Cholinergic responses of seminal vesicles isolated from rats exposed perinatally to hydrocortisone.

This study was performed in order to investigate the cholinomimetic response of seminal vesicles isolated from rats treated with hydrocortisone acetate during perinatal life. At the adult phase, the body weight and the wet weight of the seminal vesicle of these animals were unchanged. However, these male rats exhibited a significant reduction in plasma testosterone concentration.

The in vivo susceptibility of Leishmania donovani to sodium stibogluconate is drug specific and can be reversed by inhibiting glutathione biosynthesis.

Resistance to pentavalent antimonial (Sb(v)) agents such as sodium stibogluconate (SSG) is creating a major problem in the treatment of visceral leishmaniasis. In the present study the in vivo susceptibilities of Leishmania donovani strains, typed as SSG resistant (strain 200011) or SSG sensitive (strain 200016) on the basis of their responses to a single SSG dose of 300 mg of Sb(v)/kg of body weight, to other antileishmanial drugs were determined. In addition, the role of glutathione in SSG resistance was investigated by determining the influence on SSG treatment of concomitant treatment with a nonionic surfactant vesicle formulation of buthionine sulfoximine (BSO), a specific inhibitor of the enzyme gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase which is involved in glutathione biosynthesis, and SSG, on the efficacy of SSG treatment.

Identification of N,N-disubstituted phenylalanines as a novel class of inhibitors of hepatitis C NS5B polymerase.

The HCV NS5B RNA dependent RNA polymerase plays an essential role in viral replication. The discovery of a novel class of inhibitors based on an N,N-disubstituted phenylalanine scaffold and structure-activity relationships studies to improve potency are described.

Effects of neonatal clomiphene citrate on fertility and sexual behavior in male rats.

In order to investigate the participation of estrogen during the period of brain sexual differentiation, male rats were treated with clomiphene citrate in the neonatal phase. Fertility and sexual behavior were assessed during adult life. Sexual maturation, body weight, and wet weight of the testes were unchanged.

Neonatal inhalatory anesthetic exposure: reproductive changes in male rats.

We investigated the effects of an inhalatory anesthetic (ethyl ether) during the neonatal period of brain sexual differentiation on the later fertility and sexual behavior of male rats. Animals were exposed to ethyl ether immediately after birth. At adulthood, body weight, testes wet weight, and plasma testosterone levels were not affected; however, neonatal exposure to ether showed alterations on male fertility: a decrease in the number of spermatids and spermatozoa, an increase in the transit time of cauda epididymal spermatozoa and a decrease in daily sperm production.

Acute swimming stress induces changes in noradrenergic mechanisms in order to maintain the response pattern of the rat vas deferens to norepinephrine.

This study investigated mechanisms involved in the maintenance of the functional response pattern of the postjunctional alpha(1)-adrenoceptor in vas deferens isolated from rats submitted to acute swimming stress. The plasma corticosterone levels increased approximately three times after the swimming stress in the nontreated rats as well as after swimming stress in the rats pretreated with desipramine (DMI), yohimbine (YO), or DMI with YO. No alteration was detected in the sensitivity to norepinephrine (NE) in the vasa deferentia from the stressed rats or stressed rats treated with DMI or DMI with YO, in relation to their respective control.

Rhinocerebral mucormycosis in a pregnant woman with diabetic ketoacidosis.

Rhinocerebral mucormycosis (RCM) is a rare but often fatal condition characterized by aggressive necrotizing infection originating from nose and spreading to paranasal sinuses, orbit and central nervous system. Although Fungi and spores of mucorales show minimal intrinsic pathogenicity towards normal persons, they can initiate fulminant infections in patients with underlying debilitating conditions. A case of RCM in a pregnant woman with diabetic keto-acidosis successfully treated by supportive care, amphotericin B and surgery is reported.

Reproductive changes in male rats treated perinatally with an aromatase inhibitor.

