Clinical characteristics of pregnant women with COVID-19 and infection outcomes in one of the largest cities in the Brazilian Amazon.

Background: Pregnancy can be a risk factor for the development of more severe COVID-19 with a possible increase in the risk of complications during pregnancy/birth and adverse neonatal outcomes. This study aimed to describe and analyze the clinical and epidemiological aspects of SARS-CoV-2 infection in women in the perinatal period attended in the city of Belém, northern region of Brazil.

Methods: This is a clinical, observational, analytical, and cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach, conducted at the Santa Casa de Misericórdia do Pará Foundation (FSCMPA).

Myosteatosis: an underrecognized risk factor for mortality in non-dialysis chronic kidney disease patients.

Background: Low muscle mass quantity and quality (myosteatosis) can be evaluated by computed tomography (CT) by measuring skeletal muscle area and muscular attenuation, respectively, at the third lumbar vertebra. We aimed to define cut-off points of skeletal muscle area and muscular attenuation to predict mortality in non-dialysis chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective study including non-dialysis CKD patients over two years, who underwent an opportunistic computed tomography within a two year period, and for whom creatinine was measured within 90 days of CT.

Influence of peritoneal residual volume on the results of the peritoneal equilibration test. Prospective study.

Background: Categorization of the capacity of ultrafiltration during a peritoneal equilibration test (PET) is a usual step during the monitoring of peritoneal transport characteristics of Peritoneal Dialysis (PD) patients. Quantifying the peritoneal residual volume (Vr) after the dwell preceding the PET (Vrpre) and at the end of the test (Vrpost) could help to improve the accuracy of the estimation of this variable.

Method: Following a prospective design, we calculated Vrpre and Vrpost in 116 patients, incident or prevalent on DP, who underwent one or two (n = 27) PET with 3,86/4,25% glucose-based PD solutions and complete drainage at 60 min.

Therapeutic Plasmapheresis: Seven Year Experience of an Intensive Care Unit in Portugal.

Introduction: Therapeutic plasmapheresis is a therapeutic procedure in which the patient's blood is passed through a medical device which separates out plasma from other components of blood. The plasma is removed and replaced with a replacement solution. Studies on the use of plasmapheresis in critically ill patients are scarce.

Contrast-induced acute kidney injury in acute ischaemic stroke patients.

Purpose: The potential nephrotoxicity of intravenous iodinated contrast media is a major concern for acute ischaemic stroke imaging evaluation. This study aimed to assess the incidence of acute kidney injury after intravenous iodinated contrast media exposure in acute ischaemic stroke patients.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort analysis between January 2012 and July 2018 to select adult patients admitted to the emergency department with acute ischaemic stroke.

Anca negative pauci-immune crescentic glomerulonephritis and mixed connective tissue disease: a case study.

One of the most common causes of rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis (RPGN) is pauci-immune crescentic glomerulonephritis (CrGN). In the majority of cases, this condition has a positive serologic marker, the anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCAs), but in approximately 10% there are no circulating ANCAs, and this subgroup has been known as the ANCA-negative pauci-immune CrGN. RPGN can be associated with systemic diseases, but there are only few case reports describing the association with mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD).

Metabolic Acidosis Due To Pyroglutamic Acid.

Unlabelled: Metabolic acidosis is a common clinical disturbance due to increased plasma acidity caused by a primary decrease in serum HCO3- concentration. It is classified as normal or high anion gap metabolic acidosis. High anion gap metabolic acidosis can result from either a decrease in unmeasured cations (K, Ca2, Mg2) or an increase in unmeasured anions (PO , albumin).

An atypical presentation of a severe and massive atheroembolic disease.

Atheroembolic renal disease (AERD) is a kidney manifestation of atherosclerosis as a systemic disease. AERD is defined as a renal impairment secondary to embolization of cholesterol crystals with consequent occlusion of renal vascularization. The current case report describes one patient with multiple risk factors but without any inciting event history who presents a very atypical clinical course of a severe and massive atheroembolic disease that developed spontaneously and silently.

Association Between Weekend and Holiday Admission with Pneumonia and Mortality in a Tertiary Center in Portugal: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Introduction: Acute bacterial pneumonia is a common and potentially fatal disease where early recognition and treatment are crucial. Increasing medical literature suggests worse outcomes in patients admitted for medical and surgical conditions during the weekend. Little is known about this effect in patients with acute bacterial pneumonia.

Skin-to-skin contact and/or oral 25% dextrose for procedural pain relief for term newborn infants.

Objective: The goal was to compare the efficacy of oral 25% dextrose treatment and/or skin-to-skin contact for analgesia in term newborns during intramuscular injection of a hepatitis B vaccine.

Methods: A prospective, randomized, partially blinded, clinical trial was performed with 640 healthy term newborns. Infants at 12 to 72 hours of life were assigned randomly to receive an intramuscular injection of hepatitis B vaccine in the right thigh according to 4 analgesia groups, that is, no analgesia (routine); oral 25% dextrose treatment, given 2 minutes before the injection; skin-to-skin contact, initiated 2 minutes before the injection and persisting throughout the procedure; and a combination of the oral dextrose treatment and skin-to-skin contact strategies.