Os desafios para o manejo de doenças crônicas na população em situação de rua/ The challenges for the management of chronic diseases in the homeless persons

A população em situação de rua (PSR) é o grupo populacional que possui em comum a extrema pobreza, os vínculos familiares interrompidos ou fragilizados e a inexistência de moradia convencional regular, utilizando-se das áreas públicas como espaço de moradia e de sustento. Essas circunstâncias expõem as pessoas em situação de rua a diversos fatores de risco que ampliam sua vulnerabilidade, como a dificuldade de acesso às políticas públicas e de adesão ao tratamento de saúde. Neste escopo, esse estudo teve por objetivo analisar aspectos relacionados ao acesso aos serviços de saúde e o impacto que tem no adoecimento da população de rua, especialmente para as doenças crônicas. Foi realizada uma revisão integrativa da literatura, utilizando-se as bases de dados Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Cie?ncias da Sau?de (LILACS), PUBMED e Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE), com os descritores “Populac?a?o em situac?a?o de rua”, “Doenc?as cro?nicas” e “Acesso aos servic?os de sau?de”. A amostra final foi composta por 12 publicações, sendo os dados analisados por seu conteu?do e categorizados de acordo com os nu?cleos tema?ticos. Dos estudos analisados, apenas 34% são nacionais. No que tange às vulnerabilidades sociais e suas implicações na saúde, 34% abordam a falta de moradia, emprego e alimentação como sendo os principais fatores de risco para o desenvolvimento de diversas patologias e até mesmo para o negligenciamento do tratamento de doenças crônicas. No que se refere ao acesso aos serviços de saúde pelos moradores de rua, 75% destacaram a dificuldade de acesso, especialmente à atenção primária. Ressalta-se também que 25% dos estudos relataram o preconceito como a principal dificuldade ao acesso. Em análise às doenças crônicas, 75% abordam o tema, dentre eles relatando-se maior prevalência, incidência, mortalidade e morbimortalidade pela PSR. Dentre as causas da situação de rua, é destacado fatores estruturais, como pobreza, desemprego, discriminação, encarceramento, doenças mentais, abuso de substâncias e experiências traumáticas. Além disso, é reforçado que a situação de rua se torna uma vulnerabilidade ao acarretar fatores de risco psicossociais para doenças cardiovasculares, como estresse crônico, depressão, etilismo pesado e uso de cocaína, sendo a falta de acesso à saúde uma vulnerabilidade comum dentro da heterogeneidade dessa população. Dentre os motivos para a dificuldade de acesso, é destacado o preconceito, a exigência de documentação, a restrição na demanda espontânea, os atrasos e longo tempo de espera, o limite na atuação intersetorial, a ausência de serviço de saúde no local, a dificuldade de transporte, a falta de conhecimento de onde obtê-los, além dos custos do atendimento. Quanto à epidemiologia de doenças crônicas, é observado maior prevalência, incidência, mortalidade e morbimortalidade prematura por doenças crônicas, assim como maior prevalência de suas complicações e morbimortalidade por doenças episódicas, em comparação com a população geral. Dessa forma, torna-se necessária a realização de mais pesquisas que avaliem o acesso à saúde por PSR, com metodologias capazes de individualizar as necessidades sociais, criando, assim, arcabouço teórico para elaborar políticas públicas que visem uma atenção à saúde de fato universal e eficaz

Frequency and Burden of Neurological Manifestations Upon Hospital Presentation in COVID-19 Patients: Findings From a Large Brazilian Cohort

BACKGROUND: Scientific data regarding the prevalence of COVID-19 neurological manifestations and prognosis in Latin America countries is still lacking. Therefore, the study aims to understand neurological manifestations of SARS-CoV 2 infection and outcomes in the Brazilian population. METHODS: This study is part of the Brazilian COVID-19 Registry, a multicentric cohort, including data from 37 hospitals. For the present analysis, patients were grouped according to the presence of reported symptoms (i.e., headache; anosmia and ageusia; syncope and dizziness) vs. clinically-diagnosed neurological manifestations (clinically-defined neurological syndrome: neurological signs or diagnoses captured by clinical evaluation) and matched with patients without neurological manifestations by age, sex, number of comorbidities, hospital of admission, and whether or not patients had underlying neurological disease. RESULTS: From 6,635 hospitalized patients with COVID-19, 30.8% presented reported neurological manifestations, 10.3% were diagnosed with a neurological syndrome and 60.1% did not show any neurological manifestations. In patients with reported symptoms, the most common ones were headache (20.7%), ageusia (11.1%) and anosmia (8.0%). In patients with neurological syndromes, acute encephalopathy was the most common diagnosis (9.7%). In the matched analysis, patients with neurological syndromes presented more cases of septic shock (17.0 vs. 13.0%, p = 0.045), intensive care unit admission (45.3 vs. 38.9%, p = 0.023), and mortality (38.7 vs. 32.6%, p = 0.026; and 39.2 vs. 30.3%, p \u3c 0.001) when compared to controls. CONCLUSION: COVID-19 in-hospital patients with clinically defined neurological syndromes presented a higher incidence of septic shock, ICU admission and death when compared to controls

Multiple effects of toxins isolated from Crotalus durissus terrificus on the hepatitis C virus life cycle

