as an idiographic approach in psychotherapy: an exploratory study.

Client feedback research is a new but encouraging area that recognizes the importance of engaging patients in offered treatments and the relevance of the relationship between therapist and client. This study aimed to explore clients' experiences of goal-oriented work using Personal Projects Analysis (PPA). PPA was applied to 5 participants of a psychodrama group after their consent and in agreement with the ethics and deontology research university committee.

Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia in a Multipurpose Intensive Care Unit: One-Year Prospective Study.

Introduction: Hospital-acquired pneumonia continues to be a frequent complication in the intensive care unit and an important cause of admission in the intensive care unit. The aim of our study was to evaluate the demography, incidence, risk factors, causative bacterial pathogens and outcome of all episodes of Hospital-acquired pneumonia in our unit.

Material And Methods: Prospective observational study, at a tertiary university hospital during one year (2014) including all the cases of hospital-acquired pneumonia in the intensive care unit.

Prevalence and Risk Factors for Augmented Renal Clearance in a Population of Critically Ill Patients.

Background: Critically ill patients show a high, albeit variable, prevalence of augmented renal clearance (ARC). This condition has relevant consequences on the elimination of hydrophilic drugs. Knowledge of risk factors for ARC helps in the early identification of ARC.

Use of Data Mining to Predict the Risk Factors Associated With Osteoporosis and Osteopenia in Women.

Osteoporosis has recently been acknowledged as a major public health issue in developed countries because of the decrease in the quality of life of the affected person and the increase in public costs due to complete or partial physical disability. The aim of this study was to use the J48 algorithm as a classification task for data from women exhibiting changes in bone densitometry. The study population included all patients treated at the diagnostic center for bone densitometry since 2010.

Distributed Parallel Computing in Data Analysis of Osteoporosis.

This research aimed to compare the performance of two models of load balancing (Proportional and Autotuned algorithms) of the JPPF platform in the processing of data mining from a database with osteoporosis and osteopenia. When performing the analysis of execution times, it was observed that the Proportional algorithm performed better in all cases.

A Comparative Study of Bayes Net, Naive Bayes and Averaged One-Dependence Estimators for Osteoporosis Analysis.

This paper presents an evaluation of the accuracy of the Bayesian classifiers: Bayes Net, Naive Bayes and Averaged One-Dependence Estimator, to support diagnoses of osteopenia and osteoporosis. All classifiers showed good results, thus, given data, it is possible to produce a reasonably accurate estimate of the diagnosis.

Classification of images acquired with colposcopy using artificial neural networks.

Objective: To explore the advantages of using artificial neural networks (ANNs) to recognize patterns in colposcopy to classify images in colposcopy.

Purpose: Transversal, descriptive, and analytical study of a quantitative approach with an emphasis on diagnosis. The training test e validation set was composed of images collected from patients who underwent colposcopy.

Using a model of parallel distributed processing associated with data mining in the characterization of sexuality in a university population.

Using the framework for developing parallel applications Java Parallel Programming Framework were conducted performance analysis of an application for the clustering data by the method of fuzzy logic combined with Gustafson-Kessel algorithm. In addition to running in a distributed environment, for comparative purposes, were also conducted collections of processing time in environments with a single Personal Computer approach. With the results obtained by collecting time of application, there was a statistical analysis to validate the application and the algorithm as well as the use of computational clustering as a way to increase performance applications.

Augmented renal clearance in septic patients and implications for vancomycin optimisation.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of augmented renal clearance (ARC) on vancomycin serum concentrations in critically ill patients. This prospective, single-centre, observational, cohort study included 93 consecutive, critically ill septic patients who started treatment that included vancomycin by continuous infusion, admitted over a 2-year period (March 2006 to February 2008). ARC was defined as 24-h creatinine clearance (CL(Cr))>130 mL/min/1.

Type of diet modulates the metabolic response to sleep deprivation in rats.

Background: Evidence suggests that sleep loss is associated with an increased risk of obesity and diabetes; however, animal models have failed to produce weight gain under sleep deprivation (SD). Previous studies have suggested that this discrepancy could be due to more extreme SD conditions in experimental animals, their higher resting metabolic rate than that of humans, and the decreased opportunity for animals to ingest high-calorie foods. Thus, our objective was to determine whether diets with different textures/compositions could modify feeding behavior and affect the metabolic repercussions in SD in rats.

Bypassing the duodenum does not improve insulin resistance associated with diet-induced obesity in rodents.

Roux-en-y gastric bypass (RYGB) surgery rapidly improves glucose tolerance and reverses insulin resistance in obese patients. It has been hypothesized that this effect is mediated by the diversion of nutrients from the proximal small intestine. We utilized duodenal-jejunal bypass (DJB) as a modification of gastric bypass to determine the effect of nutrient diversion from the foregut without gastric restriction on insulin resistance in obese rats.

Central nervous system delivery of the antipsychotic olanzapine induces hepatic insulin resistance.

