Infection due to Roseomonas spp: a case report

ABSTRACT Male patient, 68 years old, immunocompromised, presented himself with fever and malaise for 15 days. At his hospitalization, peripheral blood and Schilley catheter blood cultures were collected, in addition to computed tomography that showed the presence of a peri-pancreatic collection. The material was drained and the samples were sent to the laboratory. Blood culture was positive for pink coconuts identified by mass spectrometry as Roseomonas spp. with the diagnosis of Bloodstream Infection being closed.

The combination of atorvastatin and ethanol is not more hepatotoxic to rats than the administration of each drug alone

Animal studies and premarketing clinical trials have revealed hepatotoxicity of statins, primarily minor elevations in serum alanine aminotransferase levels. The combined chronic use of medicines and eventual ethanol abuse are common and may present a synergistic action regarding liver injury. Our objective was to study the effect of the chronic use of atorvastatin associated with acute ethanol administration on the liver in a rat model. One group of rats was treated daily for 5 days a week for 2 months with 0.8 mg/kg atorvastatin by gavage. At the end of the treatment the livers were perfused with 72 mM ethanol for 60 min. Control groups (at least 4 animals in each group) consisted of a group of 2-month-old male Wistar EPM-1 rats exposed to 10 percent ethanol (v/v) ad libitum replacing water for 2 months, followed by perfusion of the liver with 61 nM atorvastatin for 60 min, and a group of animals without chronic ethanol treatment whose livers were perfused with atorvastatin and/or ethanol. The combination of atorvastatin with ethanol did not increase the release of injury marker enzymes (alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and lactic dehydrogenase) from the liver and no change in liver function markers (bromosulfophthalein clearance, and oxygen consumption) was observed. Our results suggest that the combination of atorvastatin with ethanol is not more hepatotoxic than the separate use of each substance.

Marsh deer (Blastocerus Dichotomus) reintroduction in the Jataí Ecological Station (Luís Antônio, SP): spatial preferences

A destruição dos habitats naturais e a extinção de espécies têm crescido muito a partir da última metade do século XX. Nesse contexto, o aumento do número de espécies ameaçadas tem proporcionado maior uso da reintrodução como estratégia de conservação no combate à atual taxa de extinção. O presente trabalho focaliza um estudo de 16 meses realizado com cervos-do-pantanal reintroduzidos na Estação Ecológica de Jataí. Os animais foram marcados com rádio-colares e monitorados diariamente entre dezembro de 1998 e abril de 2000, tendo suas atividades de deslocamento e uso do espaço acompanhadas por triangulação. Os animais exploraram várzeas dentro da unidade de conservação e também uma área de várzea pertencente a uma propriedade particular localizada na fronteira oeste da estação. Durante o período de estudo, a maioria dos cervos reintroduzidos utilizou a área de várzea particular mais intensivamente que as várzeas da unidade de conservação. A preferência demonstrada por essa área confirmou sua importância ecológica, evidenciando a necessidade de proteção por meio de sua incorporação aos limites da Estação Ecológica de Jataí. .

Comparison of methods for urinary albumin determination in patients with type 1 diabetes

We tested the correlation of the albumin-to-creatinine ratio (A/C) in an early-morning urine sample, measured with a commercial kit (DCA 2000®), with the conventional immunoturbidimetric determination in the laboratory and with overnight albumin excretion rate (reference method). Fifty-five type 1 diabetic adolescents had their first-morning urine collected on the 1st and 8th day of the period. Urinary albumin and creatinine were determined immediately using the DCA 2000® kit. Samples were also stored for laboratory analysis. To evaluate the correlation between early-morning urinary A/C ratio and overnight albumin excretion rate, 16 subjects had a timed overnight urine collection. A/C ratios determined with the DCA 2000® kit and by the laboratory method were 13.1 ± 20.5 and 20.4 ± 46.3 mg/g, respectively. A/C results by both methods proved to be strongly correlated (r = 0.98, P<0.001). DCA 2000®-determined A/C showed 50 percent sensitivity and 100 percent specificity when compared to the reference method. Spot urinary A/C of the subset of 16 subjects significantly correlated with their overnight albumin excretion rate (r = 0.98, P<0.001). Intraindividual variation ranged from 17 to 32 percent and from 9 to 63 percent for A/C and overnight albumin excretion rate, respectively. In conclusion, an early-morning specimen should be used instead of timed overnight urine and the A/C ratio is an accurate, reliable and easily determined parameter for the screening of diabetic nephropathy. Immediate measurement of the A/C ratio is feasible using the DCA 2000® kit. Intraindividual variability indicates the need for repeated determinations to confirm microalbuminuria and the diagnosis of incipient diabetic nephropathy

Avaliaçäo da sensibilidade a teicoplanina e vancomicina, em Staphylococcus aureus e estafilococos coagulase negativos / Evaluation of teicoplanin and vancomycin susceptibility in Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase-negative staphylococci

Membros do gênero staphylococcus säo os patógenos mais comuns encontrados no ambiente hospitalar e vêm adquirindo resistência múltipla aos antimicrobianos. OBJETIVO. Avaliar as atividades inibitórias in vitro da teicoplanina e da vancomicina frente a 195 amostras de estafilococos isolados de processos infecciosos significativos, provenientes de pacientes internados. MÉTODOS. foram estudadas 100 amostras de Staphylococcus aureus, sendo a metade representada por cepas resistentes à oxacilina, e 95 amostras de estafilococos coagulase negativos (ECN), sendo 44 cepas resistentes à oxacilina, que foram submetidas às provas de sensibilidade pela técnica da diluiçäo en ágar e da difusäo do disco em ágar. RESULTADOS. Todas as cepas (100 por cento) foram sensíveis à vancomicina; as amostras de S. aureus apresentaram MIC90 DE 0,5µg/mL, enquanto que os ECN mostraram MIC90 de 1,0µg/mL. Para a teicoplanina, 98,5 por cento das amsotras se mostraram sensíveis; o MIC90 foi de 0,5µg/mL para as cepas de S. aureus, de 2,0 µg/mL para as cepas de ECN (sensíveis à oxacilina) e de 8,0µg/mL para as cepas de ECN (resistentes à oxacilina). CONCLUSÄO. Do ponto de vista microbiológico, os resultados demonstraram o alto potencial de ambas as drogas como agentes terapêuticos para infecçöes causadas por estafilococos multiresistentes de origem hospitalar