Abstract To analyze the surface topography and mechanical properties of a polyurethane derived from castor oil reinforced with hydroxyapatite (PU–HA) for bone fixation. The surface analysis was performed by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and the mechanical properties by Vickers microhardness and tensile tests. The SEM images showed that the PU surface presented important characteristics for materials intended for bone fixation, such as an irregular and porous surface. The analysis showed a surface with alternating areas with depressions and elevations of approximately 80±100 µm, presence of pores of 12 µm in size. The microhardness analysis showed values of 0.42±1.01 HV for PU–HA plates, lower in relation to the poly lactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) plate (control group). The elastic modulus and ultimate tensile strength of 317.4 MPa, and 35.57 MPa for PLGA sample, 1.187 MPa, and 0.29 MPa for PU–HA sample. The PU produced showed good surface properties, however demands better mechanical properties.

Abstract The differential diagnosis of optic neuritis is broad and varied. We report the case of a 24-year-old Brazilian man who presented with five-week history of fever, malaise, myalgia, severe fatigue, tender right preauricular lymphadenopathy, and acute vision blurring associated with right optic disc swelling and exudates in a macular star pattern. His illness developed soon after an infestation of fleas broke out among his cats. Diagnosis of ocular bartonellosis was confirmed by serological and molecular analyses targeting amplification of Bartonella spp. htrA gene. Signs and symptoms only improved after initiation of antimicrobial therapy.

ABSTRACT Mycobacterium haemophilum is a nontuberculous mycobacterium that causes localized or disseminated disease, mainly in immunocompromised hosts. We report the case of a 35-year-old HIV-infected woman who presented with several enlarging cutaneous lesions over the arms and legs. Histopathological examination revealed the diagnosis of a cutaneous mycobacterial disease. Mycobacterial analyses unveiled M. haemophilum infection. Six months after completion of a successful antimycobacterial treatment, she developed an immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS). This paradoxical relapse presented as tenderness, redness and swelling at the precise sites of the healed lesions and took place in the setting of significant recovery of the CD4 cell count (from 05 to 318 cells/mm 3 ). Microbiological analyses of these worsening lesions were negative, and they spontaneously remitted without the initiation of a novel antimycobacterial treatment cycle. M. haemophilum infection should always be considered as a cause of skin lesions in immunocompromised subjects. Physicians should be aware of the possibility of IRIS as a complication of successful antiretroviral therapy in HIV-infected patients with M. haemophilum infection.

ABSTRACT Objectives The increase in HIV transmissibility in non-ulcerative sexually transmitted infection is already well-established. It is estimated that symptomatic carriers of N. gonorrhoeae and C. trachomatis have a relative risk of 4.8-fold and 3.6-fold, respectively, for the sexual acquisition of HIV. This type of evaluation for asymptomatic urethritis is necessary to reinforce strategies to combat HIV transmission. This study aims to assess the prevalence of patients with asymptomatic urethritis among men diagnosed with HIV-1 and determine the risk factors associated with this infection. Methods We enrolled a total of 115 male patients aged 18 years or older who have been diagnosed with HIV infection and have no symptoms of urethritis or other sexually transmitted infections and who have been evaluated between May and August 2015 in a follow-up visit at the Immunology Outpatient Clinic of a Brazilian University Hospital. Results Four asymptomatic patients were positive for C. trachomatis and were considered asymptomatic carriers of urethritis. Prevalence was 3.47%. Patients who were positive for C. trachomatis urethritis had a lower mean age (p = 0.015). Conclusion The presence of asymptomatic sexually transmitted infection is a challenge in clinical practice. We recommend that, in outpatient practice, the habit of inquiring on previous sexual behavior to obtain more information about risks and associations with asymptomatic sexually transmitted infection, a routine physical examination and complementary tests to detect STI pathogens should be performed to discard these conditions. The development of rapid tests for this purpose should also be encouraged.

