However, implicit in this discussion is the continuing discussion about whether the early tiers of a tiered assessment should be based only on chemistry or whether some bioassays should also be included in a first tier (Agius and Porebski, 2008, Apitz, 2010 and Apitz, 2011), as in Fig. 1. The argument for a bioassay is that,

since not all chemicals are measured, even in an expanded analytical list, a bioassay in the first tier might detect the toxic CHIR-99021 cost effects of contaminants not measured in the action list. However, the validity of this argument depends upon the contaminants in the sediment, their modes of toxicity, and the bioassays considered; Apitz, 2010 and Apitz, 2011 review these issues in light of

DM and other decision frameworks. Although this issue is outside the scope of this phase of the analysis, it is important to note that ultimately, the potential regulatory outcomes of a range of potential chemical PKC inhibitor assessment protocols in a DaS framework will also depend upon when and how bioassessment is applied in the tiered framework. The objectives of Canada’s Disposal at Sea Program and of related national and international legislation mirror the London Convention, and more specifically, the London Protocol objective “to protect and preserve the marine environment from all sources of pollution and take effective measures, according to their scientific, technical, and economic capabilities, to prevent, reduce, and where practicable eliminate pollution caused by dumping or incineration at sea of wastes or other matter.” CEPA Part 7, Division 2 defines marine pollution as “the introduction by humans, directly or indirectly, of substances or energy into the sea that results, or is likely to

result, in (a) hazards to human health; (b) harm to living resources or marine ecosystems; (c) damage to amenities; or (d) interference with other legitimate uses of the sea.” The 1996 Protocol to the London Convention, Article 1, paragraph 10 states that “… pollution Non-specific serine/threonine protein kinase means the introduction, directly or indirectly, by human activity, of wastes or other matter into the sea which results or is likely to result in such deleterious effects as harm to living resources and marine ecosystems, hazards to human health, hindrance to marine activities, including fishing and other legitimate uses of the sea, impairment of quality for use of seawater and reduction of amenities”. CEPA (1999) states that: “pollution prevention” means the use of processes, practices, materials, products, substances or energy that avoid or minimize the creation of pollutants and waste and reduce the overall risk to the environment or human health. A careful examination of the wording of the London Protocol reveals that the programmatic objectives focus upon the prevention or elimination of pollution per se, and not of its effects.

5 mg/mL) for 4 h at 37 °C in a 5% CO2 atmosphere.

The plate was centrifuged at 1500 rpm for 10 min. The medium was removed and replaced by 100 μL of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), followed by mixing to dissolve the formazan CHIR-99021 mouse crystals. Absorbance was measured at 570 nm on a microenzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) reader (Spectramax, Molecular Devices®) and the reduction of cell viability was expressed as the percentage compared with the negative control group designated as 100%. A control experiment carried out using only PAMAM in the culture medium did not induced cytotoxicity (data not shown). Nanoparticle-induced DNA damage was performed by the comet assay (also referred to as the single-cell gel electrophoresis – SCGE analysis) under alkaline conditions (Singh et al., 1988). The negative control was

exposed without AuNps under the same conditions. HepG2 cells and PBMC were cultured in 12-well culture plates as described above, and then pretreated for 3 h with 1.0 and 50.0 μM of AuNps-citrate and AuNps-PAMAM. Microscope slides were prepared in duplicate and coated with 1% normal melting point agarose (NMA). 60 μL of each cell suspension with 300 μL of low melting point agarose 1% (LMPA) were placed on these microscope slides containing NMA, deposited over the agarose layer. Coverslips were placed on the gels, which were left to set on ice. After gently removing the coverslips, the slides were immediately submersed in cold lysis solution (2.5 M NaCl, 100 mM EDTA,

10 mM Tris, 1% Tritron click here oxyclozanide X-100, pH 10) for 12 h in the dark. DNA was then allowed to unwind for 20 min in alkaline electrophoresis solution (300 mM NaOH, 1 mM EDTA, pH > 13). Electrophoresis was performed under 25 V and 300 mA for 20 min. Subsequently, the slides were placed in a cold neutralizing buffer (400 mM Tris buffer, pH 7.5) for 15 min, dried in 100% methanol for 5 min, and stained with 50 μL of 20 μg/mL ethidium bromide in the dark. At least 50 comets per slide were analyzed under a fluorescence microscope (Nikon Eclipse E200, Japan) equipped with an excitation filter of 515–560 nm and a barrier filter of 590 nm, connected to a digital camera (Nikon DS Qi1, Japan). The classical visual analysis scoring of the comet assay was analyzed by a single analyst, in order to minimize scoring images variation. Data were based on 150 cells for each test or control that were visually scored as belonging to one of five classes, according to tail size and intensity. Classes 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4 were given, with 0 = no detectable damage and 4 = maximum damage. The damage index was obtained by the formula, damage index = (0 × n0) + (1 × n1) + (2 × n2) + (3 × n3) + (4 × n4). The variables n0–n4 represent the number of nucleoids with 0–4 damage level, and each experiment was performed in triplicate. The AuNps cellular uptake was investigated using flow cytometry (Suzuki et al., 2007).

