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Health is a right of all Brazilian citizens, and the records produced under the Unified Health System are sources of information and proof of this right. Public policies are the legal instruments that can establish the guidelines and procedures that guide access to this information. Based on this, this study aimed to analyze, from the perspective of Archival Science, the National Health Information and Informatics Policy of the Unified Health System. This is a descriptive type of case study, for which a qualitative approach was used for data processing and documentary research as a methodological procedure. The results indicated that the National Policy on Information and Informatics in Health represents an important step towards access to information but needs adjustments in terms of care in the area of Records Management, namely: the creation of an archival policy; diagnosis of files linked to the Unified Health System; mapping of professionals trained in Archival Science who deal with health documentation; and dialogues with archival institutions and researchers. It was concluded that the areas of Archival Science and Health, in the light of the National Policy on Information and Informatics in Health, urgently need to strengthen relations and apply archival practices, especially in the field of Records Management in the Unified Health System. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Pan American Health Organization/ World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) Anti-Infodemic Virtual Center for the Americas (AIVCA) is a project led by the Department of Evidence and Intelligence for Action in Health, PAHO and the Center for Health Informatics, PAHO/WHO Collaborating Center on Information Systems for Health, at the University of Illinois, with the participation of PAHO staff and consultants across the region. Its goal is to develop a set of tools--pairing AI with human judgment--to help ministries of health and related health institutions respond to infodemics. Public health officials will learn about emerging threats detected by the center and get recommendations on how to respond. The virtual center is structured with three parallel teams: detection, evidence, and response. The detection team will employ a mixture of advanced search queries, machine learning, and other AI techniques to sift through more than 800 million new public social media posts per day to identify emerging infodemic threats in both English and Spanish. The evidence team will use the EasySearch federated search engine backed by AI, PAHO's knowledge management team, and the Librarian Reserve Corps to identify the most relevant authoritative sources. The response team will use a design approach to communicate recommended response strategies based on behavioural science, storytelling, and information design approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To construct a Portuguese language index of information on the practice of diagnostic radiology in order to improve the standardization of the medical language and terminology. Materials and Methods: A total of 61,461 definitive reports were collected from the database of the Radiology Information System at Hospital das Clínicas - Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto (RIS/HCFMRP) as follows: 30,000 chest x-ray reports; 27,000 mammography reports; and 4,461 thyroid ultrasonography reports. The text mining technique was applied for the selection of terms, and the ANSI/ NISO Z39.19-2005 standard was utilized to construct the index based on a thesaurus structure. The system was created in *html. Results: The text mining resulted in a set of 358,236 (n = 100%) words. Out of this total, 76,347 (n = 21%) terms were selected to form the index. Such terms refer to anatomical pathology description, imaging techniques, equipment, type of study and some other composite terms. The index system was developed with 78,538 *html web pages. Conclusion: The utilization of text mining on a radiological reports database has allowed the construction of a lexical system in Portuguese language consistent with the clinical practice in Radiology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To identify in the literature evidences about the nursing process (PE) applied to software. Method: Integrative review, search performed in PubMed, LILACS and CINAHL databases and reverse search, from August 28 to September 9, 2016. The descriptors used were nursing, nursing process, hospital information systems, medical informatics, medical informatics application, public health informatics, and nursing informatics. The sample consisted of 23 articles. Results: There was an increase in productions from 2000, most of the publications originated in Brazil and characterized by descriptive studies. There were two categories of analysis: software development and its usage. Most contemplated all stages of the NP, two cite the theoretical reference and three use the system for the assistance and management dimensions. The taxonomies used were ICNP, NANDA, NIC, NOC. Conclusion: the software's usage with the EP strengthens evidence-based practice and consolidates nursing as a science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To identify, on the social network Instagram®, the understanding of students and nurses about the use of active methodologies in the teaching-learning process in Nursing. This is a descriptive, sectional study, with a quantitative approach applied through the use of Instagram® stickers to capture information from users about the use of the application as a teaching-learning tool. Research carried out with 34 participants, with a prevalence of females, aged between 18 and 24 years, white race, single marital status, Catholic religion and residents of the State of Rio de Janeiro, who mainly use the cell phone as a means of accessing the social network, in the night period. It was possible to identify the Instagram® social network as a teaching-learning resource through the affirmation of 100% of the participants. The importance of technologies in the health education process is perceived, not only for Nursing, but for all areas in which the contents are updated quickly. Therefore, Instagram® can be used as a teaching-learning strategy. Therefore, the product of this research, elaborated from the undergraduate course completion work, will contribute to teaching through information that nursing students and health professionals seek and consume on social networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To analyze the use of the e-SUS Primary Care strategy by the Street Clinic teams, after a continuing education process. Methods: Descriptive-exploratory study with a qualitative research-intervention approach carried out with 23 professionals from three clinics in Rua da Centro-Oeste do Brasil in 2016. The intervention consisted of a theoretical-practical seminar on the e-SUS Primary Care strategy with assessment mediated by focus groups. Data were submitted to Content Analysis, Thematic modality, with the help of the ATLAS.ti software. Results: There were reflections on the need to transform professional practice and value electronic health records of the activities carried out by the teams to raise the quality of care and give more visibility to the work undertaken by professionals. They began to gradually incorporate the e-SUS Primary Care strategy into the work processes of the services. Conclusion: The continuing education process provided professionals and managers with a space for reflection and resignification of professional practice in relation to electronic health records, making them aware of the importance of computerization in work processes. Throughout the intervention process, it was evident that the participants were mobilized regarding their understanding and attitudes towards the e-SUS