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Petrobras launched the PDBC (Campos Basin Development Plan) as part of Company’s Strategic Plan to increase production and incorporate reserves in a scenario of mature fields and low oil prices. The plan is based on an integrated analysis of opportunities, combining skills of professionals with different backgrounds, allowing cost reduction and the deployment of technical solutions. It also has defined short- and long-term actions to achieve these goals. In the short-term horizon, actions included campaigns to remove damage of producer and injector wells, improvements in artificial lift methods, reduction of time required for projects approval, early drilling of wildcats, improvements in the efficiency of water injection, among others. In the long term, Petrobras performed a critical analysis of the recovery factor for each reservoir, identifying bottlenecks and evaluating technological solutions with multidisciplinary teams. Results indicate a significant increase in production in 2017 and the proposal of new projects in these fields. This paper presents the methodology used in the program and the results obtained so far for the giant oil fields of Roncador, Marlim Sul, Marlim Leste, Barracuda, Caratinga and Albacora Leste, responsible for approximately 20% of all Brazilian production. It also presents the future applications in fields where reduction of costs and technical solutions can contribute to increase production and reserves.

SUMMARY What is known and Background: Social anxiety disorder (SAD) often follows a chronic course and is associated with substantial impairment in functioning. Although results from clinical trials clearly establish evidence for efficacy of cognitive behavioural therapy in treating this disorder, up to 50% of patients with SAD show little or no improvement. Thus, new approaches that have promised in improving the efficacy of treatment for SAD are needed. One such approach is the trial-based thought record (TBTR), which targets the restructuring of patients’ core beliefs. Objective: To determine whether patients receiving TBTR would report fewer symptoms of social anxiety and general psychiatric distress following treatment, relative to conventional cognitive therapy (CCT). Methods: A two-arm randomized trial comparing TBTR (n = 17) with a set of CCT techniques (n = 19), which included the standard sevencolumn dysfunctional thought record and the positive data log in SAD patients according to DSM-IV. Results: Scores on many outcome measures decreased significantly across the course of treatment in both groups (P

SUMMARY Background: Thirty years ago, psychiatrists had only a few choices of old neuroleptics available to them, currently defined as conventional or typical antipsychotics, as a result schizophrenics had to suffer the severe extra pyramidal side effects. Nowadays, new treatments are more ambitious, aiming not only to improve psychotic symptoms, but also quality of life and social reinsertion. Our objective is to briefly but critically review the advances in the treatment of schizophrenia with antipsychotics in the past 30 years. We conclude that conventional antipsychotics still have a place when just the cost of treatment, a key factor in poor regions, is considered. The atypical antipsychotic drugs are a class of agents that have become the most widely used to treat a variety of psychoses because of their superiority with regard to extra pyramidal symptoms. We can envisage different therapeutic strategies in the future, each uniquely targeting a different dimension of schizophrenia, be it positive, negative, cognitive or affective symptoms.

Rats infected with the helminth Capillaria hepatica regularly develop septal hepatic fibrosis that may progress to cirrhosis in a relatively short time. Because of such characteristics, this experimental model was selected for testing drugs exhibiting antifibrosis potential, such as pentoxifylline, gadolinium chloride and vitamin A. Hepatic fibrosis was qualitatively and quantitatively evaluated in liver samples obtained by partial hepatectomy and at autopsy. The material was submitted to histological, biochemical and morphometric methods. A statistically significant reduction of fibrosis was obtained with pentoxifylline when administered intraperitoneally rather than intravenously. Gadolinium chloride showed moderate activity when administered prophylactically (before fibrosis had started), but showed a poor effect when fibrosis was well advanced. No modification of fibrosis was seen after vitamin A administration. Hydroxyproline content was correlated with morphometric measurements. The model appears to be adequate, since few animals die of the infection, fibrosis develops regularly in all animals, and the effects of different antifibrotic drugs and administration protocols can be easily detected.

