293 research outputs found

    Toxocaríase em crianças atendidas em Unidade de Pneumologia do Serviço de Saúde Pública, Paraná, Brasil

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    O teste imunoenzimático (ELISA) constitui a ferramenta mais utilizada no diagnóstico individual da toxocaríase humana e/ou em inquéritos soroepidemiológicos para pesquisa de anticorpos IgG anti-Toxocara spp. Tendo em vista a elevada freqüência da toxocaríase (32,2% e 56,0%) observada em crianças atendidas em Unidades Básicas de Saúde de municípios do noroeste do Paraná, durante pesquisas realizadas ao longo dos últimos oito anos, o objetivo deste trabalho foi comparar estas frequências em crianças encaminhadas a uma unidade de Pneumologia do serviço de saúde pública da cidade de Maringá, noroeste do Estado do Paraná, Brasil e descrever os achados laboratoriais, clínicos e epidemiológicos das crianças soropositivas. A pesquisa foi realizada no Centro de Especialidades Regional - CISAMUSEP - entre julho de 2009 a julho de 2010, em crianças com idade entre um e 15 anos. De 167 crianças investigadas, sete (4,2%) apresentaram anticorpos IgG anti-Toxocara spp. Entre elas, duas (1,2%) crianças soropositivas apresentaram eosinofilia (baixos níveis), seis mostraram níveis elevados de IgE e cinco, teste alérgico positivo, principalmente para ácaros. Concluindo, no noroeste do estado do Paraná foram observados raros casos de crianças com toxocaríase envolvendo o trato respiratório e que foram atendidas por serviços públicos de Pneumologia ainda que na região estudada tenha sido observada elevada prevalência de toxocaríase em crianças assistidas pelas Unidades Básicas de Saúde (BHU).The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is the most widely used tool to detect anti-Toxocara IgG antibodies for both serodiagnostic and seroepidemiological surveys on human toxocariasis. In the last eight years a high prevalence of toxocariasis (32.2-56.0%) has been reported in children attending public health units from municipalities in the state of Paraná, Brazil. Therefore, the aim of this work was to compare the frequency found among the general child population with that of children attending a public pneumology service in Maringá, Paraná, Brazil and describe the laboratorial, clinical and epidemiological findings. The research was conducted at the Consórcio Público Intermunicipal de Saúde do Setentrião Paranaense (CISAMUSEP) from July 2009 to July 2010 among children aged between one and 15 years. From a total of 167 children studied, only 4.2% (7/167) tested positive for anti-Toxocara spp. IgG antibodies and presented mild eosinophilia (2/7), increased serum IgE levels (6/7) and a positive allergy test for mites (5/7). The presence of pets (dogs or cats) at home did not correlate with the seroprevalence. In conclusion, cases of toxocariasis involving the respiratory tract are rare in children attending a public health pneumology unit in the northwestern region of Paraná State, despite the high prevalence of this type of toxocariasis among the infantile population attending Basic Health Units in the same geographical area

    The performance of Italian hospitals and their hierarchical structure of administrative employees

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    Object: considering the Italian health-care system, the present study analyzes what might affect the efficiency of hospitals. Methodology: in this work, authors propose the Directional Distance Function (DDF) to analyze hospitals' performance, considering efficient each medical center which is able to maximize the production of medical treatments (good output) while complying, at the same time, with budget constraints (i.e. minimizing the expected bad output: financial loss). Results: the empirical analysis suggests that an excessive allocation of employees at the highest level of the hierarchical pyramid can affect the hospitals' performance. Conclusions: a redistribution of employees among hierarchical levels is necessary to increase the hospital's efficiency

    Biocompatibility Assessment of Poly(lactic acid) Films after Sterilization with Ethylene Oxide in Histological Study In Vivo with Wistar Rats and Cellular Adhesion of Fibroblasts In Vitro

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    Biomaterials must meet certain fundamental requirements for their usage in living beings, such as biocompatibility, bifunctionality, and sterilizability, without having chemical and structural changes. The biocompatibility of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) films, shaped by compression, was evaluated after sterilization by ethylene oxide by a histological in vivo test with Wistar rats and cytotoxicity in cell adhesion in vitro. The cytotoxicity test was performed by the reduction of tetrazolium salt (MTT). Thermal and chemical changes in PLA films concerning the proposed sterilization process and characteristics were not observed to evidence polymer degradation due to sterilization. The analysis of the cytotoxicity by the MTT method has shown that the sterilized PLA films are not cytotoxic. The adhesion and proliferation of fibroblasts on PLA films were homogeneously distributed over the evaluation period, showing an elongated appearance with unnumbered cytoplasmic extensions and cell-cell interactions. By examining the biocompatibility in a histological study, a mild tissue inflammation was observed with the presence of fibrosis in the samples that had been exposed for 21 days in the rats’ bodies. PLA films sterilized with ethylene oxide did not exhibit cell adhesion in vitro and toxicity to the surrounding tissue in vivo and they may be used in future in vivo testing, according to histological findings in Wistar rats in the present study

