Feminine identity: the representation of the uterus for women undergoing hysterectomy

Objective: To identify the representation of the uterus for women who underwent hysterectomy and experience of sexuality in this period. Method: Qualitative survey conducted in October 2008 in a teaching hospital in southern Brazil, with five women hysterectomy. It was used as a tool to semi-structured interview. For data analysis we used the thematic content analysis. Results: For women the uterus was identified as an organ useless, having already played their reproductive role and its removal did not appear to interfere with the way they view their sexuality and femininity. Conclusions: Providing information to women who undergo hysterectomy may assist in understanding that this procedure does not interfere with female identity

Desenvolvimento de prematuros: efeito da saúde emocional materna e de uma intervenção psicoeducativa

Objetivo: descrever e comparar indicadores de estresse, ansiedade e depressão de mães de bebês prematuros, no terceiro e no sexto mês de vida deles; comparar o desenvolvimento dos bebês considerando a presença/ausência de indicadores emocionais e participação ou não no grupo de psicoeducação e, relacionar a saúde emocional com o desenvolvimento dos bebês nos respectivos meses. Materiais e métodos: Participaram 67 mães e seus bebês. As mães responderam a inventários de estresse, ansiedade e depressão. O desenvolvimento do bebê foi avaliado pelas Escalas Bayley de Desenvolvimento Infantil – III. Foram divididas em três grupos: mães com indicadores clínicos de saúde emocional participantes da intervenção (G1); mães com indicadores, não participantes da intervenção (G2) e, mães sem indicadores (G3). Resultados: Aos três meses não houve diferença de desenvolvimento dos bebês dos três grupos. Aos seis meses, os bebês de mães do G3 apresentaram médias mais altas em Linguagem Receptiva e Desenvolvimento Motor Grosso. Foram evidenciadas correlações positivas e negativas entre a saúde emocional materna e o desenvolvimento do bebê. Conclusões: A identificação e intervenção precoce na saúde emocional materna no pós-parto pode evitar efeitos negativos, capazes de alterar o curso do desenvolvimento saudável de bebês prematuros

Educação ambiental no ensino médio: preservação, conscientização e busca pelo conhecimento

Objetivou-se com esse trabalho, abordar a educação ambiental no ensino médio, estimulando a preservação, conscientização e busca pelo conhecimento, através da problematização de temáticas ambientais locais. Realizou-se um Painel com a temática: “Impacto da agropecuária no meio ambiente em Itaqui - RS”, em que foram proferidas palestras técnicas e educativas para alunos do ensino médio, em três escolas estaduais do município de Itaqui/RS, abordando os seguintes temas: “arenização”, “impacto do uso de agrotóxicos na lavoura arrozeira”, “casca de arroz” e “desperdício de alimentos”. Os resultados obtidos mostraram que 34 a 56% dos entrevistados não conheciam os assuntos e 95 a 100% afirmaram que a comunidade deveria ter conhecimento sobre os temas, por serem os principais problemas ambientais da região. Os alunos participaram com questionamentos referentes aos temas abordados durante e após as apresentações, obtendo conhecimento mais amplo sobre conservação e preservação do meio ambiente e sobre a realidade do município

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Safety and efficacy of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine (AZD1222) against SARS-CoV-2: an interim analysis of four randomised controlled trials in Brazil, South Africa, and the UK.

