Practices for caring in nursing: Brazilian research groups.

BACKGROUND: The present study considers the production of knowledge and the interactions in the environment of research and their relationships in the system of caring in nursing and health. AIM: To elaborate a theoretical model of the organization of the practices used for caring, based on the experiences made by the research groups of administration and management in nursing, in Brazil. METHODS: The study is based on grounded theory. Twelve leaders of research groups, working as professors in public universities in the south and the south-east of Brazil, distributed in sample groups, were interviewed. FINDINGS: The core phenomenon 'research groups of administration and management in nursing: arrangements and interactions in the system of caring in nursing' was derived from the categories: conceptual bases and contexts of the research groups; experiencing interactions in the research groups; functionality of the research groups; and outputs of the research groups. The research groups are integrated in the system of caring in nursing. CONCLUSIONS: The activities of the Brazilian administration and management in nursing research groups are process oriented and in a process of constant renovation, socially relevant, operate in a complex scenario and contribute to the advancement of the organizations of the system of caring in nursing through strengthening the connection among academia, service and community.

Cytomegalovirus infection in a day-care center in the municipality of São Paulo.

The prevalence of antibodies against cytomegalovirus (CMV) and the incidence of CMV infection were tested in 98 children aged 5 to 36 months who attended the day-care center of a University hospital in São Paulo. At the beginning of the study the overall prevalence of anti-CMV IgG antibodies was 44% (43/98). Saliva and/or urine samples were obtained from 38 of the 43 children that were seropositive at the beginning of the study for isolation of the virus, and 52.6% of these children were found to excrete CMV in one of the two materials. Among the 37 children that were initially seronegative from whom it was possible to obtain a new blood sample 6 to 12 months later, 22 (59.5%) presented seroconversion. The rate of viral excretion through urine or saliva from the children that seroconverted was 50%. These results indicate that CMV infection is frequent and occurs early among the children who attend this day-care center. However, controlled studies using molecular epidemiology techniques are needed to define more precisely the role of day-care centers in CMV dissemination.