Showing papers by "Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais published in 1983"

Some Restricted randomization rules in sequential designs

Abstract: This paper presents a new class of designs (Big Stick Designs) for sequentially assigning experimental units to treatments, when only the time covariate is considered. By prescribing the degree of imbalance which the experimenters can tolerate, complete randomization is used as long as the imbalance of the treatment allocation does not exceed the prescribed value. Once it reaches the value, a deterministic assignment is made to lower the imbalance. Such designs can be easily implemented with no programming and little personnel support. They compare favorably with the Biased Coin Designs, the Permuted Black Designs, and the Urn Designs, as far as the accidental bias and selection bias are concerned. Generalizations of these designs are considered to achieve various purposes, e.g., avoidance of deterministic assignments, early balance, etc.

Neonatal screening for congenital adrenal hyperplasia.

Abstract: Capillary blood samples from 42930 infants born in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna were collected for 17-hydroxyprogesterone radioimmunoassays on days 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, or between days 7 and 15 of life. A microfilter paper method modified from that of Pang et al.1 was used for this assay. Pathologic values of 17-hydroxyprogesterone were found in 5 infants giving an incidence in this homogeneous Caucasian population of 1:8586. We also investigated 17-hydroxyprogesterone values in relation to the day of sampling and the possible correlation between 17-hydroxyprogesterone values and birthweight and gestational age. We concluded that neonatal screening for congenital adrenal hyperplasia caused by 21-hydroxylase deficiency was possible by this method and that the infants' maturity and the particular day of collection of the samples affect the values but not the validity of the screening.

Megacystis-microcolon-intestinal hypoperistalsis syndrome in a newborn girl whose brother had prune belly syndrome: Common pathogenesis?

Abstract: A case of megacystis-microcolon-intestinal hypoperistalsis syndrome (MMIHS) is presented. There were important findings: a urachal remnant and a brother with prune belly syndrome (PBS). After a review of the literature, many common characteristic of MMIHS and PBS are described: flaccid abdomen, dilatation of the urinary tract, intestinal malrotation, cryptorchidism, urachal remnants and familial incidence. MMIHS and PBS may be manifestations of the same underlying process.

Gastric cytomegalic inclusion bodies diagnosed by histologic examination of endoscopic biopsies in patients with gastric ulcer.

Abstract: Gastric cytomegalovirus (CMV) inclusion bodies, indicating CMV infection were detected in three patients with erosions and ulcers in the upper gastrointestinal tract. In all cases, histologic examination of endoscopic biopsies enabled a diagnosis of CMV infection to be made quickly and safely. We emphasize the importance of the histologic examination of gastrointestinal biopsies in the early diagnosis of CMV infection.

Factors influencing the development of Plasmodium gallinaceum in Aedes fluviatilis

Abstract: Aedes fluviatilis is susceptible to infection by Plasmodium gallinaceum and is a convenient insect host for the malaria parasite in countries where Aedees aegypti cannot be maintained in laboratories. In South America, for instance, the rearing of A. aegypti the main vector of urban yellow fever, is not advaisable because of the potential health hazard it represents. Our results of the comparative studies carried out between the sporogonic cycle produced with two lines of P. gallinaceum parasites into A. fuviatilis were as follows. As proved for A. aegypti, mosquito infection rates were variable when A. fluviatilis blood-fed on chicks infected with and old syringe-passaged strain of P. gallinaceum. Oocysts developed in 41% of those mosquitos and the mean peak of oocyst production was 56 per stomach. Salivary gland infections developed in about 6% of the mosquitos. The course of sporogony was unrelated to the size of the inoculum administered to chicks or to the route by which the birds were infected. The development of infected salivary glands was unrelated to oocyst production. Sporogony of P. gallinaceum was more uniform when mosquitos blood-fed on chicks infected with a sporozoite-passaged strain. Oocysts developed in about 50% of those mosquitoes and the mean peak of oocyst production was 138 per stomach, with some individuals having as many as 600-800 oocysts. Infected salivary glands developed in a mean of 27% of the mosquitos but, in some batches, was a high as 50%. Patterns of salivary gland parasitism were similar to those of oocyst production. The course of sporogony of P. gallinaceum in A. fluviatilis is analized in relation to degree of parasitemia and gametocytemia in the vertebrate host.

