Access to viral hepatitis care: distribution of health services in the Northern region of Brazil.

Objective: To analyze the distribution of health care services for viral hepatitis and reported cases of viral hepatitis according to the health regions of Northern Brazil.

Method: It is an evaluative, descriptive and quantitative research considering viral hepatitis care services and reported cases in the Northern region of Brazil, using data collected from the National Registry of Health Establishments and the Notifiable Diseases Information System. Descriptive statistics and georeferencing, through software, were used to demonstrate the spatial distribution of services and reported cases.

Exploratory spatial analysis of HBV cases in Brazil between 2005 and 2017.

Objective: To analyze the pattern of spatial distribution of hepatitis B virus (HBV) cases and the mortality attributed to this disease throughout the Brazilian territory, in 2005, 2016 and 2017.

Methods: This is an ecological study of spatial analysis, using data from the Information System for Notifiable Diseases and the Brazilian Mortality Information System. HBV detection and mortality rates were analyzed.

[Violence committed by acquaintances - Brazil, 2013].

The scope of this article is to describe the prevalence of violence committed by acquaintances in accordance with demographic characteristics. It is a descriptive study, based on data from a population-based National Health Research survey conducted in Brazil in 2013. Data from the adult population (≥ 18 years) of 64,348 households.

Reconstruction of Zika Virus Introduction in Brazil.

We estimated the speed of Zika virus introduction in Brazil by using confirmed cases at the municipal level. Our models indicate a southward pattern of introduction starting from the northeastern coast and a pattern of movement toward the western border with an average speed of spread of 42 km/day or 15,367 km/year.

Chronic calcium imaging of neurons in the mouse visual cortex using a troponin C-based indicator.

This protocol describes the use of the genetically encoded troponin C-based calcium indicator TN-XXL to chronically monitor the functional properties of single neocortical neurons in the mouse visual cortex. A cranial window is implanted over the brain of a mouse expressing TN-XXL in pyramidal neurons of the cerebral cortex. Several days later, the visual cortex is mapped and photographed to facilitate repeated imaging of the same region using two-photon microscopy.

A genetically encoded calcium indicator for chronic in vivo two-photon imaging.

Neurons in the nervous system can change their functional properties over time. At present, there are no techniques that allow reliable monitoring of changes within identified neurons over repeated experimental sessions. We increased the signal strength of troponin C-based calcium biosensors in the low-calcium regime by mutagenesis and domain rearrangement within the troponin C calcium binding moiety to generate the indicator TN-XXL.

Analysis of organic compounds of water-in-crude oil emulsions separated by microwave heating using comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography and time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

In this work the higher peak capacity and resolution of comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GCxGC) has been successfully applied, for the first time, to tentatively identify several polar organic compounds of organic extracts of aqueous phases resulting from microwave demulsification process of water-in-crude oil emulsions. Results have shown that higher temperatures and longer exposure time to microwave irradiation produced water phases with a wider variety of polar organic compounds. The microwave process showed to be suitable for the extraction of several polar compounds classes of petroleum.

Cholesterol and lipid microdomains stabilize the postsynapse at the neuromuscular junction.

Stabilization and maturation of synapses are important for development and function of the nervous system. Previous studies have implicated cholesterol-rich lipid microdomains in synapse stabilization, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We found that cholesterol stabilizes clusters of synaptic acetylcholine receptors (AChRs) in denervated muscle in vivo and in nerve-muscle explants.

Long-term rearrangements of hippocampal mossy fiber terminal connectivity in the adult regulated by experience.

We investigated rearrangements of connectivity between hippocampal mossy fibers and CA3 pyramidal neurons. We found that mossy fibers establish 10-15 local terminal arborization complexes (LMT-Cs) in CA3, which exhibit major differences in size and divergence in adult mice. LMT-Cs exhibited two types of long-term rearrangements in connectivity in the adult: progressive expansion of LMT-C subsets along individual dendrites throughout life, and pronounced increases in LMT-C complexities in response to an enriched environment.

Selective vulnerability and pruning of phasic motoneuron axons in motoneuron disease alleviated by CNTF.

Neurodegenerative diseases can have long preclinical phases and insidious progression patterns, but the mechanisms of disease progression are poorly understood. Because quantitative accounts of neuronal circuitry affected by disease have been lacking, it has remained unclear whether disease progression reflects processes of stochastic loss or temporally defined selective vulnerabilities of distinct synapses or axons. Here we derive a quantitative topographic map of muscle innervation in the hindlimb.

Assembly, plasticity and selective vulnerability to disease of mouse neuromuscular junctions.

Although physiological differences among neuromuscular junctions (NMJs) have long been known, NMJs have usually been considered as one type of synapse, restricting their potential value as model systems to investigate mechanisms controlling synapse assembly and plasticity. Here we discuss recent evidence that skeletal muscles in the mouse can be subdivided into two previously unrecognized subtypes, designated FaSyn and DeSyn muscles. These muscles differ in the pattern of neuromuscular synaptogenesis during embryonic development.

An intrinsic distinction in neuromuscular junction assembly and maintenance in different skeletal muscles.

We analyzed the formation of neuromuscular junctions (NMJs) in individual muscles of the mouse embryo. Skeletal muscles can be assigned to one of two distinct classes of muscles, termed "Fast Synapsing" (FaSyn) and "Delayed Synapsing" (DeSyn) muscles, which differ significantly with respect to the initial focal clustering of postsynaptic AChRs, the timing of presynaptic maturation, and the maintenance of NMJs in young adult mice. Differences between classes were intrinsic to the muscles and manifested in the absence of innervation or agrin.