RESUMO O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar o efeito de diferentes fontes de proteína no desempenho de ovelhas e suas crias suplementadas em pastagem diferida. Os tratamentos foram as diferentes fontes proteicas: farelo de soja, tortas de algodão, babaçu e coco. As ovelhas foram pesadas e avaliadas quanto ao escore de condição corporal durante as fases de gestação, parição e desmame. Os cordeiros foram pesados no nascimento e no desmame. As variáveis estruturais e a composição química do pasto foram avaliadas durante o período de uso. A altura do dossel e a massa de forragem foram maiores quando as ovelhas estavam nas fases de gestação e desmame. A massa foliar não foi alterada durante o uso do pasto, com um valor médio de 566,1kg ha-1 MS. Os maiores teores de proteína bruta na lâmina foliar foram observados durante as fases de parto e desmame. O peso corporal das ovelhas não diferiu entre as fontes proteicas, com médias de 45,0, 39,9 e 36,6kg para as fases de gestação, parto e desmame, respectivamente. Os pesos ao nascimento e ao desmame tiveram efeito das fontes proteicas, com os maiores valores observados nos cordeiros de ovelhas que receberam suplementação com farelo de soja e torta de babaçu. Os cordeiros suplementados com soja apresentaram maior ganho médio diário e ganho total. As tortas de babaçu, coco e algodão podem substituir o farelo de soja na suplementação de ovelhas em pastagem diferida.

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of different protein sources on the performance of lamb ewes and their offspring supplemented in deferred pasture. The treatments were the different protein sources: soybean meal, cotton cake, babassu cake and coconut cake. The ewes were weighed and evaluated for their body condition score during the gestation, parturition and weaning phases. The lambs were weighed at birth and at weaning. The structural variables and chemical composition of the pasture were evaluated during the usage period. Grass height and forage mass were higher when the ewes were in the gestation and weaning stages. The leaf mass was not altered during the pasture usage with a mean value of 566.1kg ha-1 DM. The highest levels of crude protein in the leaf blade were observed during the parturition and weaning phases. The body weight of the ewes did not differ between the sources with averages 45.0, 39.9 and 36.6kg for the gestation, parturition and weaning phases, respectively. Weights at birth and at weaning had an effect from protein sources, with the highest values observed in the lambs of ewes who received soybean meal and babassu cake supplementation. The lambs of ewes supplemented with soybean had higher average daily gain and total gain. Babassu, coconut and cotton cakes can replace soybean meal in supplementation of ewes in deferred pasture.

The activation of competing intracellular pathways has been proposed to explain the reduced training adaptations after concurrent strength and endurance exercises (CE). The present study investigated the acute effects of CE, strength exercises (SE), and endurance exercises (EE) on phosphorylated/total ratios of selected AMPK and Akt/mTOR/p70S6K1 pathway proteins in rats. Six animals per exercise group were killed immediately (0 h) and 2 h after each exercise mode. In addition, 6 animals in a non-exercised condition (NE) were killed on the same day and under the same conditions. The levels of AMPK, phospho-Thr172AMPK (p-AMPK), Akt, phospho-Ser473Akt (p-Akt), p70S6K1, phospho-Thr389-p70S6K1(p-p70S6K1), mTOR, phospho-Ser2448mTOR (p-mTOR), and phospho-Thr1462-TSC2 (p-TSC2) expression were evaluated by immunoblotting in total plantaris muscle extracts. The only significant difference detected was an increase (i.e., 87%) in Akt phosphorylated/total ratio in the CE group 2 h after exercise compared to the NE group (P = 0.002). There were no changes in AMPK, TSC2, mTOR, or p70S6K1 ratios when the exercise modes were compared to the NE condition (P ≥ 0.05). In conclusion, our data suggest that low-intensity and low-volume CE might not blunt the training-induced adaptations, since it did not activate competing intracellular pathways in an acute bout of strength and endurance exercises in rat skeletal muscle.

