Life History Traits and Predatory Performance of Belostoma anurum (Hemiptera: Belostomatidae), a Biological Control Agent of Disease Vector Mosquitoes.

Understanding the life cycle and dietary requirements of laboratory-reared insects is critical for optimizing resources (including time) and can provide more reliable ecological basis for using such biological control agents in realistic programs. Here, we evaluated the complete development and the predatory abilities of Belostoma anurum (Herrich-Schäffer, 1848) (Hemiptera: Belostomatidae), an aquatic predator widely distributed in Neotropical region, when reared at different diets. We firstly investigated the predatory performance of B.

[Cost-effectiveness analysis of nuclear cardiology and its impact on total expense for diagnosis of coronary artery disease].

Background: Medical care in a hospital under a socialized medicine system should be highly effective at the lowest expense possible. When myocardial perfusion studies are performed in well-selected patients, the costs decrease because of the need for fewer invasive studies. When patients are not selected properly, there is an increase-wasted resource, making it necessary to perform cost-effective studies.

[Physiopathological alterations secondary to extracorporeal circulation in cardiac surgery].

Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is one of the methods used in myocardial revascularization and can be associated with adverse events that are uncommon, but CPB induces high morbidity and mortality. Cardiac surgery and CPB activate a systemic inflammatory response characterized by tissular lesions, cells movements and blood flow toward the interstice where the harmful stimulus has begun, under the influence of the mediators. The systemic inflammatory response may be initiated during cardiac surgery by a number of processes, including blood contact with the foreign surface of the CPB apparatus, development of ischemia and reperfusion injury, and presence of endotoxemia.

[Simultaneous evaluation of the myocardial perfusion and contraction for cardiac scintigraphy synchronized to the electrocardiogram for the differential diagnosis of dilated cardiomyopathy and the ischemic ventricular damage].

Objective: We evaluated the precision of the perfusion and ventricular function through cardiac scintigraphy 99mTc-MIBI SPECT synchronized to the electrocardiogram to differentiate the ventricular damage of ischemic origin from the dilated cardiomyopathy.

Methods: Thirty patients with myocardial damage with ejection fraction =30% were included. We analyzed the prognostic value of clinical, angiographic, and 99mTc-MIBI SPECT variables.

[Nuclear medicine residents' clinical aptitude for interpreting gammagraphic images].

Objective: The study deals theoretical aspects of evaluation and the importance of consider one as part of a research process. The diverse theoretical trends in the field of education are synthesized in two main tendencies: the participating and passive education perspectives. The influences of these two tendencies in selection the subjects for evaluation are also discussed in order to explore the gammagraphic interpretation aptitude in residents of nuclear medicine.