Primary Care strategy in their daily lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: E-learning, which refers to the use of Internet-related technologies to improve knowledge and learning, has emerged as a complementary form of education, bringing advantages such as increased accessibility to information, personalized learning, democratization of education and ease of update, distribution and standardization of the content. In this sense, this paper aims to present a tool, named ISE-SPL, whose purpose is the automatic generation of E-learning systems for medical education, making use of ISE systems (Interactive Spaced-Education) and concepts of Software Product Lines. Methods: The tool consists of an innovative methodology for medical education that aims to assist professors of healthcare in their teaching through the use of educational technologies, all based on computing applied to healthcare (Informatics in Health). Results: The tests performed to validate the ISE-SPL were divided into two stages: the fi rst was made by using a software analysis tool similar to ISE-SPL, called S.P.L.O.T and the second was performed through usability questionnaires to healthcare professors who used ISE-SPL. Conclusion: Both tests showed positive results, allowing to conclude that ISE-SPL is an effi cient tool for generation of E-learning software and useful for teachers in healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To analyze the Brazilian technological innovation in the field of radiology and imaging diagnosis, in terms of patent indicators. Materials and Methods: Exploratory analytical study of information retrieved through cross queries in databases of intellectual property offices in Brazil (State Industrial Property Office [Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial - INPI]), United States (United States Patent and Trademark Office - USPTO) and Europe (European Patent Office - EPO). Results: There were 277,057 patents in the field of radiology and imaging diagnosis. Of this total, 7,800 were registered at INPI (3%), 65,428 (24%) registered at the EPO and 203,829 (73%) issued by USPTO. Brazil is a signatory to 1,732 patents published by the INPI, 80 by the EPO and 26 by the USPTO. Overall, 219,993 (79%) patents were related to electronic devices strongly linked to information technology in health care, ultrasonography, tomography, magnetic resonance imaging procedures as well as to images generation, communication and archiving, and 57,064 patents (21%) dealt with technologies related to radiation protection and dosimetry, nuclear physics, electrotherapy, magnetic therapy and radiotherapy. Conclusion: The results indicate the weakness of the domestic production of patented technological innovation in the field of radiology and imaging diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: When providing healthcare, it is necessary to record treatment activities in the patient's electronic medical records, which serves as a tool that impacts several tasks, including those performed in intensive care units. Any failure of these electronic systems has a direct impact on the delivery of healthcare. This study is aimed to assess the perception of the use of electronic medical records and satisfaction levels among intensive care nurses, as well as to evaluate a questionnaire instrument for this purpose. Materials and Methods: A quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted in São Paulo. The instrument used for collection was prepared by the authors, which was also validated in terms of appearance and content. Categorical variables were compared using Fisher's exact test and numerical variables were compared using the Kruskal-Wallis test. Results: 75 nursing professionals, mostly women and classified as nurse technicians, participated in this study. The majority of the participants considered that electronic medical records were easy to use, indicated that they had sufficient knowledge about the management of electronic medical records, noted that the number of computer in the hospital was insufficient, and stated that both patient and healthcare team safety had improved after using the patient's electronic medical records. Male nurses found it more difficult to use this tool. Conclusions: Electronic medical records were found to be easy to use, while the main difficulties are related to their functionality, especially by male nurses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this article is to describe the characteristics of addressing the linkage of administrative databases and the uses of such linkages in public health research, and also to discuss the opportunities and challenges for implementation in Ecuador. The linkage of databases makes it possible to integrate a person's data that may be scattered across different subsectors such as health, education, justice, immigration, and social programs. It also facilitates research that can inform more efficient management of social and health programs and policies. The main advantages of using linked databases are: diversity of data, population coverage, stability over time, and lower cost in comparison to primary data collection. Despite the availability of tools to process, link, and analyze large data sets, there has been minimal use of this approach in Latin American countries. Ecuador is well positioned to implement this approach, due to compulsory use of a unique ID in health services delivery, which permits linkages with other national information systems. However, the country faces several cultural, technical, ethical, legal, and political challenges. To take advantage of its potential, Ecuador needs to develop a data governance strategy that includes standards for data access and data use, as well as mechanisms for data control and quality, greater investment in professional training in data use both within and beyond the health sector, and collaborations between government entities, universities, and civil society organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main goal of this paper is to propose the eXtensible Interface Model for Electronic Health Record (XIMEHR) based on standard ISO13606. Based on the concept of Design Science, this study is a response to the challenge of the final user's participation in the development of health information systems. Interfaces for Electronic Health Record are generated by a prototype that structures, organizes and manages clinical concepts. The prototype developed was evaluated and it fulfilled the purposes for which it was designed. At the same time that the model preserves the information structure, it also provides flexibility, reuse of the concepts and document standardization. We believe that this product will contribute to improve the quality of recorded clinical data and encourage the information exchange between electronic systems used in providing health care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: to identify codes for constant proce dures in the Brazilian National Health System's Hospital Information System (SIH-SUS) deemed to be cases of Extremely Severe Maternal Morbidity (MMEG) and to develop an algorithm to manage/prepare an AIH database, with a view to identifying cases of MMEG in this database. Methods: the data used were from the SIH-SUS supplied by the Juiz de Fora Health Secretary and refer to admissions to SUS hospitals between 2006 and 2007. The study covered all admissions where the principal diagnosis involved all of Chapter XV of CID10 - complications of pregnancy, miscarriage, delivery and puerperium and/or admissions to hospital involving obstetric procedures. For identifi cation of SIH-SUS procedures deemed to be MMEG, the criteria proposed by the WHO were used. The algorithm was developed using Microsoft Access. Results: 326 cases of MMEG were found among the 8620 women selected, constituting a rate of 37.8/1000 women. The most frequent