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is one of the main causes of liver disease and transplantation worldwide. Current therapy is expensive, presents additional side effects and viral resistance has been described. Therefore, studies for developing more efficient antivirals against HCV are needed. Compounds isolated from animal venoms have shown antiviral activity against some viruses such as Dengue virus, Yellow fever virus and Measles virus. In this study, we evaluated the effect of the complex crotoxin (CX) and its subunits crotapotin (CP) and phospholipase A2 (PLA2-CB) isolated from the venom of Crotalus durissus terrificus on HCV life cycle. Huh 7.5 cells were infected with HCVcc JFH-1 strain in the presence or absence of these toxins and virus was titrated by focus formation units assay or by qPCR. Toxins were added to the cells at different time points depending on the stage of virus life cycle to be evaluated. The results showed that treatment with PLA2-CB inhibited HCV entry and replication but no effect on HCV release was observed. CX reduced virus entry and release but not replication. By treating cells with CP, an antiviral effect was observed on HCV release, the only stage inhibited by this compound. Our data demonstrated the multiple antiviral effects of toxins from animal venoms on HCV life cycle

Implicações da radiação na saúde dos profissionais que utilizam a fluoroscopia na prática diária: Implications of radiation on the health of professionals who use the fluoroscopy in daily practice

O presente estudo tem como objetivo analisar as implicações da radiação na saúde dos profissionais que utilizam o arco cirúrgico na prática diária. Neste estudo foi realizada uma revisão sistemática da literatura. Para seleção das publicações foram considerados como critérios de inclusão estar disponível em formato completo, publicado nos últimos cinco anos (2018-2022), escritas em língua portuguesa e inglesa. E como critérios de exclusão foram considerados estar foram do tema de pesquisa, ser revisão de literatura e repetido na base de dados. Os critérios de inclusão e exclusão foram considerados como meio de validade metodológica. Concluiu-se a partir desse estudo que apesar de baixos níveis de radiação emitidos por arco cirúrgico, os riscos ainda são significativos, verificando-se a necessidade de conscientização dos profissionais de saúde sobre a proteção necessária para mitigação das implicações, principalmente, entre os menos experientes.&nbsp

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection

Worldwide trends in underweight and obesity from 1990 to 2022: a pooled analysis of 3663 population-representative studies with 222 million children, adolescents, and adults

Background Underweight and obesity are associated with adverse health outcomes throughout the life course. We estimated the individual and combined prevalence of underweight or thinness and obesity, and their changes, from 1990 to 2022 for adults and school-aged children and adolescents in 200 countries and territories. Methods We used data from 3663 population-based studies with 222 million participants that measured height and weight in representative samples of the general population. We used a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate trends in the prevalence of different BMI categories, separately for adults (age ≥20 years) and school-aged children and adolescents (age 5–19 years), from 1990 to 2022 for 200 countries and territories. For adults, we report the individual and combined prevalence of underweight (BMI &lt;18·5 kg/m2) and obesity (BMI ≥30 kg/m2). For school&#x2;aged children and adolescents, we report thinness (BMI &lt;2 SD below the median of the WHO growth reference) and obesity (BMI &gt;2 SD above the median). Findings From 1990 to 2022, the combined prevalence of underweight and obesity in adults decreased in 11 countries (6%) for women and 17 (9%) for men with a posterior probability of at least 0·80 that the observed changes were true decreases. The combined prevalence increased in 162 countries (81%) for women and 140 countries (70%) for men with a posterior probability of at least 0·80. In 2022, the combined prevalence of underweight and obesity was highest in island nations in the Caribbean and Polynesia and Micronesia, and countries in the Middle East and north Africa. Obesity prevalence was higher than underweight with posterior probability of at least 0·80 in 177 countries (89%) for women and 145 (73%) for men in 2022, whereas the converse was true in 16 countries (8%) for women, and 39 (20%) for men. From 1990 to 2022, the combined prevalence of thinness and obesity decreased among girls in five countries (3%) and among boys in 15 countries (8%) with a posterior probability of at least 0·80, and increased among girls in 140 countries (70%) and boys in 137 countries (69%) with a posterior probability of at least 0·80. The countries with highest combined prevalence of thinness and obesity in school-aged children and adolescents in 2022 were in Polynesia and Micronesia and the Caribbean for both sexes, and Chile and Qatar for boys. Combined prevalence was also high in some countries in south Asia, such as India and Pakistan, where thinness remained prevalent despite having declined. In 2022, obesity in school-aged children and adolescents was more prevalent than thinness with a posterior probability of at least 0·80 among girls in 133 countries (67%) and boys in 125 countries (63%), whereas the converse was true in 35 countries (18%) and 42 countries (21%), respectively. In almost all countries for both adults and school-aged children and adolescents, the increases in double burden were driven by increases in obesity, and decreases in double burden by declining underweight or thinness. Interpretation The combined burden of underweight and obesity has increased in most countries, driven by an increase in obesity, while underweight and thinness remain prevalent in south Asia and parts of Africa. A healthy nutrition transition that enhances access to nutritious foods is needed to address the remaining burden of underweight while curbing and reversing the increase in obesit

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost