Juiced, finalmente o beisebol

A Major League Baseball confirmou o que todo o mundo esportivo sabia: há doping no beisebol. Na gíria, “juiced”. Um esporte sem qualquer controle de doping. Ontem, foi liberado um relatório imenso sobre jogadores com alta performance envolvidos no uso de testosterona e hormônio do crescimento. (clique aqui para ver a versão completa) Aproveitando o post anterior, por enquanto – acredito eu, na minha ingenuidade – o doping está somente na química fina, mas quando chegar na biotecnologia.... Quem quiser aprofundar o tema, Charles Yesalis publicou vários livros sobre o tema. Basta procurar na Amazon. Pena que o tema ainda não se difundiu no Brasil. Por enquanto somente o caso Rebeca e, o ridículo “doping” com finasterida de Romário. Na figura, charge de Barry Bonds, o recordista de home run, mas visivelmente “juiced”. NEW YORK -- Former Sen. George Mitchell said on Thursday that performance-enhancing drug use has been pervasive in the sport for more than a decade as he released his findings in the shape of a 311-page report, which was fashioned during the past 20 months of investigations. "Everyone involved in baseball shares responsibility," Mitchell said during a news conference at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. "Commissioners, club officials, the Players Association and players. I can't be any clearer than that." In all, 89 players were named in the report, including free agent Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte of the New York Yankees, Miguel Tejada of the Houston Astros, Eric Gagne of the Milwaukee Brewers and Paul Lo Duca of the Washington Nationals, as well as a list of players like Barry Bonds who have already been publicly associated with steroid use. The report itself is posted at MLB.com and is available to read in its entirety.

Sai a química fina, entra a biotecnologia.

The Wall Street Journal apresenta relato impressionante da queda de empregos na Big Pharma. (vejam a figura) A causa é o fim da química fina no ramo inovador e de marca. Assiste-se a sua transformação em commodities e, consequentemente em genéricos. O futuro está com a biotecnologia. Saem os químicos, entram os biólogos. Aqui, temos a CNTBio .....bem, o que faz a CNTBio?

PARADIGM LOST

As Drug Industry Struggles,Chemists Face Layoff Wave Lipitor Pioneer Is Out At Doomed Pfizer Lab;A Blockbuster Drought By AVERY JOHNSON See Corrections & Amplifications belowDecember 11, 2007; Page A1 ANN ARBOR, Michigan -- In January, Pfizer Inc. announced it was closing its storied research laboratories here, laying off 2,100 people. Among the casualties: Bob Sliskovic, a 23-year lab veteran who helped create the world's most successful drug. The closure and Dr. Sliskovic's abrupt change of circumstances are emblematic of the pharmaceutical industry's declining fortunes. It was at the Ann Arbor facility in the late 1980s that Dr. Sliskovic first assembled the chemicals that make up Lipitor, the cholesterol-lowering drug that has generated about $80 billion in sales since its launch and ranks as the bestselling pharmaceutical product ever. Today, Lipitor is nearing the end of its patent life, and Pfizer hasn't been able to come up with enough promising new drugs to replace it. Following that initial breakthrough some 20 years ago, Dr. Sliskovic worked on several other research projects, but none panned out. His losing streak mirrors the industry's. A byproduct of the late-19th-century chemical business, pharmaceutical research thrived for more than a century by finding chemical combinations to treat diseases. But after contributing substantially both to human health and drug-industry profits, it has failed to produce significant innovations in recent years. igh failure rates have long plagued chemistry-based drug research. Between 5,000 and 10,000 compounds are tested for every drug that makes it to market. In recent years, the problem seems to have gotten worse. Despite spending tens of billions of dollars more on research and development, pharmaceutical companies have fewer and fewer drugs to show for it. In 2006, the industry received Food and Drug Administration approval for just 18 new chemical-based drugs, down from 53 in 1996. Moreover, many of those drugs are variations of existing medicines. Robert Massie, president of the American Chemical Society's database of chemistry research, says some researchers are questioning how many more chemical combinations there are that are useful against diseases. "It's like how coming out with metal drivers in golf was a huge innovation, but now it's incremental. You're just coming out with drivers that are a little longer or rounder," he says.

No ar, RECIIS

No ar, a Revista Eletrônica de Comunicação, Informação & Inovação em Saúde da Fundação Oswaldo Cruz.

Clique aqui para acessar o site e, leia o manifesto de lançamento abaixo.

