Assessing the Scientific Research Productivity of a Brazilian Healthcare Institution: A Case Study at the Heart Institute of São Paulo, Brazil

INTRODUCTION: The present study was motivated by the need to systematically assess the research productivity of the Heart Institute (InCor), Medical School of the University of São Paulo, Brazil. OBJECTIVE: To explore methodology for the assessment of institutional scientific research productivity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Bibliometric indicators based on searches for author affiliation of original scientific articles or reviews published in journals indexed in the databases Web of Science, MEDLINE, EMBASE, LILACS and SciELO from January 2000 to December 2003 were used in this study. The retrieved records were analyzed according to the index parameters of the journals and modes of access. The number of citations was used to calculate the institutional impact factor. RESULTS: Out of 1253 records retrieved from the five databases, 604 original articles and reviews were analyzed; of these, 246 (41%) articles were published in national journals and 221 (90%) of those were in journals with free online access through SciELO or their own websites. Of the 358 articles published in international journals, 333 (93%) had controlled online access and 223 (67%) were available through the Capes Portal of Journals. The average impact of each article for InCor was 2.224 in the period studied. CONCLUSION: A simple and practical methodology to evaluate the scientific production of health research institutions includes searches in the LILACS database for national journals and in MEDLINE and the Web of Science for international journals. The institutional impact factor of articles indexed in the Web of Science may serve as a measure by which to assess and review the scientific productivity of a research institution

Characterization of primary direct-acting antiviral (DAA) drugs resistance mutations in NS5A/NS5B regions of hepatitis C virus with genotype 1a and 1b from patients with chronic hepatitis

The Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a public health problem. The high level of HCV replication and its lack of post-transcriptional correction mechanisms results in the emergence of viral variants and the difficulty in determining polymorphisms and variants that contain the substitutions associated with resistance towards new antivirals. The main focus of this study was to map the NS5A and NS5B polymorphisms and resistance mutations to new antiviral drugs in HCV strains genotype 1 from patients with chronic hepatitis C infection. Serum samples were collected from patients who underwent routine viral load tests at the Instituto Adolfo Lutz, Sao Paulo city, Brazil. A total of 698 and 853 samples were used for the characterization of NS5A and NS5B regions, respectively, which comprise the HCV genotypes 1a and 1b. The prevalence of resistance mutations found in the NS5A region was 6.4%, with Y93H, L31M, Q30R, and Y93N as the main resistance-associated substitutions (RAS). No NS5B-associated RAS was observed for any of the analyzed drugs. These findings support that the RAS test should be offered to individuals with poor response to double combination regimens prior to treatment initiation, thereby assisting strain vigilance and selection of effective treatment or retreatment options using DAA regimens

Public health scientific communication: perspectives for knowledge based health decision making