It is essential to monitor the utilisation of antibacterial drugs in order to establish appropriate measures for their control. The pattern of usage of antibacterial drugs, and its association with indicators of hospital infection, has been investigated in a non-specialized adult intensive care unit (ICU) located in Santa Luzia Hospital (Brasília, DF, Brazil). The study was conducted between January 2001 and June 2004. Data concerning the utilisation of systemic antibacterial drugs, classified according to the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical/Defined Daily Dose (ATC/DDD) system, and indicators of hospital infection, defined according to the National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance (NNIS) system, were obtained from appropriate hospital archives. During the study period, the average utilisation of antibacterial drugs was 1918.5 DDD units per 1000 patient-day (DDD1000). The three most used drugs were penicillins/beta-lactamase inhibitors (535.3 DDD1000), third generation cephalosporins (239.1 DDD1000) and quinolones (212.5 DDD1000). The total utilisation of antibacterial drugs was correlated significantly with the incidence of hospital infection (R = 0.62; p < 0.01) and the index of invasive procedures (R = 0.41; p < 0.01). Furthermore, the latter two indicators were significantly and positively correlated with the use of recently commercialised, broad spectrum antibacterial drugs (except for carbapenems). It is concluded that improved infection control procedures, together with more rigorous criteria regarding the use of invasive procedures, should be implemented by the ICU studied in order to diminish the utilisation of antibacterial drugs.

O presente estudo descreve a adaptação para uma amostra portuguesa da Escala de Locus de Controlo da Saúde (Parcel & Meyer, 1978). Esta escala tem como objectivo medir especificamente as crenças das crianças e adolescentes relativas à saúde/doença. A escala composta por 20 itens foi submetida a uma análise das suas propriedades psicométricas seguindo uma metodologia semelhante aos autores originais para efeitos de comparação. A amostra no nosso estudo é composta por 175 adolescentes do Serviço de Endocrinologia do Hospital S. João, no Porto. A versão portuguesa aponta para uma composição com 14 itens organizados em duas componentes e 3 sub escalas. A primeira componente na dimensão externalidade do Locus de Controlo agrupa itens referentes à escala "Outros Significativos" (pais, professores) e à escala "Outros Poderosos", esta englobando itens referentes explicitamente ao médico e enfermeiro como determinantes no controlo da saúde. A segunda dimensão refere-se ao Locus de Controlo Interno pelo que foi mantido o mesmo nome dos autores originais. A fidelidade da versão portuguesa apresenta um alfa global de .64. Torna-se importante testar esta escala noutras amostras bem como em patologias diferentes.

Health locus of control scale: construct and validation with an adolescent population with type 1 diabetes

A lectin isolated from the red alga Solieria filiformis was evaluated for its effect on the growth of 8 gram-negative and 3 gram-positive bacteria cultivated in liquid medium (three independent experiments/bacterium). The lectin (500 µg/mL) stimulated the growth of the gram-positive species Bacillus cereus and inhibited the growth of the gram-negative species Serratia marcescens, Salmonella typhi, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterobacter aerogenes, Proteus sp, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa at 1000 µg/mL but the lectin (10-1000 µg/mL) had no effect on the growth of the gram-positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus and B. subtilis, or on the gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium. The purified lectin significantly reduced the cell density of gram-negative bacteria, although no changes in growth phases (log, exponential and of decline) were observed. It is possible that the interaction of S. filiformis lectin with the cell surface receptors of gram-negative bacteria promotes alterations in the flow of nutrients, which would explain the bacteriostatic effect. Growth stimulation of the gram-positive bacterium B. cereus was more marked in the presence of the lectin at a concentration of 1000 µg/mL. The stimulation of the growth of B. cereus was not observed when the lectin was previously incubated with mannan (125 µg/mL), its hapten. Thus, we suggest the involvement of the binding site of the lectin in this effect. The present study reports the first data on the inhibition and stimulation of pathogenic bacterial cells by marine alga lectins.

Previous studies have shown that women are more emotionally expressive than men. It is unclear, however, if women are also more susceptible to the emotional modulation of behavior imposed by an affective stimulus. To investigate this issue, we devised a task in which female subjects performed six sequential trials of visual target detection following the presentation of emotional (mutilation and erotic) or neutral pictures (domestic utensils and objects) and compared the data obtained in the present study with those described in a previous study with male subjects. The experiment consisted of three blocks of 24 pictures and each block had an approximate duration of 4 min. Our sample consisted of 36 subjects (age range: 18 to 26 years) and each subject performed all blocks. Trials following the presentation of mutilation pictures (283 ms) had significantly slower reaction times than those following neutral (270 ms) pictures. None of the trials in the "pleasant block" (271 ms) was significantly different from those in the "neutral block". The increase in reaction time observed in the unpleasant block may be related in part to the activation of motivational systems leading to an avoidance behavior. The interference effect observed in this study was similar to the pattern previously described for men. Thus, although women may be more emotionally expressive, they were not more reactive to aversive stimuli than men, as measured by emotional interference in a simple reaction time task.