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Objective: To analyze the care provided to tuberculosis cases in primary health care services according to the elements of the Chronic Care Model., Method: Cross-sectional study conducted in a capital city of the northeastern region of Brazil involving 83 Family Health Strategy professionals.A structured tool adapted to tuberculosis-related care in Brazil was applied.Analysis was based on the development of indicators with capacity to produce care varying between limited and optimum., Results: The organization of care for tuberculosis and supported self-care presented reasonable capacity.In the coordination with the community, the presence of the community agent presented optimum capacity.Partnership with organizations of the community and involvement of experts presented limited capacity.The qualification of professionals, the system for scheduling and monitoring tuberculosis in the community, and the clinical information system presented basic capacity., Conclusion: The capacity of the primary health care services to produce tuberculosis-related care according to the elements of the Chronic Care Model is still limited.Overcoming the fragmentation of care and prioritizing a systemic operation between actions and services of the health care network remains as a major challenge., Objetivo: Analisar,segundo os elementos doChronicCareModel,a produção do cuidado aos casos de tuberculose nos serviços de Atenção Primária à Saúde., Método: Estudo transversal, realizado em capital do nordeste brasileiro, envolvendo 83 profissionais da Estratégia Saúde da Família. Aplicou-se um instrumento estruturado, adaptado para atenção à tuberculose no Brasil. A análise pautou-se na construção de indicadores, cujacapacidade para produção de cuidados variou entre limitada a ótima., Resultados: A organização da atenção à tuberculose e o autocuidado apoiado apresentaram capacidade razoável. Na articulação com a comunidade, a presençadoagente comunitário de saúde apresentou capacidade ótima. A parceria com organizações da comunidade e o envolvimento de especialistas obtiveram capacidade limitada. A capacitação dos profissionais, o sistema de agendamento e monitoramento da tuberculose na comunidade e o sistema de informação clínica alcançaram capacidade básica., Conclusão: A capacidade dos serviços da Atenção Primária à Saúde para produção do cuidado aos casos de tuberculose,segundo os elementos doChronicCareModel,ainda é limitada.Superar a fragmentação do cuidado e priorizar um funcionamento sistêmico entre ações e serviços da rede de atenção à saúde é ainda um grande desafio.

The care offer to people living with HIV/AIDS must transcend specialized outpatient services and include the participation of the Family Health Strategy. By understanding the importance of integration between these two points in the care network, the study aimed to build a decision support model to assist professionals of specialized health services in identifying behavior patterns in the use of Family Health Strategy services by people living with HIV/AIDS attended in the outpatient clinic. Thus, was proposed a model called decision tree, created from a database of 141 people with AIDS, users of a specialized outpatient clinic. The decision-making variable was the use of Family Health Strategy services by evaluating the integration of care. The model enabled the establishment of 23 rules with 80.1% hit percentage, what may support the decision-making of professionals in identifying situations in which it is necessary to stimulate the use of the Family Health Strategy by users.

Objective: to analyze the managers' speeches about the policy transfer of the directly observed treatment (DOT) for tuberculosis control in the city of João Pessoa, Paraíba, Brazil., Method: this is a qualitative study developed in May and June, 2013 through semi-directed interviews with twenty health professionals in five health districts in João Pessoa/PB. The empirical material produced was analyzed according to the theoretical-analytical basis of the French Discourse Analysis by Pêcheux., Results: the study demonstrated weaknesses in the conduction and organization of actions in relation to the DOT. It revealed that the lack of knowledge of the managers about this policy has direct implications to the care of tuberculosis patients., Conclusion: the management should trace strategic plans to rethink the care practices and thus, reorganize the entire care network to users in order to effectively contribute to user adherence in the fight against tuberculosis.