RECIIS é uma revista pluralista, bilíngüe, não-doutrinária, voltada para a compreensão da dinâmica do presente da arena da saúde, aberta a contribuições que entendam a ciência, a tecnologia e a inovação como expressões, geograficamente situadas, de processos culturais, políticos, econômicos, sociais e históricos, e passíveis de questionamentos e transformações. A revista publica, semestralmente, após avaliação pelos pares, conteúdos críticos sobre informação, comunicação e inovação em saúde. Os manuscritos poderão ser enviados em português ou inglês. Todos os textos aprovados serão traduzidos pela RECIIS e publicados em ambos os idiomas.

Wal-Mart põe consulta médica na prateleira

Esse é o título da reportagem de Valor Econômico de hoje, 12/12/07, sobre a disposição da Wal-Mart de oferecer consulta médica a R$20,00 na rede de supermercados Todo Dia, em Olinda, Pernambuco. Os consultórios serão gerenciados pela Intermédica (que não recebeu a reportagem do jornal para maiores explicações). O laboratório Lavoisier já utiliza locais como shopping-centers para coleta de exames. Nos Estados Unidos, as Rede Clinic funcionam muito bem, mas sem a presença de médicos, mas dependem da legislação de cada estado. Bem, vamos ver o acontecerá.

Harvard adapta anuidades

A Harvard University está atraindo alunos de classe média com descontos de acordo com a renda familiar. Altruísmo? Não exatamente, somente a necessidade de não perder os melhores alunos. Bem, aqui a discussão andou um pouco com a visita da Ministra da Educação da China e a "excelente" performance dos formandos em medicina no exame do CRM. Harvard announces sweeping middle-income initiative Cambridge, Mass. – Harvard President Drew Faust and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Michael D. Smith today (Dec. 10) announced a sweeping overhaul of financial aid policies designed to make Harvard College more affordable for families across the income spectrum. The new initiative focuses on ensuring greater affordability for middle- and upper-middle-income families through major enhancements to grant aid, the elimination of student loans, and the removal of home equity from financial aid calculations. This initiative builds on Harvard’s recent pathbreaking policies to ensure that families with incomes below $60,000 are not asked to contribute to the cost of sending their children to Harvard. The new policy has three major components: • The “Zero to 10 Percent Standard”: Harvard’s new financial aid policy dramatically reduces the amount families with incomes below $180,000 will be expected to pay. Families with incomes above $120,000 and below $180,000 and with assets typical for these income levels will be asked to pay 10 percent of their incomes. For those with incomes below $120,000, the family contribution percentage will decline steadily from 10 percent, reaching zero for those with incomes at $60,000 and below. For example, a typical family making $120,000 will be asked to pay approximately $12,000 for a child to attend Harvard College, compared with more than $19,000 under existing student aid policies. For a typical family with $180,000 of income, the payment would be approximately $18,000, compared with more than $30,000 today. The new standard reduces the cost to families by one-third to one-half, making the price of a Harvard education for students on financial aid comparable to the cost of in-state tuition and fees at the nation’s leading public universities. The new initiative also establishes a standard that students and their families can easily understand. • No Loans: In calculating the financial aid packages offered to undergraduates, Harvard will not expect students to take out loans. Loan funds will be replaced by increased grants from the University. Of course, students will be permitted to cover their reduced cost of attendance through loans if they wish. • Eliminate Home Equity from Consideration: Under the new policy, Harvard will no longer consider home equity in determining a family’s ability to pay for college. This will reduce the price by an average of $4,000 per year for affected families as compared with current practice. “We want all students who might dream of a Harvard education to know that it is a realistic and affordable option,” said Faust. “Education is fundamental to the future of individuals and the nation, and we are determined to do our part to restore its place as an engine of opportunity, rather than a source of financial stress. With no loans, no consideration of home equity, and a dramatic increase in grant aid, we are not tinkering at the margins, we are rebuilding the engine. “This is a huge investment for Harvard,” Faust continued, “but there is no more important commitment we could make. Excellence and opportunity must go hand in hand.” (restante da matéria, clique aqui)

Beber e Dirigir:um estudo brasileiro.

DUAILIBI, Sérgio, PINSKY, Ilana e LARANJEIRA, Ronaldo. Prevalência do beber e dirigir em Diadema, estado de São Paulo.

Rev. Saúde Pública, dez. 2007, vol.41, no.6, p.1058-1061. ISSN 0034-8910. Problemas decorrentes do consumo de álcool em motoristas têm sido amplamente estudados no mundo e indicam elevadas taxas de morbidade e mortalidade relacionadas à bebida e direção. Existem poucos estudos nacionais a respeito. Assim, realizou-se estudo com o objetivo de estimar a prevalência do uso de álcool por motoristas conduzindo veículos e testar a aceitabilidade dos bafômetros ativos e passivos. Foram avaliados 908 motoristas nas principais vias de trânsito de Diadema, estado de São Paulo, de fevereiro de 2005 a março de 2006. A metodologia adotada foi do tipo pontos de fiscalização de sobriedade. Em 23,7% dos motoristas foi encontrado algum traço de álcool no ar expirado; 19,4% estavam com níveis de álcool iguais ou acima dos limites permitidos pela legislação. O bafômetro passivo mostrou-se confiável e com resultados comparáveis aos do ativo. Esses achados foram seis vezes superiores aos encontrados internacionalmente, sugerindo a relevância desse problema. São necessárias políticas específicas para combater esse problema, além de outras pesquisas em âmbito nacional.

