Exposure to paraquat associated with periodontal disease causes motor damage and neurochemical changes in rats

Exposure to paraquat is possibly involved with the development of several conditions, including neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's disease (PD). This condition is mainly characterized by the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the nigrostriatal pathway and the development of classical motor symptoms. Etiology includes exposure to environmental factors, such as the paraquat exposure, and inflammatory diseases may exacerbate paraquat neurotoxicity. The aim of the study was to investigate whether the exposure to paraquat associated with the presence of periodontal disease is able to induce motor and biochemical changes in rats similar to that observed in PD. Adult male Wistar rats were sent to ligature. After 48 h, they were sent to daily treatment paraquat (1 mg/kg/day; 2 mL/kg; intragastric) or vehicle for 4 weeks. Twenty-four hours after the last administration, the open field test was performed. The rats were euthanized and the left hemimandibles and striatum were dissected for the analysis of dopaminergic and inflammatory markers. Only the combination of periodontal disease model plus paraquat exposure induced motor impairments. Remarkably, the paraquat exposure increased the ligature-induced alveolar bone loss in hemimandibles. Moreover, only the combination of periodontal disease and paraquat exposure induced the loss of dopaminergic neurons and astrocyte activation in the striatum.

Recurrent hepatitis C treatment with direct acting antivirals - a real life study at a Brazilian liver transplant center

Recurrent hepatitis C (HCV) after liver transplantation (LT) is an important cause of morbidity and mortality. Antiviral treatment is recommended to avoid unfavorable outcomes. Direct-acting antivirals (DAA) have transformed HCV treatment, with higher efficacy and fewer side-effects than interferon-based therapies traditionally used. To evaluate DAA treatment outcomes at a Brazilian transplant unit, data of patients who finished HCV treatment at the Liver Transplant Unit of the University of Campinas were analyzed. Treatment consisted of sofosbuvir, daclatasvir, and ribavirin, for 12 or 24 weeks, according to the national guidelines. Fifty-five patients completed antiviral treatment and 54 had HCV-viral load results available. The majority of patients were male (78%), 58 years old on average, 65% had hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) before LT, and 67% were interferon treatment-experienced. Most patients had HCV genotype 1 (65%), 35% had genotype 3, and started treatment on an average of 38 months after LT (range: 2–228). Fifty-eight percent were treated for 12 weeks and 42% for 24 weeks, using a mean dose of ribavirin of 10.1 mg/kg (4.2–16.1). There were no treatment interruptions due to serious side effects. The sustained virological response rate was 98%. Only one patient relapsed, a genotype 3 cirrhotic treated for 12 weeks. The average follow-up after starting antivirals was 20 months. There were no recurrences of HCC, but there was one rejection episode and one cirrhosis decompensation episode, both 12 weeks after treatment. DAA treatment is safe and effective in the post-LT setting and was not associated to HCC recurrence in the cohort studied.

Toxicity of ionic liquids toward microorganisms interesting to the food industry

Filamentous fungi were resistant to high concentrations of imidazolium-based ionic liquids, andPseudomonas aeruginosawas tolerant to [NTf₂] anions.

[Race and left ventricle hypertrophy without hypertension and pulmonary heart disease]

PURPOSE

To analyze the association between black people and left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in the absence of hypertension and/or other cardiopulmonar disease.

METHODS

Data were collected from necropsies carried out in the Anatomopathologic Service (APS). Hospital Edgard Santos from 1970 to 1986, Salvador. It were included only subjects at ages > or = 20 years and free of hypertension and any cardiopulmonar disease. A LV wall > 1.6cm was considered as LVH (standardized criteria of the APS). Controls variables were age, sex, and absence of the mentioned diseases. It was used a case-control epidemiological study design and the association measured by "odds ratio" (OR) for no matched case-control study.

RESULTS

From the 208 subjects studied, 48 (23.1%) had LVH. There was no difference in the frequency of right ventricular hypertrophy between cases and controls (p > 0.05). The mean of heart weight was higher for LVH cases (p < 0.001), but there was no evidence of association between blacks and LVH (OR = 1.05, p > 0.05 and confidence interval at 95% = 0.8, 1.31. The highest odds possible for the association in this study (assuming that all 3 LVH losses were black subjects) would be 1.5, also no statistically significant.

CONCLUSION

In the absence of hypertension and other cardiopulmonar diseases, LHV is common in necropsies in Salvador, Brazil, with similar frequencies in blacks, whites and mullatos and seems not be a risk factor for hypertension in black people.

A case study of a coordinated care program: development and implementation of Fort Sill's Catchment Area Management Project

One of the Department of Defense's initiatives to contain costs of the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services is the Catchment Area Management (CAM) Demonstration Project. CAM's fundamental coordinated care concept is to contain the military's health care costs by granting the military treatment facility (MTF) commander full clinical and fiscal responsibility for the health care of all beneficiaries within the MTF's catchment area. This article describes the CAM Demonstration Project at Fort Sill during its developmental and implementation phase from June 1989 to April 1991. The six operational goals of the CAM Project are identified and discussed. Additionally, nine essential lessons learned are briefly reviewed.