This white matter consists mainly of small association fibres, which originate and terminate within the occipital lobe. It is penetrated by long ranging fibres originating from the cortex and thence merging with the three inner layers. The short fibres mainly run in the frontal [coronal] plane, and thus interconnect dorsal and ventral or medial and lateral Dabrafenib molecular weight regions and only rarely do they interconnect directly adjacent cortical areas. Three such fibrous tracts originate from the dorsal aspect of the cortical regions above the calcar avis. The most important of these fibres is the stratum calcarinum (16), which consists of fibres that circumvent the calcar avis in its full extension,

and the longest of which connect the cuneus to the lingual gyrus. In the white matter strips of the three above-mentioned vertical short gyri, which are

http://www.selleckchem.com/products/AG-014699.html placed on the insular ground of the calcarine fissure, this layer thickens into three strong bundles. Among these bundles the most anterior is rather prominent and partially reaches the base of the hemisphere. As a result of this filling of the “gyral comb”, the respective sulci do not appear at the bed of the calcar avis on the inner surface of the occipital horn. Anteriorly this layer reaches beyond the connection point of the calcarine fissure and the occipito-parietal sulcus into the temporal lobe and envelopes in a similar fashion the continuation of the calcarine fissure by connecting the cortex of the uncinate gyrus with the lingual gyrus. The second layer originates from the dorsal cortical region of the calcar avis, the stratum cunei transversum (17). In contrast to the stratum calcarinum this layer only exists in the region of the cuneus and does not extend beyond the confluence of the calcarine fissure in the occipito-parietal sulcus. Oxalosuccinic acid The fibres of this layer originate together with those of the stratum calcarinum and initially run parallel with them over the dorsal calcar avis from medial to lateral. However, rather than bending downwards after the calcar avis they continue

in the same direction above the dorsal part of the stratum sagittale externum and bend downwards on the other side of the latter to follow its lateral surface. On coronal sections cut through the posterior half of the occipital horn, this layer can be seen to reach the inferior border of the stratum sagittale externum: the more anterior the less these fibres reach inferiorly and the thinner the whole layer becomes until they eventually vanish in the region of the anterior occipital sulcus. Thus far it has not been possible to trace these fibres in isolation upon their exit from this layer along their trajectory through the stratum proprium convexitatis towards the cortex. They potentially reach the cortex of the whole convex region and part of the inferior occipital cortex, thus forming an association pathway between the cuneus and the convexity.

Nociceptor mechanosensitivity was similarly reduced by linaclotide in response to noxious circular stretch ( Supplementary Figure 2A,B, and C). We then asked if these linaclotide-induced

anti-nociceptive effects were maintained, or indeed augmented in chronic visceral pain, such as that suffered by IBS patients.19 This question was assessed Bcl 2 inhibitor in an animal model of chronic visceral pain, where colonic nociceptor mechanical hypersensitivity23 and colonic mechanical hyperalgesia and allodynia are evident long after resolution of TNBS-induced colitis.31 and 32 We found that colonic nociceptors in the CVH model displayed pronounced mechanical hypersensitivity and that linaclotide significantly reduced their mechanosensitivity (Figure 1Bi and Bii), showing significant

reductions at 30 nM and reversing the chronic visceral mechanical hypersensitivity, with a maximal reduction of 63% at 1000 nM ( Figure 1Bi and Bii). Linaclotide’s inhibitory effect was greatly enhanced in CVH compared with healthy nociceptors ( Figure 1C). In order to determine whether these anti-nociceptive effects were specific to linaclotide or could be induced by other GC-C agonists, we also studied the endogenous hormone uroguanylin. Application of uroguanylin to the colonic mucosal surface caused significant, dose-dependent inhibition of healthy colonic nociceptors (Figure 1Di and Dii). This effect was greatly enhanced in CVH ( Figure 1Ei, Eii, and F). Overall, these findings indicate the GC-C agonists linaclotide and uroguanylin are able to inhibit colonic nociceptor function and reverse CVH. Because linaclotide inhibits colonic nociceptors, selleck kinase inhibitor as shown here, and inhibits pain responses in vivo,11 we hypothesized this inhibition should correspondingly reduce signaling of noxious CRD within the spinal cord in vivo. We identified activated neurons in the dorsal horn (DH) of the thoracolumbar spinal cord in response to Ergoloid noxious CRD by pERK immunoreactivity (IR).26 In healthy mice, intra-colonic administration of 1000 nM linaclotide resulted in significantly fewer

