Introduction
To evaluate the internal quality control indicators and quality management programme in a university cytopathology laboratory.
Methods
All results of conventional cervical smears tests ...(taken from the SISCAN, the Brazilian cervical cancer screening system) of women aged ≥15 years at the time of Papanicolaou smear specimen collection during January 2007‐December 2014 were included. The final results of the cytopathology were classified in accordance with the Bethesda System. The variables included in the database were the woman's name, date of birth, and age at the time of sampling (15‐30, 31‐40 and older than 40 years).
Results
In this period, 50 286 cytopathology examinations were carried out. Of these, 44 386 (91.34%) were negative for malignancy or unsatisfactory and 4209 (8.66%) presented epithelial abnormalities. The percentage of the tests consistent with atypical squamous cells (ASC) between satisfactory examinations was 4.12%; the percentage of tests compatible with ASC among abnormal examinations was 47.87%; the ASC/squamous intraepithelial lesion) ratio was 0.97 and the percentage of high‐grade squamous intraepithelial lesion among satisfactory tests was 2.21%, and the 5‐year retrospective review identified 4.97% of false‐negative results.
Conclusion
All rates obtained were consistent over the years and within the recommended values by Federal Regulation of Brazil. This demonstrates the efficacy of our established internal quality monitoring and continuing education, reflecting the commitment of the team involved in the release of smear reports.
This is a retrospective and quantitative study, which analyzed the quality indicators of Pap smears in the internal quality monitoring (IQM) of a university cytopathology laboratory. The findings confirmed that the laboratory's established IQM and quality management program is effective.
Enteroparasites are an important public health problem and the treatment seeks to cure and reduce transmission. The aim of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of anthelmintic ...treatment in individuals living in a rural community area in Camamu, Bahia, Brazil. The parasitological diagnosis was performed by spontaneous sedimentation, Baermann-Moraes and Agar Plate Culture methods. A total of 212 individuals were evaluated. The most frequent helminth was Trichuris trichiura, 24.5% (52/212), followed by Ascaris lumbricoides, 21.2% (45/212), hookworms, 16.5% (35/212), and S. stercoralis, 4.7% (10/212). In the anthelmintic treatment follow up, T. trichiura infection presented the lowest parasitological cure rate, only 60.6% (20/33). Hookworm, Ascaris lumbricoides and Strongyloides stercoralis infections demonstrated cure rates of 70.5 (12/17), 78.1 (25/32) and 100% (5/5), respectively. Individuals who remained infected underwent a new drug therapy. The second parasitological cure rate for T. trichiura was 38.5% (5/13), and 66.7% (2/3) and 75% (3/4) for hookworms and Ascaris lumbricoides, respectively. Trichuris trichiura infection presented the lowest parasitological cure rate at this second evaluation. This reinforces the need to perform a follow-up of all treated individuals. The possibility of drug resistance denotes the necessity for studies to clarify the mechanisms and to evaluate new therapeutic approaches.
Abstract Primary ovarian insufficiency (POI) is defined as sustained amenorrhea, increased follicle-stimulating hormone and low estrogen levels, whereas diminished ovarian reserve (DOR) is ...characterized as regular menses and alterations of ovarian reserve tests. POI of autoimmune origin may be associated with adrenal autoimmunity, non-adrenal autoimmunity or isolated. This autoimmune disease is characterized by serum ovarian, adrenocortical or steroidogenic cell autoantibodies. POI of adrenal autoimmune origin is the most frequent type observed in 60–80% of patients. Clinically, amenorrhea is the hallmark of POI, however before menstruation stops completely, irregular cycles occur. Infertility, hot flushes, vaginal atrophy, and dyspareunia are also common. Autoimmune oophoritis is characterized by mononuclear inflammatory cell infiltrate in the theca cells of growing follicles, with early stage follicles without lymphocytic infiltration. This infiltrate includes plasma, B and T-cells. A novel classification criterion for autoimmune POI/DOR is proposed subdividing in three distinct categories (possible, probable and confirmed) according to autoantibodies, autoimmune disease and ovarian histology. Unfortunately, up to date guidelines for the treatment of autoimmune oophoritis are not available. Strategies to POI treatment include hormone replacement and infertility therapy. Assisted conception with donated oocytes has been proven to achieve pregnancy by intra cytoplasmic sperm injection in POI women.
