Transfusão de plaquetas: do empirismo ao embasamento científico

Despite major advances in Brazilian blood transfusion therapy with a growing number of scientific publications, an increased number of repeat donors and a decline in serological ineligibility, a lack of conformity in the application of pre-transfusion tests that may compromise transfusion safety is still observed at transfusion agencies in the fringes of the blood transfusion therapy system. Additionally, although high rates of platelet transfusion refractoriness and significant rates of alloimmunization have been demonstrated in the international literature, few Brazilian centers have been concerned with the study of platelet alloimmunization and even fewer centers have evaluated the efficacy of platelet concentrate transfusion. As more than one million Brazilians, including many repeat blood donors, are listed in the National Bone Marrow Donor Registry (Redome), why not grant transfusion therapy services access to the HLA typing of these blood and marrow donors after obtaining their consent? And why not make use of the Redome data to evaluate the HLA compatibility of donors for alloimmunized patients who are candidates for bone marrow transfusion and who have already been typed? These measures, together with the identification of ABO and HPA antigens, will permit a complete assessment of platelet immunology, will guarantee the transfusion safety of this blood component, and will put Brazil at the same level as the so-called developed countries in terms of transfusion medicine

The importance of histopathologic review of biopsies in patients with prostate cancer referred to a tertiary uro - oncology center

In view of the detailed histologic evaluation of prostate cancer (PC), it is usually advisable to provide a "second opinion" to confirm diagnosis. This study aimed to compare the Gleason score (GS) of initial diagnosis versus that of histopathologic review of patients with PC. The secondary objective was to compare initial GS versus histopathologic review versus post - surgical histopathology. Material and methods: Retrospective study based on chart review of patients with PC that attended the Uro - oncology Department of Hospital das Clinicas - UNICAMP - Campinas, Brazil, from April, 2002, to April, 2012. Data were divided in groups: patients with biopsies performed elsewhere, biopsies after pathological review and histopathological results following retropubic radical prostatectomy (RRP). These were evaluated in relation to GS difference using Fleis's Kappa concordance coefficient. Results: 402 PC patients, with a median age of 66 years, were evaluated. Reviewed GS showed worsening, with accuracy of 61.2%, and Kappa concordance value = 0.466. Among 143 patients submitted to surgery, GS varied widely, regarding initial evaluation, review and post - surgical RRP. Joint concordance of evaluations was weak (Kappa = 0.216), mainly due to almost no existence concordance between initial evaluation and following RRP (Kappa = 0.041). Conclusion: There is a great histopathological variation of initial GS versus reviewed GS. There is also a better correlation of reviewed GS and post - surgical GS than with initial GS. The second opinion by an uropathologist improves diagnosis and should be advised for better therapeutic decision451323

Biocatalytic CO2 absorption and structural studies of carbonic anhydrase under industrially-relevant conditions

UIDB/50006/2020 IF/00505/2014/CP1224/CT0004The unprecedently high CO2 levels in the atmosphere evoke the urgent need for development of technologies for mitigation of its emissions. Among the alternatives, the biocatalytic route has been claimed as one of the most promising. In the present work, the carbonic anhydrase from bovine erythrocytes (BCA) was employed as a model enzyme for structural studies in an aqueous phase at alkaline pH, which is typical of large-scale absorption processes under operation. Circular dichroism (CD) analysis revealed a high enzymatic stability at pH 10 with a prominent decrease of the melting temperature above this value. The CO2 absorption capacity of the aqueous solutions were assessed by online monitoring of pressure decay in a stainless-steel cell, which indicated a better performance at pH 10 with a kinetic rate increase of up to 43%, as compared to non-biocatalytic conditions. Even low enzyme concentrations (0.2 mg g−1) proved to be sufficient to improve the overall CO2 capture process performance. The enzyme-enhanced approach of CO2 capture presents a high potential and should be further studied.publishersversionpublishe

Complaints identified in children and teenagers assisted by a Pediatric Psychology service of a university hospital

The present work is a descriptive study presenting a characterization of complaints identified in children and teenagers (N=62) assisted by the Pediatric Psychology service of a university hospital. A survey of socio-demographic indicators of the children and teenagers, as well as of their caregivers, was carried out. A descriptive statistical analysis regarding the care that was given was accomplished, considering items such as the origins of the population, provided directions, and the most frequent complaints (primary and secondary). It was verified that some findings corroborate the previous literature, such as the high number of boys seeking the service, the rate of treatment abandonment, and similar kinds of complaints. An excessive use of coercive practices by parents was also observed, which points to the domestic violence issue. These findings were preliminary and may contribute to the implementation of a more structured Pediatric Psychology service, as well as subsidize further research using correlational statistical analyses.Este estudo descritivo apresenta a caracterização das queixas identificadas na clientela infanto-juvenil (N=62) atendida pelo serviço de Psicologia Pediátrica de um hospital universitário. Fez-se um levantamento de indicadores sócio-demográficos tanto das crianças e adolescentes como de seus cuidadores; realizou-se ainda uma análise estatística descritiva acerca dos atendimentos conduzidos, considerando-se itens como procedência da população, encaminhamentos realizados e queixas (principais e secundárias) mais freqüentes. Verificou-se que alguns achados corroboram a literatura, como o elevado número de meninos que buscam o atendimento, o índice de desistência e tipos similares de queixas. Observou-se ainda um uso demasiado de práticas parentais coercitivas, que apontam para a questão da violência doméstica. Estes achados foram iniciais e podem contribuir para a implementação de um serviço de Psicologia Pediátrica mais estruturado, assim como subsidiar pesquisas posteriores que utilizem análises estatísticas correlacionais

