Synechocystis ferredoxin/ferredoxin-NADP+-reductase/NADP+ complex: Structural model obtained by NMR-restrained docking

FEBS Letters 579 (2005) 4585–4590

Performance evaluation of hospitals that provide care in the public health system, Brazil

OBJECTIVE To analyze if size, administrative level, legal status, type of unit and educational activity influence the hospital network performance in providing services to the Brazilian Unified Health System.METHODS This cross-sectional study evaluated data from the Hospital Information System and the Cadastro Nacional de Estabelecimentos de Saúde (National Registry of Health Facilities), 2012, in Sao Paulo, Southeastern Brazil. We calculated performance indicators, such as: the ratio of hospital employees per bed; mean amount paid for admission; bed occupancy rate; average length of stay; bed turnover index and hospital mortality rate. Data were expressed as mean and standard deviation. The groups were compared using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Bonferroni correction.RESULTS The hospital occupancy rate in small hospitals was lower than in medium, big and special-sized hospitals. Higher hospital occupancy rate and bed turnover index were observed in hospitals that include education in their activities. The hospital mortality rate was lower in specialized hospitals compared to general ones, despite their higher proportion of highly complex admissions. We found no differences between hospitals in the direct and indirect administration for most of the indicators analyzed.CONCLUSIONS The study indicated the importance of the scale effect on efficiency, and larger hospitals had a higher performance. Hospitals that include education in their activities had a higher operating performance, albeit with associated importance of using human resources and highly complex structures. Specialized hospitals had a significantly lower rate of mortality than general hospitals, indicating the positive effect of the volume of procedures and technology used on clinical outcomes. The analysis related to the administrative level and legal status did not show any significant performance differences between the categories of public hospitals.

The prevalence of antibody to human parvovirus B19 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

During 1985 and 1986 serum samples were collected from the Rio de Janeiro population and examined for the presence of IgG antibody to human parvovirus B19. No difference in prevalence was found between males and females. Antibody prevalence rose from 35% in children less than five years old to almost 80% in children aged eleven to fifteen years. The antibody prevalence in individuals over 50 years old was over 90%.

Alumbramentos: investigação e escrita de argumento para documentário: trabalho de projeto

Trabalho de Projeto submetida(o) à Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de Mestre em Desenvolvimento de Projecto Cinematográfico - especialização em Narrativas Cinematográficas.

Biostratigraphie et paléoécologie des peuplements d'ostracodes dans le Domérien du Bassin Lusitanien, Portugal

The Domerian sections from the Lusitanian Basin of São Pedro de Muel, Rabaçal and Tomar have provided us with more than 1100 Ostracods belonging from 18 genus and about 48 species. The faunal diversity and density of the associations decrease in space (from Tomar to Rabaçal and São Pedro de Muel) and time, with favourable environments for the proliferation of Ostracods at the lower part of the sections (Stokesi subzone) and more hostile at the upper part (Ragazzonii subzone). The Monestieri and Nitescens horizons and the Subnodosus subzone are characterized by a typical assemblage of Ostracods. The palaeoecological Ostracod indexes reveal the fluctuations of the oxygenation, temperature, depth and hydrodynamism of the water, on the different sections and on the whole platform. They display a diachronous cooling in the Lower Domerian series. In the upper part of the Middle and in the Upper Domerian, the deeper, less oxygenated and cooler waters prevent the development of the Ostracod faunas.

Luiz Pacheco : maldição e consagração no meio literário português

Tese apresentada para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de Doutor em Sociologia e Economia Histórica

Purification and Preliminary Characterization of Tetraheme Cytochrome and Adenylylsulf te Reductase from the Peptidolytic Sulfate-Reducing Bacterium Desulfovibrio aminophilus DSM 12254