procedures were transfusion of blood products, "a longer stay" and severe pre-eclampsia/eclampsia, with a prevalence of 15.7/1000, 9.5/1000 and 8.2/1000, respectively. Conclusions: the algorithm used may optimize the use of the SIH-SUS for identifying cases of MMEG and generating information for maternal morbidity and mortality surveillance services and the evalua tion of obstetric care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing implementation of clinical information systems has led to several transformations within hospitals. However, scientific literature has revealed that most of these enterprises fall short of their main objectives. Thus, from an explanatory-exploratory case study, this article investigates the main causes of the unsuccessful implementation of an electronic prescription system in a general hospital, adopting as its theoretical background the resistance to information systems, as developed by Kling (1980) and Markus (1983). The study shows, for the case under analysis, that the main hurdles to deploying the system successfully were: the age of the medical doctors; excessive concerns with the safety of the system; inadequate technological infrastructure; the medical doctors' employment relationship; and the interference of the system with the power and autonomy of the medical doctors. The paper concludes that the hospital's intra-organizational context must be analyzed in a systemic way, in order to fully understand how the system will be accepted and used by its main potential users - the medical doctors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To examine drug overdose records in Brazil from 2000 to 2020, analyzing trends over time in overdoses and overall sociodemographic characteristics of the deceased. Methods: Using data from the Brazilian Mortality Information System (Sistema de Informações sobre Mortalidade), we identified records from 2000-2020 in which the underlying cause-of-death was one of the following codes: X40-X45 (accidental poisoning), X60-X65 (intentional poisoning), or Y10-Y15 (undetermined intentionality poisoning). The Brazilian dataset included 21,410 deaths. We used joinpoint regression analysis to assess changes in trends over time. Results: People who died of drug overdoses in Brazil between 2000 and 2020 had a mean age of 38.91 years; 38.45% were women, and 44.01% were identified as White. Of the overdose deaths, 44.70% were classified as intentional and 32.12% were classified as unintentional. Among the identified drugs, stimulants were the most common class. However, most records did not report which drug was responsible for death. Conclusion: Sociodemographic trends in overdose deaths in Brazil must guide country-specific policies. Nevertheless, data collection protocols must be improved, particularly regarding the drug used in overdoses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: There is growing interest in the fields of psychiatry and psychology in investigating the relationship between personality and psychopathology. The Big-5 is a model developed to investigate five personality dimensions: Extroversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Openness. In the present study, we describe the process of translation into Brazilian Portuguese and adaptation of a free tool to evaluate the Big-5 model: The Big-5 Inventory (BFI). The instrument has 44 items with a Likert response scale ranging from 1 to 5. Objectives: To translate and adapt the BFI into Brazilian Portuguese. Methods: The adaptation was conducted in the following steps: 1) Translation, 2) Evaluation Committee, 3) Back-translation, 4) Pilot study, 5) Evaluation Committee, and 6) Application. The sample comprised 490 participants from various regions of Brazil. The participants' ages ranged from 18 to 71 years, most of them had completed high school (62.9%), and the majority were women (75%). Results: A model with the following fit indexes was found: χ²/df: 1.954; goodness fit index (GFI): 0.924; comparative fit index (CFI): 0.920; and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA): 0.044. Conclusion: The results are suggestive that the Brazilian version of this instrument has good psychometric properties and represent a cost-free option for investigating associations with the Big-5 in psychiatry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To determine the prevalence of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and the drug classes that triggered these events in a private hospital in the Sentinela Network. Retrospective observational study, with data collection performed using the Tasy software, from April 2019 to March 2020. ADRs were classified as probable, after causality analysis using the Naranjo Algorithm. A prevalence of 0.17% of ADRs was observed in general consultations and 0.87% in hospitalizations. The main therapeutic classes associated with the events were antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antineoplastic, contrast and opioid analgesics. The predominant ADR was pruritus. The prevalence of ADRs in hospitalized patients was 0.87% and the overall prevalence was 0.17%, one for every 588 visits. The main classes of drugs that triggered the events were antibacterials, anti-inflammatory drugs, antineoplastics, contrast agents and opioid analgesics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Social participation is one of the guidelines of the Brazilian health system. Health councils are collegiate instances of participation established by Law 8.142/90. The most recent legal regulation for council organization and functioning was established through Resolution 453/2021. The institution of health councils has a permanent and deliberative nature to act in the formulation, deliberation and control of health policy implementation, including in economic and financial aspects.Objective: To evaluate the compliance of health councils with the directives for the establishment, restructuring and operation of the councils from Brazil, based on Resolution 453/2012.Methods: An exploratory, descriptive study that used the Health Council Monitoring System as a data source. Qualitative variables were selected to identify the characteristics related to the councils' establishment (legal instruments for establishment), the strategies adopted for restructuring (budget allocation, existence of an executive secretariat, provision of a dedicated office) and the characteristics of the health councils' operation (frequency of regular meetings, existence of a board of directors, the election of the board of directors).Results: The study analyzed three groups of characteristics related to the constitution, strategies adopted for restructuring and the functioning of the councils. Regarding the constitution of the councils, the findings revealed that the vast majority was constituted in accordance with the legislation and, therefore, is in compliance with Resolution 453/2021. In the second group of characteristics that describe the restructuring of councils, the study found that less than half of registered councils are in compliance with the standard. And, finally, in the third group of characteristics, it was found that the boards have adopted different frequencies for regular meetings and approximately 50% of the boards studied have a board of directors.Conclusions: The councils still do not meet the minimum conditions necessary to fulfil their role in the Unified Health System (SUS), as stipulated in Resolution 453/2021. This situation requires monitoring by public oversight agencies. Despite the increase in popular participation with the creation of the health councils, this study demonstrated that most councils still do not meet the minimum conditions for monitoring public health policy. The improvement of the Health Councils Monitoring System (SIACS) to become an instrument for monitoring the councils, with the definition of goals and