Perfuração de Divertículo de Meckel num Adulto

Meckel's diverticulum is the commonest congenital anomaly of the gastrointestinal tract. Its complications have an extensive variety of clinical and imaging manifestations, extending from benign and indolent findings to acute life-threatening conditions. Complicated Meckel's diverticulum often constitutes a challenging diagnosis for both the clinician and the radiologist. Therefore, imaging techniques play an important role in this condition in evaluating its complications, determining decision making. We describe a case of a 49-year-old man suffering from right abdominal pain with fever and constipation, during the past 5 days. Laboratory data revealed C-reactive protein of 306 mg/L and leukocytosis. Contrast-enhanced CT features were highly suggestive of perforated Meckel's diverticulum. The purpose of this article is to emphasize that besides its rarity, Meckel's diverticulum complications can occur in adult patients.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Irradiation damage on CrNbTaVWx high entropy alloys

ABSTRACT: CrNbTaVWx high-entropy alloys have been developed for plasma facing components to be applied in nuclear fusion reactors. The CrNbTaVWx (x = 1 and 1.7) compositions were prepared by ball milling and consolidated at 1600 degrees C under 90 MPa. To study the irradiation resistance of these materials, deuterium plasmas were used to irradiate the samples in the PF-1000U facility with 1 and 3 discharges. Structural changes before and after irradiation were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Nuclear reaction analysis was carried out with 1000 and 2300 keV 3He+ ion beams to evaluate the profile and amount of retained deuterium on the irradiated samples. After irradiation, the sample with higher W content revealed swelling and melting for all discharges, while in the case of CrNbTaVW only blisters were observed. The deuterium retention was higher for CrNbTaVW1.7 when compared with CrNbTaVW for 3 discharges applied.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Do short range correlations inhibit the appearance of the nuclear pasta?

It is well known that strongly correlated neutron-proton pairs, the short-range correlations (SRC), can modify many of the nuclear properties. In this work we have introduced, for the first time, short range correlations in the calculation of the nuclear pasta phase at zero temperature and checked how they affect its size and internal structure. We have used two different parameterizations of relativistic models in a mean field approximation and the coexistence phase approximation as a first estimation of the effects. We have seen that for very asymmetric neutron-proton-electon matter, the pasta phase shrinks considerably as compared with the results without SRC and all internal structures vanish, except the simple spherically symmetric one, the droplets. Our results indicate a possible disappearance of these complicated structures as the temperature increases.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Exotic Baryons in Hot Neutron Stars

We study the nuclear isentropic equation of state for a stellar matter composed of nucleons, hyperons, and $\Delta$-resonances. We investigate different snapshots of the evolution of a neutron star, from its birth as a lepton-rich protoneutron star in the aftermath of a supernova explosion to a lepton-poor regime when the star starts cooling to a catalyzed configuration. We use a relativistic model within the mean-field approximation to describe the hot stellar matter and adopt density-dependent couplings adjusted by the DDME2 parameterization. We use baryon-meson couplings for the spin-$1/2$ baryonic octet and spin-$3/2$ decuplet determined in a unified manner relying on $\text{SU}(6)$ and $\text{SU}(3)$ symmetry arguments. We observe that $\Lambda$ is the dominant exotic particle in the star at different entropies for both neutrino-free and neutrino-trapped stellar matter. For a fixed entropy, the inclusion of new particles (hyperons and/or delta resonances) in the stellar matter decreases the temperature. Also, an increase in entropy per baryon ($1\;\text{to}\; 2$) with decreasing lepton number density ($0.4\;\text{to}\; 0.2$) leads to an increase in stellar radii and a decrease in its mass due to neutrino diffusion. In the neutrino transparent matter, the radii decrease from entropy per baryon $2$ to $T\,=\,0$ without a significant change in stellar mass.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figure

Development of TNBS-induced colitis: animal model to test new pharmacological approaches

