Universidade de Pernambuco

About: Universidade de Pernambuco is a education organization based out in Recife, Brazil. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Medicine. The organization has 6147 authors who have published 6948 publications receiving 73648 citations.

Quality of Life amongst Older Brazilians: A Cross-Cultural Validation of the CASP-19 into Brazilian-Portuguese

Abstract: Introduction As population ageing becomes a global phenomenon the need to understand the quality of life of older people around the world has become increasingly salient. The CASP-19 is a well established measure of quality of later life. The scale is composed of 19 items which map onto the four domains of control (C), Autonomy (A), Self-Realisation (S) and Pleasure (P). It has already been translated to 12 languages and has been used in a number of national and international studies. However use of the scale outside of Europe has been very limited. The objective of this study was to translate and evaluate the use of the CASP-19 amongst older Brazilians.

Novel no-touch technique of harvesting the saphenous vein for coronary artery bypass grafting

Abstract: FUNDAMENTO: Otimizacao da veia safena na revascularizacao miocardica. OBJETIVO: Apresentar a tecnica no-touch de preparo da veia safena. Essa tecnica consiste na retirada da veia safena do seu leito, com um pediculo de tecido adiposo, protegendo-a contra espasmos, sendo desnecessario distende-la. METODOS: Estudo prospectivo e randomizado, incluindo 156 pacientes submetidos a cirurgia de revascularizacao miocardica. Comparacao da tecnica no-touch com duas outras tecnicas: convencional e intermediaria. Procedeu-se a avaliacao da morfologia endotelial, utilizando a microscopia. A perviabilidade das pontes foi determinada com exame angiografico num periodo medio de 18 meses apos a operacao. A enzima oxido nitrico sintetase endotelial (eNOS) foi identificada por meio do estudo imunohistoquimico. RESULTADOS: A avaliacao morfologica mostrou integridade endotelial de 97% nas veias do grupo no-touch; enquanto quase metade da superficie endotelial das veias tratadas pelas outras tecnicas exibiu ausencia de celulas endoteliais. A angiografia revelou perviabilidade de 95,4% para as pontes do grupo no-touch, 88,9 e 86,2% para as pontes do grupo convencional e intermediaria, respectivamente. O estudo imunohistoquimico revelou a presenca da eNOS nas tres camadas que compoem a parede da veia no grupo no-touch e reducao dessa enzima no grupo convencional. CONCLUSAO: A integridade endotelial e a atividade da eNOS foram melhor preservadas com o uso da tecnica no-touch. A protecao mecânica fornecida pelo tecido gorduroso circundante a veia e a atividade vasodilatadora e bloqueadora da agregacao plaquetaria causada pelo oxido nitrico podem ser responsaveis pela protecao da veia contra o espasmo, como tambem por sua alta perviabilidade imediata.

Phlebotomine sandflies (Diptera: Psychodidae) of the Atlantic forest in Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil: the species coming to human bait, and their seasonal and monthly variations over a 2-year period.

Abstract: In a study of the phlebotomine sandflies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in a forest reserve in Recife, Pernambuco state, north–eastern Brazil, the sandflies landing on human bait between 1.00 and 1.42 h after sunset were collected weekly for 2 years. Although 10,287 sandflies of 10 Lutzomyia species were collected, almost all (96.5%) of the sandflies caught were Lu. umbratilis. This species and several others caught are potential vectors of some of the Leishmania parasites that cause human disease. The recorded landing rate for Lu. umbratilis peaked, at the high level of 333.3 flies/person-hour, during the collections made in May 2003.The relative rarity in the collections of males of some of the species caught probably indicates that these species do not lek on their bloodmeal sources.It is likely that the sizes of the local populations of species that are not very anthrophilic, such as Lu. flaviscutellata, are much larger than indicated by the collections made on human bait.

Dietetic management in gastrointestinal complications from antimalignant chemotherapy

Abstract: Antineoplastic chemotherapy (CT) represents the systemic treatment of malignant tumors. It can be used alone or combined with surgery and / or radiotherapy. The cytotoxic agents used in chemotherapy work on both cancerous cells and noncancerous cells of the body, generally resulting in high toxicity. The biological aggressiveness of chemotherapy particularly affects rapidly replicating cells, such as those of the digestive tract, resulting in adverse effects that impair food intake, leading to compromised nutritional status and which may lead to cachexia. The main toxic effects of chemotherapy in the gastrointestinal tract include nausea, vomiting —these are the most frequent— constipation, diarrhea, xerostomia, mucositis, dysphagia and anorexia. Given the high frequency of such effects, nutritional intervention should be an integral part of cancer treatment, to maintain and/or improve the patient’s nutritional status and reduce or minimize the side effects caused by treatment. Accordingly, the goal of this study is to review dietetic conduct in the process of caring for patients undergoing cancer chemotherapy.