Alcohol consumption among young adults is widely accepted in modern society and may be the starting point for abusive use of alcohol at later stages of life. Chronic alcohol exposure can lead to visual function impairment. In the present study, we investigated the spatial luminance contrast sensitivity, colour arrangement ability, and colour discrimination thresholds on young adults that weekly consume alcoholic beverages without clinical concerns. Twenty-four young adults were evaluated by an ophthalmologist and performed three psychophysical tests to evaluate their vision functions. We estimated the spatial luminance contrast sensitivity function at 11 spatial frequencies ranging from 0.1 to 30 cycles/degree. No difference in contrast sensitivity was observed comparing alcohol consumers and control subjects. For the evaluation of colour vision, we used the Farnsworth-Munsell 100 hue test (FM 100 test) to test subject’s ability to perform a colour arrangement task and the Mollon-Reffin test (MR test) to measure subject’s colour discrimination thresholds. Alcohol consumers made more mistakes than controls in the FM100 test, and their mistakes were diffusely distributed in the FM colour space without any colour axis preference. Alcohol consumers also performed worse than controls in the MR test and had higher colour discrimination thresholds compared to controls around three different reference points of a perceptually homogeneous colour space, the CIE 1976 chromaticity diagram. There was no colour axis preference in the threshold elevation observed among alcoholic subjects. Young adult weekly alcohol consumers showed subclinical colour vision losses with preservation of spatial luminance contrast sensitivity. Adolescence and young adult age are periods of important neurological development and alcohol exposure during this period of life might be responsible for deficits in visual functions, especially colour vision that is very sensitive to neurotoxicants.

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Açai (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) fruit from the Amazon region in Brazil contains bioactive compounds such as α-tocopherol, anthocyanins (cyanidin 3-glycoside and cyanidin 3-rutinoside), and other flavonoids with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Moreover, the prebiotic activity of anthocyanins in modulating the composition of gut microbiota has emerged as an additional mechanism by which anthocyanins exert health-promoting effects. Açai consumption may be a nutritional therapeutic strategy for chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients since these patients present with oxidative stress, inflammation, and dysbiosis. However, the ability of açai to modulate these conditions has not been studied in CKD, and this review presents recent information about açai and its possible therapeutic effects in CKD.

Este artigo está licenciado sob forma de uma licença Creative Commons Atribuição 4.0 Internacional, que permite uso irrestrito, distribuição e reprodução em qualquer meio, desde que a publicação original seja corretamente citada. ABSTRACT AIMS: To identify cardiovascular risk by triglyceride/high density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio (TG/HDL-c) and to verify its association with socio-demographic factors, clinical parameters and body mass index in patients with chronic renal disease on hemodialysis. METHODS: Cross-sectional study, in which patients with chronic kidney disease in hemodialysis were evaluated. A non-probability convenience sampling was used. Sociodemographic data were collected through a semi-structured questionnaire interview, and clinical and laboratory data were obtained from the medical records. For the identification of cardiovascular risk, the TG/HDL-c ratio was calculated from plasma triglycerides (mg/dL) and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (mg/dL). The cut-off point for TG/HDL-c considered to be indicative of cardiovascular risk was ≥3.8 mg/dL. For statistical analysis, the chi-square test was used, and the significance level was set at 5% (p <0.05). RESULTS: A total of 71 patients were evaluated, with a mean age of 49.9±13.2 years, being 28 women (50.1±13.2 years) and 43 men (49.7±13.2 years). Among the 71 patients, 31 (43.66%) had cardiovascular risk characterized by the TG/HDL-c ratio ≥3.8 mg/dL. In general, the profile of patients with and without cardiovascular risk was similar. However, in patients with cardiovascular risk there was a higher proportion of males (77.42%), while in those who did not have this risk, the female gender was more frequent (52.50%). This variable showed a significant difference between the groups with and without cardiovascular risk (p=0.011). CONCLUSIONS: In this sample of patients with chronic kidney disease on hemodialysis, the TG/HDL-c ratio identified a high cardiovascular risk index, which was significantly associated with males.

