Level function levels and oxidative stress markers in patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in the Brazilian Amazon

This study aimed to correlate the values of liver markers with oxidative stress markers in patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in the Brazilian Amazon. A total of 30 patients from the Tuberculosis clinic of a referral hospital were admitted to the study. Whole blood samples were collected for analysis of liver enzyme values and oxidative stress markers by spectrophotometry. The prevalence was male (60%) and the 18-29 age group was the most affected. Patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis presented catalase values with a median equal to 6.94 U/gHb and for glutathione, the median was equal to 14.76 µg∕ml. As for the values of liver enzymes (AST, ALT, Gamma-GT and Alkaline phosphatase) the patients had medians equal to 60.50 (U/L); 80 (U/L); 54 (U/L); and 100 (U/L) respectively (p<0.0001). The results suggest a hepatotoxic effect of the drug, which recommends further studies with a larger number of samples in order to investigate the predictors of liver damage in patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.

Analysis of the clinical practice of the pharmacist in a community pharmacy: A Cross-sectional Study from Brazil

Background:

The pharmaceutical profession has experienced renewals over time. In community pharmacies, pharmaceutical services contribute to the public health system in Brazil. The development of these tasks, in collaboration with professionals from the multidisciplinary team, demonstrates the involvement with the well-being, health and improvement of the patient’s life.

Objectives:

This study aimed to identify the professional practice of pharmacists, their understandings and attitudes towards clinical practice in community pharmacies in northern Brazil.

Methods:

This is a cross-sectional descriptive study, based on a questionnaire carried out with pharmacists for seven months in the municipality of Belém, in the state of Pará. Data were expressed using descriptive statistics and the results were shown as a percentage.

Results:

182 pharmacists participated. Females were predominant (80.2%) and the average age of participants was 34.2 years. 77.4% graduated from private institutions and 59.3% already have a specialization. 38.4% hold the position of technical director. 50.5% of respondents say that community pharmacies have a reserved place for service. The most used clinical services were pharmacotherapy review (89.5%), health education (60.9%), dispensing (34%), therapeutic monitoring (25.8%) and pharmacotherapeutic follow-up (4.9%). In the study, it was realized that community pharmacies should not be seen as a commercial place but rather as a health care facility.

Conclusions:

Therefore, these establishments must adapt at a structural and professional level, to meet an increasingly growing demand of a population in need of services offered with quality health care.

[Nursing care: a phenomenological view of the leukemic patient]

The present investigation approaches the nursing care process from the patient with leukemia perspective. The author departs from the feeling of uneasiness emerged in her quotidian either as a nurse practitioner and nursing professor and seeks to apprehend the sense of care within the everyday existence of the leukemic patient as a world-inserted human being. Also, the author presents reflexions on the path to be followed and finds an appropriate method to disclose the subjects veiled discourse based either in the phenomenological qualitative methodology and Heideggerian Hermeneutics; thus, the mode by which nursing care is perceived by the leukemic patient may be seen as a non-authentic from of being-with, have the nursing care delivered in a distinctive way, care given with patience and understanding, and receive that same type of care as an authentic form of being-with. By uncovering the sense emerged through those speeches, the investigator is likely to re-learn the care required to be provided in accordance with the studied subjects speech.