Avaliação da cobertura vacinal contra a COVID-19 em uma instituição de ensino superior privada da cidade de João Pessoa – PB

As imunizações por meio de vacinas têm, entre seus objetivos, o controle e a erradicação de doenças infecciosas, bem como a prevenção de indivíduos ou grupos de riscos. De acordo com o Programa Nacional de Imunização (PNI), estes grupos incluem profissionais de saúde, segurança e educação. A pandemia do Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), decretada por meio do estado de Emergência de Saúde Pública de Importância Internacional, pela Organização Mundial de Saúde (OMS), em 2020 teve repercussões e impactos globais. O período foi marcado por alguns movimentos contrários à saúde, como campanhas antivacinas e fake news, fazendo com que seja necessária à amplificação de ações voltadas à conscientização sobre a vacinação e educação em saúde. Considerando que um dos maiores desafios da profilaxia vacinal pode ser a adesão da população a esta medida preventiva, o objetivo deste estudo foi analisar a adesão vacinal contra a COVID-19 na comunidade acadêmica do Centro Universitário Maurício de Nassau João Pessoa no ano de 2023, mediante a formulação de um questionário eletrônico. Os dados foram analisados a partir de estatísticas descritivas e os resultados obtidos ressaltam que, dos 200 participantes, 184 pessoas (92,0%), acreditam na eficácia da vacinação, onde 89 (44,5%) se vacinaram até a 4ª dose, enquanto 41 indivíduos (20,5%) se preocupam com os efeitos colaterais causados pelas vacinas. Assim, os dados representam uma maior diversidade de fatores positivos para adesão às vacinas contra a COVID-19, provocados pela ampliação de campanhas públicas, profissionais de saúde e outras ferramentas de comunicação

Evaluation of cytokines genetic polymorphisms in chronic Chagas disease

Made available in DSpace on 2015-06-08T13:58:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 34.pdf: 2083197 bytes, checksum: c8bc232619444a6c584242fffa408aa0 (MD5) license.txt: 1748 bytes, checksum: 8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Centro de Pesquisas Aggeu Magalhães. Recife, PE, BrasilA doença de Chagas é largamente distribuída pelo continente americano, onde afeta milhões de indivíduos. Clinicamente, apresenta uma diversidade de manifestações. Na fase crônica, os indivíduos infectados pelo Trypanosoma cruzi podem ser assintomáticos ou apresentar complicações cardíacas e/ou digestivas. Alguns estudos têm demonstrado o envolvimento da resposta imune no desenvolvimento e manutenção das formas clínicas crônicas da infecção chagásica. A produção e a expressão diferencial de algumas citocinas entre os portadores da doença de Chagas crônica tornaram estas moléculas alvos de estudos de polimorfismos genéticos. O presente estudo teve o objetivo de avaliar polimorfismos de um único nucleotídeo (SNPs) em portadores da doença de Chagas crônica. Foram avaliados os SNPs-1082G/A do gene IL-10 e -308G/A do gene TNF-alfa em uma população de portadores da doença de Chagas crônica selecionada no Ambulatório de Doença de Chagas e Insuficiência Cardíaca do Pronto Socorro Cardiológico de Pernambuco. Participaram desse estudo, 256 indivíduos, sendo 66 assintomáticos e 190 com cardiopatia chagásica crônica. A população estudada foi composta em sua maioria por mulheres idosas. Dentre as comorbidades presentes, a hipertensão arterial sistêmica foi a mais prevalente. A genotipagem dos SNPs foi realizada através de reação em cadeia da polimerase em tempo real com sondas TaqMan a partir de DNA genômico obtido de amostras de sangue periférico de cada indivíduo. Não foram observadas diferenças na distribuição das freqüências genotípicas e alélicas dos SNPs estudados entre as formas clínicas da doença de Chagas crônica. Também não foram observadas diferenças na distribuição das freqüências genotípicas e alélicas do SNP -1082G/A do gene IL-10 entre portadores de cardiopatia chagásica crônica. No entanto, observou-se um maior percentual, estatisticamente significante, do genótipo GA e do alelo A do SNP -308G/A do gene TNF-alfa nos portadores de cardiopatia chagásica leve, o que sugere que esse SNP pode atuar como um fator de proteção no desfecho da cardiopatia chagásica crônic

