Patterns of antenal sensilla of Panstrongylus megistus from three Brazilian states

The objective of the present study was to analyze and describe the phenotype of the antennal sensilla of Panstrongylus megistus, one of the epidemiologically most important species of triatomines in Brazil. Specimens from the Brazilian states of Goiás (GO), Minas Gerais (MG), and Rio Grande do Sul (RS) were compared, based on studies of four types of sensilla on three antennal segments: thick-walled trichoid (TK), thin-walled trichoid (TH), bristles (BR), and basiconica (BA). Discriminant analysis allowed the separation of the RS specimens from those of GO and MG. Multivariate discriminant analysis demonstrated that the sensilla of males differed from those of females, the variables with greatest weight being the BA of all three segments and the TK of flagellum 1. The basiconica sensilla were significantly more abundant in females, on all three segments. Antennal sensilla patterns also demonstrated significant differences among P. megistus specimens.Fil: Villela, M. M.. Fundación Oswaldo Cruz; BrasilFil: Catala, Silvia Susana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Universidad Nacional de La Rioja. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Universidad Nacional de Catamarca. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Secretaría de Industria y Minería. Servicio Geológico Minero Argentino. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Provincia de La Rioja. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja; ArgentinaFil: Juberg, J.. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz; Brasil. Fundación Oswaldo Cruz; BrasilFil: Silva, I. G.. Universidade Federal de Goiás; BrasilFil: Dias, J. C. P.. Fundación Oswaldo Cruz; Brasi

Motherhood in context—life course interviews with young mothers in contact with child welfare

Background: The purpose of this article is to explore how a sample of young mothers in contact with child welfare services in Norway narrate their transition to motherhood and their relation with child welfare services. Methods: The article is based on life-course interviews with the mothers, on which we have conducted a content analysis inspired by narrative theory. Results: Results show that whereas the mothers deviated from common expectations of predictability and orderliness before they became mothers, they strived to provide a “good enough” situation for their children in line with expectations in larger society ever after. Nevertheless, the complex disadvantages that the mothers said they had in several life domains concerning social networks and family support, education, working life, housing, and that were apparently already in their transition to adulthood, were likely to increase even after the mothers had decided to enter the mothering role in socially acceptable ways. Conclusions: The article concludes that child welfare services may contribute positively by acknowledging the complexity of young mothers’ living context when assessing mothering practices.publishedVersio

Exploring tentative lives

Much social work practice with adolescents involved in activities known to be risky, such as experimentation with substances or petty crime, seems to have been influenced by the conventional input-output model which assumes an unreflected relationship between the present manifestation of risk and adverse future outcomes. This model relies on an uncertain scientific basis and does not really allow for the adolescents’ own reflexivity. This article aims at contributing to the shaping of more reflexive concepts for social work in this area, and is based on material derived from a focus group made up of 17 adolescents from Central Norway, aged 16-18 years old. The major foci of analysis were: i) how the adolescents positioned themselves with regard to conflicting notions of respectability, ii) which constructions of meaning might be attached to this positioning and iii) how the positioning might inform social work practice

Acetylcholinesterase inhibition dose–response modeling for chlorpyrifos and chlorpyrifos-oxon

AbstractThis paper evaluates new data for cholinesterase inhibition with chlorpyrifos (CPF). Marty et al. (2012) recently conducted a CPF cholinesterase inhibition study in rats that included testing of males and females, dosing by gavage or diet, administration in corn oil or milk, and with pups and adults. Additionally, the study included cholinesterase inhibition testing for CPF-oxon, the active moiety that inhibits cholinesterase. The study included 5–6 dose groups with eight animals/sex/group for most of the tests. This paper provides a benchmark dose (BMD) analysis of the data from Marty et al. (2012), including a BMD meta-analysis that includes CPF cholinesterase inhibition data from different assays within the Marty et al. (2012) study and, in one case, from another study. From the meta-analysis, the recommended BMD10s, based on brain acetylcholinesterase inhibition, are 1.7mg/kg/day (BMDL10=1.3mg/kg/day) for acute doses to children and adults, and 0.67mg/kg/day (BMDL10=0.53mg/kg/day) for repeat doses to children and adults. At the dose levels considered in this analysis, there was no evidence of a difference in responses between males and females, corn oil versus milk administration, or pups versus adults. The data on pups versus adults show that an extra safety factor to protect the young is not needed for CPF. CPF data from the literature suggest that brain cholinesterase inhibition is the most appropriate metric for cholinesterase inhibition risk assessment

Increased contraction frequency in rat uterine strips treated In Vitro with o,p′-DDT

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47993/1/128_2005_Article_BF01689963.pd

Characterization of o,p'-DDT-stimulated contraction frequency in rat uterus in vitro

Exposure to organochlorine pesticides, including DDT, has previously been associated with premature birth. Using an improved protocol to characterize dose and time dependent responses, the present report extends a preliminary finding by this laboratory that o,p'-DDT directly stimulates uterine contractility. Contraction frequency was determined in longitudinal uterine strips from pregnant rats under isometric force conditions. Following equilibration, the uterine strips were monitored for a 1-hr baseline period, then treated with o,p'-DDT or ethanol (solvent control) for 3 hr, followed by 3 hr without test substance. During exposure to 100 [mu] o,p'-DDT, the frequency of contraction significantly increased by 66% relative to matched controls. After removal of o,p'-DDT from the medium, the frequency of contraction continued to increase in uterine strips exposed to 50 and 100 [mu] o,p'-DDT. A dose effect was clearly observed during the post-treatment period, with 50 and 100 [mu] o,p'-DDT significantly increasing contraction frequency by 39 and 104% relative to controls. No significant differences in contraction frequency were observed with 10 [mu] o,p'-DDT during any test period. These data show that o,p'-DDT directly stimulated isometric contractions in rat uterine strips.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/29112/1/0000150.pd

Pilot Study of Massage in Veterans with Knee Osteoarthritis

Objectives: To (1) assess the feasibility and acceptability of Swedish massage among Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care users with knee osteoarthritis (OA) and (2) collect preliminary data on efficacy of Swedish massage in this patient group

Dysharmonic maturation of the hand in the congenital malformation syndromes

In many congenital malformation syndromes the pattern of hand-wrist development does not fit the sequence pictured in the Greulich-Pyle atlas. Not infrequently, there is a difference in maturation level of carpal and phalangeal centers in excess of that found in clinically normal children. Usually, the carpal centers are less developed than the phalangeal centers, whereas overall skeletal maturation is retarded (as in trisomy 18) or advanced (as in cerebral gigantism). In still other conditions, specific carpal centers are disproportionately delayed. By way of example, the capitate is differentially delayed in epiphyseal dysplasia, the lunate in homocystinuria, and the scaphoid in Fanconi's anemia and other radial hypoplasia syndromes. Side to side (i.e., bilateral) asymmetries may also occur in the developing hand, as in paralysis, in conditions involving increased local vascularity (as in hemangioma and rheumatoid arthritis) or in conditions associated with decreased vascularity. In the presence of excessive dysharmonic development or major bilateral asymmetry, with or without agenesis of one or more hand bones, assigning meaningful bone ages in congenital malformation syndromes becomes difficult. On the other hand, the degree and pattern of dysharmonic maturation may be helpful in diagnosis.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/37516/1/1330350322_ftp.pd