Peri-operative anaphylaxis in Coimbra: the experience of our drug allergy clinic

Background: The incidence of peri-operative anaphylactic reactions ranges from 1:10,000 to 1:20,000. It is crucial to identify the risk factors, the trigger agent and to fi nd adequate alternatives. Aims: To characterise patients with peri-operative anaphylactic reactions. Methods: We performed a retrospective study of patients with suspected adverse peri-operative reactions to anaesthetic drugs, observed in a Drug Allergy Outpatients Clinic from 1994 to 2005. Anaphylaxis was diagnosed based on the clinical history and skin tests to latex, neuromuscular blocking agents (NMBA), hypnotics, opioids and antibiotics. Specifi c IgE to latex was performed in patients with positive skin-prick-tests. Results: We evaluated the clinical charts of 45 patients with adverse peri-operative reactions, 39 of whom were female. Anaphylaxis was diagnosed in 16 patients (35.6%), 15 females, mean age 36.3 years. The remaining patients had non-anaphylactic (28.8%) or not well-characterised reactions (35.6%). In terms of severity, 50% presented grade III and 50% grade IV anaphylaxis. Skin-prick-tests were positive to latex in three patients and negative to all anaesthetic drugs. Intradermal skin tests were positive in 10 out of 16 patients with anaphylactic reactions: 10 to NMBA [atracurium (n = 8), vecuronium (n = 4), suxamethonium (n = 4) and pancuronium (n = 2)], one to fentanyl, one to thiopental and one to cefuroxime. In three cases, the culprit agent was not identifi ed. In four patients, at least one alternative NMBA, with no skin test reactivity, was found. Of these four patients, two underwent further surgical procedures without adverse reactions. Five patients had previously had two or more anaesthetic procedures and four had presented adverse reactions in prior surgeries. Conclusions: In our study the most common causes of anaphylaxis were NMBAs (62.5%) and latex (18.7%), in line with that described in the literature. In 81% of patients with anaphylactic reactions, skin tests were positive to at least one anaesthetic drug or to latex. A high incidence of severe anaphylaxis was found, probably because cases with less severe clinical signs were not referred to our clinic. The results emphasise the need for systematic evaluation of anaphylactic reactions during anaesthesia. This can be achieved by the creation of a specialised Allergo-Anaesthesia Clinic, as has been the case in our Department

Modelling the Recoherence of Mesoscopic Superpositions in Dissipative Environments

A model is presented to describe the recently proposed experiment (J. Raimond, M. Brune and S. Haroche Phys. Rev. Lett {\bf 79}, 1964 (1997)) where a mesoscopic superposition of radiation states is prepared in a high-Q cavity which is coupled to a similar resonator. The dynamical coherence loss of such state in the absence of dissipation is reversible and can in principle be observed. We show how this picture is modified due to the presence of the environmental couplings. Analytical expressions for the experimental conditional probabilities and the linear entropy are given. We conclude that the phenomenon can still be observed provided the ratio between the damping constant and the inter-cavities coupling does not exceed about a few percent. This observation is favored for superpositions of states with large overlap.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure

Validation of a capillary zone electrophoresis method for the determination of ciprofloxacin, gatifloxacin, moxifloxacin and ofloxacin in pharmaceutical formulations

An alternative capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) method for the determination of ciprofloxacin (CPFLX), gatifloxacin (GTFLX), moxifloxacin (MFLX) and ofloxacin (OFLX) through a simple aqueous electrolyte system consisting of 25 mmol L-1 of TRIS/ hydrochloride and 15 mmol L-1 of sodium tetraborate buffer mixture (pH 8.87) using direct UV detection at 282 nm within 3 min was validated. The analytical parameters of validation evaluated were: linearity (r > 0.998), selectivity (comparison between slope of the calibration curve of external standard and calibration curve of standard addition), repeatability in area for sample (RSD%: < 3.94% for CPFLX, < 3.87% for GTFLX, 1.30% for MFLX and < 1.88% for OFLX), intermediate precision in area for sample (RSD%: < 3.59% for CPFLX, < 3.09% for GTFLX, 2.67% for MFLX and < 2.25% for OFLX), accuracy (mean of recovery range: 101.2% for CPFLX, 101.0% for GTFLX, 101.3% for MFLX and 99.9% for OFLX), limit of detection (mg L-1: 2.72 for CPFLX, 1.92 for GTFLX, 0.795 for MFLX and 1.05 for OFLX), limit of quantification (mg L-1: 9.06 for CPFLX, 6.40 for GTFLX, 2.65 for MFLX and 3.50 for OFLX) and robustness. Due to its simplicity, selectivity, precision, accuracy and rapidity, the methodology can be an interesting alternative for quality assurance in the pharmaceutical industry of these drugs

Avaliação das silagens do sorgo BRS-610 em sete estádios de maturação pela técnica in vitro semiautomática de produção de gases.

