A 21-year-old mole was admitted because of fever, fatigue, headache, pharyngitis, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, vomiting and dark urine for three days. The patient denied recent use of medicines ...or any other drug. His physical examination disclosed jaundice, hepato-splenomegaly, whitish-yellow covered tonsils, bilateral anterior and posterior cervical lymph node enlargement associated with edema on the face and neck. Routine blood tests detected abnormalities in serum bilirubins and liver enzymes (total bilirubin: 14.5 mg/dl, direct-reacting bilirubin: 12.9 mg/dl, AST: 697 U/l, ALT: 619 U/l, alkaline phosphatases: 260 U/l, and GGT: 413 U/l). Serological tests showed negative results for viral hepatitis, cytomegalovirus, HIV-1 and HIV-2, and toxoplasmosis markers, while serology for recent infection by EBV was positive (IgM: 70 and 29 U/ml; EBV IgG: 25 and 156 U/ml). Although infrequently, EBV infection can cause acute hepatitis with accentuated cholestatic jaundice (5% of cases), which may constitute an additional diagnostic challenge for primary care physicians. The patient improved with supportive management and was discharged after 12 days. This case study might contribute to increase the suspicion index about acute hepatitis related to EBV.
RESUMO Este artigo identifica e analisa os modelos de avaliação de desempenho de sistemas de saúde, considerando-se a sua capacidade avaliativa. Realizou-se a revisão sistemática da literatura, ...identificando-se seis artigos que apresentaram o modelo adotado para a avaliação de desempenho. Procedeu-se à apreciação da capacidade avaliativa segundo critérios definidos de meta-avaliação. Conclui-se que o foco dos debates em torno dos modelos enfatiza as dimensões avaliativas, o perfil e qualidade dos indicadores em detrimento da compreensão pactuada do 'avaliando' e do processo de valoração. Espera-se ter contribuído para a sistematização de critérios de meta-avaliação de modelos avaliativos.
ABSTRACT This paper aims to characterize the evaluation potential of currently known health performance models. A systematic literature was performed and six articles were selected because they specified the adopted model of performance. The review showed that most of the debates concerning the models was focused on the description of the analytic dimensions and indicators. Issues such as valuation theory, standards and thresholds for judgment were missing. Thus, this study expects to contribute to systematize criteria to assess health performance evaluation models highlighting focus, theoretical assumptions and methodological strategies.
This paper discusses the hegemony of the visual and its pervasiveness in current urban installations and technological gadgets. It draws a distinction between functional and playful interactions, ...showing the prevalence of the former in the design of most interfaces. It discusses interfaces that despite being based on the visual surpass functional interaction by promoting the bodily engagement of people in a playful interaction. This leads to the distinguishing between the interface—which might be reactive, proactive, or dialogical—and the interaction it promotes. It then argues for an interactive interface that moves beyond the visual towards physical action, promoting dialogical interaction. Such a discussion draws from physical computing to enable remote physical actuation to enhance people's feelings of belonging and presence. It then presents an interface that connects two public spaces through the Internet using physical computing to enable remote actuation. It finally indicates pointers for those future interactive installations that are concerned with social transformation.
Xanthelasma might be a clinical manifestation of dyslipidemia, a recognized risk factor for coronary artery disease. We investigated the association of apolipoprotein E (APOE HhaI), apolipoprotein B ...(APOB XbaI and Ins/Del) and LDL receptor (LDLR AvaII and HincII) gene polymorphisms with lipid profiles in 100 Brazilians with xanthelasma and 100 controls. Allele frequencies were similar in both groups. APOE, APOB and LDLR genotypes were not correlated with differences in the serum lipid profile. In individuals with xanthelasma, the APOB D allele was associated with less chance of having increased LDL-cholesterol (O.R. = 0.16, CI95% = 0.03-0.94, p = 0.042). In the control group, the APOB X+ allele was associated with less chance of having both increased total cholesterol (O.R. = 0.16, CI95% = 0.03-0.78, p = 0.023) and increased LDL-cholesterol (O.R. = 0.10, CI95% = 0.02-0.60, p = 0.012). Moreover, there was a significantly higher frequency of control individuals (68%) with elevated serum triglyceride levels, compared to patients (48%, p = 0.008). On the other hand, triglyceride levels in controls also seemed to be influenced by all other gene polymorphisms studied, an effect that might be enhanced by environmental factors.
An inflammatory process has been involved in numerous neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease, stroke and Alzheimer's disease (AD). In AD, the inflammatory response is mainly located ...in the vicinity of amyloid plaques. Cytokines, such as interleukin-8 (IL-8) and interleukin-1α (IL-1α), have been clearly involved in this inflammatory process. Polymorphisms of several interleukin genes have been correlated to the risk of developing AD. The present study investigated the association of AD with polymorphisms IL-8 -251T > A (rs4073) and IL-1α-889C > T (rs1800587) and the interactive effect of both, adjusted by the Apolipoprotein E genotype. 199 blood samples from patients with AD, 146 healthy elderly controls and 95 healthy young controls were obtained. DNA samples were isolated from blood cells, and the PCR-RFLP method was used for genotyping. The genotype distributions of polymorphisms IL-8, IL-1α and APOE were as expected under Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The allele frequencies did not differ significantly among the three groups tested. As expected, the APOE4 allele was strongly associated with AD (p < 0.001). No association of AD with either the IL-1α or the IL-8 polymorphism was observed, nor was any interactive effect between both polymorphisms. These results confirm previous studies in other populations, in which polymorphisms IL-8 -251T > A and IL-1α-889C > T were not found to be risk factors for AD.
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