Texto completo: acesso restrito. p.23–31 Submitted by Suelen Reis (suelen_suzane@hotmail.com) on 2013-01-22T11:55:31Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Bacaltchuk.pdf: 334193 bytes, checksum: cec650392747bf0a1f32d18ce770a15e (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2013-01-22T11:55:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Bacaltchuk.pdf: 334193 bytes, checksum: cec650392747bf0a1f32d18ce770a15e (MD5) Previous issue date: 1999 Objective: To assess the efficacy and acceptability of antidepressants compared to psychotherapy as single approaches for the treatment of bulimia nervosa. Method: Dichotomous outcomes were analysed by calculating relative risks and continuous outcomes by calculating effect sizes. The number needed to treat (or harm) was calculated. Methodological quality of trials and heterogeneity in the results were evaluated. Results:A meta-analysis including five randomized controlled trials showed a non-significant difference in short-term remission of bulimic symptoms favouring psychotherapy. Remission rates were 20% for antidepressants and 39% for psychotherapy (P=0·07). Dropout rates were higher(P=0·027) for antidepressants (40%) than for psychotherapy (18%). The number needed to harm (NNH) was 4. Discussion: Psychotherapy was superior to antidepressants, but using a more conservative statistical approach this difference, although clinically relevant, was not significant. The number of trials might be insufficient to show the significance of a 20% absolute risk reduction in efficacy. Psychotherapy was a better accepted treatment.

There is no clear-cut line separating normal and abnormal moods. Therefore, psychiatrists often describe patterns of symptoms (syndromes) to suggest the existence of diseases for which no obvious brain abnormalities can be demonstrated. These uncertainties create room for much doubt about the best way of treating unipolar major depression. I present here a case report of a patient with unipolar depression treated with cognitive therapy. The patient had been treated with an SSRI and a tricyclic antidepressant without substantial improvement. This case is discussed in the light of the current controversies in the literature concerning the comparative value of psychotherapy, particularly that designed to treat depression, and pharmacotherapy. We would suggest that cognitive therapy, as well as other depression-specific short psychotherapies, is the treatment of choice in milder depressions. However, there is evidence to support the widespread clinical impression that combined therapy with both psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy is superior to each single mode of therapy for the treatment of more severe, recurrent depressions.

SummaryThis study was designed to verify whether fluoxetine (FL), a serotonin (5-HT) re-uptake inhibitor, would interfere with nortriptyline (NT), a biphasic U-shaped curvilinear dose-response relationship recently described in our laboratory. We associated 10 mg/kg NT or vehicle to 0, 5, 10, 20 and 40 mg/kg FL, in one group, and 10 mg FL or vehicle to 0, 5, 10, 20 and 40 mg/kg NT, in another group, 30 min before the tail suspension test (TST) in mice. Although we were not able to confirm a synergistic effect between FL and NT, FL-NT association seems to require higher doses of NT to block its own anti-immobility effect at high doses, thus widening NT effective antidepressant-like dose range in mice submitted to TST.

SummaryChronically stressed adult male Balb C mice were submitted to the tail suspension test. Chronic immobilization stress (6 h/d for 14 consecutive days) induced a significant reduction in immobility time when compared to non-stressed controls. Pretreatment with LY 53857, a serotonin 5HT2 antagonist, and IPS 339, a selective beta-2 adrenoceptor blocker, reversed immobility time to the levels of non-stressed controls. Chronic administration of corticosterone (100 mg/kg for 7 d) did not modify immobility time as compared to saline treated controls. It is suggested that both serotonergic and adrenergic pathways in the brain may participate in the stress-induced changes occurring in the tail suspension test response and that corticosterone does not appear to play a role in this process.

Os benefícios proporcionados pela adição de carbono em concretos refratários têm ampliado a utilização desses materiais em aplicações siderúrgicas. Contudo, um problema inerente à utilização de carbono em refratários é a sua susceptibilidade à oxidação a temperaturas superiores a 600 °C. Uma das alternativas empregada na tentativa de controlar a oxidação do carbono é o uso de antioxidantes. Dentre eles, o pó de alumínio tem mostrado bons resultados em tijolos refratários contendo carbono. Porém, sua aplicação em concretos refratários é limitada pela forte tendência que o pó de alumínio apresenta em se hidratar. Algumas técnicas de recobrimento baseadas no processo Sol-Gel têm sido empregadas como forma de impedir a reação de hidratação do pó de alumínio quando em água. Entretanto, a eficiência destes recobrimentos ainda não foi avaliada em concretos refratários. O presente trabalho se propõe a avaliar a eficiência de recobrimentos à base de SiO2 ou TiO2 em inibir a reação de hidratação do pó de alumínio em condições reais de aplicação. Estes recobrimentos foram obtidos a partir de alcóxidos metálicos e um polímero reativo fazendo uso do método Sol-Gel. The benefits promoted by the addition of carbon in refractory castables resulted the increase use of these materials in steel making industry. Nevertheless, carbon-containing refractory castables faces the problem of oxidation at temperatures above 600°C. One of the alternatives to overcome this drawback is the use of antioxidants. Among them, aluminum powder has shown good results in carbon containing refractory bricks. However, its application in refractory castables is restricted by the strong tendency of aluminum powder to react with water. Some surface treatments, based on Sol-Gel process, have been employed to generate an oxide coating in order to inhibit the hydration reaction when aluminum is exposed to water. However, the efficiency of these coatings has not been examined yet in refractory castables. The present research aimed to evaluate the efficiency of SiO2 or TiO2 based coatings on inhibiting the aluminum-water reaction when added to high-carbon-containing refractory castables. These coatings were generated by metallic alkoxides or a reactive polymer, both using the Sol-Gel technique.

