Biossólido e substrato comercial na produção de mudas de Schinus terebinthifolia

Atualmente a aquisição de substratos em quantidade e qualidade para a produção de mudas florestais é um grande desafio para o setor florestal, sendo a busca por substratos sustentáveis uma tendência ecológica, econômica e social. O objetivo deste trabalho foi comparar o crescimento, em viveiro e no primeiro ano após o plantio, de mudas de Schinus terebinthifolia Raddi (aroeira pimenteira) produzidas com biossólido (BIO) e com substrato comercial (SC), sob doses de monoamônio fosfato (MAP) em adubação de cobertura. O MAP foi aplicado em doses crescentes nos tratamentos, a cada 21 dias em adubação de cobertura. O BIO, mesmo sem fertilização mineral complementar, favoreceu o crescimento em viveiro, resultando em mudas de qualidade morfológica superior às produzidas em SC sob adubação de cobertura. Tanto a utilização de BIO, quanto o uso de adubação de cobertura em níveis mais elevados podem ser utilizados para aumentar o estabelecimento e o crescimento das mudas de aroeira pimenteira em campo

Unilateral Atrial Ectopic Rhythm in a Golden Retriever

Background: Atrial ectopic rhythm is a type of supraventricular arrhythmia, originating in two distinct points in the atrial region. In the electrocardiographic (ECG) tracing, it is represented by independent depolarizations of sinus P waves and ectopic P waves. The occurrence of this disorder is rare, and the diagnosis criteria are the presence of the described waves within the basal rhythm. In humans, there have been reports related to severe heart failure with an unfavorable prognosis. The present report aimed to describe the clinical case of a dog with unilateral atrial ectopic rhythm without any underlying cardiac disorder.Case: A 8-year-old male golden retriever was brought to a veterinary clinic for a preoperative evaluation for lipoma removal in the right forelimb. On clinical examination, the owner stated that the patient was active, with no signs of easy fatigue or cough. The canine displayed normophagy, normodipsia, normoquezia, and normouria. On physical examination, he demonstrated a lymphatic temperament with tachypnea. The temperature and capillary filling time were within the normal range, with a normokinetic pulse. Cardiac auscultation revealed a mild grade I/VI murmur in mitral focus and an 80-bpm heart rate. Respiratory auscultation revealed the presence of harshy lung sounds. The cough reflex was positive; the Piparote test, negative. The blood test showed no noticeable changes in blood count and serum biochemistry. Systemic systolic blood pressure was 120 mmHg. On radiographic examination, no evidence of heart or lung abnormalities were identified. After the clinical evaluation, an ECG examination was performed; a unilateral atrial ectopic rhythm was observed with different frequencies between atrial and ventricular rhythm and with P (164°) and P waves (80°). On echocardiographic examination, no morphological abnormalities were seen, though trivial mitral insufficiency was identified in a color Doppler study. Blood was collected to measure electrolytes to check for possible electrolytic abnormalities; the results were within the normal range. The patient was released for and remained stable throughout the procedure, maintaining the rhythm detected during the transoperatory time. Upon reassessment in a new ECG examination, the arrhythmia persisted, suggesting that a primary lesion in the atrial tissue was present.Discussion: An atrial ectopic rhythm diagnosis requires a detailed study with the aim of ruling out heart diseases that may affect the propagation of the cardiac stimulus. However, no morphological or functional abnormalities of note that justified triggering stimuli for the ectopic rhythm were observed. In addition, based on the echocardiographic evaluation, myocardial function was preserved, supporting the canine’s release for the procedure. The suspicion of hydroelectrolytic alteration and hypoxia was present after discarding structural causes, though it was discarded due to normal laboratory results. The presence of ectopic P waves was due to the non-interference in the sinus P’ waves; consequently, they were found in the sinus heart rhythm. Upon assessing the ectopic P wave frequency, the atrial rhythm frequency was higher than the heart rate, juxtaposing the different irregular intervals within the atrial cycle. The rhythm alone may explain that its severity can be linked to the physical findings. This indicated that they did not influence the presentation of ectopia since the cardiac output, controlled by the sinus rhythm part, was responsible for maintaining the rhythm and the demand of the organism; the electrical conduction system, responsible for atrial systole, represents 15-25% of the blood ejection for the ventricular filling. Patients with rhythm disorders as described need guidance and follow-up for the early detection of clinical signs resulting from the destabilization of the condition.Keywords: atrial dissociation, supraventricular arrhythmia, electrocardiogram, dogs

