Deu no site da SBPC

Deu no site da SBPC:

IBGE mostra quantos laboratórios há no Brasil: "Segundo a Pesquisa de Assistência Médico-Sanitária (AMS) 2009, realizada pelo IBGE, existem 16.657 laboratórios de análises clínicas no país e 5.854 de anatomia patológica/citologia. Os dados referem-se ao ano passado. "


Dê uma visita a este endereço, e veja os detalhes. Muito interessante!

Estimando a idade por uma gota de sangue

Estimating Age From a Drop of Blood: "

Researchers at the Erasmus MC, in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, have discovered a method to estimate a person's age from a drop of blood. Previous attempts at developing molecular determination of age, such as measuring accumulation of mitochondrial DNA deletions or on telomere shortening, have shown limited accuracy or technical problems. In the current study, the researchers used T-cell DNA rearrangements to estimate age. T-cells develop their immune capabilities while they reside in the thymus. During this process, T-cell receptor DNA sequences undergo a rearrangement process, in which parts of the DNA are deleted and subsequently circulate as signal joint TCR excision circles (sjTRECs). With increasing age, the number of sjTRECs declines, which is the biological phenomenon that was used to estimate age. The new method could be used for criminal investigations, disaster victim identification or in anthropological studies. The findings were published in the journal Current Biology.

Press release: Estimating age using a drop of blood...

Article: Estimating human age from T-cell DNA rearrangements...

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Microfluidic Device Detects Biomarkers Using Tiny Blood Samples

Microfluidic Device Detects Biomarkers Using Tiny Blood Samples: "

Blood-based diagnostic biomarker testing currently requires a substantial amount of blood to be drawn from the patient. Researchers at Brigham Young University have developed a microfluidic device that may help reduce the amount of blood needed for sampling. It relies on covalently attaching antibodies to a thin polymer film lining the wells of the microdevice, and running the blood serum through an even electric field. Detecting the speed of the particles moving through the channel points to the nature of the protein marker under investigation. The current device is capable of detecting four biomarkers, but should be expandable to deal with many more.

From the study abstract in Lab on a Chip:

Here, we developed integrated microdevices with an affinity column and capillary electrophoresis channels to isolate and quantitate a panel of proteins in complex matrices. To form an affinity column, a thin film of a reactive polymer was photopolymerized in a microchannel, and four antibodies were covalently immobilized to it. The retained protein amounts were consistent from chip to chip, demonstrating reproducibility. Furthermore, the signals from four fluorescently labeled proteins captured on-column were in the same range after rinsing, indicating the column has little bias toward any of the four antibodies or their antigens. These affinity columns have been integrated with capillary electrophoresis separation, enabling us to simultaneously quantify four protein biomarkers in human blood serum in the low ng mL−1 range using either a calibration curve or standard addition. Our systems provide a fast, integrated and automated platform for multiple biomarker quantitation in complex media such as human blood serum.

Abstract in Lab on a Chip: Microdevices integrating affinity columns and capillary electrophoresis for multibiomarker analysis in human serum

More from Brigham Young Univ: Detecting cancer with the prick of a finger ...

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Curso A Distancia SBPC

Aí vai uma informação importante: dia 26 de Novembro tem curso online no site da SBPC.

O curso vai se chamar Avaliação Microbiológica da Urina em Crianças e Adultos.

26 de Novembro de 2010, das 13:00-14:30 hs (pode se estender por mais meia hora)

Palestrante Ana Maria Machado de Oliveira, profa do Depto Medicina Unifesp.

Maiores informações no site da SBPC:

Bom proveito

Sistema de Monitoramento de Resitência Bacteriana

Olhem essa que saiu no Medgadget: um monitor regional para resistência bacteriana (como diz no artigo, algo como um Dow Jones da resistência- trazendo a analogia para o Brasil, um IBOVESPA de resist~encia bacteriana). Ideia interessante, ilustra o impacto que a informação pode ter em relação a um problema como este:


Drug Resistance Index Proposed for Bacteria: "

At a meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in Atlanta last week, Health Economist Ramanan Laxminarayan proposed a simpler system than what is used currently for tracking antimicrobial resistance in different countries.

[The index] uses a "basket" of resistance data for different drugs, comparable to the basket of groceries and other expenses that makes up the cost-of-living index. These numbers are weighted according to the amount of each that is used. For instance, if doctors use cephalosporin twice as often as they do penicillin to treat a certain infection, cephalospirin's resistance percentage carries twice as much weight. This way, the index reflects how serious the resistance problem really is, says Laxminarayan. If a microbe develops resistance to a drug that is hardly ever used anyway—because better or cheaper ones exist—than the index will go up only slightly. But if resistance occurs against a drug prescribed to almost every patient, the index will skyrocket.

This would allow comparisons between different geographic regions and an easier way to track changes over time. Laxminarayan and others think the current method of tracking resistance (reporting individual microbe's resistance to individual drugs) is too complicated to accurately describe to policy makers and the public.

ScienceNow: A Dow Jones for Drug Resistance

Image credit:: Wellcome Images: Testing bacteria for antibiotic sensitivity. ...

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Vídeo: De moléculas a medicamentos

Olá,

Posto este interessante vídeo (que encontrei no blog Mourning Training Services) que ilustra os processos que envolvem o desenvolvimento de novas drogas. Está em inglês, e é de alta qualidade na informação.

Bom proveito!





MTS Recommends... From Molecule to Medicine: "This 6 minute film explains the various stages for a pharmaceutical company to develop new medical cures. It clearly shows what processes occur in conditions of sickness and how scientists use their knowledge to discover new, innovative drugs to help patients worldwide. Made by NORVELL JEFFERSON, a Belgian audiovisual production company.

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