Objective: to characterize the differences in the clinical and epidemiological profile of cases of death that had tuberculosis as an immediate or associated cause, and to analyze the spatial distribution of the cases of death from tuberculosis within the territories of Ribeirão Preto, Brazil., Method: an ecological study, in which the population consisted of 114 cases of death from tuberculosis. Bivariate analysis was carried out, as well as point density analysis, defined with the Kernel estimate., Results: of the cases of death from tuberculosis, 50 were the immediate cause and 64 an associated cause. Age (p=.008) and sector responsible for the death certificate (p=.003) were the variables that presented statistically significant associations with the cause of death. The spatial distribution, in both events, did not occur randomly, forming clusters in areas of the municipality., Conclusion: the difference in the profiles of the cases of death from tuberculosis, as a basic cause and as an associated cause, was governed by the age and the sector responsible for the completion of the death certificate. The non-randomness of the spatial distribution of the cases suggests areas that are vulnerable to these events. Knowing these areas can contribute to the choice of disease control strategies.

Objective: To design and semantically validate an instrument to evaluate the transfer of directly observed therapy (DOT) as a policy for tuberculosis control taking into consideration the experience of mid- and higher level health care workers., Methods: This methodological investigation was developed in two stages: literature review to design the first draft of the instrument; and semantic validation of the first draft using questionnaires adapted from the DISABKIDS® project. The information obtained was analyzed using quantitative (descriptive statistics) or qualitative (content theme analysis) methods., Results: Twenty-four mid- and higher level health care workers engaged in tuberculosis control participated in the study. The instrument was considered important for the work of study participants. The answers provided by participants led to changes in both the structure and content of the instrument. The process resulted in a final, semantically validated questionnaire., Conclusions: Semantic validation is important to ensure the applicability of assessment instruments, as shown by the contributions provided by participants. The instrument whose semantic validation was described in this study will now be assessed in terms of psychometric characteristics and usefulness to measure the transfer of DOT to health professionals as a tuberculosis control policy.

Objective: to analyze the factors associated with the gateway of the health systems of Brazilian municipalities for the diagnosis of tuberculosis in older people., Method: survey study type, with a sample of 91 elders, in a population with 706 cases of tuberculosis. Data were collected by means of an instrument based on the Primary Care Assessment Tool (PCAT) adapted for tuberculosis care, emphasizing the gateway variable. Variables were categorized and compared between primary health care (PHC) and specialized care (SC) services. Bivariate analysis and the Chi-square association test were used., Results: a statistically significant association (p = 0.0001) was found between the fi rst health service sought and the unit that diagnosed tuberculosis, showing better performance of specialized care services in the diagnosis., Conclusion: it is necessary to improve primary health care services to tackle delayed diagnosis of tuberculosis in older people.

Objective: To characterise the trend of leprosy according to epidemiological and operational indicators in the state of Paraíba in the period of 2001-2011 with projections for the years 2012-2014., Methods: An epidemiological, retrospective, documentary study of a temporal sequence conducted with 10,476 reported cases of leprosy diagnosed in adults between 2001 and 2011 in 223 municipalities in the state of Paraiba, Brazil. The results were composed and analysed using two epidemiological indicators, an operational indicator and statistical software., Results: The annual detection rate of new cases showed an upward slope between 2001 and 2005 and a declining trend from 2006. Disability showed a cyclic variation with a downward tendency and a medium level of efficiency., Conclusion: The results show that the disease continues to be a problem in the state and reveal the need for shorter assessments that focus on health programmes and strategies that are used to fight leprosy.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the validity and reliability of an instrument that evaluates the structure of primary health care units for the treatment of tuberculosis. METHODS This cross-sectional study used simple random sampling and evaluated 1,037 health care professionals from five Brazilian municipalities (Natal, state of Rio Grande do Norte; Cabedelo, state of Paraíba; Foz do Iguaçu, state of Parana; Sao José do Rio Preto, state of Sao Paulo, and Uberaba, state of Minas Gerais) in 2011. Structural indicators were identified and validated, considering different methods of organization of the health care system in the municipalities of different population sizes. Each structure represented the organization of health care services and contained the resources available for the execution of health care services: physical resources (equipment, consumables, and facilities); human resources (number and qualification); and resources for maintenance of the existing infrastructure and technology (deemed as the organization of health care services). The statistical analyses used in the validation process included reliability analysis, exploratory factor analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis. RESULTS The validation process indicated the retention of five factors, with 85.9% of the total variance explained, internal consistency between 0.6460 and 0.7802, and quality of fit of the confirmatory factor analysis of 0.995 using the goodness-of-fit index. The retained factors comprised five structural indicators: professionals involved in the care of tuberculosis patients, training, access to recording instruments, availability of supplies, and coordination of health care services with other levels of care. Availability of supplies had the best performance and the lowest coefficient of variation among the services evaluated. The indicators of assessment of human resources and coordination with other levels of care had satisfactory performance, but the latter showed the highest coefficient of variation. The performance of the indicators "training" and "access to recording instruments" was inferior to that of other indicators. CONCLUSIONS The instrument showed feasibility of application and potential to assess the structure of primary health care units for the treatment of tuberculosis.

