Association between the Brazilian Breastfeeding Network implementation and breastfeeding indicators / Associação entre a implantação da Rede Amamenta Brasil e indicadores de aleitamento materno

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the association between the implementation of the Brazilian Breastfeeding Network and prevalence of breastfeeding in a medium-size city in southern Brazil. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study involving 405 children under 1 year who participated in the second phase of the multivaccination campaign in 2012. Children's consumption of food on the day before the interview was obtained through interviews with mothers or guardians. The manager and one health professional from every health facility that joined the Network were interviewed in order to investigate the process of implementation of this initiative. The association between prevalence of breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding and adherence to the Network implementation process was tested using Poisson regression with robust variance. RESULTS: Multivariate analysis revealed that among the children assisted by health facilities who joined the Network and those attending services that did not adhere to this strategy, the prevalence of breastfeeding (74% and 70.4% among children under 1 year, respectively) and exclusive breastfeeding (43.3% and 38.1% among children under 6 months, respectively) did not differ significantly. Difficulties in implementing the Network, such as high turnover of professionals, not meeting the criteria for accreditation, and insufficient participation of tutors in the process were identified. CONCLUSION: Contrary to the hypothesis of this study, there was no significant association between the implementation of the Brazilian Breastfeeding Network and prevalence of breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding in the studied city. It is possible that the difficulties found in implementing the Network in this city have influenced this result. .

OBJETIVO: Estimar a associação entre a implementação da Rede Amamenta Brasil e as prevalências de aleitamento materno (AM) em um município de médio porte do sul do Brasil. MÉTODOS: Estudo transversal que envolveu 405 crianças menores de um ano que participaram da segunda fase da campanha de multivacinação de 2012. O consumo de alimentos pela criança no dia anterior à entrevista foi obtido mediante entrevistas com as mães ou os responsáveis. Para investigar o processo de implementação da rede foram entrevistados o gerente e um profissional de saúde de cada unidade que aderiu a esse processo. A associação entre as prevalências de AM e AM exclusivo e a adesão ao processo de implementação da rede foi testada com a regressão de Poisson com variância robusta. RESULTADOS: A análise multivariada revelou que entre as crianças assistidas por unidades que aderiram ao processo de implementação da rede e as que frequentam serviços que não aderiram a essa estratégia as prevalências de AM (74% e 70,4% em menores de um ano, respectivamente) e AME (43,3% e 38,1% em menores de seis meses, respectivamente) não diferiram significativamente. Foram identificadas dificuldades na implementação da rede, tais como alta rotatividade dos profissionais, não cumprimento dos critérios para certificação e acompanhamento insuficiente das unidades pelos tutores da rede. CONCLUSÃO: Contrariando a nossa hipótese, não houve associação significativa entre a implementação da Rede Amamenta Brasil e as prevalências de AM e AME no município estudado. É possível que as dificuldades encontradas na implementação da rede nesse município tenham influenciado esse resultado. .

Structural features of LPPG and related compounds isolated from Trypanosoma cruzi trypomastigotes

A hydrophobic fraction isolated from trypomastigotes of Trypanosoma cruzi is being characterized using immunological and chemical techniques. The lipopeptidophosphoglycan (LPPG) was identified in this fraction since it gave a positive reaction with anti-LPPG rabbit serum and had similar structural features such as the presence of ceramide as the lipid moiety, furanoic galactose, and a glycan moiety consistent with that obtained from an authentic sample of epimastigote LPPG, as judged by thin-layer chromatography. Furthermore, the hydrophobic fraction contained other glycolipids with different structural features. The lipid moiety of these compounds is alkylglycerol rather than a ceramide, the carbohydrate chain appears to be less complex than that in LPPG and no reactivity was observed towards an anti-LPPG serum

Free and protein-linked glycoinositolphospholipids in Trypanosoma cruzi

Two glycoinositol phospholipids (GIPL A and GIPL B) have been purified from epimastigotes of Trypanosoma cruzi at the logarithmic phase of growth (2 days). The GIPLs differ mainly in the lipid moiety and are similar to the lipopeptidophosphoglycan (LPPG) previously isolated from epimastigotes at the stationary phase (4-5 days). [3H]-palmitic acid was incorporated into 1-O-hexadecyl-2-O-palmitoylglycerol in GIPL A and into a sphinganine ceramide with palmitic acid and lignoceric acid as the fatty acids in GIPL B. The lipids could be released by incubation with phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C (PI-PLC) or glycosylphosphatidylinositol phospholipase D (GPI-PLD) from rat serum. The oligosaccharides share the common core structure of the glycosylphosphatidilinositol (GPI) membrane anchors. Microheterogeneity was demonstrated, as well as substitution by galactose, which is mainly in the furanose configuration as was previously described for the LPPG. However, methylation analysis indicated that 20 percent of the galactose is present as terminal pyranose units. In infective trypomastigotes, [3H]-palmitic acid was incorporated into the anchor of the Tc-85 glycoprotein. The lipid cleaved by phospholipase C digestion was identified as 1-O-hexadecylglycerol and the main oligosaccharide has the structure of the conserved core of all GPI anchors. [3H]-palmitic acid-labelled Tc-85 released into the culture medium as membrane vesicles showed 80 percent resistance to the action of PI-PLC. However, after mild alkaline hydrolysis, part of the radioactivity was released by the enzyme

On structural aspects of peptidoglycan of bacterial cell wall with special attention on mycobacteria by computer modelling.

The cell wall components of mycobacteria are said to be vitally linked with their pathogenicity. Peptidoglycan, one of the major cell wall component in most of the bacteria are multilayered in gram positive bacteria and it is diverse in nature for the Gram positive strain rather than gram negative. The cell wall of bacteria are primary targets for many drugs and antibiotics and conformation of the major cell wall components provide invaluable information and understanding at molecular level to medicinal chemists and drug designers. Mycobacterial peptidoglycan has been studied critically by computer modelling on various aspects. A plausible structure and conformation has been identified and glycan chain is found to have a pseudo two fold symmetry taking disaccharide unit as monomer with Knox & Murthy H-bond scheme. This paper attempts to clarify the understanding of organisation and possible interaction mode of peptidoglycan of organisation in complex mycobacterial cell wall structure.

Evidence for the presence of ß-D-galactofuranosyl residues (1->3)-linked to a-D-mannopyranose on the cell membrane in all developmental stages of Trypanosoma cruzi

The lipopeptidophosphoglycan (LPPG) component isolated from epimastigote forms of Trypanosoma cruzi has antigenic properties. Using a rabbit antiserum aginst LPPG, specific for ß-D-galactofuranosyl residues (1-3)-linked to alfa-Dmannopyranose, we identified, by indirect immunofluorescence, the presence of epitopes containing ß-D-galactofuranosyl structures on the cell membrane of epimastigote, amastigote and trypomastigote forms of the parasite. The results demonstrade that all developmental stages of T. cruzi contain similar antigenic determinants on their cell body and flagellar membrane