Interdisciplinaridade e Trabalho em Grupo em Nefrologia

The high prevalence of psychopathological symptoms among renal patients, the reduced quality of life that adds to their ensuing actual losses, and the lack of information on their illness and treatment, indicates that health professionals should act on these specific points. By means of a critical analysis of interdisciplinarity vis-à-vis multidisciplinarity and taking advantage of the reach of group work, we propose an intervention, consisting of an opened rotating interdisciplinary group, offered to patients admitted to a Nephrology ward, in order to deal with their different demands. As an example, excerpts from one group session are presented, and the various aspects of the intervention are identified and commented on.A constatação da alta prevalência, em pacientes com doenças renais, de sintomas psicopatológicos, da perda da sua qualidade de vida, além das perdas reais, e da falta de informação sobre sua doença e tratamento, aponta para a necessidade da atuação dos profissionais da saúde sobre esses pontos. Através da análise crítica da interdisciplinaridade, em contraponto à multidisciplinaridade, e do alcance que o trabalho grupal apresenta, é feita uma proposta de intervenção junto aos pacientes internados em uma enfermaria de Nefrologia. A intervenção proposta é um grupo interdisciplinar rotativo aberto que trabalhe as diferentes demandas trazidas por esses pacientes. Como exemplo, é apresentado o recorte de um dos grupos realizados onde os diferentes aspectos dessa intervenção são identificados e comentados

Serum Metabolic Alterations upon Zika Infection

Zika virus (ZIKV) infection has recently emerged as a major concern worldwide due to its strong association with nervous system malformation (microcephaly) of fetuses in pregnant women infected by the virus. Signs and symptoms of ZIKV infection are often mistaken with other common viral infections. Since transmission may occur through biological fluids exchange and coitus, in addition to mosquito bite, this condition is an important infectious disease. Thus, understanding the mechanism of viral infection has become an important research focus, as well as providing potential targets for assertive clinical diagnosis and quality screening for hemoderivatives. Within this context, the present work analyzed blood plasma from 79 subjects, divided as a control group and a ZIKV-infected group. Samples underwent direct-infusion mass spectrometry and statistical analysis, where eight markers related to the pathophysiological process of ZIKV infection were elected and characterized. Among these, Angiotensin (1-7) and Angiotensin I were upregulated under infection, showing an attempt to induce autophagy of the infected cells. However, this finding is concerning about hypertensive individuals under treatment with inhibitors of the Renin-Angiotensin System (RAS), which could reduce this response against the virus and exacerbate the symptoms of the infection. Moreover, one of the most abundant glycosphingolipids in the nervous tissue, Ganglioside GM2, was also elected in the present study as an infection biomarker. Considered an important pathogen receptor at membrane's outer layer, this finding represents the importance of gangliosides for ZIKV infection and its association with brain tropism. Furthermore, a series of phosphatidylinositols were also identified as biomarkers, implying a significant role of the PI3K-AKT-mTOR Pathway in this mechanism. Finally, these pathways may also be understood as potential targets to be considered in pharmacological intervention studies on ZIKV infection management