Articulation at shoulder level--a pilot experimental study on car seat comfort.

This article reports on a pilot experimental study aimed at a first evaluation of the introduction of an articulation in the upper part of the seat backrest. The idea of introducing this articulation sprang from prevention of whiplash injuries and this study tentatively assesses its potential for improvement in comfort. This was done considering a pre-defined articulation height.

The effects of cochlear implantation on speech perception in older adults.

Objectives: To determine whether significant differences in cochlear implant (CI) performance exist between older and younger CI recipients.

Design: Retrospective comparison of audiometric data.

Setting: University hospital center.

Clinicopathologic characteristics and endoscopic treatment of post-traumatic pancreatic pseudocysts.

Objective: Surgery is the treatment of choice for traumatic pseudocyst. Minimally invasive management of these collections has been used. The aim was to analyze the outcome after endoscopic treatment and the integrity of the main pancreatic duct caused by abdominal trauma.

Aspergillus viridinutans: an agent of adult chronic invasive aspergillosis.

In contrast with the common hematogenous dissemination of invasive aspergillosis (IA), we present case with a protracted course through anatomical planes in an immunocompromised adult male. The unusual clinical features and laboratory findings led to fungal genotyping and identification of the mold as Aspergillus viridinutans. It appears to be the first described case of IA caused by this agent in an adult patient.

[Uterine fibroid embolization in women with giant fibroids].

Purpose: to evaluate the effectiveness of uterine fibroid embolization (UFE) in patients with giant fibroids, with regard to both clinical outcomes and size reduction.

Methods: twenty-six patients with a mean age of 36.5 years, carrying symptomatic fibroids with a volume over 1,000 cm³, were referred for UFE.

Inter and intra-rater reliability of the scoliometer.

Background: the scoliometer was developed to analyze the axial rotation of the trunk in patients with idiopathic scoliosis. However, there is controversy regarding the reliability of the measures obtained with this device.

Objectives: to test the intra-rater and inter-rater reliability of the scoliometer in patients with scoliosis.

Body fat regulation: is it a result of a simple energy balance or a high fat intake?

The search for the causes of obesity has involved genetic abnormalities and endocrine and neural lesions. Although evidence suggests that genetics plays an important role in body weight regulation, rapid increases in obesity rates do not seem to be caused by significant genetic changes within populations. Total energy expenditure and total energy intake are not the only factors that regulate body fat.

Head hair reduces sweat rate during exercise under the sun.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of human head hair on thermoregulation during exercise carried out under solar radiation. 10 healthy male subjects (mean±SD: 25.1±2.

Comparative toxicity of Euphorbia milii latex and synthetic molluscicides to Biomphalaria glabrata embryos.

Plant molluscicides have been regarded as possible alternatives to the costly and environmentally hazardous molluscicides currently available. This study was undertaken to compare the developmental toxicity of a plant molluscicide (Euphorbia milii latex, LAT) with that of three synthetic molluscicidal compounds. Biomphalaria glabrata egg masses (0-15 h after spawning) were exposed to molluscicides for 96 h and thereafter examined up to the 14th day after spawning.

Concurrent validity of the Brazilian version of SRS-22r with Br-SF-36.

Background: An important parameter in cross-cultural adaptations, and concurrent validity are the relationships between the performance of an instrument of interest and the performance of a similar instrument with known validity.

Objective: To determine the concurrent validity of the Brazilian version of the revised questionnaire of the Scoliosis Research Society (Br-SRS-22r) and the Brazilian version of the Short-Form-36 questionnaire (SF-36).

Methods: Fifty-four patients with idiopathic scoliosis were selected.

New experimental approach for studying diffusion through an intact and unsaturated medium: a case study with Callovo-Oxfordian argillite.

The diffusion of tritiated water and anionic species was studied in an unsaturated core of Callovo-Oxfordian claystone, which is a potential host-rock for disposal of high-level radioactive wastes. The diffusion parameters in such conditions were determined using modified through-diffusion cells in which the suction is generated by the osmosis process. This specific device leads to values of saturation degree ranging from 81% to 100%.

[Laparoscopic cholecystectomy by single trocar access(SITRACC) - a new option].

Background: To present a new device for the execution of Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy.

Methods: In October 2008 was performed the first human Single Trocar Acess - Sitracc Cholecystectomy, in a female patient. The operation consisted in the classical steps of a laparoscopic cholecystectomy, using special flexible instruments and a 5 mm optical device.

[Unexplained acute pancreatitis: the microlithiasis must be searched?].

In a large number of patients, with episodes of acute pancreatitis the etiology is not identified, even after initial clinical history, detailed physical examination, laboratory tests and biochemical exams and an transabdominal ultrasound. This patient are considered with a unexplained acute pancreatitis. In this cases the treatment is restricted to improvement of symptoms.

