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Background Heart failure (HF) is a highly prevalent disease with high mortality rates worldwide, representing the final stage of a large set of cardiovascular diseases. Purpose To evaluate the trend of mortality rates fromHF, by sex and Brazilian geoeconomic region, between 1980 and 2016. Methods Time series analysis of the underlying causes of death from HF between 1980 and 2016. Population and death-related data were obtained from the Information Technology Department of the Brazilian Unified Health System (DATASUS/MS). Annual crude mortality rates per 100,000 inhabitants were calculated. Standardized rates were estimated according to the age structure of the Brazilian population in the year 2000. Mortality rates were evaluated in all federal units (FedUs) that comprise the Braziliangeoeconomicregions (Northern, Northeastern, Southeastern, Southern and West-Central). Results In Brazil, of the 35,348,374 deaths recorded between 1980 and 2016, 3.2% had HF as the underlying cause. The crude mortality rates from HF in both sexes showed a similar reduction trend over the period. In men, those rates ranged from 13.77 in 1980 to 6.69 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2016, while in women, those rates ranged from 13.15 in 1980 to 7.27 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2016 (Figure 1). Despite the relative stability in the last decade, the standardized rates (Figure 1 - Std) showed a similar trend, but with lower values at the end of the study period. Of all FedUs, only Maranhão (Northeastern region) showed a mortality rate similar to that observed in 1980 (10.44 per 100,000 inhabitants in 1980 and 10.65 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2016). All the other FedUs showed a reduction over the period. The FedUs of the Southeastern, Southern and West-Central regions had the highest reductions, especially Espírito Santo (Southeastern region), Rio Grande do Sul (Southern region) and the Federal District, which decreased from 38.98, 53.34 and 28.56 in 1980 to 3.43, 8.49 and 4.33 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2016, respectively. Figure 1 Conclusions The crude and standardized mortality rates from HF decreased in the last 37 years, probably because of the better control of risk factors and the advances in HF treatment. The most important reductions occurred in the richest regions of the country, which may be related to the improvement of socioeconomic factors.

The weight, the tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) activity and the catecholamine (noradrenaline and adrenaline) content of young rat adrenals have been measured from birth to 20 days after birth in relation to hypo- and hyperthyroidism. Hypothyroidism impairs the adrenal growth, while hyperthyroidism has no effect on the adrenal weight. Hypothyroidism is associated with an enhancement of TH activity and catecholamine content. In hyperthyroid rats, the increase in TH activity and catecholamine content is slower than in controls. In adult animals, TH activity and catecholamine content are less affected by thyroid function.

Background Congenital malformations (CMs) were the second cause of death in infants under the age of 1 year in North America and Europe in 2017, behind perinatal causes.Of the CMs, those of the circulatory system (MCSs) were the most lethal. Studies in Brazil, North America and England have reported higher mortality from MCS in the presence of prematurity, non-white skin color of the newborn, asphyxia, low birthweigth, advanced maternal age, and low maternal education level. The magnitudes of those associations vary. Those studies have investigated neither the risk of death from MCS, with control of the mediation provoked by those and other variables, nor the construction of a model to explain the relationship between variables and deaths. Objective To assess the associations of maternal geographic and socioeconomic factors, as well as gestational and birth factors, with deaths from MCSs in the first year of life in Brazil from 2006 to 2016, and to build an explanatory model of the relationship between variables and death. Methods Study of the Brazilian databases Information System on Live Births and Mortality Information System, which were linked by deterministic relationship and submitted to the cohort strategy. Crude and controlled relative risks were estimated. Acyclic graphs directed the creation of explanatory models of the relationship between maternal and fetal variables and the risks of death from MCSs and all causes. Results The deterministic linkage of 32,011,727 live birth certificates and 266,215 deaths yielded 248,027 linked pairs. Low birth weight (RR=14.38), asphyxia in the first (RR=5.95) and fifth minute (RR=11.86), maternal age ≥35 years (RR=1.66), male sex (RR=1.13), residing in the West-Central Brazil (RR=1.22) and small number of prenatal visits (RR=2.24) increased the risk of death from MCSs. Prematurity and multiple-gestation pregnancy had effects on death mediated by low birth weight and asphyxia regardless of the cause of death. Maternal education level and skin color did not increase the risk of death from MCS but influenced deaths from other causes. Conclusion The explanatory model of the relation of maternal geographic and socioeconomic, gestational and birth factors with deaths in the first year of life in Brazil from 2006 to 2016 showed that the small number of prenatal visits, male sex, low birthweigth, and presence of asphyxia in the first and fifth minutes are variables with a direct effect on the risk of death regardless of the cause of death. Deaths from MCSs in the West-Central regions and maternal age ≥35 years pose a higher risk of death, but this effect was not evidenced for other causes of death. Better gestational care with an adequate number of prenatal visits would enable the early diagnosis of MCSs with proper life support and treatment. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: Public Institution(s). Main funding source(s): Federal University of Rio de Janeiro

A founder haplotype on chromosome 2p for autosomal dominant Parkinson's disease (PD) has been postulated for two families of Northern European descent, and a new mutation in the α‐synuclein gene (Ala30Pro) has been found in a German PD family. We evaluated 85 German PD patients and 85 ethnically matched controls for shared markers on chromosome 2p and for the new α‐synuclein mutation. We found no evidence for linkage disequilibrium, suggesting that the putative founder mutation on chromosome 2p is not a common cause of PD in the local population. Furthermore, no patient carried the Ala30Pro change, supporting earlier findings that mutations in the α‐synuclein gene are extremely rare.