Safety of spironolactone use in ambulatory heart failure patients.

Background: Since the Randomized Aldactone Evaluation Study (RALES), the use of spironolactone is recommended in systolic heart failure (HF) patients that have been in New York Heart Association (NYHA) class III or IV. There is limited information on the use, side effects, and withdrawal rate of spironolactone in routine clinical practice.

Hypothesis: Side effects related to spironolactone use are more common than reported in clinical trials.

LOSITAN: a workbench to detect molecular adaptation based on a Fst-outlier method.

Background: Testing for selection is becoming one of the most important steps in the analysis of multilocus population genetics data sets. Existing applications are difficult to use, leaving many non-trivial, error-prone tasks to the user.

Results: Here we present LOSITAN, a selection detection workbench based on a well evaluated Fst-outlier detection method.

Standardization of (241)Am, (124)Sb and (131)I by live-timed anti-coincidence counting with extending dead time.

The National Metrology Laboratory for Ionizing Radiation (LNMRI)/Brazil has implemented a live-timed anti-coincidence system with extending dead time to complement the existing systems in its Radionuclide Laboratory for activity measurements of radioactive sources. In this new system, the proportional counter has been replaced by a liquid-scintillation-counter for alpha and beta detection. In order to test the performance of the new system, radioactive solutions of (131)I, (124)Sb and (241)Am have been standardized.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in heart failure. Prevalence, therapeutic and prognostic implications.

Background: Patients with heart failure (HF) frequently have comorbidities. Frequency, prognostic, and therapeutic implications of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in HF are largely unknown. We aimed to assess the prevalence and prognostic implications of COPD in a sample of stable patients with HF and to determine the frequency of beta-blocker (bB) use and rate of withdrawal according to COPD coexistence.

Standardization of 67Ga, 51Cr and 55Fe by live-timed anti-coincidence counting with extending dead time.

In this work, the activity standardization of 51Cr, 55Fe and 67Ga by live-timed anti-coincidence counting with extending dead time is described. The difficulties of the method, the uncertainties of the results of the measurements and the comparison of these results with others measurement methods are discussed.

In situ and laboratory bioassays with Chironomus riparius larvae to assess toxicity of metal contamination in rivers: the relative toxic effect of sediment versus water contamination.

We used bioassays employing head capsule width and body length increase of Chironomus riparius larvae as end points to evaluate metal contamination in streams. Bioassays were performed in situ near an abandoned Portuguese goldmine in the spring of 2003 and 2004. Bioassays also were performed under laboratory conditions with water and sediment collected from each stream to verify if laboratory bioassays could detect in situ toxicity and to evaluate the relative contribution of sediment and water to overall toxicity.

In situ bioassays with Chironomus riparius larvae to biomonitor metal pollution in rivers and to evaluate the efficiency of restoration measures in mine areas.

In this study we evaluate the ability of an in situ bioassay with Chironomus riparius larvae, using larval development and growth as endpoints, to biomonitor water quality and to assess the biological recovery of metal contaminated freshwater ecosystems of mine areas that are subject of restoration measures. The bioassay was carried out in streams located near an abandoned goldmine in North Portugal, throughout an environmental rehabilitation of the mine (2002-2004). During this period, a decrease in the inhibition of larval growth in the metal contaminated stream was observed.

RepeatAround: a software tool for finding and visualizing repeats in circular genomes and its application to a human mtDNA database.

RepeatAround is a Windows based software tool designed to find "direct repeats", "inverted repeats", "mirror repeats" and "complementary repeats", from 3 to 64 bp length, in circular genomes. It processes input files directly extracted from GenBank database, providing visualisation of the repeats location in the genomic structure, so that for instance, in most mtDNAs the user can check if the repeats are located in coding or non-coding region (and in the first case in which gene), and how far apart the repeat pair(s) are. Besides the visual tool, it provides other outputs in a spreadsheet containing information on the number and location of the repeats, facilitating graphic analyses.

Linkage and mapping of resistance genes to Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. passiflorae in yellow passion fruit.

The cultivated passion fruit (Passiflora edulis f. flavicarpa) is a cross-pollinated species native to South America. In the current study, a segregating F1 population derived from a single cross between the clones IAPAR-06 and IAPAR-123 was used to construct AFLP-based linkage maps and to map resistance genes to bacterial spot caused by Xanthomonas axonopodis pv.

Prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection and associated factors among adults in Southern Brazil: a population-based cross-sectional study.

Background: Helicobacter pylori (Hp) infection is associated with several upper gastrointestinal disorders. Local data on the epidemiology of the infection are scarce in Brazil. The purpose of this study is to measure the prevalence rate and to explore the associated factors among the adult population living in Pelotas, a southern Brazilian city.

EPR study of radiation stability of organic plastic scintillator for cardiovascular brachytherapy Sr90-Y90 beta dosimetry.

Nowadays, more than one million percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasties are being performed annually throughout the world. Restenosis is a significant problem associated with these angioplasty procedures. Radiation treatment with catheter-based beta-emitter sources is currently under clinical trial to prevent this problem.

National intercomparison program for radiopharmaceutical activity measurements.

Since 1998, the National Laboratory for Ionizing Radiation Metrology has lead an intercomparison program for activity measurements of radiopharmaceuticals administered to patients in the Nuclear Medicine Services (NMS) with the purpose of promoting the quality control. In this work, intercomparison results with the radionuclides 67Ga, 123I, 99mTc and 201Tl from the beginning of the program to the present will be presented establishing as a consequence, the radionuclide calibrators' traceability used by the participants. The analysis of the results showed that 68% were within the limits of +/-10% required by the Brazilian Regulatory Authority that demands this accuracy band for the radiopharmaceutical measurements in the NMS.

Measurements of nuclear data parameters of 201Tl by gamma-ray spectrometry.

201Tl is frequently used in radiopharmaceutical applications, and therefore the gamma-ray emission probabilities and half-life have been re-determined by means of gamma-ray spectroscopy. While the activity was calibrated using the sum-peak coincidence method, the half-life was obtained by the reference source method based on simultaneous counting of a reference source and the sample. Both the measurement techniques and assignment of uncertainties are presented and discussed, and the resulting data are shown to be in good agreement with previously published studies.

Characterization of iron, copper and zinc levels in the colostrum of mothers of term and pre-term infants before and after pasteurization.

Pasteurization is a thermal treatment applied to the milk used in human milk banks so as to provoke the thermic inactivation of pathogenic micro-organisms, with the aim of avoiding contamination of milk that will be offered to new-born infants in clinical conditions very often demanding special care. The literature has very little data available relating to the effect of pasteurization on the concentration of oligo-elements in human milk. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of pasteurization on the concentrations of iron (Fe), copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) in the colostrum of mothers of pre-term (PT) and term (T) infants.