[Blood regulation in Brazil: contextualization for improvement]. / Regulação de sangue no Brasil: contextualização para o aperfeiçoamento.

The use of blood products as essential medicines and the recognition of the high risk associated with blood transfusions require governments to take regulatory action with a focus on quality and safety. In this scenario, regulatory agencies play an essential role in socially advancing the guarantee that blood components will be produced according to current operating rules. Thus, in the effort to manage sanitary risks involved in the processing and use of blood, the Brazilian regulatory model, based on the construction of a national blood policy overseen by the State, has undergone conceptual improvement and review of the tools employed to achieve its goals. With the inclusion of good manufacturing practices as part of the Brazilian norms, as recommended by the World Health Organization, the country has moved forward in its view of blood facilities as manufacturing centers producing blood-derived biologics for therapeutic applications. It has also strengthened the need to develop safety mechanisms for blood donors and recipients. The development of a State-coordinated national blood policy and the institution of a national surveillance system with legitimate power of inspection are essential elements used in Brazil to guarantee the amount, quality, safety, and timeliness of blood supply to the population. The present article aims to discuss the present context of the blood regulatory model in Brazil so as to identify the challenges for improvement of this model.

Transporters in the Paracoccidioides brasiliensis transcriptome: insights on drug resistance.

In the struggle for life, the capacity of microorganisms to synthesize and secrete toxic compounds (inhibiting competitors) plays an important role in successful survival of these species. This ability must come together with the capability of being unaffected by these same compounds. Several mechanisms are thought to avoid the toxic effects. One of them is toxin extrusion from the intracellular environment to the outside vicinity, using special transmembrane proteins, referred to as transporters. These proteins are also important for other reasons, since most of them are involved in nutrient uptake and cellular excretion. In cancer cells and in pathogens, and particularly in fungi, some of these proteins have been pointed out as responsible for an important phenotype known as multidrug resistance (MDR). In the present study, we tried to identify in the Paracoccidioides brasiliensis transcriptome, transporter-ortholog genes from the two major classes: ATP binding cassette and major facilitator superfamily transporter. We found 22 groups with good similarity with other fungal ATP binding cassette transporters, and four Paracoccidioides brasilienses assembled expressed sequence tags that probably code for major facilitator superfamily proteins. We also focused on fungicide resistance orthologs already characterized in other pathogenic fungi. We were able to find homologs to C. albicans CDR1, CDR2, and MDR1, Saccharomyces cerevisiae PDR5 and Aspergillus AtrF genes, all of them related to azole resistance. As current treatment for paracoccidioidomycosis mainly uses azole derivatives, the presence of these genes can be postulated to play a similar role in P. brasiliensis, warning us for the possibility of resistant isolate emergence.

Regulação de sangue no Brasil: contextualização para o aperfeiçoamento / Blood regulation in Brazil: contextualization for improvement

A utilização dos produtos do sangue como medicamentos essenciais e o reconhecimento das dimensões dos riscos transfusionais demandam dos países uma ação regulatória com foco em qualidade e segurança. Nesse campo, os órgãos reguladores têm papel fundamental em imprimir socialmente a garantia de que os componentes do sangue serão produzidos e utilizados de acordo com as normas técnicas vigentes. Assim, na busca para gerenciar os riscos sanitários envolvidos no processamento e uso do sangue, o modelo regulatório brasileiro, baseado na construção de uma política nacional de sangue, sob gestão do Estado, vem passando por aprimoramento conceitual e inovação de seus instrumentos. Com a inserção das boas práticas de fabricação preconizadas pela Organização Munidal da Saúde nas normativas brasileiras, o país avança na visão dos estabelecimentos de sangue como centros produtores de produtos biológicos originados do sangue para fins terapêuticos e fortalece a necessidade de desenvolvimento de mecanismos para a segurança no atendimento a doadores e receptores. O desenvolvimento de uma política nacional de sangue coordenada pelo Estado e a instituição de um sistema nacional de vigilância sanitária com poder fiscalizatório legitimado são elementos essenciais utilizados no Brasil para garantia de sangue em quantidade, qualidade, segurança e em tempo oportuno à população. Este artigo tem por objetivo discutir o contexto atual do modelo regulatório de sangue no Brasil na perspectiva de apontar desafios para o aperfeiçoamento desse modelo.

