Brain death and tissue and organ transplantation: the understanding of medical students.

Objective: To evaluate the level of knowledge of medical students about transplantation and brain death.

Methods: An anonymous self-administered questionnaire answered by medical students from the first through the sixth year that was based on information from the Associação Brasileira de Transplante de Órgãos e Tecidos, the Registro Brasileiro de Transplantes and the resolution that defines the criteria for brain death.

Results: Of the 677 medical students asked, 310 (45.

Worries about memory loss and knowledge on Alzheimer's disease in community-dwelling elderly from Brazil.

Unlabelled: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia in the elderly. Efforts to determine risk factors for the development of AD are important for risk stratification and early diagnosis. Furthermore, there are no standardized practices for memory screening.

Characterization of virologic failure after an initially successful 48-week course of antiretroviral therapy in HIV/AIDS outpatients treated in Santos, Brazil.

We characterized the virologic failure after an initially successful 48-week course of antiretroviral therapy among HIV/AIDS patients in a retrospective cohort study involving patients from Santos, Brazil. Patients with plasma HIV RNA below 500 copies/mL for 48 weeks were included. Variables analyzed included gender, age, level of education, marital status, mode of HIV acquisition, viral load, and CD4 cell count upon admission.

The safety and efficacy of switching stavudine to tenofovir df in combination with lamivudine and efavirenz in hiv-1-infected patients: three-year follow-up after switching therapy.

Background: Study 903 is a phase 3 trial with a completed 144-week, double-blind phase comparing tenofovir DF (TDF) with stavudine (d4T), in combination with lamivudine (3TC) and efavirenz (EFV), and an ongoing 336-week open-label extension phase.

Method: Patients in 3 countries completing the d4T treatment phase were allowed to switch d4T to TDF and receive once-daily TDF+3TC+EFV in the extension phase.

Results: At the time of switch, 100% and 99% of patients (n = 85; 60% male, 64% White; mean age 37 years; mean CD4 = 650 cells/mm3) had HIV RNA <400 and <50 copies/mL.

The safety and efficacy of tenofovir DF in combination with lamivudine and efavirenz through 6 years in antiretroviral-naïve HIV-1-infected patients.

Background: Study 903 is a phase 3 trial with a completed 144-week, double-blind phase comparing tenofovir DF (TDF) to stavudine (d4T) in combination with lamivudine (3TC) and efavirenz (EFV) and an ongoing additional 336-week open-label extension phase.

Method: Patients in Brazil, Argentina, and the Dominican Republic who completed the 144-week double-blind phase on TDF were eligible to roll over to the extension phase (weeks 144-480). Results from an interim week 288 analysis are presented.

Septicemia caused by Paracoccidioides brasiliensis (Lutz, 1908) as the cause of death of an AIDS patient from Santos, São Paulo State, Brazil--a nonendemic area.

The first case of Paracoccidioides brasiliensis in Santos (Brazil) leading to septicemia and death of an HIV-positive patient is reported here. The patient was a 34-year-old female that presented essential fever and was only diagnosed after death by positive blood culture. The authors underscore the atypical nature of the case, since the patient was a female at fertile age who was born and had always lived in Santos, which is a nonendemic area for this infection.

Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) infection in HIV/AIDS patients from Santos, Brazil: seroprevalence and associated factors.

Goal: The goal of this study was to evaluate the seroprevalence of human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) infection among HIV-infected individuals from Brazil and the associated risk factors.

Study: A cross-sectional survey was carried out with 497 HIV/AIDS outpatients attending the local AIDS Reference Center in Santos (southeastern Brazil) between February 1997 and January 1998 had serum samples screened for anti-HHV-8 antibodies. Patients were considered seropositive whenever reactivity was observed in at least 1 of 3 tests (immunofluorescence assays for latent nuclear and lytic antigens and orf65 recombinant antigen enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay).

Hepatitis C virus coinfection in a cohort of HIV-infected individuals from Santos, Brazil: seroprevalence and associated factors.

Although HIV/hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfection has been recognized worldwide in individuals exposed to blood-borne and sexually transmitted diseases (STD), limited data are available on the epidemiology of this coinfection in Brazil. A cross-sectional study was carried out to estimate the prevalence of HCV seropositivity in a cohort of people living with HIV/AIDS in Santos, Brazil, and to investigate potential risk factors for HCV infection. Anti-HCV antibodies were sought by using two immunoenzymatic assays.