Microplastics and nanoplastics in haemodialysis waters: Emerging threats to be in our radar.

Microplastics are present in the environment, in drinking water, in human blood and there is evidence of nanoplastics in tap water. The objective of this work was to analyze the possibility of hemodialysis patients being contaminated by micro and nanoplastics (MNPs) during dialysis treatment. The motivation for this investigation is the fact that hemodialysis patients use about 300-600 L of drinking water per week, which may be contaminated by MNPs. A literature review, a field investigation in a London hospital and an estimation of MNPs intake in patients were carried out. The results showed potential points of risk of contamination of patients by MNPs in hemodialysis. It was also estimated that for a filtration efficiency of 99 % for MNPs, the amount of microplastics that can penetrate the kidneys of patients is 0.0021-3768 particles/week. The assessment concludes that hemodialysis patients are at high risk of MNP contamination.

Avaliaçäo dos equipamentos de radiodiagnóstico da cidade do Recife / Evaluation of radiodiagnostic equipment of the Recife city

Um estudo preliminar das condições de funcionamento dos equipamentos de raios-X que operam nas clínicas e hospitais de Recife é apresentado neste trabalho. Os resultados mostraram que 78,2 por cento dos equipamentos testados apresentam coincidência de 1 a 2 por cento entre o campo luminoso e o feixe de radiação. Com relação à exatidão do valor da kV e do tempo de irradiação, os resultados indicaram que 84,6 por cento dos equipamentos analisados apresentam uma divergência maior que 10 por cento entre o tempo real de irradiação e o valor prefixado no painel e que 46,2 por cento paresentam variações maiores que 10 por cento com relação ao potencial do tubo.

This k paper reports the preliminary results of a survey aiming to determine the working conditions of x-ray units operating in hospitais and clinics in the city of Recife, Pernambuco. The results show that the discrepancy between the light field and the x-ray field stayed in the 1 to 2% interval in 78.2% of the equipments tested . The results show also that there is only a fair accuracy regarding kilovoltage and inadiation time. The discrepancy between the preset time and the "true" irradiation time was higher than 10% in 84.6% of the cases. The discrepancy between the preset and the applied kilovoltage, on the other hand, was higher than 10% in 46.2% of the inspected units.