Construction and validation of indicators and respective definitions for the nursing outcome Swallowing Status

;;OBJETIVO:;; construir e validar por especialistas e clinicamente os indicadores para o resultado de enfermagem Estado da deglutição e suas definições conceituais e operacionais em pacientes após acidente vascular cerebral.;;;;MÉTODO:;; estudo metodológico, com análise de conceito e validações de conteúdo e clínica. Verificou-se o Índice de Validade de Conteúdo para as notas atribuídas por 11 especialistas aos indicadores revisados. Na validação clínica, examinaram-se 81 pacientes por duas duplas de enfermeiros, uma usando instrumento com as definições construídas e outra com instrumento sem definições. As avaliações foram comparadas pelo Coeficiente de Correlação Intraclasse, teste de Friedman e Diferença Mínima Significante.;;;;RESULTADOS:;; exceto o indicador Captura do alimento, todos apresentaram Índice de Validade de Conteúdo superior a 0,80. A dupla de enfermeiros com instrumento contendo as definições construídas apresentou Coeficiente de Correlação Intraclasse superior a 0,80 para todos os indicadores e pelo cálculo da Diferença Mínima Significante houve similaridade entre todas as avaliações. Na dupla que estava sem as definições elaboradas, o coeficiente foi baixo (ρ;;;;CONCLUSÃO:;; os dados evidenciaram aumento na uniformidade e acurácia entre as avaliações dos enfermeiros ao utilizar as definições conceituais e operacionais para os indicadores do resultado de enfermagem Estado da deglutição.;;;;OBJECTIVE:;; to develop indicators for the nursing outcome Swallowing Status and the respective conceptual and operational definitions validated by experts and in a clinical setting among patients after having experienced a stroke.;;;;METHOD:;; methodological study with concept analysis and content and clinical validations. The Content Validation Index was verified for the scores assigned by 11 experts to indicators. Two pairs of nurses assessed 81 patients during the clinical validation: one pair used an instrument with definitions and the other used an instrument without definitions. The resulting assessments were compared using Intraclass Correlation Coefficient, Friedman's test, and Minimal Important Difference calculation.;;;;RESULTS:;; All the indicators, with the exception of the indicator Ability to bring food to mouth, presented Content Validation Index above 0.80. The pair using the instrument with definitions presented an Intraclass Correlation Coefficient above 0.80 for all the indicators and similarity was found in all the assessments, according to the Minimal Important Difference calculation. The pair using the instrument without definitions presented a low coefficient (ρ;;OBJETIVO:;; construir y validar por especialistas y clínicamente los indicadores para el resultado de enfermería Estado de la deglución y sus definiciones conceptuales y operacionales en pacientes después de accidente vascular cerebral.;;;;MÉTODO:;; estudio metodológico, con análisis de concepto y validaciones de contenido y clínicas. Se verificó el Índice de Validez de Contenido para las notas atribuidas por 11 especialistas a los indicadores revisados. En la validación clínica, fueron examinados 81 pacientes por dos parejas de enfermeros, una usando instrumento con las definiciones construidas y la otra con instrumento sin definiciones. Las evaluaciones fueron comparadas por el Coeficiente de Correlación Intraclase, test de Friedman y Diferencia Mínima Significativa.;;;;RESULTADOS:;; exceptuando el indicador Captura del alimento, todos presentaron Índice de Validez de Contenido superior a 0,80. La pareja de enfermeros con instrumento conteniendo las definiciones construidas presentó Coeficiente de Correlación Intraclase superior a 0,80 para todos los indicadores y por el cálculo de la Diferencia Mínima Significativa hubo semejanza entre todas las evaluaciones. En la pareja que estaba sin las definiciones elaboradas, el coeficiente fue bajo (

Inside the guts of wood-eating catfishes: can they digest wood?

To better understand the structure and function of the gastrointestinal (GI) tracts of wood-eating catfishes, the gross morphology, length, and microvilli surface area (MVSA) of the intestines of wild-caught Panaque nocturnus, P. cf. nigrolineatus “Marañon”, and Hypostomus pyrineusi were measured, and contrasted against these same metrics of a closely related detritivore, Pterygoplichthys disjunctivus. All four species had anatomically unspecialized intestines with no kinks, valves, or ceca of any kind. The wood-eating catfishes had body size-corrected intestinal lengths that were 35% shorter than the detritivore. The MVSA of all four species decreased distally in the intestine, indicating that nutrient absorption preferentially takes place in the proximal and mid-intestine, consistent with digestive enzyme activity and luminal carbohydrate profiles for these same species. Wild-caught Pt. disjunctivus, and P. nigrolineatus obtained via the aquarium trade, poorly digested wood cellulose (<33% digestibility) in laboratory feeding trials, lost weight when consuming wood, and passed stained wood through their digestive tracts in less than 4 h. Furthermore, no selective retention of small particles was observed in either species in any region of the gut. Collectively, these results corroborate digestive enzyme activity profiles and gastrointestinal fermentation levels in the fishes’ GI tracts, suggesting that the wood-eating catfishes are not true xylivores such as beavers and termites, but rather, are detritivores like so many other fishes from the family Loricariidae