The effects of maternal exposure to aromatase inhibitor during the perinatal period of sexual brain differentiation were studied. The fertility was assessed in adult, male rat offspring of aromatase inhibitor-treated dams. The following results were obtained: (1) Sexual maturation, body weight, and wet weights of testis, pituitary, seminal vesicle, ventral prostate, and levatori ani muscle were unchanged at adult life.

Acral necrosis by Stenotrophomonas maltophilia.

Background: Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (SM) has been considered a nosocomial pathogen. Nevertheless, community acquired infection may occur more frequently than usually recognized.

Case: We describe distal necrosis of the fingers by SM in a farmer, contracted in the community and successfully treated with a combination of cotrimoxazole and ciprofloxacin.

Guess what! Porokeratosis of Mibelli.

A 72-year-old man had noticed, in his early forties, the appearance of well-defined papulous hyperkeratotic lesions, with increasing growth, located on both sides of his feet. After twenty-five years he consulted a dermatologist for the first time. Physical examination showed annular papules and rose-coloured plaques with atrophic centres, some of them hypopigmented, with higher and irregular borders, separated from the surrounding skin by longitudinal and well-defined furrows.

The importance of androgen on noradrenergic responses of vas deferens isolated from acutely stressed rats.

This study investigated the importance of androgen on responses to alpha and beta (norepinephrine) and alpha(1)(phenylephrine and methoxamine) agonists in vasa deferentia isolated from adult, immature, cryptorchid, and castrated rats submitted to swimming-induced acute stress. The participation of adrenergic nervous terminals was also investigated. Acute stress was shown to induce a significant subsensitivity to norepinephrine only in vas deferens from adult rats with normal levels of androgens.

Short duration of neutralizing antibody titers after pre-exposure rabies vaccination with suckling mouse brain vaccine.

The human anti-rabies pre-exposure treatment currently used in Brazil, employing a 1-ml dose of suckling mouse brain vaccine (SMBV) administered on days 0, 2, 4 and 28, was compared to an alternative treatment with two 1 ml-doses on day 0, and one 1 ml-dose injected on days 7 and 21. The latter induced higher virus-neutralizing antibody (VNA) titers on day 21. Both Brazilian rabies vaccines produced with PV or CVS rabies virus strains were tested.

Failure of protection induced by a Brazilian vaccine against Brazilian wild rabies viruses.

This report shows that the SMB vaccine currently used in Brazil for human immunisation provides different degrees of protection in mice, depending on the rabies virus strain used as challenge. Using the NIH and Habel potency tests to evaluate the protective activity of rabies vaccine, we observed that vaccinated mice showed a higher resistance to a challenge with a fixed rabies virus (CVS-Challenge Virus Strain). The vaccine potency using the Habel or NIH tests was respectively > 6.

[Humoral immune response of dogs to the inactivated suckling mouse brain vaccine used in anti-rabies campaigns in Brazil].

Introduction: An anti-rabies campaign is undertaken annually in Brazil with of the Fuenzalida & Palacios vaccine. The humoral immune response of dogs vaccinated during the campaigns was researched with the objective of evaluating whether the dogs presented a protective titer (0.5 UI/ml) 12 months after vaccination and how many of these achieved this titer 30 days after a buttressing vaccination.

Noradrenergic response in vas deferens from rats submitted to acute and repeated stress.

1. This work investigated the effects of androgens on the norepinephrine sensitivity of vasa deferentia from rats submitted to acute or repeated stress, as well as the participation of alpha1-adrenoceptors in the response of intact and bisected vasa deferentia from adult normal rats submitted to acute or repeated stress. 2.

Cultural diversity in Florida nursing programs: a survey of deans and directors.

To determine how nursing programs in the state of Florida promote and integrate cultural diversity, a survey of deans and directors was conducted. Of 90 deans and directors surveyed, 46 (51%) responded. The ethnic composition of students and faculty in the respondents' programs was examined in comparison with that of the Florida population.

