ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To culturally adapt and validate the SPICTTM to Spanish, which is a brief and simple tool to support a better identification of chronic patients who have palliative care needs. METHODS For this study, we designed a multicenter and national project between the centers of Galicia, Balearic Islands, and Andalusia. For the process of translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the SPICTTM to Spanish, we followed the steps proposed by Beaton et al. with successive translations and subsequent consensus of […]

Regulatory Impact Analysis, which is recommended to regulatory departments, aims to improve regulatory quality by providing information about the costs and benefits of regulation as well as solutions to current issues to enhance the decision-making process. This article discusses the importance of Regulatory Impact Analysis in the context of the National Agency for Sanitary Surveillance performance as well as the agency’s current phase of regulation improvement and strengthening. Also, the main definitions related to the regulatory field as well as […]

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the spatial distribution of Aedes albopictus population to provide input for developing sampling plans and supporting decision making on the control of this vector in field sampling. METHODS: A study was carried out in an urban area that has a vestige of primary vegetation, 20 km away from Dourados, Midwestern Brazil. Ten samplings were conducted between January 28, 2003 and April 9, 2003, using ovitraps which were monitored once a week, and distributed in a fixed sample […]

OBJECTIVE: To develop and compare two mathematical models, the first one based on logistic regression and the second one on fuzzy sets theory, aiming at defining a laboratory testing-based measure of indication for submitting patients to parathyroid scintigraphy. METHODS: One-hundred and ninety-four patients with serum calcium and parathyroid hormone available were identified from the data registry of parathyroid scintigraphy of a diagnostic laboratory in São Paulo, Southern Brazil, in the period between January 2000 and December 2004. The logistic regression […]