Resumo Objetivo Analisar a eficácia do uso de plasma rico em plaquetas, obtido do sangue periférico e autólogo dos pacientes, na redução das queixas álgicas e melhoria funcional dos pacientes portadores de osteoartrite de joelhos, em comparação com o tratamento padrão com injeção de corticosteroides de depósito, como a triancilonola. Métodos Os pacientes foram acompanhados clinicamente na consulta pré-infiltrativa, com avaliação quantitativa através das escalas Knee Society Score (KSS), Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), e Kellgren and Lawrence. Além disso, os pacientes foram reavaliados com as mesmas escalas após 1 mês e 6 meses de intervenção com 2,5 mL de acetato de triancinolona ou 5 mL de plasma rico em plaquetas. O estudo foi feito em 50 pacientes portadores de osteoartrite de joelhos atendidos no Centro de Especialidades Médicas, divididos em amostras equivalentes randomizadas para cada terapia. Resultados No presente estudo, verificaram-se redução dos valores em escalas álgicas, como a WOMAC, e elevação das pontuações em escalas funcionais, como a KSS, evidenciadas em 180 dias após o uso de plasma rico em plaquetas, uma terapia feita a partir do sangue autólogo do paciente e com menos efeitos colaterais. Conclusão Embora ambas as terapias com plasma rico em plaquetas e corticosteroides tenham se mostrado eficazes na redução das queixas álgicas e na recuperação funcional, houve diferença significativa entre as terapias aos 180 dias. De acordo com os resultados obtidos, no tratamento da osteoartrite do joelho, o plasma rico em plaquetas demonstrou efeitos mais duradouros em 180 dias.

Abstract Objectives This study aimed to analyze the efficacy of platelet-rich plasma obtained from the peripheral, autologous blood of the patients in pain complaints reduction and functional improvement of knee osteoarthritis compared with the standard treatment with injectable corticosteroid, such as triamcinolone. Methods The patients were followed-up clinically at the preinfiltrative visit, with quantitative evaluation using the Knee Society Score (KSS), the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) score, and the Kellgren and Lawrence scales. In addition, they were reevaluated with the same scales after 1 month and 6 months of intervention with 2.5 mL of triamcinolone acetate or 5 mL of platelet-rich plasma. The study was performed on 50 patients with knee osteoarthritis treated at the Medical Specialty Center and randomly divided into equivalent samples for each therapy. Results The present study verified the reduction of pain scores, such as the WOMAC score, and elevations of functional scales, such as the KSS, evidenced in 180 days when using platelet-rich plasma, a therapy that uses the autologous blood of the patient and has fewer side effects. Conclusion Although both platelet-rich plasma and corticosteroid therapies have been shown to be effective in the reduction pain complaints and functional recovery, there was a statistically significant difference between them at 180 days. According to the results obtained, platelet-rich plasma presented longer-lasting effects within 180 days in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis.

Resumo Objetivo Analisar a eficácia do uso de plasma rico em plaquetas (PRP) no tratamento de pacientes portadores de síndrome de impacto do manguito rotador em comparação ao tratamento com injeção subacromial de corticosteroides. Métodos O estudo é de caráter comparativo, longitudinal, duplo cego e randomizado. A evolução clínica dos pacientes foi quantificada pelas escalas The Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) outcome measure, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) shoulder rating scale e Constant-Murley shoulder outcome score (CMS) no dia da aplicação, e novamente após 1, 3, e 6 meses. Resultados Não foram encontradas diferenças etsatisticamente significativas (p< 0.05) ao comparar os resultados do DASH outcome measure, UCLA shoulder rating scale, e CMS dos dois grupos na admissão. Após o tratamento, ambos os grupos apresentaram melhora significativa tanto do DASH, quanto do UCLA (p< 0,05). Entretanto, o escore do CMS referente ao tratamento com corticoide mostrou-se pior no 6° mês em comparação com o escore à admissão. Conclusão Esses achados sugerem que o PRP é um tratamento seguro e que pode ser uma ferramenta útil no arsenal terapêutico contra doenças do manguito rotador, uma vez que não foram encontradas diferenças significativas entre os grupos que receberam PRP e injeção subacromial de corticosteroides.

Abstract Objective This research aims to study the effectiveness of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) in the treatment of patients with rotator cuff impingement syndrome compared with the treatment with subacromial injection of corticosteroids. Methods This is a double-blind, randomized, comparative clinical trial. The patients were clinically evaluated with the use of the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) outcome measure, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) shoulder rating scale and Constant-Murley shoulder outcome score (CMS) on the day of application, and then again after 1, 3 and 6 months. Results No statistically significant differences were found (p < 0.05) when comparing the results of the DASH outcome measure, UCLA shoulder rating scale and CMS of the two groups at baseline and after 1, 3, and 6 months of treatment with subacromial injection. After the treatment, both groups showed a significant improvement in the DASH and UCLA scores (p < 0.05) when compared with the baseline. However, the CMS at 6 months after treatment with steroids was lower than the baseline. Concusions These findings suggest that PRP is a safe treatment and can be a useful tool in the therapeutic arsenal against of the rotator cuff diseases, for there was no significant difference between the subacromial use of PRP and corticosteroids.