Objective: Evaluating the performance of primary care services for the treatment of tuberculosis according to the assessment referential of health services (structure/process) in Cabedelo, a port city in the state of Paraíba., Method: An evaluation quantitative, cross-sectional study, in which were carried out 117 interviews with health professionals using a structured instrument. The analysis was based on the construction of indicators using a standardized value for the reduced variable (z=1)., Results: The structural indicators showed regular performance for the following variables: professional training, access to record instruments and coordination with other services. The process indicators related to external actions and information about the disease had unsatisfactory performance. The directly observed treatment and the flows of reference/counter-reference had regular performance., Conclusion: The focused professional qualification, the fragmentation of practices and the unsystematic home care constitute obstacles for carrying out actions aimed at providing expanded, continuous and resolute care.

Objective: To analyse the provision of health care actions and services for people living with AIDS and receiving specialised care in Ribeirão Preto, SP., Method: A descriptive, exploratory, survey-type study that consisted of interviews with structured questionnaires and data analysis using descriptive statistics., Results: The provision of health care actions and services is perceived as fair. For the 301 subjects, routine care provided by the reference team, laboratory tests and the availability of antiretroviral drugs, vaccines and condoms obtained satisfactory evaluations. The provision of tests for the prevention and diagnosis of comorbidities was assessed as fair, whereas the provisions of specialised care by other professionals, psychosocial support groups and medicines for the prevention of antiretroviral side effects were assessed as unsatisfactory., Conclusion: Shortcomings were observed in follow-up and care management along with a predominantly biological, doctor-centred focus in which clinical control and access to antiretroviral therapy comprise the essential focus of the care provided.

Objective: to analyze the sociodemographic characteristics, epidemic trend and spatial distribution of the risk of AIDS in adults 50 years of age and over., Method: population-based, ecological study, that used secondary data from the Notifiable Disease Information System (Sinan/AIDS) of Paraíba state from the period January 2000 to December 2010., Results: during the study period, 307 cases of AIDS were reported among people 50 years of age or over. There was a predominance of males (205/66, 8%), mixed race, and low education levels. The municipalities with populations above 100 thousand inhabitants reported 58.5% of the cases. There was a progressive increase in cases among women; an increasing trend in the incidence (positive linear correlation); and an advance in the geographical spread of the disease, with expansion to the coastal region and to the interior of the state, reaching municipalities with populations below 30 thousand inhabitants. In some locations the risk of disease was 100 times greater than the relative risk for the state., Conclusion: aging, with the feminization and interiorization of the epidemic in adults 50 years of age and over, confirms the need for the induction of affirmative policies targeted toward this age group.

Qualitative research under the analysis of contents, thematic modality, aimed to identify the difficulties lived by the matricial supporter in its practice in the Primary Health Care. The scenery of the study were six units of family health located in one of the five Sanitary Districts of João Pessoa-PB. The data collection was performed from August to September 2010, through semi directed interviews, in which ten professionals who worked as matricial supporters participated. According to the speeches the difficulties faced relate to the ignorance of some professionals of the health team toward the function of the matricial supporter in the Basic Health Attention; lack of autonomy and administrative overload. In this sense, it is suggested that a process of reflection about the work of the matricial supporter with the health team aiming to acknowledge which contribution of this professional in the reorganization of the work of the team of basic attention.

