Simone Brandao

In vivo deposition studies of aerosol administration during noninvasive ventilation (NIV) are scarce in the literature. The aim of this study was to compare radioaerosol pulmonary index and radioaerosol mass balance in the different compartments (pulmonary and extrapulmonary) of radio-tagged aerosol administered using vibrating mesh nebulizers and conventional jet nebulizers during NIV. This was a crossover clinical trial involving 10 healthy subjects (mean age of 33.7 ± 10.0 y) randomly assigned to both treatment arms of this study: group 1 (NIV + vibrating mesh nebulizer, n = 10) and group 2 (NIV + jet nebulizer, n = 10). All subjects inhaled 3 mL of technetium-99m diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (25 mCi) and 0.9% saline solution via vibrating mesh and jet nebulizers during NIV through a face mask secured with straps while receiving positive inspiratory and expiratory pressures of 12 and 5 cm H2O, respectively. Scintigraphy was performed to count radioaerosol particles deposite...

To establish the parameters of intra- and interventricular synchrony in normal individuals and to compare them with patients with dilated cardiomyopathy with and without conduction disorders shown in the electrocardiogram (ECG) examination. Three groups of patients were included in this study: 18 individuals (G1) with no cardiomyopathy and with a normal ECG (52+/-12 years, 29% male); 50 patients with dilated cardiomyopathy and severe left ventricular dysfunction, with 20 patients (G2) presenting QRS <120 ms (51+/-10 years, 75% male) and 30 patients (G3) with QRS >120 ms (57+/-12 years, 60% male). All patients underwent RV. Evaluation of left intraventricular dyssynchrony was carried out with the measurement of the phase histogram width and interventricular dyssynchrony was evaluated by the difference of the mean phase angle between the right and left ventricles (RLDif). Left ventricle ejection fractions (LVEF)s were: 62 +/- 6% (G1), 27 +/- 7% (G2) and 22 +/- 8% (G3) and right ...

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE: To evaluate bioglass, bioglassceramic biocompatibility in rabbit's eviscerated cavities. METHODS: Forty- five rabbits were submitted to right eye evisceration, followed by the inclusion of bioglass and bioglassceramic I e II prosthesis in the escleral cavity. The animals were sacrificed at seven, 90 and 180 days after surgery. The animals had daily clinical exam; biochemical exam, histological analysis and morphometric evaluation. RESULTS: The animals stayed healthy during the expriment, with good cone integration to the host tissue. None cone extrusion were observed. Histologically, it was observed pseudocapsule formation around the cones and the inflammatory reaction was higher at M1, getting progressively lower while getting at M3, being the lowest in rabbits which received bioglass cones (GA) than at any other groups. CONCLUSION: Bioglass and bioglassceramic I e II cones can be useful to repair anophthalmic cavity.

The formation of intrapulmonary vascular dilations (IPVD) is the key event for the onset of hepatopulmonary syndrome, vascular changes secondary to portal hypertension that leads to hypoxemia. The diagnosis of IPVD can be made by contrasted transthoracic echocardiography or scintigraphy with technetium-macroaggregated albumin-((99m)Tc-MAA)-that is a sensitive and specific diagnostic method and quantifies the IPVD magnitude. However, its procedure and diagnostic indices are not yet standardized and well defined in health services. The aims of this study were to define normality values and evaluate the inter- and intra-observer reproducibility degree of diagnostic indexes of IPVD through (99m)Tc-MAA scintigraphy. Cross-sectional study was conducted at the Clinical Hospital, Federal University of Pernambuco (HC-UFPE) between July and December 2012. Fifteen patients with hepatosplenic schistosomiasis and nine patients without liver or heart disease (control group) were assessed. After clinical assessment, ultrasound and echocardiography, patients underwent (99m)Tc-MAA scintigraphy, and a relative brain uptake value exceeding 6 % or systemic uptake value exceeding 11 % was considered diagnostic of IPVD. Each assessment was performed by two independent observers. To analyze the results of the normal group, the nonparametric Bootsptrap method simulation model combined with the Monte Carlo method was used and to analyze inter- and intra-observer reproducibility indexes, the kappa and intra-class correlation coefficient were used. In normal subjects, the average brain uptake of (99m)Tc-MAA was 7.9 ± 0.01 % and systemic uptake was 12.4 ± 0.03 %, with low dispersal rates for both measures. The intra-observer agreement was 100 %, with kappa index of 1.0 (p < 0.0001), suggesting a perfect agreement. The inter-observer agreement was also 100 % (kappa = 1.0, p < 0.0001) for brain uptake; however, systemic uptake showed kappa = 0.25 (p = 0.07), which features tolerable concordance. The intra-class correlation was excellent for both uptake indexes. The normality values were slightly higher than those reported in studies from other countries. The demographic characteristics of the Brazilian population, the small number of patients or different methodologies can be the causes of such differences. (99m)Tc-MAA scintigraphy showed excellent reproducibility.

