Survivorship of Anopheles darlingi (Diptera: Culicidae) in Relation with Malaria Incidence in the Brazilian Amazon

We performed a longitudinal study of adult survival of Anopheles darlingi, the most important vector in the Amazon, in a malarigenous frontier zone of Brazil. Survival rates were determined from both parous rates and multiparous dissections. Anopheles darlingi human biting rates, daily survival rates and expectation of life where higher in the dry season, as compared to the rainy season, and were correlated with malaria incidence. The biting density of mosquitoes that had survived long enough for completing at least one sporogonic cycle was related with the number of malaria cases by linear regression. Survival rates were the limiting factor explaining longitudinal variations in Plasmodium vivax malaria incidence and the association between adult mosquito survival and malaria was statistically significant by logistic regression (P<0.05). Survival rates were better correlated with malaria incidence than adult mosquito biting density. Mathematical modeling showed that P. falciparum and P. malariae were more vulnerable to changes in mosquito survival rates because of longer sporogonic cycle duration, as compared to P. vivax, which could account for the low prevalence of the former parasites observed in the study area. Population modeling also showed that the observed decreases in human biting rates in the wet season could be entirely explained by decreases in survival rates, suggesting that decreased breeding did not occur in the wet season, at the sites where adult mosquitoes were collected. For the first time in the literature, multivariate methods detected a statistically significant inverse relation (P<0.05) between the number of rainy days per month and daily survival rates, suggesting that rainfall may cause adult mortality

How students perceive medical competences: a cross-cultural study between the Medical Course in Portugal and African Portuguese Speaking Countries

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A global effort has been made in the last years to establish a set of core competences that define the essential professional competence of a physician. Regardless of the environment, culture or medical education conditions, a set of core competences is required for medical practice worldwide. Evaluation of educational program is always needed to assure the best training for medical students and ultimately best care for patients. The aim of this study was to determine in what extent medical students in Portugal and Portuguese speaking African countries, felt they have acquired the core competences to start their clinical practice. For this reason, it was created a measurement tool to evaluate self-perceived competences, in different domains, across Portuguese and Portuguese-speaking African medical schools.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The information was collected through a questionnaire that defines the knowledge, attitudes and skills that future doctors should acquire. The Cronbach's Alpha and Principal Components Analysis (PCA) were used to evaluate the reliability of the questionnaire. In order to remove possible confounding effect, individual scores were standardized by country.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The order of the domain's scores was similar between countries. After standardization, Personal Attitudes and Professional Behavior showed median scores above the country global median and Knowledge alone showed median score below the country global median. In Portugal, Clinical Skills showed score below the global median. In Angola, Clinical Skills and General Skills showed a similar result. There were only significant differences between countries in Personal Attitudes (p < 0.001) and Professional Behavior (p = 0.043).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The reliability of the instrument in Portuguese and Portuguese-speaking African medical schools was confirmed. Students have perceived their level of competence in personal attitudes in a high level and in opposite, knowledge and clinical skills with some weaknesses.</p

MENSURAÇÃO DA DESIGUALDADE EDUCACIONAL ENTRE OS MUNICÍPIOS NORDESTINOS

RESUMO O objetivo deste artigo é analisar a desigualdade educacional da Região Nordeste com base nos dados do Censo Demográfico de 2010. Para este fim, foi calculado o Índice de Gini Educacional (IGE) para a parcela da população economicamente ativa com 15 anos ou mais de idade, residentes nos 1793 municípios nordestinos. Foram empregadas as técnicas de Análise Exploratória de Dados Espaciais (AEDE) e Análise de Regressão Espacial para detectar a importância de algumas variáveis relacionadas ao contexto das famílias, do sistema educacional e da economia dos municípios sobre o Índice de Gini Educacional. Verificou-se que o estado da Bahia apresentou a menor desigualdade educacional no Nordeste, com IGE de 0,394, enquanto o maior índice de desigualdade foi detectado no estado de Alagoas (0,467). Quanto à analise espacial, foi detectada dependência espacial no tocante à desigualdade educacional entre os municípios e seus vizinhos. Constatou-se também que a renda per capita, a frequência escolar líquida, a presença de IES e o PIB per capita municipal contribuem na redução da desigualdade, e que o baixo impacto de variáveis relacionadas ao sistema educacional pode ser atribuído ao seu efeito no longo prazo e, portanto, ressalta-se a importância do investimento e as políticas públicas educacionais, que só terão reflexo na redução da desigualdade educacional dos municípios no futuro