Efficacy and effectiveness of alcohol in the disinfection of semi-critical materials: a systematic review

Objective: to assess the efficacy and the effectiveness of 60-80% alcohol (v/v) in the disinfection of semi-critical materials which were either previously cleaned or not.Method: studies obtained from BIREME, IBECS, MEDLINE, ScIELO, PubMed, Ask Medline web portals, and references from other studies. Criteria were created to assess the methodological quality of articles. Out of the 906 studies found, 14 have been included.Results: after materials were disinfected with alcohol, microorganisms were detected in 104/282 (36.9%) effectiveness tests and in 23/92 (25.0%) efficacy tests that were conducted. In the field studies, disinfection was not achieved for 74/218 (33.9%) of the products that were submitted to previous cleaning and for 30/64 (46.9%) of the ones which were not submitted to previous cleaning. In the experimental studies, alcohol disinfection was not efficacy in 11/30 (36.7%) and 12/62 (19.4%) of products, respectively. The studies were not found to have followed standardized methods.Conclusion: disinfection of semi-critical products with alcohol 70% - or in an approximate concentration - cannot be recommended to all health care products in an unrestricted way. However, according to the type of semi-critical product, disinfection can be attained with or without previous cleaning.Objetivo:evaluar la eficacia y la efectividad del alcohol 60-80% (p/v) en la desinfección de materiales semicríticos, con o sin limpieza previa.Método:estudios obtenidos del portal BIREME, IBECS, MEDLINE, SciELO, PubMed, Ask Medline y referencias de otros estudios. Se elaboraron criterios para juzgar la calidad metodológica de los artículos. De los 906 estudios encontrados, se incluyeron 14.Resultados:después de la desinfección con alcohol, de las 282 pruebas de efectividad y 92 de eficacia, en 104 (36,9%) y en 23 (25,0%) hubo detección de microorganismos, respectivamente. En los estudios de campo, la desinfección no se alcanzó en 74/218 (33,9%) de los productos sometidos a la limpieza previa y en 30/64 (46,9%) no sometidos a la limpieza previa, y en los estudios experimentales la desinfección del alcohol no fue eficaz en 11/30 (36,7%) y 12/62 (19,4%) de los productos, respectivamente. Se encontró ausencia de normalización de los métodos de los estudios.Conclusión:la desinfección de productos semicríticos con alcohol 70% o en concentración aproximada no puede ser recomendada de forma irrestricta a todos los artículos de salud. Sin embargo, en consonancia con el tipo del producto semicrítico, la desinfección puede ser alcanzada con y sin limpieza previa.Objetivo:avaliar a eficácia e efetividade do álcool 60-80% (p/v), na desinfecção de materiais semicríticos, com ou sem limpeza prévia.Método:estudos obtidos do portal BIREME, IBECS, MEDLINE, SciELO, PubMed, Ask Medline e referências de outros estudos. Critérios de julgamento da qualidade metodológica dos artigos foram elaborados. Dos 906 estudos encontrados, 14 foram incluídos.Resultados:após a desinfecção com álcool, dos 282 testes de efetividade e 92 de eficácia, em 104 (36,9%) e em 23 (25,0%) houve detecção de microrganismos, respectivamente. Nos estudos de campo, a desinfecção não foi alcançada em 74/218 (33,9%) dos produtos submetidos à limpeza prévia e em 30/64 (46,9%) não submetidos à limpeza prévia, e nos estudos experimentais a desinfecção do álcool não foi eficaz em 11/30 (36,7%) e 12/62 (19,4%) dos produtos, respectivamente. Encontrou-se ausência de padronização dos métodos dos estudos.Conclusão:a desinfecção de produtos semicríticos com álcool 70%, ou em concentração aproximada, não pode ser recomendada de forma irrestrita a todos os produtos para saúde. Porém, de acordo com o tipo do produto semicrítico a desinfecção pode ser alcançada com e sem limpeza prévia

Utilização da solução de bicarbonato de sódio na COVID-19 através do telemonitoramento: Use of sodium bicarbonate solution in COVID-19 through telemonitoring

