Under-reporting of COVID-19 cases among indigenous peoples in Brazil : a new expression of old inequalities

Objective: To estimate the incidence, mortality and lethality rates of COVID-19 among Indigenous Peoples in the Brazilian Amazon. Additionally, to analyze how external threats can contribute to spread the disease in Indigenous Lands (IL). Methods: The Brazilian Amazon is home to nearly half a million Indigenous persons, representing more than 170 ethnic groups. As a pioneer in heading Indigenous community-based surveillance (I-CBS) in Brazil, the Coordination of the Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB) started to monitor Indigenous COVID-19 cases in March of 2020. Brazil's Ministry of Health (MOH) was the main source of data regarding non-Indigenous cases and deaths; to contrast the government's tally, we used the information collected by I-CBS covering 25 Special Indigenous Sanitary Districts (DSEI) in the Brazilian Amazon. The incidence and mortality rates of COVID-19 were calculated using the total number of new cases and deaths accumulated between the 9th and 40th epidemiological weeks. We studied (a) the availability of health care facilities to attend to Indigenous Peoples; (b) illegal mines, land grabbing, and deforestation to perform a geospatial analysis to assess how external threats affect Indigenous incidence and mortality rates. We used the Generalized Linear Model (GLM) with Poisson regression to show the results. Results: MOH registered 22,127 cases and 330 deaths, while COIAB's survey recorded 25,356 confirmed cases and 670 deaths, indicating an under-reporting of 14 and 103%, respectively. Likewise, the incidence and mortality rates were 136 and 110% higher among Indigenous when compared with the national average. In terms of mortality, the most critical DSEIs were Alto Rio Solimões, Cuiabá, Xavante, Vilhena and Kaiapó do Pará. The GLM model reveals a direct correlation between deforestation, land grabbing and mining, and the incidence of cases among the Indigenous. Conclusion: Through this investigation it was possible to verify that not only the incidence and mortality rates due to COVID-19 among Indigenous Peoples are higher than those observed in the general population, but also that the data presented by the federal government are underreported. Additionally, it was evident that the presence of illegal economic activities increased the risk of spreading COVID-19 in ILs

Echoes of time. The mobility of Brazilian researchers and students in Portugal

A investigação que apresentamos, de caráter exploratório, recaiu sobre histórias biográficas de brasileiros que escolhem Portugal para prosseguir formação e ou investigação. Procura-se encontrar na sua experiência elos de ligação explicativos sobre as motivações e os processos que os trazem para Portugal, assim como as expetativas e os projetos que comportam para os seus futuros e que incluem, ou não, este país. Temos em conta, especialmente, a forma como essa narrativa transporta sentidos identitários decorrentes das formas de relacionamento intercultural e político entre Portugal e Brasil e formas de cooperação implícitas, assim como mapas representacionais acerca dos lugares de eleição para desenvolvimento de carreiras científicas e académicas. A nossa pesquisa incide sobre as informações recolhidas através de um inquérito por questionário e entrevistas realizadas junto de estudantes e bolseiros brasileiros em Portugal.We present an exploratory study that investigated biographical stories of Brazilians who choose to continue their education or develop research in Portugal. We sought to find in their experiences explanatory links connecting the motivations and processes that bring them to Portugal, as well as the expectations and projects that they hold for the future, which may include, or not, this country. We take into account, particularly, the way this narrative carries senses of identity arising from the forms of intercultural and political relationship between Portugal and Brazil, as well as implicit forms of cooperation and representations about the places chosen for the development of scientific and academic careers. Our research draws on information collected through a survey based on questionnaires and interviews with Brazilian students and scholarship holders in Portugal.(undefined

Desafio do Núcleo de Atenção Médica Integrada diante da necessidade de inserção de fonoaudiólogo na Rede Municipal de Saúde de Fortaleza

