Progression of liver fibrosis in blood donors infected with hepatitis C virus

Background/Aims. Chronic hepatitis by HCV is progressive towards cirrhosis, with variable rate. We evaluated the rate of fibrosis progression (RFP), risk factors associated with advanced fibrosis (F3 and F4), and estimated the evolution time to cirrhosis. Methods. We transversely selected 142 blood donors infected only with HCV, with a known route of infection, submitted to liver biopsy at admission. RFP= ratio between stage of fibrosis (METAVIR)/estimated duration of infection in years. Non-parametric tests and logistic regression analysis, with significance level of 5% were used. Results. Median RFP was 0.086 U/year (0.05 - 0.142). Ten patients had F4 and 25 had F3. Median RFP values were significantly different (p=0.001) from one age group at contamination to the others and ALT and AST levels. There were no differences in the expected evolution to cirrhosis between intermediate fibrosers (F2) and the rapid fibrosers (F3 and F4). The independent variables associated with advanced fibrosis were ALT (OR 7.2) and GGT (OR 6.4) and age at inclusion (OR 1.12). Conclusion. This study suggests that RFP is extremely variable, it is exponential with age, and mainly influenced by host characteristics, especially age at contamination and possibly ethnical group. These asymptomatic patients had high percentage of fibrosis F2, F3 and F4.

A nação é católica: educação e cidadania nas primeiras décadas republicanas (1890 a 1930)

Pós-graduação em História - FCHS

Characterization and optimization of levan production by Bacillus subtilis NATTO

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Health related quality of life measure in systemic pediatric rheumatic diseases and its translation to different languages: an international collaboration

Background: Rheumatic diseases in children are associated with significant morbidity and poor health-related quality of life (HRQOL). There is no health-related quality of life (HRQOL) scale available specifically for children with less common rheumatic diseases. These diseases share several features with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) such as their chronic episodic nature, multi-systemic involvement, and the need for immunosuppressive medications. HRQOL scale developed for pediatric SLE will likely be applicable to children with systemic inflammatory diseases.Findings: We adapted Simple Measure of Impact of Lupus Erythematosus in Youngsters (SMILEY (c)) to Simple Measure of Impact of Illness in Youngsters (SMILY (c)-Illness) and had it reviewed by pediatric rheumatologists for its appropriateness and cultural suitability. We tested SMILY (c)-Illness in patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases and then translated it into 28 languages. Nineteen children (79% female, n= 15) and 17 parents participated. The mean age was 12 +/- 4 years, with median disease duration of 21 months (1-172 months). We translated SMILY (c)-Illness into the following 28 languages: Danish, Dutch, French (France), English (UK), German (Germany), German (Austria), German (Switzerland), Hebrew, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Slovene, Spanish (USA and Puerto Rico), Spanish (Spain), Spanish (Argentina), Spanish (Mexico), Spanish (Venezuela), Turkish, Afrikaans, Arabic (Saudi Arabia), Arabic (Egypt), Czech, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Japanese, Romanian, Serbian and Xhosa.Conclusion: SMILY (c)-Illness is a brief, easy to administer and score HRQOL scale for children with systemic rheumatic diseases. It is suitable for use across different age groups and literacy levels. SMILY (c)-Illness with its available translations may be used as useful adjuncts to clinical practice and research.