A utilização da nebulização com solução alcalina de bicarbonato de sódio seria uma opção para possivelmente prevenir a infecção da COVID-19, haja vista o contexto da pandemia e a incessante busca por um tratamento. Esta pesquisa objetiva descrever e elencar os sintomas de um grupo de pacientes que realizaram a nebulização com solução de sódio no período de pandemia da COVID 19. Trata-se de um estudo com análise descritiva dos sintomas e intercorrências clínicas de pacientes de um mesmo grupo familiar com a utilização da solução de bicarbonato de sódio em combate à disseminação do vírus Sars-CoV-2. Durante os primeiros 14 dias de nebulização, o único sintoma apresentado por um componente do grupo familiar foi de cefaléia. Conclui-se que a combinação de hábitos saudáveis, isolamento social e alcalinização das vias aéreas tem potencial de proteção sólido para contaminação e atenuação da infecção pelo SARS-CoV-2

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Assessment of risk scores to predict mortality of COVID-19 patients admitted to the intensive care unit

ObjectivesTo assess the ABC2-SPH score in predicting COVID-19 in-hospital mortality, during intensive care unit (ICU) admission, and to compare its performance with other scores (SOFA, SAPS-3, NEWS2, 4C Mortality Score, SOARS, CURB-65, modified CHA2DS2-VASc, and a novel severity score).Materials and methodsConsecutive patients (≥ 18 years) with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 admitted to ICUs of 25 hospitals, located in 17 Brazilian cities, from October 2020 to March 2022, were included. Overall performance of the scores was evaluated using the Brier score. ABC2-SPH was used as the reference score, and comparisons between ABC2-SPH and the other scores were performed by using the Bonferroni method of correction. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality.ResultsABC2-SPH had an area under the curve of 0.716 (95% CI 0.693–0.738), significantly higher than CURB-65, SOFA, NEWS2, SOARS, and modified CHA2DS2-VASc scores. There was no statistically significant difference between ABC2-SPH and SAPS-3, 4C Mortality Score, and the novel severity score.ConclusionABC2-SPH was superior to other risk scores, but it still did not demonstrate an excellent predictive ability for mortality in critically ill COVID-19 patients. Our results indicate the need to develop a new score, for this subset of patients

Qualidade de vida de indivíduos com HIV: revisão integrativa / Quality of living of individuals with HIV integration review

 A qualidade de  vida de pacientes vivendo com HIV/AIDS é essencial, tendo em vista o caso específico dos adolescentes é ainda mais importante porque o jovem além de lidar com a resistência e a aceitação da doença, deve também enfrentar os conflitos da puberdade.O presente trabalho tem como objetivo realizar uma revisão integrativa em relação a qualidade de vida dos pacientes com HIV. Trata-se de um estudo de revisão integrativa realizado no período de 2016 a 2017, utilizando-se o banco de dados Medline e Lilacs. Apesar do impacto da infecção pelo HIV/AIDS na saúde psicológica e nas relações sociais dos indivíduos infectados, assim como no domínio físico, o uso da TARV provocou consequências positivas na saúde psicológica, proporcionando a desconstrução da ideia de morte advinda ao diagnóstico de portador do HIV/AIDS e a construção de melhores perspectivas de vida. A adesão ao tratamento em HIV/AIDS está relacionada a um aumento da sobrevida e de sua qualidade. Porém deve-se respeitar a posição pessoal do portador para fazer ou não o tratamento

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

The impact of friction, and cleaning solution and subsequent high-level disinfection in removal cyclic buildup biofilm and cyclic biofilm on flexible endoscopic gastrointestinal channels

