Entre el deseo y la demanda: Procreación artificial en la modernidad líquida / Between desire and demand: Artificial Procreation in Liquid Modernity

Se presenta aquí un informe de avances del proyecto: "Nuevas representaciones de la parentalidad. A partir de la reproducción asistida en la Modernidad líquida", que se enmarca en la Convocatoria CyTMA2 2020 (UNLaM); el recorte comprende la síntesis de los resultados obtenidos en su primera etapa, cuyo objetivo específico fue: describir las características de la reproducción asistida, como oferta de parentalidad. Para la misma se han realizado 10 entrevistas abiertas en profundidad, a referentes clave en el acompañamiento de la reproducción asistida, cuyo relato permitió identificar las dimensiones vinculadas a las representaciones en la oferta de estas prácticas médicas. Se trató de una estudio no experimental, de carácter exploratorio-descriptivo con enfoque cualitativo, cuya muestra, intencional, ha sido seleccionada por conveniencia a partir de criterios de accesibilidad. El análisis e interpretación de los resultados obtenidos se llevó a cabo a partir del método psicoanalítico, tomado el mismo como método indiciario(AU)

A report on the progress of the project is presented here: "New representations of parenting. From assisted reproduction in Liquid Modernity", which is part of the CyTMA2 2020 Call (UNLaM); the clipping includes the synthesis of the results obtained in its first stage, whose specific objective was: to describe the characteristics of assisted reproduction, as a parental offer. For the same, 10 open in-depth interviews have been carried out, with key references in the accompaniment of assisted reproduction, whose report allowed to identify the dimensions linked to the representations in the offer of these medical practices. It was a non-experimental study, of an exploratory-descriptive nature with a qualitative approach, whose intentional sample has been selected for convenience based on accessibility criteria. The analysis and interpretation of the results obtained was carried out from the psychoanalytic method, taken as the index method(AU)

Susceptibility of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to first-line antimycobacterial agents in a Brazilian hospital: assessing the utility of the tetrazolium (MTT) microplate assay

We conducted a cross-sectional, hospital-based study between January 2006-March 2008 to estimate the resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to first-line drugs in patients with tuberculosis at a Brazilian hospital. We evaluated the performance of the [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide] (MTT) microplate assay compared with the Bactec-MGIT 960™ system for mycobacteria testing. The prevalence of resistance in M. tuberculosis was 6.7 percent. Multidrug-resistance [resistance to rifampicin (RMP) and isoniazid (INH)], INH-resistance and streptomycin (SM)-resistance accounted for 1 percent, 3.8 percent and 3.8 percent of all resistance, respectively, and all isolates were susceptible to ethambutol (EM). The resistance was primary in four cases and acquired in three cases and previous treatment was associated with resistance (p = 0.0129). Among the 119 M. tuberculosis isolates, complete concordance of the results for INH and EM was observed between the MTT microplate and Bactec-MGIT 960TM methods. The observed agreement for RMP was 99 percent (sensitivity: 90 percent) and 95.8 percent for SM (sensitivity 90.9 percent), lower than those for other drugs. The MTT colourimetric method is an accurate, simple and low-cost alternative in settings with limited resources.

Ribotyping, biotyping and capsular typing of Haemophilus influenzae strains isolated from patients in Campinas, southeast Brazil

Forty-five Haemophilus influenzae strains isolated from patients were characterized based on biochemical characteristics. Their capsular types were determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR); they were compared, using two molecular methods [ribotyping with a specific DNA probe amplified from the 16S rDNA region from H. influenzae and through restriction fragment length polymorphism (RLFP) of an amplified 16S DNA region]. The strains were better discriminated by the ribotyping technique that used the 16S probe and by the combination of both techniques. Biotypes I and IV were the most common, followed by biotypes VI, VIII and III. Biotypes II and VII were not found. Most of the capsular samples were nontypable (89 percent), with capsular types a and b found in 2 and 9 percent of the samples, respectively. We concluded that there is a very close genetic identity among pathogenic and non-pathogenic strains.

