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Biomedical subjects

P S Beraldo

Publications and source records attributed to P S Beraldo.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

Forced oscillation technique to detect and monitor tracheal stenosis in a tetraplegic patient.

STUDY DESIGN: A case report. OBJECTIVES: To demonstrate forced oscillation technique's (FOT) utility in a tetraplegic patient with tracheostenosis. SETTING: A Rehabilitation Hospital, Brasília, Brazil. METHODS: Serial evaluations of spirometry, bronchoscopy and forced oscillation assessment. RESULTS: A 16-year-old male with C7 spinal cord injury, initially required mechanical ventilation and subsequent tracheostomy over a period of 4 weeks. Five months after the accident the onset of tracheostenosis was diagnosed. Flow-volume data were compatible with a fixed tracheal stenosis. FOT showed an obstructed pattern, manifested by high levels of resonance frequency and impedance. The FOT pattern returned to normal after dilatation. The FOT abnormalities recurred with two subsequent broncoscopicaly confirmed episodes of tracheal restenosis without parallel changes in spirometric parameters. CONCLUSION: This case suggests a role for FOT in the non invasive detection and follow up of tracheal stenosis. FOT may be particularly useful in tetraplegic patients, in whom the restriction from muscle weakness may make interpretation of forced expiratory flow-volume data problematic.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Pyrexia in hospitalised spinal cord injury patients.

To discover the frequency of pyrexia in spinal cord injury (SCI) patients in the Hospital for Medicine of the Locomotor System (HMLS/SARAH), a review study was undertaken. For a period of 3 months, all new episodes of fever were recorded. During the study 221.3 patients/month were observed. The age ranged from 14 to 60 years and time of lesion from 1 to 6,264 days: 85 patients were paraplegia or paraparetic, and 44 tetraplegic or tetraparetic. At the beginning of the study 10.8% of the patients had fever. During follow up, we observed a rate of 33.9 new incidences per 100 patients/month. In 77.3% only one cause was identified, and in 8% no cause could be defined. The commonest causes were urinary tract infection (UTI) (44.3%), and soft tissue infections (11.4%). Frequent causes of fever in the acute stage other than UTI were complications related to the initial trauma and thromboembolic disease (p < 0.05). These results demonstrate the high incidence of fever in patients with SCI, in addition to providing a useful approach for diagnosis and management.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Traumatic injury to the spinal cord. Prevalence in Brazilian hospitals.

Traumatic spinal cord lesions have a worldwide high morbidity and mortality, and in many developed countries the problem has received special attention, based on epidemiological studies. In Brazil these studies have been restricted to institutional data. In 1988 a survey conducted by the Integrated System of Traumatology and Orthopaedics, covering 36 public hospitals from 7 Brazilian capitals, revealed a point prevalence of 8.6% (108 patients) with spinal cord injury, aged from 6-56 years; 81% were men. The most frequent causes were traffic accidents (42%), firearms (27%) and falling from heights (15%). The main complications were pressure ulcers (54%) and urinary infections (32%).

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Cardiac autonomic dysfunction and neuroganglionitis in a rat model of chronic Chagas' disease.

OBJECTIVE: The aim was to evaluate whether the cardiac parasympathetic function in a rat model of chronic Chagas' disease is impaired as in the human disease, and to correlate the functional state to histopathology of the intrinsic autonomic innervation of heart. METHODS: 70 male Wistar rats 8 months infected with strains Y (n = 22), São Felipe (n = 18), and Colombia (n = 30) of Trypanosoma cruzi, were compared with 20 age and sex matched non-infected controls. Baroreflex bradycardia was quantified after multiple bolus injections of phenylephrine (3 to 12 micrograms). For each rat studied a mean was obtained of the absolute and relative (delta %) ratio (index) between the maximum heart rate decrease and the maximum systolic blood pressure increase. RESULTS: For the relative index the means were smaller (p less than 0.05) in the Y [-0.52(SD 0.19)%], São Felipe [-0.45(0.28)%], and Colombia [-0.53(0.21%)] subgroups, as well as in the pooled chagasic group [-0.51(0.22)%], than in the control group [-0.64(0.13)%]. In 32% (7/22), 33% (6/18), and 20% (6/30) of rats infected with Y, São Felipe, and Colombia strains, respectively, and in 27% (19/70) of the pooled group rats, the index exceeded the control group mean by -2 SD. After atropinisation, a similar pronounced reduction (p less than 0.01) in the index was observed in all groups [-84(28)% to -95(17)%]; however, rats with depressed bradycardia showed a smaller (p less than 0.05) reduction in the relative index than control rats, at -70(34) v -92(16%). Inflammatory and degenerative lesions of the intrinsic cardiac innervation were observed in 87% of the rats with autonomic dysfunction. Rats with the lesions showed a mean relative index that was smaller than those without lesions, at -0.44(0.23) v -0.64(0.20)% (p less than 0.01), and also smaller than in the controls. CONCLUSIONS: Cardiac autonomic dysfunction expressed by reduced baroreflex bradycardia was detected in rats chronically infected with T cruzi, as in human Chagas' disease. The disturbance, shown for the first time in an animal model of chagasic infection, resulted primarily from impaired efferent parasympathetic activity caused by intrinsic neuroganglionar lesions.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