Hydrodynamic and turbulent motions in the galactic disk

Abstract: Statistics in absorption 21-cm data show two main types of clouds at low galactic latitudes: dense small clouds, many of them with molecular cores, with dispersions σ≈1.5 km s−1 and large clouds forming the fine features of the spiral arms (the shingle like features) with a dispersion range α≈3–4 km s−1. Sizes and dispersions of both types of clouds are compatible with the Kolmogorov law of turbulence: σ∞d 1/3. The large clouds forming the shingle-like features can be considered as the largest clouds of a Kolmogorov spectrum (the initial vortices), or as the hydrodynamic features with minimum sizes in the Galaxy. In order to define hydrodynamic motions in the same sense as given by Ogrodnikov (1965) we use here the tensorial form of the Helmholtz theorem to obtain an approximation for the hydrodynamic motions depending on distances and seen from the local standard of rest:V r ∞r. The intermediate range of sizes between turbulent motions and hydrodynamic motions is 100

Ganglion cell number in hypertrophic colon above experimental stenosis.

Abstract: In order to determine the number of ganglia and ganglion cells of the myenteric plexus in a hypertrophic segment of the gut a partial surgical obstruction was carried out in the colon of 10 adult rats. The myenteric plexus was studied in "spread" preparations in which the circular and longitudinal muscle layers were intact. With the colon distended and stretched above the surgical obstruction, the muscle layers became intensely hypertrophic and, as a consequence, the surface of the hypertrophic colon increased by 39%. The decrease in number of ganglia and ganglion cells per area in the hypertrophic colon was 37.6% and 36.4%, respectively. The increase of the surface of the hypertrophic colon was proportional to the decrease In number of ganglia and ganglion cells per area. Therefore there was no change in the absolute number of ganglia and neurons in the colon above the partial obstruction. The results of the present study do not support the view that immature cells develop into ganglion cells in the hypertrophic intestine above a surgical obstruction.

Dynamics of the strong anisotropic three-dimensional Ising model in a transverse field

Abstract: The dynamics of the three-dimensional anisotropic spin-\textonehalf{} Ising model in a transverse field is studied above ${T}_{c}$ by a method in which the coupled-chain problem is reduced to that of a single chain in an effective field. The problem of a single chain is studied by means of Mori's continued-fraction expansion in a four-pole approximation. The moments are obtained by using the time-dependent correlation function calculated in the $c$-cyclic and in the improved $c$-cyclic approximations [J. Phys. A 13, 223 (1980)]. A comparison between these two approximations is done by calculating the critical temperature as function of the tunneling field. The one-dimensional correlation length is obtained, and it agrees well with the experimental results for the quasi-one-dimensional ferroelectric Cs${\mathrm{D}}_{2}$P${\mathrm{O}}_{4}$.

Esofagopatia chagásica na área endêmica de Bambuí - M.G., Brasil

Abstract: Five hundred sixty six unselected chronic chagasic patients from an endemic area (Bambui, Minas Gerais, Brasil) Were Studied clinical and radiologically. The oesophageal transit time method used was the roentgenphotography with 70mm film, with a left incidence profite or righ-anterior oblique aspect. A 8.33% oesophagic dysperistalsis prevalence was verified in these patients. This was specially common after the third decade of life and no difference related to sex was observed. Seventy-two percent of oesophagic dysfunction were ofdegree I, 18% of degree II and 10% of degree III, based on the classification adapted by Rezende. Only one case of dysperistalsis (degree I) was observed among 80 sero-negative patients. The global prevalence of oesophagopathy was 18.3% in 115 patients in whom the acute phase of Chagas'disease was detected up to 27 years before. The proportion of alterations was directly related to the disease evolution time. A significant difference was verified between the above prevalence and the prevalence found in patients without a detectable acute phase. his suggests that the high percentage of oesophagopathy in patients with detectable acute phase was due to a more intense denervation occurring in those cases. A concomitant chagasic chronic cardiopathy was verified in 50% of the cases disptaying oesophagus dysperistalsis, in accord with other Authors. The simplicity of the method used for detecting oesophagus dysfunction and its low operational cost are evident, demonstrating it to be suitable for the social reality present in Chagas'disease endemic areas.