pERK-IR DH neurons in the thoracolumbar spinal cord after noxious CRD compared with saline administration (Figure 2A, D, and E). In response to noxious CRD, CVH mice displayed greater numbers of pERK-IR DH neurons than healthy mice, which corresponds with the extent of colonic nociceptor mechanical hypersensitivity observed in vitro. In CVH mice, linaclotide pretreatment resulted in a dramatic reduction in the number of pERK-IR DH neurons in the thoracolumbar spinal cord after noxious CRD (Figure 2B, D, and F). Overall, these results suggest that linaclotide reduces nociceptive signaling and reverses chronic visceral mechanical hypersensitivity in vivo. This finding correlates with our in vitro nociceptor findings and potentially explains improvements in abdominal pain in our IBS-C clinical trial analysis.

6 mg Pb kg−1, a little lower level than, 85 mg kg−1, presented in literature (Szefer et al., 2009). In the case of zinc, a jump from 88 mg kg−1 to 163 mg kg−1 was defined to take place between 1920 and 1950. Later on, Zn content oscillates around 185 mg kg−1; the literature data point out a quite similar level of 188 mg kg−1 (Szefer et al., 2009).

Enrichment factor is widely applied to differentiate metal sources: anthropogenic and natural origin (Carvalho Gomes et al., 2009 and Zahra et al., 2014). Enrichment factor (EF) is defined as the ratio of the given metal concentration measured in the environment element to the concentration level regarded as the environmental target concentrations. Enhanced values of EF indicate the increased heavy metal concentrations resulting

mainly from anthropogenic pressure. To illustrate the temporal changes of heavy metal concentrations, enrichment factors EF in particular sediment layers Dinaciclib related to background levels from the deepest layer were calculated according to the formula: EF=CMLCMBwhere CML – metal concentration (normalized to 5% Al) in sediment layer x, CMB – metal concentration (normalized to 5% Al) in background layer. As anticipated, the highest EFs were obtained for all four heavy metal species in surface sediments of the Gdańsk Deep (Fig. 5). In Fig. 5, the EF values are presented as calculated as a ratio of metal concentration in each sediment layer – CML to the target concentration of metal – CMT. The highest enrichment factors were obtained for cadmium; Lumacaftor supplier its concentrations measured in 2009 were nearly 13-fold higher than the background level. Lead turned out to be the second pollutant with respect to concentration increase in the surface layer related to the deepest layer with EF >10. Mercury concentrations increased over five times, and zinc showed the least spectacular increment, with the maximal EF of 2.2. The weakest changes in relation to reference conditions were noted in the SE Gotland Clomifene Basin. EF values of Pb and Zn in this region varied within similar ranges, with

a maximal point of 1.5 assigned about 1990. Quite similar EF records, though at a much lower level than that in the Gdańsk Deep, were found here also in the case of Cd with the maximum at 2.9 in the surface layer. In the case of mercury, the maximal EF of 3.0 was found around 1980. In the Bornholm Deep, the build-up of Cd and Hg concentrations in sediment layers were shown to follow approximate patterns as evidenced by the maximal EF of 4.05 and 4.07, respectively, in the surface layer. The maximal EF levels of zinc and lead in the Bornholm Deep were 2.27 and 2.38, respectively. Among the studied marine sedimentation basins, the area of Gdańsk Deep remains under the most severe anthropogenic pressure. The EF increasing >1.0, indicating enhanced input of heavy metals to the marine environment, dates as far back as 1828, while the maximal increment gradient was noted after 1979.

