Search

Objetivo: Analisar o perfil dos doadores positivos para sífilis e os resultados dos exames confirmatórios para este marcador. Método: Foram analisadas as doações reagentes ou indeterminadas para Sífilis no Serviço de Hemoterapia do Hospital São Vicente de Paulo, Passo Fundo/RS, no período de janeiro a dezembro de 2019. Os dados foram coletados no sistema e-Delphyn® e fichas dos doadores. A triagem para sífilis foi realizada na metodologia de quimioluminescência (Abbott). Os doadores com resultados positivos foram convocados, via carta, para coleta de nova amostra, que foi novamente testada por quimioluminescência. As amostras que permaneceram positivas, foram encaminhadas para laboratório de apoio, para realização dos testes de VDRL e imunofluorescência indireta/FTA-ABs (IF) IgM e IgG. Resultados: Das 13537 doações no período, 115 (0,85%) apresentaram resultado reagente ou indeterminado para sífilis. Com relação ao perfil dos doadores, 56 (48,7%) eram do sexo masculino e 59 (51,3%) feminino, 56 (48,7%) tinham entre 18 e 30 anos; 39 (33,9%) entre 31 e 50 anos e 20 (17,4%) mais de 50 anos. Quanto ao estado civil, 39 (33,9%) eram casados, 64 (55,6%) solteiros, 12 (10,4%) viúvos ou divorciados. Quanto ao tipo de doação, 36 (31,3%) foram espontâneas e 79 (68,7%) de reposição. Doadores de primeira vez foram 86 (74,8%) e 29 (25,2%) de repetição. Na primeira amostra, foram 103 (89,6%) doadores com resultado reagente e 12 (10,4%) indeterminado. Após convocação, 68 (59,1%) retornaram, destes, 59 (86,8%) permaneceram com resultado reagente, 6 (8,8%) indeterminado e 3 (4,4%) não reagente. Nos testes confirmatórios das amostras reagentes, 23 apresentaram VDRL reagente, 8 com IF IgG e IgM reagentes, 13 com IF IgM não reagente e IgG reagente e 2 com IF IgM indeterminado e IgG reagente. Quanto ao título do VDRL, 15 amostras com títulos entre 1 e 16 e 8 amostras entre 32 e 128. Com VDRL não reagente no confirmatório foram 36 amostras, sendo 30 com IF IgM não reagente e IgG reagente, 5 com IF IgM e IgG não reagentes e 1 com IF IgM indeterminado e IgG reagente. As 6 amostras indeterminadas e as 3 não reagentes na quimioluminescência, apresentaram VDRL e IF IgM e IgG não reagentes. Discussão: Segundo o Hemoprod (2019), a taxa de sorologia para sífilis foi de 0,81% na região Sul, semelhante ao nosso estudo e acima do encontrado em doadores da Fundação Pró-Sangue (0,67%) (Attie et al., 2020). Os testes confirmatórios demonstraram que a maioria dos doadores positivos para sífilis neste estudo apresentavam cicatriz sorológica, característica que se deve à utilização dos testes treponêmicos. A maior taxa de positividade para sífilis foi verificada entre os 18 e 30 anos (48,7%), o mesmo foi reportado por Marca e Weidlich (2016) no Hemovale/RS (42,4%) e por Hames (2020) no Hemosc/SC (52,3%). Esses dados estão de acordo com o Boletim Epidemiológico do MS (2021), que demonstra aumento dos casos de sífilis entre jovens de 20 a 29 anos. A maior taxa de sífilis em solteiros neste estudo (55,6%) é semelhante ao reportado por Attie et al. (2020) e Teles et al. (2021) com 55,6% e 64,3%, respectivamente. Conclusão: O perfil dos doadores e as taxas de positividade para sífilis neste estudo são similares aos encontrados em outros serviços. Destaca-se a maior prevalência deste marcador em jovens solteiros. Estes dados possibilitam conhecer o perfil da população de maior risco, bem como, podem nortear ações de orientação e prevenção de infecções sexualmente transmissíveis.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the construct validity of the 2-minute walk test (2MWT) to assess the exercise capacity and the criterion-concurrent validity of the 2MWT and the 6-minute walk test (6MWT) to estimate the cardiorespiratory fitness of ambulatory individuals with chronic stroke. In addition, to provide an equation to predict the distance covered in the 6MWT and another to predict the peak oxygen consumption (VO 2peak ) for these individuals., Methods: This is a cross-sectional and prospective study. A convenience sample with 57 individuals with chronic stroke was recruited. The 2MWT, the 6MWT and the cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) were performed in a laboratory. The Spearman's correlation coefficient was used to investigate the validity. To develop the equations, stepwise multiple linear regression analysis was used., Results: A significant correlation of very high magnitude between the distance covered in the 2MWT and the 6MWT was found (r s  = 0.93; p  < 0.001). A significant correlation of moderate magnitude between the distance covered in the 2MWT and the VO 2peak (r s  = 0.53; p  < 0.001) similar to the correlation between the 6MWT and the VO 2peak (r s  = 0.55; p  < 0,001) were found. Furthermore, an equation was developed to predict the VO 2peak (R 2  = 0.690; p  < 0.001; VO 2peak  = 13.532 + 0.078*distance walked in the 2MWT +4.509*sex-0.172*age), and another to predict the distance covered in the 6MWT (R 2  = 0.827; p  < 0.001; MWT = -1.867 + 3.008*distance walked in the 2MWT)., Conclusion: 2MWT showed adequate construct and concurrent validity. Furthermore, it is possible to use the prediction equations developed to estimate the VO 2peak or the distance covered in the 6MWT.