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In the present study, we investigated the topographical distribution of ganglion cells and displaced amacrine cells in the retina of the collared peccary (Pecari tajacu), a diurnal neotropical mammal of the suborder Suina (Order Artiodactyla) widely distributed across central and mainly South America. Retinas were prepared and processed following the Nissl staining method. The number and distribution of retinal ganglion cells and displaced amacrine cells were determined in six flat-mounted retinas from three animals. The average density of ganglion cells was 351.822 ± 31.434 GC/mm 2. The peccary shows a well-developed visual streak. The average peak density was 6,767 GC/mm 2 and located within the visual range and displaced temporally as an area temporalis. Displaced amacrine cells have an average density of 300 DAC/mm 2 , but the density was not homogeneous along the retina, closer to the center of the retina the number of cells decreases and when approaching the periphery the density increases, in addition, amacrine cells do not form retinal specialization like ganglion cells. Outside the area temporalis, amacrine cells reach up to 80% in the ganglion cell layer. However, in the region of the area temporalis, the proportion of amacrine cells drops to 32%. Thus, three retinal specializations were found in peccary's retina by ganglion cells: visual streak, area temporalis and dorsotemporal extension. The topography of the ganglion cells layer in the retina of the peccary resembles other species of Order Artiodactyla already described and is directly related to its evolutionary history and ecology of the species.

Chronic alcohol abuse can lead to a brain damages, and the health status of alcoholics even after a long-term alcohol abstinence is a public health concern. The present study investigated the color vision and spatial luminance contrast sensitivity of a group of 17 ex-alcoholics (46.3 ± 6.7 years old) in long-term alcohol abstinence after having been previously under alcohol dependence for many years. We also investigated the association of impaired psychophysical performance in different tests we applied. The mean time of alcohol consumption was 16.9 ± 5.1 years and the mean abstinence period was 12.4 ± 8.5 years. Achromatic vision of all subjects was evaluated using spatial luminance contrast sensitivity function (CSF) test and color vision was evaluated using Mollon–Reffin color discrimination test (MR) and the Farnsworth–Munsell 100 hue arrangement test (FM100). Relative to controls, the spatial luminance contrast sensitivity was lower in 10/17 of the ex-alcoholic subjects. In the color vision tests, 11/16 ex-alcoholic subjects had impaired results compared to controls in the FM100 test and 13/14 subjects had color vision deficits measured in the MR test. Fourteen subjects performed all visual tests, three subjects had impaired results for all tests, seven subjects had impaired results in two tests, three subjects had visual deficit in one test, and one had normal results for all tests. The results showed the existence of functional deficits in achromatic and chromatic vision of subjects with history of chronic alcoholism after long abstinence. Most subjects had altered result in more than one test, especially in the color vision tests. The present investigation suggests that the damage in visual functions produced by abusive alcohol consumption is not reversed after long term alcohol abstinence.

Introdução: A doença renal crônica é caracterizada como sendo uma anormalidade da estrutura ou função renal, que se mantêm por 43 meses ou mais, e que apresenta implicações para a saúde e, tradicionalmente, a taxa de filtração glomerular (TFG) é considerada como o melhor marcador de função renal. Objetivou-se avaliar os fatores associados a alterações na TFG em praticantes de atividade física de São Luís, Maranhão. Método: Estudo transversal com amostra de 84 indivíduos praticantes de atividade física. Foram coletados dados sociodemográficos, bioquímicos, de consumo alimentar e antropométricos. A análise estatística contemplou o teste de Shapiro Wilk para verificação da normalidade e, confirmada a normalidade, foi utilizado o teste t de Student para avaliar a diferença entre as variáveis explanatórias com o desfecho (redução da função renal, ou seja: TGF reduzida < 60 ml/min, calculada pela equação de CKD-EPI). A significância estatística foi estabelecida em p < 0,05. Resultados: A TFG reduzida (< 60 ml/min) foi observada em 2,4% dos indivíduos e sua média foi de 89,5 ± 19 ml/min/1,73m2.  Associaram-se ao desfecho: idade (32,4 ± 9,4 anos); o sexo feminino  (53,6%) e o consumo de proteína. Conclusão: A média de TFG encontrada foi elevada e a maioria dos indivíduos avaliados estavam com valores dentro da normalidade.