Concerns regarding the follow-up of children conceived after assisted reproduction in Latin America.

Children born through assisted reproduction are not usually followed up in Latin America. However, in spite of all the social-economic and cultural complexity of this part of the world, professionals involved in assisted reproduction should not relinquish the responsibility of following up these children. In May 2002, the Centre for Human Reproduction Sinhá Junqueira, started a specific project for evaluation and follow-up of its children. It is the first centre in Brazil, and probably in Latin America, with this aim, and this paper reports initial results concerning the intellectual development of these children.

Estudo experimental da resposta terapêutica em abcessos sub-cutâneos provocados por injeçäo de terebintina em ratos / Experimental research of the therapeutical response in subcutaneous abscesses in mice caused by ingestion of tupentine

Os autores estudaram experimentalmente a açäo antiinflamatória de Belladonna e Silicea em ratos nos quais se provocou abcesso subcutâneo com injeçäo de terebintina.

Cardiac hypertrophy due to pressure and volume overload: distinctly different biological phenomena?

Myocardial hypertrophy is a morphological adaptive response to chronic work overload imposed on the heart. It has been categorized into two distinct basic types: concentric hypertrophy, occurring in response to a sustained pressure overload in which wall thickness increases without chamber enlargement, and eccentric hypertrophy, in response to a chronic volume overload in which chamber volume enlarges without a relative increase in its wall thickness. It should be emphasized, in this context, that these adjectives are somewhat confusing, since the hypertrophy observed is not eccentric in the fashion often seen in the left ventricle of patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. In fact, the hypertrophy is concentric in both instances, but is associated with an increase in chamber volume when described as eccentric, yet occurring with a maintained volume when said to be concentric. In rats made anemic by iron deficiency, the volume overloaded heart achieves an adaptive increase in mass characterized as hypertrophy occurring in the setting of dilated ventricle. This so-called eccentric hypertrophy depends on catecholamines as possible signals for myocardial growth, and progresses with preserved ultrastructure and contractile performance of the cardiac muscle. A gradually imposed volume overload results in a harmonious growth of the heart (it retains a relative normal shape, becoming a magnified normal heart), probably mediated by release of catecholamines into the myocardium. This process resembles the normal cardiac growth in response to the obligatory volume load imposed by an increasing cardiac output (greater metabolic demands) and blood volume.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Calcific degeneration of pericardial valvular xenografts implanted subcutaneously in rats.

Tissue valve dystrophic calcification, resulting in hemodynamic regurgitation and/or stenosis, is the most serious complication when bioprosthetic heart valves are concerned. The objective of this investigation was to define morphologically the sequential development of calcific deposits in pericardial tissue cusps of unimplanted cardiac bioprostheses implanted subcutaneously in rats. Small samples of pericardium were implanted subcutaneously in the dorsal area of young rats weighing 60-80 g. The animals were selected randomly and sacrificed at days 1, 2, 7, 14 and 28 after implantation. The specimens were retrieved and studied morphologically. Calcific deposits were seen grossly as small punctate white masses from day 7 after implantation, progressively becoming more extensive. The light and electron microscopic studies showed that: calcific deposits occurred as early as 24 hours after implantation, the calcific degenerative process was progressive with time, and the mineralization was diffuse, although irregular in degree. The ultrastructural findings revealed that cytoplasmic organelles (mitochondria in particular) and plasma membrane of connective tissue cells appear to serve as initial sites of the process of calcification, which then progresses in the interfibrillar spaces, adjacent to collagen fibrils and elastic fibers.

Electron microscopic study on the cardiac hypertrophy induced by iron deficiency anaemia in the rat.

In this investigation the ultrastructure of the hypertrophied myocardium of anaemic iron-deficient rats was studied. Iron deficiency anaemia was induced by feeding rats on an iron-deficient diet for 30 days from the time of weaning. Anaemia was indicated by lowering of blood haemoglobin levels. The results clearly demonstrated that experimentally-induced iron deficiency anaemia brings about striking morphological changes in the heart of the rat. These changes were characterized by marked cellular hypertrophy together with distinct cellular degeneration and interstitial fibrosis. It is noteworthy that ultrastructural features of myocardial hypertrophy and degeneration occurred simultaneously. The potential role of noradrenaline in the pathogenesis of these changes is discussed.

Pathogenesis of cardiac hypertrophy in iron deficiency anaemia: the role of noradrenaline.

This study examined the effect of long-term administration of reserpine, an adrenergic blocking agent, on cardiac hypertrophy in animals with severe iron deficiency anaemia. This condition was induced by feeding rats on an iron-deficient diet for 30 days from the time of weaning. Anaemia was indicated by lowering of blood haemoglobin levels. Reserpine was administered i.p. (0.15 mg/kg body wt) every day during the experiment. Marked cardiac hypertrophy, as indicated by increase heart weight and increased size of cardiac muscle cells, was evidenced in iron-deficient rats, while the heart weights and myocardial cell size of drug-treated anaemic rats were in the normal range. The successful prevention of cardiac hypertrophy in anaemic iron-deficient rats by reserpine administration supports the hypothesis that noradrenaline plays a key role in the cardiac-hypertrophy process in iron deficiency anaemia.

The effect of iron deficiency anemia in the rat on catecholamine levels and heart morphology.

Noradrenaline levels and heart morphology were studied in animals with severe iron deficiency anaemia. This condition was induced by feeding rats an iron-deficient diet for 30 days from the time of weaning. Anaemia was indicated by the lowering of blood haemoglobin levels. Statistically significant decreases in myocardial noradrenaline levels associated with cardiac hypertrophy, as revealed by increased wet heart weight and increased size of cardiac muscle cells, were observed in anaemic rats compared with controls.

Impairment of fat absorption induced by alcohol in rats.

Rats were maintained 16 weeks on a well-balanced semipurified solid diet supplemented with alcohol which comprised 35% of total calories. A control group was pair-fed the same basic diet with sucrose replacing alcohol isocalorically. Fecal fat excretion was evaluated. The mean fecal fat excretion of alcohol-fed rats was 40% higher than that of pair-fed controls. The possible pathogenic mechanism of such functional alteration is discussed.