Instrumento para análise de periódico de enfermagem

Abstract: Studies about spreading of knowledge in nursing are recent. In order to contribute to the study of the nursing literature in Brazil, it was developed a model of instrument to analyse periodicals. The instrument was tested in a nursing periodical and it was found to be effective in stablishing who writes, what is written and even to relate the papers with present state of health and the historical evolution of the profession.

[Research in maternal-child nursing].

Abstract: By way of a short bibliographical revision, these authors outline some general directives for research in the maternal-child area of nursing. They identify existing research projects in this area, which are published in three bibliographical sources. They depict the predominance of emphasis in these projects - be it nursing assistance, administration or teaching. The authors also analyse the tendencies that these current investigations seem to be following.

Controle biológico: Helobdella triserialis lineata Blanchard, 1849 (Hirudinea: Glossiphonidae) sobre Biomphalaria glabrata Say, 1818 (Mollusca: Planorbidae), em laboratório

Abstract: A predacao de Helobdella triserialis lineata Blanchard, 1849 sobre desovas e exemplares de Biomphalaria glabrata Say, 1818, foi acompanhada visando por um lado verificar a extensao desta predacao sobre criacoes deste molusco em laboratorio e, por outro, avaliar a possivel utilizacao desta sanguessuga no controle biologico de planorbineos hospedeiros intermediarios da esquistossomose mansoni em condicoes naturais. Nas condicoes do experimento, H. t. lineata mostrou-se eficaz predadora de exemplares de B. glabrata recem-eclodidos, jovens e adultos com diâmetro de ate 10 mm. Nao ocorreu predacao sobre desovas. Observou-se uma aceleracao do crescimento e uma reducao na oviposicao dos planorbineos mantidos juntos com os hirudineos. Foram feitas algumas observacoes sobre a biologia de H. t. lineata e sugeridas medidas de controle deste hirudineo em criacoes de planorbineos de laboratorio.

EVI antibodies in patients with Chagas' disease: relationship with anti-Trypanosoma cruzi immunoglobulins and effects of specific treatment

Abstract: Antibodies against heart vascular structures and striated muscle cells interstitium (EVI antibodies) persist in Chagas' disease patients who had been cured by specific treatment as demonstrated by negative xenodiagnosis, conventional serology (CS) and complement mediated lysis (CoML). On the other hand, EVI antibodies are either present or absent in treated patients presenting positive CS but negative CoML. Since CoML detects antibodies associated to resistance, EVI antibodies are not likely to participate in the control of T. cruzi infections although they might be induced by cross-reacting antigens of heart cells and the parasite. They are neither necessarily related to antibodies responsible for CS. Absorption with T. cruzi and heart tissue confirms the suggestion that EVI antibodies are induced by a number of antigenic determinants, most from heart structures with a minor participation of T. cruzi antigens.

Investigation of Oguchi's procedure applied to the ising model

Abstract: Approximate critical temperature of the anisotropic ferromagnetic Ising model is calculated using the procedure proposed by Oguchi, with better results than those obtained by the use of Bogolyubov's principle. The calculation is made with linear and double chain trial Hamiltonians. Mittels einem von Oguchi angegebenen Verfahren wird die genaherte kritische Temperatur des anisotropen ferromagnetischen Ising-Modells berechnet, und es werden bessere Ergebnisse als mit dem Bogolyubovschen Prinzip erhalten. Dabei werden Test-Hamiltonfunktionen fur die lineare und doppelte Kette benutzt.

An Approximate Method for the Free Energy

Abstract: A variational approximate free energy expression is derived and used to calculate the critical temperature of the anisotropic Ising model. The results are better consistent than others variationally obtained. Eine Variationsnaherung fur den Ausdruck der Freien Energie wird abgeleitet und fur die Berechnung der kritischen Temperatur eines anisotropen Isingmodells benutzt. Die Ergebnisse sind konsistenter als andere mit Variationsmethoden erzielte.

Rapid extraction and gas-liquid chromatographic determination of benzoic and sorbic acids in beverages.

Abstract: A rapid method for extraction and quantitative determination of sorbic and benzoic acids in carbonated drinks and fruit juices is described. Acidified sample aliquots are transferred onto an Extrelut column. Acid preservatives are then eluted from the column with a mixture of ethyl ether-petroleum ether. Content of preservatives in the concentrated ethereal extract is readily determined by temperature-programmed gas-liquid chromatography without the need to prepare derivatives.