OBJETIVO: Demonstrar a necessidade da inserção do fonoaudiólogo na rede municipal de saúde de Fortaleza-CE, diante da elevada demanda de usuários e da escassez de serviços gratuitos de fonoaudiologia nesse município. MÉTODOS: Estudo documental, transversal e descritivo com abordagem quantitativa, realizado de julho e setembro de 2008, no qual foram analisados os documentos de atendimentos fonoaudiológicos do Núcleo de Atenção Médica Integrada da Universidade de Fortaleza (NAMI-Unifor), no período de janeiro de 2006 a dezembro de 2007. RESULTADOS: Houve predomínio de atendimento das faixas etárias de 0 e 6 anos no setor de audiologia, (22,05%); e de 0 a 10 anos no setor de fonoterapia, (58,09%). O exame audiológico mais procurado foi a audiometria (65,78%); o principal responsável pelo encaminhamento ao setor de audiologia foi o otorrinolaringologista (56,39%). No setor de fonoterapia, a linguagem foi a área com maior prevalência de atendimentos (36,99%). A terapia em grupo atingiu percentual significativo, com 37,27%, em 2007. Foi registrada queda no número de atendimentos durante o período de recesso da Universidade, devido à redução do número de alunos. CONCLUSÃO: Com um trabalho em nível de atenção primária, no que concerne à saúde da comunicação humana/deglutição, haveria diminuição de gastos públicos com o tratamento das alterações fonoaudiológicas nos demais níveis de atenção. A presença do fonoaudiólogo nas Unidades Básicas de Saúde (UBS) possibilitaria a melhoria da qualidade de vida da população em todos os ciclos de vida, além da redução da sobrecarga nos serviços gratuitos que prestam atendimento fonoaudiológico no município de Fortaleza.PURPOSE: To demonstrate the need to include the speech-language pathologist and audiologist in the municipal health system of the city of Fortaleza (Northeastern Brazil), due to the high demand of patients and the lack of public speech-language and audiology services in the city. METHODS: Documental, cross-sectional and descriptive study with a quantitative approach, developed between July and September 2008. Data were collected through the analysis of the records of the speech-language and audiology assistance provided for patients at NAMI-Unifor (The Medical Care Nucleus of the University of Fortaleza) in the period from January 2006 to December 2007. RESULTS: There was predominance of the assistance provided for the age groups between 0 and 6 years old in the audiology service (22.05%) and 0 to 10 years old in the speech-language therapy service (58.09%). The most applied audiology procedure was audiometry (65.78%), and the main professional responsible for referring patients to the audiology service was the otorhinolaryngologist (56.39%). In speech-language therapy, oral language and/or writing was the area with the highest prevalence of visits (36.99%). Group therapy reached a significant percentage: 37.27% in 2007. A fall in the number of visits during the University's recess period was observed, due to the reduction in the number of students who are responsible for the procedures. CONCLUSION: With work in the level of primary care as regards the health of human communication/deglutition, there would be a reduction in public expenses with the treatment of speech-language and audiology alterations in the other health care levels. The presence of the speech-language therapist in the Primary Care Units would help to improve the quality of life of the population across the whole life cycle, and would also reduce the burden in the public services that provide speech-language therapy in the city of Fortaleza

Para o estudo da evolução do ensino e da formação em administração educacional em Portugal

Estudos sobre a evolução do ensino de disciplinas, na formação de professores em Portugal, são recentes. O controle burocrático centralizado reteve as dimensões do controle político-administrativo. De certo modo, protegeu a esfera educativa das influências modernizantes, do capitalismo industrial e das lógicas mercantis e gerencialistas. Defendeu a educação do domínio político, da intervenção de movimentos sociais, das propagandas de ideais democráticos e da cidadania. A utilização da designação "Administração educacional" ilustra as dificuldades sentidas, ao longo dos últimos anos, em termos da construção acadêmica de uma área, seja pela falta de tradição, seja pelos antecedentes históricos.In Portugal, studies about the evolution of disciplines teaching in the teachers formation are recent. The centralized bureaucratic control has held back the dimensions of politic administrative control. In a certain way, it has protected the education against the new-fashioned influences, manufacturing capitalism, and mercantile and managerial logics. This centralized bureaucratic control has also profected the education against the politic dominion, the intervention of social movements, the advertising of democratic ideals, and against the citizenship. The use of the term "Educational administration" shows the difficulties met by the searchers along the latest years, since there is no tradiction nor historic antecedence

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

Comparative Genomic Analysis of Human Fungal Pathogens Causing Paracoccidioidomycosis