Avaliou-se a qualidade da silagem do sorgo BRS-610 produzida em sete estádios de maturação dos grãos, pela técnica in vitro semi automática de produção de gases. O delineamento foi inteiramente ao acaso, com quatro repetições por tratamento, e as médias foram comparadas pelo teste Scott-knott. Os parâmetros potencial máximo de produção de gases, tempo de colonização, taxa de produção de gases e degradabilidade efetiva da matéria seca para as taxas de passagem de 2, 5 e 8%/h foram obtidos pelo modelo de France et al. O potencial máximo de produção de gases não diferiu entre as silagens e indicou média de 170,5mLmg de matéria seca. Entre leitoso/pastoso e pastoso houve menor tempo de colonização. As maiores taxas de fermentação foram observadas nas silagens produzida entre os estádios pastoso/farináceo a seco. As degradabilidades efetivas foram semelhantes entres as silagens, com média de 46,2%. O sorgo BRS-610 produziu silagem de qualidade satisfatória, com destaque para a silagem produzida com a planta no estádio pastoso/farináceo, por associar melhor taxa de fermentação e menor tempo de colonização

Classical and quantum-mechanical treatments of nonsequential double ionization with few-cycle laser pulses

We address nonsequential double ionization induced by strong, linearly polarized laser fields of only a few cycles, considering a physical mechanism in which the second electron is dislodged by the inelastic collision of the first electron with its parent ion. The problem is treated classically, using an ensemble model, and quantum-mechanically, within the strong-field and uniform saddle-point approximations. In the latter case, the results are interpreted in terms of "quantum orbits", which can be related to the trajectories of a classical electron in an electric field. We obtain highly asymmetric electron momentum distributions, which strongly depend on the absolute phase, i.e., on the phase difference between the pulse envelope and its carrier frequency. Around a particular value of this parameter, the distributions shift from the region of positive to that of negative momenta, or vice-versa, in a radical fashion. This behavior is investigated in detail for several driving-field parameters, and provides a very efficient method for measuring the absolute phase. Both models yield very similar distributions, which share the same physical explanation. There exist, however, minor discrepancies due to the fact that, beyond the region for which electron-impact ionization is classically allowed, the yields from the quantum mechanical computation decay exponentially, whereas their classical counterparts vanish.Comment: 12 pages revtex, 12 figures (eps files

Abundance trend with condensation temperature for stars with different Galactic birth places

During the past decade, several studies reported a correlation between chemical abundances of stars and condensation temperature (also known as Tc trend). However, the real astrophysical nature of this correlation is still debated. The main goal of this work is to explore the possible dependence of the Tc trend on stellar Galactocentric distances, Rmean. We used high-quality spectra of about 40 stars observed with the HARPS and UVES spectrographs to derive precise stellar parameters, chemical abundances, and stellar ages. A differential line-by-line analysis was applied to achieve the highest possible precision in the chemical abundances. We confirm previous results that [X/Fe] abundance ratios depend on stellar age and that for a given age, some elements also show a dependence on Rmean. When using the whole sample of stars, we observe a weak hint that the Tc trend depends on Rmean. The observed dependence is very complex and disappears when only stars with similar ages are considered. To conclude on the possible dependence of the Tc trend on the formation place of stars, a larger sample of stars with very similar atmospheric parameters and stellar ages observed at different Galactocentric distances is neededComment: Accepted by A&

Identificação e ocorrência de begomovírus em algodoeiro em regiões de Goiás.

O objetivo do trabalho é verificar se o vírus do mosaico comum do algodoeiro em regiões de Goiás é um begomovírus. Foram localizadas e coletadas 69 plantas com aparentes sintomas de begomovírus

The influence of patterned nanofiber meshes on human mesenchymal stem cell osteogenesis

A specially designed electroconductive collector enables the electrospinning of P-NFM composed of areas of parallel/uniaxially aligned fibers and areas of random/orthogonal nanofiber distribution. The biological relevance of P-NFM is demonstrated using hBMSCs as an autologous cell source. The structures induce cell orientation along the uniaxially aligned fibers, mainly during earlier culturing periods under basal and osteogenic differentiation conditions. The microtopography of the P-NFM also controls the deposition of mineralized extracellular matrix along the pre-defined fiber direction. Genotypic characterization confirms the successful differentiation into the osteogenic lineage.European Integrated Project GENOSTEM (LSH-STREP-CT-2003-503161); European Network of Excellence EXPERTISSUES (NMP3-CT-2004-500283); Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology for the project Naturally Nano (POCI/EME/58982/2004) and the PhD grant SFRH/BD/24382/2005