundo contemporâneo globalizado, enfrenta um paradigma: a sociedade que agora tem seu maior desenvolvimento tecnológico, e é também uma sociedade que mais destrói na história. Todas as conquistas da nossa civilização propiciam diferentes fatores negativos: como o crescimento demográfico em ritmo acelerado, o esgotamento dos recursos naturais, expansão do consumo de materiais e sistemas de produção que utilizam processos de produção poluentes e geradores de resíduos, que se não tratados e/ou destinados adequadamente produzirão desequilíbrios na biosfera, alterando os ecossistemas. Na procura de soluções para a destinação dos resíduos sólidos orgânicos, encontramos o processo de compostagem que pode ser considerado uma das alternativas mais adequadas sob o ponto de vista ambiental, promovendo uma maior e mais apropriada reciclagem, em termos de material e de energia, quando comparadas com outros métodos. Esta busca da sociedade por melhores condições ambientais, aponta para uma tendência de ocorrer um incremento substancial na quantidade de lodo a ser disposto nos próximos anos, surgindo, portanto, a necessidade que sejam apresentadas técnicas que possibilitem um tratamento eficiente e adequado dos mesmos. O emprego do processo de compostagem no Brasil, é ainda bastante restrito, pelo alto grau de empirismo utilizado no controle e avaliação do processo, por falta de conhecimento técnico mais aprofundado, não dando origem ao implemento de novas formas de análise e controle eficazes. No processo avaliativo chamado método "respirométrico", utiliza-se uma nova metodologia na qual os parâmetros de degradação biológica dos resíduos não são medidos na fase sólida, mas em sua fase gasosa. A análise realizada na fase gasosa tem como vantagens uma maior representatividade, precisão e confiabilidade, por ser totalmente homogênea. Os parâmetros medidos na fase gasosa do processo de compostagem do lodo de esgoto, determinam a evolução temporal de consumo de O2 e sua geração de CO2 e, estes gases são analisados, registrados, os dados obtidos são enviados para um computador que apresenta os resultados instantaneamente.Asociación de Universidades Grupo Montevide