Introdução: Biofilme consiste em um conjunto de microrganismos embutidos em uma matriz extracelular. O biofilme tradicional (TBF) se desenvolve em locais com contínua hidratação, e o biofilme buildup (BBF), em produtos para a saúde expostos a repetidos ciclos de sujidade, limpeza, desinfecção e secagem. Objetivo: avaliar o impacto do uso de detergente e fricção para remover biofilme buildup-5 (BBF-5) e biofilme tradicional-5 (TBF-5) de canais endoscópicos gastrointestinais flexíveis, bem como o impacto do glutaraldeído após a limpeza. Métodos: O BBF-5 foi desenvolvido após a exposição da superfície interna dos canais de endoscópicos gastrointestinais ao Artificial Test Soil (ATS) contendo 108UFC/ml de Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) e Enterococcus faecalis (EF), limpeza, desinfecção de alto nível (DAN), enxágue e secagem durante cinco dias. O mesmo processo foi utilizado para desenvolver o TBF-5, porém a fase de DAN foi omitida. Limpeza com detergentes com enzimas de pH neutro e detergentes sem enzimas com pH alcalino, escova com cerdas e dispositivo de limpeza pull thru foram comparados à limpeza com água e sem fricção para remover o BBF-5 e o TBF-5. Testes de proteína e carboidrato, contagem de bactérias viáveis e adenosina trifosfato (ATP) foram realizados. Teste de Kruskal-Wallis e análise de post hoc Dunn-Bonferroni foram realizados. Resultados: Não houve diferença estatisticamente significante (p>0,05) entre a quantidade de EF e PA nos canais com TBF-5 e BBF-5. Não houve diferença da eficácia para a remoção de PA em TBF-5 entre o detergente enzimático e a água, em ambas as situações, a limpeza apenas não foi eficaz (p>0,05) na ausência de fricção (flush). Por outro lado, o detergente alcalino, associado a todos os procedimentos de limpeza (ausência e presença de fricção) e DAN, foi eficaz para remoção de PA. Para a remoção de EF em TBF-5, a eficácia da limpeza foi alcançada em todas situações avaliadas (com e sem fricção) com o uso do detergente enzimático; com a água, na presença de fricção (pull thru e escovas de cerdas); e com detergente alcalino, apenas com o método de limpeza com escovas de cerdas (p0,05). Para a remoção de EF em BBF-5, o detergente enzimático e a água foram eficazes em todas situações avaliadas; o detergente alcalino, foi eficaz na presença de fricção com o dispositivo pull thru e escovas de cerdas (p 0.05) between the amount of EF and PA in the channels with TBF-5 and BBF-5. There was not a difference in efficacy for the removal of PA in TBF- 5 between the enzymatic detergent and water and in both situations, only cleaning was not effective (p>0.05) in the absence of friction (flush). Furthermore, the alkaline detergent, associated with all cleaning procedures (absence and presence of friction) and DAN, was effective for the removal of PA. For removal of EF in TBF-5, cleaning efficacy was achieved in all procedures evaluated (with and without friction) with the use of enzymatic detergent; with water in the presence of friction (pull thru and bristle brushes); and an alkaline detergent, the only method of cleaning brushes with bristles (p0.05). For EF removal on BEF-5, the enzymatic detergent and water were evaluated effective in all situations; alkaline detergent, was effective in the presence of friction with the pull thru device and bristle brushes (p<0.05). ATP, protein and carbohydrate testing were unable to detect biofilm. Conclusion: Tap water, enzymatic and alkaline detergent were effective for complete BBF-5 and TBF-5 removal in the presence of friction (pull thru or bristle brush) and a flushing pump during the cleaning. Without friction, enzymatic detergent was more effective for EF removal of TBF-5 and BBF-5, alkalyne detergent was more effective for PA removal and water was not effective for both types of bacterial removal. Glutaraldehyde effectively killed the remaining microorganisms after some cleaning combinations were tested

Efficacy and effectiveness of alcohol in the disinfection of semi-critical materials: a systematic review

AbstractObjective: to assess the efficacy and the effectiveness of 60-80% alcohol (v/v) in the disinfection of semi-critical materials which were either previously cleaned or not.Method: studies obtained from BIREME, IBECS, MEDLINE, ScIELO, PubMed, Ask Medline web portals, and references from other studies. Criteria were created to assess the methodological quality of articles. Out of the 906 studies found, 14 have been included.Results: after materials were disinfected with alcohol, microorganisms were detected in 104/282 (36.9%) effectiveness tests and in 23/92 (25.0%) efficacy tests that were conducted. In the field studies, disinfection was not achieved for 74/218 (33.9%) of the products that were submitted to previous cleaning and for 30/64 (46.9%) of the ones which were not submitted to previous cleaning. In the experimental studies, alcohol disinfection was not efficacy in 11/30 (36.7%) and 12/62 (19.4%) of products, respectively. The studies were not found to have followed standardized methods.Conclusion: disinfection of semi-critical products with alcohol 70% - or in an approximate concentration - cannot be recommended to all health care products in an unrestricted way. However, according to the type of semi-critical product, disinfection can be attained with or without previous cleaning