ABSTRACT A prevalence of 3.47% of asymptomatic Chlamydia trachomatis urethritis has been previously reported among males living with HIV infection in Brazil. This study aims to assess the recurrence of C. trachomatis urethritis three years later in the same cohort of patients and analyze associated risk factors. A total of 115 male patients diagnosed with HIV infection, with no symptoms of urethritis and observed since May of 2015 in followup visits were enrolled. They had urine samplers tested by PCR for C. trachomatis and N. gonorrhoeae between February and March 2018. Results: Three of the four patients who had asymptomatic C. trachomatis urethritis three years before were recurrently positive for C. trachomatis urethritis. Two new patients were diagnosed as positives, accounting for a total asymptomatic C. trachomatis urethritis prevalence of 4.34%. The prevalence during the whole study was 5.21%. The relative risk for a new urethritis episode among those previously diagnosed with urethritis is RR=41.62 (95% CI: 9.42-183.84), p < 0.01. Patients who presented asymptomatic urethritis anytime and who were recurrently positive for C. trachomatis had a lower mean age (p<0.01). Married individuals were protected regarding asymptomatic urethritis [p<0.01, OR = 0.04 (0.005-0.4)] and had lower risk to develop recurrence [p<0.01, RR = 0.86 (0.74-0.99)]. Illicit drugs users had risk associated to asymptomatic urethritis [p=0.02, OR= 5.9 (1.03-34)] and higher risk to develop recurrence [p<0.01, RR=1.1 (1-1.22)]. Conclusion: The recurrence of asymptomatic C. trachomatis urethritis after treatment among males living with HIV infection in Brazil can be considered high and should not be neglected.

ABSTRACT Bacillary angiomatosis (BA) is an angioproliferative disease of immunocompromised patients that usually presents as vascular tumors in the skin and subcutaneous tissues. It is caused by chronic infections with either Bartonella henselae or B. quintana. Oral cavity BA is exceedingly rare and even rarer without simultaneous cutaneous disease. We report herein the case of a 51-year-old HIV-infected man who presented severe odynophagia and an eroded lesion on the hard palate that progressed to an oronasal fistula. No cutaneous lesions were recorded. Doxycycline led to complete resolution. To the best of our knowledge, only six previous cases of oral BA without tegumentary disease have been previously reported and none of them progressed to fistula.

Objective This study aims to estimate the prevalence of thyroid diseases and anti-TPO status. We searched for an association among presence of immune reconstitution and use of stavudine, didanosine and protease inhibitors with thyroid diseases. Materials and methods A cross-sectional study was performed to analyze the records of 117 HIV-infected patients who had their CD4+ cell count, viral load, anti-TPO, TSH and free T4 levels collected on the same day. Immune reconstitution was considered in those whose T CD4+ count was below 200 cells/mm3, but these values increased above 200 cells/mm3 after the use of antiretrovirals. The odds ratio obtained by a 2x2 contingency table and a chi-square test were used to measure the association between categorical variables. Results The prevalence of thyroid disease was 34.18%; of these, 4.34% were positive for anti-TPO. There was an association of risk between stavudine use and subclinical hypothyroidism (OR = 4.19, 95% CI: 1.29 to 13.59, X2 = 6.37, p = 0.01). Immune reconstitution achieved protection associated with thyroid disease that was near statistical significance OR = 0.45, 95% CI: 0.19 to 1.04, X2 = 3.55, p = 0.059. Conclusion The prevalence of thyroid disease in the sample studied was higher than what had been found in the literature, with a low positive anti-TPO frequency. The historical use of stavudine has an association of risk for the presence of subclinical hypothyroidism, and immune reconstitution has trends towards protection for the presence of thyroid diseases.