Two clinically approved anticancer drugs targeting BRAF in melanoma patients - dabrafenib (DAB) and vemurafenib (VEM) - have been successfully encapsulated into nanomicelles formed upon self-assembly of an amphiphilic dendrimer AD based on two C 18 aliphatic chains and a G2 PAMAM head. The process resulted in the formation of well-defined (∼10 nm) core-shell nanomicelles (NMs) with excellent encapsulation efficiency (∼70% for DAB and ∼60% for VEM) and good drug loading capacity (∼27% and ∼24% for DAB and VEM, respectively). Dynamic light scattering (DLS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC), and molecular simulation (MS) experiments were used, respectively, to determine the size and structure of the empty and drug-loaded nanomicelles (DLNMs), along with the interactions between the NMs and their cargoes. The in vitro release data revealed profiles governed by Fickian diffusion; moreover, for both anticancer molecules, an acidic environment (pH = 5.0) facilitated drug release with respect to physiological pH conditions (pH = 7.4). Finally, both DAB- and VEM-loaded NMs elicited enhanced response with respect to free drug treatments in 4 different melanoma cell lines., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

In the quest for a bio-based and safer substitute for glutaraldehyde, we have investigated 2,5 diformylfuran (DFF) as bifunctional crosslinking agent for the covalent immobilization of glucoamylase on amino-functionalized methacrylic resins. Immobilization experiments and systematic comparison with glutaraldehyde at four different concentrations for the activation step showed that DFF leads to comparable enzymatic activities at all tested concentrations. Continuous flow experiment confirms a similar long term stability of the immobilized formulations obtained with the two crosslinkers. The NMR study of DFF in aqueous solution evidenced a much simpler behaviour as compared to glutaraldehyde, since no enolic forms can form and only a mono-hydrated form was observed. Unlike in the case of glutaraldehyde, DFF reacts covalently with the primary amino groups via imine bond formation only. Nevertheless, the stability of the covalent immobilization was confirmed also at acidic pH (4.5), most probably because of the higher stability of the imine bonds formed with the aromatic aldehydes. In terms of toxicity DFF has the advantage of being poorly soluble in water and, more importantly, poorly volatile as compared to glutaraldehyde, which displays severe respiratory toxicity. We have performed preliminary ecotoxicity assays using Aliivibrio fischeri , a marine bacterium, evidencing comparable behaviour (below the toxicity threshold) for both dialdehydes at the tested concentrations., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM), caused by the dimorphic fungus Paracoccidioides brasiliensis (Pb), is the most prevalent systemic mycosis in Latin America. There are few reports in the literature about the disease damages during pregnancy and the consequences to the fetuses and breeding. This study evaluated the implications of PCM during pregnancy on offspring and mothers in Wistar rats. Groups of rats were submitted to systemic Pb infection, by intraperitoneal infusion, and mated 30 days after the infection date. Immediately after birth, rats and neonates were sacrificed to obtain organs for standard histological examination, morphometric analysis, fungi recovery by plating (CFU) and dosing of anti-Pb antibodies by ELISA. There were no stillbirths or miscarriages, however, the fetuses from infected pregnant rats had lower body and organ weight but the fertility rate was 100%. The largest number of CFU was recovered from the organ of pregnant rats, the pathological examination revealed more severe infection in the same group, further on the largest number of granulomas and fungal field. It can be concluded that the PCM was more severe in the group of pregnant rats, with implications to the weight of offspring.

