Forecast UTI: application for predicting intensive care unit beds in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. / Forecast UTI: aplicativo para previsão de leitos de unidades de terapia intensiva no contexto da pandemia de COVID-19.

In view of the need to manage and forecast the number of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds for critically ill COVID-19 patients, the Forecast UTI open access application was developed to enable hospital indicator monitoring based on past health data and the temporal dynamics of the Coronavirus epidemic. Forecast UTI also enables short-term forecasts of the number of beds occupied daily by COVID-19 patients and possible care scenarios to be established. This article presents the functions, mode of access and examples of uses of Forecast UTI, a computational tool intended to assist managers of public and private hospitals within the Brazilian National Health System by supporting quick, strategic and efficient decision-making.

Frente à necessidade de gerenciamento e previsão do número de leitos de unidades de terapia intensiva (UTIs) para pacientes graves de COVID-19, foi desenvolvido o Forecast UTI, um aplicativo de livre acesso, que permite o monitoramento de indicadores hospitalares com base em dados históricos do serviço de saúde e na dinâmica temporal da epidemia por coronavírus. O Forecast UTI também possibilita realizar previsões de curto prazo do número de leitos ocupados pela doença diariamente, e estabelecer possíveis cenários de atendimento. Este artigo apresenta as funções, modo de acesso e exemplos de uso do Forecast UTI, uma ferramenta computacional destinada a auxiliar gestores de hospitais da rede pública e privada do Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS) no subsídio à tomada de decisão, de forma rápida, estratégica e eficiente.

En vista de la necesidad de administrar y prever el número de camas en la Unidad de Cuidados Intensivos para pacientes graves de COVID-19, se desarrolló Forecast UTI: una aplicación de acceso abierto que permite el monitoreo de indicadores hospitalarios basados en datos históricos del servicio salud y la dinámica temporal de esta epidemia por coronavirus También es posible hacer pronósticos a corto plazo del número de camas ocupadas diariamente por la enfermedad y establecer posibles escenarios de atención. Este artículo presenta las funciones, el modo de acceso y ejemplos de uso de Forecast UTI, una herramienta computacional capaz de ayudar a los gestores de hospitales públicos y privados en el Sistema Único de Salud, ya que apoyan la toma de decisiones de manera rápida, estratégica y eficiente.

Adaptation of a skin sensitization assay to a chemically defined culture.

There are currently three in vitro methods adopted by the Organization for the Economic Co-operation and Development for testing chemicals based on the third key event of the skin sensitization adverse outcome pathway, the activation of dendritic cells. All of them use culture medium supplemented with fetal bovine serum (FBS), which brings technical disadvantages and animal welfare concerns. The objective of this study was to analyze the possibility of eliminating the use of FBS in the human Cell Line Activation Test (h-CLAT). After successful implementation of the h-CLAT using THP-1 cells cultured in FBS-containing medium, several attempts to adapt THP-1 cells to four different serum-free media were made. The best results were obtained with gradual adaptation to RPMI-1640 medium with HL-1™ Supplement and to X-VIVO™ 10. Adapted cells were cryopreserved and submitted to the reactivity check. After being approved, they were used in dose finding and proficiency assays. Despite minor adjustments in the original protocol, it was possible to correctly predict the sensitizing potential of the ten proficiency substances using THP-1 cells adapted to X-VIVO™ 10, which indicates that it is possible to eliminate the use of FBS in the h-CLAT, using a chemically defined medium.

Autophagy in Paracoccidioides brasiliensis under normal mycelia to yeast transition and under selective nutrient deprivation.

Paracoccidioides spp. is a thermally dimorphic fungus endemic to Latin America and the etiological agent of paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM), a granulomatous disease acquired through fungal propagule inhalation by its mammalian host. The infection is established after successful mycelia to yeast transition in the host pulmonary alveoli. The challenging environment inside the host exposes the fungus to the need of adaptation in order to circumvent nutritional, thermal, oxidative, immunological and other stresses that can directly affect their survival. Considering that autophagy is a response to abrupt environmental changes and is induced by stress conditions, this study hypothesizes that this process might be crucially involved in the adaptation of Paracoccidioides spp. to the host and, therefore, it is essential for the proper establishment of the disease. By labelling autophagous vesicles with monodansylcadaverine, autophagy was observed as an early event in cells during the normal mycelium to yeast transition, as well as in yeast cells of P. brasiliensis under glucose deprivation, and under either rapamycin or 3-methyladenine (3-MA). Findings in this study demonstrated that autophagy is triggered in P. brasiliensis during the thermal-induced mycelium to yeast transition and by glucose-limited conditions in yeasts, both of which modulated by rapamycin or 3-MA. Certainly, further genetic and in vivo analyses are needed in order to finally address the contribution of autophagy for adaptation. Yet, our data propose that autophagy possibly plays an important role in Paracoccidioides brasiliensis virulence and pathogenicity.

