As crianças brasileiras, sobretudo de famílias de baixa renda, apresentam uma prevalência significativa de parasitoses intestinais. As intervenções educativas podem estimular ações que contribuam para a prevenção deste tipo de infecção. Os jogos educativos são uma ferramenta lúdica que fazem do educando um agente ativo no processo. Foi desenvolvido um jogo de tabuleiro para ensinar hábitos de saúde que promovem a prevenção de parasitoses intestinais. O jogo foi testado em 98 escolares entre sete e 13 anos, aplicando pré e pós-teste. Os resultados do pós-teste foram significativamente superiores aos do pré-teste. Os dados indicam que as crianças que realizaram o jogo apresentaram um acréscimo significativo no conhecimento que possuíam sobre hábitos de saúde que previnem parasitoses intestinais. Todavia, parte dos sujeitos apresentavam conhecimento prévio dos conteúdos abordados, e as crianças mais velhas tenderam a ter um pior desempenho.

Oxidative stress enhances carcinogenesis due to DNA damage. Manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) Val16Ala polymorphism has been recently associated with breast and prostate cancer. The role of oxidative stress in male breast cancer is poorly investigated due to the low prevalence of this neoplasia. We studied the relationship between prostate cancer (PC), male (MBC) and female breast cancer (FBC) and this polymorphism in a case-control study. Human genetic polymorphism Val16Ala of MnSOD was obtained from blood and paraffin-embedded tumor samples. The polymorphism was determined in 11 cases of MBC, 51 cases of PC, 89 cases of FBC and 372 age-adjusted healthy controls by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism techniques using restriction enzyme Hae III. Chi-square or Fisher test were used to compare the MnSOD frequency distribution. The observed genotypic frequencies of all samples were AA = 9.6% (n = 50), VV = 25.4% (n = 133) and AV = 64% (n = 340), all at Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Breast and prostate cancer risk was elevated in male and female patients with the Ala/Ala genotype compared to controls (p = 0.006, odds ratio = 2.5, 95% confidence interval 1.393-4.541). Even though the frequency of the Ala allele was low (9.6%) in the studied population, these data support the hypothesis that MnSOD and oxidative stress play a significant role in breast cancer risk both in males and females and also brings new information on the role of this polymorphism in prostate cancer. This is the first study which provides some evidence that genetic polymorphism in the MnSOD gene may be associated with an increased risk of male breast cancer. Studies with a larger sample size are needed to confirm the findings.

Brain metastases are linked to poor prognosis. After carcinomas of the lung and breast, malignant melanomas (MM) are the next type of neoplasm with the higher metastatic dissemination involving the central nervous system and that has the worst prognosis after metastasis has been diagnosed. Angiogenesis has been linked to tumor growth and metastasis. Among the immunomarkers of angiogenesis, endoglin (CD105) is the most specific antibody, since it is a marker for tumor endothelium, and expression of CD105 has been observed to be associated with prognosis in several types of tumor, which is not always observed in melanomas. This study investigated angiogenesis in brain metastasis secondary to malignant melanomas and compared these with brain metastasis secondary to carcinomas of the lung and breast, through expression of CD105 (endoglin). The study investigated 93 cases of brain metastasis secondary to MM (33) and carcinomas of the lung (31) and breast (29), assessing endoglin immunoexpression, number of microvessels and diameter of tumor vessels. Tumor microvessels were counted using a modified version of the Chalkley technique. The observed difference between MM and breast carcinoma was statistically significant (P = 0.026). The difference between MM and lung carcinoma was not significant (P = 0.218). Vascular diameter observation revealed no statistical difference between the vascular size of neoplastic vessels in MM and in breast and lung carcinomas. Of the tumors investigated here, malignant melanomas were shown to have the lowest number of microvessels and had intermediate tumor vessel diameter as compared to carcinomas of the lungs and breast. Such results were not expected to be found in neoplasms such as melanomas that, besides presenting high dissemination capacity, have a high index of hemorrhage secondary to brain metastasis.

Gliomatosis cerebri (GC) is a rare form of CNS neoplasia in which there is diffuse involvement of the nervous tissue with or without the presence of tumor mass. The origin of the tumor is unknown, nor whether it represents a disease with diffuse onset or infiltration from a neoplastic focus. Here we studied the histopathologic characteristics of 6 cases with a diagnosis of GC and performed an immunohistochemical analysis using glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), synaptophysin, nestin and vimentin. Most tumor cells were negative for GFAP, even though there were foci of positivity for this marker in all cases. We detected the presence of many positive cells for nestin and vimentin in all studied samples. The presence of these cells may indicate origin of the tumor from undifferentiated cells with a high degree of mobility.

