Three Generation ß-Blockers for Atrial Fibrillation Treatment.

The efficiency of blood flowing from the heart depends on its electrical properties. Myocardial electrical activity is associated with generating cardiac action potentials in isolated myocardial cells and their coordinated propagation, which are mediated by gap junctions. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common cardiac arrhythmia which causes an aggressive disturbance in cardiac electromechanical function. Moreover, AF increases the risk of stroke and mortality and is a major cause of death. The mechanisms underlying AF involve electrophysiological changes in ion channel expression and function. ß-blockers may be useful in patients with chronic AF or in preventing postoperative AF in subjects undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) or other types of surgery. The reduction in heart rate induced by ß1-adrenergic receptor antagonists may be associated with the beneficial effect of this drug class. Second generation beta-blockers may be considered superior to the first generation due to their selectivity to the ß1 receptor as well as avoiding pulmonary or metabolic adverse effects. Third generation beta-blockers may be considered a great option for their vasodilation and antioxidant properties. There is also a new ß-blocker, named landilol that also results on reduced risk of post operative AF without adverse effects and its use has been increasing in clinical trials.

Untangling the environmental from the dietary: dust does not matter.

Both dust and silica phytoliths have been shown to contribute to reducing tooth volume during chewing. However, the way and the extent to which they individually contribute to tooth wear in natural conditions is unknown. There is still debate as to whether dental microwear represents a dietary or an environmental signal, with far-reaching implications on evolutionary mechanisms that promote dental phenotypes, such as molar hypsodonty in ruminants, molar lengthening in suids or enamel thickening in human ancestors. By combining controlled-food trials simulating natural conditions and dental microwear textural analysis on sheep, we show that the presence of dust on food items does not overwhelm the dietary signal. Our dataset explores variations in dental microwear textures between ewes fed on dust-free and dust-laden grass or browse fodders. Browsing diets with a dust supplement simulating Harmattan windswept environments contain more silica than dust-free grazing diets. Yet browsers given a dust supplement differ from dust-free grazers. Regardless of the presence or the absence of dust, sheep with different diets yield significantly different dental microwear textures. Dust appears a less significant determinant of dental microwear signatures than the intrinsic properties of ingested foods, implying that diet plays a critical role in driving the natural selection of dental innovations.

Seeds, browse, and tooth wear: a sheep perspective.

While grazing as a selective factor towards hypsodont dentition on mammals has gained a lot of attention, the importance of fruits and seeds as fallback resources for many browsing ungulates has caught much less attention. Controlled-food experiments, by reducing the dietary range, allow for a direct quantification of the effect of each type of items separately on enamel abrasion. We present the results of a dental microwear texture analysis on 40 ewes clustered into four different controlled diets: clover alone, and then three diets composed of clover together with either barley, corn, or chestnuts. Among the seed-eating groups, only the barley one shows higher complexity than the seed-free group. Canonical discriminant analysis is successful at correctly classifying the majority of clover- and seed-fed ewes. Although this study focuses on diets which all fall within a single dietary category (browse), the groups show variations in dental microwear textures in relation with the presence and the type of seeds. More than a matter of seed size and hardness, a high amount of kernels ingested per day is found to be correlated with high complexity on enamel molar facets. This highlights the high variability of the physical properties of the foods falling under the browsing umbrella.

Implantação de um centro na área das violências doméstica e sexual em Campos dos Goytacazes, Rio de Janeiro, 2009-2012 / Implementation of a domestic and sexual violence care center in Campos dos Goytacazes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2009-2012 / Implementación de un centro en áreas de violencia doméstica y sexual en Campos dos Goytacazes, Río de Janeiro, Brasil, 2009-2012

OBJETIVO: descrever a experiência de implantação do Centro de Atendimento, Pesquisas e Estudos na Área das Violências Doméstica e Sexual (Capevi) em Campos dos Goytacazes-RJ, Brasil, 2009-2012. MÉTODOS: foram convocadas câmaras técnicas entre as secretarias municipais de Saúde e da Família e Assistência Social para implantação do Capevi, visando à reorganização da rede de assistência em urgência e emergência e unificação do instrumento de notificação de violência doméstica e sexual nos sistemas de Notificação de Violências (Sinov) e de Informação de Agravos de Notificação (Sinan). RESULTADOS: após a implantação, cresceram aproximadamente 2000% as notificações no Sinov-Sinan; os tipos de violência com maior incremento de casos no período estudado foram física (de 14 para 435), psicológica/moral (de 4 para 338), tortura (de 3 para 61) e doméstica (de 17 para 200). CONCLUSÃO: o Capevi permitiu o redimensionamento da rede de enfrentamento à violência local e propiciou o aumento quantitativo de notificações.

OBJECTIVE: to describe the experience of implementing a Domestic and Sexual Violence Care and Research Center (Capevi) in the municipality of Campos dos Goytacazes, state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2009-2012. METHODS: Municipal Health, Family and Social Services Department technical chambers were convened to guide the Center's implantation 2010, with the aim of reorganizing the urgency and emergency care network and unifying the domestic and sexual violence notification instrument on the Violence Notification System (Sinov)and on the Notifiable Diseases Information System (Sinan). RESULTS: after the implementation of the Center notifications on the two Systems increased around 2000%; notifications of violence that incresed the most were physical (from 14 to 435), psychological/moral (from 4 to 338), torture (from 3 to 61) and domestic violence (from 17 to 200). CONCLUSION: the implementation of the Center allowed the city's network to combat violence to be resized and this impacted on increased reporting.

OBJETIVO: describir la experiencia de implementación de un centro de atención, investigación y estudios en el área de violencia doméstica y sexual (Capevi) en el municipio de "Campos dos Goytacazes", estado de Río de Janeiro, Brasil, 2009-2012. MÉTODOS: convocamos cámaras técnicas de las secretarías municipales de salud y familia y, asistencia social para la implantación del Capevi; con el objetivo de reorganizar la red de asistencia a urgencias y emergencias y la unificación del instrumento de notificación de violencia doméstica y sexual en los sistemas de notificación de violencia (Sinov) y Sistema de Información de Enfermedades de Declaración Obligatoria (Sinan). RESULTADOS: después de la implantación, hubo un aumento de hasta 2000% en las notificaciones de los sistemas Sinov-Sinan; los tipos de violencia con mayor incremento de casos en el periodo estudiado fueron la física (de 14 para 453), psicológica/moral (de 4 para 338), tortura (de 3 para 61) y doméstica (de 17 para 200). CONCLUSIONES: el Capevi permitió el redimensionamiento de la red de atención contra la violencia local, propiciando el aumento cuantitativo de notificaciones.