Educação em saúde a partir de círculos de cultura Educación en salud basada en círculos de cultura Health education based on culture circles

O estudo tem os objetivos de sistematizar, mediante Círculos de Cultura, uma proposta de (re)construção das ações de educação em saúde que articule as competências necessárias aos(as) enfermeiros(as) de PSF para uma prática de educação em saúde reflexiva e crítica e realizar uma auto-avaliação dos Círculos. Constitui uma Pesquisa-ação, onde a pesquisadora fundamentada no "Método Paulo Freire" é animadora de debates em oito Círculos de Cultura. Participaram dez enfermeiras. Os Círculos propiciam o exercício da consciência política, indispensável ao processo de "empowerment" do profissional de saúde no exercício de sua competência sociopolítica. A realização de Círculos de Cultura propicia uma relação de cumplicidade entre os profissionais de saúde e os grupos comunitários com as ações de promoção da saúde.<br>El estudio tiene como objetivo sistematizar, con las participantes de los Círculos de Cultura, una propuesta de (re)construcción de las acciones de educación en salud que articule las competencias necesarias a los(as) enfermeros(as) del PSF para una práctica de educación en salud reflexiva y crítica. Constituye una investigación-acción, donde la investigadora fundamentada en el "Método Paulo Freire" es animadora de debates en ocho Círculos de Cultura contando con la participación de diez enfermeras. Los Círculos propician el ejercicio de la conciencia política, indispensable para el proceso de "empowerment" del profesional de salud en el ejercicio de su competencia sociopolítica. La propuesta de realización de Círculos de Cultura fundamenta una relación de complicidad entre los profesionales de salud y los grupos comunitarios con las acciones de promoción de la salud.<br>This study aims at systematizing with the participants of Culture Circles a proposal of reconstruction of actions of health education that show the necessary competences to the nurses of Family Health Program for a practice in education on critical and reflexive health. It is constituted of a research action, where the researcher based in "Paulo Freire Method" is encouraging debates in eight Culture Circles having the participation of ten nurses. The Circles give them the training of a political conscience , essential to the process of " empowerment " of the health professional in practicing his socio-politics competence. The proposal of achieving the Culture Circles establish a link of complicity between health professionals and communitarian groups with the actions of health promotion

New Upper Bounds for the Density of Translative Packings of Three-Dimensional Convex Bodies with Tetrahedral Symmetry

In this paper we determine new upper bounds for the maximal density of translative packings of superballs in three dimensions (unit balls for the $l^p_3$-norm) and of Platonic and Archimedean solids having tetrahedral symmetry. Thereby, we improve Zong's recent upper bound for the maximal density of translative packings of regular tetrahedra from $0.3840\ldots$ to $0.3745\ldots$, getting closer to the best known lower bound of $0.3673\ldots$ We apply the linear programming bound of Cohn and Elkies which originally was designed for the classical problem of densest packings of round spheres. The proofs of our new upper bounds are computational and rigorous. Our main technical contribution is the use of invariant theory of pseudo-reflection groups in polynomial optimization.Comment: 30 pages, 6 tables, 3 figures, (v3) comments of referees incorporate

Crises hipertensivas em portadores de hipertensão arterial em tratamento ambulatorial Crisis hipertensivas en portadores de hipertensión arterial en tratamiento ambulatorio Hypertensive crises in bearers of arterial hypertension in ambulatorial treatment

O presente estudo avaliou as características sociodemográficas e de adesão terapêutica de 27 portadores de hipertensão arterial em tratamento ambulatorial que apresentaram crises de urgências ou emergências hipertensivas e haviam sido atendidos em uma unidade de leito-dia e em uma unidade de emergência da cidade de Fortaleza-Ceará, no período de outubro de 2002 a maio de 2003. A maioria era mulher, com idade de 50 a 60 anos, pouca escolaridade, tempo de tratamento inferior a cinco anos e tempo de diagnóstico entre cinco e dez anos. O uso dos remédios foi o tratamento mais referido, seguido pela redução do consumo de sal e comparecimento às consultas. No entanto, o fato de comparecerem às consultas e receberem orientação parece não modificar o comportamento, uma vez que a maioria dos entrevistados não praticava exercícios físicos e demonstrava deficiência no conhecimento sobre a doença, atribuindo a elevação da pressão arterial a fatores emocionais.<br>El presente estudio evaluó las características sociodemográficas y de adhesión terapéutica de 27 portadores de hipertensión arterial en tratamiento ambulatorio que presentaron crisis de urgencias o emergencias hipertensivas y habían sido atendidos en una unidad de internamiento diurno y en una unidad de emergencia de la ciudad de Fortaleza - Ceará, en el período de octubre del 2002 a mayo del 2003. La mayoría fue del sexo femenino, con edad de 50 a 60 años, poca escolaridad, tiempo de tratamiento inferior a cinco años y tiempo de diagnóstico entre cinco y diez años. El uso de los remedios fue el tratamiento más referido, seguido por la reducción del consumo de sal y asistencia a las consultas. Entre tanto, el hecho de asistir a las consultas y recibir orientación parece no modificar su comportamiento, pues la mayoría de los entrevistados no praticaba ejercicios físicos y demostraba falta de conocimiento sobre la enfermedad, atribuyendo la elevación de la presión arterial a factores emocionales.<br>This study assessed the socio-demographic characteristics and the characteristics of therapeutic adhesion of 27 bearers of arterial hypertension undergoing ambulatorial treatment who had hypertensive urgencies crises or emergencies in the city of Fortaleza in the period between October of 2002 and May of 2003. The majority were women, between 50 and 60-years old, with little formal education, treatment time shorter than 5 years and time of diagnosis varying from 5 to 10 years. The use of medicine was the treatment that was most mentioned, followed by the reduction of the consumption of salt and attendance to medical appointments. However, attending the appointments and receiving orientation did not seem to change their behavior, since most of the patients that were interviewed practiced no physical exercises and demonstrated little knowledge of the illness, for they attributed the rise of the arterial pressure to emotional factors

The Brazilian database on pregnancy in multiple sclerosis

Objectives: To report the results from the Brazilian database on multiple sclerosis (MS) and pregnancy. Methods: Retrospective data from MS patients who became pregnant at any time of their disease were sent to a Brazilian database, using a specific file for this purpose. Results: Data on 128 women (142 pregnancies) from 30 neurologists working in 21 cities in Brazil were collected. Patients' average age at pregnancy was 29.8 years (range 16-42). EDSS at start of pregnancy was 1.5 +/- 1.4; and the relapse rate in the year preceding pregnancy was 1.2 +/- 1.5. Exposure to medication at any time during pregnancy was high (69.7%): 48.6% to interferon beta; 14.1% to glatiramer acetate; and 7% to other immunomodulatory and immunosuppressive drugs. There was a significant decrease in relapse rate during pregnancy. The prevalence of complications was relatively low, with 4.9% of obstetric and 1.4% neonatal unfavorable outcomes. Conclusions: Our patients had low degrees of disability, short histories of disease, high drug exposure, and relatively high relapse rate in the year previous to pregnancy. Obstetric and neonatal outcomes were successful in over 90% of our patients. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.113427728