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Objective: To investigate the transport of alpha-tocopherol in lipoproteins of rabbits under normal diet and under acute loading of cholesterol., Design: Two New Zealand White rabbits were fed 14C-alpha-tocopherol acetate in a single oral dose and the recovery of radiolabel in lipoproteins and plasma was monitored. Low density lipoprotein (LDL) from these animals was obtained and labeled with [3H] cholesteryl ester. Three other rabbits were injected with this double-labeled LDL in the native form; while three other animals received this LDL in the acetylated form., Results: Plasma clearance, liver uptake and levels of radiolabel in high density lipoprotein (HDL) of animals injected with 14C[3H]acetyl LDL were significantly higher than those in animals injected with 14C[3H]native LDL. Larger particles of HDL, rich in apolipoprotein E (apoE) carried significantly higher levels of both labels in rabbits injected with acetylated LDL., Conclusion: These results provide evidence for in vivo mechanisms of "reverse alpha-tocopherol transport", analogous to "reverse cholesterol transport".

Objective: To review the neurologic manifestations of AIDS in patients who were admitted to Hospital Guilherme Alvaro (HGA) due to any clinical manifestation of the disease., Design: Case series., Patients: All HIV+ patients admitted to the Faculty Hospital (HGA) between July 96 and April 97 were included in this review., Results: From the 117 HIV+ patients admitted to hospitalization due to AIDS-related symptoms, 50 (42.7%) presented neurologic manifestations. The most prevalent of these was neurotoxoplasmosis (68%), but a variety of other neurologic diseases were observed. Only 36% of these 50 patients had neurological signs and symptoms as the main complaint for admission, 12% of the patients had at least complained of some neurologic dysfunction at the time of admission and 10% had no neurologic complaints at all. The remaining 42% (21 patients) only complained of neurologic manifestations of AIDS when specifically asked., Conclusions: The prevalence of neurologic manifestations of AIDS is very high in patients admitted to hospital. Even in the absence of neurologic-related complaints, these patients have to be carefully questioned and examined in the search for an underlying neurologic complication which may present high morbidity and mortality.

Objectives: Primary headaches are often seen by Clinicians on duty at Emergency Services. We have investigated the treatment of such patients by 43 medical doctors who have been working at Emergency Services in the city of Santos and surrounding towns for many years., Results: We confirmed the high prevalence of primary headaches in Emergency Services. There seem to be diagnosis difficulties concerning differentiating attacks of migraine and tension type headache. We also observed that IV dipirone was the most frequently prescribed treatment for patients with primary headaches in this study. There is no protocol in the literature which recommends IV dipirone for the treatment of migraine attacks or other primary headaches., Conclusion: It would be advisable to perform controlled double blind studies in order to verify the advantages of IV dipirone in the treatment of intense attacks primary headaches. We concluded that headache management recycling programs could be of interest for doctors who regularly work at Emergency Services.