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Biomedical subjects

M C Fernandes

Publications and source records attributed to M C Fernandes.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2003

Serotonin in the nervous system of the head region of the land planarian Bipalium kewense.

The presence and distribution of serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, or 5-HT) in the head region of the land planarian Bipalium kewense has been investigated by an indirect immunofluorescence technique combined with confocal scanning laser microscopy (CSLM), and also by immunogold labeling at ultrastructural level. Serotonin immunoreactivity (IR) was restricted to elements of the nervous system, such as the cerebral ganglion, and the peripheral nerve net. Most of 5-HT-immunoreactive neurons are at the periphery of the brain; they were identified as unipolar, bipolar, and multipolar neurons. The ultrastructural results using immunogold labeling confirm the location of 5-HT within electron-dense vesicles (50-120 nm in diameter), clustered both in the cell bodies and in their processes. The intense 5-HT-IR herein demonstrated for B. kewense adds new data to the poorly studied nervous system of land planarians.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Acute respiratory viral infections in ambulatory children of urban northeast Brazil.

The morbidity of acute respiratory infections in young children and the role of respiratory viruses were evaluated in a 29-month household-based study in an impoverished urban population in Fortaleza, Brazil; subjects were 175 children less than 5 years of age in 63 families. Home visits were conducted three times weekly during which staff recorded the presence of respiratory and systemic symptoms and collected upper respiratory tract samples for viral isolation. A large and sustained burden of respiratory illness was observed, and respiratory viruses were isolated in 35% of the samples collected. Of the isolates, 45.6% were rhinoviruses, 16% parainfluenza viruses, 15.8% enteroviruses, 9.9% adenoviruses, 7.0% herpes simplex viruses, and 5.7% influenza viruses. The results indicate that poor children in northeast Brazil have a high prevalence of respiratory illness and that rhinovirus is the most frequent respiratory virus.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1991

[Cardiac manifestations of hyperthyroidism in the elderly].

PURPOSE: To evaluate the cardiocirculatory abnormalities of hyperthyroidism in the elderly. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Twenty-four hyperthyroid patients, 18 women and six men, aged 60 to 87 (average 73.5) years were studied. Seventeen (70.9%) patients had associated cardiocirculatory diseases. The evaluation was made on clinical grounds complemented by electrocardiographic, radiologic, phonomechanocardiographic and echocardiographic examinations. RESULTS: Cardiocirculatory symptoms were observed in 17 (70.9%) patients and congestive heart failure in nine (37.5%) of them. The electrocardiogram was abnormal in 20 (83.3%) patients and the tachyarrhythmias were the commonest abnormality (62.5%). Eight (33.3%) patients had chronic atrial fibrillation and five (20.8%) had sinus tachycardia. There was no significant statistical difference on the electrocardiograms of patients with and without cardiocirculatory abnormalities. Cardiomegaly was significantly more prevalent in hyperthyroid patients, with (64.7%) or without (57.1%) cardiocirculatory abnormalities, than in normal elderly (23.9%). Left ventricular performance was studied in 14 patients through the systolic quotient and was found normal or high in 12 (85.7%). The percentage of fractional shortening (delta D%) was higher than 30 in all patients. None of the patients was found to have symmetric or asymmetric hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and mitral valve prolapse on echocardiogram. CONCLUSION: Hyperthyroidism in the elderly patient determines frequently cardiocirculatory abnormalities that may be misdiagnosed with those caused by the ageing process or by associated cardiopathies. This diagnosis should be suspected in all elderly patients having tachyarrhythmias and/or cardiac failure resistant to usual therapy, mainly in patients without clear cardiocirculatory pathology.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Malaria treatment with artesunate (retocaps) in children of the Brazilian Amazon].

We evaluated the clinical and therapeutic response to artesunate retocaps in 32 children admitted to the Fundação de Medicina Tropical do Amazonas (Amazon Foundation of Tropical Medicine) with clinical characteristics of moderate and severe malaria. Of these, 29 were infected with P. falciparum and 3 with P. vivax. They improved clinically 24 hours after the beginning of therapy, with 33. 3% of patients without fever, and after 48 hours, 77.2% of the children had no fever. The monitoring of asexual forms of the parasites showed that on D2 (day 2 of treatment) 58.6% of children with P. falciparum infection had no more parasites in the blood stream, on D4 all children had negative slides both for P. falciparum and for P. vivax infection. In a long-term follow up, we found 66.6% recrudescence in P. falciparum patients. The results enabled the conclusion that artesunate retocaps are efficient in practice and their use rapidly reduces the parasitemia and improves the patients' clinical picture. However, in P. falciparum malaria the recrudescence rate was very high. We observed no side effects from this drug.

Antimalarials↗