Prevalence and characteristics of dating violence among school-aged adolescents in Portugal RESEARCH | PESQUISA Dating violence among school-aged adolescents in Portugal

Prevalência e características da violência no namoro entre adolescentes escolares de Portugal Prevalencia y características de la violencia en el noviazgo entre adolescentes en edad escolar en Portugal Recife -PE, Brazil. Escola Superior de Enfermagem de Coimbra. Coimbra, Portugal. Escola Superior de Enfermagem de Leiria. Leiria -Coimbra, Portugal. Universidade de São Paulo. Ribeirão Preto -SP, Brazil. AbstrAct Objectives: To identify the prevalence of dating violence among adolescents and discuss the association between the violent behaviors and the variables: age, gender and length of dating relationship. Methods: Epidemiological cross-sectional study. Sample: 1,268 male and female students, aged 16-24 years, enrolled in Portuguese secondary schools. Data were collected through questionnaires including sociodemographic data and data on dating violence victimization and perpetration behaviors. Results: 5.9% of the adolescents were involved in dating violence situations. Both genders used physical violence. Males were the greatest perpetrators and victims of psychological violence. Conclusion: A similar pattern of violence was found between genders in some behaviors, such as: hair pulling, choking, throwing objects, slapping, kicking, head-banging, and pushing. Therefore, further studies are needed to understand which factors influence the differences and similarities of dating violence. Keywords: adolescence; adolescent behavior; violence. resumen Objetivos: Identificar la prevalencia de la violencia en el noviazgo entre adolescentes y discutir la relación entre las conductas de violencia y variables independientes: edad, sexo y tiempo de citas. Métodos: Estudio Transversal Epidemiológico. La muestra estuvo conformada por 1.268 estudiantes, de ambos sexos, de 16 y 24 años de edad, de escuelas secundarias de cuatro distritos de la Región Centro de Portugal. En la recolección de datos, se utilizó un cuestionario que contiene los datos sociodemográficos y el comportamiento de la victimización y perpetración de violencia en el noviazgo. Resultados: 5,9% de todos los adolescentes reportaron participación en situaciones de violencia en el noviazgo. Ambos sexos reportaron el uso de la violencia física. En la violencia psicológica, los chicos son los mayores perpetradores y las víctimas. Conclusion: Los resultados muestran, en algunos comportamientos, similitudes del estándar de violencia entre los sexos, como el pelo tirando con fuerza; bofetada; apriete el cuello; lanzar objetos a otra pessoa; patadas y cabezazos cabeza y dar sacudidas violentas, lo que indica, por lo tanto, que se necesita más investigación para entender que factores influyen en las diferencias y similitudes de este evento

Comparative evaluation of phenol and thimerosal as preservatives for a candidate vaccine against American cutaneous leishmaniasis

For decades thimerosal has been used as a preservative in the candidate vaccine for cutaneous leishmaniasis, which was developed by Mayrink et al. The use of thimerosal in humans has been banned due to its mercury content. This study addresses the standardization of phenol as a new candidate vaccine preservative. We have found that the proteolytic activity was abolished when the test was conducted using the candidate vaccine added to merthiolate (MtVac) as well as to phenol (PhVac). The Montenegro's skin test conversion rates induced by MtVac and by PhVac was 68.06% and 85.9%, respectively, and these values were statistically significant (p < 0.05). The proliferative response of peripheral mononuclear blood cells shows that the stimulation index of mice immunized with both candidate vaccines was higher than the one in control animals (p < 0.05). The ability of the candidate vaccines to induce protection in C57BL/10 mice against a challenge with infective Leishmania amazonensis promastigotes was tested and the mice immunized with PhVac developed smaller lesions than the mice immunized with MtVac. Electrophoresis of phenol-preserved antigen revealed a number of proteins, which were better preserved in PhVac. These results do in fact encourage the use of phenol for preserving the immunogenic and biochemical properties of the candidate vaccine for cutaneous leishmaniasis

Vaccination of C57BL/10 mice against cutaneous leishmaniasis using killed promastigotes of different strains and species of Leishmania Vacinação de camundongos C57BL/10 contra leishmaniose com promastigotas mortas de diferentes cepas e espécies de Leishmania

Antigenic extracts from five Leishmania stocks were used to vaccinate C57BL/10 mice. The Leishvacin® and PH8 monovalent vaccine yielded the highest IFN-gamma levels in the supernatants of spleen cell culture from vaccinated animals. Each single strain immunized group showed evidence of protective immunity six months after the challenge with promastigotes of Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis. No differences were detected between the vaccinated groups. It can be concluded that vaccines composed of single Leishmania stocks can provide protection to C57BL/10 mice against L. (L.) amazonensis infection.<br>Estudos anteriores revelaram que uma vacina preparada com promastigotas mortas de cinco cepas de Leishmania pode induzir uma imunidade protetora para a leishmaniose tegumentar americana no homem e em modelos experimentais. Um dos problemas do uso desta vacina é a complexidade de sua composição e a necessidade de se incorporar diferentes cepas de Leishmania. Por esta razão, extratos antigênicos de cada uma das cinco cepas constituintes da vacina foram preparados e usados individualmente em estudos imunológicos com camundongos C57BL/10. A Leishvacin® e a vacina monovalente PH8 induziram os maiores níveis de Interferon-g (IFN-gama) detectado no sobrenadante de células esplênicas dos animais vacinados. Cada grupo imunizado com vacinas monovalentes desenvolveram uma imunidade protetora seis meses após a infecção desafio com promastigotas de Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis e nenhuma diferença estatística foi observada entre os grupos vacinados. Pode-se concluir que vacinas compostas por cepas isoladas de Leishmania protegem camundongos C57BL/10 contra, pelo menos, da infecção por L. (L.) amazonensis