Coinfection with Different Trypanosoma cruzi Strains Interferes with the Host Immune Response to Infection

A century after the discovery of Trypanosoma cruzi in a child living in Lassance, Minas Gerais, Brazil in 1909, many uncertainties remain with respect to factors determining the pathogenesis of Chagas disease (CD). Herein, we simultaneously investigate the contribution of both host and parasite factors during acute phase of infection in BALB/c mice infected with the JG and/or CL Brener T. cruzi strains. JG single infected mice presented reduced parasitemia and heart parasitism, no mortality, levels of pro-inflammatory mediators (TNF-α, CCL2, IL-6 and IFN-γ) similar to those found among naïve animals and no clinical manifestations of disease. On the other hand, CL Brener single infected mice presented higher parasitemia and heart parasitism, as well as an increased systemic release of pro-inflammatory mediators and higher mortality probably due to a toxic shock-like systemic inflammatory response. Interestingly, coinfection with JG and CL Brener strains resulted in intermediate parasitemia, heart parasitism and mortality. This was accompanied by an increase in the systemic release of IL-10 with a parallel increase in the number of MAC-3+ and CD4+ T spleen cells expressing IL-10. Therefore, the endogenous production of IL-10 elicited by coinfection seems to be crucial to counterregulate the potentially lethal effects triggered by systemic release of pro-inflammatory mediators induced by CL Brener single infection. In conclusion, our results suggest that the composition of the infecting parasite population plays a role in the host response to T. cruzi in determining the severity of the disease in experimentally infected BALB/c mice. The combination of JG and CL Brener was able to trigger both protective inflammatory immunity and regulatory immune mechanisms that attenuate damage caused by inflammation and disease severity in BALB/c mice

Regulatory T Cells Phenotype in Different Clinical Forms of Chagas' Disease

CD25High CD4+ regulatory T cells (Treg cells) have been described as key players in immune regulation, preventing infection-induced immune pathology and limiting collateral tissue damage caused by vigorous anti-parasite immune response. In this review, we summarize data obtained by the investigation of Treg cells in different clinical forms of Chagas' disease. Ex vivo immunophenotyping of whole blood, as well as after stimulation with Trypanosoma cruzi antigens, demonstrated that individuals in the indeterminate (IND) clinical form of the disease have a higher frequency of Treg cells, suggesting that an expansion of those cells could be beneficial, possibly by limiting strong cytotoxic activity and tissue damage. Additional analysis demonstrated an activated status of Treg cells based on low expression of CD62L and high expression of CD40L, CD69, and CD54 by cells from all chagasic patients after T. cruzi antigenic stimulation. Moreover, there was an increase in the frequency of the population of Foxp3+ CD25HighCD4+ cells that was also IL-10+ in the IND group, whereas in the cardiac (CARD) group, there was an increase in the percentage of Foxp3+ CD25High CD4+ cells that expressed CTLA-4. These data suggest that IL-10 produced by Treg cells is effective in controlling disease development in IND patients. However, in CARD patients, the same regulatory mechanism, mediated by IL-10 and CTLA-4 expression is unlikely to be sufficient to control the progression of the disease. These data suggest that Treg cells may play an important role in controlling the immune response in Chagas' disease and the balance between regulatory and effector T cells may be important for the progression and development of the disease. Additional detailed analysis of the mechanisms on how these cells are activated and exert their function will certainly give insights for the rational design of procedure to achieve the appropriate balance between protection and pathology during parasite infections

Evolutionary diversity is associated with wood productivity in Amazonian forests

Higher levels of taxonomic and evolutionary diversity are expected to maximize ecosystem function, yet their relative importance in driving variation in ecosystem function at large scales in diverse forests is unknown. Using 90 inventory plots across intact, lowland, terra firme, Amazonian forests and a new phylogeny including 526 angiosperm genera, we investigated the association between taxonomic and evolutionary metrics of diversity and two key measures of ecosystem function: aboveground wood productivity and biomass storage. While taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity were not important predictors of variation in biomass, both emerged as independent predictors of wood productivity. Amazon forests that contain greater evolutionary diversity and a higher proportion of rare species have higher productivity. While climatic and edaphic variables are together the strongest predictors of productivity, our results show that the evolutionary diversity of tree species in diverse forest stands also influences productivity. As our models accounted for wood density and tree size, they also suggest that additional, unstudied, evolutionarily correlated traits have significant effects on ecosystem function in tropical forests. Overall, our pan-Amazonian analysis shows that greater phylogenetic diversity translates into higher levels of ecosystem function: tropical forest communities with more distantly related taxa have greater wood productivity