Paracoccidioides is a fungal pathogen and the cause of paracoccidioidomycosis, a health-threatening human systemic mycosis endemic to Latin America. Infection by Paracoccidioides, a dimorphic fungus in the order Onygenales, is coupled with a thermally regulated transition from a soil-dwelling filamentous form to a yeast-like pathogenic form. To better understand the genetic basis of growth and pathogenicity in Paracoccidioides, we sequenced the genomes of two strains of Paracoccidioides brasiliensis (Pb03 and Pb18) and one strain of Paracoccidioides lutzii (Pb01). These genomes range in size from 29.1 Mb to 32.9 Mb and encode 7,610 to 8,130 genes. To enable genetic studies, we mapped 94% of the P. brasiliensis Pb18 assembly onto five chromosomes. We characterized gene family content across Onygenales and related fungi, and within Paracoccidioides we found expansions of the fungal-specific kinase family FunK1. Additionally, the Onygenales have lost many genes involved in carbohydrate metabolism and fewer genes involved in protein metabolism, resulting in a higher ratio of proteases to carbohydrate active enzymes in the Onygenales than their relatives. To determine if gene content correlated with growth on different substrates, we screened the non-pathogenic onygenale Uncinocarpus reesii, which has orthologs for 91% of Paracoccidioides metabolic genes, for growth on 190 carbon sources. U. reesii showed growth on a limited range of carbohydrates, primarily basic plant sugars and cell wall components; this suggests that Onygenales, including dimorphic fungi, can degrade cellulosic plant material in the soil. In addition, U. reesii grew on gelatin and a wide range of dipeptides and amino acids, indicating a preference for proteinaceous growth substrates over carbohydrates, which may enable these fungi to also degrade animal biomass. These capabilities for degrading plant and animal substrates suggest a duality in lifestyle that could enable pathogenic species of Onygenales to transfer from soil to animal hosts.National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (U.S.)National Institutes of Health. Department of Health and Human Services (contract HHSN266200400001C)National Institutes of Health. Department of Health and Human Services(contract HHSN2722009000018C)Brazil. National Council for Scientific and Technological Developmen

COMPLEXIDADE RACIAL: mitos e realidades em duas freguesias de Salvador em 1775

A partir da análise minuciosa dos dados do Censo de 1775 sobre duas freguesias de Salvador (São Pedro e Penha), são colocados em questão cinco mitos dominantes sobre a escravidão no imaginário nacional: (1) o domínio total do trabalho escravo na sociedade; (2) uma sociedade formada apenas por senhores e escravos; (3) uma sociedade constituída, por um lado, por um segmento de dominantes e exploradores e, por outro, por dominados e explorados; (4) uma sociedade urbana segregada; (5) uma sociedade patriarcal, em que as mulheres eram submissas e economicamente subordinadas. Os resultados do censo, portanto, levantam novas questões para o entendimento da complexidade do nosso passado, o que ajuda a entender a manutenção das extremas desigualdades atuais, além de evidenciar a existência de diferenciações espaciais na cidade. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: escravos, libertos, agregados, freguesias, Salvador.RACIAL COMPLEXITY: myth and reality in two Salvador freguesias in 1775 Pedro de Almeida Vasconcelos The meticulous analysis of data from the Census of 1775 on two freguesias of Salvador (São Pedro and Penha), bring doubt to five dominant myths on slavery in the national imaginary: (1) the exclusivity of slave work in the society; (2) a society just formed by slave owners and slaves; (3) a society where, on one side, live a segment of dominant exploiters and, on the other, dominated explored people; (4) a segregated urban society; (5) a patriarchal society, in which women were submissive and economically subordinates. The results of the census, therefore, bring new subjects to understanding the complexity of our past, what helps to understand the maintenance of the extreme current inequalities, besides showing the existence of space differentiations in the city. KEYWORDS: slaves, freed men, agregados, freguesias, Salvador.COMPLEXITÉ RACIALE: mythes et réalités dans deux paroisses de Salvador en 1775 Pedro de Almeida Vasconcelos A partir de l’analyse minutieuse des données du recensement de 1775 concernant deux paroisses de Salvador (São Pedro et Penha) sont remis en question cinq mythes dominants à propos de l’esclavage dans l’imaginaire national: (1) l’exclusivité du travail esclave dans la société; (2) une société formée uniquement de seigneurs et d’esclaves; (3) une société constituée d’une part par un segment de dominants et d’exploiteurs et d’autre part de dominés et d’exploités; (4) une société urbaine ségréguée; (5) une société patriarcale où les femmes étaient soumises et subordonnées économiquement. Les résultats de ce recensement soulèvent donc de nouvelles questions pour la compréhension de la complexité de notre passé, ceci permet de comprendre le maintien d’extrêmes inégalités actuelles et de mettre aussi en évidence l’existence de différenciations spatiales dans la ville. MOTS-CLÉS: esclaves, personnes libres, domestiques, paroisses, Salvador. Publicação Online do Caderno CRH: http://www.cadernocrh.ufba.b