A síndrome inflamatória da reconstituição imune (IRIS) observada quando do início da terapia antirretroviral em indivíduos com infecção pelo HIV envolve mais comumente manifestações novas ou piora clínica de desordens infecciosas, previamente subclínicas ou não. Muito mais raras são as descrições de casos de IRIS de natureza não-infecciosa, embora representem importantes desafios ao diagnóstico e tratamento. Neste relato descrevemos um paciente HIV-positivo do sexo masculino, de 34 anos, sem antecedentes de gota e que desenvolveu monoartrite de gota um mês após início de terapia antirretroviral de alta atividade.

Immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) in HIV-infected subjects initiating antiretroviral therapy most commonly involves new or worsening manifestations of previously subclinical or overt infectious diseases. Reports of non-infectious IRIS are much less common but represent important diagnostic and treatment challenges. We report on a 34-year-old HIV-infected male patient with no history of gout who developed acute gouty arthritis in a single joint one month after initiating highly active antiretroviral therapy.

Existem poucos dados disponíveis sobre as propriedades farmacológicas da Heteropterys aphrodisiaca O. Mach. (Malpighiaceae), nativa da região do pantanal brasileiro. O presente estudo investigou o efeito do tratamento oral com um extrato de H. aphrodisiaca (BST0298) sobre a memória e aprendizagem de ratos jovens (3-6 meses) e idosos (21-23 meses) e comparou a atividade antioxidante in vitro de três lotes, coletados em diferentes anos. Melhora quanto ao número de sessões necessárias para aprender a tarefa foi observada no teste de discriminação direita/esquerda em ratos idosos tratados por 45 dias com doses de 25 mg/kg (7,0 ± 0,5; p=0,005) e 50 mg/kg (7,6 ± 0,6; p=0,012) comparados com ratos idosos controle (11,0 ± 1,6). Por outro lado, o pré-tratamento com o extrato não melhorou o desempenho de camundongos tratados com escopolamina no teste da esquiva passiva. Em relação à avaliação da atividade antioxidante in vitro pelo teste do malonodialdeído, os três lotes analisados apresentaram atividade antioxidante semelhante. Os flavonóides astilbina, isoastilbina e neoastilbina foram isolados do extrato e podem contribuir para a atividade biológica. Estes resultados sugerem que a administração repetida de H. aphrodisiaca melhora a memória e aprendizagem provavelmente por um mecanismo não muscarínico.

Few data exists about the pharmacological properties of Heteropterys aphrodisiaca O. Mach. (Malpighiaceae), which is native to the scrubland regions of Brazil. The present study investigated the effects of oral treatment with H. aphrodisiaca extract (BST0298) on the learning and memory of young (3-6 months) and aged (21-23 months) rats, and compared the in vitro antioxidant activity of three lots collected in different years. An improvement in the number of sessions to learn the task was observed in the left/right discrimination test in aged rats treated for 45 days with 25 mg/kg (7.0 ± 0.5; p=0.005) or 50 mg/kg (7.6 ± 0.6; p=0.012) compared with control old rats (11.0 ± 1.6). On the other hand, pre-treatment did not improve the performance of scopolamine-treated mice in the passive avoidance test. The in vitro malondialdehyde test showed that all three different extracts presented similar antioxidant activity. The flavonoids astilbin, isoastilbin and neoastilbin were isolated from the extract and may contribute to the biological activity. These results suggest that repeated treatment with H. aphrodisiaca improves learning and memory, probably by a non-muscarinic mechanism.

Estudou-se a distribuição e diversidade de espécies de Anopheles em 123 municípios do Estado do Maranhão, Brasil. O método básico foi a captura de fêmeas dentro e nos arredores das habitações humanas, em intervalos compreendidos entre 18h e 6h, no período de janeiro de 1992 a dezembro de 2001. Foram capturados 84.467 exemplares distribuídos em 24 espécies, com o predomínio de A. triannulatus sensu lato (20.788), A. darlingi (19.083), A. nuneztovari (16.884), A. albitarsis s.l. (14.352), A. aquasalis (8.202) e A. evansae (2.885). As outras 18 espécies juntas representaram apenas 2,7%. As espécies encontradas no maior número de municípios foram: A. albitarsis s.l. (109 municípios), A. triannulatus s.l. (106), A. nuneztovari (93), A. darlingi (87) e A. evansae (64). A riqueza e a ampla distribuição das espécies de anofelinos no Maranhão concordam com a posição geográfica do estado, entre as macrorregiões que caracterizam o Brasil, resultando em uma fauna mista, com elementos representativos dessas regiões.