Michael Porter 30 anos depois de Estratégia Competitiva: Influência do autor nos trabalhos brasileiros em estratégia ? estudo bibliométrico em trabalhos dos últimos dez anos do Enanpad

Os estudos de estratégia empresarial têm sido muito influenciados pelos trabalhos de Michael Porter, em particular na estratégia competitiva, análise da indústria e das vantagens competitivas das nações. Neste artigo, analisamos a influência de Porter nos trabalhos brasileiros em estratégia, a partir dos trabalhos selecionados e apresentados no ENANPAD. No levantamento para a análise dos artigos, considerando 10 anos de ENANPAD (1997 ? 2006), foram selecionados 46 artigos. A identificação e seleção dos artigos envolveram os seguintes critérios: busca complementar por palavra-chave Porter na base de dados do ENANPAD; avaliação dos títulos e resumos dos artigos apresentados na área de estratégia entre 1997 e 2006, bem como na íntegra quando necessário. Procedemos também à análise das referências utilizadas nos artigos e o posicionamento dos autores em relação as tipologias de Porter. Na primeira parte revemos brevemente aspectos fundamentais sobre estratégia desenvolvido por Porter. Na segunda parte apresentamos a metodologia seguida da coleta dos dados e fazemos à análise dos resultados. Concluímos com uma discussão geral, apresentando nossas considerações finais sobre a importância dos trabalhos de Porter para a pesquisa brasileira em estratégia.Michael Porter, Vantagem competitiva, Estratégia, Enanpad

Utilização do processamento digital de imagens no monitoramento de estações de tratamento de efluentes

Neste trabalho é proposto um procedimento para reconhecimento semi-automático das espécies de protozoários por análise de imagem. Este programa (ProtoRec v.2) foi em seguida utilizado para estudar a evolução da microfauna durante períodos de transição (paragem e arranque da estação). Os resultados obtidos foram satisfatórios em relação ao reconhecimento das espécies pelo programa e o acompanhamento da estação permitiu-nos verificar a degradação e envelhecimento da lama e o aparecimento de protozoários que evidenciam tal fato

Deep reefs are not refugium for shallow-water fish communities in the southwestern Atlantic

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-M1. The deep reef refugia hypothesis (DRRH) predicts that deep reef ecosystems may act as refugium for the biota of disturbed shallow waters. Because deep reefs are among the most understudied habitats on Earth, formal tests of the DRRH remain scarce. If the DRRH is valid at the community level, the diversity of species, functions, and lineages of fish communities of shallow reefs should be encapsulated in deep reefs. 2. We tested the DRRH by assessing the taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity of 22 Brazilian fish communities between 2 and 62 m depth. We partitioned the gamma diversity of shallow (30 m) into independent alpha and beta components, accounted for species' abundance, and assessed whether beta patterns were mostly driven by spatial turnover or nestedness. 3. We recorded 3,821 fishes belonging to 85 species and 36 families. Contrary to DRRH expectations, only 48% of the species occurred in both shallow and deep reefs. Alpha diversity of rare species was higher in deep reefs as expected, but alpha diversity of typical and dominant species did not vary with depth. Alpha functional diversity was higher in deep reefs only for rare and typical species, but not for dominant species. Alpha phylogenetic diversity was consistently higher in deep reefs, supporting DRRH expectations. 4. Profiles of taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic beta diversity indicated that deep reefs were not more heterogeneous than shallow reefs, contradicting expectations of biotic homogenization near sea surface. Furthermore, pairwise beta-diversity analyses revealed that the patterns were mostly driven by spatial turnover rather than nestedness at any depth. 5. Conclusions. Although some results support the DRRH, most indicate that the shallow-water reef fish diversity is not fully encapsulated in deep reefs. Every reef contributes significantly to the regional diversity and must be managed and protected accordingly

Reestruturação de Software Dirigida por Conectividade para Redução de Custo de Manutenção

Most of the software cost is due to maintenance. In the last years, there has been a great deal of interest in developing cost estimation and effort prediction instruments for software maintenance. This work proposes that module connectivityis a key factor to predict maintenance cost and uses this thesis as the basis to develop a Connectivity Evaluation Model in OO Systems (MACSOO), which is a refactoring model based on connectivity whose aim is to minimize maintenance cost. We describe experiments whose results provide an example of the model application and expose the correlation between connectivity and maintainability.Grande parte do custo de software é dedicado à manutenção. Nos últimos anos, tem havido muito interesse pela definição de instrumentos de estimativa de custo e predição de esforço para a manutenção de software. Nossa tese é que a conectividadeé o fator principal no custo de manutenção. Apresentamos neste artigo o Modelo de Avaliação de Conectividade em Sistemas Orientados por Objetos (MACSOO), que é um modelo de reestruturação de software baseado em conectividade cujo objetivo é a redução do custo de manutenção. Relatamos experimentos que exemplificam o uso do modelo proposto e evidenciam a relação entre conectividade e manutenibilidade