Pedro Lopes dos Santos

Cognitive impairment in old people living in the community

Cognitive impairment has a high prevalence in the elderly, especially in the oldest old, and it is a major concern for autonomous old people living in the community and their families. Any possible intervention will benefit from early detection of cognitive decline related signs. The Portuguese version of the mini-mental state examination (MMSE) was used to assess cognitive impairment in a sample of 1266 old community-dwellers in Portugal, mean age 70.3+/-8.7 years. A standard questionnaire was also used including measures on social network, psychological distress, functionality, perceived health status, and socio-demographic variables. We recorded education levels and illiteracy by using different cut points to select people with and without cognitive impairment and results showed a 9.6% prevalence of positive cases. In general, cognitive impairment is higher in women, older people, widows(ers), and people with negative self-perception of health and with difficulties in basic and in instrumental activities of daily living (ADL and IADL). Cognitive impairment was found to be predicted by gender, age and psychological distress, explaining 18% of variance. Findings are discussed considering available literature and possible interventions for community residents.

The first demonstration of CYP1A and the ABC protein(s) gene expression and activity in European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) primary hepatocytes.

Primary hepatocytes are a model for studying various effects of different xenobiotics, including detoxification strategies. In this study we have isolated and cultured European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) primary hepatocytes and assessed gene transcription and activity of CYP1A (phase I of cellular detoxification) and ABCC1 and ABCC2 (phase III) transport proteins after exposure to benzo(a)pyrene (BaP). A dose dependent increase in Abcc2 and Cyp1a mRNA transcripts was observed in seabass primary hepatocytes upon exposure to BaP. The activity of ABC proteins, as key mediators of the multixenobiotic resistance (MXR), was further confirmed by assessing the accumulation of the model fluorescence substrate rhodamine 123 in the absence and presence of model inhibitors. A weak interaction between BaP and ABC proteins was observed. CYP1A dependent ethoxyresorufin-O-deeethylase (EROD) activity was significantly induced by the presence of BaP. After the 24h exposure period only 10% of the initial BaP was present in the incubation medium, clearly demonstrating biotransformation potential of primary seabass hepatocytes. Furthermore, the presence of the 3-hydroxybenzo(a)pyrene, a BaP metabolite, in the medium implies its active efflux. In conclusion, we showed that seabass primary hepatocytes do express important elements of the cellular detoxification machinery and may be a useful in vitro model for studying basic cellular detoxification mechanisms and their interaction with environmental contaminants.

Receptive language and intellectual abilities in preterm children

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to examine the association between receptive vocabulary performance and intellectual quotient (IQ) in preterm born children compared to children born at term. METHOD A total of 72 preschool-age children participated in the study. Participants were divided in four groups: EG-I, including 20 moderate to late preterm born children; EG-II, comprehending 16 extremely preterm born children; CG-I and CG-II with correspondingly 20 and 16 children born at term. EG-I and CG-I as well as EG-II and CG-II groups were matched according to gender, chronological age, and family SES. The mean age of children in each group was: EG-I and CG-I: 30.3months; EG-II and CG-II: 29.1months. The assessment information was collected using an anamnesis protocol, the Brazilian criterion of economic classification, the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, and the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale. RESULTS Mean scores for receptive vocabulary were significantly lower in both preterm groups (EG-I and EG-II) than in the corresponding matched groups (CG-I and CG-II). However, no significant differences were found among the preterm groups. Moreover, high correlations between vocabulary and IQ scores were found in both preterm groups (EG-I and EG-II). In contrast, no significant correlations were found when analyses considered each group of full-term born children (CG-I and CG-II). CONCLUSION Our findings indicate that prematurity status has an impact on receptive language performance and on the pattern of relationships between receptive vocabulary and general intellectual functioning.