Spontaneous growth and bone age development in a patient with 17alpha-hydroxylase deficiency: evidence of the role of sexual steroids in prepubertal bone maturation.

A male pseudohermaphrodite with 17alpha-hydroxylase deficiency and complete nonvirilization was monitored for excessive weight from the age of 3.5 to 11.5 years before the absence of sex steroids was detected. The retrospective analysis of growth data showed retarded bone age development despite adequate growth, which led to a remarkable increase in final height prognosis.

Gastrointestinal sensory abnormalities in functional dyspepsia.

Symptoms of functional dyspepsia, such as epigastric pain, bloating or early satiety and nausea, are non-specific and are likely to arise from different mechanisms. Current evidence suggests the presence of at least two subgroups: patients who respond to a prolonged course of acid suppression and patients who show a significant overlap of symptoms with other functional gastrointestinal disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome. An enhanced sensitivity of visceral afferent pathways with or without associated autonomic dysregulation appears to play an important role in the aetiology of symptoms in the second group. In the absence of visceral hypersensitivity, neither the slowing of gastric emptying nor the presence of chronic gastritis appears to be sufficient to cause symptoms of functional dyspepsia. The mechanisms and aetiology of visceral hypersensitivity are incompletely understood. An alteration in the interplay between vagal and spinal afferents, and the inadequate activation of antinociceptive systems in response to tissue irritation, may play a role in symptom generation.

[20 years of nursing courses at the Federal University of Parana and the careers of its graduates]. / Os vinte anos do curso de enfermagem na universidade federal do paraná e a trajetória de seus egressos.

This is a retrospective research with nurses graduated from the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR). A brief review of records such as meetings minutes, reports, and interviews documented the facts that built nursing from 1974 to 1994 at UFPR. The program graduated 467 nurses, to whom a questionnaire, containing open and closed questions, was sent. The sample was constituted of 62 graduates who answered the questionnaire. Qualitative and quantitative outcomes are presented in tables, providing support to curriculum changes and offering an alert to the need of conceptual clarification regarding teaching, practice and nursing research.