Objectives: To determine whether the socioeconomic and nutritional status of cured leprosy patients with residual deformity, and their household members, was lower than that of cured leprosy patients without deformity. Design: Cross-sectional study. Subjects: One hundred and ®fty-®ve index cases with deformity, 100 without deformity. Also 616 household members comprising 48% of the total members enumerated. Measurements: Nutritional status was evaluated using anthropometry. Disease characteristics, socio-economic parameters and household information were recorded using a questionnaire. Results: Index cases with deformity had lower community acceptance (P`0.001), and employment (P`0.001) than those cases without deformity. Households of index cases with deformity had a lower income (P`0.01) and a lower expenditure on food (P`0.05). The presence of deformity (odds ratio (OR): 2.1 ± 3.2, P`0.01), unemployment (OR: 2.3 ± 4.3, P`0.01) and female gender (OR: 2.4, P`0.01) signi®cantly increased the risk of index cases being undernourished, as judged by body mass index (BMI) alone, or BMI and mid-upper arm circumference. A low BMI (`18.5) in the index case signi®cantly increased the odds of other adults (OR 2.2), adolescents (OR 2.9 ± 3.8) and children (OR 2.2) in the household being undernourished. Conclusions: Cured leprosy index cases with physical deformity are more undernourished than index cases without deformity. This is associated with a reduced expenditure on food, possibly brought on by increased unemployment, and a loss of income. Undernutrition in the index case increases the risk of undernutrition in other members of the family.

We investigated the effects of treatment with the tricyclic antidepressant (TCA) imipramine in eight children in supine and standing postures. We used 256 seconds of real-time data for the analyses. Spectral analysis showed a significant decrease of high-frequency (HF) power (0.15-0.5 Hz), especially in the standing posture. Low frequency (LF) HF ratios were significantly higher in the standing posture after treatment, suggesting increased sympathovagal interaction. We also obtained the nonlinear measures of fractal dimension (FD), and approximate entropy (APEN). Although the FD of heart rate was significantly lower in the standing posture, APEN was significantly decreased after treatment in either posture and was the most sensitive measure in this study. These findings suggest a decreased cardiac vagal function with a relative increase in sympathetic responsiveness, which may in part be related to the cardiotoxicity of these drugs. These findings are discussed in relation to the cardiovascular side effects of TCAs.

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A group of chronically undernourished labourers underwent a period of controlled supplementary feeding (3.35 MJ per day) over a period of 12 weeks. Thermogenic responses to Noradrenaline (NA) (0.15 microgram kg-1 fat-free mass per min) were assessed (1) before supplementation (2) during the 12th week of supplementation and (3) 12-16 weeks following the cessation of supplementation. There were significant changes in anthropometric indices and basal metabolic rates (BMR) during the three stages of the study; however, these were not accompanied by significant changes in the thermogenic responses to NA.

1. Eight healthy adult males underwent three sustained isometric contractions at 30% of maximal voluntary contraction for 3 min, within a 9 day period. 2. The study focuses on the inter-individual and day-to-day intra-individual variability of cardiovascular and plasma noradrenaline responses to sustained isometric contraction. 3. The results of this study indicate that inter-individual variability is generally greater than intra-individual variability. Diastolic blood pressure was the most sensitive as well as the least variable cardiovascular parameter measured. 4. The variability of plasma noradrenaline levels in both the basal and the stimulated state was high. The present study suggests that it is preferable to determine the 'true' noradrenaline peak after the release of handgrip, as this is associated with a lower variability than the plasma noradrenaline peak taken at the time of the release of handgrip.

A síndrome do desconforto respiratório agudo (SDRA) se trata da causa mais comum de desconforto respiratório em recém-nascidos (RNs). Sendo responsável por óbitos de inúmeros indivíduos dessa população. Nesse sentido, o objetivo deste estudo foi analisar o quantitativo de óbitos em recém-nascidos entre os anos de 2010 a 2020. O presente estudo trata-se de um estudo epidemiológico desenvolvido através da coleta de dados secundários no sistema de informação DATASUS. Foram consideradas para o estudo as variáveis: região, idade do RN, tipo de parto, tipo de gravidez e tempo de gestação. As análises descritivas foram realizadas através da ferramenta SPSS versão 22.0 (IBM SPSS Corp., Armonk, NY). Para a sumarização dos dados, foram calculadas as médias, o desvio padrão, frequência absoluta e relativa. Os resultados apontam maior prevalência de mortes na região sudeste, em RNs do sexo masculino, com idade inferior a 6 dias, nascidos de parto vaginal, gravidez única e tempo de gestação entre 22 a 27 semanas. De modo geral estes dados sugerem que algumas variáveis podem estar relacionadas com a morte dos indivíduos. Ademais, estudos comprovam ainda que a fisioterapia através de suas técnicas respiratórias pode ser importante para a diminuição de complicações de morte desses RNs.