Predicting the outcome for COVID-19 patients by applying time series classification to electronic health records.

Background: COVID-19 caused more than 622 thousand deaths in Brazil. The infection can be asymptomatic and cause mild symptoms, but it also can evolve into a severe disease and lead to death. It is difficult to predict which patients will develop severe disease.

Annotation and functional characterization of long noncoding RNAs deregulated in pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

Purpose: Transcriptome analysis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has been useful to identify gene expression changes that sustain malignant phenotypes. Yet, most studies examined only tumor tissues and focused on protein-coding genes, leaving long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) largely underexplored.

Methods: We generated total RNA-Seq data from patient-matched tumor and nonmalignant pancreatic tissues and implemented a computational pipeline to survey known and novel lncRNAs.

Validation of physician certified verbal autopsy using conventional autopsy: a large study of adult non-external causes of death in a metropolitan area in Brazil.

Background: Reliable mortality data are essential for the development of public health policies. In Brazil, although there is a well-consolidated universal system for mortality data, the quality of information on causes of death (CoD) is not even among Brazilian regions, with a high proportion of ill-defined CoD. Verbal autopsy (VA) is an alternative to improve mortality data.

Correction: Mortality among blood donors seropositive and seronegative for Chagas disease (1996-2000) in São Paulo, Brazil: A death certificate linkage study.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.

Beneficial effects of benznidazole in Chagas disease: NIH SaMi-Trop cohort study.

Background: The effectiveness of anti-parasite treatment with benznidazole in the chronic Chagas disease (ChD) remains uncertain. We evaluated, using data from the NIH-sponsored SaMi-Trop prospective cohort study, if previous treatment with benznidazole is associated with lower mortality, less advanced cardiac disease and lower parasitemia in patients with chronic ChD.

Methods: The study enrolled 1,959 ChD patients and abnormal electrocardiogram (ECG) from in 21 remote towns in Brazil.

Mortality among blood donors seropositive and seronegative for Chagas disease (1996-2000) in São Paulo, Brazil: A death certificate linkage study.

Background: Individuals in the indeterminate phase of Chagas disease are considered to have mortality rates similar to those of the overall population. This study compares mortality rates among blood donors seropositive for Chagas disease and negative controls in the city of São Paulo, Brazil.

Methodology/principal Findings: This is a retrospective cohort study of blood donors from 1996 to 2000: 2842 seropositive and 5684 seronegative for Chagas disease.

Longitudinal study of patients with chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy in Brazil (SaMi-Trop project): a cohort profile.

Purpose: We have established a prospective cohort of 1959 patients with chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy to evaluate if a clinical prediction rule based on ECG, brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels, and other biomarkers can be useful in clinical practice. This paper outlines the study and baseline characteristics of the participants.

Participants: The study is being conducted in 21 municipalities of the northern part of Minas Gerais State in Brazil, and includes a follow-up of 2 years.

The Virological and Immunological Characteristics of the HIV-1-Infected Population in Brazil: From Initial Diagnosis to Impact of Antiretroviral Use.

Background: Immunological and virological status of HIV-infected individuals entering the Brazilian public system over time was analyzed. We evaluated the impact of ART on virological, immunological and antiretroviral resistance over time.

Methods: CD4+ T cell counts, viral loads and genotypes from patients over 13 years old from 2001-2011 were analyzed according to demographic data.

Data-intensive analysis of HIV mutations.

Background: In this study, clustering was performed using a bitmap representation of HIV reverse transcriptase and protease sequences, to produce an unsupervised classification of HIV sequences. The classification will aid our understanding of the interactions between mutations and drug resistance. 10,229 HIV genomic sequences from the protease and reverse transcriptase regions of the pol gene and antiretroviral resistant related mutations represented in an 82-dimensional binary vector space were analyzed.

Accuracy of a probabilistic record-linkage methodology used to track blood donors in the Mortality Information System database.

The probabilistic record linkage (PRL) is based on a likelihood score that measures the degree of similarity of several matching variables. Screening test results for different diseases are available for the blood donor population. In this paper, we describe the accuracy of a PRL process used to track blood donors from the Fundação Pró-Sangue (FPS) in the Mortality Information System (SIM), in order that future studies might determine the blood donor's cause of death.

