A ansiedade, medo e stress nos Profissionais de Saude Oral durante o primeiro ano de pandemia por Covid-19

Objetivos: Caracterizar o impacto da atual pandemia de COVID-19 na ansiedade, medo e stress nos profissionais de saude oral. Metodos: Utilizou-se um questionario autoaplicado online que foi enviado, via email, para tres associacoes na area da Medicina Dentaria. As variaveis categoricas foram descritas atraves de frequencias absolutas e relativas. As variaveis continuas foram descritas utilizando a media e o desvio-padrao. Utilizou-se um modelo de regressao linear multipla para selecio-nar preditores da ansiedade avaliados no questionario. Resultados: Obteve-se uma taxa de participacao de 21,1%. A maioria dos participantes era do sexo feminino (67,2%). Atraves da escala GAD-7 apuramos que 18,3% dos profissionais apresentaram uma perturbacao de ansiedade moderada e grave. A maioria dos participan-tes (86,7%) referiu ter medo de infetar os familiares e amigos. Verificamos que ser do sexo feminino, o medo de infetar a familia e amigos, a possibilidade de a pandemia afetar nega-tivamente a profissao, a perda de rendimentos e as novas condicoes de trabalho eram pre-ditores estaticamente significativos para o aumento da ansiedade (p < 0,05). Pelo contrario, a medida que o numero de anos de pratica clinica aumenta, a ansiedade diminui significa-tivamente (p.0,006). Conclusoes: A pandemia de COVID-19 afetou negativamente os profissionais de saude oral. As medidas de prevencao e os protocolos de controlo de infecao devem ser rigorosamente cumpridos, para que haja diminuicao da transmissao do virus e, consequentemente, dimi-nua a ansiedade, o stress e o medo sentidos por estes profissionais. (Rev Port Estomatol Med Dent Cir Maxilofac. 2023;64(2):84-92) & COPY; 2023 Sociedade Portuguesa de Estomatologia e Medicina Dentaria. Publicado por SPEMD. Este e um artigo Open Access sob uma licenca CC BY-NC-ND (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

The importance of serological assays in diagnosing acute pulmonary histoplasmosis

Histoplasmosis is a systemic mycosis caused by inhalation of Histoplasma capsulatum microconidia. The disease does not normally affect immunocompetent individuals after a single, transient inhalation exposure. However, longer exposure may cause chronic or disseminated acute pulmonary infection. Herein, we report the case of a 24-year-old immunocompetent patient, who presented fever, cough and dyspnea for one month. The chest radiography revealed interstitial infiltrate and diffuse micronodules. The patient reported having had close and prolonged contact with bats. Diagnosis was confirmed by positive double immunodifusion and immunoblotting assays. She was treated with ketoconazole (400 mg) and there was complete resolution of the disease

Development and Validation of an Index Based on EAT-Lancet Recommendations: The Planetary Health Diet Index

The EAT-Lancet Commission has proposed a planetary health diet. We propose the development of the Planetary Health Diet Index (PHDI) based on this proposed reference diet. We used baseline dietary data obtained through a 114-item FFQ from 14, 779 participants of the Longitudinal Study on Adult Health, a multicenter cohort study conducted in Brazil. The PHDI has 16 components and a score from 0 to 150 points. Validation and reliability analyses were performed, including principal component analyses, association with selected nutrients, differences in means between groups (for example, smokers vs. non-smokers), correlations between components and total energy intake, Cronbach''s alpha, item-item correlations, and linear regression analysis between PHDI with carbon footprint and overall dietary quality. The mean PHDI was 60.4 (95% CI 60.2:60.5). The PHDI had six dimensions, was associated in an expected direction with the selected nutrients and was significantly (p < 0.001) lower in smokers (59.0) than in non-smokers (60.6). Cronbach''s alpha value was 0.51. All correlations between components were low, as well as between components and PHDI with total energy intake. After adjustment for age and sex, the PHDI score remained associated (p < 0.001) with a higher overall dietary quality and lower carbon footprint. Thus, we confirmed the PHDI validity and reliability

Robust gap repair in the contractile ring ensures timely completion of cytokinesis.