Abstract Introduction A new method for segmenting and quantifying the macular area based on morphological alternating sequential filtering (ASF) is proposed. Previous studies show that persons with diabetes present alterations in the foveal avascular zone (FAZ) prior to the appearance of retinopathy. Thus, a proper characterization of FAZ using a method of automatic classification and prediction is a supportive and complementary tool for medical evaluation of the macular region, and may be useful for possible early treatment of eye diseases in persons without diabetic retinopathy. Methods We obtained high-resolution retinal images using a non-invasive functional imaging system called Retinal Function Imager to generate a series of combined capillary perfusion maps. We filtered sequentially the macular images to reduce the complexity by ASF. Then we segmented the FAZ using watershed transform from an automatic selection of markers. Using Hu’s moment invariants as a descriptor, we can automatically classify and categorize each FAZ. Results The FAZ differences between non-diabetic volunteers and diabetic subjects were automatically distinguished by the proposed system with an accuracy of 81%. Conclusion This is an innovative method to classify FAZ using a fully automatic algorithm for segmentation (based on morphological operators) and for the classification (based on descriptor formed by Hu’s moments) despite the presence of edema or other structures. This is an alternative tool for eye exams, which may contribute to the analysis and evaluation of FAZ morphology, promoting the prevention of macular impairment in diabetics without retinopathy.

Os pêndulos são muito empregados nas atividades de ensino de cursos introdutórios de física. Nessas atividades, frequentemente, faz-se uso de modelos ideais para estudar o comportamento do pêndulo. Neste trabalho é sugerido um modelo que leva em conta o amortecimento das oscilações. Uma metodologia experimental é proposta com a finalidade de detectar a diminuição da amplitude das oscilações e ajustar estes dados a um modelo matemático. Os resultados demonstram que o pêndulo simples, composto de esferas de pequeno volume e oscilando com baixas velocidades, pode ser estudado por modelos simplificados. A metodologia e o modelo matemático são compatíveis com o nível de conhecimento de alunos de cursos introdutórios de física e oferecem uma visão mais realística sobre o comportamento do pêndulo.

The pendula are largely used in teaching activities of physical introductory courses. Often, in these activities an ideal model is used to study the behavior of the pendulum. In this work a model that takes into account the oscillation damping is suggested. An experimental methodology is purposed aiming to detect the falling down of oscillation amplitude and to fit these data to a mathematical model. The results show that the simple pendulum, set up by a small volume sphere and oscillating on low speed, can be studied with simplified models. The methodology and the mathematical model are appropriated for the knowledge level of the students from physic introductory courses and offer a more realistic insight about the pendulum behavior.

This paper presents a performance analysis of source, shortest path, hierarchical and geographical routing strategies, which are the three most commonly, implemented strategies employed by wireless ad-hoc and sensor networks. Source routing was selected because it does not require costly topology maintenance, while shortest path routing was chosen because of its simple discovery routing approach and hierarchical and geographical routing was elected because it uses location information via Global Positioning System (GPS). Many current applications require precise knowledge of physical positioning information, particularly in the areas of health, military, agriculture, robotics, and environmental and structural monitoring. Additionally, the shortest path routing technique was chosen because it is employed in several data-centric wireless sensor network algorithms such as Direct Diffusion, Rumor Routing, Gradient-Based Routing and the ZigBee standard. The performance of these three routing strategies is evaluated by providing simulation results based on latency, End to End Delay (EED), packet delivery ratio, routing overhead, overhead and routing load. Source routing only improves shortest path and hierarchical and geographical routing in terms of latency, hierarchical and geographical routing performs the worst because it must send hello packets in order to acquire and transmit location information. However, despite these significant disadvantages, hierarchical and geographical routing remains the routing option most often used in health, military, agriculture, robotic, and environmental and structural monitoring.

In this work, we present the design and construction of a femtosecond laser pulse autocorrelator, based on the two-photon absorption process in a light emitting diode (LED). Compared with traditional autocorrelators based on nonlinear crystals, this autocorrelator has the advantages of lower cost and greater ease of alignment. The intensity and interferometric autocorrelation traces obtained with this device for a titanium-sapphire laser with pulses that are less than 100 fs long, are also presented.

En este trabajo se presentan el diseño y la construcción de un autocorrelador de pulsos de láser de femtosegundos, basado en el proceso de absorción de dos fotones en un diodo luminiscente (LED). Comparado con los autocorreladores tradicionales basados en cristales nolineales, este autocorrelador presenta las ventajas de un costo reducido, así como de una mayor sencillez en su uso y alineación. Se presentan las trazas de autocorrelación de intensidad e interferométrica obtenidas con este dispositivo para un láser de titanio:zafiro con pulsos de menos de 100 fs de duración.

Estudos recentes têm demonstrado que os bioflavonóides afetam vários sistemas enzimáticos nos mamíferos. A dura-máter é um tecido que recebe inervação peptidérgica. No cérebro, a inflamação neurogênica envolve a liberação da substância P (SP) por terminais nervosos sensoriais e é modulada pela endopeptidase neutra (NEP) e pela enzima conversora da angiotensina (ECA). Neste estudo, avaliamos o efeito da quercetina, que representa mais de 50% dos bioflavonóides, sobre o extravasamento plasmático induzido pela SP em tecidos selecionados no sistema nervoso central de ratos e dura-máter. Também examinamos o efeito da inibição seletiva das enzimas metabolizadoras da SP (NEP e ECA). A administração de SP (10 nmol/kg e 30 nmol/kg, i.v.) aumentou o extravasamento plasmático de maneira dose dependente na duramáter, não apresentando nenhum efeito nos outros tecidos; este efeito foi potencializado por inibidores seletivos da NEP e da ECA. A quercetina (30 mg/kg v.o.) aumentou o extravasamento plasmático em relação ao controle em todos os tecidos. O prétratamento com quercetina potenciou significativamente o extravasamento plasmático induzido pela SP (10 nmol/kg) na dura-máter. Resultados obtidos com o pré-tratamento com antagonistas específicos para receptores da substância P e bradicinina (NK-1 e B2) sugerem que o aumento do extravasamento plasmático induzido pela quercetina e a potenciação da resposta à SP foram devidos ao acúmulo deste neuropeptídeo na dura-máter.