BACKGROUND: A safe and efficacious vaccine against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), if deployed with high coverage, could contribute to the control of the COVID-19 pandemic. We evaluated the safety and efficacy of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine in a pooled interim analysis of four trials. METHODS: This analysis includes data from four ongoing blinded, randomised, controlled trials done across the UK, Brazil, and South Africa. Participants aged 18 years and older were randomly assigned (1:1) to ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine or control (meningococcal group A, C, W, and Y conjugate vaccine or saline). Participants in the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 group received two doses containing 5 × 1010 viral particles (standard dose; SD/SD cohort); a subset in the UK trial received a half dose as their first dose (low dose) and a standard dose as their second dose (LD/SD cohort). The primary efficacy analysis included symptomatic COVID-19 in seronegative participants with a nucleic acid amplification test-positive swab more than 14 days after a second dose of vaccine. Participants were analysed according to treatment received, with data cutoff on Nov 4, 2020. Vaccine efficacy was calculated as 1 - relative risk derived from a robust Poisson regression model adjusted for age. Studies are registered at ISRCTN89951424 and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04324606, NCT04400838, and NCT04444674. FINDINGS: Between April 23 and Nov 4, 2020, 23 848 participants were enrolled and 11 636 participants (7548 in the UK, 4088 in Brazil) were included in the interim primary efficacy analysis. In participants who received two standard doses, vaccine efficacy was 62·1% (95% CI 41·0-75·7; 27 [0·6%] of 4440 in the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 group vs71 [1·6%] of 4455 in the control group) and in participants who received a low dose followed by a standard dose, efficacy was 90·0% (67·4-97·0; three [0·2%] of 1367 vs 30 [2·2%] of 1374; pinteraction=0·010). Overall vaccine efficacy across both groups was 70·4% (95·8% CI 54·8-80·6; 30 [0·5%] of 5807 vs 101 [1·7%] of 5829). From 21 days after the first dose, there were ten cases hospitalised for COVID-19, all in the control arm; two were classified as severe COVID-19, including one death. There were 74 341 person-months of safety follow-up (median 3·4 months, IQR 1·3-4·8): 175 severe adverse events occurred in 168 participants, 84 events in the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 group and 91 in the control group. Three events were classified as possibly related to a vaccine: one in the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 group, one in the control group, and one in a participant who remains masked to group allocation. INTERPRETATION: ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 has an acceptable safety profile and has been found to be efficacious against symptomatic COVID-19 in this interim analysis of ongoing clinical trials. FUNDING: UK Research and Innovation, National Institutes for Health Research (NIHR), Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Lemann Foundation, Rede D'Or, Brava and Telles Foundation, NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, Thames Valley and South Midland's NIHR Clinical Research Network, and AstraZeneca

Safety and efficacy of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine (AZD1222) against SARS-CoV-2: an interim analysis of four randomised controlled trials in Brazil, South Africa, and the UK

Background A safe and efficacious vaccine against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), if deployed with high coverage, could contribute to the control of the COVID-19 pandemic. We evaluated the safety and efficacy of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine in a pooled interim analysis of four trials. Methods This analysis includes data from four ongoing blinded, randomised, controlled trials done across the UK, Brazil, and South Africa. Participants aged 18 years and older were randomly assigned (1:1) to ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine or control (meningococcal group A, C, W, and Y conjugate vaccine or saline). Participants in the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 group received two doses containing 5 × 1010 viral particles (standard dose; SD/SD cohort); a subset in the UK trial received a half dose as their first dose (low dose) and a standard dose as their second dose (LD/SD cohort). The primary efficacy analysis included symptomatic COVID-19 in seronegative participants with a nucleic acid amplification test-positive swab more than 14 days after a second dose of vaccine. Participants were analysed according to treatment received, with data cutoff on Nov 4, 2020. Vaccine efficacy was calculated as 1 - relative risk derived from a robust Poisson regression model adjusted for age. Studies are registered at ISRCTN89951424 and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04324606, NCT04400838, and NCT04444674. Findings Between April 23 and Nov 4, 2020, 23 848 participants were enrolled and 11 636 participants (7548 in the UK, 4088 in Brazil) were included in the interim primary efficacy analysis. In participants who received two standard doses, vaccine efficacy was 62·1% (95% CI 41·0–75·7; 27 [0·6%] of 4440 in the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 group vs71 [1·6%] of 4455 in the control group) and in participants who received a low dose followed by a standard dose, efficacy was 90·0% (67·4–97·0; three [0·2%] of 1367 vs 30 [2·2%] of 1374; pinteraction=0·010). Overall vaccine efficacy across both groups was 70·4% (95·8% CI 54·8–80·6; 30 [0·5%] of 5807 vs 101 [1·7%] of 5829). From 21 days after the first dose, there were ten cases hospitalised for COVID-19, all in the control arm; two were classified as severe COVID-19, including one death. There were 74 341 person-months of safety follow-up (median 3·4 months, IQR 1·3–4·8): 175 severe adverse events occurred in 168 participants, 84 events in the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 group and 91 in the control group. Three events were classified as possibly related to a vaccine: one in the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 group, one in the control group, and one in a participant who remains masked to group allocation. Interpretation ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 has an acceptable safety profile and has been found to be efficacious against symptomatic COVID-19 in this interim analysis of ongoing clinical trials

