Public financing versus private billing in a public hospital under management of a Social Health Organization.

Introduction: to assess the efficiency of management by a Social Health Organization (Organização Social de Saúde - OSS) compared with the private sector; to verify if there are savings for the State Health Secretariat (SES) in management contracts for financing the production of a public hospital versus its production values billed by private methods; and to establish if the amounts billed by the Unified Health System (SUS) table would finance the same procedures.

Methods: we compiled and tabulated all procedures performed and the materials and drugs dispensed in the Euryclides Jesus Zerbini Transplant Hospital (HTEJZ), managed by the OSS Associação Paulista Para o Desenvolvimento da Medicina (SPDM), in September, October, and November 2018, according to the Brasíndice® table for drugs, the Simpro® table for materials, the CBHPM® table for medical fees, and tables SIGTAP SUS and SIA SUS. We then compared the average values obtained in the private billing with the costing amount reimbursed by the State Health Secretariat and the billing calculated in the SIA-SUS.

Phenolic Profile, Antioxidant Capacities and Enzymatic Inhibitory Activities of Propolis from Different Geographical Areas: Needs for Analytical Harmonization.

Propolis is a resinous vegetal exudate modified by bees, and is interesting as a preservative and potentially functional product. This work dealt with studying the common phenolic profiles and antioxidant capacities of 13 bee propolis from different geographical areas. Both hyaluronidase and angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activities were also assessed and related when possible with particular phenolic compounds.

Evaluation of Enterococcus-infecting phages as indices of fecal pollution.

No microbial source tracking tool satisfies all the characteristics of an ideal indicator of human fecal pollution. For this reason, the potential of Enterococcus faecalis phages (enterophages) as markers of this type of contamination was tested by using eight Enterococcus type strains as the possible hosts. The prevalence of enterophages in animal feces and domestic sewage were determined, as were the inactivation rates in raw sewage at 4 °C and surface and tap waters at 22 °C.

Characterization of Enterococcus faecalis-infecting phages (enterophages) as markers of human fecal pollution in recreational waters.

Enterophages are a novel group of phages that specifically infect Enterococcus faecalis and have been recently isolated from environmental water samples. Although enterophages have not been conclusively linked to human fecal pollution, we are currently characterizing enterophages to propose them as viral indicators and possible surrogates of enteric viruses in recreational waters. Little is known about the morphological or genetic diversity which will have an impact on their potential as markers of human fecal contamination.

Computer simulation for ergonomic improvements in laparoscopic surgery.

It is the aim of this study to reduce the stress and strain of the medical staff during laparoscopic operations, and, simultaneously, to increase the safety and efficiency of an integrated operation room (OR) by an ergonomic redesign. This was attempted by a computer simulation approach using free modelling of the OR and 3D human models (manikins). After defining ergonomically "ideal" postures, optimal solutions for key elements of an ergonomic design of the OR (position and height of the image displays, height of the OR table and the Mayo stand) could be evaluated with special regard to the different individual body size of each member of the team.