results, may contribute to the organization of the councils and, therefore, to the realization of social participation in Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Visual search abilities are essential to everyday life activities and are known to be affected in Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, little is known about visual search efficiency in mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a transitive state between normal aging and dementia. Eye movement studies and machine learning methods have been recently used to detect oculomotor impairments in individuals with dementia.Objective: The aim of the present study is to investigate the association between eye movement metrics and visual search impairment in MCI and AD.Methods: 127 participants were tested: 43 healthy controls, 51 with MCI, and 33 with AD. They completed an eyetracking visual search task where they had to find a previously seen target stimulus among distractors.Results: Both patient groups made more fixations on the screen when searching for a target, with longer duration than controls. MCI and AD fixated the distractors more often and for a longer period of time than the target. Healthy controls were quicker and made less fixations when scanning the stimuli for the first time. Machine-learning methods were able to distinguish between controls and AD subjects and to identify MCI subjects with a similar oculomotor profile to AD with a good accuracy.Conclusion: Results showed that eye movement metrics are useful for identifying visual search impairments in MCI and AD, with possible implications in the early identification of individuals with high-risk of developing AD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To evaluate the content and the functionality of Blood Pressure FingerPrint Test pressure applications available for Android and IOS systems. Applied and quantitative research with two distinct groups in which blood pressure has been verified by the blood pressure FingerPrint test and blood pressure applications and their results were compared to those ones obtained by the traditional method. The test applications presented derivation in their results when compared to the aneroid method, announcing a lack of assertiveness. Issues such as lack of adherence to health services, self-medication or the lack in the use of necessary medicine to chance blood pressure values, associated with the trust that the application conforms to the user, may occur facing the absence of an explicit reliable method of operation capable of clear the capture of blood pressure levels up of these applications, exposing the user's health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on drug and alcohol overdose mortality rates in Brazil, particularly the regional differences and trends from 2000 to 2018. It highlights that overdose death rates increased over this period, with the most frequently involved substances being alcohol, cocaine, and benzodiazepines, and that the South and Midwest regions had significant upward trends in overdose death rates.

Objective: to report the experience of production of surgical masks by a committee of technological innovation production. Method: descriptive study of the experience-report type. The production process involved six seamstresses, one cutting the hospital nonwoven fabric, one at the Overlock stitch machine to make the finish of sides and four sewing with the Straight stitch machine. A 60-grammage nonwoven fabric, white thread and a cloaked galvanized wire were used. Result: production reached 1,300 surgical masks per day. The process was managed by two nurses. Conclusion: the strategy reported represented the production of 63,000 units of surgical masks and was an alternative to meet the demand for surgical masks in health services, contributing to improve the safety of health professionals within the scope of COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The qualified and humanized prenatal and puerperal care occurs through the integration of welcoming conducts, information and appropriate orientations. The prenatal of habitual risk can be performed by the nurse supported by the Law of Professional Practice of Nursing and aims to prevent complications for maternal-fetal health. To report the follow-up of the first prenatal consultations performed by nurses at a UBS in São Paulo. Report of experience in a UBS during august to october 2017, period in which the Federal Council of Medicine entered with an inlimination preventing nurses to perform the prenatal consultation. Of The pregnant women followed up, 90% left the consultation with prescription of prophylactic medications, 100% came out with a request for examinations prescribed by the nurses and would recommend the prenatal care performed at that health unit, due to the quality and humanized professionals. The nurses continued to exercise their attributions with the same responsibility and quality after the suspension of the inlimination in october 2017, in force until the final judgment of the merit of the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

RNA viruses comprise vast populations of closely related, but highly genetically diverse, entities known as quasispecies. Understanding the mechanisms by which this extreme diversity is generated and maintained is fundamental when approaching viral persistence and pathobiology in infected hosts. In this paper, we access quasispecies theory through a mathematical model based on the theory of multitype branching processes, to better understand the roles of mechanisms resulting in viral diversity, persistence and extinction. We accomplish this understanding by a combination of computational simulations and the theoretical analysis of the model. In order to perform the simulations, we have implemented the mathematical model into a computational platform capable of running simulations and presenting the results in a graphical format in real time. Among other things, we show that the establishment of virus populations may display four distinct regimes from its introduction into new hosts until achieving equilibrium or undergoing extinction. Also, we were able to simulate different fitness distributions representing distinct environments within a host which could either be favorable or hostile to the viral success. We addressed the most used mechanisms for explaining the extinction of RNA virus populations called lethal mutagenesis and mutational meltdown. We were able to demonstrate a correspondence between these two mechanisms implying the existence of a unifying principle leading to the extinction of RNA viruses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Kangaroo Mother Method is a care provided to the neonatal, which consists of skin-to-skin contact as early as possible between mother and child. It represents a proposal for humanized assistance, with emphasis on the paradigm of non-separation between mother and baby. We sought to know the challenges faced by mothers of high-risk newborns during the third stage of MMC based on available literature on the subject. It is an integrative review of literature in which articles indexed in the LILACS, BDENF, PubMed and SCIELO databases were analyzed from 2008 to 2017, in the Portuguese, English and Spanish languages with the combination of descriptors and Boolean operator and. The evidence demonstrates mothers of different social classes who experience the same difficulties, feelings and challenges regarding care for the newborn and the practice of MMC at home. Emphasis is placed on the importance of nursing in the programming of actions that may allow women to overcome obstacles and experience this stage. Thus, it is suggested that the strategy of humanization followed by the parents is a safe option to the conventional therapy with good results to promote breastfeeding. However, there is a need for studies that can