Perinatal estrogen exposure: later repercussion on the fertility of rats.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of perinatal estrogen exposure in the fertility of rats. Thus, rats were treated with estrogen on the 21st or 22nd day of intra-uterine life or treated with estrogen immediately after birth. It was observed that the testicular descent of males and beginning of puberty of females were advanced in all estrogen-treated groups.

Alpha-adrenoceptor-mediated prejunctional effects of chloroethylclonidine in the canine saphenous vein.

The present study was undertaken to look for the effect of chloroethylclonidine (CEC) on prejunctional alpha-2 autoreceptors of the canine saphenous vein. The effect was tested on tritium overflow evoked by electrical stimulation from tissues preloaded with 0.2 microM 3H-norepinephrine.

Catecholaminergic responses in vas deferens isolated from rats submitted to acute swimming stress.

The study was performed to examine the responses to catecholamines in vas deferens isolated from rats submitted to acute swimming-induced stress. It was demonstrated that acute stress induces a significant subsensitivity of rat vas deferens to norepinephrine. This subsensitivity was inhibited when the experiment was carried out in the presence of either cocaine (10-5 M) or timolol (10-5 M).

Studies on human anti-rabies immunization in Brazil. II--Preliminary evaluation of the 2-1-1 schedule for human pre-exposure anti-rabies immunization, employing suckling mouse brain vaccine.

This study reports preliminary results of virus neutralizing antibody (VNA) titers obtained on different days in the course of human anti-rabies immunization with the 2-1-1 schedule (one dose is given in the right arm and one dose in the left arm at day 0, and one dose is applied on days 7 and 21), recommended by WHO for post-exposure treatment with cell culture vaccines. A variant schedule (double dose on day zero and another on day 14) was also tested, both employing suckling mouse brain vaccine. A complete seroconversion rate was obtained after only 3 vaccine doses, and almost all patients (11 of 12) presented titers higher than 1.

Studies on human anti-rabies immunization in Brazil. I--Evaluation of the 3 + 1 pre-exposure vaccination schedule under field conditions.

The currently used pre-exposure anti-rabies immunization schedule in Brazil is the one called 3+1, employing suckling mouse brain vaccine (3 doses on alternate days and the last one on day 30). Although satisfactory results were obtained in well controlled experimental groups using this immunization schedule, in our routine practice, VNA levels lower than 0.5 IU/ml are frequently found.

[An error in the administration of rabies serum vaccination. The use of an improvised schedule and its evaluation: report of a case].

We report on a female patient attacked by a dog that died 4 days later, who sought treatment 11 days after the accident. A serum vaccination schedule was indicated, to be started immediately with the administration of anti-rabies serum (9 ml, corresponding to 40 IU/Kg body weight) and a series of 10 doses of vaccine applied on consecutive days plus 3 booster doses applied at 10-day intervals, according to the regulations of the Health Secretariat of the State of São Paulo. However, due to an error, 9 vaccine doses were initially applied at 3 different anatomical sites.

Immunomodulatory effect of glucan on the response to experimental antirabies vaccination.

The objective of the present study was to determine the stimulatory response to antirabies vaccination promoted by glucan in mice. Glucan increased both resistance to infection and antibody titres and this effect was more evident when glucan was used at dose of 0.5 mg, administered intraperitoneally before, during and after immunization and when the challenge virus was applied to the foot-pad.

Experimental cryptorchidism in prepubertal rats: some effects on reactivity of the seminal vesicle to catecholamines.

The development of testes and genital accessory organs, the plasma testosterone concentration and the reactivity of seminal vesicles to catecholamines were studied in rats rendered cryptorchid at the time of prepubertal growth. The wet weights of the accessory organs and the testosterone concentrations were reduced and corresponded to those observed after castration. The response of the seminal vesicle to adrenaline and noradrenaline, but not to methoxamine, showed a reduction in sensitivity.