Cytokinesis in animal cells requires the constriction of an actomyosin contractile ring, whose architecture and mechanism remain poorly understood. We use laser microsurgery to explore the biophysical properties of constricting rings in Caenorhabditis elegans embryos. Laser cutting causes rings to snap open. However, instead of disintegrating, ring topology recovers and constriction proceeds. In response to severing, a finite gap forms and is repaired by recruitment of new material in an actin polymerization-dependent manner. An open ring is able to constrict, and rings repair from successive cuts. After gap repair, an increase in constriction velocity allows cytokinesis to complete at the same time as controls. Our analysis demonstrates that tension in the ring increases while net cortical tension at the site of ingression decreases throughout constriction and suggests that cytokinesis is accomplished by contractile modules that assemble and contract autonomously, enabling local repair of the actomyosin network. Consequently, cytokinesis is a highly robust process impervious to discontinuities in contractile ring structure.This project has received funding from the European Research Council (grants 640553, 260892, and 338410), Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FED ER) funds through the Operational Competitiveness Program (COM PETE), national funds through Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) under the project FCO MP-01-0124-FED ER-028255 (PTDC/BEX-BCM/0654/2012), Fundação Luso-Americana para o Desenvolvimento Life Science 2020, and the Louis-Jeantet Young Investigator Award to H. Maiato. A.X. Carvalho, R. Gassmann, and I.A. Telley have FCT Investigator positions funded by FCT and cofunded by the European Social Fund through Programa Operacional Temático Potencial Type 4.2 promotion of scientific employment. A.M. Silva holds an FCT fellowship (SFRH/BPD/95707/2013). D.S. Osório was cofunded by the Programa Operacional Regional do Norte under the Quadro de Downloaded from jcb.rupress.org on February 27, 2018 Laser microsurgery in the contractile ring • Silva et al. 799 Referência Estratégico Nacional through FED ER and by FCT grant NOR TE-07-0124-FED ER-000003 (Cell Homeostasis Tissue Organization and Organism Biology)

Orofacial Injuries in Children and Adolescents (2009-2013): A 5-Year Study In Porto, Portugal

The aim of this study was to verify the prevalence of acts of aggression to the head, face and neck towards victims of Physical Violence against Children and Adolescents (PVCA) who were examined at the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences Delegation North (INMLCF-DN) in Porto, Portugal. A study was carried out on 2,148 complaints of physical aggression against children and adolescents (0 to less than 18 years old) occurred between 2009 and 2013 and which were retrieved from information about violence held on INMLCF-DN data files. Continuous variables were described and the association between them was verified by Chi-square or Fischer’s Exact tests with 5% significance level. Within the 5-year timespan, 1,380 cases were identified with clinical relation with physical aggression. Most subjects evaluated were male adolescents and the most affected body region was the face, to which 747 injuries (24.7%) were recorded, with statistically significant association between sex and region (head and face). Victims in 15-17-year-old age group are more susceptible to violence than those in the 0-14-year-old age range. Dentists routinely examine the face, neck and skull, which make them the most appropriate health professionals to identify cases of aggression early.The authors thank the INMLCF-DN (Instituto Nacional de Medicina Legal e Ciências Forenses - Delegação do Norte, Portugal) for technical support and CAPES(Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, Brazil) for scholarship

f(R)f(R) gravity theories in the Palatini Formalism constrained from strong lensing

$f(R)$ gravity, capable of driving the late-time acceleration of the universe, is emerging as a promising alternative to dark energy. Various $f(R)$ gravity models have been intensively tested against probes of the expansion history, including type Ia supernovae (SNIa), the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO). In this paper we propose to use the statistical lens sample from Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Lens Search Data Release 3 (SQLS DR3) to constrain $f(R)$ gravity models. This sample can probe the expansion history up to $z\sim2.2$, higher than what probed by current SNIa and BAO data. We adopt a typical parameterization of the form $f(R)=R-\alpha H^2_0(-\frac{R}{H^2_0})^\beta$ with $\alpha$ and $\beta$ constants. For $\beta=0$ ($\Lambda$CDM), we obtain the best-fit value of the parameter $\alpha=-4.193$, for which the 95% confidence interval that is [-4.633, -3.754]. This best-fit value of $\alpha$ corresponds to the matter density parameter $\Omega_{m0}=0.301$, consistent with constraints from other probes. Allowing $\beta$ to be free, the best-fit parameters are $(\alpha, \beta)=(-3.777, 0.06195)$. Consequently, we give $\Omega_{m0}=0.285$ and the deceleration parameter $q_0=-0.544$. At the 95% confidence level, $\alpha$ and $\beta$ are constrained to [-4.67, -2.89] and [-0.078, 0.202] respectively. Clearly, given the currently limited sample size, we can only constrain $\beta$ within the accuracy of $\Delta\beta\sim 0.1$ and thus can not distinguish between $\Lambda$CDM and $f(R)$ gravity with high significance, and actually, the former lies in the 68% confidence contour. We expect that the extension of the SQLS DR3 lens sample to the SDSS DR5 and SDSS-II will make constraints on the model more stringent.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA