Objective: Determine the prevalence of erectile dysfunction in patients undergoing hemodialysis. Materials and Methods:This cross-sectional study was carried out to determine the prevalence of erectile dysfunction in a population of 58 patients in hemodialysis program. Erectile dysfunction was assessed by using the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF). Information on demographic data, renal failure, comorbidities, laboratory tests and search for medical treatment for erectile dysfunction by means of interviews and researches in medical charts was obtained. Student t test was utilized to compare the laboratory results between group of patients with and without erectile dysfunction. The chi-square test was utilized to compare the comorbidities and the characteristics of the population studied between the groups of patients with and without erectile dysfunction. The significance level considered was 5%. Results: Mean patient age was 50.2 ± 14.6 years and the time of hemodialysis was 30.4 ± 28.4 months. The prevalence of erectile dysfunction was 60.3%. A progressive increase respecting the age was reported. In patients younger than 50 years, this prevalence reached 31.4% and in patients older than 50 years, this prevalence reached 68.6%. With respect to the comorbidities, hypertensive patients prevailed with 94.8% of the total, whilst diabetic patients represented 24.9%. However only the association between diabetes and erectile dysfunction was significant. Patients with erectile dysfunction presented significantly lower values for serum creatinine and Kt/V. There was no variation between the groups with reference to calcium, potassium, phosphorus, hematocrit, hemoglobin, pre-and post-dialysis urea values. There was no correlation between erectile dysfunction and time of dialysis. Amongst patients with erectile dysfunction, 8.6% sought medical care. Conclusions: The prevalence of erectile dysfunction in patients in hemodialysis program was of 60.3%. Age, diabetes and hemodialysis characteristics are associated to higher incidence of erectile dysfunction.

smooth muscle, thus causing penile erection. Thirty-five mice were divided in two groups; 10 control mice were injected 20 µ L of saline solution, and in the treated group, 25 mice were divided into groups of five and each subgroup received eretina in decreasing doses (0.024, 0.012, 0.006, 0.003 and 0.0015 µ g/kg) until the minimum dose that produced an erection was determined. After treatment all mice were monitored to determine the response and any collateral effects. RESULTSThe minimum dose producing an erection was 0.006 µ g/kg, the five mice in this group having evidence of an erection at 35-45 min after injection. The histology of the cavernosum of mice treated with eretina showed dilatation and congestion of the vascular spaces with more blood than in controls. With the minimum dose there were no local or systemic collateral effects and the erection was lost after 120-140 min. CONCLUSIONThe minimum dose of eretina producing an erection in mice was determined, and the agent was safe for this use as it did not produce any collateral toxic effects. These studies indicate a possible means of determining the mechanism of action of eretina.

Children suffering from ADHD had high test scores for the visual memory items of the test, when compared with the results in the auditory memory items.

Introduction: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) compromises cognitive abilities. Executive functioning is one of the most affected dimensions, particularly working memory. We aimed to assess the impact of ADHD specifically on working memory. Methods: Using selected sub-tests of the Portuguese version of Psycholinguistic Assessments of Language Processing in Aphasia (PALPA), we compared the performance of 37 children with ADHD to 67 children from the control group. Results: Children with ADHD showed statistically significant difficulties in working memory tasks compared to children without this diagnosis on nonword repetition tasks of one (p=0.004), two (p=0.014), and three syllables (p=0.003), as well as digit production (p=0.000), matching span (p=0.004) and pointing span for noun-verb sequences (p=0.001). The results indicate differences between education levels within the ADHD group, with first and second graders showing poorer performance on digit production (p=0.001) and matching span (p=0.000), as well as on pointing span for noun-verb sequences (p=0.006). Discussion: The results confirmed the presence of working memory deficits in children with ADHD, as assessed with selected sub-tests of the Portuguese version of PAL-PA, which revealed good potential for identification of specific deficits in children with this disorder. às crianças sem este diagnóstico nos subtestes de repetição de pseudopalavras de uma (p = 0,004), duas (p = 0,014) e três sílabas (p = 0,003), bem como na amplitude de repetição (p = 0,000), amplitude de emparelhamento (p = 0,004) e amplitude de memória de sequências substantivo-verbo (p = 0,001). Os resultados apontam para diferenças entre os níveis de escolaridade dentro do grupo perturba-ção de hiperatividade com défice de atenção, em que os alunos do primeiro e segundo ano apresentaram um pior desempenho na amplitude de repetição (p = 0,001) e amplitude de emparelhamento (p = 0,000), bem como na amplitude de memória de sequências substantivo-verbo (p = 0,006). Discussão: Os resultados confirmaram a presença de défices