Motor behavioral abnormalities and histopathological findings of Wistar rats inoculated with HTLV-1-infected MT2 cells

The objective of the present study was to describe motor behavioral changes in association with histopathological and hematological findings in Wistar rats inoculated intravenously with human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1)-infected MT2 cells. Twenty-five 4-month-old male rats were inoculated with HTLV-1-infected MT2 cells and 13 control rats were inoculated with normal human lymphocytes. The behavior of the rats was observed before and 5, 10, 15, and 20 months after inoculation during a 30-min/rat testing time for 5 consecutive days. During each of 4 periods, a subset of rats was randomly chosen to be sacrificed in order to harvest the spinal cord for histopathological analysis and to obtain blood for serological and molecular studies. Behavioral analyses of the HTLV-1-inoculated rats showed a significant decrease of climbing, walking and freezing, and an increase of scratching, sniffing, biting, licking, and resting/sleeping. Two of the 25 HTLV-1-inoculated rats (8 percent) developed spastic paraparesis as a major behavioral change. The histopathological changes were few and mild, but in some cases there was diffuse lymphocyte infiltration. The minor and major behavioral changes occurred after 10-20 months of evolution. The long-term observation of Wistar rats inoculated with HTLV-1-infected MT2 cells showed major (spastic paraparesis) and minor motor abnormalities in association with the degree of HTLV-1-induced myelopathy.

Refluxo gastroesofágico (RGE) na infância: II. Avaliaçäo de diferentes métodos diagnósticos / Gastroesophageal reflux in infants: II. Evaluation of different diagnosis methods

Säo estudados 30 pacientes de 36 dias a 10 anos, com sintomas sugestivos de RGE, os quais foram submetidos a três diferentes procedimentos diagnósticos: radiologia contrastada do trato gastrintestinal superior com fluoroscopia intermitente, cintilografia gastroesofágica e teste do refluxo ácido. O teste do refluxo ácido mostrou alta sensibilidade com 96,6% de positividade para RGE e também alta especificidade (87,5%). O método cintilográfico foi mais sensível (70%) que o radiológico (63%). A análise comparativa de dois métodos, através do teste de Mc Nemar, demonstrou que as discordâncias foram causais para a radiologia e cintilografia, näo havendo diferença na eleiçäo de um ou outro método, o mesmo näo acontecendo quando comparados com o teste do refluxo ácido, o qual mostrou ser o melhor método para caracterizar RGE. No entanto, devido à limitaçäo de cada teste e possíveis erros diagnósticos, o emprego de uma combinaçäo de testes em que dois ou mais resultem positivos parece ser mais aconselhável