The aim of this study was to analyze the discourse of health managers on aspects related to delay in tuberculosis diagnosis. This was a qualitative research study, conducted with 16 Family Health Unit managers. The empirical data were obtained through semi-structured interviews. The analysis was based on the theoretical framework of the French school of discourse analysis. According to the managers' statements, the delay in tuberculosis diagnosis is related to patient and health service aspects. As for patient aspects, managers report fear, prejudice and lack of information as factors that may promote a delayed diagnosis. Regarding health service aspects, structural problems and lack of professional skills were reported. The discourse of managers should be considered to qualify tuberculosis control actions and to prevent delays in diagnosis.

This study was performed with the objective to analyze the barriers to diagnosing tuberculosis in the aged and access to health services in the city of João Pessoa, Paraíba, Brazil. This qualitative study included the participation of seven aged women with tuberculosis. Interviews were used for data collection. The empirical material was organized using Atlas.ti 6.0, and analyzed according to the techniques of discourse analysis. The identified barriers related to the access to health services to confirm the diagnosis were: the operating hours of family health units; transferred responsibilities; home visits without controlling communicants; delay of the health service in suspecting the disease and the patient's repeated visits to the health center before being informed about the diagnosis. Despite the identification of common barriers that tuberculosis patients of all ages must deal with, because of the vulnerability of the elderly, health services should implement control actions so as to prevent the disease becoming a common condition in this population.

Objective: To analyze the infected person's first contact with the health services, for the early diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) in different regions of Brazil., Method: a cross-sectional study undertaken in 6 municipalities in the South-east, South and North-east regions of Brazil. Data collection involved secondary sources and interviews with the patients. The data was analyzed using descriptive techniques and multiple correspondence factor analysis., Results: Primary Health Care (PHC) presented the longest time to diagnosis and the lowest proportion of diagnoses. The services associated with diagnosis in the first consultation were the specialized services and the Tuberculosis Control Programs, which offer consultations and tests on-site., Conclusion: For the control of TB, it is necessary to organize the work in an integrated way between the different services' teams. In Primary Health Care, it is also necessary to observe the extent of incorporation and sustainability in the implementation of these actions into the health services' daily practice.

The scope of this study was to analyze the discourse of managers regarding the relationship between the organization of the health services and tuberculosis care management in a city in the metropolitan region of João Pessoa, State of Pernambuco. Using qualitative research in the analytical field of the French line of Discourse Analysis, 16 health workers who worked as members of the management teams took part in the study. The transcribed testimonials were organized using Atlas.ti version 6.0 software. After detailed reading of the empirical material, an attempt was made to identify the paraphrasic, polyssemic and metaphoric processes in the discourses, which enabled identification of the following discourse formation: Organization of the health services and the relation with TB care management: theory and practice. In the discourse of the managers the fragmentation of the actions of control of tuberculosis, the lack of articulation between the services and sectors, the compliance of the specific activities for TB, as well as the lack of strategic planning for management of care of the disease are clearly revealed. In this respect, for the organization of the health services to be effective, it is necessary that tuberculosis be considered a priority and acknowledged as a social problem in the management agenda.

The objective of this study was to analyze the nurses' perceptions regarding tuberculosis control, according to the theoretical axis of comprehensive healthcare and the concepts of attachment and teamwork. This qualitative study involved 13 nurses from the Family Health Strategy of a priority city in the metropolitan region of João Pessoa, Paraíba, Brazil. Data were collected in focal groups and subjected to thematic content analysis. Factors that strengthen tuberculosis control were: supervised treatment, free medication and the provision of supplies. Weakening factors were: worker's turnover, the lack of encouragement for patients and incipient educational actions. The factors that, according to the nurses, weaken tuberculosis patient care should be reviewed by administrators, workers, users and educators with a view to redefining healthcare activities that strengthen attachment, comprehensive healthcare and teamwork.

