Acylase-Based Coatings on Sandblasted Polydimethylsiloxane-Based Materials for Antimicrobial Applications.

Indwelling medical devices, such as urinary catheters, often experience bacterial colonization, forming biofilms that resist antibiotics and the host's immune defenses through quorum sensing (QS), a chemical communication system. This study explores the development of antimicrobial coatings by immobilizing acylase, a quorum-quenching enzyme, on sandblasted polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) surfaces. PDMS, commonly used in medical devices, was sandblasted to increase its surface roughness, enhancing acylase attachment.

Two- and three-dimensional piezoelectric scaffolds for bone tissue engineering.

The incidence of bone disorders worldwide is increasing. For this reason, new and more effective strategies for bone repair are needed. The most common strategy used for cell regeneration relies in biochemical stimulation while biophysical stimulation using mechanical, and electrical cues is a promising, however, still under-investigated field.

[Agreement between center of disease control and word health organization reference growth].

The objective this study was to verify the agreement of the guidelines recommended by CDC and WHO to evaluate the nutritional state. This is a cross-sectional study, which counted with the participation of 254 children of ages 3 to 11 months and 29 days from São Paulo and Ribeirão Preto, performed from June 2005 to July 2006. The anthropometric indexes were obtained using the software available on the CDC and WHO websites.

[Visitation in the ICU: a meeting of the unknown].

The aim was to describe the visitors' conceptions about assistance they receive from the nursing group as well as to identify their needs. It is a descriptive study using qualitative approach, based on an intensive care's observation in a hospital from Rio de Janeiro, with 12 visitors of patients under hospitalization. The data were collected by a semi-structured interview.

[Application of subjective quality indicators in intensive care].

Our aim is to describe the clients'perception related to to the admission in the Intensive Care. We have developed a descriptive study based on a qualitative approach in the intensive care in a university hospital in RJ, from May, 2003 to May, 2004. Thirty-two clients participated in this study just after hospital discharge.