evaluate such challenges, in order to get to the cause of these difficulties and to discover strategies that can contribute to minimize these problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To highlight the nursing diagnoses of patients subjected to cardiac catheterization. It is a study of integrative revision of the Literature of scientific studies published in the period from 2013 to 2016, whose steps were founded on protocol previously established, aiming to maintain the scientific and methodological rigour. Catheterization is an examination capable of providing detailed information on coronary anatomy, allowing the layout of a prognosis and the design of the best therapeutic strategy. The main nursing diagnoses established for patients subjected to the procedure are: anxiety; poor knowledge; risk-prone health behaviour; acute pain; afraid physical mobility impaired; risk of diminished cardiac output; risk of injury and infection risk; ineffective protection. SAE guides the assistance provided to the patient through five phases, the second being of fundamental importance according to the trial carried out by the nurse of the evidence perceived during the investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the advancement of medical technologies, other areas of health must evolve following the changes. Thus, nursing has been specializing and becoming established in the multidisciplinary teams of health facilities. Radiotherapy, a technology that employs ionizing radiation, is one of the cancer treatment options. Patients who use this treatment may develop some symptoms that are inherent to radiation exposure such as xerostomia, trismus, mucositis, radiodermatitis and osteoradionecrosis. Nursing, through the systematization of nursing care and consultation, seeks to provide guidelines and when necessary, care that aims to reduce the patient's discomfort when developing the adverse effects of the treatment. This work, through a bibliographical review, aimed to show the main symptoms related to radiotherapy treatment and based on the nursing diagnosis, to exemplify care and guidelines that can be passed on to patients and their families, in order to improve the quality of life of the patient. patient. Scientific bases were used, data from INCA and the Ministry of Health. With this research it was concluded that the nurse practitioner, through systematization and without losing the human character, can help the patient with targeted measures and always taking into consideration the individual and family environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Divergence date estimates are central to understand evolutionary processes and depend, in the case of molecular phylogenies, on tests of molecular clocks. Here we propose two non-parametric tests of strict and relaxed molecular clocks built upon a framework that uses the empirical cumulative distribution (ECD) of branch lengths obtained from an ensemble of Bayesian trees and well known non-parametric (one-sample and two-sample) Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) goodness-of-fit test. In the strict clock case, the method consists in using the one-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) test to directly test if the phylogeny is clock-like, in other words, if it follows a Poisson law. The ECD is computed from the discretized branch lengths and the parameter λ of the expected Poisson distribution is calculated as the average branch length over the ensemble of trees. To compensate for the auto-correlation in the ensemble of trees and pseudo-replication we take advantage of thinning and effective sample size, two features provided by Bayesian inference MCMC samplers. Finally, it is observed that tree topologies with very long or very short branches lead to Poisson mixtures and in this case we propose the use of the two-sample KS test with samples from two continuous branch length distributions, one obtained from an ensemble of clock-constrained trees and the other from an ensemble of unconstrained trees. Moreover, in this second form the test can also be applied to test for relaxed clock models. The use of a statistically equivalent ensemble of phylogenies to obtain the branch lengths ECD, instead of one consensus tree, yields considerable reduction of the effects of small sample size and provides a gain of power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keratoconus is an eye ectasia that affects the cornea causing distortion of vision. Corneal crosslinking promoted by riboflavin photo-stimulated at 365 nm is a treatment used successfully to block the keratoconus progression. In this study, we characterize rabbit corneas subjected to enhanced crosslinking using different vegetable extracts prepared from Stryphnodendron adstringens (Mart.) Coville bark by differential scanning calorimetry. The extracts tested in this study were: aqueous, ketonic, ethanolic, ethyl acetate and hydroalcoholic, which revealed high levels of polyphenols, such as proanthocyanidins. The corneas, obtained from the slaughter rabbits, were divided into groups: control (consisting of untreated corneal samples) and S. adstringens, where the samples were subjected to 4% vegetable extracts for 2 h. The DSC profiles of the corneas were obtained in nitrogen atmosphere. The results showed that temperature and enthalpy of denaturation of the corneal samples treated with S. adstringens were higher than the control group. The control group presents temperature and enthalpy values of 59.8 ± 1.1 °C and 24.6 ± 2.7 J g, respectively. After crosslinking with ketone extract, the values were 90.1 ± 1.1 °C and 39.9 ± 2.7 J g. These results show that S. adstringens is efficient to increment the crosslinking level of the corneas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In this study, we characterized rabbit corneas subjected to corneal cross-linking (CXL) with açaí extract compared with a riboflavin photo-stimulated procedure. Materials and Methods: The corneas of the slaughterhouse rabbits were divided into three groups: control, consisting of untreated corneal samples; riboflavin/UVA, where corneas were treated with 0.1% riboflavin photo-stimulated at 365 nm as the standard protocol; and açaí, where the samples were subjected to 4% açaí extract for 0.5–2 h. After the CXL procedure, corneas of the three groups were characterized by analyzing their elastic modulus and thermal denaturation profile. Results: The elastic modulus at 3% strain showed an approximately threefold increase in the riboflavin/UVA group and 10.5 times in the corneas treated with 4% açaí extract for 2 h, compared with the control group (p< 0.01). The denaturation temperature values of the two groups of crosslinked corneas increased significantly (p< 0.05) and were more pronounced in the açaí group. Conclusions: The açaí extract was effective in promoting CXL in rabbit corneas as characterized by the different techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper we analyse tiebreak results from some tennis players in order to investigate whether we are able to identify a non-aleatory distribution of the points in this crucial moment of the game. We compared the observed results with a binomial distribution considering that the probabilities of winning or losing a point are equal. Using a χ² test we found that, excepting some players, the greatest part of the results agrees with our hypothesis that the points in tiebreaks are merely aleatory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In this paper we propose a method and discuss its computational implementation as an integrated tool for the analysis of viral genetic diversity on data generated by high-throughput sequencing. The main motivation for this work is to better understand the genetic diversity of viruses with high rates of nucleotide substitution, as HIV-1 and Influenza. Most methods for viral diversity