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The antipsychotic drug clozapine, acts via interaction with selective neurotransmitter receptor systems. Its use however, is associated with lifethreatening agranulocytosis. The mechanism by which this occurs and its possible relationship with the drug's atypicality remain unclear. As a first step in identifying mechanistic pathways involved, profiling of neurotransmitter receptors on human neutrophils, mononuclear and bone marrow stromal cells as putative targets for clozapine-mediated toxicity was undertaken. Expression of mRNA encoding dopaminergic d2, d3, d4; serotonergic 5ht2a, 5ht2c, 5ht3, 5ht6, 5ht7; adrenergic a1a, a2; histaminergic h1 and muscarinic m1, m2, m3, m4, m5 receptors was analyzed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction methods. While 5ht2c, 5ht6, m1 and m2 mRNA were undetected, the presence of the other receptors indicates sites at which clozapine could bind and induce toxicity of neutrophils and stromal components which regulate granulopoiesis. The functional significance of differential receptor expression while unknown, may argue for neural regulation of hematopoiesis.

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OBJECTIVE:To review the available tools to evaluate children's quality of life validated for Brazilian language and culture.DATA SOURCES: Search of scientific articles in Medline, Lilacs and SciELO databases using the combination of descriptors "quality of life", "child" and "questionnaires" in Portuguese and English.DATA SYNTHESIS: Among the tools designed to assess children's quality of life validated for the Brazilian language and culture, the Auto questionnaire Qualité de Vie Enfant Imagé (AUQEI), the Child Health Questionnaire - Parent Form 50 (CHQ-PF50), the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL(tm)) version 4.0 and the Kidscreen-52 are highlighted. Some tools do not include all range of ages and some lack domains that are currently considered relevant in the context of childhood, such as bullying. Moreover, due to the cultural diversity of Brazil, it may be necessary to adapt some instruments or to validate other tools. CONCLUSIONS: There are validated instruments to evaluate children's quality of life in Brazil. However, the validation or the adaptation of other international tools have to be considered in order to overcome current deficiencies.