[Management of technology in intensive care]. / Gerenciamento de tecnologia em terapia intensiva.

The lives of hospitalized patients depend on diagnostic-therapeutic procedures and on the care provided by the health team. It also depends on the quality and availability of factors such as: physical structure and material and human and financial resources. The need to optimize these resources and re-establish patients' health has brought about the Intensive Care Units (ICU), whose design must consider the physical environment and clinical equipment which are indispensable in health care. Aiming at identifying the level of knowledge of health professionals as to technical and operational information in equipment manuals and the perception of the interviewed professionals in relation to the adequacy of the physical and electrical installations of such units, we conducted a descriptive study in an ICU of a public hospital in Salvador, Brazil. The results show that such installations were considered to be unsuitable for the safe development of activities and that most of the health team members did not know the technical or operational specifications in the equipment manuals.

Treatment by testicular sperm extraction and intracytoplasmic sperm injection of 65 azoospermic patients with non-mosaic Klinefelter syndrome with birth of 17 healthy children.

The aim of this work was to present the clinical and embryological outcomes of 65 azoospermic patients with non-mosaic Klinefelter syndrome (KS), treated by testicular sperm extraction (TESE), followed by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), either with fresh or cryopreserved testicular spermatozoa. In total, spermatozoa were recovered in 25/65 (38.5%) of the cases. Of the 48 patients who choose to perform TESE followed by ICSI using fresh testicular spermatozoa (treatment TESE), spermatozoa was recovered in 19 patients (40%), with birth of 12 newborn. Of the 17 patients who choose to perform TESE followed by testicular sperm cryopreservation, spermatozoa were recovered in six patients (35%), with birth of one child. Of the patients who performed treatment TESE, nine went for a new cycle using cryopreserved spermatozoa. Of these, five patients had a previous failed treatment cycle (two patients, three newborn) and four with a previous success went for a new cycle (one patient, one newborn). Overall, the embryological and clinical rates were as follows: 52% of fertilization, 41% of blastocyst, 27% of implantation, 39% of live birth delivery and 47% of newborn. Of the 16 clinical pregnancies, 14 had a successful delivery (12 girls and 5 boys). The 17 newborns had a mean gestation time of 37.2 weeks (35.3% pre-term) and a mean newborn weight of 2781.3 g (37.5% low weight). Comparisons between cycles with fresh and frozen-thaw spermatozoa revealed higher fertilization and clinical pregnancy rates with fresh spermatozoa, with no differences regarding implantation or newborn rates. Of the 17 newborns, no abnormal karyotypes (n = 3) or numerical abnormalities in chromosomes 13, 18, 21, X and Y (n = 14) as evaluated by Multiplex Ligation-dependent Probe Amplification were observed. In conclusion, this study presents further data that reassures that men with KS have no increased risk of transmitting their genetic problem to the offspring.

rK39: a cloned antigen of Leishmania chagasi that predicts active visceral leishmaniasis.

The diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis (VL), a serious and often fatal parasitic disease caused by members of the Leishmania donovani complex, remains problematic. Current methods rely on clinical criteria, parasite identification in aspirate material, and serology. The latter methods use crude antigen preparations lacking in specificity. A previously described cloned antigen, rK39, of Leishmania specific for all members of the L. donovani complex (L. chagasi, L. donovani, L. infantum) was very useful in the serodiagnosis by ELISA of both human and canine VL. The present study demonstrated that rK39 seroreactivity correlated with active disease. The sera from early or self-healing infected subjects reacted with leishmanial lysate and were generally nonreactive with rK39. These data demonstrate the utility of rK39 in the serodiagnosis of VL and as an indicator of active disease.