estimation proposed so far are intended to take benefit of the longer reads produced by some next-generation sequencing platforms in order to estimate a population of haplotypes which represent the diversity of the original population. The method proposed here is custom-made to take advantage of the very low error rate and extremely deep coverage per site, which are the main features of some neglected technologies that have not received much attention due to the short length of its reads, which precludes haplotype estimation. This approach allowed us to avoid some hard problems related to haplotype reconstruction (need of long reads, preliminary error filtering and assembly). Results: We propose to measure genetic diversity of a viral population through a family of multinomial probability distributions indexed by the sites of the virus genome, each one representing the distribution of nucleic bases per site. Moreover, the implementation of the method focuses on two main optimization strategies: a read mapping/ alignment procedure that aims at the recovery of the maximum possible number of short-reads; the inference of the multinomial parameters in a Bayesian framework with smoothed Dirichlet estimation. The Bayesian approach provides conditional probability distributions for the multinomial parameters allowing one to take into account the prior information of the control experiment and providing a natural way to separate signal from noise, since it automatically furnishes Bayesian confidence intervals and thus avoids the drawbacks of preliminary error filtering. Conclusions: The methods described in this paper have been implemented as an integrated tool called Tanden (Tool for Analysis of Diversity in Viral Populations) and successfully tested on samples obtained from HIV-1 strain NL4-3 (group M, subtype B) cultivations on primary human cell cultures in many distinct viral propagation conditions. Tanden is written in C# (Microsoft), runs on the Windows operating system, and can be downloaded from: http:// tanden.url.ph/. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Short and long range correlations in biological sequences are central in genomic studies of covariation. These correlations can be studied using mutual information because it measures the amount of information one random variable contains about the other. Here we present MIA (Mutual Information Analyzer) a user friendly graphic interface pipeline that calculates spectra of vertical entropy (VH), vertical mutual information (VMI) and horizontal mutual information (HMI), since currently there is no user friendly integrated platform that in a single package perform all these calculations. MIA also calculates Jensen-Shannon Divergence (JSD) between pair of different species spectra, herein called informational distances. Thus, the resulting distance matrices can be presented by distance histograms and informational dendrograms, giving support to discrimination of closely related species. Results: In order to test MIA we analyzed sequences from Drosophila Adh locus, because the taxonomy and evolutionary patterns of different Drosophila species are well established and the gene Adh is extensively studied. The search retrieved 959 sequences of 291 species. From the total, 450 sequences of 17 species were selected. With this dataset MIA performed all tasks in less than three hours: gathering, storing and aligning fasta files; calculating VH, VMI and HMI spectra; and calculating JSD between pair of different species spectra. For each task MIA saved tables and graphics in the local disk, easily accessible for future analysis. Conclusions: Our tests revealed that the "informational model free" spectra may represent species signatures. Since JSD applied to Horizontal Mutual Information spectra resulted in statistically significant distances between species, we could calculate respective hierarchical clusters, herein called Informational Dendrograms (ID). When compared to phylogenetic trees all Informational Dendrograms presented similar taxonomy and species clusterization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to establish new infections HIV-1 particles need to attach to receptors expressed on the cellular surface. HIV-1 particles interact with a cell membrane receptor known as CD4 and subsequently with another cell membrane molecule known as a co-receptor. Two major different co-receptors have been identified: C-C chemokine Receptor type 5 (CCR5) and C-X-C chemokine Receptor type 4 (CXCR4) Previous reports have demonstrated cellular modifications upon HIV-1 binding to its co-receptors including gene expression modulations. Here we investigated the effect of viral binding to either CCR5 or CXCR4 co-receptors on viral diversity after a single round of reverse transcription. CCR5 and CXCR4 pseudotyped viruses were used to infect non-stimulated and stimulated PBMCs and purified CD4 positive cells. We adopted the SOLiD methodology to sequence virtually the entire proviral DNA from all experimental infections. Infections with CCR5 and CXCR4 pseudotyped virus resulted in different patterns of genetic diversification. CCR5 virus infections produced extensive proviral diversity while in CXCR4 infections a more localized substitution process was observed. In addition, we present pioneering results of a recently developed method for the analysis of SOLiD generated sequencing data applicable to the study of viral quasi-species. Our findings demonstrate the feasibility of viral quasi-species evaluation by NGS methodologies. We presented for the first time strong evidence for a host cell driving mechanism acting on the HIV-1 genetic variability under the control of co-receptor stimulation. Additional investigations are needed to further clarify this question, which is relevant to viral diversification process and consequent disease progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diseases and work-related accidents have increased significantly among nursing professionals. The purpose of this article is to identify the core labor accidents involving the nursing team and the repercussions of their occurrence to the health of these workers. A cross-sectional study, conducted with 100 nursing professionals of a hospital in the city of João Pessoa (PB). Data was collected from October 2012 to January. It was verified that 53% of respondents had experienced some kind of occupational accident, with emphasis to injuries with sharp-edged materials (60.7%). Psychological damages were revealed by 46.0% of professionals and 30.0% signaled the acquisition of illnesses as the worse consequence. It was concluded that occupational accidents generate countless consequences to the health of the nursing team, with the recommendation to double monitoring and the adoption of individual protection for the prevention of accidents and its repercussions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kidney transplantation is considered to be the best treatment for people with chronic kidney failure, because it improves the patients' quality of life and increases their length of survival compared with patients undergoing dialysis. The kidney transplantation process in Brazil is defined through laws, decrees, ordinances, and resolutions, but there is no visual representation of this process. The aim of this study was to analyze official documents to construct a representation of the kidney transplantation process in Brazil with the use of business process modeling notation (BPMN). The methodology for this study was based on an exploratory observational study, document analysis, and construction of process diagrams with the use of BPMN. Two rounds of validations by specialists were conducted. The result includes the kidney transplantation process in Brazil representation with the use of BPMN. We analyzed 2 digital documents that resulted in 2 processes with 45 total of activities and events, 