The use of blood products as essential medicines and the recognition of the high risk associated with blood transfusions require governments to take regulatory action with a focus on quality and safety. In this scenario, regulatory agencies play an essential role in socially advancing the guarantee that blood components will be produced according to current operating rules. Thus, in the effort to manage sanitary risks involved in the processing and use of blood, the Brazilian regulatory model, based on the construction of a national blood policy overseen by the State, has undergone conceptual improvement and review of the tools employed to achieve its goals. With the inclusion of good manufacturing practices as part of the Brazilian norms, as recommended by the World Health Organization, the country has moved forward in its view of blood facilities as manufacturing centers producing blood-derived biologics for therapeutic applications. It has also strengthened the need to develop safety mechanisms for blood donors and recipients. The development of a State-coordinated national blood policy and the institution of a national surveillance system with legitimate power of inspection are essential elements used in Brazil to guarantee the amount, quality, safety, and timeliness of blood supply to the population. The present article aims to discuss the present context of the blood regulatory model in Brazil so as to identify the challenges for improvement of this model.

Regulação de sangue no Brasil: contextualização para o aperfeiçoamento / Blood regulation in Brazil: contextualization for improvement

A utilização dos produtos do sangue como medicamentos essenciais e o reconhecimento das dimensões dos riscos transfusionais demandam dos países uma ação regulatória com foco em qualidade e segurança. Nesse campo, os órgãos reguladores têm papel fundamental em imprimir socialmente a garantia de que os componentes do sangue serão produzidos e utilizados de acordo com as normas técnicas vigentes. Assim, na busca para gerenciar os riscos sanitários envolvidos no processamento e uso do sangue, o modelo regulatório brasileiro, baseado na construção de uma política nacional de sangue, sob gestão do Estado, vem passando por aprimoramento conceitual e inovação de seus instrumentos. Com a inserção das boas práticas de fabricação preconizadas pela Organização Munidal da Saúde nas normativas brasileiras, o país avança na visão dos estabelecimentos de sangue como centros produtores de produtos biológicos originados do sangue para fins terapêuticos e fortalece a necessidade de desenvolvimento de mecanismos para a segurança no atendimento a doadores e receptores. O desenvolvimento de uma política nacional de sangue coordenada pelo Estado e a instituição de um sistema nacional de vigilância sanitária com poder fiscalizatório legitimado são elementos essenciais utilizados no Brasil para garantia de sangue em quantidade, qualidade, segurança e em tempo oportuno à população. Este artigo tem por objetivo discutir o contexto atual do modelo regulatório de sangue no Brasil na perspectiva de apontar desafios para o aperfeiçoamento desse modelo.

The use of blood products as essential medicines and the recognition of the high risk associated with blood transfusions require governments to take regulatory action with a focus on quality and safety. In this scenario, regulatory agencies play an essential role in socially advancing the guarantee that blood components will be produced according to current operating rules. Thus, in the effort to manage sanitary risks involved in the processing and use of blood, the Brazilian regulatory model, based on the construction of a national blood policy overseen by the State, has undergone conceptual improvement and review of the tools employed to achieve its goals. With the inclusion of good manufacturing practices as part of the Brazilian norms, as recommended by the World Health Organization, the country has moved forward in its view of blood facilities as manufacturing centers producing blood-derived biologics for therapeutic applications. It has also strengthened the need to develop safety mechanisms for blood donors and recipients. The development of a State-coordinated national blood policy and the institution of a national surveillance system with legitimate power of inspection are essential elements used in Brazil to guarantee the amount, quality, safety, and timeliness of blood supply to the population. The present article aims to discuss the present context of the blood regulatory model in Brazil so as to identify the challenges for improvement of this model.