Cytopathological Effects of Bacillus sphaericus Cry48Aa/Cry49Aa Toxin on Binary Toxin-Susceptible and -Resistant Culex quinquefasciatus Larvae▿

The Cry48Aa/Cry49Aa mosquitocidal two-component toxin was recently characterized from Bacillus sphaericus strain IAB59 and is uniquely composed of a three-domain Cry protein toxin (Cry48Aa) and a binary (Bin) toxin-like protein (Cry49Aa). Its mode of action has not been elucidated, but a remarkable feature of this protein is the high toxicity against species from the Culex complex, besides its capacity to overcome Culex resistance to the Bin toxin, the major insecticidal factor in B. sphaericus-based larvicides. The goal of this work was to investigate the ultrastructural effects of Cry48Aa/Cry49Aa on midgut cells of Bin-toxin-susceptible and -resistant Culex quinquefasciatus larvae. The major cytopathological effects observed after Cry48Aa/Cry49Aa treatment were intense mitochondrial vacuolation, breakdown of endoplasmic reticulum, production of cytoplasmic vacuoles, and microvillus disruption. These effects were similar in Bin-toxin-susceptible and -resistant larvae and demonstrated that Cry48Aa/Cry49Aa toxin interacts with and displays toxic effects on cells lacking receptors for the Bin toxin, while B. sphaericus IAB59-resistant larvae did not show mortality after treatment with Cry48Aa/Cry49Aa toxin. The cytopathological alterations in Bin-toxin-resistant larvae provoked by Cry48Aa/Cry49Aa treatment were similar to those observed when larvae were exposed to a synergistic mixture of Bin/Cry11Aa toxins. Such effects seemed to result from a combined action of Cry-like and Bin-like toxins. The complex effects caused by Cry48Aa/Cry49Aa provide evidence for the potential of these toxins as active ingredients of a new generation of biolarvicides that conjugate insecticidal factors with distinct sites of action, in order to manage mosquito resistance

Brazilian Flora 2020: Leveraging the power of a collaborative scientific network

International audienceThe shortage of reliable primary taxonomic data limits the description of biological taxa and the understanding of biodiversity patterns and processes, complicating biogeographical, ecological, and evolutionary studies. This deficit creates a significant taxonomic impediment to biodiversity research and conservation planning. The taxonomic impediment and the biodiversity crisis are widely recognized, highlighting the urgent need for reliable taxonomic data. Over the past decade, numerous countries worldwide have devoted considerable effort to Target 1 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC), which called for the preparation of a working list of all known plant species by 2010 and an online world Flora by 2020. Brazil is a megadiverse country, home to more of the world's known plant species than any other country. Despite that, Flora Brasiliensis, concluded in 1906, was the last comprehensive treatment of the Brazilian flora. The lack of accurate estimates of the number of species of algae, fungi, and plants occurring in Brazil contributes to the prevailing taxonomic impediment and delays progress towards the GSPC targets. Over the past 12 years, a legion of taxonomists motivated to meet Target 1 of the GSPC, worked together to gather and integrate knowledge on the algal, plant, and fungal diversity of Brazil. Overall, a team of about 980 taxonomists joined efforts in a highly collaborative project that used cybertaxonomy to prepare an updated Flora of Brazil, showing the power of scientific collaboration to reach ambitious goals. This paper presents an overview of the Brazilian Flora 2020 and provides taxonomic and spatial updates on the algae, fungi, and plants found in one of the world's most biodiverse countries. We further identify collection gaps and summarize future goals that extend beyond 2020. Our results show that Brazil is home to 46,975 native species of algae, fungi, and plants, of which 19,669 are endemic to the country. The data compiled to date suggests that the Atlantic Rainforest might be the most diverse Brazilian domain for all plant groups except gymnosperms, which are most diverse in the Amazon. However, scientific knowledge of Brazilian diversity is still unequally distributed, with the Atlantic Rainforest and the Cerrado being the most intensively sampled and studied biomes in the country. In times of “scientific reductionism”, with botanical and mycological sciences suffering pervasive depreciation in recent decades, the first online Flora of Brazil 2020 significantly enhanced the quality and quantity of taxonomic data available for algae, fungi, and plants from Brazil. This project also made all the information freely available online, providing a firm foundation for future research and for the management, conservation, and sustainable use of the Brazilian funga and flora

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field