Extraction techniques and clean-up procedures for the determination of pahs in sediments of the Ceará coast

Extraction and clean-up are essential points in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) analysis in a solid matrix. This work compares extraction techniques and clean-up procedures for PAH analysis. PAH levels, their toxicological significance and source were also evaluated in the waters of the Cocó and Ceará rivers. The efficiency of PAH recovery was higher for the soxhlet and ultrasonic techniques. PAH recovery varied from 69.3 to 99.3%. Total PAH concentration (ΣHPA) varied from 720.73 to 2234.76 µg kg-1 (Cocó river) and 96.4 to 1859.21 µg kg-1 (Ceará river). The main PAH sources are pyrolytic processes and the levels were classified as medium so that adverse effects are possible

As atividades no campo da Terapia Ocupacional: mapeamento da produção científica dos terapeutas ocupacionais brasileiros de 1990 a 2008

Occupation and activities are important tools to occupational therapists and participate on the construction of therapeutic process. Different concepts of activities are present in the Brazilian theoretical production, what is expressed on the multiplicity of terms used by occupational therapists to name their tool and object of study. This inquiry is a bibliographical revision designed to evaluate the state of the art of the Brazilian occupational therapists' scientific production about activities and occupation, considering the use of terms and conceptions, their definitions, categories and contexts and different approaches in the contemporary Occupational Therapy. The initial clipping delimited articles published in national journals from 1990 to 2008. 206 articles that discussed the activities in Occupational Therapy had been found in five national publications of the area. All these articles were analyzed quantitatively. With the accomplishment of the bibliographical survey and analysis of the data, it was possible to point out trends and interests in the theoretical production of the Brazilian occupational therapists, map the terms more often used, the conceptions and activities domains most frequent, and their joint to theoretical-methodological perspectives.As atividades são instrumento privilegiado das ações dos terapeutas ocupacionais e constituem o elemento orientador na construção complexa e contextualizada do processo terapêutico. No entanto, diferentes formas de conceber e definir atividades convivem, atualmente, na produção teórica na área, o que fica explicitado na variação em relação aos termos utilizados pelos terapeutas ocupacionais para nomear sua ferramenta de trabalho e seu objeto de estudo. Este artigo apresenta uma pesquisa bibliográfica desenhada para avaliar o estado da arte da produção científica dos terapeutas ocupacionais brasileiros a respeito das atividades e ocupações, considerando o uso dos termos, as concepções a eles vinculadas, suas definições, categorias e contexto e as diferentes abordagens na Terapia Ocupacional brasileira contemporânea. O recorte inicial, cujos resultados são aqui apresentados, delimitou artigos publicados em periódicos nacionais da área de 1990 a 2008. 206 artigos foram encontrados em cinco publicações nacionais na área e foi realizada análise quantitativa deste material. Com a realização do levantamento bibliográfico e a análise dos dados foi possível apontar tendências e interesses na produção dos terapeutas ocupacionais no Brasil, mapear os termos mais utilizados, os domínios das atividades mais freqüentemente abordados e sua articulação com as perspectivas teórico-metodológicas

Impact of cardiology referral: clinical outcomes and factors associated with physicians' adherence to recommendations

OBJECTIVES: Cardiology referral is common for patients admitted for non-cardiac diseases. Recommendations from cardiologists may involve complex and aggressive treatments that could be ignored or denied by other physicians. The purpose of this study was to compare the outcomes of patients who were given recommendations during cardiology referrals and to examine the clinical outcomes of patients who did not follow the recommendations. METHODS: We enrolled 589 consecutive patients who received in-hospital cardiology consultations. Data on recommendations, implementation of suggestions and outcomes were collected. RESULTS: Regarding adherence of the referring service to the recommendations, 77% of patients were classified in the adherence group and 23% were classified in the non-adherence group. Membership in the non-adherence group (

Avaliação físico-química de um blend de laranja tangor ‘Ortanique’ e beterraba

Polpas de frutas podem ser utilizadas para elaboração de blends com características diferentes das matérias-primas originais, tendo por objetivo a melhoria das características sensoriais e nutricionais dos componentes isolados ou apenas a criação de novos produtos, cuja principal característica seja a diferenciação em relação aos produtos obtidos na natureza. Este trabalho foi realizado como o objetivo de se avaliar as características químicas e físico-químicas de blends elaborados a partir de polpa de tangor “Ortanique” e polpa de beterraba, com diferentes proporções de cada polpa. Os blends foram caracterizados quanto ao pH, o teor de sólidos solúveis totais, acidez total titulável, cinzas, teor de água, açúcares redutores, açúcares totais, açúcares não redutores e cor. A partir dos resultados obtidos observou-se que os blends de tangor e beterraba resultaram em amostras mais escuras com a elevação do teor de polpa de beterraba. O aumento na proporção de polpa de beterraba influenciou o pH, a acidez total titulável, o teor de água e os açúcares redutores. Aumentou com maior intensidade o teor de cinzas, os açúcares totais, os açúcares não redutores e o índice intensidade de vermelho, e reduziu a luminosidade. Palavras chave: hortaliças, frutas, Beta vulgaris, citru