Before prism adaptation, the mean choice of the gradient with the dark side on the right as the ‘darker’ was 98% (mean 19.5 out of 20 pairs, with SD = .9). The corresponding percentage after prism adaptation was again 98% (mean = 19.5 out of 20, with SD = .8). Similarly to the results for the chimeric face lateral preference task, prism intervention was thus found to have no impact

whatsoever on lateral preferences in the greyscale gradients task [t(10) = 0, p = 1, n.s.] and this was true for all the individual participating patients, none of whom showed an individually significant impact of prisms in this task; see Fig. 5. Thus, Selleckchem Afatinib for both the chimeric face expression and greyscale gradients lateral preference tasks, all patients showed strong left neglect, manifested as expression or darkness judgements (respectively) being pathologically based on just the right side of the stimuli, unlike the normal tendency for the left side to predominate slightly for both the face task (cf. Levy et al., 1983, Luh et al., 1991, Mattingley et al., 1993 and Mattingley et al., 1994) and the greyscale gradients task (Mattingley et al., 1994, Nicholls Epigenetic inhibitor manufacturer et al., 2004 and Nicholls et al., 2005) in neurologically healthy

subjects. Indeed all of our neglect patients fell well outside the normative range for these particular tasks (see Mattingley et al., 1994), IKBKE with the sole exception of patient AK in the chimeric face expression task (see also Sarri et al., 2006). But the main point for present purposes is that the patients’ performance for both these

lateral preference tasks was completely unaffected by prism adaptation (see Fig. 4 and Fig. 5). Turning to the chimeric/non-chimeric face discrimination task, all six participating patients showed signs of neglect in this task before the prism adaptation procedure, failing to classify 40% or more of the chimeric face tasks presented as such. In particular, patients tended to erroneously classify ‘chimeric’ faces as ‘real’, presumably failing to notice any differences in emotional expression between the left and the right halves of the chimeric face tasks, due to their left neglect. By contrast they were mostly accurate at classifying the non-chimeric, ‘real’ faces as such. Specifically, EY classified correctly only 20% of the chimeric face tasks presented (erroneously classifying 80% of the chimeric face tasks presented as ‘real’), whereas she correctly classified 85% of the ‘real’ faces.

Results with P < 0.05 were considered to be statistically significant. The incubation of HepG2 cells with GA for 24 h promoted cell viability decrease (Fig. 2A), as assessed by Annexin-V/PI double-staining (flow cytometry). At 25 μM, GA promoted around 50% cell death, an effect close similar to the effect of 25 μM CCCP. Isocitrate (1 mM), in turn, partly prevented Selleck Stem Cell Compound Library cell

death induced by 25 μM GA. The effect of GA on HepG2 cell mitochondrial membrane potential was estimated with the mitochondrion-specific dye, JC-1. As shown in Fig. 2B, GA promoted an extensive mitochondrial membrane potential dissipation in HepG2 cells. Unlike cell viability, this effect was not prevented by isocitrate. GA also induced ATP depletion in HepG2 cells after 24 h incubation (Fig. 2C), as well as ROS levels increase (Fig. 2D), both effects partly prevented by Z-VAD-FMK solubility dmso isocitrate. The concentration–response pattern for all above GA effects was closely similar, suggesting a correlation between them; interesting,

they were largely potentiated in HepG2 cells exposed to low glucose levels (results not shown), denoting energetic implications. We therefore performed studies on the GA effects in isolated rat-liver mitochondria, a classical model for studies on mitochondrial mechanisms. Fig. 3A shows concentration–response traces for the effects of GA on respiration of mitochondria isolated from rat liver. State 4 respiration rate supported by 5 mM succinate plus rotenone (V4) was increased by GA, denoting a mitochondrial uncoupling action (Fig. 3B). On the other hand, mitochondrial state 3 respiration rate (V3) was not affected by GA, denoting lack of respiratory chain the or ATP synthase inhibition (Figs. 3A and B). As expected, the V4 increase led to a decrease of the mitochondrial respiratory control ratio (Fig. 3C). Fig. 4A shows that GA promoted dissipation of mitochondrial membrane potential (lines b, c, d, e versus line a), consistently with the observed increase of V4. This effect was not inhibited by either the classical mitochondrial permeability transition inhibitor cyclosporine A, ruthenium

red or EGTA (lines f, g and h, respectively). The fluorescence units (means ± SEM at 250 s) were: 51.60 ± 2.31 (line a), 56.51 ± 1.91 (line b), 97.62 ± 4.73 (line c), 111.68 ± 5.22 (line d), 204.53 ± 6.52 (line e), 114.8 ± 5.72 (line f), 103.4 ± 4.69 (line g), 100.7 ± 5.25 (line h); differences statistically significant were found between (line a) and the other lines, at P < 0.05. Fig. 4B shows that GA induced mitochondrial Ca2+ release, also in a way not prevented by cyclosporine A, but partially prevented by the Ca2+-uniporter blocker, ruthenium red. The fluorescence units (means ± SEM at 250 s) were: 41.90 ± 3.86 (line a), 58.00 ± 4.38 (line b), 142.30 ± 5.82 (line c), 133.42 ± 7.43 (line d), and 91.62 ± 6.83 (line e); differences statistically significant were found between (line a) and the other lines, at P < 0.05.