IBD is a gastro-intestinal disorder marked with chronic inflammation of intestinal epithelium, dam- aging mucosal tissue and manifests into several intestinal and extra-intestinal symptoms. Currently used medical therapy is able to induce and maintain the patient in remission, however no modifies or reverses the underlying pathogenic mechanism. The research of other medical approaches is crucial to the treatment of IBD and, for this, it ́s important to use animal models to mimic the characteristics of disease in real life. The aim of the study is to develop an animal model of TNBS-induced colitis to test new pharmacological approaches. TNBS was instilled intracolonic single dose as described by Morris et al. It was administered 2,5% TNBS in 50% ethanol through a catheter carefully inserted into the colon. Mice were kept in a Tredelenburg position to avoid reflux. On day 4 and 7, the animals were sacrificed by cervical dislocation. The induction was confirmed based on clinical symptoms/signs, ALP determination and histopathological analysis. At day 4, TNBS group presented a decreased body weight and an alteration of intestinal motility characterized by diarrhea, severe edema of the anus and moderate morbidity, while in the two control groups weren’t identified any alteration on the clinical symptoms/signs with an increase of the body weight. TNBS group presented the highest concentrations of ALP comparing with control groups. The histopathology analysis revealed severe necrosis of the mucosa with widespread necrosis of the intestinal glands. Severe hemorrhagic and purulent exsudates were observed in the submucosa, muscular and serosa. TNBS group presented clinical symptoms/ signs and histopathological features compatible with a correct induction of UC. The peak of manifestations became maximal at day 4 after induction. This study allows concluding that it’s possible to develop a TNBS- induced colitis 4 days after instillation. DII é um distúrbio gastro-intestinal caracterizado por inflamação crónica do epitélio intestinal com dano associado da mucosa, manifestando-se a partir de sintomas intestinais e extra-intestinais. A terapia médica utilizada é capaz de induzir e manter o doente em remissão, mas não modifica ou inverte o mecanismo patogénico subjacente. A procura de outras abordagens terapêuticas é crucial para o tratamento de DII e, para tal, é importante o uso de modelos animais para mimetizar as características da doença. O objetivo do estudo é desenvolver um modelo animal de colite induzida por TNBS de modo a testar novas abordagens farmacológicas. O TNBS foi instilado por via intracolónica em dose única como descrito por Morris et al. Foi administrado 2,5% de TNBS em 50% de etanol através de um cateter inserido no cólon. Os animais foram mantidos em posição Tredelenburg para evitar o refluxo. Nos dias 4 e 7, os animais foram sacrificados por deslocamento cervical. A indução de colite foi caracterizada com base nos sintomas/sinais clínicos, determinação de ALP e análise histopatológica. No dia 4, o grupo TNBS apresentou uma diminuição do peso corporal e uma alteração da motilidade intestinal caracterizada por diarreia, edema severo do ânus e morbilidade moderada, enquanto nos dois grupos controlo não foram identificados quaisquer alterações nos sintomas/ sinais clínicos com um aumento do peso corporal. O grupo TNBS apresentou as maiores concentrações de ALP, comparando com os grupos controlo. A análise histopatológica demonstrou necrose grave da mucosa com necrose generalizada das glândulas intestinais. Foi observado exsudato hemorrágico e purulento ao nível da submucosa, muscular e serosa. O grupo TNBS apresentou sintomas / sinais clínicos e características histopatológicas compatíveis com uma correta indução de colite. O pico das manifestações tornou-se máximo ao 4º dia após a indução. Este estudo permite concluir que é possível desenvolver colite induzida por TNBS 4 dias após a instilação.

Evaluation of an in-house molecular HIV-1 test to assess mother-to-child HIV-1 transmission in Angola (the APEHC cohort)

Poster presented at the 17th Annual International Meeting of the Institute of Human Virology. Baltimore, 27-30 September 2015"Mother-to-child-transmission (MTCT) rate has decreased sharply in recent years in most of the sub-Saharan Africa, however 220,000 children acquired HIV-1 in 2014. PCR detection of proviral DNA is the most sensitive method for early infant diagnosis (EID) of HIV-1 infection. Commercial kits are available but they have poor sensitivity with divergent non-B subtypes and high costs (≈30€ per test) which limit their use in resource-limited settings. The HIV-1 epidemic in Angola is driven by highly divergent strains of all group M subtypes, except B, as well as multiple recombinant forms (CRFs and URFs) making EID a challenge in this setting. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a qualitative, inexpensive and sensitive “inhouse” HIV-1 EID assay on heel prick dried blood spots (DBS) from infants of the Hospital da Divina Providência (HDP) in Luanda, Angola and determine the current HIV-1 MTCT rate in the Angolan PErinatal HIV Cohort (APEHC)."Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia - Portugal ; European Unio

Bee communities (Hymenoptera: Anthophila) of the "Cerrado" ecosystem in Sao Paulo State, Brazil

Five surveys of the bee communities in four "Cerrado" ecosystem reserves in Sao Paulo State were compared for species richness and similarity. These areas are fragment vegetation reser-reserves located in the Cerrado Corumbata Reserve (Corumbata), Jata Ecological Park (Luiz Antonio), Cajuru (Cajuru), and Vassununga State Park - ""Gleba de Cerrado de Pe-de-Gigante"" (Santa Rita do Passa Quatro). The methodology consisted of capturing bees foraging on flowers along transects, though with small differences between surveys. These ""cerrado"" areas have a large number of species of native bees, which are important pollinators in several Brazilian ecosystems. The community of bees varied among these different fragments. Based on 500 individuals (standardized by rarefaction), Cajuru, Corumbata 1 and Corumbata 2 were the areas with highest species richness, and Jata and Pe-de-Gigante had the lowest species richness in the bee communities. The bee faunas of Corumbata 2 and Pe-de-Gigante had the highest similarity, forming a group with the bee fauna of Cajuru. The bee faunas of Corumbata 1 and Jata were isolated from this group. We found that the bee species richness and similarity found in these ""cerrado"" areas cannot be explained by general factors such as the size of the fragment, the species richness of plants and the distance between the areas. Therefore, we suppose that local factors that differ among areas, such as interactions between populations, and competition and interference from surrounding areas influence and determine bee species richness and similarity in these reserves.FAPESP (Funda ao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo)[00/06405-2]CNP