Bioinorganic Chemistry and Applications Volume 3 (2005), Issue 1-2, Pages 81-91

História do Tratamento Cirúrgico do Cancro da Mama - Empirismo e Ciência

A História do tratamento cirúrgico do cancro da mama é bem demonstrativa de que a verdade em Medicina é circunstancial, e que o caminho a percorrer no sentido de a alcançar é árduo. Mostra, também, como ao longo dos séculos o empirismo vai dando lugar ao método científico, e como os estudos prospectivos, controlados e randomizados determinam a alteração dos conceitos e a consequente modificação das técnicas cirúrgicas. Estas vão desde os métodos bárbaros, à luz dos conceitos actuais, que, da Grécia antiga se estendem até à descoberta da anestesia – em que se destacam nomes como Henri de Mondeville, Guy de Chaulliac e Lanfranco na Idade Média, von Hilden e Ambroise Paré no Renascimento, ou H.F. Le Dran, J.L. Petit e Benjamim Bell, no tempo do Iluminismo – até às técnicas cada vez mais meticulosas e racionais, já na Idade Contemporânea, sucessivamente devidas a James Paget, Joseph Pancoast, Charles Moore, William Stewart Halsted, William e Richard Handley, Geoffrey Keynes, Robert McWhirter, George Crile Jr., Cushman Haagensen, Dahl-Iversen, Jerome Urban, David Patey, Bernard Fisher e Umberto Veronesi, entre outros que souberam criar novos paradigmas na História do Tratamento Cirúrgico do Cancro da Mama, para se chegar à prática actual de cirurgia conservadora (mamária e axilar)com reconstrução.

Towards cryogenic liquid –vapor energy storage units for space applications

Dissertation to obtain the Doctoral degree in Physics Engineering

Tecnologias e pessoas mais velhas: Importância do uso e apropriação das novas tecnologias de informação e comunicação para as relações sociais de pessoas mais velhas em Portugal

Dissertação apresentada para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de Mestre em Ciências da Comunicação – Estudo dos Media e do Jornalismo

Condições de sobrevivência em laboratório de Haemagogus janthinomys dyar, 1921 (Diptera: Culicidae)

Neste trabalho, é proposta uma modificação do tubo de Borel, habitualmente utilizado no laboratório para a criação individual de fêmeas de mosquitos. Os primeiros estudos foram realizados com o principal vetor da febre amarela no Brasil, Haemagogus janthinomys. Os resultados, comparados aos da literatura, mostraram um aumento do período de vida das fêmeas, que chegou a 72 dias, uma elevação do número de ovos, até 80, e um ciclo trofogônico mais curto, 7-8 dias. Estes resultados mostram boas perspectivas para estudos posteriores em laborattório sobre a transmissão vertical do vírus da febre amarela por este vetor.

Paracoccidioidomicose em índios brasileiros da tribo Suruí: estudo clínico-laboratorial de 2 casos

Paracoccidioidomicose é considerada a micose sistêmica endêmica mais prevalente na América Latina. Apesar da maior parte da casuística de paracoccidioidomicose ocorrer entre trabalhadores rurais, há poucos casos documentados de ocorrência dessa micose entre índios brasileiros. São apresentados 2 casos de paracoccidioidomicose em índios Suruí, família linguística Tupi-Mondé, procedentes de Cacoal, Rondônia. Ambos apresentaram sorologia positiva à imunodifusão apenas com antígenos da fase miceliana do P. brasiliensis. Os autores apresentam revisão de literatura sobre a ocorrência dessa micose entre índios brasileiros e discutem a necessidade de futuras investigações buscando caracterizar as diferenças regionais de cepas de P. brasiliensis e seu impacto no diagnóstico sorológico dessa micose.

Diagnosis of rubella infection by detecting specific immunoglobulin M antibodies in saliva samples: a clinic-based study in Niterói, RJ, Brazil

This study was designed to investigate whether saliva could be a feasible alternative to serum for the diagnosis of recent rubella infection in a clinic setting. Forty-five paired blood and saliva samples collected 1 to 29 days after onset of illness were tested for specific immunoglobulin (Ig) M by antibody-capture radioimmunoassay (MACRIA). Rubella IgM was detected in all serum samples and in 38 (84.4%) saliva specimens. Forty-six serum and saliva samples from other patients with rash diseases were tested by MACRIA for control purposes and two saliva specimens were reactive. The saliva test had specificity of 96%. These results indicate that salivary IgM detection may be a convenient non-invasive alternative to serum for investigation of recent rubella cases, especially for disease surveillance and control programmes.

Human parvovirus B19 infection in HIV-positive patients

Parvovirus B19 infects predominantly erythroid cells, leading to transient inhibition of erythropoiesis. Immunocompromised patients may be unable to produce neutralizing antibodies and may develop severe chronic anemia. Epidemiological studies done on Niterói population showed that B19 infection occurs periodically in late spring and summer. We report a study from 55 HIV infected patients attending an infectious diseases outpatient clinic in this city during a 5-month period in which B19 circulation was well documented. All patients were under anti-retroviral therapy. No anti-B19 IgM was found, but a high prevalence of IgG anti-B19 (91%) was observed. In six patients, B19 DNA was found by dot-blot hybridization techniques, but this was not confirmed by PCR. None of these 6 patients manifested anemia and only one had CD4 cell count below 200 x 10(7)/L. We conclude that persistent infection causing anemia is an infrequent finding in our HIV positive patients under drug therapy.