We investigate the effects of the excitation power on the photoluminescence spectra of aqueous CdTe/CdS core-shell quantum dots. We have focused our efforts on nanoparticles that are drop-cast on a ...silicon nitride substrate and dried out. Under such conditions, the emission intensity of these nanocrystals decreases exponentially and the emission center wavelength shifts with the time under laser excitation, displaying a behavior that depends on the excitation power. In the low-power regime a blueshift occurs, which we attribute to photo-oxidation of the quantum dot core. The blueshift can be suppressed by performing the measurements in a nitrogen atmosphere. Under high-power excitation the nanoparticles thermally expand and aggregate, and a transition to a redshift regime is then observed in the photoluminescence spectra. No spectral changes are observed for nanocrystals dispersed in the solvent. Our results show a procedure that can be used to determine the optimal conditions for the use of a given set of colloidal quantum dots as light emitters for photonic crystal optical cavities.
Atmospheric carbon dioxide records indicate that the land surface has acted as a strong global carbon sink over recent decades, with a substantial fraction of this sink probably located in the ...tropics, particularly in the Amazon. Nevertheless, it is unclear how the terrestrial carbon sink will evolve as climate and atmospheric composition continue to change. Here we analyse the historical evolution of the biomass dynamics of the Amazon rainforest over three decades using a distributed network of 321 plots. While this analysis confirms that Amazon forests have acted as a long-term net biomass sink, we find a long-term decreasing trend of carbon accumulation. Rates of net increase in above-ground biomass declined by one-third during the past decade compared to the 1990s. This is a consequence of growth rate increases levelling off recently, while biomass mortality persistently increased throughout, leading to a shortening of carbon residence times. Potential drivers for the mortality increase include greater climate variability, and feedbacks of faster growth on mortality, resulting in shortened tree longevity. The observed decline of the Amazon sink diverges markedly from the recent increase in terrestrial carbon uptake at the global scale, and is contrary to expectations based on models.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBMB, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Variation in annual rainfall is considered the most important factor influencing population dynamics in dry environments. However, different factors may control population dynamics in different ...microhabitats. This study recognizes that microhabitat variation may attenuate the influence of climatic seasonality on the population dynamics of herbaceous species in dry forest (Caatinga) areas of Brazil. We evaluated the influence of three microhabitats (flat, rocky and riparian) on the population dynamics of four herbaceous species (Delilia biflora, Commelina obliqua, Phaseolus peduncularis and Euphorbia heterophylla) in a Caatinga (dry forest) fragment at the Experimental Station of the Agronomic Research Institute of Pernambuco in Brazil, over a period of three years. D. biflora, C. obliqua and P. peduncularis were found in all microhabitats, but they were present at low densities in the riparian microhabitat. There was no record of E. heterophylla in the riparian microhabitat. Population size, mortality rates and natality rates varied over time in each microhabitat. This study indicates that different establishment conditions influenced the population size and occurrence of the four species, and it confirms that microhabitat can attenuate the effect of drought stress on mortality during the dry season, but the strength of this attenuator role may vary with time and species.
To investigate the genetic context of colistin resistance in anmcr-9-harbouring Salmonella Typhimurium ST19 strain from swine in Brazil.
Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) to colistin were ...determined by broth microdilution. Whole-genome sequencing was performed on an Illumina MiSeq system, followed by de novo genome assembly using SPAdes 1.13.1. The draft genome sequence was annotated in Prokka using KBase online server. Downstream analyses for resistome and plasmid detection were performed using online tools available at the Center for Genomic Epidemiology. The strain was typed in silico using MLST 2.0. Phylogenetic analysis involving 24 other genomes ofSalmonella Typhimurium ST19 and mcr-9-harbouring Salmonella Typhimurium isolated from humans, livestock and foodstuff in different regions was also performed.
