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BACKGROUND: Irritable bowel syndrome is a functional and chronic gastrointestinal disorder that may cause abdominal pain and altered bowel habits, affecting the nutritional status and quality of life of its carriers. Its prevalence is high, affecting about 10% to 15% of the general population in developed countries, being more prevalent in women than in men in the proportion 2:1. OBJECTIVE: The aim of our study was to compare the profile of body adiposity, life habits, and the quality of life of women with irritable bowel syndrome with a healthy control group. METHODS: Case-control study on 70 women, 34 with irritable bowel syndrome and 36 healthy. We applied the “Irritable Bowel Syndrome Quality of Life Questionnaire”to assess quality of life. Body adiposity was assessed from body mass index, waist circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio. We investigated the self-reporting of gastrointestinal symptoms with food deemed as problematic for carriers of irritable bowel syndrome and the presence of typical comorbidities. Assessment of life habits included: practice of physical activities, alcoholism, smoking, daytime sleepiness, and exclusion of foods from the feeding routine. For statistical analysis we used the IBM SPSS program, with a significance level at 5%. RESULTS: There was higher volume of central and general adiposity in the case group compared with the control group (P

Dengue is a viral disease, caused by an arbovirus of the genus Flavivirus. In Brazil, its incidence rate is high with a broad clinical spectrum. This report discusses a rare case of dengue associated with cutaneous leukocytoclastic vasculitis and pericardial effusion with eminence of cardiac tamponade in a previously healthy patient with no comorbidities. The serology for dengue was positive and the histopathological analysis of the cutaneous lesions confirmed the diagnosis of leukocytoclastic vasculitis. After receiving treatment, the patient’s condition greatly improved.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional disorder that is characterized by gastrointestinal symptoms and that has a major impact on quality of life, resulting in direct and indirect health care costs. The majority of patients with IBS suffer from food intolerances, most commonly related to the consumption of fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols (FODMAPs). This study aimed to develop and verify the validity and reproducibility of a short food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) to assess typical FODMAP consumption in adults with IBS.The primary FFQ list consisted of source foods of FODMAPs that contributed at least 10% to the frequency of consumption among 855 adults from a population-based study in the municipality of Campinas in 2014/2015. In addition, source foods of FODMAPs (according to the Monash University Low FODMAP Diet application) and foods commonly consumed by the Brazilian population (according to the FFQ for adults validated in the city of São Paulo) were included. One hundred and five (n = 105) healthy subjects were recruited to respond to the FFQ twice and to respond the 24-h dietary recall (24HR) three times during a 3-month period. The relative validity of the proposed instrument was compared with the average of the three 24HRs, and the reproducibility of the instrument was assessed by comparing both FFQ applications. The following statistical analyses were used for validation and reproducibility: Wilcoxon's test, Spearman's correlation analysis, weighted kappa, Bland Altman's plot and index, and interclass correlation coefficient.The final list of items for the short FFQ included 54 different foods. The foods were organized by FODMAP groups: free fructose, lactose, total oligosaccharides and total polyols, with variations of categories of responses for consumption frequency between 0 and 10 times and the unit of time in days, weeks or months. In the validity analyses, the correlation coefficients ranged from 0.209 (polyols) to 0.652 (lactose) (p 0.05). There was no correlation between the methods in the fructose and oligosaccharide groups. The lactose group presented good agreement, and the remaining groups had a lack of agreement, with a mean of 15.7%. The Bland-Altman index values were 4.7% (fructose), 3.8% (lactose), 5.7% (oligosaccharides) and 6.6% (polyols). Regarding reproducibility, the interclass and Spearman's correlation coefficients varied from ICC = 0.781 and r = 0.725 (oligosaccharides) to ICC = 0.913 and r = 0.807 (lactose) (p 0.05), showing strongly reproducible results for lactose and polyols and good results for fructose and oligosaccharides. Accurate agreement between FFQ applications had a mean of 67.3%, and 3.0% showed disagreement between FFQ1 and FFQ2. The weighted kappa coefficient ranged from 0.576 (polyols) to 0.645 (lactose).The semi-quantitative short FFQ was developed to evaluate the consumption of FODMAPs in adults in São Paulo. The instrument presents good reproducibility for all groups of FODMAPs, good validity for lactose and weaker validity for fructose, polyols and oligosaccharides. As the short FFQ was carefully designed for the study population, its estimates are relatively reliable at the population group level. A future reanalysis of this questionnaire would be useful when the chemical composition data of FODMAPs are available.

We analyzed the effects of the new antirheumatic drug KE-298 on monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1 and regulated on activation normal T-cell expressed and secreted (RANTES) production in rats with adjuvant-induced arthritis and in interleukin (IL)-1beta-stimulated rheumatoid arthritis (RA) synoviocytes. In rats with adjuvant-induced arthritis, the enhanced production of MCP-1 and RANTES and the development of arthritis were suppressed by oral treatment with 100 mg/kg per day of KE-298 for 18 days. Furthermore, KE-298 (10-100 microg/ml) suppressed MCP-1 and RANTES production by IL-1beta-stimulated RA synoviocytes through inhibition of NF-kappaB and AP-1 activation. These results suggest that the inhibitory effect of KE-298 on MCP-1 and RANTES production might partly explain its efficacy in rats with adjuvant-induced arthritis and in patients with RA.

O Distrito de Jaci-Paraná possui uma população média de 18.000 habitantes e está situado a 87 km do município de Porto Velho, Rondônia, Amazônia Ocidental. Neste distrito o saneamento básico é inexistente. Assim, a captação de água é realizada por meio de poços, principalmente “poços amazonas” e os rejeitos de esgotos são lançados a céu aberto, fossas negras ou pequenos igarapés. O presente trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar a qualidade dos recursos hídricos subterrâneos por meio dos seguintes parâmetros: condutividade elétrica, cor aparente, pH, constituintes iônicos, tais como: fluoreto, cloreto, nitrito, brometo, nitrato, fosfato, sulfato, lítio, sódio, amônio, potássio, cálcio e magnésio, além de análises microbiológicas de coliformes fecais e coliformes totais. A coleta das amostras foi realizada nos meses de dezembro/2011 e maio/2012. Todas as 82 amostras analisadas apresentaram contaminação por coliformes totais e 42,3% das amostras de água apresentaram níveis de nitrato acima do valor máximo permitido pela Portaria MS nº 2.914/2011 para potabilidade de água, que é de 10 mg L-1.

Toxicity and uptake of heavy metals of sewage sludge by beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) were evaluated in green house experiments. Treatments consisted of 1,0 ; 2,0 and 5,0% (m/m) of dry sewage sludge, collected from Londrina (Bom Retiro and ETE-Sul) and Curitiba (ETE-Belem and RALF). Bean ( variety IAPAR 57) was sown three times at 0, 120 and 240 days after the treatments have been applied. Contents of Cd, Cr, Co, Cu, Ni, and Pb in bean tissues cultivated with 5,0% (m/m) of all sewage sludge were similar to the control and Ba contents were reduced by increasing the quantity of sewage sludge in the soil. The Zn content in tissue bean incresed from 86 mg kg-1 of control to 462 mg kg-1 by applying 5% (m/m) of sewage sludge in soil, but plant beans did not show toxicity symptons. The addition of 5% (m/m) of sewage sludge increased Mn content in plants, from 193 mg kg-1 of control to 1.960 mg kg-1, showing toxity in bean leaves when the contents were more than 500 mg kg-1. The addition of sewage sludges in soils increased only available Zn carbonate and Cu organic species.