We determined the antioxidant status of the aqueous humor after extracapsular lens extraction in 14 mongrel dogs weighing about 10 kg. The animals were examined by slit lamp biomicroscopy, applanation tonometry and indirect ophthalmoscopy. One eye was submitted to conventional extracapsular lens extraction and the other was used as control. Samples of aqueous humor were obtained by anterior chamber paracentesis before and at days 1, 2, 3, 7 and 15 after surgery. Total antioxidant status was determined as the capacity of aqueous humor to inhibit free radical generation by 2,2-azobis(2-amidopropane) chlorine. Ascorbic acid concentration was measured by HPLC with UV detection. Protein content was determined with the biuret reagent. Statistical analysis was performed by ANOVA followed by the Tukey-Kramer test. Protein concentration increased from 0.61 to 22 mg/ml 24 h after surgery. These levels were maintained and returned to normal at day 7. Total antioxidant capacity was reduced from 50 to about 30 min until day 3 and at day 7 it was equal to control. Ascorbic acid levels were reduced from 252 to about 110 µM and then returned to control values at day 15. Considering the importance of ascorbic acid concentration in aqueous humor for the maintenance of the antioxidant status of the anterior segment of the eye, the decrease of antioxidant defenses suggests that the surgical procedures promote an oxidative stress condition in the eye.

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Objective: In view of the high degree of complexity that the polytrauma patient represents to the multiprofessional team in the elaboration and execution of their care plan in the intensive care unit (ICU), combined with the lack of evidence on the subject, this study suggests a model of early physiotherapeutic assistance to critical polytrauma patients based on the clinical experience of recent years. Method: The model was elaborated based on the practices verified in the records of 6,388 physiotherapy sessions performed in 198 patients hospitalized between December 2009 and September 2011 in polytraumas-specialized ICU. The activities/care were inserted in the model after approved in discussion with the multiprofessional team. All patients enrolled were aged 18 years or older and were victims of severe trauma according to the Injury Severity Score (ISS). Results: The proposed model was structured in such a way that the physical therapy activities/ care were organized according to the injured body region (traumatic brain injury, face fractures, spine fractures, thoracic trauma, abdominal trauma, pelvic fracture and extremities fractures). The routine of the ICU encouraged daily discussions with the medical team to know the particularities of each clinical case, to establish therapeutic goal and to design the rehabilitation program. Conclusion:The proposed model became routine and consolidated the physiotherapeutic action in the respective care unit. The physiotherapy team started working 24 hours a day. The model made possible the standardization of physical therapy assistance and greater safety for the severe polytrauma patient.

It is estimated that 45-75% of chronic adult stroke patients have difficulty in using the hemiparetic upper limb (MS) in their daily life activities (DLAs). Functional scales are used in the practice of rehabilitation, in the search for diagnoses and prognoses, and in evaluating response to treatment. The Wolf Motor Function Test (WMFT) and Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA) scales are the instruments most commonly mentioned in the literature. Objective: The aim of this study was to review the use of the WMFT and FMA scales in the recovery of upper limb function in patients after chronic stroke. Method: We searched the MedLine database (PubMed) for articles published from 2000 to 2013. The PICO method was adopted as the search strategy. The descriptors used for the search were: (stroke OR cerebrovascular disorders OR intracranial arteriosclerosis OR thrombosis intracranial embolism) AND (Fugl-Meyer assessment OR wolf motor function test). Therapy/narrow was used as a search filter. Results: We found 181 studies, 89 of which were excluded because they did not meet the inclusion criteria or did not have a topic relevant to the review search. After selection by title and by abstract, 92 articles were fully read. Of these articles, 47 were excluded because they did not fulfil the search objective. All in all, 45 articles were reviewed. FMA is the tool most used and it was found that 80% of the studies applied this scale to evaluate responses to the different therapies. In these studies, the intervention most used was the Constrained Induced Therapy (CIT) (25%), followed by Robotics Therapy (22.2%). Although the WMFT was initially developed to assess the effects of CIT, nowadays this scale is used, after the application of other techniques, to assess the functional recovery of patients with stroke sequelae. In our survey, 44.4% of the studies used WMFT; of these, 35% assessed the effects of CIT, 15% assessed robotic therapy for the upper limbs, and 65% for different therapies. Conclusion: For randomized controlled trials, the FMA scale was more used to assess functional recovery in the upper limbs of chronic stroke patients, even after application of robotics therapy. However, we found that it is not the most appropriate scale to assess the same outcomes after CIT use. WMFT is the scale most widely used for functional assessment after application of CIT; it is more sensitive than FMA for bilateral therapy, and is highly applicable in virtual reality therapy.

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Objective: To investigate the association between cardiac autonomic activity, endothelial function, and physical fitness in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods: Twenty-seven patients with T2DM were studied, with a mean age of 57 ± 9 years and a mean disease duration of 7.4 ± 5 years. The assessment of physical fitness was performed using the Shuttle Walking Test (SWT), cardiac autonomic modulation by heart rate variability (HRV), and endothelial function was assessed by flow-mediated dilation (FMD) of the brachial artery through ultrasound imaging. Results: The main finding of this study was that some HRV indices (SDNN, RMSSD, and HF) were significantly correlated with endothelial function in individuals with T2DM, with R values between 0.51 and 0.57 (p < 0, 05), for all relationships. Additionally, an association was found between the distance covered in the SWT and the basal diameter of the brachial artery (R = 0.59; p = 0.01). Conclusion: Our data demonstrate that some HRV indices are associated with DMF, indicating an interaction between these two systems. Furthermore, our findings suggest a correlation between physical fitness and endothelial function in individuals with T2DM.