Contribution of the Retrovirus Epidemiology Donor Study (REDS) to research on blood transfusion safety in Brazil.

The Retrovirus Epidemiology Donor Study (REDS) program was established in the United States in 1989 with the purpose of increasing blood transfusion safety in the context of the HIV/AIDS and human T-lymphotropic virus epidemics. REDS and its successor, REDS-II were at first conducted in the US, then expanded in 2006 to include international partnerships with Brazil and China. In 2011, a third wave of REDS renamed the Recipient Epidemiology and Donor Evaluation Study-III (REDS-III) was launched.

Predictors of low haematocrit among repeat donors in São Paulo, Brazil: eleven year longitudinal analysis.

Background And Objectives: Few longitudinal studies have examined the long-term effect on deferral for low haematocrit (Hct) or haemoglobin, indicators of presence of anaemia. This study retrospectively analysed 11 years of donation history to examine predictors related to such deferrals among repeat blood donors.

Materials And Methods: We included 385,357 donors with at least two visits to the blood centre between January 1996 and December 2006 who were not deferred due to haematocrit at their first visit.

Prevalence of serologic markers for hepatitis B and C viruses in Brazilian blood donors and incidence and residual risk of transfusion transmission of hepatitis C virus.

Background: We evaluate the current prevalence of serologic markers for hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) in blood donors and estimated HCV incidence and residual transfusion-transmitted risk at three large Brazilian blood centers.

Study Design And Methods: Data on whole blood and platelet donations were collected from January through December 2007, analyzed by center; donor type; age; sex; donation status; and serologic results for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), antibody to hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc), and anti-HCV. HBV and HCV prevalence rates were calculated for all first-time donations.

Human immunodeficiency virus prevalence, incidence, and residual risk of transmission by transfusions at Retrovirus Epidemiology Donor Study-II blood centers in Brazil.

Background: In Brazil nationally representative donor data are limited on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevalence, incidence, and residual transfusion risk. The objective of this study was to analyze HIV data obtained over 24 months by the Retrovirus Epidemiology Donor Study-II program in Brazil.

Study Design And Methods: Donations reactive to third- and fourth-generation immunoassays (IAs) were further confirmed by a less-sensitive (LS) IA algorithm and Western blot (WB).

Number of recent sexual partners among blood donors in Brazil: associations with donor demographics, donation characteristics, and infectious disease markers.

Background: Brazilian blood centers ask candidate blood donors about the number of sexual partners in the past 12 months. Candidates who report a number over the limit are deferred. We studied the implications of this practice on blood safety.

Demographic characteristics and prevalence of serologic markers among blood donors who use confidential unit exclusion (CUE) in São Paulo, Brazil: implications for modification of CUE policies in Brazil.

Background: This study evaluated demographic profiles and prevalence of serologic markers among donors who used confidential unit exclusion (CUE) to assess the effectiveness of CUE and guide public policies regarding the use of CUE for enhancing safety versus jeopardizing the blood supply by dropping CUE.

Study Design And Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of whole blood donations at a large public blood center in São Paulo from July 2007 through June 2009, compared demographic data, and confirmed serologic results among donors who used and who have never used CUE (CUE never).

Results: There were 265,550 whole blood units collected from 181,418 donors from July 2007 through June 2009.

Extense variant gene family repertoire overlap in Western Amazon Plasmodium falciparum isolates.

In order to find a molecular basis for observations of relatively fast developing immunity to malarial infections in the Western Amazon region, the partial var, stevor and rif gene repertoires of nine different Plasmodium falciparum isolates collected in 1985 and 2000-2004 were evaluated. In contrast to previous results from South East Asia, the variant gene repertoire in Brazilian isolates is rather small and redundant. While the individual var repertoire sizes of Brazilian strains did not differ from Southeast Asian/African isolates, we found an over three times higher overlap of var sequence repertoires in Amazonian strains which was also conserved over time, suggesting the ongoing circulation of a similar var gene repertoire.