Forecast UTI: aplicativo para previsão de leitos de unidades de terapia intensiva no contexto da pandemia de COVID-19 / Forecast UTI: aplicación para prever camas en Unidades de Cuidados Intensivos en el contexto de la pandemia de COVID-19 / Forecast UTI: application for predicting intensive care unit beds in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

Frente à necessidade de gerenciamento e previsão do número de leitos de unidades de terapia intensiva (UTIs) para pacientes graves de COVID-19, foi desenvolvido o Forecast UTI, um aplicativo de livre acesso, que permite o monitoramento de indicadores hospitalares com base em dados históricos do serviço de saúde e na dinâmica temporal da epidemia por coronavírus. O Forecast UTI também possibilita realizar previsões de curto prazo do número de leitos ocupados pela doença diariamente, e estabelecer possíveis cenários de atendimento. Este artigo apresenta as funções, modo de acesso e exemplos de uso do Forecast UTI, uma ferramenta computacional destinada a auxiliar gestores de hospitais da rede pública e privada do Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS) no subsídio à tomada de decisão, de forma rápida, estratégica e eficiente.

En vista de la necesidad de administrar y prever el número de camas en la Unidad de Cuidados Intensivos para pacientes graves de COVID-19, se desarrolló Forecast UTI: una aplicación de acceso abierto que permite el monitoreo de indicadores hospitalarios basados en datos históricos del servicio salud y la dinámica temporal de esta epidemia por coronavirus También es posible hacer pronósticos a corto plazo del número de camas ocupadas diariamente por la enfermedad y establecer posibles escenarios de atención. Este artículo presenta las funciones, el modo de acceso y ejemplos de uso de Forecast UTI, una herramienta computacional capaz de ayudar a los gestores de hospitales públicos y privados en el Sistema Único de Salud, ya que apoyan la toma de decisiones de manera rápida, estratégica y eficiente.

In view of the need to manage and forecast the number of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds for critically ill COVID-19 patients, the Forecast UTI open access application was developed to enable hospital indicator monitoring based on past health data and the temporal dynamics of the Coronavirus epidemic. Forecast UTI also enables short-term forecasts of the number of beds occupied daily by COVID-19 patients and possible care scenarios to be established. This article presents the functions, mode of access and examples of uses of Forecast UTI, a computational tool intended to assist managers of public and private hospitals within the Brazilian National Health System by supporting quick, strategic and efficient decision-making.

Análise eletromiográfica dos músculos inspiratórios em indivíduos saudáveis submetidos à carga máxima de resistor linear e alinear / Electromyographic analysis of the inspiratory muscles in healthy subjects submitted to maximum load of linear and alinear resistor

O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar a ativação do músculo escaleno(ESC) e esternocleidooccipitomastóideo (ECOM) através doganho de pico de Root Mean Square (RMS) obtido pela eletromiografia(EMG), em indivíduos saudáveis submetidos à aplicação decargas máximas de resistor linear e alinear. Trata-se de um estudoprospectivo, transversal, experimental, comparativo realizado com24 indivíduos saudáveis alocados nos grupos linear (Grupo L) ealinear (Grupo A). Para análise estatística empregou-se o teste deShapiro-Wilk para avaliação da normalidade dos dados, teste deSpearman e Pearson para correlação entre as variáveis (nível designificância de 0,05). Os resultados revelaram boa correlação (r= 0,62; p < 0,05) entre o Ganho de Carga Máxima de ECOM eESC usando o resistor linear (Threshold® IMT), assim como boacorrelação (r = 0,78; p < 0,01) entre o Ganho de Carga Máxima deECOM e ESC usando resistor alinear (P-Flex®). Correlacionandoa Pressão Inspiratória Máxima (PImáx) e Picos de RMS de ESC eECOM, isoladamente, houve apenas correlação do Pico de RMSECOM do Grupo L. Conclui-se que não existe, necessariamente,relação entre o Pico de RMS e o nível de ativação motora dosmúsculos em jovens saudáveis. Para treinamento mais específicodo ECOM sugere-se a aplicação de carga alinear.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the activation of thescalene muscle (SCL) and sternocleido-occipito-mastoid (SCOM)through the peak gain of Root Mean Square (RMS) obtained byelectromyography (EMG) in healthy subjects submitted to theapplication of maximum loads for linear resistor and alinear. This isa prospective, cross-sectional, experimental and comparative studywhich was performed with 24 healthy subjects allocated to thelinear group (Group L) and alinear group (Group A). For statisticalanalysis we used the Shapiro-Wilk test to assess for the normality ofdata, Pearson and Spearman test for correlation between variables(significance level of 0.05). The results showed good correlation (r= 0.62, p < 0.05) between gain maximum load of SCOM and SCLusing the linear resistor (Threshold ®IMT), as well as good correlation(r = 0.78, p < 0.01) between gain maximum load of SCOMand SCL using alinear resistor (P-Flex ®). Correlating InspiratoryPressure (MIP) and RMS peak SCL and SCOM, alone, there wasonly the correlation peak RMS SCOM in group L. It is concludedthat there isn’t necessarily a relationship between RMS peak andlevel of motor activation of muscles in healthy young adults. Formore specific training of SCOM it is suggested the application ofload alinear.