Cost-effectiveness of mechanical thromboprophylaxis for cesarean deliveries in Brazil.

Objective: To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of using mechanical thromboprophylaxis for patients undergoing a cesarean delivery in Brazil.

Methods: A decision-analytic model built in TreeAge software was used to compare the cost and effectiveness of intermittent pneumatic compression to prophylaxis with low-molecular-weight heparin or no prophylaxis from the perspective of the hospital. Related adverse events were venous thromboembolism, minor bleeding, and major bleeding.

A direct comparison between membrane adsorber and packed column chromatography performance.

The purpose of this work was to compare side by side the performance of packed bed and membrane chromatography adsorption processes for protein purification. The comparison was performed using anion exchange media with the same ligand immobilized on the adsorbing surface, namely the strong Q quaternary ammonium group, R-CH-N-(CH), and bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a model protein. In addition, the stationary phase volume was held constant for each geometry (3 mL) and runs were executed using the same mobile phase superficial velocity.

Transgenic Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes Transfer Genes into a Natural Population.

In an attempt to control the mosquito-borne diseases yellow fever, dengue, chikungunya, and Zika fevers, a strain of transgenically modified Aedes aegypti mosquitoes containing a dominant lethal gene has been developed by a commercial company, Oxitec Ltd. If lethality is complete, releasing this strain should only reduce population size and not affect the genetics of the target populations. Approximately 450 thousand males of this strain were released each week for 27 months in Jacobina, Bahia, Brazil.

Suppression of a Field Population of Aedes aegypti in Brazil by Sustained Release of Transgenic Male Mosquitoes.

The increasing burden of dengue, and the relative failure of traditional vector control programs highlight the need to develop new control methods. SIT using self-limiting genetic technology is one such promising method. A self-limiting strain of Aedes aegypti, OX513A, has already reached the stage of field evaluation.

Field dispersal and survival of sterile medfly males aromatically treated with ginger root oil.

We studied the dispersal behavior and survival of sterile medfly males either treated or not with ginger root oil (GRO), in field conditions, in Petrolina-PE, northeast Brazil, from May 2006 to December 2007 in a sterile insect technique (SIT) program. The tsl strain Vienna 8 from the Ceratitis capitata Wied. (Diptera: Tephritidae), medfly, mass-rearing facility located in Juazeiro-BA, Brazil, was used.

[Logical structure of the problem oriented clinical record. A combined Popper-Bayes approach].

The problem-oriented medical record is a tool whose correct compilation meets the requirements of the law as well as the need for continuing medical education within the logic of clinical decision making. The reading of the contents of a record allows people to evaluate the correspondence between the "thinking" and the "doing" of a doctor, as well the objectivity of the facts--that is, the truth related to the reasons for a patient's admission to hospital and the nature of his or her illness. To this aim, the authors suggest a structural logical iter in concordance with the lines of hypothetical-deductive epistemology, in contrast to inductive epistemology, as tradition has always suggested.

Association of Trp64Arg beta 3-adrenergic-receptor gene polymorphism with essential hypertension in the Sardinian population.

Objective: To evaluate the possible association of three candidate gene polymorphisms with essential hypertension in the genetically homogeneous Sardinian population.

Subjects And Methods: We studied 494 unrelated, nondiabetic subjects, 213 (43.2%) with essential hypertension.

[Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy during adrenocorticotrophic hormone administration in infants: a case report].

We report a 2-month-old child with infantile myoclonic seizures, who developed congestive heart failure secondary to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy while receiving adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) therapy. Treatment with propranolol and withdrawal of ACTH led to the resolution of cardiac hypertrophy as determined by two-dimensional echocardiography. Possible links between ACTH therapy and the development of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy are examined.

Chronic bleeding caused by small bowel angiodysplasia: a problem of recognition and diagnosis.

Angiodysplasia of the gastrointestinal tract is a disorder consisting of ectasia of submucosal and mucosal vessels, which causes acute and chronic bleeding. We describe the case of a 58-year-old man with a history of recurrent lower intestinal bleeding and severe anemia. Endoscopy and X-ray examination of the gastrointestinal tract failed to show the source of bleeding.

[Discordance between clinical and immunological aspects in a case of chronic B-type lymphoproliferative syndrome].

Chronic lymphoproliferative disorders are extremely heterogeneous from a clinical, morphological and immunological point of view. The paper reports the case of a woman with chronic prolymphocytic leukemia. The neoplastic clone revealed the typical immunological features of pre-B lymphocytes, which are at an earlier stage of differentiation in respect to prolymphocytes.

[Ventricular afterload and transmitral Doppler flow profile: effects of the diving test].

The influence of loading conditions on mitral flow velocity profile was studies by pulsed wave Doppler echocardiography in 10 normal subjects during diving test (5 min face exposure to iced water). The cold stimulus increased blood pressure (p less than 0.001), peripheral resistances (p less than 0.

Systolic function of the hypertrophied left ventricle.

The effects of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) on systolic function were studied by echocardiography in 61 hypertensive patients. LV mass index (LVMI) and relative wall thickness (h/r ratio) were used together as LVH indices, and three patterns of LV adaptation to the pressure overload were observed: 13 patients had normal LVMI and h/r ratio (no LVH); 32 patients had increased h/r ratio, with normal or increased LVMI (concentric LVH); 16 patients had increased LVMI and normal h/r ratio (eccentric LVH). Cuff arterial pressure was lower in patients without LVH than in those with LVH, but both LVH indices correlated weakly with systolic, diastolic, and mean blood pressure (r = 0.

Massive haemorrhagic pericardial effusion in beta-thalassaemia major.

The case of a child with beta-thalassaemia major who developed a massive haemorrhagic pericardial effusion is reported and in whom the clinical picture completely resolved after pericardiocentesis. Possible causes are discussed and the role of echocardiography in the follow-up of thalassaemic patients is emphasized.

Genetical and biochemical comparisons of alcohol dehydrogenase isozymes from Anastrepha fraterculus and A. obliqua (Diptera: Tephritidae): evidence for gene duplication.

The electrophoretic patterns of the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) from Anastrepha fraterculus and A. obliqua were studied. Two loci were found to code for the enzyme in A.

Oviposition deterring pheromone inAnastrepha fraterculus flies.

Anastrepha fraterculus (Wiedemann) females were found to deposit a water-soluble, durable, oviposition-deterring pheromone during ovipositor dragging on fruit after egg-laying. We present evidence that the occurrence of pheromone deposition after egg-laying, the amount deposited, and departure from the fruit without additional egg-laying after pheromone deposition are flexible traits inA. fraterculus, varying in expression according to fruit size and other factors.