Neonatal Brachial Plexus Palsy: Risk Factors and Its Prognostic Value

Introduction: Neonatal brachial plexus palsy affects 0.7 to 5.8 per 1,000 newborns and is characterised by upper limb paresis detected in the immediate neonatal period. Shoulder dystocia, instrumental delivery and foetal macrosomia are well-known risk factors. Most neonatal brachial plexus palsy evolve favourably, while 3%-27% of newborns have sequelae. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted to characterise neonatal brachial plexus palsy in the newborn population of a hospital with differentiated perinatal support and to assess the rela - tionship between the risk factors and lesion prognosis. The authors reviewed the newborn medical records referred to the physical medicine and rehabilitation clinic between January 2006 and December 2016. Results: During the study period, 137 cases of neo- natal brachial plexus palsy were identified in 36,833 births, which translate into an incidence of 3.7/1,000 live births. Foetal macrosomia was found in 41% and shoulder dystocia in 40%. According to the Narakas clas- sification, 58% were included in group I, 30% in group II, 9% in group III and 3% in group IV. The majority of patients were discharged without sequelae. Newborns with group II, III and IV lesions as well as macrosomic newborns were more likely to develop sequelae (p < 0.05). Shoulder dystocia and operative delivery did not present a statistically significant relationship with the prognosis of the lesion. Discussion: The incidence of neonatal brachial plexus palsy in this population was similar to is described in other series. The relationship between macrosomia and neonatal brachial plexus palsy with sequelae found may be of importance in the attempt to prevent this lesioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Production of rayon fibres from cellulosic pulps: state of the art and current developments

The increasing demand for cellulosic fibres is continuously driven by the growing earth population and requirements of the textile industry. The annual cotton production of ca. 25 million tons is no longer enough to meet the market demands. This market gap of cellulosic fibres is progressively filled by regenerated cellulosic fibres derived from the dissolving pulp. The conventional industrial process of viscose production is far from being environmentally friendly due to the use of hazardous reagents. Alternatively, new trends in the production of regenerated fibres are related to the direct dissolution of cellulose in appropriate environmentally sound recyclable solvents, allowing high quality rayon fibres. This article reviews the sources of dissolving pulps used for the production of viscose and its quality parameters related to the performance of viscose production. The prospective cellulose regeneration processes, both commercialized and under development, are reviewed regarding current and future developments in the area.publishe

Oral Infection Caused by Stenotrophomonas maltophilia: A Rare Presentation of an Emerging Opportunistic Pathogen

Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is an emerging multidrug-resistant opportunistic pathogen with an increasing incidence of nosocomial and community-acquired infection cases, mainly in immunocompromised individuals. Oral cavity infections are rare. To learn more about this infection, a case of oral cavity infection caused by S. maltophilia in an immunosuppressed patient under ventilatory therapy has been presented. The patient presented with multiple nonpainful erosive lesions of the tongue, palate, and oral mucosa. A smear of the oral lesions was performed that revealed the presence of S. maltophilia and Candida albicans, and the patient was treated with fluconazole and sulfamethoxazole associated with trimethoprim in accordance with the antimicrobial susceptibility testing. After 14 days of antibiotic therapy, there were almost no signs of the previous lesions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Conjugated linoleic acid reduces permeability and fluidity of adipose plasma membranes from obese Zucker rats

NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications. July 2010; 398 (2): 199-204.Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is a dietary fatty acid frequently used as a body fat reducing agent whose effects upon cell membranes and cellular function remain unknown. Obese Zucker rats were fed atherogenic diets containing saturated fats of vegetable or animal origin with or without 1% CLA, as a mixture of cis(c)9,trans(t)11 and t10,c12 isomers. Plasma membrane vesicles obtained from visceral adi- pose tissue were used to assess the effectiveness of dietary fat and CLA membrane incorporation and its outcome on fluidity and permeability to water and glycerol. A significant decrease in adipose membrane fluidity was correlated with the changes observed in permeability, which seem to be caused by the incor- poration of the t10,c12 CLA isomer into membrane phospholipids. These results indicate that CLA supple- mentation in obese Zucker rats fed saturated and cholesterol rich diets reduces the fluidity and permeability of adipose membranes, therefore not supporting CLA as a body fat reducing agent through membrane fluidification in obese fat consumers

Diet selection in a pasture of Panicum maximum cv. Mombaça with different sward heights.

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