Pathology affects different organs in two mouse strains chronically infected by a Trypanosoma cruzi clone: a model for genetic studies of Chagas' disease.

Chagas' disease is a chronic infection caused by Trypanosoma cruzi and represents an important public health burden in Latin America. Frequently the disease evolves undetectable for decades, while in a significant fraction of the affected individuals it culminates in death by heart failure. Here, we describe a novel murine model of the chronic infection with T.

Physical activity levels and patterns of 9- and 15-yr-old European children.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess physical activity levels and patterns from children participating in the European Youth Heart Study (EYHS). Very limited physical activity data exist that have been collected from representative samples of children and even fewer data collected where physical activity has been measured using objective methods.

Methods: Subjects were 2185 children aged 9 and 15 yr from Denmark, Portugal, Estonia, and Norway.

Magnetic resonance imaging abnormalities in familial temporal lobe epilepsy with auditory auras.

Background: Two forms of familial temporal lobe epilepsy (FTLE) have been described: mesial FTLE and FTLE with auditory auras. The gene responsible for mesial FTLE has not been mapped yet, whereas mutations in the LGI1 (leucine-rich, glioma-inactivated 1) gene, localized on chromosome 10q, have been found in FTLE with auditory auras.

Objective: To describe magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings in patients with FTLE with auditory auras.

Relationship between absorptiometry and ultrasound measurements of abdominal subcutaneous fat tissue in postmenopausal women.

The purpose of this study was to describe the association of abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) as assessed by ultrasound with fat tissue in the abdomen, trunk, and other areas as measured by DXA in 101 postmenopausal Caucasian women (62.5 years; 27.3 kg/m(2); 43.

Usefulness of age-adjusted equations to estimate body fat with air displacement plethysmography in male adolescent athletes.

This study was designed to examine the accuracy of air-displacement plethysmography (ADP) using Lohman's age-adjusted equations (Leq) and Siri's equation (Seq) in estimating body fat (BF) in male adolescent athletes, with the four-compartment (4C) model as reference. Subjects were 51 Caucasian boys (age, 15.5+/-1.

Body surface area estimation and its impact on predicting appendicular skeletal muscle mass with a mechanistic model based on the Reference Man.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the difference between the equations presented by Du Bois and Du Bois (1916) and Livingston and Lee (2001), used to estimate body surface area (BSA) and its impact on predicting appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASMM) in adults, using a model based on the Reference Man (Fuller et al. 1992). Subjects were 666 Caucasian women (44.

Resistance training in postmenopausal women with and without hormone therapy.

Purpose: The main purpose of this study was to analyze the impact of a 1-yr resistance-training program on body composition and muscle strength in postmenopausal women, and to describe the impact of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) on body composition changes, with and without exercise. Secondarily, we wanted to study dose-response relationships between measures of program compliance and changes in primary outcomes.

Methods: Subjects were postmenopausal women (40-66 yr) randomly assigned to an exercise (EX) group (N = 117) and a nonexercise group (N = 116).

Impaired macrophage responses may contribute to exacerbation of blood-stage Plasmodium chabaudi chabaudi malaria in interleukin-12-deficient mice.

Aiming to clarify the role of endogenous interleukin-12 (IL-12) in protective immunity against blood stages of Plasmodium chabaudi chabaudi (AS), we evaluated the course of infection in IL-12p40 gene knockout (IL-12p40KO) and wild-type (WT) C57BL/6 mice, focusing (1) on the ability of T cells to develop adequate type 1 responses and (2) on the potentiality of macrophages to respond to parasites, interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), or both. We observed that IL-12p40KO mice develop significantly higher parasitemias during the acute infection, although mice from both groups clear the parasites within a month and similarly eliminate a secondary challenge. Thus, fully protective immunity to P.

Weight loss readiness in middle-aged women: psychosocial predictors of success for behavioral weight reduction.