Objective: Olanzapine (OLZ) is an atypical antipsychotic whose clinical efficacy is hampered by side effects including weight gain and diabetes. Recent evidence shows that OLZ alters insulin sensitivity independent of changes in body weight and composition. The present study addresses whether OLZ-induced insulin resistance is driven by its central actions.

Neonatal arthritis disturbs sleep and behaviour of adult rat offspring and their dams.

This study aims to evaluate the impact of neonatal arthritis on adult pain threshold, sleep and general behaviours in rats and their lactating dams. Male pups were injected in the hind paw with complete Freund's adjuvant or saline on postnatal day (PN) 1. After weaning, dams were tested for anxiety, sleep recording or hormone profiling (ACTH, corticosterone and prolactin) and brain sampling (pineal melatonin and hippocampus serotonin).

Orexin activation precedes increased NPY expression, hyperphagia, and metabolic changes in response to sleep deprivation.

Several pieces of evidence support that sleep duration plays a role in body weight control. Nevertheless, it has been assumed that, after the identification of orexins (hypocretins), the molecular basis of the interaction between sleep and energy homeostasis has been provided. However, no study has verified the relationship between neuropeptide Y (NPY) and orexin changes during hyperphagia induced by sleep deprivation.

Long term treatment with ACE inhibitor enalapril decreases body weight gain and increases life span in rats.

Renin-angiotensin system is involved in homeostasis processes linked to renal and cardiovascular system and recently has been linked to metabolic syndrome. We analyzed the influence of long term angiotensin I converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor enalapril treatment in normotensive adult Wistar rats fed with standard or palatable hyperlipidic diets. Our results show that long term enalapril treatment decreases absolute food intake, serum leptin concentration and body weight gain.

Oxidative stress contributes to renovascular hypertension.

Background: Oxidative stress is a state in which excess reactive oxygen species (ROS) overwhelm endogenous antioxidant systems. It is known that this state has been involved in the development of hypertension. On the basis of previous data, we hypothesized that overactivity of NAD(P)H oxidase-derived ROS and the lowered activity of CuZnSOD, an endogenous antioxidant within the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM), could contribute to 2K-1C (two-kidney one-clip) hypertension.

A reassessment of the hyperphagia/weight-loss paradox during sleep deprivation.

Study Objectives: Sleep deprivation is a well-known paradigm to investigate the deleterious effects of prolonged wakefulness. Previous studies have shown that, during sleep deprivation, rats are hyperphagic but, paradoxically, lose body weight. This phenomenon has been attributed to increased metabolism.

Effects of paradoxical sleep deprivation and cocaine on genital reflexes in hyperlipidic-fed rats.

The present study was designed to investigate the effects of a hyperlipidic diet (HD) on penile erection (PE) and ejaculation (EJ) induced by cocaine in paradoxical sleep deprived (PSD) rats. Secondly, we aimed to verify the influence of HD cafeteria diet on steroid hormone levels. Twenty-one day-old male Wistar rats were randomly assigned into two groups: rats fed with commercial chow diet and rats fed with a palatable HD containing chow mixed with peanuts, milk chocolate and sweet cookies in the proportion of 3:2:2:1.

Physiological variation in plasma total homocysteine concentrations in rats.

Hyperhomocysteinemia was initially related to cardiovascular diseases; but homocysteine (Hcy) metabolism disturbances have more recently associated with a wide range of pathophysiological conditions including age-related diseases, disrupted circadian rhythms and gynaecological disorders. Since in many cases we do not know to what extent animal models are physiologically similar to human ones, this study aimed to track spontaneous variations in rat plasma Hcy concentrations during different physiological processes such as life cycle, 24 hours and estrous cycle. Plasma total Hcy concentrations were accessed by HPLC.

Endocrinological and catecholaminergic alterations during sleep deprivation and recovery in male rats.

Since previous data of our group showed increased concentrations in HPA axis hormones in sleep deprived rats, we hypothesized that this augmentation could produce effects in other hormonal systems, particularly in the sexual system. Considering that little is known about how the hormonal system changes during the recovery period after sleep deprivation (SD), our objective was to examine from what point SD alters sexual and stress-related hormones along with plasma catecholamine concentrations during 4 days. We also sought to verify the time course of their recovery after an equivalent period of recovery sleep.

Increased hypocretin-1 (orexin-a) levels in cerebrospinal fluid of rats after short-term forced activity.

The hypocretins (orexins) are recently discovered neuropeptides initially associated with feeding behavior and sleep regulation. However, the normal function of these peptides is unclear and a number of studies have reported a role in energy homeostasis and locomotor activity. Exercise (or physical activity) is the most powerful way of challenging the internal homeostatic process.

Increased hypocretin-1 levels in cerebrospinal fluid after REM sleep deprivation.

Rat cisternal (CSF) hypocretin-1 in cerebrospinal fluid was measured after 6 or 96 h of REM sleep deprivation and following 24 h of REM sleep rebound. REM deprivation was found to increase CSF hypocretin-1 collected at zeitgeber time (ZT) 8 but not ZT0. Decreased CSF hypocretin levels were also observed at ZT8 after 24 h of REM sleep rebound.