Motivação dos pacientes com histórico de câncer de mama em buscar as terapias alternativas

O câncer de mama gera impactos na qualidade de vida das mulheres. Os efeitos colaterais dos tratamentos convencionais sugerem as terapias alternativas como uma opção complementar. O desconhecimento de outros estudos abordando tal problemática no município de Joinville-SC, sugeriu a execução desta pesquisa quanti-qualitativa que propõe-se a identificar qual a motivação dos pacientes a buscarem as terapias alternativas. Participaram 33 pacientes com histórico de câncer de mama em acompanhamento ambulatorial. Os dados foram coletados em entrevistas semiestruturadas e analisados através da técnica de análise da linguagem e estatística simples. Os achados corroboram o perfil de incidência da doença, demonstram desconhecimento do termo terapias alternativas, porém, revelam expressiva utilização desta modalidade de tratamento relacionada ao conhecimento popular. A fitoterapia teve maior prevalência conforme a classificação do Ministério da Saúde e os fatores motivacionais foram psicobiológicos, psicoespirituais e psicossociais. O estudo sugere que as pessoas buscam as terapias alternativas como um cuidado além do convencionalEl cáncer de mama tiene un impacto en la calidad de vida de las mujeres. Los efectos secundarios de los tratamientos convencionales sugieren terapias alternativas como una opción adicional. La falta de otros estudios que abordan este tema en la ciudad de Joinville-SC, sugirió la implementación de esta investigación cuantitativa y cualitativa que tiene como finalidad identificar la motivación de los pacientes que buscan terapias alternativas. Se incluyeron 33 pacientes con antecedentes de cáncer de mama en la asistencia. Los datos fueron recolectados en las entrevistas semiestructuradas y analizados a través del análisis del lenguaje técnico y estadísticas simples. Los resultados corroboran la incidencia del perfil de la enfermedad, la ignorancia demostrar de las terapias alternativas plazo, sin embargo, muestran un uso importante de esta modalidad de tratamiento relacionado con el conocimiento popular. Fitoterapia tenía mayor prevalencia según la clasificación del Ministerio de Salud y los factores motivacionales fueron psicobiológicas, psicosociales y psico-espiritual. El estudio sugiere que las personas buscan terapias alternativas como la atención más allá de lo convencional.Breast cancer causes impacts on the quality of life of women. The side effects of conventional treatments suggest alternative therapies as a complementary option. The lack of knowledge of other studies addressing this problem in the city of Joinville-SC, suggested the execution of this quantitative-qualitative research that aims to identify the motivation of patients to seek alternative therapies. Thirty-three patients with a history of breast cancer attended the outpatient clinic. The data were collected in semi-structured interviews and analyzed through the technique of language analysis and simple statistics. The findings corroborate the incidence profile of the disease, show lack of knowledge of the term alternative therapies; however, they reveal an expressive use of this modality of treatment related to popular knowledge. Phytotherapy had a higher prevalence according to the Ministry of Health classification and the motivational factors were psychobiological, psychospiral and psychosocial. The study suggests that people look for alternative therapies as well as conventional car