    Caracterização estrutural e funcional da subfamília gênica ARR-tipo B em macieira

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    A produtividade de pomares de macieira está estritamente relacionada ao processo de superação da dormência, o qual se caracteriza pela inabilidade do crescimento meristemático mesmo sob condições favoráveis. Embora eventos fisiológicos deste processo tenham sido elucidados, aspectos moleculares ainda são pouco compreendidos. A busca por elementos cis de regulação em genes DAM (Dormancy Associated MADS-box) de macieira revelou a presença de sítios de ligação a fatores de transcrição denominados Arabidopsis Response Regulators (ARR)?tipo B. Estes fatores fazem parte da via de sinalização de citocininas e seu papel na dormência ainda não foi elucidado. Pelo presente trabalho, temos por objetivo compreender a estrutura e a função dos elementos cis e trans associados aos fatores ARR-tipo B de macieira e avaliar se os mesmos podem estar atuando como possíveis repressores do estado dormente da planta.(Embrapa Uva e Vinho. Documentos, 99

    Toxocariasis in children attending a Public Health Service Pneumology Unit in Paraná State, Brazil

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    The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is the most widely used tool to detect anti-Toxocara IgG antibodies for both serodiagnostic and seroepidemiological surveys on human toxocariasis. In the last eight years a high prevalence of toxocariasis (32.2-56.0%) has been reported in children attending public health units from municipalities in the state of Paraná, Brazil. Therefore, the aim of this work was to compare the frequency found among the general child population with that of children attending a public pneumology service in Maringá, Paraná, Brazil and describe the laboratorial, clinical and epidemiological findings. The research was conducted at the Consórcio Público Intermunicipal de Saúde do Setentrião Paranaense (CISAMUSEP) from July 2009 to July 2010 among children aged between one and 15 years. From a total of 167 children studied, only 4.2% (7/167) tested positive for anti-Toxocara spp. IgG antibodies and presented mild eosinophilia (2/7), increased serum IgE levels (6/7) and a positive allergy test for mites (5/7). The presence of pets (dogs or cats) at home did not correlate with the seroprevalence. In conclusion, cases of toxocariasis involving the respiratory tract are rare in children attending a public health pneumology unit in the northwestern region of Paraná State, despite the high prevalence of this type of toxocariasis among the infantile population attending Basic Health Units in the same geographical area

    Genetic and molecular characterization of bud dormancy in apple: deciphering candidate gene roles in dormancy regulation.

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    Dormancy is an adaptive mechanism that enables plants to survive unfavorable climatic conditions, for example during winter, and allows flowering to occur only when the conditions are more permissive, typically in spring

    Use of GRADE for assessment of evidence about prognosis: rating confidence in estimates of event rates in broad categories of patients.

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    Summary pointsMain concepts- The Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) approach defines quality of evidence as confidence in effect estimates; this conceptualization can readily be applied to bodies of evidence estimating the risk of future of events (that is, prognosis) in broadly defined populations- In the field of prognosis, a body of observational evidence (including single arms of randomized controlled trials) begins as high quality evidence- The five domains GRADE considers in rating down confidence in estimates of treatment effect—that is, risk of bias, imprecision, inconsistency, indirectness, and publication bias—as well as the GRADE criteria for rating up quality, also apply to estimates of the risk of future of events from a body of prognostic studies- Applying these concepts to systematic reviews of prognostic studies provides a useful approach to determine confidence in estimates of overall prognosis in broad populationsLay summary- The Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach to rating confidence in the results of research studies was initially developed for therapeutic questions- The GRADE approach considers study design (randomized trials versus non-randomized designs), risk of bias, inconsistency, imprecision, indirectness, and publication bias; size and trend in the effect are also considered- Observational studies looking at patients’ prognosis may provide robust estimates of the likelihood of undesirable or desirable outcomes in both treated and untreated patients- Patients will often find this information helpful in understanding the likely course of their disease, in planning their future, and in engaging in shared decision making with their healthcare providers- In a previous article, we examined factors that affect confidence in estimates of baseline risk (the risk of bad outcomes in untreated patients), providing examples of how this might influence the confidence in estimates of absolute treatment effect- This paper provides guidance for the use of the GRADE approach to determine confidence in estimates of future events in systematic reviews of prognostic studies in broad categories of patient
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