Ana Patrícia de Paula

Psoriatic arthritis in patients with psoriasis: evaluation of clinical and epidemiological features in 133 patients followed at the University Hospital of Brasília

BACKGROUND Psoriatic arthritis is an inflammatory arthritis associated with psoriasis. Its prevalence in patients with psoriasis varies from 7 to 42% but its exact prevalence is unknown. OBJECTIVES Considering the lack of national data related to its diagnosis in patients with psoriasis, this study aims to describe the clinical, laboratorial and radiological manifestations of psoriatic arthritis in these patients. METHODS We evaluated 133 patients with psoriasis, treated as outpatients. These patients were asked to fill in the forms with data about the disease and were submitted to a clinical evaluation by a dermatologist and a rheumatologist. Suspected cases of arthritis were referred for further investigation and were classified according to presence or absence of psoriatic arthritis according to CASPAR criteria. RESULTS The number of patients with psoriatic arthritis was 47 (35%), 17 of them were new cases. There was no difference between the groups regarding the type of psoriasis, nail involvement, presence of scalp lesions and psoriatic arthritis. Patients with psoriatic arthritis had more enthesitis and dactylitis (46.7%) than those without arthritis. CONCLUSIONS Despite the high prevalence of arthritis found, we know that results from epidemiological studies are variable, which limits their use and interpretation. We conclude that more studies are needed to draw a profile of rheumatic manifestations in our population of psoriasis patients.

Expenditures on the treatment of osteoporosis in the elderly in Brazil (2008 - 2010): analysis of associated factors

OBJECTIVE To analyze the expenditure of the Ministry of Health with osteoporosis treatment in the Brazilian Public Health System (SUS) in 2008-2010 triennium and estimate the influence of demographic, regional and disease related variables on average expenditure per procedures performed. METHODS A cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical study based on secondary data from DATASUS related to procedures for the elderly with a diagnosis of osteoporosis and related fractures. For the statistical analysis and multivariate model, Stata 11.0 was used. RESULTS According to the findings, 3,252,756 procedures related to the osteoporosis treatment among the elderly were carried out in Brazil during the 2008 - 2010 period, totalizing R

Dental panoramic indices and fractal dimension measurements in osteogenesis imperfecta children under pamidronate treatment.

288,986,335.15. The age group that most had procedures was 60 - 69 years (46.3%); the population of 80 years or older showed the highest spending per procedure, around R

Treinamento de força versus hidroginástica: uma análise transversal comparativa da densidade mineral óssea em mulheres na pós-menopausa

106 million in three years. The women were majority in terms of quantity (95.6%) and expense (76%) of procedures. The average cost per procedure showed a large gap between men and women, nearly 7 times (R

Assessment of DNA damage in goat preantral follicles after vitrification of the ovarian cortex

480.14 versus R

Resistance training versus weight-bearing aquatic exercise: a cross-sectional analysis of bone mineral density in postmenopausal women

70.85, respectively). The ambulatory care procedures predominated in quantity (96.4%) and the hospital procedures predominated in resources (70.4%). It was found that there is no single standard for groups of procedures when these are analyzed separately. CONCLUSION A disaggregated analysis of expenditure by procedures groups extracted from the SUS Management System of the Table of Procedures, Medicines, Orthotics, Prosthetics and Special Materials allowed a detailed overview of federal spending on the osteoporosis treatment in the elderly from Brazil.

Guidelines of the Brazilian Society of Rheumatology for the diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis in men

OBJECTIVES To verify radiomorphometric indices and fractal dimension (FD) in dental panoramic radiographs (DPRs) of children with different types of osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) and also to verify the effect of pamidronate (PAM) treatment in such panoramic analyses. METHODS In this retrospective study, 197 DPRs of 62 children with OI Types I, III and IV who were in treatment with a comparable dosage of intravenous PAM were selected. The mandibular cortical width (MCW), mandibular cortical index, visual estimation of the cortical width and FD of three standardized trabecular and cortical mandibular regions of interest were obtained from the radiographs. Factorial analysis of variance and Fisher test were used to compare FD and MCW measurements in children with different types of OI for different PAM cycles. RESULTS Children with all types of OI have thinner and more porous mandibular cortices at the beginning of treatment. There were significant differences between MCW and FD of the cortical bone, regarding different types of OI and number of PAM cycles (p = 0.037 and p = 0.044, respectively). FD measurements of the trabecular bone were not statistically different among OI types nor were PAM cycles (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS Children with OI presented cortical bone alterations after PAM treatment. Both MCW and the FD of the cortical bone were higher in children with OI after PAM treatment. It is argued that cortical bone should be considered for analyzing patients with OI, as well as to monitor the progress of PAM treatment.