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) reverts behavioral alterations and brainstem BDNF level increase induced by neuropathic pain model: Long-lasting effect

AbstractIntroductionNeuropathic pain (NP) is a chronic pain modality that usually results of damage in the somatosensory system. NP often shows insufficient response to classic analgesics and remains a challenge to medical treatment. The transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive technique, which induces neuroplastic changes in central nervous system of animals and humans. The brain derived neurotrophic factor plays an important role in synaptic plasticity process. Behavior changes such as decreased locomotor and exploratory activities and anxiety disorders are common comorbidities associated with NP.ObjectiveEvaluate the effect of tDCS treatment on locomotor and exploratory activities, and anxiety-like behavior, and peripheral and central BDNF levels in rats submitted to neuropathic pain model.MethodsRats were randomly divided: Ss, SsS, SsT, NP, NpS, and NpT. The neuropathic pain model was induced by partial sciatic nerve compression at 14days after surgery; the tDCS treatment was initiated. The animals of treated groups were subjected to a 20minute session of tDCS, for eight days. The Open Field and Elevated Pluz Maze tests were applied 24h (phase I) and 7days (phase II) after the end of tDCS treatment. The serum, spinal cord, brainstem and cerebral cortex BDNF levels were determined 48h (phase I) and 8days (phase II) after tDCS treatment by ELISA.ResultsThe chronic constriction injury (CCI) induces decrease in locomotor and exploratory activities, increases in the behavior-like anxiety, and increases in the brainstem BDNF levels, the last, in phase II (one-way ANOVA/SNK, P<0.05 for all). The tDCS treatment already reverted all these effects induced by CCI (one-way ANOVA/SNK, P<0.05 for all). Furthermore, the tDCS treatment decreased serum and cerebral cortex BDNF levels and it increased these levels in the spinal cord in phase II (one-way ANOVA/SNK, P<0.05).ConclusiontDCS reverts behavioral alterations associated to neuropathic pain, indicating possible analgesic and anxiolytic tDCS effects. tDCS treatment induces changes in the BDNF levels in different regions of the central nervous system (CNS), and this effect can be attributed to different cellular signaling activations

Classification of schizophrenic traits in transcriptions of audio spectra from patient literature: artificial intelligence models enhanced by geometric properties

Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness that affects approximately 1% of the global population and presents significant challenges for patients, families, and healthcare professionals. Characterized by symptoms such as delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech or behavior, and cognitive impairment, this condition has an early onset and chronic trajectory, making it a debilitating challenge. Schizophrenia also imposes a substantial burden on society, exacerbated by the stigma associated with mental disorders. Technological advancements, such as computerized semantic, linguistic, and acoustic analyses, are revolutionizing the understanding and assessment of communication alterations, a significant aspect in various severe mental illnesses. Early and accurate diagnosis is crucial for improving prognosis and implementing appropriate treatments. In this context, the advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has provided new perspectives for the treatment of schizophrenia, with machine learning techniques and natural language processing allowing a more detailed analysis of clinical, neurological, and behavioral data sets. The present article aims to present a proposal for computational models for the identification of schizophrenic traits in texts.&nbsp; The database used in this article was created with 139 excerpts of patients' speeches reported in the book “Memories of My Nervous Disease” by German judge Daniel Paul Schreber, classifying them into three categories: 1 - schizophrenic, 2 - with schizophrenic traits and 3 - without any relation to the disorder. Of these speeches, 104 were used for training the models and the others 35 for validation.Three classification models were implemented using features based on geometric properties of graphs (number of vertices, number of cycles, girth, vertex of maximum degree, maximum clique size) and text entropy. Promising results were observed in the classification, with the Decision Tree-based model [1] achieving 100% accuracy, the KNN- k-Nearest Neighbor model observed with 62.8% accuracy, and the 'centrality-based' model with 59% precision. The high precision rates, observed when geometric properties are incorporated into Artificial Intelligence Models, suggest that the models can be improved to the point of capturing the language deviation traits that are indicative of schizophrenic disorders. In summary, this study paves the way for significant advances in the use of geometric properties in the field of psychiatry, offering a new data-based approach to the understanding and therapy of schizophrenia