Ilka Veras Falcão

Does rapid HIV testing result in an early diagnosis and reduce the waiting time for patients to receive medical care

ABSTRACT The implementation of rapid HIV testing in Brazil began in 2006 for specific groups, and from 2009 was extended to the Counseling and Testing Centers (CTC) in certain Brazilian capitals. The aim of this study was to compare two groups of individuals: those diagnosed with HIV infection by conventional testing and those diagnosed with rapid testing, with respect to: the waiting time before receiving medical care, the time of the first laboratory tests and the virological, immune and clinical status. This is a cross-sectional study to compare a group with individuals diagnosed by conventional testing (2006–2008) and another with those diagnosed by rapid testing (2010–2011).The median time between blood collection and diagnosis of HIV in the conventional test group was 76 days, while in the rapid test group 94.2% of the subjects received their results on the same day of blood collection (p < 0.001). In the conventional test group, the median period of time before the first consultation with an infectious disease specialist was 99 days, and for the rapid test group the time was 14 days (p < 0.001). The median time between the first blood sample and the first results of the CD4 count and viral load was approximately 2.5 times lower in the rapid test group (p < 0.001 for both). The median CD4 count in the rapid test group (472) was higher than in the conventional test group (397) (p = 0.01). The introduction of rapid HIV testing as a diagnostic strategy has reduced the waiting times for medical care and laboratory tests and also allowed earlier diagnosis of HIV infection than with the conventional test.

Factors associated with speech-language disorders in motorcycle accident victims

Purpose To investigate factors associated with speech-language disorders in victims of motorcycle accidents. Methods This is a cross-sectional study. Victims of motorcycle accidents studied were treated at Hospital da Restauração between June and July 2014. The data were collected by consulting the records and direct interviews with these, at admission and after discharge. For analysis were raised single frequencies, average and chi-square test or Fishers exact test. The margin of error used in the statistical tests was 5%, and the intervals were obtained with 95% reliability. Results 99 individuals were studied, 90.9% male, the mean age of 32.7 years. It found a high percentage of 42.3% of drunk drivers and 51.5% were not enabled. The Head Injuries were present in 30.3% of cases. The most affected body area were the lower limbs (71.7%), followed by the head and face region (56.6%). It was also found that 30.3% had complaints of speech pathology after hospital discharge and a statistically significant association between speech therapy complaint and not enabled (p=0.012) and collisions between bikes (p=0.004). Conclusion There was a high percentage of lesions in the head and face resulting from accidents, associated mainly not eligible to drive bike and collisions between motorcycles, suggesting that these factors can aggravate injuries speech therapy.