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PURPOSE:To evaluate the treatment outcome of severe peritonitis in rats submitted to permanent bilateral carotid occlusion (PBCO). METHODS:Sixteen Wistar rats (mean age of 8.5 months) with PBCO underwent autogenously fecal peritonitis, and were treated with moxifloxacin combined with dexamethasone, and followed-up for 45 days. Ten rats (mean age five months) without PBCO were used as a control group. The variables were expressed by their mean and standard error of the mean (SEM). p<0.05 was used for rejecting the null hypothesis. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee. RESULTS:There was a significant increase (p=0.0002) in the mortality and morbidity in older rats that underwent PBCO (study group). However, even among the survival rats presenting with severe residual abscesses both in the abdomen and thorax cavities, they present an almost normal life. CONCLUSIONS:The treatment of severe autogenously fecal peritonitis with intraperitoneal moxifloxacin combined with dexamethasone was very effective in young rats without permanent bilateral carotid occlusion. The treatment reached reasonable results in older rats with PBCO, even considering residual abscesses on abdomen and thorax. Older age was the greater risk factor for the outcome of the treatment of severe peritonitis. Sepsis remains a challenging situation, especially in elderly.Key words: Peritonitis. Quinolones. Dexamethasone. Therapy. Rats. Severe autogenously fecal peritonitis in Wistar rats with permanent bilateral carotid occlusion.Response to intra peritoneal moxifloxacin combined with dexamethasone

PURPOSE:To develop an alcoholic extract of the inner bark of the Schinus terebinthifolius raddi and to test its impact on autogenously fecal peritonitis in Wistar rats. METHODS:The inner bark of the Schinus terebinthifolius raddi was kept for seven days in 70% ethanol alcohol. The total elimination of the solvent was performed in a rotary evaporator under reduced pressure at 55-60°C. Four milliliter of this extract was injected, after 24 h, into the abdominal cavity of six out of eight survival rats that underwent autogenously fecal peritonitis with five milliliter of 10% filtered fecal suspension. They were clinically followed up for 45 days when they were euthanized. The necropsy findings (inventory) of the abdominal and thorax cavities were inspected and the main findings were recorded and photographed. The investigation was approved by the Ethics Committee. RESULTS:Two out of six survival rats that were critically ill after 24 h died within the 12 h after the extract injection into the abdominal cavity. Four rats that were also critically ill recovered and gradually became healthy, eating well, regaining weight and moving normally in the cage. At 45 days post severe peritonitis the necropsy findings revealed few signs of residual infection on the abdominal and thorax cavities. There were no bowel adhesions. CONCLUSION:The impact of alcoholic extract of the inner bark of the Schinus terebinthifolius raddi was considered very positive and promising as natural local antiseptic against very severe peritonitis in Wistar rats.

PURPOSE:To investigate the morphological aspects of brain and eyes in newborn rats whose mother underwent autogenously fecal peritonitis. METHODS:Four pregnant rats that underwent fecal peritonitis, with a 10% fecal suspension in dose of 4 ml per kilogram received two antimicrobial treatments: 1. intraperitoneal moxifloxacin and dexamethazone; and 2. Intravenous meropenem. After head inspection, the brain consistencies and the eyes belonging to all offspring were analyzed. RESULTS:The brains of newborn from rats that received 4 ml/kg of 10% suspension of feces showed, significantly smaller and less than the firm consistency of those in the control group. Congenital cataract was observed in 9 (34.6%). No cataract was observed in the 20 newborn rats from the mothers that received the combination of moxifloxacin and dexamethasone. Cataract could be observed in three (13.6%) offspring from mothers that received meropenem. CONCLUSIONS:Peritonitis can produce brain damage and congenital cataract in rats. The translation to humans is that intra abdominal infection in pregnant women may be associated with damage in brain and eye structures of their concepts. This can be averting using the adequate early therapeutically approach.

PURPOSE:To evaluate the treatment outcome of severe peritonitis in rats with increasing age. METHODS:Thirty Wistar rats stratified in three groups: group I -six month-old; group II -12 month-old; and group III -18 monthold, underwent autogenously fecal peritonitis (6 ml/kg rat), and were treated with intravenous meropenem. The survival animals were followed-up for 45 days. The variables were expressed by their mean and standard error of the mean (SEM). p<0.05 was used for rejecting the null hypothesis. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee. RESULTS:There was a significant increase in the mortality and morbidity in elderly rats. Of interest, even among young survival rats presenting with severe residual abscesses both in the abdomen and thorax cavities, they present an almost normal life. CONCLUSIONS:The treatment of severe autogenously fecal peritonitis with intravenous meropenem reached reasonable results in rats with six and twelve months of age, even considering residual abscesses on abdomen and thorax cavities. However, the great majority (80%) of elderly rats could not overcome the initial severe infectious challenge, proving that ageing is a very important risk factor for impairing immune response. Thus, sepsis remains a challenging situation, especially in elderly.

