[Factors associated with influenza vaccination among the elderly: a cross-sectional study in Cambé, Paraná State, Brazil].

The aim of this study was to assess influenza immunization coverage in the elderly and the association between vaccination and socioeconomic, demographic, health, and lifestyle variables, using a descriptive cross-sectional epidemiological approach from April 2008 to September 2009 with 990 elderly in Cambé, Paraná State, Brazil. Vaccination coverage was 74.6%.

An evaluation of therapeutic noninferiority of 0.005% latanoprost ophthalmic solution and xalatan in patients with glaucoma or ocular hypertension.

Purpose: To assess the therapeutic noninferiority of 0.005% latanoprost ophthalmic solution versus Xalatan in the treatment of patients with primary open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension.

Patients And Methods: This was a double-masked, randomized, multicenter study.

Customized fiber glass posts. Fatigue and fracture resistance.

Purpose: To evaluate the root fracture strength of human single-rooted premolars restored with customized fiberglass post-core systems after fatigue simulation.

Methods: 40 human premolars had their crowns cut and the root length was standardized to 13 mm. The teeth were endodontically treated and embedded in acrylic resin.

In vitro study on tooth enamel lesions related to whitening dentifrice.

Background: The tooth whitening substances for extrinsic use that are available in Brazil contain hydrogen peroxide or carbamide peroxide. Several studies have attributed the appearance of lesions in the enamel morphology, including hypersensitivity, to these substances. Such lesions justify fluoride therapy and application of infrared lasers, among other procedures.

Endothelin-1 plasma levels and vascular endothelial dysfunction in primary open angle glaucoma.

Aims: To assess the relationship between endothelial dysfunction, endothelin 1 (ET-1) plasma levels and subclinical inflammation in primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) patients.

Main Methods: We enrolled 40 POAG patients with progressive visual field damage, although well controlled intraocular pressure (IOP) and compared to age and sex matched healthxy subjects. Each patient underwent an ophthalmological examination, a standard achromatic perimetry (SAP), blood sampling to assess ET-1 plasma levels, an objective assessment of cellularity within the anterior chamber (FLARE) and measurement of flow mediated dilation (FMD) with high resolution 2-dimensional ultrasonographic imaging of the brachial artery.

Role of catalase on the hypoxia/reoxygenation stress in the hypoxia-tolerant Nile tilapia.

The specific contribution of each antioxidant enzyme to protection against the reoxygenation-associated oxidative stress after periods of hypoxia is not well understood. We assessed the physiological role of catalase during posthypoxic reoxygenation by the combination of two approaches. First, catalase activity of Nile tilapias (Oreochromis niloticus) was 90% suppressed by intraperitoneal injection of 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole (ATZ, 1g/kg).

Scanning Patterns of Faces do not Explain Impaired Emotion Recognition in Huntington Disease: Evidence for a High Level Mechanism.

In the current study, we aimed to investigate the emotion recognition impairment in Huntington's disease (HD) patients and define whether this deficit is caused by impaired scanning patterns of the face. To achieve this goal, we recorded eye movements during a two-alternative forced-choice emotion recognition task. HD patients in pre-symptomatic (n = 16) and symptomatic (n = 9) disease stages were tested and their performance was compared to a control group (n = 22).

Angiogenesis: possible analogies between the eye and the inner ear.

Angiogenesis is a phenomenon concerning both physiological conditions linked to development and pathological conditions; in the latter it is aimed at providing an enhancement in blood supply to tumours, on one hand, and to restore the circulation in peripheral arterial and ischemic diseases, on the other hand, thus resulting in a controversial effect depending on the circumstances. When occurring in the eye, angiogenesis clearly proved to represent a threaten, whereas an univocal interpretation of the action of angiogenesis on the inner ear homeostasis is still lacking despite the morphologic and functional analogies between eye and labyrinth. These analogies can raise same doubt on the supposed role of angiogenesis in terms of preserving the function of a threatened inner ear: even this organ could be further damaged by microvascular disorders and/or mechanical changes able to jeopardize its architecture and consequently its function.

Efficacy of NiTi rotary instruments in removing calcium hydroxide dressing residues from root canal walls.

was to evaluate the efficacy of three rotary instrument systems (K3, ProTaper and Twisted File) in removing calcium hydroxide residues from root canal walls. Thirty-four human mandibular incisors were instrumented with the ProTaper System up to the F2 instrument, irrigated with 2.5% NaOCl followed by 17% EDTA, and filled with a calcium hydroxide intracanal dressing.

[Imaging diagnosis for prostate cancer biochemical recurrence after radical treatment].

The recent development in the imaging diagnostic techniques have improved the diagnosis of prostate cancer recurrence, mainly if it is local. Nowadays, the use of MRI based morphologic and functional techniques has a better sensitivity for the diagnosis of local recurrence. Integration of MR imaging data with ultrasound guided transrectal biopsies has improved the accuracy in the diagnosis of local recurrence of the disease.

Subfoveal choroidal blood flow and central retinal function in early glaucoma.

Purpose: To assess subfoveal choroidal blood flow (ChBF) in patients with early manifest glaucoma (EMG) and to compare blood flow with functional measures of central retinal integrity, standard automated perimetry (SAP) and pattern electroretinogram (PERG).

Methods: Subfoveal ChBF was determined by confocal, real-time laser Doppler flowmetry in 24 patients with EMG [>-6 dB mean deviation (MD), age range: 29-77 years, visual acuity: 20/25-20/20] and 23 age-matched control subjects. All patients had a therapeutically (topical beta-blockers with or without prostaglandin analogues) controlled intraocular pressure (IOP < 20 mmHg).

