This study aims at estimating the prevalence of Leishmania infection among HIV-infected patients through the use of non-invasive tests. The study was conducted in three Infectious Diseases Services in two large Brazilian cities, both endemic areas for visceral leishmaniasis. Three hundred and eighty-one asymptomatic patients were enrolled whose ages ranged from 19 to 58 years old; 63.5% were men; mean TCD4+ was 380 cells/μl; and mean viral load was 153800 copies/ml. All individuals were tested for Leishmania infection through: ELISA using crude Leishmania infantum (ELISA), ELISA using the recombinant K39 antigen (rK39), indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT) and PCR targeted to kDNA region. The tests' positivity were: 10.8% (ELISA), 3.9% (IFAT), 0.8% (rK39), 6.3% PCR and 20.2% (overall, at least one positive test), with no statistical correlation between positivity and clinical and laboratorial variables. Concordance among tests was low (Kappa <0.20). Prevalence of Leishmania asymptomatic infection was high in this population, reinforcing the need for attention in the evaluation of HIV patients from endemic areas. New efforts are needed to develop more specific and sensitive tests to diagnose Leishmania asymptomatic infection. Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) seems to have a protective role against disease progression in co-infected individuals.

The introduction of dornase alfa improved the HRQL of the patients with CF during the first year of treatment.

CL has a moderate to large negative effect on QoL.

No abstract

Hepatitis B and C constitute important public health problems worldwide. In Brazil, studies on prevalence of viral hepatitis have local and regional characteristics; consequently it is difficult to define the national epidemiological situation. Our objective was to evaluate the seroprevalence of hepatitis B and C in conscripts of the Brazilian Army. A transversal study among males aged 17 to 22 years was conducted nationwide. After informed consent, each volunteer filled in a social-behavioral questionnaire and had blood drawn to test for HBsAg and anti-HCV. A total of 7,372 volunteers were evaluated in the second half of 2002. The prevalence of HBsAg was 2.6% (95% confidence interval: 2.2, 3.0) and that of anti-HCV was 1.5% (95% confidence interval: 1.2, 1.8). A wide variation among macro regions and states in the same region was observed for both markers. In conclusion, although this population theoretically had a low risk for HBV and HCV infection, these results are higher than expected for this age range. These findings may indicate a change in the pattern of HBV and HCV transmission in Brazil. Due to the different dynamics of these epidemics, further studies are warranted to confirm these apparent trends.

Clinical and laboratory risk factors for death from visceral leishmaniasis (VL) are relatively known, but quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) might assess the role of parasite load in determining clinical outcome. The aim of this study was to identify risk factors, including parasite load in peripheral blood, for VL poor outcome among children. This prospective cohort study evaluated children aged ≤ 12 years old with VL diagnosis at three times: pre-treatment (T0), during treatment (T1) and post-treatment (T2). Forty-eight patients were included and 16 (33.3%) met the criteria for poor outcome. Age ≤ 12 months [relative risk (RR) 3.51; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.89-6.52], tachydyspnoea (RR 3.46; 95% CI 2.19-5.47), bacterial infection (RR 3.08; 95% CI 1.27-7.48), liver enlargement (RR 3.00; 95% CI 1.44-6.23) and low serum albumin (RR 7.00; 95% CI 1.80-27.24) were identified as risk factors. qPCR was positive in all patients at T0 and the parasite DNA was undetectable in 76.1% of them at T1 and in 90.7% at T2. There was no statistical association between parasite load at T0 and poor outcome.

RESUMO Este artigo é baseado na dissertação do curso de Mestrado Profissional em Ensino em Saúde realizado pelo primeiro autor na Universidade José do Rosário Vellano – Unifenas e cujo título é “Ações para a retomada do ensino da humanização nas escolas de Medicina: uma revisão sistemática da literatura, 2010-2016”. O artigo apresenta os resultados da pesquisa, que efetuou uma revisão sistemática da literatura sobre a retomada da humanização nas escolas de Medicina. A desumanização da medicina tem sido atribuída, em grande parte, às escolas de Medicina, que privilegiam aspectos científicos em detrimento daqueles teóricos e voltados ao humanismo. As escolas de Medicina se viram impelidas a rever seus currículos, retomando disciplinas e organizando intervenções para a retomada do humanismo na prática médica. O objetivo geral da dissertação foi identificar as ações propostas ou desenvolvidas nos cursos de Medicina para a retomada da humanização na prática médica. Os objetivos específicos foram evidenciar os principais atributos do humanismo e descrever as principais intervenções educacionais adotadas para o desenvolvimento do humanismo na prática médica. Para atingir esses objetivos, foi realizada uma revisão sistemática de literatura, mediante pesquisa nas bases de dados da Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde e PubMed, no período de 2010 a 2016, nos idiomas português e inglês. A pesquisa resultou na seleção de 23 publicações. Os resultados mostraram que o principal atributo do humanismo é a empatia, que as escolas de Medicina estão desenvolvendo como principais ações as alterações no currículo dos cursos e que as principais ações educacionais implementadas envolvem alterações curriculares, intercâmbios e programas de extensão, mediante a inclusão de novas disciplinas, uso de atividades lúdicas e atuação em contextos culturais distintos dos de origem dos estudantes. Concluiu-se que a abrangência das medidas ainda é pequena, considerando-se o universo dos cursos de Medicina, e que seus resultados carecem de análise mais objetiva.

No abstract