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Background: Transfusion-transmitted malaria (TTM) is a public health problem in endemic and nonendemic areas. The Brazilian Ministry of Health (MH) requested the development of a nucleic acid amplification test (NAT) for the detection of Plasmodium spp. in public blood centers to increase blood safety., Study Design and Methods: The new Brazilian NAT kit named NAT PLUS HIV/HBV/HCV/Malaria Bio-Manguinhos was first implemented in HEMORIO, a public blood center in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Since October 1, 2022, this blood center has been testing all its blood donations for malaria in a pool of six plasma samples to detect Plasmodium spp. by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR)., Results: Since the implementation of the NAT PLUS platform until February 2023, HEMORIO has successfully received and tested 200,277 donations. The platform detected two asymptomatic donors in the city of Rio de Janeiro, which is a nonendemic region for malaria. Our analyses suggested a malaria from the Amazon region caused by Plasmodium vivax, in the first case, while an autochthonous transmission case by Plasmodium malariae was identified in the rural area of Rio de Janeiro state., Discussion: The NAT PLUS platform detects Plasmodium spp. in plasma samples with sensitivity capable of detecting subpatent infections. This is the first time worldwide that a group developed and implemented molecular diagnosis for Plasmodium spp. to be used by public blood centers to avoid TTM., (© 2024 AABB.)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between television (TV) viewing and all-cause mortality among Brazilian adults after 6 years of follow-up. This longitudinal study started in 2010 in the city of Bauru, SP, Brazil, and involved 970 adults aged ≥50 years. Mortality was reported by relatives and confirmed in medical records of the Brazilian National Health System. Physical activity (PA) and TV viewing were assessed by the Baecke questionnaire. Health status, sociodemographic and behavioral covariates were considered as potential confounders. After 6 years of follow-up, 89 deaths were registered (9.2% [95% CI=7.4%-11%]). Type 2 diabetes mellitus was associated with higher risk of mortality (P-value=.012). Deaths correlated significantly with age (ρ=.188; P-value=.001), overall PA score (ρ=-.128; P-value=.001) and TV viewing (ρ=.086; P-value=.007). Lower percentage of participants reported TV viewing time as often (16%) and very often (5.7%), but there was an association between higher TV viewing time ("often" and "very often" grouped together) and increased mortality after 6 years of follow-up (P-value=.006). The higher TV viewing time was associated with a 44.7% increase in all-cause mortality (HR=1.447 [1.019-2.055]), independently of other potential confounders. In conclusion, the findings from this cohort study identified increased risk of mortality among adults with higher TV viewing time, independently of PA and other variables., (© 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of acute administration of taurine overload on time to exhaustion (TTE) of high-intensity running performance and alternative maximal accumulated oxygen deficit (MAODALT). The study design was a randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover design. Seventeen healthy male volunteers (age: 25 ± 6 years; maximal oxygen uptake: 50.5 ± 7.6 mL·kg(-1)·min(-1)) performed an incremental treadmill-running test until voluntary exhaustion to determine maximal oxygen uptake and exercise intensity at maximal oxygen uptake. Subsequently, participants completed randomly 2 bouts of supramaximal treadmill-running at 110% exercise intensity at maximal oxygen uptake until exhaustion (placebo (6 g dextrose) or taurine (6 g) supplementation), separated by 1 week. MAODALT was determined using a single supramaximal effort by summating the contribution of the phosphagen and glycolytic pathways. When comparing the results of the supramaximal trials (i.e., placebo and taurine conditions) no differences were observed for high-intensity running TTE (237.70 ± 66.00 and 277.30 ± 40.64 s; p = 0.44) and MAODALT (55.77 ± 8.22 and 55.06 ± 7.89 mL·kg(-1); p = 0.61), which seem to indicate trivial and unclear differences using the magnitude-based inferences approach, respectively. In conclusion, acute 6 g taurine supplementation before exercise did not substantially improve high-intensity running performance and showed an unclear effect on MAODALT.

This study was undertaken to evaluate a method of prospectively estimating appropriate aminophylline infusion rates in acutely ill, hospitalized patients with bronchospasm. Steady-state serum theophylline concentrations (Css), clearances (Cl), and half-lives (t1/2) were estimated by the Chiou method using serum concetrantions obtained 1 and 6 h after the start of a constant-rate intravenous aminophylline infusion in 10 male patients averaging 57 years of age. Using an enzyme-multiplied immunoassay (EMIT) system for theophylline analysis, pharmacokinetic estimations were excellent for Css (r = 0.9103, p less than 0.01) and Cl (r = 0.9750, p less than 0.01). The mean estimation errors were 9.4% (range 0.8-21.5) for Css and 12.3% (range 1.3-28.0) for Cl. There was no correlation between patient age and Cl. This method is useful for rapidly individualizing aminophylline therapy in patients with acute bronchospasm.