Estrogen deficiency and chronic alcohol consumption may have a synergistic and deleterious effect on bone tissue. AIM: To investigate the effects of estrogen deficiency associated with chronic alcohol consumption on the mandibular condyle in rats. METHODS: Fifty-four female rats were first divided equally into two groups: ovariectomized Ovx and simulated ovariectomy Sham. One month after the surgeries, these groups were equally sub-divided according to their dietary treatment: G1: Sham/ad-libitum diet; G2: Sham/alcohol; G3: Sham/isocaloric; G4: Ovx/ad-libitum diet; G5: Ovx/alcohol, G6: Ovx/isocaloric. Eight weeks after starting the diets, all animals were anesthetized and sacrificed. The condyles were analyzed histologically, histomorphometrically, and immunohistochemically using the antibodies for bone sialoprotein BSP, osteocalcin OCC and receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand RANKL. RESULTS: Histological analysis of the mandibular condyles showed that Ovx and Sham groups presented almost the same characteristics. The histomorphometric analysis showed that there was a statistically significant difference only between Ovx/isocaloric and Ovx/ad-libitum groups p=0.049. No difference was observed in the intensity of BSP, OCC, and RANKL antibody staining between the Ovx/alcohol and the other groups. CONCLUSIONS: It may be concluded that there was no histomorphometric, histological, or RANKL, BSP, and OCC staining differences between the Ovx/alcohol group and other experimental groups.

Elderly patients generally use several types of medication, some of which may cause oral side effects. Aim: To investigate the oral side effects caused by medication in an elderly sample. Methods: Three hundred patients were interviewed about their use of medication and were divided in two groups: institutionalized (n=150) and community-dwelling (n=150) elderly. Results: The most used drugs were antihypertensives (53%) for community-dwelling elders and antiulceratives (76%) for the institutionalized ones. The more prevalent side effects were taste alterations that occurred in 19%, dry mouth in 17% and teeth staining in 2%. Conclusions: A high prevalence of oral side effects from medications used by the elderly was found in this study. The health professionals should be aware of the possible side effects caused by prescribed medications.

AIM: To evaluate health parameters (blood pressure, heart rate and blood glucose), the use of medicines and alcohol consumption in elderly residents in the city of São José dos Campos, SP, Brazil. METHODS: A sample of 500 elderly individuals (98 men and 402 women, with mean age of 69.5 years) was examined. Personal data and medicines used by the patients were recorded, general health aspects were assessed and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) was applied to survey alcohol consumption. RESULTS: Two hundred and four patients (40.8%) presented high blood pressure and 93 patients (18.6%) had hyperglycemia. The most used pharmacological groups were antihypertensive drugs, antilipidemics, drugs to control hypothyroidism and hypoglycemic agents. Possible pharmacological interactions with alcohol were present in 60.9% of the used medicines. The AUDIT results showed that 91% of the sample presented a low-level intake of alcohol and only 1% presented characteristics of alcohol addiction. Associations were found among AUDIT scores with age (p=0.037), since a larger number of alcohol addicts were found among younger patients, and use of drugs (p=0.046), since patients who consumed more daily medicines made less use of alcohol (low-level). CONCLUSIONS: The studied sample presented a high prevalence of hypertension and relatively low incidence of diabetes. A low use of drugs was verified and women made more use of daily medications than men. Low alcohol consumption was also observed, and women consumed less alcohol than men.