Analysis of paternal lineages in Brazilian and African populations

The present-day Brazilian population is a consequence of the admixture of various peoples of very different origins, namely, Amerindians, Europeans and Africans. The proportion of each genetic contribution is known to be very heterogeneous throughout the country. The aim of the present study was to compare the male lineages present in two distinct Brazilian populations, as well as to evaluate the African contribution to their male genetic substrate. Thus, two Brazilian population samples from Manaus (State of Amazon) and Ribeirão Preto (State of São Paulo) and three African samples from Guinea Bissau, Angola and Mozambique were typed for a set of nine Y chromosome specific STRs. The data were compared with those from African, Amerindian and European populations. By using Y-STR haplotype information, low genetic distances were found between the Manaus and Ribeirão Preto populations, as well as between these and others from Iberia. Likewise, no significant distances were observed between any of the African samples from Angola, Mozambique and Guinea Bissau. Highly significant Rst values were found between both Brazilian samples and all the African and Amerindian populations. The absence of a significant Sub-Saharan African male component resulting from the slave trade, and the low frequency in Amerindian ancestry Y-lineages in the Manaus and Ribeirão Preto population samples are in accordance with the accentuated gender asymmetry in admixture processes that has been systematically reported in colonial South American populations

Public health emergency: social representations among managers of a university hospital

AIM: to comprehend the social representations of public health emergencies among managers who experienced the Influenza A (H1N1) Pandemic of 2009. METHOD: a qualitative case study, with its theoretical and methodological framework based on the Theory of Social Representations. The data was obtained through the techniques of free association and semi-structured interviews, applied individually to managers who worked in different positions of the hierarchical management structure of the institution during the pandemic emergency, a total of 30 participants. RESULTS: thematic content analysis resulted in the following categories: vulnerability, health protection, neglect - gray areas of the public sphere, and integrality. The social representations of public health emergencies attest to continuities that transit the overvalorization of negative discourses linked to the health/education public space, naturalization of the substantial character of the epidemic, and normative managerial action. However, the defense of ongoing education as a necessity associated with emergency management revealed possibilities for change in the technical-scientific perception of the management. CONCLUSIONS: to understand healthcare/nursing workers as political beings, assuming responsibilities in the areas of the macro and micro policies of the State, the university hospitals and the work teams, is a pathway that is emerging for the management of emergencies