São Paulo medical journal = Revista paulista de medicina
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the adequacy of blood depends on blood donation rates and numbers of blood donors. To prepare adequate blood supplies, it is essential to investigate the barriers and factors that stop individuals from donating. This study aimed to identify the causes of lapsed donation at our center. ⋯ the reasons for not returning to donate are varied and may correlate with demographic characteristics. In this study, the main reason for not returning was lack of time. Changing donation hours so that donors can donate after work, providing mobile teams at workplaces, and shortening the duration of the donation process may help increase repeat donation rates.
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among burn patients, it is common to use colloidal substances under the justification that it is necessary to correct the oncotic pressure of the plasma, thereby reducing the edema in the burnt area and the hypotension. The aim here was to assess the risk of hospital mortality, comparing the use of albumin and crystalloid solutions for these patients. ⋯ the use of albumin among patients with moderate and major burns was associated with considerably increased mortality.
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Identification of women at risk of bone fracture is becoming less dependent on evaluating bone mineral density through placing greater value on clinical risk factors. The aim of this study was to evaluate the sensitivity of the Osteorisk clinical tool for identifying Brazilian postmenopausal women with osteoporosis, compared with bone densitometry. ⋯ Osteorisk seems to present good sensitivity for identifying postmenopausal women at risk of osteoporosis. It should be used when bone densitometry is not easily available or as a means of selecting individuals for referral for bone densitometry.
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Writer's cramp is a kind of focal hand dystonia that appears when individuals are writing. Since pharmacological treatment has not shown the desired therapeutic response, a study on immobilization of the damaged musculature was performed on two individuals with writer's cramp, using splints with the objective of reducing the handwriting abnormalities. ⋯ Two patients presenting writer's cramp who had previously undergone different therapies, including botulinum toxin, without an adequate response, participated in a body awareness program, followed by immobilization of the hand musculature damaged by dystonia, by means of splints, with handwriting training. At the end of the procedure, objective and subjective improvements in the motor pattern of writing could be observed. The immobilization of the dystonic musculature of the hand by means of splints and the motor training of handwriting helped to improve and consequently to reduce the dystonic component observed in the writer's cramp.
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oral narrative is a means of language development assessment. However, standardized data for deaf patients are scarce. The aim here was to compare the use of narrative competence between hearing-impaired and normal-hearing children. ⋯ hearing-impaired children have abnormalities in different aspects of language, involving form, content and use, in relation to their normal-hearing peers. Narrative competence was also associated with the children's ages and the school type.