Migraine: a major debilitating chronic non-communicable disease in Brazil, evidence from two national surveys

Background Even though migraine and other primary headache disorders are common and debilitating, major health surveys in Brazil have not included them. We repair this omission by combining data on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the Brazilian National Health Survey (PNS) 2013 with epidemiological data on migraine prevalence and severity in Brazil. The purpose is to rank migraine and its impact on public healthh among NCDs in order to support public-health policy toward better care for migraine in Brazil. Methods Data from PNS, a cross-sectional population-based study, were merged with estimates made by the Brazilian Headache Epidemiology Study (BHES) of migraine prevalence (numbers of people affected and of candidates for migraine preventative therapy) and migraine-attributed disability. Results Migraine ranked second in prevalence among the NCDs, and as the highest cause of disability among adults in Brazil. Probable migraine accounted for substantial additional disability. An estimated total of 5.5 million people in Brazil (or 9.5 million with probable migraine included) were in need of preventative therapy. Conclusion On this evidence, migraine should be included in the next health surveys in Brazil. Public-health policy should recognize the burden of migraine expressed in public ill health, and promote health services offering better diagnosis and treatment

Cohort differences in disease and disability in the young-old: findings from the MRC Cognitive Function and Ageing Study (MRC-CFAS)

© 2007 Jagger et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

EFFECTS OF PRIMING WITH OR WITHOUTH DRYING ON Pterogyne nitens TUL. SEEDS UNDER STRESS

Pterogyne nitens Tul. \ue9 conhecida popularmente como amendoim do campo,\ue9 uma esp\ue9cie arb\uf3rea, heli\uf3fita, secund\ue1ria inicial que se regenera intensamente em \ue1reas abertas e pastagens. Pode ser empregada como esp\ue9cie ornamental e na reposi\ue7\ue3o de mata ciliar, em l\ub0Cais sujeitos a inunda\ue7\uf5es peri\uf3dicas, em s\uedtios arenosos e degradados. O condicionamento \ue9 uma t\ue9cnica p\uf3s-colheita usada com o objetivo de aumentar a vel\ub0Cidade de germina\ue7\ue3o, emerg\ueancia, bem como ampliar a toler\ue2ncia a v\ue1rios tipos de estresse. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a efici\ueancia do condicionamento com ou sem secagem posterior em aumentar a resist\ueancia a diferentes tipos de estresse. As sementes selecionadas foram escarificadas com \ue1cido sulf\ufarico durante 15 min. e depois condicionadas em \ue1gua destilada e solu\ue7\uf5es de manitol -0,5 e -1,0 MPa durante 24h a 10\ub0C. Para cada solu\ue7\ue3o de condicionamento, o lote de sementes foi dividido em dois grupos, um dos quais foi seco at\ue9 atingir o teor de umidade apresentado antes do condicionamento, e o segundo foi imediatamente usado nos testes. Os diferentes grupos de sementes foram expostos ao envelhecimento acelerado (100% U.R. sob 35 e 40\ub0C), ao estresse t\ue9rmico (24h a 60 e 70\ub0C) e o teste de exaust\ue3o (24h submersos a 10 e 27\ub0C). Para todos os testes foram utilizadas quatro repeti\ue7\uf5es de 25 unidades e os dados de porcentagem e vel\ub0Cidade de germina\ue7\ue3o foram submetidos \ue0 an\ue1lise de vari\ue2ncia e ao teste de Tukey. Com o aumento da intensidade do estresse houve diminui\ue7\ue3o na germina\ue7\ue3o e no vigor das sementes, que as diferentes formas de condicionamento n\ue3o reverteram. Em geral, o condicionamento com o uso manitol a -1,0 MPa diminuiu a qualidade fisiol\uf3gica das sementes e, solu\ue7\uf5es a -0,5 MPa ou \ue1gua destilada aumentaram a porcentagem e/ou vel\ub0Cidade de germina\ue7\ue3o de sementes submetidas aos diferentes tipos de estresse.Pterogyne nitens Tul. is a arboreal species, with highlight requirements, growing in gaps, grass land and sandy soils . It could be used in streets, to recovery degradated areas with periodical floods. Priming is a post harvest technique, used to improve germination rate, seedling field emergence and stress tolerance. The aim of this work is to contrast, under stress conditions, different ways to the priming. The seeds with 12% of moisture content were selected, scarified with sulfuric acid during 15 min. Distilled water and mannitol solutions (-0.5 MPa and -1.0 MPa) were used to seeds pre imbibition, during 24h at 10\ub0C. A half part of the premed seeds was drying until reach the initial moisture content, and the other part is immediately used in the tests. The accelerated aging was carried out at 100% of R.U. at 35 and 40\ub0C; thermal stress at 60 and 70\ub0C during 24h, and in last test, the seeds were immersed in distilled water at 10 on 27\ub0C. All the tests were conducted with fours replicates of 20 seeds and the data registered were submitted to variance analysis and Tukey test. Seed viability and vigor decreased when stress intensity increased. The priming did not reversed this effect, but in general, mannitol solutions (-1.0 MPa) decreased the seed vigor. The primed seeds in distilled water or mannitol (-0.5 MPa) present an increase in the rate and germination percentage under stress condition