6 organizations involved, and 6 different stages of the process. The constructed representation makes it easier to understand the rules for the business of kidney transplantation and can be used by the health care professionals involved in the various activities within this process. Construction of a representation with language appropriate for the Brazilian lay public is underway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) is a well-known metallopeptidase that is found in vertebrates, invertebrates and bacteria. We isolated from the anterior gill of the crab Ucides cordatus an isoform of ACE, here named crab-ACE, which presented catalytic properties closely resembling to those of mammalian ACE. The enzyme was purified on Sepharose-lisinopril affinity chromatography to apparent homogeneity and a band of about 72 kDa could be visualized after silver staining and Western blotting. Assays performed with fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) selective ACE substrates Abz-FRK(Dnp)P-OH, Abz-SDK(Dnp)P-OH and Abz-LFK(Dnp)-OH, allowed us to verify that crab-ACE has hydrolytic profile very similar to that of the ACE C-domain. In addition, we observed that crab-ACE can hydrolyze the ACE substrates, angiotensin I and bradykinin. The enzyme was strongly inhibited by the specific ACE inhibitor lisinopril ( K i of 1.26 nM). However, in contrast to other ACE isoforms, crab-ACE presented a very particular optimum pH, being the substrate Abz-FRK(Dnp)-P-OH hydrolyzed efficiently at pH 9.5. Other interesting characteristic of crab-ACE was that the maximum hydrolytic activity was reached at around 45 °C. The description of an ACE isoform in Ucides cordatus is challenging and may contribute to a better understanding of the biochemical function of this enzyme in invertebrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The postoperative thoracic and abdominal surgery can cause malfunctions in the respiratory system, for these complications are preventable one of the devices used in health is the health education of these patients, through guidance for patients and their families. This study aims to report the actions are the benefits of health education, focused on patients in the postoperative period of thoracic and upper abdominal surgery, this action developed by academics from a university extension project. This is an account of descriptive experience EDUCATION PROJECT ON RESPIRATORY EXERCISES - EPRE, the actions of the extension are held at the Municipal Hospital of Empress-HMI. Guidelines are performed for patients and their families about the health care in the postoperative period, then are distributed graphic materials with health information for the patient follow in his home environment. During the performance of activities, it was observed that after get directions patients were more confident and quiet and began to follow the guidelines and reported improvements in their health. Health education is a key factor for the improvement of the clinical picture of the patient explanations of the process "health-disease", were positive about the progression of the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New Zealand Black X New Zealand White F1 [(NZB/NZW)F1] mice develop an autoimmune condition with similarities to human systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). In this study, we demonstrate that B-1 cells, which have previously been reported to be involved in several autoimmune diseases, have altered gene expression in these mice. RNA was extracted from purified B-1 cells of disease-free C57BL/6 mice and lupus-prone (NZB/NZW)F1 mice. Gene expression was analysed using DNA microarray techniques and validated by real time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). In (NZB/NZW)F1 mice, some genes had altered expression patterns compared to disease-free controls. Specifically, the upregulation of Ifitm1, Pvrl2 and Ifi202b and downregulation of Trp53bp1 mRNA were observed in (NZB/NZW)F1 mice. These genes are known to be associated with autoimmune diseases. This pattern of gene expression in B-1 cells could understanding of the pathogenesis of SLE. Thus, it is reasonable to hypothesise that the altered gene expression observed in B-1 cells in our experimental model is important for SLE prognosis and therapy, and these implications are discussed herein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The analysis of gene expression patterns in cancers has improved the understanding of the mechanisms underlying the process of metastatic progression. However, the acquisition of invasive behavior in melanoma is poorly understood. In melanoma, components of the immune system can contribute to tumor progression, and inflammatory cells can influence almost all aspects of cancer progression, including metastasis. Recent studies have attributed an important role to B-1 cells, a subset of B lymphocytes, in melanoma progression. In vitro interactions between B16 melanoma cells and B-1 lymphocytes lead to increased B16 cell metastatic potential, but the molecular changes induced by B-1 lymphocytes on B16 cells have not yet been elucidated. In this study, we used a microarray approach to assess the gene expression profile of B16 melanoma cells following contact with B-1 lymphocytes (B16B1). The microarray analysis identified upregulation in genes involved with metastatic progression, such as ctss, ccl5, cxcl2 and stat3. RT-qPCR confirmed this increase in mRNA expression in B16B1 samples. As previous studies have indicated that the ERK1/2 MAPK cascade is activated in melanoma cells following contact with B-1 lymphocytes, RT-qPCR was performed with RNA from melanoma cells before and after contacting B-1 cells and untreated or treated with ERK phosphorylation inhibitors. The results showed that the expression of stat3, ctss and cxcl2 increased in B16B1 but decreased following ERK1/2 MAPK inhibition. Ccl5 gene expression increased after contacting B-1 cells and was maintained at the same level following inhibitor treatment. Stat3 was verified and validated at the protein level by Western blot analysis. STAT3 expression was also significantly increased in B16B1, suggesting that this pathway can also contribute to the increased metastatic phenotype observed in our model. These results indicated that B-1 cells induce important global gene expression changes in B16 melanoma cells. We also evaluated the relationship of some of the genes identified as differentially expressed and the ERK1/2 MAPK cascade. This work may have important implications for understanding the role of B-1 lymphocytes and the ERK/MAPK cascade in the metastatic process. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this paper, we revisit and adapt to viral evolution an approach based on the theory of branching process advanced by Demetrius et al. (Bull. Math. Biol. 46:239-262, ), in their study of polynucleotide evolution. By taking into account beneficial effects, we obtain a non-trivial multivariate generalization of their single-type branching process model. Perturbative techniques allows us to obtain analytical asymptotic expressions for the main global parameters of the model, which lead to the following rigorous results: (i) a new criterion for 'no sure extinction', (ii) a generalization and proof, for this particular class of models, of the lethal mutagenesis criterion proposed by Bull et al. (J. Virol. 