This research aimed to study the spatial distribution of tuberculosis and its relationship with living conditions in the urban area of the city of Campina Grande in the period from 2004 until 2007. It is an ecologic study which used the city's neighborhood distribution; demographic, social and economic data from year 2000 census; and the new cases of tuberculosis reported to the Disease and Reporting Information System. Georeferencing was done for the cases of tuberculosis, and disease incidence was calculated by neighborhood. Rates were softened and the Global Moran Index was calculated. Social-economic data were grouped in quartiles according to the Life Condition Index, calculating the incidence of TB in each stratum of living conditions. The results showed that the spatial distribution of tuberculosis in the city is not uniform. Grouping neighborhoods according to the Life Conditions Index revealed social differences that can justify the occurrence of higher incidence rates in the most socially and economically vulnerable regions. The best living condition stratum presented a high incidence possibly due to the underreporting of the cases of tuberculosis caused mainly by the centralization of disease control services. We hope that this study may help outline control strategies for the city of Campina Grande, from the perspective of health promotion, for a disease so socially determined, as is the case of TB.

The goal was to analyze, according to the perception of health managers, the practices that guide tuberculosis control actions in cities in the metropolitan region of João Pessoa - PB, Brazil. This qualitative study involved eight professionals in management functions. Testimonies were collected through semi-structured interviews between May and June 2009 and organized through content analysis. Despite the acknowledged benefits of tuberculosis control action decentralization, local planning indicates the predominance of a bureaucratic model that is restricted to negotiation and supplies. Local programming is centered on the coordinator, which shows a command line and vertical management that lead to the fragmentation of the work process. Management action should follow an innovative and transformative route that surpasses bureaucratic barriers and faces the biggest challenge it is proposed: to balance professional interrelations with a view to improving health work performance.

The scope of this paper is to analyze the implementation of the Directly Observed Treatment Short-Course (DOTS) strategy in the control of tuberculosis, from the standpoint of the coordinators of the Tuberculosis Control Program (TCP) in six priority municipalities in the state of Paraíba, Brazil. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven TCP coordinators. Five municipalities proved to be DOTS success points achieving a 90% cure rate. Among the DOTS weak points in the political dimension, the following aspects were identified: lack of continuity of the TCP coordinator position; lack of preparedness of the local team; precarious technical-administration structure and insufficiency of the laboratory network. In the operational dimension, the search for respiratory symptoms by the Family Health Teams is still low. Changes of an epidemiological, operational and political nature have been incorporated, though the implementation and guarantee of the sustainability of DOTS in the State depends on the way the health services are organized and on the manager's political commitment to support the strategy.

This study aimed to describe tuberculosis control actions in the context of Family Health Teams, regarding the dimensions family focus and community orientation. A cross-sectional evaluative research was carried out in 2008, with 84 healthcare workers. The Primary Care Assessment Tool was used, validated and adapted to assess tuberculosis care in Brazil. Respondents answered each question according to a pre-determined scale, (Likert's scale) ranging from zero to five. Data were tabulated using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software and were analyzed according to frequency and median. In the first dimension, outcomes revealed that 67.9% of health workers evaluate contact cases with diagnostic tests; 63.1% use radiology tests; 64.3% include the household to face the disease; 77.4% identify risk factors; 41.7% interface with other sectors to find solutions for the identified problems. In the second dimension, 73.8% of them perform case search; 40.5% provide inputs for sputum collection; 50% take educational actions in the community; 14.3% recognize social participation in tuberculosis control. Therefore, the efficiency of such services requires taking actions that give special attention to family and community, and the development of skills to create new spaces for professionals to act and to strengthen the interface with other sectors of society.