This work was supported by the FINEP research grant “Rede Instituto Brasileiro de Neurociência (IBN-Net)” # 01.06.0842-00 and the INCT for Excitotoxicity and Neuroprotection – MCT/CNPq. J.B.T.R and F.A.A.S. receive a fellowship from CNPq and Guilherme Pires Amaral, Rômulo Pillon Barcelos, Fernando Dobrashinski receive a fellowship from CAPES. Additional support was provided by FAPERGS. “
“Triclocarban (3,4,4′-trichlorocarbanilide, TCC) is an antimicrobial agent commonly added to detergents and personal

hygiene products including liquid soaps or soap bars. Apart from its diphenylurea moiety TCC is structurally similar to other widely used antimicrobials such as triclosan (TCS) and hexachlorophene (HCP) (Fig. 1). The Navitoclax mw use in soaps results in direct human exposure. Liquid soaps contain up to 1.5% of TCC (SCCP, 2005) and for a single shower the absorption of TCC is estimated to be 0.6% (Schebb et al., 2011). Based

on an average use of 20 g of soap per shower TCC can therefore be expected to reach concentrations CAL-101 molecular weight of approximately 1 μM in the blood stream. This was recently confirmed in a study with human volunteers, where the use of TCC containing soap resulted in half-maximal blood concentrations of up to 530 nM (Schebb et al., 2012). Moreover, in the US its ubiquitous use has led to concentrations as high as 6.8 μg/l in environmental water samples (Halden and Paull, 2005). As a halogenated hydrocarbon TCC is hardly biodegradable (Aken et al., 2010, Furukawa and Fujihara, 2008 and Solyanikova and Golovleva, 2004) and subsequent levels in sewage sludge easily exceed 50 mg/kg (Heidler et al., 2006). In combination with the frequent use

of sewage as fertiliser the poor biodegradability thus further adds to human exposure (Wu et al., 2012). The high levels of TCC in water and sewage have raised concerns because TCC has been shown to amplify estrogenic and androgenic responses in cell-based reporter assays (Ahn et al., 2008). Androgenic effects Glycogen branching enzyme were also observed in vivo. In castrated rats the co-administration of TCC and testosterone resulted in higher weights of sex accessory organs ( Chen et al., 2008). Respective hyperplasias were also found in juvenile animals after they had been treated with TCC ( Duleba et al., 2011). Meanwhile the estrogenic effects of TCC in vivo are less well investigated. In zebrafish coexposure to 17β-estradiol (E2) and TCC enhanced the transcriptional induction of aromatase AroB, while the combination of TCC with the xenoestrogen bisphenol A (BPA) led to reduced expression of aroB ( Chung et al., 2011). Estrogens exert their effects mainly via two nuclear receptors, that is estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) and beta (ERβ). Following cognate ligand binding these transcription factors dimerise and bind to specific estrogen response elements (EREs) at the DNA, where subsequent recruitment of co-activators induces target gene expression (Heldring et al., 2007).

15, 17,

18, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 and 32 Another hormone is oestrogen, which also plays a role in cell function, glucose metabolism, and insulin secretion. In addition, oestrogen has been associated with an increased risk of diabetes. Diabetes alters these hormones, compromising their function and intensifying the damage caused by the hyperglycaemic condition.33, 34, 35 and 36 Hormone replacement therapy then may reverse this damage, but due to the presence of various complications doubts still exist regarding the total efficacy of this procedure in different cases, including hyperglycaemic conditions.37, CYC202 ic50 38, 39 and 40 Therefore, the objective of the present study was to evaluate the effect of oestrogen replacement therapy and prolonged insulin treatment on