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Introduction: One of the several metabolic pathways involved in breast carcinogenesis is the human polymorphism in the mitochondrial targeting sequence Ala-9Val of the manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) gene, which has been previously associated with increased risk of breast cancer in females. Since there is no previous report on this polymorphism in male breast cancer, the objective of this study is to analyze MnSOD polymorphism in a population of males and females with breast cancer from the southernmost state of Brazil, compared to healthy controls. Methods: A case-control study of one hundred patients affected by breast cancer (11 men and 89 women) and 370 healthy age-adjusted database controls was performed. DNA was extracted from paraffin-embedded tumoral tissue. MnSOD polymorphism was determined by PCR-RFLP techniques using restriction enzyme Hae III. Chi-square test was used to compare MnSOD frequency distribution. Results: MnSOD genotypic frequencies in all patients with breast cancer were AA = 15%; AV = 56%; VV = 29% and controls AA = 6.5%; AV = 68.1% and VV = 25.4%. Both male and female patients with breast cancer presented significantly higher AA frequencies compared to controls (p = 0.035), suggesting strong association of this genotype with breast cancer. A 2.15-fold (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.393-4.541) risk of breast cancer was found among individuals carrying the MnSOD AA allele-containing genotypes compared with the MnSOD VV and AV genotypes. Discussion: These results confirm the already established association of MnSOD AA genotype with female breast cancer and further indicate a similar frequency distribution and increased risk in the male population.

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GioRGio adRiano Paskulin 6 Artigos originaisResumo OBJETIVO: verificar a prevalência e as características clínicas de pacientes com amenorréia primária e cariótipo XY avaliadas em nosso Serviço com o intuito de identificar achados que possam auxiliar em seu reconhecimento. MÉTODOS: no período de Janeiro de 1975 a Novembro de 2007, foram avaliadas 104 pacientes com amenorréia primária. Para todos os casos foi realizada a análise pelo cariótipo por bandas GTG. Destas, 21 (20,2%) apresentavam uma constituição 46,XY. Contudo, duas foram excluídas do estudo por terem prontuários incompletos. Das 19 pacientes que compuseram a amostra, a maior parte veio encaminhada pela ginecologia (63,2%). Suas idades variaram entre 16 e 41 anos (média de 22,1 anos). Realizou-se uma coleta de dados sobre sua história familiar e pregressa, exame físico e resultados de exames complementares. Para determinação dos seus diagnósticos levaram-se em consideração essas informações. RESULTADOS: a síndrome de resistência aos androgênios foi o diagnóstico predominante (n=12; 63,2%). Cinco pacientes (26,3%) apresentavam disgenesia gonadal pura XY (DGP XY), uma (5,3%) deficiência de 17-alfa hidroxilase e uma (5,3%) deficiência de 5-alfa redutase. Achados clínicos freqüentemente observados nessas pacientes incluíram desenvolvimento anormal dos caracteres sexuais secundários (n=19), agenesia uterina com vagina em fundo de saco (n=14), história familiar de amenorréia (n=8) e gônadas palpáveis no canal inguinal (n=5). Duas delas apresentavam história de hérnia inguinal. Hipertensão arterial sistêmica foi diagnosticada somente na paciente com deficiência de 17-alfa hidroxilase, e malignização gonadal, naquela com DGP XY. CONCLUSÕES: a freqüência de pacientes com cariótipo XY (20%) foi superior à usualmente descrita na literatura (3 a 11%). Acreditamos que isso tenha relação com a forma de encaminhamento das pacientes ao Serviço. Certos achados da história clínica e do exame físico deveriam ser rotineiramente avaliados em indivíduos com amenorréia primária. Dessa forma, haveria um reconhecimento mais precoce das pacientes 46,XY e, conseqüentemente, um adequado manejo clínico das mesmas.Abstract PURPOSE: to verify the prevalence and clinical characteristics of patients with primary amenorrhea and XY caryotype, evaluated in our Service, aiming at identifying findings which could help their recognition. METHODS: from January 1975 to November 2007, 104 patients with amenorrhea were evaluated. All the cases were analyzed by the caryotype by GTG bands. Among them, 21 (20.2%) presented a XY 46 constitution. Nevertheless, two of them were excluded from the study, because of incomplete data in their patient's chart. Most of the 19 patients who formed the sample had been referred to us by the gynecology clinics (63.2%). Their ages varied from 16 to 41 years old (an average of 22.1). Data were collected about their family and previous history, physical examination and results of complementary exams and the information was taken into consideration to determine the...