Objetivos. Reflexos das transformações sociais promovidas pela Sociedade do Conhecimento são percebidos no contexto da gestão em saúde no Brasil. Apresentam-se referencial teórico sobre essas mudanças, gestão do SUS, sistemas de informação em saúde, produção científica e uso da informação na gestão. Foi analisada a produção científica brasileira em saúde pública como fonte de apoio à tomada de decisão em saúde. Metodologia. Foram feitos estudo exploratório qualitativo e análise documental em três áreas: bases de dados bibliográficas disponíveis na Biblioteca Virtual em Saúde, agendas estaduais de saúde e sites das Secretarias Estaduais de Saúde. Resultados. Os principais resultados foram: as bases de dados LILACS e MEDLINE foram as fontes de apoio mais abrangentes para localizar produção brasileira publicada no país e no exterior, respectivamente; a produção científica brasileira destaca-se nessa área, correspondendo a 39 por cento dos registros da LILACS-SP; as principais instituições produtoras são universidades e organismos governamentais; a produção de saúde pública encontra-se distribuída em revistas de outras áreas da saúde; a internet, já utilizada pelo ministério e pelas secretarias de saúde, seria favorável para disseminação de conhecimento científico para a gestão em saúde. Conclusões e recomendações. A informação científica e técnica disponível poderia apoiar os processos de tomada de decisão, mas o caminho entre sua produção e uso não é linear e precisa ser estimulado. São apresentadas sugestões para promover integração e articulação entre pesquisa científica e decisão política.Objectives. Social changes introduced by Knowledge Society are perceptible in the health management context in Brazil. Literature on these social changes, on National Health System - SUS legislation, on health information systems, on the health scientific production and on its use for decision making was reviewed. Brazilian public health scientific literature as support to health decision making was analyzed. Methods. Qualitative exploratory methods and document analysis were used to study bibliographic databases available at the Virtual Health Library, health agendas and sites of the State Secretaries of Health. Results. The main results were: LILACS and MEDLINE databases were the most comprehensive sources for searching Brazilian public health literature; 39 per cent of LILACS-SP records corresponds to Brazilian public health literature; universities and government institutions are the main producers of public health scientific literature; public health journal articles are published also in journals from other health fields; Internet, which is already being used by Ministry and State Secretaries of Health for communication, could be a favorable environment for dissemination of scientific information for health decision making. Conclusions and recommendations. Available health scientific and technical information could support health decision making processes but the channels between its production and use are not linear and need to be strengthened. Recommendations to improve relationship and interaction between health research and policy were presented

Public health scientific communication: perspectives for knowledge based health decision making

Objetivos. Reflexos das transformações sociais promovidas pela Sociedade do Conhecimento são percebidos no contexto da gestão em saúde no Brasil. Apresentam-se referencial teórico sobre essas mudanças, gestão do SUS, sistemas de informação em saúde, produção científica e uso da informação na gestão. Foi analisada a produção científica brasileira em saúde pública como fonte de apoio à tomada de decisão em saúde. Metodologia. Foram feitos estudo exploratório qualitativo e análise documental em três áreas: bases de dados bibliográficas disponíveis na Biblioteca Virtual em Saúde, agendas estaduais de saúde e sites das Secretarias Estaduais de Saúde. Resultados. Os principais resultados foram: as bases de dados LILACS e MEDLINE foram as fontes de apoio mais abrangentes para localizar produção brasileira publicada no país e no exterior, respectivamente; a produção científica brasileira destaca-se nessa área, correspondendo a 39 por cento dos registros da LILACS-SP; as principais instituições produtoras são universidades e organismos governamentais; a produção de saúde pública encontra-se distribuída em revistas de outras áreas da saúde; a internet, já utilizada pelo ministério e pelas secretarias de saúde, seria favorável para disseminação de conhecimento científico para a gestão em saúde. Conclusões e recomendações. A informação científica e técnica disponível poderia apoiar os processos de tomada de decisão, mas o caminho entre sua produção e uso não é linear e precisa ser estimulado. São apresentadas sugestões para promover integração e articulação entre pesquisa científica e decisão política.Objectives. Social changes introduced by Knowledge Society are perceptible in the health management context in Brazil. Literature on these social changes, on National Health System - SUS legislation, on health information systems, on the health scientific production and on its use for decision making was reviewed. Brazilian public health scientific literature as support to health decision making was analyzed. Methods. Qualitative exploratory methods and document analysis were used to study bibliographic databases available at the Virtual Health Library, health agendas and sites of the State Secretaries of Health. Results. The main results were: LILACS and MEDLINE databases were the most comprehensive sources for searching Brazilian public health literature; 39 per cent of LILACS-SP records corresponds to Brazilian public health literature; universities and government institutions are the main producers of public health scientific literature; public health journal articles are published also in journals from other health fields; Internet, which is already being used by Ministry and State Secretaries of Health for communication, could be a favorable environment for dissemination of scientific information for health decision making. Conclusions and recommendations. Available health scientific and technical information could support health decision making processes but the channels between its production and use are not linear and need to be strengthened. Recommendations to improve relationship and interaction between health research and policy were presented