Multifocal electroretinogram and Optical Coherence tomography spectral-domain in arc welding macular injury: a case report.

Background: the purpose of this study was to report a binocular photic retinal injury induced by plasma arc welding and the follow-up after treatment with vitamin supplements for a month. In our study, we used different diagnostic tools such as fluorescein angiography (FA), optical coherence tomography (OCT) and multifocal electroretinogram (mfERG).

Case Presentation: in the first visit after five days from arc welding injury in the left eye (LE) the visual acuity was 0.

Fracture strength of incisor crowns after intracoronal bleaching with sodium percarbonate.

Objectives: To compare the fracture resistance of bovine teeth after intracoronal bleaching with sodium percarbonate (SPC) or sodium perborate (SP) mixed with water or 20% hydrogen peroxide (HP).

Materials And Methods: Fifty extracted bovine teeth were divided into four experimental groups (G1-G4) and one control (n = 10) after endodontic treatment. Following root canal obturation, a glass ionomer barrier was placed at the cemento-enamel junction.

[Evaluation of embryotoxicity of misoprostol using the whole embryo culture assay].

Background: Approximately 15% of misoprostol-induced-abortions may not be successful, leading to in utero exposure to the drug and to the induction of a series of defects including central nervous system, limb and visceral defects. A common proposal is that the drug causes disruption of the fetal vasculature leading to embryonic or fetal hypoxia.

Aim: To evaluate the teratogenicity of misoprostol using the rat post-implantation embryo culture.

Magnifying lens for 800 MeV proton radiography.

This article describes the design and performance of a magnifying magnetic-lens system designed, built, and commissioned at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) for 800 MeV flash proton radiography. The technique of flash proton radiography has been developed at LANL to study material properties under dynamic loading conditions through the analysis of time sequences of proton radiographs. The requirements of this growing experimental program have resulted in the need for improvements in spatial radiographic resolution.

Partial characterization of an atypical family I inorganic pyrophosphatase from cattle tick Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus.

The present paper presents the partial characterization of a family I inorganic pyrophosphatase from the hard tick Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus (BmPPase). The BmPPase gene was cloned from the tick embryo and sequenced. The deduced amino acid sequence shared high similarity with other eukaryotic PPases, on the other hand, BmPPase presented some cysteine residues non-conserved in other groups.

Calpain-mediated dystrophin disruption may be a potential structural culprit behind chronic doxorubicin-induced cardiomyopathy.

The critical importance of dystrophin to cardiomyocyte contraction and sarcolemmal and myofibers integrity, led us to test the hypothesis that dystrophin reduction/loss could be involved in the pathogenesis of doxorubicin-induced cardiomyopathy, in order to determine a possible specific structural culprit behind heart failure. Rats received total cumulative doses of doxorubicin during 2 weeks: 3.75, 7.

Effect of resin cement system and root region on the push-out bond strength of a translucent fiber post.

Objectives: This study evaluated the bond strength of luting systems for bonding glass fiber posts to root canal dentin. The hypothesis tested was that there are no differences in bond strength of glass fiber posts luted with different cement systems.

Methods: Forty bovine incisors were randomly assigned to five different resin cement groups (n=8).

Early dystrophin disruption in the pathogenesis of experimental chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy.

Chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy evolves over a long period of time after initial infection by Trypanosoma cruzi. Similarly, a cardiomyopathy appears later in life in muscular dystrophies. This study tested the hypothesis that dystrophin levels are decreased in the early stage of T.

Design and characterization of bi-soft segmented polyurethane microparticles for biomedical application.

Bi-soft segmented poly(ester urethane urea) microparticles were prepared and characterized aiming a biomedical application. Two different formulations were developed, using poly(propylene glycol), tolylene 2,4-diisocyanate terminated pre-polymer (TDI) and poly(propylene oxide)-based tri-isocyanated terminated pre-polymer (TI). A second soft segment was included due to poly(ɛ-caprolactone) diol (PCL).

A mitochondrial membrane exopolyphosphatase is modulated by, and plays a role in, the energy metabolism of hard tick Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus embryos.

The physiological roles of polyphosphates (polyP) recently found in arthropod mitochondria remain obscure. Here, the relationship between the mitochondrial membrane exopolyphosphatase (PPX) and the energy metabolism of hard tick Rhipicephalus microplus embryos are investigated. Mitochondrial respiration was activated by adenosine diphosphate using polyP as the only source of inorganic phosphate (P(i)) and this activation was much greater using polyP(3) than polyP(15).

Knockout mutation of p27-p55 operon severely reduces replication of Mycobacterium bovis in a macrophagic cell line and survival in a mouse model of infection.

Integrity of p27-p55 operon has been demonstrated to be crucial for replication of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the main agent of human tuberculosis, in the mouse model of infection. However, the individual contribution of each gene of the operon for the virulence of pathogenic Mycobacterium spp. still remains unclear.

HLA class II alleles and chronic hepatitis C virus infection.

The aim of this study was to investigate association of human leucocyte antigens (HLA)-DRB1 and DQB1 polymorphisms with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and with the occurrence of severe liver fibrosis/cirrhosis in chronically infected patients. Ninety-nine white patients, from southeast Brazil, with confirmed HCV chronic infection were included in the study. Severe fibrosis/cirrhosis (METAVIR scores F3-F4) was present in 49 patients.

Lack of Aquaporin 3 in bovine erythrocyte membranes correlates with low glycerol permeation.

In general, erythrocytes are highly permeable to water, urea and glycerol. However, expression of aquaporin isoforms in erythrocytes appears to be species characteristic. In the present study, human (hRBC) and bovine (bRBC) erythrocytes were chosen for comparative studies due to their significant difference in membrane glycerol permeability.