the expression of INS-R and ER-alpha in the salivary glands of spontaneously diabetic mice, associating the therapeutic action of these treatments with the recovery of glandular tissues. Twenty-five 15-week-old female mice weighing on average 20 g, obtained from the Animal House of Universidade Estadual de Campinas (CEMIB, certified by ICLAS), were divided into five groups of 5 animals each: group I (NOD diabetic), group II (NOD diabetic treated with insulin), group III (NOD diabetic treated with oestrogen), group IV (NOD diabetic treated with insulin and oestrogen), and group V (control BALB/c mice). The animals were kept under standard conditions of housing, feeding and treatment at the Sector of Laboratory Animal Experimentation, Cabozantinib mouse Department of Morphology and Basic Pathology, Faculty of Medicine of Jundiaí, FMJ. Group II received insulin 20 days after confirmation of the hyperglycaemic condition (highly purified mixed NPH insulin, Biobrás, Minas Gerais, Brazil). Insulin was administered subcutaneously at a daily dose of 0.20 ml/100 g (4–5 U) for a period of 20 days similar as described

by Anderson.24 Group III received physiological doses of oestrogen in the form of daily subcutaneous injections of 72 mg Etofibrate 17β-oestradiol/kg41 (Sigma Chemical, St. Louis, MO, USA), also for a period of 20 days. Group IV received oestrogen plus insulin using the same protocol. Mice of groups I and V received daily subcutaneous injections of saline (4–5 U) to simulate the experimental conditions of the treated groups.42 Blood glucose levels (mg/dl) were monitored weekly in all animals with the Accu-Chek Performa System (Roche, Nutley, NJ, USA). Diabetes was defined as glucose levels higher than 300 mg/dl.43 Oestrogen levels were measured at the beginning and at the end of treatment for confirmation of the physiological hormone dose.44 For this purpose, a part of the blood sample was centrifuged for the separation of serum. Oestradiol levels were assayed using the oestradiol kit (Diagnostic Products, Los Angeles, CA, USA) in a Labsystems Multiskan Ascent plate reader (Model 354, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Suwanee, Georgia, USA).

O que hipoteticamente acontece na prática clínica é que estes doentes muitas vezes apresentam ou já apresentaram em determinada altura do internamento, algumas das indicações para a profilaxia dessa entidade. Enquanto as diretrizes para profilaxia de úlcera de stress em doentes críticos estão bem definidas na literatura médica, o mesmo não ocorre para doentes não-críticos. Na realidade, o uso de IBP não está restrito a doentes internados

em unidades de cuidados intensivos, provocando um consumo excessivo desses medicamentos e aumento inerente dos custos. Há que referir que as «guidelines» da American Society of Health-System Pharmacy não incluem recomendações sobre o uso desta classe de fármacos na profilaxia da úlcera de stress, no entanto, é provável que sejam os medicamentos mais frequentemente utilizados para este fim. Essas «guidelines» Z-VAD-FMK chemical structure preconizam que a escolha ATM/ATR inhibitor clinical trial entre os agentes antissecretores seja fundamentada nas orientações específicas de cada instituição, uma vez que há escassez de estudos controlados e randomizados que justifiquem o uso dos IBP como primeira linha na profilaxia da úlcera de stress tanto em ambiente de cuidados intensivos como em enfermaria.

Heidelbaugh e Inadomi12 realizaram uma análise retrospetiva de processos clínicos num serviço de medicina. Dos 1.769 doentes avaliados, 391 (22,1%) receberam terapêutica de supressão ácida para a profilaxia da úlcera de stress sem indicação, sendo que destes, 54% tiveram alta com prescrição de medicação antissecretora. Uma análise económica destes dados

estimou que o custo associado com a profilaxia inapropriada foi de mais de 11 mil dólares durante um período de 4 meses. Assumindo uma adesão total à prescrição para Inositol oxygenase ambulatório, o custo estimado num ano foi superior a 67 mil dólares12. Entre os doentes que receberam corretamente IBP para a profilaxia da doença ulcerosa péptica, a maioria (33%) tinha mais que 70 anos e estava sob terapêutica com AAS. Muitos doentes no subgrupo do uso inapropriado, apesar de receberem terapêutica com algum tipo de AINE (incluindo o AAS), não preenchiam todos os critérios (idade, uso associado de corticoides, anticoagulação oral) para a prescrição ser considerada adequada. O nosso estudo realça a prática comum da sobreutilização dos IBP num serviço de medicina e talvez represente uma realidade, que não se limita a este serviço deste hospital em particular. Uma razão para a utilização generalizada dos IBP talvez seja a taxa reduzida de efeitos colaterais associados com estes medicamentos, principalmente quando administrados por um período menor que 2 semanas, o que corresponde à maioria dos casos neste estudo. No entanto, a frequência e a gravidade dos efeitos adversos podem ser maiores nos idosos, nos doentes desnutridos e principalmente naqueles com insuficiência renal.