Purpose: To analyze the retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFL) in CKD patients by means of optical coherence tomography, ascertaining mean overall RNFL and mean RNFL in the nasal, temporal, superior, and inferior quadrants and comparing these measurements to those obtained from a control group. Methods:This was a prospective, analytical, cross-sectional casecontrol study. The study sample comprised 22 eyes from 11 patients and 33 eyes from 17 patients in the case and control groups respectively. RNFLT was measured with a model 3000 OCT unit (Stratus OCT-3™, Carl Zeiss Meditec Inc., Dublin, CA). The fast RNFL protocol was used, which consists of three consecutive 3.4 mm-diameter circular scans centered on the optic nerve. Measured parameters included overall mean RNFL and mean RNFL at the temporal (316-45°), superior (46-135°), nasal (136-225°), and inferior (226-315°) quadrants.The Mann-Whitney U was employed to assess possible betweengroup differences in mean overall RNFL and RNFL at the superior, temporal, nasal, and inferior quadrants. The null hypothesis was rejected when p-values were smaller than the set significance level of <0.05.

Purpose: To investigate the foveal avascular zone (FAZ) in obese by optical coherence tomography angiography (OCT-A) and to evaluate the findings of structural optical coherence tomography (OCT) and their relations with comorbidities. Methods: It was included 35 obese (study group) and 30 normal individuals (control group). Patients with retinal diseases and retinal treatments were excluded. The images were obtained using the Topcon ® . Results: The mean areas of FAZ in superficial plexus (FAZ-SP) and deep plexus (FAZ-DP) were significantly greater in the study group: FAZ-SP was 405.0 ± 136.4 µm 2 in the obese group and 307.3 ± 78.6 µm 2 in the control group and in the left eye (LE) 477.1 ± 124.4 µm 2 in the obese group and 384.0 ± 88.7 µm 2 in the control group. This difference was statistically significant (RE: p = 0.0014 and LE: p = 0.0012). The mean area of the FAZ-DP was 491.0 ± 124.4 µm 2 (Right eye-RE) in the obese group and 384.4 ± 88.7 µm 2 in the control group and in the left eye (LE) was 497.9 ± 124.1 µm 2 in the obese group and 484.9 ± 92.7 µm 2 in the control group. There were no correlations regarding FAZ-SP and FAZ-DP in both eyes with fasting blood glucose, glycated hemoglobin, total cholesterol and fractions and triglycerides. A significant association between enlargement of FAZ-DP and type 2 diabetes mellitus (p = 0.0160) was observed. Conclusion: The FAZ areas in superficial and deep plexus achieved significantly greater values in the study group. There was a significant association between a larger deep FAZ area and type 2 diabetes mellitus. It is necessary an evaluation with a larger sample size to corroborate the findings.

Purpose: To investigate the presence of the variants of lysyl oxygenase (LOX) and superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) genes in Brazilian patients with advanced keratoconus. Methods: Donor genomic DNA extracted from blood samples was screened for 5’UTR, exonic LOX, and SOD1 variants in a subset of 26 patients presenting with advanced keratoconus (KISA > 1000% and I–S > 2.0) by Sanger sequencing. The impact of non-synonymous amino acid changes was evaluated by SIFT, PMUT, and PolyPhen algorithms. The Mutation Taster tool was used to evaluate the potential impact of formation of new donor and acceptor splice sites in the promoter region of affected volunteers carrying sequence variants. A 7-base SOD1 deletion (IVS2 + 50del7bp) previously associated with keratoconus was screened in 140 patients presenting classical keratoconus by gel fragment analysis, and positive samples were sequenced for confirmation. Results: We found an unreported missense variant in LOX exon 6 in one heterozygous patient, leading to substitution of proline with threonine at residue 392 (p. Thr392Pro) of LOX protein sequence. This mutation was predicted to be potentially damaging to LOX protein. Another LOX variant, Arg158Gln, was also detected in another patient but predicted to be non-pathogenic. Two additional new polymorphisms in LOX 5’UTR region (–116C > T and –58C > T) were found in two patients presenting with advanced keratoconus and were predicted to modulate or create donor/acceptor splice sites in LOX transcripts. Additionally, SOD1 deletion was detected in one patient presenting with severe keratoconus, not in control samples. Conclusion: We described three novel LOX polymorphisms identified for the first time in Brazilian patients with advanced keratoconus, as well as a previously described SOD1 deletion strongly associated with keratoconus. A possible role of these variants in modulating transcript levels in the cornea of affected individual requires further investigation.