A survey of recently published cardiovascular, hematological and pneumological original articles in the Brazilian scientific press

Recent original scientific contributions published in selected Brazilian periodicals and classifiable under cardiovascular and pulmonary subject categories cover a wide range of sub specialties, both clinical and exprimental. Because they appear in journals with only recently enhanced visibility, we have decided to highlight a number of specific items appeared in four Brazilian journals, because we understand that this is an important subsidy to keep our readership adequately informed. These papers cover extensive sub-areas in both fields

Bacteriological profile isolated from cases of otitis media diagnosed at tertiary care hospital of Gujarat, India

Background: Otitis media is commonest disease seen in children. Bacteria are responsible for majority of the cases of otitis media. The aim of the study was to speculate the aetiological bacterial flora which was responsible for the cases of otitis media.Methods: The present study was conducted by Department of Microbiology, B. J. Medical College, Ahmedabad, India during 1st May 2000 to 30th April 2002. Before conducting the study approval was obtained from Institutional Ethical Committee for human research. Total 140 patients of otitis media were included after written informed consent. The ear discharge from each diseased middle ear was collected and inoculated on blood agar, MacConkey’s agar and chocolate agar media and were incubated at 37°C for 24 hours. The organisms were identified by using a standard procedure. Data was analyzed using Microsoft exel software (Trial Version).Results: Out of 140 samples 114 (81.43%) had positive culture. out of 114 cases, 64 (56.14%) were male. Majority of the cases (32.45%) were in the age group of 0-14 years. Out of 114 positive cases, single organism was isolated in 99 (86.8%) cases. Out of total 116 strains 44 (37.9%) were gram positive and 72 (62.1%) were gram negative organisms. Among gram positive organisms, Staphylococcus aureus (63.63%) was predominant organisms isolated followed by coagulase negative Staphylococci (20.45%) and among gram negative organism Pseudomonas (69.44%) was predominant organisms isolated followed by proteus species.Conclusions: Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas sp. were found to be the common cause of otitis media in our study.

Nations within a nation: variations in epidemiological transition across the states of India, 1990–2016 in the Global Burden of Disease Study

18% of the world's population lives in India, and many states of India have populations similar to those of large countries. Action to effectively improve population health in India requires availability of reliable and comprehensive state-level estimates of disease burden and risk factors over time. Such comprehensive estimates have not been available so far for all major diseases and risk factors. Thus, we aimed to estimate the disease burden and risk factors in every state of India as part of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2016

Global, regional, and national age-sex-specific mortality for 282 causes of death in 195 countries and territories, 1980-2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017.

BACKGROUND: Global development goals increasingly rely on country-specific estimates for benchmarking a nation's progress. To meet this need, the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2016 estimated global, regional, national, and, for selected locations, subnational cause-specific mortality beginning in the year 1980. Here we report an update to that study, making use of newly available data and improved methods. GBD 2017 provides a comprehensive assessment of cause-specific mortality for 282 causes in 195 countries and territories from 1980 to 2017. METHODS: The causes of death database is composed of vital registration (VR), verbal autopsy (VA), registry, survey, police, and surveillance data. GBD 2017 added ten VA studies, 127 country-years of VR data, 502 cancer-registry country-years, and an additional surveillance country-year. Expansions of the GBD cause of death hierarchy resulted in 18 additional causes estimated for GBD 2017. Newly available data led to subnational estimates for five additional countries-Ethiopia, Iran, New Zealand, Norway, and Russia. Deaths assigned International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes for non-specific, implausible, or intermediate causes of death were reassigned to underlying causes by redistribution algorithms that were incorporated into uncertainty estimation. We used statistical modelling tools developed for GBD, including the Cause of Death Ensemble model (CODEm), to generate cause fractions and cause-specific death rates for each location, year, age, and sex. Instead of using UN estimates as in previous versions, GBD 2017 independently estimated population size and fertility rate for all locations. Years of life lost (YLLs) were then calculated as the sum of each death multiplied by the standard life expectancy at each age. All rates reported here are age-standardised

Studies of solvation by spectroscopic methods.

The work described in this thesis is concerned with the use of relatively simple compounds in dilute solution to study solvation phenonena. Spectroscopic techniques such as infrared and NMR have been used to follow the environment of the 'probe' throughout various mixed and pure solvent states. The potential of NMR spectroscopy to solvation has been explored. Solvent effects on the resonance show that the sensitivity decreases in the order phosphine oxides - phosphonates - phosphates. This trend is also seen amongst carbonyl ccmpounds where the NMR sensitivity decreases in the order ketones - acetates - carbonates. It is thought that the paramagnetic contribution to the chenical shift may be inportant in dictating these shifts. Based on the evidence of previous work, it was always accepted that water formed the hydrate with maximum solvation number. The results from the ester study are important since it may be a mistake to assume such fixed solvation. The fundamental infrared work incorporates a study that investigates the relevance of coupling in systems such as phosphate mono-anions, carboxylate anions and others. The results for the phosphate mono-anions shew that the coupling between the P-O modes is sensitive to solvent perturbations. This trend is also partly seen amongst the carboxylate anions. Finally, the validity of Gutmann's Acceptor Number is examined. It is concluded that this solvent scale is only applicable to solvated states that are identical with those for triethylphosphine oxide

Cardiology in Brazilian scientific journals: an overview Cardiologia em revistas científicas brasileiras: um panorama

Cardiology has been and is a very significant fraction of the Brazilian contribution to science. In older days, the most significant part of this work was directed to foreign periodicals, but the quasi-simultaneous emergence of SciELO and PUBMED has ordained a redirection of much of this work to Brazilian periodicals. We here survey some of this more recent contribution for the benefit of readers of Revista Brasileira de Cirurgia Cardiovascular. This is offered as an update. Articles on the general themes of Cardiology and Pneumology published by four ISI Indexed Brazilian journals not specializing in cardiology are re-visited, after a search through 10 journals.<br>A Cardiologia foi, e continua sendo, responsável por uma fracção muito significativa da contribuição brasileira para a ciência. No passado, os trabalhos mais importantes eram direcionados para periódicos estrangeiros, mas o surgimento quase simultâneo do SciELO e PUBMED facilitou um redirecionamento de grande parte desses trabalhos a periódicos brasileiros. Neste artigo, examinamos algumas das contribuições mais recentes em benefício aos leitores da Revista Brasileira de Cirurgia Cardiovascular. Esta discussão é oferecida como uma atualização. Artigos sobre os temas gerais da cardiologia e pneumologia publicados por quatro revistas brasileiras indexadas no ISI - não especializadas em cardiologia - são revistos