Dear Editor, The article “Endobronchial ultrasound: minimally invasive technology to aid in the diagnosis of thoracic diseases”,() contributes to technical-diagnostic evolution of pulmonary lesions. Endobronchial ultrasound with a radial transducer enabled to perform cytopathological examination and transbronchial biopsy of small lung lesions. Bronchoscopic radial ultrasound and fluoroscopic images are usually combined procedures. The ability to target small peripheral lesions is technically complex due to the challenging localization of small airways in relation to lung lesions. For this reason, we began […]

So, where do we stand? At our center we objectively draw attention to the presence of B-cell precursors in flow cytometry reports whenever the total number of CD34+ HSC, excluding the presence of B-cell precursors, is less than 2.0 x 106 cells per kilogram of recipient’s weight. Therefore, to alert the transplant physician about the possibility that – due to the presence of B-cell precursors – the bag destined for the HSCT may contain a suboptimal number of CD34+ HSC, […]

Dear Editor, The article “Meta-analyses on COVID-19: scoping review and quality analysis”,() published in this journal, shows its relevance when planning meta-analysis and carrying out pertinent discussion about the role of this type of methodology in the current pandemic. […]

Dear Editor, The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic had a major impact on medical education, which had to be redesigned to use new platforms and teaching resources to complement the traditional in-person modality.() Ophthalmology was one of the specialties with more residents infected by coronavirus in New York City. This was due to the proximity between the physician and patient during the ophthalmologic examination.() Therefore, teaching of ophthalmology had to be adjusted for undergraduate medical students. […]

Dear Editor, On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) characterized the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), as a pandemic.(1) The novel coronavirus disease has originated as a cluster of unexplained cases of pneumonia in Wuhan, China, and it has scaled to new heights of mortality by affecting people both physically and mentally.[…]

Dear Editor, Cholera is a well-known disease, caused by the toxin of the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, and has resulted in severe problems to the health systems of African countries, over the years, even after more than 50 years after its resurgence, in 1970. Among the nearly 1.4 to 4.0 million cases, and 21,000 to 143,000 deaths per year worldwide, most of the burden occurs in African countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa.() […]

Dear Editor, I began my school life in a white institution thanks to the good socio-economic status achieved by my parents after years of hard working. At the school, I was always the only black girl in the classroom. For this reason, at the age of 6-years, I became aware of the perverse racism presented in our society. […]

Dear Editor, It has been well established in science that the mouth is an entry and site of replication of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes the coronavirus 2019 disease (COVID-19). Hence, oral health care and use of broad-spectrum antimicrobial products become relevant.() Recently the use of phthalocyanine derivative mouthwash (PDM), has been investigated, demonstrating in vitro activity in reduction of viral load of SARS-CoV-2, in addition to clinical improvement and less severe disease, with no […]

Dear Editor, A large part of the world’s population has become infected by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).( ) While most SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals were asymptomatic or presented with mild symptoms, some were severely affected. The most common COVID-19 symptoms include fever, cough, pneumonia, dyspnea and acute lung injury. Although respiratory symptoms are more frequent, extrapulmonary conditions including coagulation disorders, cardiac injury, kidney failure, and metabolic disorder, can also occur […]

Dear Editor I bring considerations as to the article, “Profile of patients with hypertension and/or diabetes mellitus in Primary Healthcare units.”( ) The importance of prevention and health promotion when related to chronic diseases is well known, making Primary Healthcare decisive and categorical, since it performs basic interventions involving harm reduction and health maintenance. Within the group of chronic diseases,( ) diabetes mellitus and hypertension currently account for the main causes of mortality, a major global public health problem.( ) […]