We studied the distribution and diversity of Anopheles species in 123 counties (municipalities) in the State of Maranhão, Brazil. The basic method consisted of capturing female specimens inside and around human dwellings between 6 PM and 6 AM from January 1992 to December 2001. A total of 84,467 specimens belonging to 24 species were captured, with a predominance of A. triannulatus sensu lato (20,788), A. darlingi (19,083), A. nuneztovari (16,884), A. albitarsis s.l. (14,352), A. aquasalis (8.202), and A. evansae (2,885). The other 18 species together accounted for only 2.7% of the total. The species found in the most counties were A. albitarsis s.l. (109 counties), A. triannulatus s.l. (106), A. nuneztovari (93), A. darlingi (87), and A. evansae (64). The richness and wide distribution of anopheline species in Maranhão agree with the State's geographic position among Brazil's macro-regions, resulting in a mixed fauna with representative elements from these regions.

Estudou-se a distribuição e diversidade de espécies de Anopheles em 123 municípios do Estado do Maranhão, Brasil. O método básico foi a captura de fêmeas dentro e nos arredores das habitações humanas, em intervalos compreendidos entre 18h e 6h, no período de janeiro de 1992 a dezembro de 2001. Foram capturados 84.467 exemplares distribuídos em 24 espécies, com o predomínio de A. triannulatus sensu lato (20.788), A. darlingi (19.083), A. nuneztovari (16.884), A. albitarsis s.l. (14.352), A. aquasalis (8.202) e A. evansae (2.885). As outras 18 espécies juntas representaram apenas 2,7%. As espécies encontradas no maior número de municípios foram: A. albitarsis s.l. (109 municípios), A. triannulatus s.l. (106), A. nuneztovari (93), A. darlingi (87) e A. evansae (64). A riqueza e a ampla distribuição das espécies de anofelinos no Maranhão concordam com a posição geográfica do estado, entre as macrorregiões que caracterizam o Brasil, resultando em uma fauna mista, com elementos representativos dessas regiões.

We studied the distribution and diversity of Anopheles species in 123 counties (municipalities) in the State of Maranhão, Brazil. The basic method consisted of capturing female specimens inside and around human dwellings between 6 PM and 6 AM from January 1992 to December 2001. A total of 84,467 specimens belonging to 24 species were captured, with a predominance of A. triannulatus sensu lato (20,788), A. darlingi (19,083), A. nuneztovari (16,884), A. albitarsis s.l. (14,352), A. aquasalis (8.202), and A. evansae (2,885). The other 18 species together accounted for only 2.7% of the total. The species found in the most counties were A. albitarsis s.l. (109 counties), A. triannulatus s.l. (106), A. nuneztovari (93), A. darlingi (87), and A. evansae (64). The richness and wide distribution of anopheline species in Maranhão agree with the State's geographic position among Brazil's macro-regions, resulting in a mixed fauna with representative elements from these regions.

Uma crescente parcela das pesquisas realizadas em Estratégia e em Finanças tem dedicado atenção ao estudo da governança corporativa, destacando suas implicações para o desempenho global das empresas. Uma das formas de avaliar as estruturas e práticas de governança corporativa é verificar a sensibilidade do turnover de executivos ao desempenho da firma, objetivo desta pesquisa. A análise é conduzida tomando como referência um conjunto de 176 empresas industriais listadas na Bovespa entre 1997 e 2001. Os principais resultados obtidos foram três: (a) a composição do conselho de administração não mostrou-se significativa para o nível de turnover; (b) a rentabilidade da empresa esteve correlacionada de forma significativa e negativa com o turnover, indicando que as empresas que atingiram melhores níveis de retorno sobre seus ativos, bem como aquelas que obtiveram maiores valores para a rentabilidade sobre o patrimônio líquido, em média, substituíram menores parcelas de sua diretoria executiva; (c) entre as variáveis estudadas, a mais importante para determinação do turnover é o tamanho da firma.