EVALUATION OF A BONE REINFORCEMENT TECHNIQUE USING FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS

INTRODUCTION: Many studies have shown that resistance training has a positive effect on bone mineral density (BMD). However, few studies have compared the BMD of individuals undergoing resistance training and those training aquatic weight-bearing exercises. OBJECTIVE: To compare, in a cross-sectional study, the BMD of postmenopausal women undergoing resistance training and postmenopausal women training aquatic weight-bearing exercises. METHODS: The sample comprised 63 women divided into the following three groups: resistance training (STRENGTH: n = 15; 51.4 ± 2.7 years); aquatic weight-bearing exercises (WA-TER: n = 22; 54.5 ± 3.3 years); and non-trained controls (CONTROL: n = 26; 52.0 ± 3.3 years). All volunteers were on hormone replacement therapy for at least one year. The STRENGTH and WATER groups were training for at least one year prior to study beginning (mean years of training - STRENGTH: 4.5 ± 2.0; WATER: 4.2 ± 2.2). RESULTS: The STRENGTH group had higher BMD of total body, femoral neck, lumbar spine L2-L4 as compared with the CONTROL group (all P < 0.05). The WATER group had higher BMD of total body, total hip, lumbar spine L2-L4 as compared with the CONTROL group (all P < 0.05). However, no difference was observed between the STRENGTH and WATER groups regarding the sites assessed. CONCLUSIONS: Those findings suggest that not only the resistance training, but also aquatic weight-bearing exercises might be a non-pharmacological strategy to prevent BMD loss in postmenopausal women.

Treatment of an Acute Fracture of the Femoral Neck in a Young Female Adult with a Transfemoral Amputation

Effective methods for gamete preservation should have low impact on DNA integrity. The present study investigated the effects of vitrification of goat ovarian tissues on the occurrence of DNA fragmentation and DNA double-stand breaks using the terminal deoxyribonucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-digoxigenin nick end-labelling (TUNEL) assay and detection of phosphorylated histone H2AX (γH2AX), respectively. Goat ovaries were collected at a local abattoir and 12 tissue fragments were prepared from each ovarian pair. Tissue fragments were used as fresh control samples or were cultured in vitro, vitrified or vitrified and cultured. Vitrification was performed using the Ovarian Tissue Cryosystem. Fragments from all groups (control and treatments) were processed for histology, transmission electron microscopy, TUNEL assay and immunofluorescence. Compared with fresh control samples, a lower percentage of morphologically normal follicles was detected in the vitrification followed by culture treatment group (P<0.05). Normal follicular ultrastructure was observed in all groups. Immunofluorescence revealed the presence of γH2AX foci in few oocytes and ovarian stromal cells. TUNEL-positive follicles were found in samples without significant differences among groups (P>0.05). In conclusion, the vitrification protocol used in the present study did not increase DNA damage in preantral follicles enclosed in goat ovarian tissues.

Ultrassonometria do calcâneo, densitometria óssea e morfometria vertebral em homens com idade acima de 60 anos

INTRODUCTION Many studies have shown that resistance training has a positive effect on bone mineral density (BMD). However, few studies have compared the BMD of individuals undergoing resistance training and those training aquatic weight-bearing exercises. OBJECTIVE To compare, in a cross-sectional study, the BMD of postmenopausal women undergoing resistance training and postmenopausal women training aquatic weight-bearing exercises. METHODS The sample comprised 63 women divided into the following three groups: resistance training (STRENGTH: n = 15; 51.4 ± 2.7 years); aquatic weight-bearing exercises (WA-TER: n = 22; 54.5 ± 3.3 years); and non-trained controls ( CONTROL n = 26; 52.0 ± 3.3 years). All volunteers were on hormone replacement therapy for at least one year. The STRENGTH and WATER groups were training for at least one year prior to study beginning (mean years of training - STRENGTH: 4.5 ± 2.0; WATER: 4.2 ± 2.2). RESULTS The STRENGTH group had higher BMD of total body, femoral neck, lumbar spine L2-L4 as compared with the CONTROL group (all P < 0.05). The WATER group had higher BMD of total body, total hip, lumbar spine L2-L4 as compared with the CONTROL group (all P < 0.05). However, no difference was observed between the STRENGTH and WATER groups regarding the sites assessed. CONCLUSIONS Those findings suggest that not only the resistance training, but also aquatic weight-bearing exercises might be a non-pharmacological strategy to prevent BMD loss in postmenopausal women.