Biomedical subjects

N F da Costa

Publications and source records attributed to N F da Costa.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1999

[Prevalence of serologic markers of hepatitis B virus in hospital personnel].

OBJECTIVE: To verify the prevalence of the anti-HBc, anti-HBs and HBsAg markers of hepatitis B virus, and to identify the risk factors determining occupational infection with this virus among hospital personnel. METHODS: Samples of serum from 210 persons both male and female who work in different occupations at a hospital university, were analysed. The technique employed was the immunoenzymatic assay using commercial kits. RESULTS: As a control group, samples of serum from 45 volunteer blood donors were utilized. It was verified that 20.5% of the hospital personnel presented a positive reaction to at least one of the markers songht, as against 6.6% of the control group. The prevalence of each marker separately was: anti-HBc 8.1%, anti-HBs 5.2%, and HBsAg 2.9% in the hospital personnel; and 4.4%, 2.2% and 0.0% in the control group. The simultaneous presence of the anti-HBc and anti-HBs markers was detected in 4.3% of the workers. In the control group, the presence of the anti-HBc and anti-HBs markers was detected, isolately, with respective prevalences of 4.4% and 2.2%. Those who presented the highest rates of positivite reaction were: laboratory technicians 24.0%, nurses 23.6%, physicians 20.8%, and cleaning personnel 18.2%. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that direct contact with patients and handling of blood and other body fluids are risk factors related to occupational infection with HBV. Therefore, it is recommended that hospital personnel be vaccinated against hepatitis B.

Adult↗

PubMed1994

[The physician facing the evolution of ethical concepts in our times].

Medical ethics institutionalized with clinical activities being determined by the patient's interests as they developed in the doctor-patient relationship. The ethical nature of the health concept was emphasized in the positive definitions of health such as the one by the W.H.O.. The established goals for clinical intervention surpass the effective medical capabilities. The curricula of medical schools will have to be reviewed in light of these goals. We characterized the contemporary values and the way medicine has adapted to them: superspecialization and doctors' change in social image brought about by the impact of technocracy in clinical activities, increasing costs of medical care, the interference of non medical managers in the process of clinical decision, litigation and breaches of confidentiality. Technical and social developments lead to new ethical problems in which the moral principles of the doctor can be confronted with patients' demands in situations of difficult choice. Contraception, abortion, genetic engineering, transplants, allocation of scarce resources, the expansion of drug dependency and euthanasia are examples of problems that clinicians frequently face today.

Ethics, Medical↗

PubMed1993

[2 days of drug dependence consultation in Portugal].

This paper reports the results of a survey of all State outpatient clinics for drug addiction in Portugal. Two consecutive days of consultations in November 1992 were considered. The Health Ministry's SPTT--Service for Drug Addiction Prevention and Treatment--coordinates the activity of all the centres and promoted the inquiry. The main objective was to simultaneously evaluate the state of the population under treatment in what concerns the therapeutic methods used, their clinical costs and efficacy. This methodology may allow us to draw an accurate portrait of the Portuguese drug addiction public health program. We received 535 answers which we estimate to be two thirds of the consultations. Heroin abuse is the main problem in 91.3% of all cases plus 3.9% that associate heroin and cocaine abuse. Cannabis comes next with 2.1%, alcohol abuse with 0.8% and benzodiazepines with 0.5%. In what concerns the clinical results, 60% were abstinent: 15.1% were abstinent for longer than six months, 9.9% for longer than three months but less than six months, 19.8% were abstinent for less than that but longer than a month and 14.5% for longer than a week but less than a month. The main therapeutic approaches were psychotherapeutic in 54.1%, psychopharmacologic in 42.1% and socio-therapeutic in 2.3% of the cases. The author presents further data and discusses the results and their clinical implications.

HIV Seropositivity↗

PubMed1992

[Culture diseases. Brief review on the way characteristics of today's life affect the ways of mental disease].

Culture is expressed in the content of psychiatric symptoms. In this paper we try to establish a relationship between the pathoplasticity of some paradigmatic psychiatric disorders and characteristics of values and life styles in developed societies. We argue that some aspects of a marked hedonism hide a dangerous nihilism and they both articulate, in a discrepant way, with opposing responsible hiperrational and hypercompetitive register. Doctrinaire fanaticisms increase markedly in other places in the globe with endemic shortages while solid values lack in the societies of abundance. This affects mental health.

Culture↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Psychotherapy in AIDS].

Infection with human immunodeficiency virus creates the expectation of terrible disease marked by an inexorable physical decline. The majority of the affected patients are relatively young and pleasure plays an important role in their lives which will be marked by the possibility of an early death. This is a peculiar situation with an unpredictable evolution that mandates a reformulation of the psychotherapeutic approach mainly in the achievable goals and the practical way to manage them. We describe our two years psychiatric and psychotherapeutic experience with AIDS patients followed by the H.S.M. Infectious Diseases Department.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