[Paracoccidioidomycosis of intramedullar and cerebral localization].

It is reported our diagnosis and therapeutical experience with a patient that presented clinical, radiological and tomographical manifestations of paracoccidioidomycosis with involvement of lungs, brain and spinal cord. Besides being a rare case the authors call attention for the extreme difficulty in defining the final diagnosis, which was achieved only after laminectomy and surgical biopsy of the intra spinal cord tumor at the C5 level. The patient received two series of treatment with ketoconazole (400-600 mg/day). After both the patient presented tonic and clonic convulsive disorders. We speculated about a possible perigranulomatous inflammatory response related to the therapeutical intervention, not yet described in literature.

Central Nervous System Diseases↗
PubMed1985

A new plethysmograph for detecting arterial pulse waves in rat tail.

A new plethysmograph for detecting arterial pulse waves in the rat tail is described. With the objective of indirectly measuring the arterial blood pressure in small animal tails an easy-to-build plethysmographic chamber is presented. Essentially in this apparatus the atmospheric air insulated in the chamber is used as the transmitter of the volume changes caused by the arterial flow. By this methodology details of the pulse wave morphology are clearly visible, including the dicrotic notch. It is demonstrated that his chamber combines simplicity with accuracy.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Effect of experimentally induced renal failure upon the fertility in rats. Fertility in uremic rats.

Two groups of rats, one with surgically induced chronic renal failure and a sham-operated group were used. 10 weeks after surgery the animals were individually mated for 15 days according to 4 different schemes: uremic couple, control couple, a couple with a uremic male, and a couple with a uremic female. A second mating was allowed 18 weeks after surgery. There the uremic rats and nonfertile controls were matched against fertile controls. The experimental group showed a higher percentage of nonfertile rats, their offspring had fewer newborns and the uremic mothers had litters that weighed less at birth. In uremic males low plasma testosterone levels were detected. The analysis of plasma luteinizing hormone in the female and the delayed fertilization of uremic mothers suggest the presence of irregularities in the estrous cycle of uremic females.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Neuronal counting and parasympathetic dysfunction in the hearts of chronically Trypanosoma cruzi-infected rats.

Ten male Wistar rats, chronically infected with Colombian, São Felipe (12SF) and Y strains of Trypanosoma cruzi and ten non-infected control animals were submitted to the bradycardia responsiveness test, an assessment of heart parasympathetic function, after phenylephrine injection. Six chagasic animals showed heart parasympathetic dysfunction characterized by reduction in the index of bradycardia baroreflex responsiveness, as compared with the control group. Microscopic examination of the atrial heart ganglia of chagasic rats showed ganglionitis, but no statistically significant reduction in the number of neurons.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[A quantitative analysis of the mastocytes and eosinophilic granulocytes in the myocardium of Wistar rats chronically infected by Trypanosoma cruzi. A contribution to the knowledge of myocardial fibrosis].

We did mast cell and eosinophil granulocyte counts in the myocardium of forty chronic chagasic Wistar albino rats. We used 10 controls rats and 30 animals with late-stage (8th month) infection of São Felipe, Y and Colombian Trypanosoma cruzi strains, with variable degree of chronic myocarditis. We found chronic fibrosing myocarditis (fibrosis) in 40% of the infected animals. It was detected increased mast cell count in the chagasic rats associated with infection and not related with myocardial fibrosis. There was no increase in the eosinophil counts.

Animals↗