Dirigir embrigado: lá, como cá,mal motoristas há. Mas, impunidade......

O ator Kiefer Sutherland – o Jack Bauer de “24 horas” - ficará preso 48 dias por dirigir embriagado. Em Phoenix, Arizona há um site (clique aqui) com legislação de trânsito, descrição de vítimas e, principalmente, nome e foto de culpado por dirigir embriagado. Nos Estados Unidos, além das penalidades criminais, há indenizações cíveis pesadas e, não há seguradora que aceite um infrator que dirigiu bêbado como cliente.

Aqui, Edmundo bate um bolão no Palmeiras, Alexandre Pires ganha muito dinheiro em shows e, brevemente o comentarista da Globo retornará, talvez somente para os jogos da segunda divisão.

A regulamentação dos propagandistas farmacêuticos (nos EUA)

The Washington Post (reportagem completa) divulgou ontem reportagem sobre projeto de lei restrita ao Distrito de Colúmbia regulamentando a profissão e atividade do representante farmacêutico. Se aprovada a lei, a implicação será o estabelecimento de código de ética e de um board (conselho regional). Uma das implicações será o controle das atividades de vigilância da prescrição médica em prática lá como cá. Leiam o final da reportagem, onde há sempre a questão dos médicos. Barry is particularly critical of the legislation's licensing rules. "If you regulate detailers, so what?" he asked. "The doctors don't need to be protected from detailers." Christopher McCoy disagrees. McCoy, a physician in internal medicine in Minnesota, is a member of the prescription privacy committee of the National Physicians Alliance. The group of doctors, formed two years ago, does not accept money from pharmaceutical companies. There has been controversy recently over doctors receiving money from drug companies for speaking engagements and other activities, which critics say influences doctors' prescription choices. "Our self-confidence makes us believe we are immune to marketing," McCoy said. "Why would the drug companies spend $12 billion if it didn't work?" The industry actually spends an average of $25 billion a year on marketing, and 60 percent of that is for pharmaceutical samples, Powell said. Last year, it also spent $55.2 billion on research and development of new medicines, she said. McCoy said his group is most worried about data mining. "They have more information than we do. Most doctors I talk to are offended by this," he said. A U.S. District judge blocked New Hampshire this year from enforcing its law prohibiting data mining on the grounds that it restricts commercial free speech. State Rep. Cindy Rosenwald (D) said the state is appealing. "There's no question that using doctors' prescriptions to fine-tune your marketing plan has an impact on drug sales," she said. "There's no other industry that has such detailed information of their customers without their permission." Powell said data mining has benefits for patients because sales representatives can learn more about which drugs doctors are prescribing and better inform them of their effects.

A eliminação da Doença de Chagas no Brasil.

Abaixo, resumo de artigo excelente de Eduardo Massad, meu colega na Faculdade de Medicina da USP sobre a eliminação da Doenças de Chagas no Brasil. Alerto que cálculos e fórmulas são meio indigestos aos não iniciados. Mas, o autor pode fornecer o artigo original e informar mais em edmassad@dim.fm.usp.br

The elimination of Chagas' disease from Brazil.Epidemiol Infect. 2007 Dec 4;:1-12 Massad E.School of Medicine, The University of São Paulo, LIM 01/HCFMUSP, Brazil, and London School of Hygiene Tropical Medicine London, UK. SUMMARYOn 9 June 2006 the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) presented the Minister of Health of Brazil with the International Elimination of Transmission of Chagas' Disease Certificate. This act was the culmination of an intensive process that began in 1991 with the Southern Cone Initiative, a joint agreement between the governments of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay and Peru, to control Chagas' disease by the elimination of the main vector, Triatoma infestans. This initiative has been highly successful and the prevalence area of the vector diminished rapidly in the last years. As a consequence, the current seroprevalence in children aged between 0 and 5 years is of the order of 10-5, a clear indication that transmission, if it is occurring, is only accidental. In this review I calculate the basic reproduction number, R0, for Chagas' disease and demonstrate that its relatively low value (1.25) explains why vectorial transmission was interrupted relatively easily. In addition, I used a mathematical model to forecast how long the remaining cases of the disease, as well as the additional vertically transmitted cases will last.