This is a qualitative study which aims to analyze the performance of the Family Health teams in the control of tuberculosis according to the relationship between bonding and the development of intersectoral actions in the metropolitan region of João Pessoa, Paraíba, Brazil. To construct the empirical material focus group techniques were used. Seven focus groups were conducted, involving 37 professionals of the Family Health teams. For analysis, the discourse analysis technique was used. It was concluded that the lack of intersectoral action weakens the bond between tuberculosis patients, their families and the Family Health team. It is noteworthy that intersectoral measures are fundamental in the development of integral care for tuberculosis patients in the context of Primary Health Care.

This qualitative research aims to analyze how sexual orientation has been incorporated into pedagogic practices through the point of view of educators from public schools of fundamental teaching. Twenty three educators from Cajazeiras, Paralba, Brazil participated in the study. The focus group was elected as technique of investigation, and the empirical data obtained were organized according to the technique of analysis of content. It was realized that there is an effort of the actors to privilege contents related to sexual orientation in the school environment though they demand that a level of informative and subjective character about the "sexuality" be encouraged providing the educators with a space for re-significations of its internality of values. The information directed to self-care must transcend the limits of prevention and hygienisation, incorporating extensive, inclusive and reflective methodologies, which recognize human and social rights and promote the ethical construction of citizenship.

This study sought to analyze the actions of an active search for respiratory symptomatics (RSs) in the control of tuberculosis (TB) in the Potiguara Special Indigenous Sanitary District, Paraiba, Brazil, between May and June 2007. After approval by the Research Ethics Committee, 23 professionals were grouped, including physicians, nurses, nurse technicians and indigenous health agents. The focus group technique was used as an instrument for data collection, based on the discourse analysis technique. Weaknesses of an operational nature that became apparent, related to the organization of local health service for the implementation of routines for diagnosing TB: absence of a systematic routine for searching for RSs, difficulties in organizing the material for bacteriological examination, inadequate approach to patient during sputum collection and inadequate professional training. It is deemed necessary to improve the organization of services for early detection of TB cases in the local indigenous scenario.

In this study we analyzed the management of Basic Health Units in terms of Tuberculosis (TB) control in a city in the interior of São Paulo state. Fourteen managers participated in the study. A closed questionnaire was administered and an open question was also applied. The interview was carried out after obtaining free and informed consent. Data analysis was performed using the Statsoft software Statistica 8.0 and thematic content analysis was used for the qualitative data. It was found there is a clear technical-bureaucratic management, deficient in the activity planning and organization dimensions at the BHU. Hence, health care managers in this study should include management aspects of planning and organization as ways to make TB control feasible.

Objective: To assess the access to tuberculosis treatment in healthcare services with Programa Saúde da Família (PSF - Family Health Program) and at a reference outpatient clinic., Methods: A descriptive inquiry was carried out in 2007 with 106 patients who received tuberculosis treatment through the PSF or the reference outpatient clinic in Campina Grande, Northeastern Brazil, from July 2006 to August 2007. To assess the health services, the instrument Primary Care Assessment Tool was used, validated and adapted to assess tuberculosis care in Brazil. The main variables analyzed referred to the transportation and distance to the service and patients' supervision., Results: Of the 106 patients, 83.9% performed self-administered treatment and 16.0% received supervised treatment. The indicators from the PSF units and from the reference outpatient clinic that were similar (p>0.05) were: 65.1% 'losing half work day to attend the medical visit'; 65.0% 'having to use motorized transport'; 50.0% 'always having to pay for motorized transport'; and 69.0% 'not receiving treatment at healthcare units near home'. The indicators 'using motorized transport', 'paying for transport to attend the medical visit' and 'receiving treatment near home' were statistically different (p<0.05) between the services. Standardized and non-standardized Cronbach's alpha coefficients were, respectively, 0.7275 and 0.7075, based on the eight items of the questionnaire., Conclusions: Although the city has 85 PSF teams, supervised treatment was carried out by few health workers. Although the tuberculosis treatment is offered by the public health service, it still represents a cost to the patients, due to the distance to the healthcare service and losing half work day in order to attend medical visits.

