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The strategies that people usually use to cope with stressful events, that is, their coping style, may affect blood pressure and cardiovascular functioning. Generally, hypertension is positively associated with emotion-oriented, maladaptive coping strategies and negatively related to task-focused coping styles, but no study has investigated the relationship between coping strategies and the severity of hypertension. This study aimed to assess whether the severity of cardiovascular disorders was associated with specific coping strategies. Participants were selected from the Policlinico Umberto I of the University of Rome "Sapienza." The sample was divided into five groups: (a) healthy people (n = 190); (b) people with untreated hypertension (n = 232); (c) people using antihypertensive medication (n = 158); (d) people using antihypertensive medication with uncontrolled hypertension (n = 179); and (e) people suffering from both hypertension and heart diseases (N = 192). Coping strategies were evaluated with the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations. One-way ANCOVAs, considering Group as the independent variable and the coping strategies (task-focused, emotion-oriented and avoidance-oriented coping) as dependent variables, showed that individuals affected by both hypertension and heart diseases made less use of task-focused coping strategies than the other groups. These findings confirm the relationship between coping style and hypertension and highlight that patients with hypertension and heart diseases make less use of appropriate coping strategies. K E Y W O R D Scoping strategies, heart diseases, hypertension

The Phyllostomidae family is important among the bats found in Brazil, with several species and diverse eating habits, and is the only one to have frugivorous representatives. These bats can be found in urban and in wild life environments in search for the best reproductive and feeding conditions. The versatility of environments can be associated with the incidence and/or distribution of some diseases through pathogenic agents. The present paper has the purpose to identify the oral and perianal microbiota and to detect the bacterial resistance of frugivorous bats captured near communities inhabited by humans in the northwestern region of the state of Paraná. A total of 68 bats were captured, belonging to four species of the Phyllostomidae family, namely Artibeus lituratus, Artibeus planirostris, Carollia perspicillata and Sturnira lillium, originated from forest fragments in the micro region of Umuarama, state of Paraná. A total of 64 isolates from oral bacteria and 39 from perianal region were submitted to identification. They were later submitted to a susceptibility test to 22 human and veterinary antimicrobials. The most prevalent bacteria were Escherichia coli 33.3% in the oral region, and 35.90% in the perianal region, Enterobacter aerogenes 12.7% and 5.13%, Enterobacter agglomerans 7.9% and 10.25%, and Serratia liquefaciens 9.5% and 5.13% in the oral and perianal region respectively. All bat species studied had resistant strains, with a few of them presenting multi-resistance to antimicrobials. The species with the highest multi-resistance index to antimicrobials was Carollia perspicillata, with three strains of the oral region resistant to 15 antimicrobials; it also presented two strains in the perianal region, which were resistant to 13 and 10 antimicrobials respectively. Based on the results found, it is possible to conclude that the oral and perianal microbiota of bats is composed of several enterobacterial species resistant to one or several antimicrobials used in human and veterinarian medicine. This is an issue and a future warning for unique health, since high percentages of resistance were found against antimicrobials broadly used, such as ampicillin, amoxicillin and amoxicillin+clavulonate.

de Melo Germano, R., Stabille, S.R., de Britto Mari, R., Pereira, J.N.B., Faglioni, J.R.S. and de Miranda Neto, M.H. 2014. Morphological characteristics of the Pterodoras granulosus digestive tube (Valenciennes, 1821) (Osteichthyes, Doradidae). -Acta Zoologica (Stockholm) 95: 166-175.Little is known about the digestive tube (DT) morphology of the fish Pterodoras granulosus. Therefore, macro-, meso-and microscopic aspects of 15 P. granulosus DTs were analysed. The muscular layer was composed of striated skeletal muscle in the oesophagus and smooth muscle in the other segments. The epithelium progressed from a stratified pavement in the oesophagus to a simple column in the other segments, with a flat striated border in the intestine. A large number of mucus-secreting periodic acid-Schiff (PAS)-positive cells were observed in the oesophagus. In the stomach, the number of glands in the region decreased towards the cardiac-fundic region, and none were found in the pylorus. The intestine showed an epithelium with absorption cells and an increasing number of PAS-positive caliciform cells towards the distal region. Tests showed that the oesophagus is adapted for passing and preparing food for the chemical digestion that occurs in the stomach, which also has storage functions without grinding action. The proximal intestinal region was consistent with fat absorption, and the medium region, with the absorption of other nutrients. The distal region was short and consistent with a role in absorption for osmoregulation as well as in the formation, storage and disposal of faeces.Ricardode Melo Germano, Departamento de Ciências Morfol ogicas, Universidade Estadual de Maring a, Av. Colombo, nº. 5790 -Bloco H79 -CEP. 87020-900, Maring a -Paran a, Brasil.