Background: Digital mammography systems, thanks to a physical performance better than conventional screen-film units, have the potential of reducing the dose to patients, without decreasing the diagnostic accuracy., Purpose: To achieve a physical and clinical comparison between two systems: a screen-film plate and a dual-side computed radiography system (CRM; FUJIFILM FCR 5000 MA)., Material and Methods: A unique feature of the FCR 5000 MA system is that it has a clear support medium, allowing light emitted during the scanning process to be detected on the "back" of the storage phosphor plate, considerably improving the system's efficiency. The system's physical performance was tested by means of a quantitative analysis, with calculation of the modulation transfer function, detective quantum efficiency, and contrast-detail analysis; subsequently, the results were compared with those achieved using a screen-film system (SFM; Eastmann Kodak MinR-MinR 2000). A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was then performed on 120 paired clinical images obtained in a craniocaudal projection with the conventional SFM system under standard exposure conditions and also with the CRM system working with a dose reduced by 35% (average breast thickness: 4.3 cm; mean glandular dose: 1.45 mGy). CRM clinical images were interpreted both in hard copy and in soft copy., Results: The ROC analysis revealed that the performances of the two systems (SFM and CRM with reduced dose) were similar (P>0.05): the diagnostic accuracy of the two systems, when valued in terms of the area underneath the ROC curve, was found to be 0.74 for the SFM, 0.78 for the CRM (hard copy), and 0.79 for the CRM (soft copy)., Conclusion: The outcome obtained from our experiments shows that the use of the dual-side CRM system is a very good alternative to the screen-film system.

The purpose of this study was to perform a complete evaluation of three pieces of clinical digital mammography equipment. Image quality was assessed by performing physical characterization and contrast-detail (CD) analysis. We considered three different FFDM systems: a computed radiography unit (Fuji "FCR 5000 MA") and two flat-panel units, the indirect conversion a-Si based GE "Senographe 2000D" and the direct conversion a-Si based IMS "Giotto Image MD." The physical characterization was estimated by measuring the MTF, NNPS, and DQE of the detectors with no antiscatter grid and over the clinical range of exposures. The CD analysis was performed using a CDMAM 3.4 phantom and custom software designed for automatic computation of the contrast-detail curves. The physical characterization of the three digital systems confirms the excellent MTF properties of the direct conversion flat-panel detector (FPD). We performed a relative standard deviation (RSD) analysis, for investigating the different components of the noise presented by the three systems. It turned out that the two FPDs show a significant additive component, whereas for the CR system the statistical noise is dominant. The multiplicative factor is a minor constituent for all the systems. The two FPDs demonstrate better DQE, with respect to the CR system, for exposures higher than 70 microGy. The CD analysis indicated that the three systems are not statistically different for detail objects with a diameter greater than 0.3 mm. However, the IMS system showed a statistically significant different response for details smaller than 0.3 mm. In this case, the poor response of the a-Se detector could be attributed to its high-frequency noise characteristics, since its MTF, NEQ, and DQE are not inferior to those of the other systems. The CD results were independent of exposure level, within the investigated clinical range. We observed slight variations in the CD results, due to the changes in the visualization parameters (window/level and magnification factor). This suggests that radiologists would benefit from viewing images using varied window/level and magnification.

The use of tracers with high radioactivity in rapid dynamic quantitative studies (such as radioisotope angiocardiography), performed by the Anger-camera and data-processor, makes it possible to obtain a high counting ratemfor correct interpretation of the results of the analysis of activity/time curves in regions of interest, the authors determined, under different working conditions, the deadtimes of two Anger-cameras (Pho-gamma HP and Radicamera II), both connected to a data-processing system (Med-II). The problems inherent in this determination are analyzed and discussed. A computer program for curve correction was written and some examples of applications of it are presented, including an experiment to test the accuracy of the correction.