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), the leading genetic cause of death in childhood, is an autosomal recessive neuromuscular disorder characterized by progressive muscle weakness, associated with deletions of the survival motor neuron (SMN) gene identified and mapped to chromosome 5q13. SMN is present in two highly homologous copies (SMN1 and SMN2). In the general population, normal individuals (noncarriers) have at least one telomeric (SMN1) copy, and 5% of them have no copies of SMN2. Approximately 95% of SMA patients carry homologous deletions of SMN1 exon(s) 7 (and 8). SMN1 and SMN2 exons 7 and 8 differ only by 1 bp each, and SMA diagnosis might be performed by single-strand conformational polymorphism, PCR amplification followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), multiple ligation-dependent probe amplification, or realtime PCR of SMNs exons 7 and 8. We developed a simpler and cost-effective method to detect SMN1 exon 7 deletion based on allele-specific amplification PCR.

This article had the purpose to understand the perception of the coordinators of the Tuberculosis Control Program regarding the use of the Notification Aggravation Information System - Sistema de Informação de Agravos de Notificação (SINAN) as an instrument of the DOTS (Directly Observed Treatment) Strategy. This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews, with eight coordinators of the Tuberculosis Control Program in six cities of the state of Paraiba. The results showed that the cities use the SINAN to evaluate actions to control tuberculosis, pointing to difficulties such as failure to fill out the tuberculosis notification sheets, precarious computer infrastructure, insufficient qualification of human resources, lack of integration between professionals from different sectors and deficiencies in the information flow between healthcare units and cities. Considering that the quality of the information can jeopardize the monitoring of the results of treatments for patients, and consequently the efficiency of the DOTS strategy, it is concluded that the political commitment of the administration is fundamental to overcome the identified weaknesses.

Introduction: Pancreas susceptibility to alcohol is variable and only 5-10% of chronic alcohol abusers develop chronic pancreatitis; the role of genetic factors in this process is unknown. The CFTR gene encodes a protein that acts on epithelial cells and plays a key role in normal exocrine pancreatic function., Methods: This study investigated the frequency of polymorphisms in intron 8 of the CFTR gene in patients with alcoholic chronic pancreatitis. Three groups of patients were studied: group A - 68 adult alcoholics with a diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis; group B - 68 adult alcoholics without pancreatic disease or liver cirrhosis and group C - 104 healthy nonalcoholic adults., Results: T5/T7 genotype was more frequent in group A (11.8%) than in group B (2.9%) (p = 0.0481), and there was no statistical difference when groups A and C (5.8%) were compared (p = 0.1317). The haplotype combination (TG)10-T7/(TG)11-T7 was more frequent in groups B (23.5%) and C (20.2%) than in group A (7.3%) (p = 0.0080 and 0.0162)., Conclusion: There are differences when these three groups are compared and individuals with T5/T7 genotype might have a greater risk of developing chronic pancreatitis when they become chronic alcoholics., (Copyright 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel and IAP.)

The Brazilian emergency system is being reorganized as a hierarchy in the region of Ribeirão Preto, state of São Paulo. We found increased occupational risk for tuberculosis in this region tertiary reference center--a nurse technician (Incidence rate [IR] 526.3/100,000 inhabitants) had a risk of tuberculosis 12.6 (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.57-37.23) greater than the city population (41.8/100,000 inhabitants). The system reorganization will have to make the centers adequate to deal with this problem.

The map's usage and the concerns about geographic distribution related with diseases are not a recent issue. A classical example is the John Snow survey -maps were used to locate cholera's cases and related them with the water supplying. The spatial representation techniques are fewer used in health sectors due to troubles in managing such information. So, the aim of this survey was to establish the disease spatial distribution in Ribeirão Preto, 2002. Secondary data were used to elaborate this study. The spatial distribution of cases was realized by using the MapInfo 7.8 software. Although many cases were concentrated in the northeast region in the city, which consists the quarters of low economical income. The results contribute to show the Tb spatial distribution in Ribeirao Preto, they also reinforce the space category as a methodological alternative to manage, to monitor and to evaluate the health actions by directing interventions to decrease the iniquities.