Founder effect for the highly prevalent R337H mutation of tumor suppressor p53 in Brazilian patients with adrenocortical tumors

A incidência dos tumores adrenocorticais em crianças das regiões sul e sudeste do Brasil é maior que em outras partes do mundo. Este fato tem sido atribuído a identificação com alta frequência (78-97%) da mutação R337H no p53 em crianças brasileiras com tumores adrenocorticais. Considerando a elevada freqüência desta mutação germinativa na população brasileira, é provável que a mutação R337H tenha uma origem comum. Neste estudo, analisamos 2 marcadores polimórficos intragênicos (VNTRp53 e p53CA) em 22 pacientes (16 crianças e 6 adultos) com tumores adrenocorticais portadores da mutação germinativa R337H e em 60 indivíduos normais, através do programa GeneScan de análise de fragmentos. Seis e 16 alelos dos marcadores polimórficos VNTRp53 e p53CA foram respectivamente identificados. Dois alelos, ambos com 122 bp, foram identificados em 56,8% (VNTRp53) e 54,5% (p53CA) dos 44 alelos dos pacientes com tumores adrenocorticais. Em contraste, estes mesmos marcadores foram encontrados respectivamente em 18,3% e 14,2% dos 120 alelos dos indivíduos normais (p< 0,01, teste do chi-quadrado). Identificamos também, um haplótipo idêntico para o locus p53 em 95% dos pacientes com tumores adrenocorticais com a mutação R337H. Em conclusão, demonstramos uma forte evidência de co-segregação entre dois marcadores polimórficos intragênicos do p53 e a mutação germinativa R337H, indicando que esta mutação teve origem num ancestral comum na maioria dos pacientes brasileiros com tumores adrenocorticais.

Complexo de Carney: relato de um caso e revisão da literatura / Carney complex: a case report and literature review

Complexo de Carney (CNC) pode ser definido como uma forma de neoplasia endócrina múltipla familial associada a alteração de pigmentação cutânea e de mucosa, doença nodular pigmentosa primária das adrenais, mixomas cardíacos e cutâneos, adenomas hipofisários produtores de GH e PRL, neoplasia testicular, adenoma ou carcinoma de tireóide, além de cistos ovarianos. CNC tem herança autossômica dominante e possui manifestações clínicas que são, em alguns aspectos, similares às da síndrome de McCune-Albright. Recentemente, genes envolvidos na via de sinalização dependente de AMPc foram implicados na etiologia do CNC. Vamos apresentar, inicialmente, um caso de um paciente masculino de 17 anos com doença adrenal nodular pigmentosa, lentiginose facial e osteoporose severa. A seguir, procuramos analisar os aspectos clínicos e a genética molecular do CNC, assim como descrever os critérios diagnósticos e recomendações para o seguimento.

IS6110 restriction fragment length polymorphism of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolated from patients with pulmonary tuberculosis in Campinas, Brazil: evidence of intercontinental distribution of strains

Tuberculosis (TB) is a major concern in developing countries. In Brazil, few genotyping studies have been conducted to verify the number of IS6110 copies present in local prevalent strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the distribution and clustering of strains. IS6110 DNA fingerprinting was performed on a sample of M. tuberculosis isolates from patients with AFB smear-positive pulmonary TB, at a hospital in Brazil. The IS6110 profiles were analyzed and compared to a M. tuberculosis database of the Houston Tuberculosis Initiative, Houston, US. Seventy-six fingerprints were obtained from 98 patients. All M. tuberculosis strains had an IS6110 copy number between 5-21 allowing for differentiation of the isolates. Human immunodeficiency virus infection was confirmed in nearly half the patients of whom data was available. Fifty-eight strains had unique patterns, while 17 strains were grouped in 7 clusters (2 to 6 strains). When compared to the HTI database, 6 strains matched isolates from El Paso, Ciudad de Juarez, Houston, and New York. Recently acquired infections were documented in 19 percent of cases. The community transmission of infection is intense, since some clustered strains were recovered during the four-year study period. The intercontinental dissemination of M. tuberculosis strains is suspected by demonstration of identical fingerprints in a distant country