Assembly of the draft genome resulted in 5245 protein-coding sequences, 14 rRNAs, 83 tRNAs and a GC content of 51.81%. The strain was identified asSalmonella Typhimurium ST19 harbouring a 265.5-kb pN1566-2 plasmid carrying genes encoding resistance to colistin (mcr-9.1), aminoglycosides (aadA1), tetracycline tet(C) and sulfonamides (sul1). Our findings indicate that the Salmonella Typhimurium ST19 strain in this study showed low genetic variability compared with Salmonella Typhimurium ST19 isolated from swine and poultry in Brazil, and was less related to those reported in other countries.
This is the first reported genome of a phenotypically colistin-resistantSalmonella Typhimurium harbouring the mcr-9 variant in Brazilian livestock. This genome will aid global investigations on epidemiological and evolutionary aspects of plasmid-mediated colistin resistance and the role of colistin-resistant Salmonella Typhimurium ST19 lineage as a zoonotic pathogen.
Survival of entomopathogenic fungi under solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation is paramount to the success of biological control of insect pests and disease vectors. The mutagenic compound ...4-nitroquinoline 1-oxide (4-NQO) is often used to mimic the biological effects of UV radiation on organisms. Therefore, we asked whether tolerance to 4-NQO could predict tolerance to UV radiation in thirty isolates of entomopathogenic fungi and one isolate of a xerophilic fungus. A dendrogram obtained from cluster analyses based on the 50 and 90 % inhibitory concentrations (IC50 and IC90, respectively) divided the fungal isolates into six clusters numbered consecutively based on their tolerance to 4-NQO. Cluster 6 contained species with highest tolerance to 4-NQO (IC50 > 4.7 μM), including Mariannaea pruinosa, Lecanicillium aphanocladii, and Torrubiella homopterorum. Cluster 1 contained species least tolerant to 4-NQO (IC50 < 0.2 μM), such as Metarhizium acridum (ARSEF 324), Tolypocladium geodes, and Metarhizium brunneum (ARSEF 7711). With few exceptions, the majority of Metarhizium species showed moderate to low tolerances (IC50 between 0.4 and 0.9 μM) and were placed in cluster 2. Cluster 3 included species with moderate tolerance (IC50 between 1.0 and 1.2 μM). In cluster 4 were species with moderate to high tolerance (IC50 between 1.3 and 1.6 μM). Cluster 5 contained the species with high tolerance (IC50 between 1.9 and 4.0 μM). The most UV tolerant isolate of M. acridum, ARSEF 324, was the least tolerant to 4-NQO. Also, L. aphanocladii, which is very susceptible to UV radiation, showed high tolerance to 4-NQO. Our results indicate that tolerance to 4-NQO does not correlate with tolerance to UV radiation. Therefore this chemical compound is not a predictor of UV tolerance in entomopathogenic fungi.
This contribution presents a model for multiaxial fatigue life estimation where a combination of deviatoric strain amplitudes defines the fatigue parameter. It also takes into account the influences ...of both hydrostatic stresses and mean deviatoric stresses. Assessment considers 211 proportional and non-proportional strain-controlled programs reported in the literature, including a number of cases with mean strains/stresses, for three steels and two aluminum alloys. The resulting life estimates correlates well with the experiments, falling in most cases within a factor of two bandwidth.
Controlling populations of free-roaming dogs and cats poses a huge challenge worldwide. Non-surgical neutering strategies for male animals have been long pursued, but the implementation of the ...procedures developed has remained limited to date. As submitting the testes to high temperatures impairs spermatogenesis, the present study investigated localized application of magnetic nanoparticle hyperthermia (MNH) to the testicles as a potential non-surgical sterilization method for animals. An intratesticular injection of a magnetic fluid composed of manganese-ferrite nanoparticles functionalized with citrate was administered followed by testicle exposure to an alternate magnetic field to generate localized heat. Testicular MNH was highly effective, causing progressive seminiferous tubule degeneration followed by substitution of the parenchyma with stromal tissue and gonadal atrophy, suggesting an irreversible process with few side effects to general animal health.
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