Accurate prediction of weight loss success and failure has eluded researchers for many years. Thus, we administered a comprehensive psychometric battery before a 4-month lifestyle behavioral weight reduction program and analyzed weight changes during that period to identify baseline characteristics of successful and unsuccessful participants, among 112 overweight and obese middle-aged women (age, 47.8 +/- 4.

Effect of a 1 year combined aerobic- and weight-training exercise programme on aerobic capacity and ventilatory threshold in patients suffering from coronary artery disease.

Weight-training is recommended as a complement to conventional aerobic-training for most low to moderate risk patients suffering from coronary artery disease (CAD). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of a 1 year exercise programme combining weight- and aerobic-training on peak oxygen uptake (V*O2,peak) and ventilatory threshold (VT). We studied 40 men suffering CAD who were divided into three groups: 14 subjects to weight-training plus aerobic-training [mean (SD] [combined exercise group, age 55 (10) years], 14 to aerobic-training only [aerobic-training group, age 57 (11) years], and 12 to a control group [standard care, age 57 (11) years].

Influence of the polyclonal activation induced by Plasmodium chabaudi on ongoing OVA-specific B- and T-cell responses.

Infection by Plasmodium chabaudi results in polyclonal activation, massive proliferation and differentiation of lymphocytes with parasite-unrelated specificities. To verify if polyclonal activation includes experienced B and T lymphocytes and if it modifies pre-established cytokine and Ig-isotype patterns, mice were immunized with ovalbumin (OVA) in alum, a condition that favours T helper 2/immunoglobulin G1 (Th2/IgG1) responses, and infected with P. chabaudi 7 or 80 days later.

Assessing the validity of body mass index standards in early postmenopausal women.

Objective: To examine the relationship between percentage of total body fat (%Fat) and body mass index (BMI) in early postmenopausal women and to evaluate the validity of the BMI standards for obesity established by the NIH.

Research Methods And Procedures: Three hundred seventeen healthy, sedentary, postmenopausal women (ages, 40 to 66 years; BMI, 18 to 35 kg/m(2); 3 to 10 years postmenopausal) participated in the study. Height, weight, BMI, and %Fat, as assessed by DXA, were measured.

[Erythrocytic acid phosphatase genetic polymorphism and cardiovascular risk in health children and adolescents].

Objective: To correlate, in a sample of healthy children and adolescents, the activity of the enzyme acid phosphatase (ACP) with its different genetic phenotypes and of these with some cardiovascular risk parameters such as body mass index (BMI), percentage of total fat mass (%TFM), trunk fat (TF), insulin resistance, and the arterial blood pressure (BP).

Design And Methods: The sample was composed of 173 healthy children and adolescents, 96 (55.5%) F and 77 (44.

[Ionized calcium and magnesium as interdependent variables in blood pressure origin in healthy adolescents].

Introduction: Growing evidence indicates that diet divalent cations--ionized calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg)--and MN blood group polymorphism may be associated with essential arterial hypertension.

Objectives: To assess a possible relationship between serum ionized Ca and Mg and MN blood group polymorphism with blood pressure (BP) and body mass index (BMI).

Population And Methods: The study group consisted of 173 healthy adolescents, 96 female (55.

[Technical aspects of intracranial pressure monitoring by subarachnoid method in severe head injury].

Two hundred and six patients with severe head injury (Glasgow Coma Scale of 8 points or less after nonsurgical resuscitation on admission), managed at Intensive Care Unit-Hospital das Clínicas - Universidade Estadual de Campinas were prospectively analysed. All patients were assessed by CT scan and 72 required neurosurgical intervention. All patients were continuously monitored to evaluate intracranial pressure (ICP) levels by a subarachnoid device (11 with subarachnoid metallic bolts and 195 with subarachnoid polyvinyl catheters).