Echocardiographic predictors of early in-hospital heart failure during first ST-elevation acute myocardial infarction: does myocardial performance index and left atrial volume improve diagnosis over conventional parameters of left ventricular function?

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) has been considered a major determinant of early outcome in acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Myocardial performance index (MPI) has been associated to early evolution in AMI in a heterogeneous population, including non ST-elevation or previous AMI. Left atrial volume has been related with late evolution after AMI. We evaluated the independent role of clinical and echocardiographic variables including LVEF, MPI and left atrial volume in predicting early in-hospital congestive heart failure (CHF) specifically in patients with a first isolated ST-elevation AMI.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Echocardiography was performed within 30 hours of chest pain in 95 patients with a first ST-elevation AMI followed during the first week of hospitalization. Several clinical and echocardiographic variables were analyzed. CHF was defined as Killip class ≥ II. Multivariate regression analysis was used to select independent predictor of in-hospital CHF.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Early in-hospital CHF occurred in 29 (31%) of patients. LVEF ≤ 0.45 was the single independent and highly significant predictor of early CHF among other clinical and echocardiographic variables (odds ratio 17.0; [95% CI 4.1 - 70.8]; p < 0.0001). MPI alone could not predict CHF in first ST-elevation AMI patients. Left atrial volume was not associated with early CHF in such patients.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>For patients with first, isolated ST-elevation AMI, LVEF assessed by echocardiography still constitutes a strong and accurate independent predictor of early in-hospital CHF, superior to isolated MPI and left atrial volume in this particular subset of patients.</p

Oil palm monoculture induces drastic erosion of an Amazonian forest mammal fauna

Oil palm monoculture comprises one of the most financially attractive land-use options in tropical forests, but cropland suitability overlaps the distribution of many highly threatened vertebrate species. We investigated how forest mammals respond to a landscape mosaic, including mature oil palm plantations and primary forest patches in Eastern Amazonia. Using both line-transect censuses (LTC) and camera-trapping (CT), we quantified the general patterns of mammal community structure and attempted to identify both species life-history traits and the environmental and spatial covariates that govern species intolerance to oil palm monoculture. Considering mammal species richness, abundance, and species composition, oil palm plantations were consistently depauperate compared to the adjacent primary forest, but responses differed between functional groups. The degree of forest habitat dependency was a leading trait, determining compositional dissimilarities across habitats. Considering both the LTC and CT data, distance from the forest-plantation interface had a significant effect on mammal assemblages within each habitat type. Approximately 87% of all species detected within oil palm were never farther than 1300 m from the forest edge. Our study clearly reinforces the notion that conventional oil palm plantations are extremely hostile to native tropical forest biodiversity, which does not bode well given prospects for oil palm expansion in both aging and new Amazonian deforestation frontiers