Systematic revision of the globally distributed deep-sea ostracod genera Pennyella Neale, 1974 and Rugocythereis Dingle, Lord and Boomer, 1990, which have been considered to correspond, at least partially, to nomen nudum but widely used genus name ‘Oxycythereis,’ was conducted to reduce taxonomic uncertainty of these important components of the Modern and fossil deep-sea ostracod community. Approximately 100 specimens from 18 species were examined, ranging in age from the Cretaceous to the present day. Nine new species are described: Pennyella rexi, Pennyella sanfordae, Pennyella liowae, Pennyella schellenbergi, Pennyella majorani, Pennyella iani, Pennyella ayressi, Rugocythereis melonis and Rugocythereis zarikiani. Emended generic concepts of Pennyella and Rugocythereis are proposed, and the palaeobiogeographical distributions of these two genera are discussed.

Cythere acanthoderma Brady was described from Recent sediments collected from all world's oceans during the HMS Challenger expedition in the 1870s. Subsequently, this species has been recorded in at least 27 publications, extending its stratigraphical range from the Recent back into the Upper Eocene, its zoogeographical range from Atlantic, Indian, Pacific, Arctic and Southern oceans, and its bathymetric range from the continental shelf (> 400 m) to deeper regions of the abyss (> 5000 m). Importantly, C. acanthoderma was erected the type species of the widespread and abundant, deep-sea genus LegitimocythereColes and Whatley, 1989. For the present publication, all the specimens of Legitimocythere acanthoderma housed in the Natural History Museum in London were re-studied. Based on the type material and on previous publications, L. acanthoderma is revised, re-diagnosed and re-illustrated with scanning electron microscopy. Twenty-two specimens are, herein, as Henryhowella, Tr...

Cythere dasyderma Brady, 1880 was described from samples collected from all the world’s oceans during the HMS Challenger expedition in the 1870s. Subsequently, Cythere dasyderma (or Echinocythereis dasyderma, or Henryhowella dasyderma) has been recorded from the Late Eocene to Recent, from Atlantic, Arctic, Indian, Pacific and Southern oceans, and from intertidal to deep abyssal environments. However, even cursory inspection of illustrations from over 50 publications shows that several species have been included in ‘Cythere dasyderma’. Here, all syntypes of Cythere dasyderma Brady, 1880 archived in the Natural History Museum, London have been re-studied. This species is re-described, re-diagnosed and illustrated with scanning electron microscope images. Cythere dasyderma is assigned to Ayressoleberis gen. nov., which is described here. The geographical distribution of Ayressoleberis dasyderma (Brady, 1880) comb. nov. is no longer cosmopolitan, and includes only the type locality in ...

Shallow marine benthic communities around Antarctica show high levels of endemism, gigantism, slow growth, longevity and late maturity, as well as adaptive radiations that have generated considerable biodiversity in some taxa 1 . The deeper parts of the Southern Ocean exhibit some unique environmental features, including a very deep continental shelf 2 and a weakly stratified water column, and are the source for much of the deep water in the world ocean. These features suggest that deep-sea faunas around the Antarctic may be related both to adjacent shelf com-munities and to those in other oceans. Unlike shallow-water Antarctic benthic communities, however, little is known about life in this vast deep-sea region 2,3 . Here, we report new data from recent sampling expeditions in the deep Weddell Sea and adjacent areas (748–6,348 m water depth) that reveal high levels of new biodiversity; for example, 674 isopods species, of which 585 were new to science. Bathymetric and biogeographic...