18:2930-2939, ), (iii) a new proposal for the notion of relaxation time with a quantitative prescription for its evaluation, (iv) the quantitative description of the evolution of the expected values in four distinct 'stages': extinction threshold, lethal mutagenesis, stationary 'equilibrium', and transient. Finally, based on these quantitative results, we are able to draw some qualitative conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Metastatic melanoma is a highly aggressive skin cancer and currently resistant to systemic therapy. Melanomas may involve genetic, epigenetic and metabolic abnormalities. Evidence is emerging that epigenetic changes might play a significant role in tumor cell plasticity and metastatic phenotype of melanoma cells. Principal findings: In this study, we developed a systematic approach to identify genes implicated in melanoma progression. To do this, we used the Affymetrix GeneChip Arrays to screen 34,000 mouse transcripts in melan-a melanocytes, 4C pre-malignant melanocytes, 4C11- non-metastatic and 4C11+ metastatic melanoma cell lines. The genome-wide association studies revealed pathways commonly over-represented in the transition from immortalized to pre-malignant stage, and under-represented in the transition from non-metastatic to metastatic stage. Additionally, the treatment of cells with 10 µM 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (5AzaCdR) for 48 hours allowed us to identify genes differentially re-expressed at specific stages of melan-a malignant transformation. Treatment of human primary melanocytes with the demethylating agent 5AzaCdR in combination to the histone deacetylase inhibitor Trichostatin A (TSA) revealed changes on melanocyte morphology and gene expression which could be an indicator of epigenetic flexibility in normal melanocytes. Moreover, changes on gene expression recognized by affecting the melanocyte biology (NDRG2 and VDR), phenotype of metastatic melanoma cells (HSPB1 and SERPINE1) and response to cancer therapy (CTCF, NSD1 and SRC) were found when Mel-2 and/or Mel-3-derived patient metastases were exposed to 5AzaCdR plus TSA treatment. Hierarchical clustering and network analyses in a panel of five patient-derived metastatic melanoma cells showed gene interactions that have never been described in melanomas. Significance: Despite the heterogeneity observed in melanomas, this study demonstrates the utility of our murine melanoma progression model to identify molecular markers commonly perturbed in metastasis. Additionally, the novel gene expression signature identified here may be useful in the future into a model more closely related to translational research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: To compare the time required for generation and typing of radiology reports by means of an electronic system based on the technology of voice over internet protocol (VoIP) and the traditional system, in which the report is handwritten by the radiologist. MATERIALS AND METHODS: It was necessary to model, build and deploy the proposed electronic system, capable of recording the reports in a digital audio format and comparing it with the traditional method. Radiologists and transcriptionists recorded the reports generation and typing times for both systems, using appropriate forms. RESULTS: When the mean times between both systems were compared, those from the electronic system presented a reduction of 20% (p = 0.04 10) in the report generation time as compared with the traditional method. On the other hand, the traditional method was more efficient with respect to typing time, as the mean typing time with the electronic system was three times longer (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: The results demonstrated a statistically significant difference between the compared systems, with the electronic system being more efficient than the traditional one with respect to report generation time, while the traditional method presented better results with respect to typing time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Several reports have identified P[6] specificities in humans and in animals in different countries of the world, but few sequence data are available in public databases. In this work we have characterized the VP4 strains bearing P[6] specificity and NSP4 genotypes among diarrheic young children and diarrheic and non-diarrheic neonates from three studies previously conducted in Belém, Northern region of Brazil. As the to VP8* fragment, we observed a close relationship to both human prototypes of lineage P[6]-Ia (bootstrap of 99%) and porcine sublineages Ib and Ic (89.2–98.1% aa similarity and mean of 95%). With regards to the NSP4, the samples clustered into genotypes A and B. Of note, of the 27 P[6] strains analyzed in the present study and classified as genotype B, 8 (29.6%) were more similar to porcine prototypes when VP8 * and NSP4 genes are compared, and were recovered, one from a neonate and seven from diarrheic children. These preliminary findings reinforce that further investigations are needed to assess the relative frequencies of P[6] strains in our region, as well as to investigate the potential for interspecies transmission involving humans and animals, particularly pigs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In the study of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) the characterization of genes expressed in the hippocampus is of central importance for understanding their roles in epileptogenic mechanisms. Although several large-scale studies on TLE gene expression have been reported, precise assignment of individual genes associated with this syndrome is still debatable. Here we investigated differentially expressed genes by comparison of mRNAs from normal and epileptic rat hippocampus in the pilocarpine model of epilepsy. For this we used a powerful EST sequencing methodology, ORESTES (Open Reading frame Expressed Sequence Tags), which generates sequence datasets enriched for mRNAs open reading frames (ORFs) rather than simple 5′ and 3′ ends of mRNAs. Analysis of our sequences shows that ORESTES readily enables the identification of epilepsy associated ORFs. PFAM analysis of protein motifs present in our ORESTES epilepsy database revealed diverse important protein family domains, such as cytoskeletal, cell signaling and protein kinase domains, which could be involved in processes underlying epileptogenesis. More importantly, we show that the expression of homer 1a, known to be coupled to mGluR and NMDA synaptic transmission, is associated with pilocarpine induced status epilepticus (SE). The combined use of the pilocarpine model of epilepsy with the ORESTES technique can significantly contribute to the identification of specific genes and proteins related to TLE. This is the first study applying a large-scale method for rapid shotgun sequencing directed to ORFs in epilepsy research. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The replacement of defective organs with healthy ones is an old problem, but only a few years ago was this issue put into practice. Improvements in the whole transplantation process have been increasingly important in clinical practice. In this context are clinical decision support systems (CDSSs), which have reflected a significant amount of work to use mathematical and intelligent techniques. The aim of this article was to present consideration of intelligent techniques used in recent years (2009 and 2010) to analyze organ transplant databases. To this end, we performed a search of the PubMed and Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) Web of Knowledge databases to find articles published in 2009 and 2010 about intelligent techniques applied to transplantation databases. Among 69 retrieved articles, we chose according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. The main techniques were: Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), Logistic Regression (LR), Decision Trees (DT), Markov Models (MM), and Bayesian Networks (BN). Most articles used ANN. Some publications described comparisons between techniques or the use of various techniques together. The use of intelligent techniques to extract knowledge from databases of healthcare is increasingly common. Although authors preferred to use ANN, statistical techniques were equally effective for this enterprise. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]