The rehabilitation enhancing aging through connected health (REACH) study: study protocol for a quasi-experimental clinical trial

Background: Mobility limitations among older adults increase the risk for disability and healthcare utilization. Rehabilitative care is identified as the most efficacious treatment for maintaining physical function. However, there is insufficient evidence identifying a healthcare model that targets prevention of mobility decline among older adults. The objective of this study is to evaluate the preliminary effectiveness of a physical therapy program, augmented with mobile tele-health technology, on mobility function and healthcare utilization among older adults. Methods: This is a quasi-experimental 12-month clinical trial conducted within a metropolitan-based healthcare system in the northeastern United States. It is in parallel with an existing longitudinal cohort study evaluating mobility decline among community-dwelling older adult primary care patients over one year. Seventy-five older adults (≥ 65–95 years) are being recruited using identical inclusion/exclusion criteria to the cohort study. Three aims will be evaluated: the effect of our program on 1) physical function, 2) healthcare utilization, and 3) healthcare costs. Changes in patient-reported function over 1 year in those receiving the intervention (aim 1) will be compared to propensity score matched controls (N = 150) from the cohort study. For aims 2 and 3, propensity scores, derived from logistic regression model that includes demographic and diagnostic information available through claims and enrollment information, will be used to match treatment and control patients in a ratio of 1:2 or 1:3 from a Medicare Claims Registry derived from the same geographic region. The intervention consists of a one-year physical therapy program that is divided between a combination of outpatient and home visits (6–10 total visits) and is augmented on a computerized tablet using of a commercially available application to deliver a progressive home-based exercise program emphasizing lower-extremity function and a walking program. Discussion Incorporating mobile health into current healthcare models of rehabilitative care has the potential to decrease hospital visits and provide a longer duration of care. If the hypotheses are supported and demonstrate improved mobility and reduced healthcare utilization, this innovative care model would be applicable for optimizing the maintenance of functional independence among community-dwelling older adults. Trial registration ClinicalTrial.gov Identifier: NCT02580409 (Date of registration October 14, 2015)

Síntese, caracterização e estudo da atividade inibitória de novas dialquilfosforilarilidrazonas sobre o crescimento de tripanossomatídeos

A new series of dialkylphosphorylhydrazones was synthesized through the condensation of aromatic aldehydes with different phosphorylhydrazines. All synthesized compounds were characterized by IR, ¹H-NMR, 13C-NMR and 31P-NMR spectroscopies. The in vitro investigation of the activity of these compounds against Leishmania amazonensis promastigotes and epimastigotes of T. cruzi, showed an efficient inhibition of proliferation, at non toxic concentrations to mammalian cells. The results have shown some derivatives as potential antiparasitic agents against trypanosomatids

Factors affecting buffalo Mozzarella cheese yield: a study using regression analysis

Abstract Cheese production such as mozzarella is affected by several factors including the processing technology (e.g., cuts, fermentation, curd stretching), as well as quantity and quality of raw materials and other ingredients. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between mozzarella cheese yield and buffalo milk composition, processing factors, and losses of whey constituents using polynomial regression and adjusted R2. All regression coefficients associated with each explanatory variable were significantly different from zero. The models explained an average of 99% of the variation in the dataset. The regression models showed that the concentration of milk components (e.g., fat, protein, casein, lactose, total solids), somatic cell score, age and acidity of the starter culture, time between curd cuts, and percentage of lost whey constituents highly influenced the mozzarella cheese yield. The buffalo dairy industry should focus on rigorous control of milk quality and processing factors to standardize and optimize mozzarella cheese yield efficiency

Trypanosoma cruzi Infection Induces Cellular Stress Response and Senescence-Like Phenotype in Murine Fibroblasts

Trypanosoma cruzi infects and replicates within a wide variety of immune and non-immune cells. Here, we investigated early cellular responses induced in NIH-3T3 fibroblasts upon infection with trypomastigote forms of T. cruzi. We show that fibroblasts were susceptible to T. cruzi infection and started to release trypomastigotes to the culture medium after 4 days of infection. Also, we found that T. cruzi infection reduced the number of fibroblasts in 3-day cell cultures, by altering fibroblast proliferation. Infected fibroblasts displayed distinctive phenotypic alterations, including enlarged and flattened morphology with a nuclei accumulation of senescence-associated heterochromatin foci. In addition, infection induced an overexpression of the enzyme senescence-associated β-galactosidase (SA-β-gal), an activation marker of the cellular senescence program, as well as the production of cytokines and chemokines involved with the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) such as IL-6, TNF-α, IL-1β, and MCP-1. Infected fibroblasts released increased amounts of stress-associated factors nitric oxide (NO) and reactive oxygen species (ROS), and the treatment with antioxidants deferoxamine (DFO) and N-acetylcysteine reduced ROS generation, secretion of SASP-related cytokine IL-6, SA-β-gal activity, and parasite load by infected fibroblasts. Taken together, our data suggest that T. cruzi infection triggers a rapid cellular stress response followed by induction of a senescent-like phenotype in NIH-3T3 fibroblasts, enabling them to act as reservoirs of parasites during the early stages of the Chagas disease