Masculorum concubitores: views on homosexuality among Catholics in Recife, Brazil.

This study focuses on Catholics' views towards homosexuality. The discussion is based on an ethnographic survey involving interviews with priests and lay leaders as well as participant observation of daily life in a working-class neighborhood in Recife, Pernambuco State, Brazil. The analysis points to persistent prejudice against homosexuality in the neighborhood and among Catholic clergy and lay leaders interviewed in the study.

Cholecystectomy by single trocar access (SITRACC): the first multicenter study.

Background: The advent of endoscopic surgery has radically changed surgery worldwide.The concept of minimally invasive procedures has spread quickly, allowing less pain and more rapid recovery for patients. The authors have developed a device for a new surgical approach, the so-called single trocar access (SITRACC).

[Trajectory of a research on the HIV/AIDS theme: limits and (im) possibilities].

The article presents the trajectory of a research group upon the development of the project funded by the Health Ministry, through the National HIV/AIDS/DST Program, named "Impact of adhesion to the anti-retroviral among children and adolescents under the perspective of the family, the child and the adolescent in the municipalities of Porto Alegre andSanta Maria, RS". With the objective of presenting the stages of the research, from its planning up to the phase of data collection, the study was carried out in two municipalities simultaneously, counting on 20 participants comprising researchers and scholarship students. The stages developed until the data collection were: inclusion of care and teaching professionals in the research nucleus; selection and training of scholarship students; elaboration of the instrument; elaboration of a manual team habilitation; application of the pilot test.

Exercise training attenuates lipectomy-induced impaired glucose tolerance in rats.

Objective: Since visceral adipose tissue (VAT) may account for impaired peripheral and hepatic insulin sensitivity (IS), it has been hypothesized that the partial removal of VAT could result in improved insulin action, while the re-growth of the excised tissue and/or compensatory growth of non-excised depots seems to occur. Thus, it was aimed to investigate whether or not VAT removal and exercise affect IS.

Methods: Male Wistar rats were fed a high-fat diet and subsequently assigned randomly to one of four groups: 1.

Evaluation of treatment with cysteamine eyedrops for cystinosis with confocal microscopy.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of cysteamine eyedrops 0.1136% (new formulation, now stable at room temperature without the need for refrigeration for up to 2 months) for the treatment of cystine crystals in the cornea using slit lamp biomicroscopy and confocal microscopy.

Methods: A 20-year-old woman with infantile cystinosis, with a history of kidney transplantation at age 10, was studied.

Endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration using helical computerized tomography for TN staging and vascular injury in operable pancreatic carcinoma.

Context: EUS-FNA is increasingly being used in operable pancreatic carcinoma cases identified by CT.

Objectives: Determine the safety, accuracy and clinical utility of EUS-FNA for T, N and TN staging and vascular injury assessment in proven ductal pancreatic carcinoma.

Patients: Fifty-two consecutive patients (29 women and 23 men) with histologically ductal pancreatic carcinoma, with an excellent possibility of mass resection assessed by helical computerized tomography, were studied.

Computer-assisted microaneurysm turnover in the early stages of diabetic retinopathy.

Purpose: To assess the reliability of microaneurysm turnover, computed from color fundus photographs, in evaluating diabetic retinopathy in patients with type 2 diabetes and nonproliferative retinopathy.

Methods: A new method (MA-Tracker) was developed to count microaneurysms by mapping their locations through image co-registration. To compute the reliability of microaneurysm turnover, 3 different graders were asked to earmark microaneurysms on the same set of color fundus photographs.

Spectrum of mutations in MMACHC, allelic expression, and evidence for genotype-phenotype correlations.

Methylmalonic aciduria and homocystinuria, cblC type, is a rare disorder of intracellular vitamin B(12) (cobalamin [Cbl]) metabolism caused by mutations in the MMACHC gene. MMACHC was sequenced from the gDNA of 118 cblC individuals. Eleven novel mutations were identified, as well as 23 mutations that were observed previously.

X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy: clinical course and minimal incidence in South Brazil.

Unlabelled: X-linked adenoleukodystrophy is a genetic disease that affects the degradation of very long-chain fatty acids. In male patients, common pictures are the cerebral form (CALD), myeloneuropathy (AMN), and Addison-only.

Objective: To describe the clinical course of affected male patients from South Brazil between 1993 and 2007.

Single-step EUS-guided endoscopic treatment for sterile pancreatic collections: a single-center experience.

Background And Aims: Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) is useful for the treatment of sterile pancreatic fluid collections (PFC), either by means of transmural drainage or by complete aspiration. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of single-step EUS-guided endoscopic approaches for treatment of sterile PFC.

Patients And Methods: During a 3-year period, 77 consecutive patients with symptomatic, persistent sterile PFC were evaluated and treated with the linear EUS.