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ResumoA funcionalidade dos alimentos nutracêuticos é atribuída aos seus compostos bioativos. Estes compostos são amplamente produzidos pelos vegetais, tais como os compostos fenólicos, que possuem atividade antioxidante e/ou atividade antimicrobiana entre outras, agindo contra danos em macromoléculas como lipídeos, proteínas e ácidos nucléicos. Os metabólitos secundários das plantas, incluindo algumas classes como compostos fenólicos, alcaloides e terpenóides, possuem uma ampla variedade de atividades biológicas com potencial medicinal. Esses metabólitos secundários são considerados compostos bioativos. A família Zingiberaceae tem recebido atenção especial, por produzir muitos compostos bioativos que são úteis em alimentos como ervas e especiarias; aromatizantes e temperos; nas indústrias farmacêutica e cosmética como agentes antioxidantes e antimicrobianos. Os gengibres são reconhecidos como seguros pela American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) e não possuem efeitos colaterais quando consumidos em quantidades moderadas. Estudos recentes demonstram que além dos rizomas, as folhas e flores de algumas espécies de gengibres possuem atividade antioxidante e consequentemente um potencial medicinal. Estudos demonstram que são necessárias pesquisas in vitro e in vivo para avaliar a eficácia dos extratos do gengibre e compreender o seu papel na modulação das vias biológicas e moleculares, possibilitando assim, novas estratégias terapêuticas. Dessa forma, o presente trabalho tem como objetivo, uma revisão bibliográfica sobre a atividade antimicrobiana de Zingiber officinale Roscoe e Alpinia purpurata (Vieill.) K. Schum. (Zingiberaceae), conhecidos popularmente como gengibre e gengibre-vermelho respectivamente e seu uso na Saúde Única.

The relation between hyperglycemia and diabetic neuropathy has already been demonstrated in some studies. Among the theories proposed for its etiology the oxidative stress stands out. The performance of nitric oxide as a link between the metabolic and vascular neuropathogenic factors that triggers the diabetic neuropathy has already been put forward. This study aimed to assess the quantification and measurements of the cell body profile area (CBPA) of NADPH-diaphorase reactive (NADPH-dp) myenteric neurons of the jejunum of diabetic rats (induced by streptozotocin) supplemented with Ascorbic Acid (AA). These changes in the myenteric neurons seem to be related to the gastrointestinal disturbances observed in diabetes mellitus (DM). Twenty male Wistar rats (Rattus norvegicus) were distributed in 4 groups (n=5): controls (C), control supplemented (CS), diabetic (D), and diabetic suplemented (DS). DM was induced by estreptozotocin (50mg/kg body wt). One week after the induction and confirmation of the DM (glycemia exam), animals of the groups CS and DS received 50mg of AA three times a week by gavage. After 90 days of experiment, the animals were anesthetized with lethal thiopental dose (40mg/kg) and the collected jejunum processed for the histochemistry NADPH-diaphorase technique. Whole-mount preparations were obtained for quantitative and morphometric analysis of the myenteric neurons. A quantity of jejunum neurons in the Group D (96±7.5) was not different (P>0.05) from Group DS (116±8.08), C (92±9.7), and CS (81±5.4), but in Group DS the quantity was higher (P<0.05) than in Group C and CS. The CBPA of neurons from Group D (189.50±2.68µm²) and DS (195.92±3.75µm²) were lower (P<0.05) than from Group C (225.13±4.37µm²) and CS (210.23±3.15µm²). The streptozotocin-induced DM did not change the jejunum-ileum area, the jejunum myenteric plexus space organization and the density of NADPH-dp neurons. The 50g AA-supplementation, three times a week, during 90 days, did not decrease hyperglycemia; however, it had a neuroprotective effect on the myenteric neurons, minimizing the increase on the CBPA of NADPH-dp neurons and increasing the amount of NADPD-dp neurons.