Rate and predictors of insufficient sweat volume in very young infants after pilocarpine gel iontophoresis: prospective, population-based study.

Objective: To verify the rate and predictors of 'quantity not sufficient' (QNS) among Brazilian infants younger than 3 months with positive newborn screening (NBS) for cystic fibrosis (CF).

Design: Prospective, population-based study.

Setting: Public Statewide Newborn Screening Programme where the incidence rate of CF is ≈1:11 000.

Sweat conductivity for diagnosing cystic fibrosis after positive newborn screening: prospective, diagnostic test accuracy study.

Objective: To assess the accuracy of sweat conductivity among newborns and very young infants.

Design: Prospective, population-based, diagnostic test accuracy study.

Setting: Public Statewide Newborn Screening Programme where the incidence rate of cystic fibrosis (CF) is ≈1:11 000.

Pulmonary radiographic findings in young children with cystic fibrosis.

Background: Pulmonary evaluation is one of the greatest challenges in children with cystic fibrosis who are younger than 6 years. Although chest CT can provide the most information for initial and progressive changes in cystic fibrosis, the radiation exposures can lead to significant cumulative exposure in children as they are followed with serial scanning to monitor early and progressive disease. Therefore the systematized study of chest radiographs using the Brasfield score has been used scientifically with the aim of evaluating the evolution of pulmonary abnormalities in children with cystic fibrosis.

Does BCG revaccination protect against the development of asthma?

Single BCG vaccination has been considered as a protective factor against asthma. However the effect of a second dose of BCG on the prevalence rate of asthma and asthma-allergic rhinitis-eczema comorbidity has not been studied exclusively among adolescents. In this ISAAC protocol-based cross sectional study we assessed the association between one single versus two doses of BCG among 2213 individuals aged 13-14 years old.

[Continuing or discontinuing BCG revaccination in adolescents].

BCG revaccination was introduced in Brazil in the mid-90's but no study has evaluated vaccine coverage through direct assessment of the scar. BCG scars were assessed in 2,785 public school adolescents, aged 13 to 14 years, in Southeastern Brazil, between September 2001 and May 2002. The prevalence rate of revaccination was 64.

Susceptibility of Streptococcus pneumoniae to penicillin in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil from 1997-2004.

We monitored the susceptibility to penicillin of invasive strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae in two reference laboratories; 502 positive cultures from patients with an active invasive infectious process were analyzed. Streptococcus pneumoniae was identified through conventional procedures, and the oxacillin disc diffusion method was used to check for penicillin susceptibility. Statistical analysis included calculations of the frequency distribution, with 95% confidence intervals (CI), as well as chi-square tests and chi-square for linear trend for temporal analysis of susceptibility.