An increasing stream of research in strategy and finance dedicates attention to the study of corporate governance-especially its implications for firm performance. One of the ways to evaluate common practice and corporate governance structure is to verify the sensitivity of executive turnover to firm performance, which is the focus of this research. This analysis focuses on a sample of 176 industrial companies listed on the São Paulo Stock Exchange from 1997 up to 2001. There are three main results: (a) board composition is not significantly associated with the level of turnover; (b) profitability is significantly and negatively associated with turnover, indicating that better companies with a higher return on assets, as well as those with a higher return on equity, on average, replace fewer executives; (c) among the variables examined, the most important determinant of turnover is firm size.

Retenção dentária é a condição fisiopatológica em que o dente, uma vez chegado o seu momento fisiológico de erupção, apresenta algum impedimento para realizá-lo. O tratamento, com envolvimento cirúrgico-ortodôntico, visa deslocar o elemento dental para a correta posição na arcada dentária, sem causar danos aos elementos dentais adjacentes, restabelecendo a estética e a função. A colagem direta de botões e braquetes ortodônticos para tração de dentes inclusos transformou-se na técnica preferida, pois exige menor extensão cirúrgica e remoção de tecido para acesso à coroa dental. A pesquisa objetivou analisar a intensidade da força aplicada ao conjunto dente/artifício/fio de amarrilho, pelo tracionamento, e observar o local do rompimento. Utilizaram-se 45 pré-molares, conservados em soro fisiológico 0,9%, que foram divididos em 3 grupos (15 com braquetes, 15 com botões e 15 com telas). Os dentes foram fixados em canos de PVC preenchidos com resina acrílica e os acessórios fixados ao dente com resina autopolimerizável. Após a colagem dos acessórios ortodônticos, os dentes voltaram a ser conservados em soro fisiológico e o teste realizado após 72 horas, com a utilização de um sensor de força e um programa de computador (Logger Pro). Com os resultados, observou-se que o braquete resistiu a uma força média de 36,0N, sendo a junção fio/braquete o local menos resistente; o botão resistiu a uma força média de 41,2N, a junção fio/botão ortodôntico foi o local menos resistente e a tela resistiu a uma força média de 28,8N, sendo a junção dente/tela o local menos resistente.

Restrained is the tooth which, reached its physiological moment of eruption, shows some obstruction to accomplish it. The treatment, with orthodontic-surgical involvement, type drives at to dislocate the dental element for right position in the dental arch, without to cause damages for adjacent dental element, re-establishing the aesthetics and function. Therefore, the direct bonding of orthodontic bracket and bouton for retained teeth traction became the preferred technic for, besides more clear, it demands smaller surgical amplitude and tissue removal to grant access to the dental crown. The research intended analyse the intensity of applied force to the entirety teeth/device/tie-wire, tractioning through, and to observe the splot rupture. Maked use of 45 premolar, conserved in 0.9%¹ physiological serum, that was divided into three groups (15 with brackets, 15 with boutons and 15 with frames). The tooth was filled in PVC pipe filled with acrylic resin and the devices was bonded to the teeth with autopolimerizable resin. After the bonding realization of the orthodontic devices, the tooth was be preserved in physiological serum and the tests was be realized after 72 hours of the bonding by means of a computer program. The bracket endured to medium force of 36,0N, being the junction wire-device the spot less resistant; the bouton endured to medium force of 41,2N, the juncion wire-bouton was the plot less resistant and the frame was endured to medium force of 28,8N, being the junction teeth/frame the plot less resistant.