Lavado Broncoalveolar: Utilidade clinica

ABSTRACTThe present work consists of a collection of papers that came out from the meeting "Bronchoalveolar Lavage: clinical usefulness". The meeting took place 199R and was organised by the Task Group on Interstitial Lung Diseases. The speakers went trough an extensive review of the clinical usefulness of the technique and then clinical cases were discussed. We choose four original papers on Hypersensitivity pneumonitis, Suberosis, Neoplasms and Infection. Five clinical cases are presented: alveolar protcinosis, Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, Hypersensitivity pneumonitis, Sarcoidosis, lung cancer and alveolar haemorrhage on a setting of Wegener Granulomatosis.REV PORT PNEUMOL 2000; VI (3): 185-18

A classification Fuzzy model for Minhota and Holstein Friesian cows milk based on functional fatty acids

Recent studies have focused on the healthy components of milk fats, including polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) of the omega-3 group, and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). Several cows from Holstein Friesian and Minhota (autochthonous from the north of Portugal) were evaluated for their milk fatty acid composition, with the latter presenting significantly higher CLA amounts (P<0.05), lower saturated fatty acids and a smaller n6:n3 ratio. Considering these potentially functional differences, a classification system for an effective and fast discrimination of milks from different cow breeds would be an interesting tool for the dairy industry. In this work a Fuzzy model system was developed to classify milk samples as belonging to one of each evaluated breeds. For the total of 173 samples analyzed, the model identified correctly all the Friesian’s milk but failed to classify 7 samples of the Minhota’s milk, corresponding to a classification error of 7.5% within the class and a 4% error considering the total number of samples. These results are supported by the chemical data, with a higher variability observed in Minhota’s milk composition

Espresso coffee residues in horticultural improvement

Spent coffee grounds are usually disposed as common garbage, without specific reuse strategies. Due to its recognized richness in bioactive compounds, the effect of espresso spent coffee grounds on lettuce´s macro- and micro- elements, as well as on its antioxidant and bioactive compounds, was assessed in order to ascertain its potential applicability in agroindustry, minimizing environmental issues and increasing vegetables nutritional features. Therefore, a greenhouse pot experiment with fresh and composted spent coffee (2.5 to 30% v/v) was conducted, using lettuce plants. The plants antioxidant capacity, assessed by radical scavenging effect and reducing power, was enhanced by spent coffee. Total reducing capacity was also improved, particularly for low spent coffee percentages. Additionally, very significant positive correlations were observed for all carotenoids in fresh spent coffee treatments. The results were not so significant with composted coffee residues, neither for vitamin E on both cases, but chlorophyll a was a good discriminating factor between control group and both treated samples. In opposition, a progressive decrease on all mineral elements ( magnesium, calcium, phosphorous, sodium, iron, manganese, zinc and copper) was verified with the increase of fresh spent coffee, except for potassium, while with low amounts of composted spent coffee ( 5%, v/v) a significant increase in the potassium content (by 40%), manganese (by 30%) and magnesium (by 20%) was observed. A sustainable bioconversion approach for coffee by-products was achieved, which might be extendable to other crops, and favourably contributes to the potentiation of vegetables nutritional quality.FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) e FEDER através do programa COMPETE, através dos projetos FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-008703 (FCT/PTDC/AGR-AAM/102447/2008) and PEst-C/EQB/LA0006/2011

Aspects Related to Venous Ulcer Healing and its Influence on Quality of Life

Nowadays, the varicose ulcers (VUs) are one of the most worrying leg ulcers and are an important global health problem, with high costs related to the treatment and its complications. Moreover, the quality of life (QOL) of the patient could be affected by pain, sleep disorders, functional impairment, depression, and isolation. The VU patient care is complex, and it is necessary to know the aspects that contribute to the healing process for developing effective strategies. The members of the multidisciplinary health team should identify sociodemographic, clinical, and care aspects that interfere in tissue repair and therefore impacting the QOL. Self-efficacy, adherence to treatment, and self-esteem are other important aspects also related to healing and QOL, with implications for health care and the multidisciplinary team. To sum up, the use of multidisciplinary protocols allows the systematization of care for people with VUs in order to standardize therapeutic interventions with the aim to decrease the healing process time and, as a consequence, to improve the QOL

Intense sweeteners in beverages: what is the risk for our children?

[resumo][abstract

Depression and quality of life in Brazilian and Portuguese older people communities

We aimed to compare the association of depression with aspects of quality of life (QoL) among older people users of primary health care (PHC) living in Brazil and Portugal. We carried out an observational, cross-sectional and comparative study with a quantitative approach in the PHC scope in Brazil and Portugal, where we obtained a nonrandom sample of 150 participants aged 65 years or older (100 Brazilians and 50 Portuguese). We used the socioeconomic and health data questionnaire, the Medical Outcomes Short-Form Health Survey QoL (SF-36) questionnaire and the Beck Inventory. Among the socioeconomic profiles, most were females aged between 65 and 80 years in both countries. There was a significant difference between groups in the income variable, with 100.0% of Portuguese people earning up to 1 minimum wage (P value 50.0) within the categorical variables of “absent” and “mild” depression. The Emotional role functioning, Physical role functioning, Physical functioning, Mental health, Total score domains and the Mental health and Physical health summary measures stood out with this behavior in Brazil and in Portugal, where these latter 2 presented moderate to strong correlation values (ρ > 0.400) in Portugal. Greater associations of depression on QoL were revealed in Portugal than in Brazil. Among their most expressive associations, the Physical role functioning (odds ratio [OR] = 4.776; 95.0% confidence interval [CI]: 2.41–9.43), Physical functioning (OR = 3.037; 95.0% CI: 3.037), Vitality (OR = 6.000; 95.0% CI: 1.56–23.07) and Total score (OR = 3.727; 95.0% CI: 2.24–6.17) domains and the Mental health summary measure (OR = 3.870; 95.0% CI: 2.13–7.02) stood out. Aspects related to the emotional, physical, functional and mental health components stood out. The association and correlation with depression were more expressive in Portugal compared to Brazil. However, similar results were obtained in Brazil but with less relevance