Molecular characterization of Brazilian FeLV strains in São Luis, Maranhão Brazil.

The feline leukemia virus (FeLV) belongs to the Retroviridae family and Gammaretrovirus genus, and causes a variety of neoplastic and non-neoplastic diseases in domestic cats (Felis catus), such as thymic and multicentric lymphomas, myelodysplastic syndromes, acute myeloid leukemia, aplastic anemia, and immunodeficiency. The aim of the present study was to carry out the molecular characterization of FeLV-positive samples and determine the circulating viral subtype in the city of São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil, as well as identify its phylogenetic relationship and genetic diversity. The FIV Ac/FeLV Ag Test Kit (Alere™) and the commercial immunoenzymatic assay kit (Alere™) were used to detect the positive samples, which were subsequently confirmed by ELISA (ELISA - SNAP® Combo FeLV/FIV).

Stages of the Smoke-Free Policy Implementation in a Psychiatric Hospital: Evolution, Effects, and Complications.

The Smoke-free Policy represents a challenge in mental health services. To compare the stages of a smoke-free policy in a psychiatric hospital, according to the prevalence of smokers, hospital admission acceptance by hospitalized people, psychiatric complications, and the prescription of psychotropic drugs. Cross-sectional study was conducted with a comparison before and after implementing the Smoke-free Policy in a psychiatric hospital.

Nurses' beliefs, attitudes, and opinions regarding a smoking ban in a psychiatric hospital.

Purpose: This study aims to identify the beliefs, attitudes, and opinions of nursing professionals associated with tobacco smoking and its prohibition in a psychiatric hospital in Brazil.

Methods: Using a cross-sectional epidemiologic study, a total of 73 nursing professionals in a smoke-free psychiatric hospital were interviewed. The Varimax Rotation and the Fisher's exact test at a 5% significance level were used to analyze the responses.

Prevalence and Epidemiological Profile of Smokers in the Psychiatric Population and General Population: Smokers in Psychiatric Population.

This study aims to estimate the prevalence of smokers living in Brazil who use outpatient and hospital psychiatric services and outpatient services in primary health care services. It also aims to identify the sociodemographic and clinical factors associated with current smoking in these samples. This is a cross-sectional study with 378 participants from a Brazilian city: P1, persons from the mental health outpatient service; and P2, persons from the psychiatric hospital; P3, general population from the primary healthcare center.

Environmental Enrichment Improved Learning and Memory, Increased Telencephalic Cell Proliferation, and Induced Differential Gene Expression in .

Fish use spatial cognition based on allocentric cues to navigate, but little is known about how environmental enrichment (EE) affects learning and memory in correlation with hematological changes or gene expression in the fish brain. Here we investigated these questions in (Teleostei). Fish were housed for 192 days in either EE or in an impoverished environment (IE) aquarium.

Opinions of Hospitalized Patients with Mental Disorders and Patients in Basic Health Units in Brazil Regarding Tobacco Smoking.

This study aims to investigate the opinions of psychiatric patients and the general population on the smoking ban in health service facilities. A cross-sectional study was carried out in a mental health outpatient care unit (MHOC; n = 126), a psychiatric hospital (PH; n = 126), and a basic health unit (BHU; n = 126). The participants in the hospital were less in favor of the smoking ban compared with those attending out-of-hospital units (MHOC, 84%; PH, 69%; and BHU, 100%).

Feline immudeficiency virus subtypes B and A in cats from São Luis, Maranhão, Brazil.

Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) is a retrovirus of the genus Lentivirus that is distributed worldwide, with prevalence rates varying between 2.5% and 44%. FIV causes immunosuppression, with depletion of TCD4 lymphocytes, with the majority of clinical signs caused by secondary and opportunistic infections.

Morinda citrifolia Linn. fruit (Noni) juice induces an increase in NO production and death of Leishmania amazonensis amastigotes in peritoneal macrophages from BALB/c.

Leishmaniasis is a complex disease that is considered a serious public health problem. Due to the absence of an effective vaccine and debilitating chemotherapy better therapies are urgently needed. This situation has stimulated the search for alternative treatments such as the use of herbal medicines.

The decreasing number of cigarettes during psychiatric hospitalization: intervention or punishment?

Unlabelled: The smoking ban during psychiatric hospitalization provokes personal and institutional changes.

Objective: To identify the mental disorders carriers' perception, the smokers ones, about the decreasing number of cigarettes during psychiatric hospitalization.

Method: Exploratory study with 96 hospitalized carriers of mental disorders who are smokers: G1 (34 subjects hospitalized when was allowed one cigarette by hour) and G2 (62 subjects hospitalized when it was reduced to eight cigarette by day).

Nicotine dependence in the mental disorders, relationship with clinical indicators, and the meaning for the user.

Objective: to identify the degree of nicotine dependence among patients with schizophrenia and other mental disorders hospitalized in a general hospital, correlating these indices with clinical indicators and the meaning for the user.

Method: the study was performed in the psychiatric unit of a general hospital, interviewing 270 patients with mental disorders using a questionnaire and the application of the Fagerstrom test. A descriptive statistical analysis of the data and thematic analysis of the content were performed.

[Sociodemographic profile of smokers admitted to the psychiatric ward of a general hospital].

From the interest of health professionals in tobacco control, stood out its high frequency in psychiatric population. This paper aimed to identify the socio-demographic profile of psychiatric patients who are also smokers, comparing with former smokers and non smokers. Exploratory survey, conducted from August 2010 to February 2012, involving psychiatric patients hospitalized in a general hospital, through interviews using a structured questionnaire.

[An elderly couple and their long life raising four schizophrenic children].

The objective was to identify, among parents of schizophrenics, elements of their daily life in coping with the disorder and the care offered and received through the health system. This is a field research, using thematic oral history. The parents of four patients with schizophrenia took part in this study.

Synthesis, antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities of some 5-arylidene-4-thioxo-thiazolidine-2-ones.

Several 5-arylidene-4-thioxo-thiazolidine-2-ones (3a-n) were synthesized and evaluated as antimicrobial agents against representative strains, including multidrug-resistant strains of clinical isolates. Also, the antiproliferative activity was evaluated against two human carcinoma cell lines (NCI-H292 and HEp-2). The compounds containing the 5-arylidene subunit presented greater antimicrobial activities against Gram positive bacteria, including the multidrug-resistant clinical isolates, than the 4-thioxo-thiazolidine-2-one.

Multifocal sporotrichosis with meningeal involvement in a patient with AIDS.

This report describes a 29-year-old man with AIDS and disseminated lymphocutaneous sporotrichosis diagnosis presenting a poor therapeutic adhesion to itraconazole therapy that later evolved to neurological impairment and death. Necropsy showed granulomatous reaction and yeast-like forms similar to Sporothrix schenckii in meninges, lymph nodes, marrow bone, skin, testicles, epididymides and pancreas. Meningeal sporotrichosis cases associated to AIDS are reviewed in brief.

[Manometric and radiologic aspects of Chagas' megaesophagus: the importance to its surgical treatment].

This study analyzed the radiologic and manometric findings of 43 patients suffering from chagasic megaesophagus with positive tests for Chagas' disease. There was a significant reduction in the high pressure levels of the body of the esophagus related to the stage of the disease: stage I/II--42.9 mmHg; stage III--23.