Susceptibility of the different developmental stages of the asexual (schizogonic) erythrocyte cycle of Plasmodium chabaudi chabaudi to hyperimmune serum, immunoglobulin (Ig)G1, IgG2a and F(ab')2 fragments.

The mechanisms by which antibodies interfere with Plasmodium growth are still under debate. Characterizing the asexual erythrocyte stages susceptible to antibodies from hyperimmune individuals is therefore a relevant contribution to vaccine research. In this study, using a virulent and synchronous murine malaria parasite, Plasmodium chabaudi chabaudi AJ, we have shown that trophozoites and circulating schizonts are not the main targets for antibodies from hyperimmune serum.

Total and regional fat and serum cardiovascular disease risk factors in lean and obese children and adolescents.

Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the association of total and central adiposity with serum cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in lean and obese Portuguese children and adolescents.

Research Methods And Procedures: A total of 87 girls (13.2 +/- 1.

Effects of an aerobic rowing training regimen in young adults with Down syndrome.

Effects of a rowing exercise regimen on cardiovascular fitness of young adults with Down syndrome were examined. Sixteen young males with trisomy 21 (mean age 21.3, mean IQ 38.

Subcutaneous central fat is associated with cardiovascular risk factors in men independently of total fatness and fitness.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the single and independent associations of whole body composition and fat distribution with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and fitness in middle-aged men. Sixty-two healthy Caucasian men (37.6 +/- 2.

[Cerebral hemometabolism: variability in the acute phase of traumatic coma].

Objective: to evaluate the interrelationships between cerebral and systemic hemometabolic alterations in patients with severe traumatic brain injury managed according to a standardized therapeutic protocol.

Design: prospective, interventional study in patients with traumatic coma.

Setting: a general Intensive Care Unit in a teaching hospital.

Receiver operating characteristic analysis of body mass index, triceps skinfold thickness, and arm girth for obesity screening in children and adolescents.

Background: Valid and practical methods based on health-related criteria for obesity screening in children and adolescents are not available. Arbitrarily defined body mass index (BMI) cutoffs have been proposed to select adolescents at high risk of developing obesity in adulthood.

Objective: We assessed the usefulness of BMI, triceps skinfold thickness, and upper arm girth for screening for obesity by using a health-related definition of obesity (> or = 25% body fat in boys and > or = 30% body fat in girls) and a criterion method (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry) that estimates percentage fat without the potential bias associated with other methods in adolescents.

Comparison of air displacement plethysmography with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and 3 field methods for estimating body composition in middle-aged men.

This study was designed to compare air displacement plethysmography with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and 3 other field methods for estimation of body composition. Subjects were 62 healthy, white men aged 37.6+/-2.

[From death concepts to brain death diagnostic criteria].

The authors present considerations about death and brain death concepts, as well the legal aspects for its diagnosis in Brazil. They also present the UNICAMP Protocol for the Diagnosis of Brain Death, revised and according with the current law, with standard techniques for the diagnostic exam. They emphasize the importance of a mature ethical position for this frequent and challenging situation.

Highlighting intracranial pressure monitoring in patients with severe acute brain trauma.

Intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring was carried out in 100 patients with severe acute brain trauma, primarily by means of a subarachnoid catheter. Statistical associations were evaluated between maximum ICP values and: 1) Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scores; 2) findings on computed tomography (CT) scans of the head; and 3) mortality. A significant association was found between low GCS scores (3 to 5) and high ICP levels, as well as between focal lesions on CT scans and elevated ICP.

[The adoption of heroin addicts++ as a strategy of ambulatory treatment].

The authors describe the ambulatory treatment of a young man, the son of a divorced mother, where they used a methodology called Combined Treatment of Heroin Addicts, which was done in stages. They used family sessions, with a concomitant hearing of the patient alone, combined with the use of an opioid antagonist, called naltrexone. The young man was adopted by an uncle, married to his mother's sister, because his mother was divorced, living alone, and was too old to support, contain and provide her son with the necessary basis for treatment.