The aim of this study was to compare the short-term clinical efficacy and safety of risperidone with haloperidol and placebo. A meta-analysis of seven published randomized double-blind controlled trials was carried out. Study quality was assessed. The proportion of patients failing to reach at least 20% improvement on the positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS) or brief psychiatric rating scale (BPRS), the proportion of patients discontinuing treatment because of adverse effects and the number of patients who needed antiparkinsonian medication were abstracted for use as outcome measures. Treatment failure was present in 50% of risperidone-treated patients compared to 66% in those treated with haloperidol and 83% in those treated with placebo. It would be necessary to treat 11 patients with risperidone to prevent one treatment failure in those patients treated with haloperidol (Odds ratio (OR) = 0.74, 95% CI of 0.58-0.94, P = 0.02). Pooling of the three multicentre trials which included placebo as a treatment arm, showed that one in three patients treated with risperidone 4-16 mg/day (OR = 0.22, 95% CI of 0.13-0.39, P < 0.00001) and one in six treated with haloperidol 10-20 mg/day. (OR = 0.44, 95% CI of 0.22-0.84, P = 0.02) would derive significant benefit. Moreover, there was a highly significant greater need for anticholinergic medication due to extrapyramidal symptoms (EPS) in the haloperidol-treated patients compared to risperidone (OR = 0.54, 95% CI of 0.42-0.70, P < 0.00001). In conclusion, risperidone seems to be more effective and causes less EPS than haloperidol, as suggested by the significantly lower requirement for antiparkinsonian medication.

Texto completo: acesso restrito. p.229–236 Submitted by Suelen Reis (suelen_suzane@hotmail.com) on 2013-02-15T14:44:52Z No. of bitstreams: 1 de Oliveira.pdf: 577912 bytes, checksum: 3f10d3f2ef4ab5a0d2be19214619dc5e (MD5) Approved for entry into archive by Fatima Cleômenis Botelho Maria (botelho@ufba.br) on 2013-02-18T16:19:01Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 de Oliveira.pdf: 577912 bytes, checksum: 3f10d3f2ef4ab5a0d2be19214619dc5e (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2013-02-18T16:19:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 de Oliveira.pdf: 577912 bytes, checksum: 3f10d3f2ef4ab5a0d2be19214619dc5e (MD5) Previous issue date: 1996 Haloperidol, the most studied antipsychotic drug, is the only one about which reliable statements on the relationship between blood levels and clinical outcome can be made. A systematic overview was undertaken to determine whether there was an optimum blood concentration range for clinical efficacy. Eighteen published studies which provided individual patient data in tables or graphs were reviewed. Clinical benefits tended to decline when the haloperidol blood concentration was increased above 26 ng/ml. Our data support the existence of a therapeutic window between 4 and 26 ng/ml for haloperidol in the treatment of schizophrenic, schizoaffective and schizophreniform disorders.

SummaryPart II of this paper contains some general considerations on tricyclic antidepressant (TCA) monitoring. Long-term assessment of TCA plasma levels is advised by the few existent studies, although each of these focusses on different aspects. Cardiovascular and central nervous system toxicity is reviewed as well as pharmacokinetics and the importance of protein binding. Some consideration is also given to their use in elderly patients. The authors conclude that although available data support its usefulness in many situations, routine measurement of TCA levels is not warranted.