Representações sociais do suicídio na adolescência

Em Portugal, dados recentes da Direção-Geral de Saúde (2013), apontam para um aumento do número de suicídios nos últimos anos e revelam que nos adolescentes o suicídio é a segunda causa de morte. Os comportamentos suicidas nos adolescentes constituem, assim, um importante problema de saúde pública. Face ao exposto, a finalidade deste projeto é conhecer as representações sociais do suicídio juvenil, recolher informações acerca do contacto ou vivência dos adolescentes com o suicídio e as suas opiniões acerca das ajudas disponíveis face à ideação suicida. Foi realizado um estudo exploratório, numa escola do centro do país e a amostra incluiu 82 adolescentes com idades compreendidas entre os 14 e 19 anos que frequentam o ensino secundário. Para a recolha dos dados foi utilizado um questionário aferido e validado para adolescentes - Questionário Suicídio Juvenil – Representações Sociais dos Adolescente (Henriques, Rothes, Vila, Monteiro & Oliveira, 2008). Recorreu-se ao SPSS (IBM 22) com recurso ao teste U de MannWhitney,e ao teste rho de Spearman para o tratamento dos dados. Entre os vários resultados obtidos salienta-se que apesar de em baixa percentagem, existe um número significativo de adolescentes que apresenta ideação suicida e que já tentou o suicídio. Os adolescentes atribuem ao suicídio causas tais como, escape de problemas, bullying, problemas amorosos e fatores biológicos. Verifica-se ainda uma relação entre o contacto com o suicídio e a ideação suicida. Desta forma, realça-se a importância de desenvolver um estudo mais alargado sobre esta problemática e consequentemente a “psicoeducação” acerca do suicídio junto dos adolescentes, adotando-se uma intervenção precoce de forma a promover a saúde mental dos adolescentes.ABSTRACT In Portugal, recent data from the Directorate General of Health (2013), pointing to an increase in the number of suicides in recent years and that reveal in adolescents suicide is the second leading cause of death. The suicidal behaviors in adolescents are, therefore, an important public health problem. In view of the above, the purpose of this project is to understand the social representations of youth suicides, collect information about the contact or experience of adolescents with the suicide and their views about the aid available to suicidal ideation. It was carried out an exploratory study, in a school in the center of the country and the sample included 82 adolescents aged between 14 and 19 years attending secondary education. For the collection of data was used a questionnaire measured and validated for adolescents - Questionnaire Youth Suicides - Social Representations of Adolescent (Henriques, Rothes, Vila, Monteiro & Oliveira, 2008). We used SPSS (IBM 22) using the Mann-Whitney U test, and the test Spearman's rho for the treatment of the data. Between the various results obtained enhance that although in low percentage, there is a significant number of adolescents with suicidal ideation and that already tried to commit suicide. The adolescents attach to suicide causes such as, exhaust problems, bullying, problems loving and biological factors. There is also a relationship between the contact with suicide and suicidal ideation. Thus, enhance the importance of developing a study more extended on this issue and therefore the "psychoeducation" about committing suicide together of adolescents, adopting an early intervention in order to promote the mental health of adolescents

Amoeba-Resisting Bacteria and Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia

To evaluate the role of amoeba-associated bacteria as agents of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), we tested the water from an intensive care unit (ICU) every week for 6 months for such bacteria isolates; serum samples and bronchoalveolar lavage samples (BAL) were also obtained from 30 ICU patients. BAL samples were examined for amoeba-associated bacteria DNA by suicide-polymerase chain reaction, and serum samples were tested against ICU amoeba-associated bacteria. A total of 310 amoeba-associated bacteria from10 species were isolated. Twelve of 30 serum samples seroconverted to one amoeba-associated bacterium isolated in the ICU, mainly Legionella anisa and Bosea massiliensis, the most common isolates from water (p=0.021). Amoeba-associated bacteria DNA was detected in BAL samples from two patients whose samples later seroconverted. Seroconversion was significantly associated with VAP and systemic inflammatory response syndrome, especially in patients for whom no etiologic agent was found by usual microbiologic investigations. Amoeba-associated bacteria might be a cause of VAP in ICUs, especially when microbiologic investigations are negative

Electrospray synthesis and properties of hierarchically structured PLGA TI PS microspheres for use as controlled release technologies

Microsphere-based controlled release technologies have been utilized for the long-term delivery of proteins, peptides and antibiotics, although their synthesis poses substantial challenges owing to formulation complexities, lack of scalability, and cost. To address these shortcomings, we used the electrospray process as a reproducible, synthesis technique to manufacture highly porous (>94%) microspheres while maintaining control over particle structure and size. Here we report a successful formulation recipe used to generate spherical poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA) microspheres using the electrospray (ES) coupled with a novel thermally induced phase separation (TIPS) process with a tailored Liquid Nitrogen (LN2) collection scheme. We show how size, shape and porosity of resulting microspheres can be controlled by judiciously varying electrospray processing parameters and we demonstrate examples in which the particle size (and porosity) affect release kinetics. The effect of electrospray treatment on the particles and their physicochemical properties are characterized by scanning electron microscopy, confocal Raman microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and mercury intrusion porosimetry. The microspheres manufactured here have successfully demonstrated long-term delivery (i.e. 1 week) of an active agent, enabling sustained release of a dye with minimal physical degradation and have verified the potential of scalable electrospray technologies for an innovative TIPS-based microsphere production protocol

Natural Killer T Cells Activated by a Lipopeptidophosphoglycan from Entamoeba histolytica Are Critically Important To Control Amebic Liver Abscess

The innate immune response is supposed to play an essential role in the control of amebic liver abscess (ALA), a severe form of invasive amoebiasis due to infection with the protozoan parasite Entamoeba histolytica. In a mouse model for the disease, we previously demonstrated that Jα18-/- mice, lacking invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells, suffer from more severe abscess development. Here we show that the specific activation of iNKT cells using α-galactosylceramide (α-GalCer) induces a significant reduction in the sizes of ALA lesions, whereas CD1d−/− mice develop more severe abscesses. We identified a lipopeptidophosphoglycan from E. histolytica membranes (EhLPPG) as a possible natural NKT cell ligand and show that the purified phosphoinositol (PI) moiety of this molecule induces protective IFN-γ but not IL-4 production in NKT cells. The main component of EhLPPG responsible for NKT cell activation is a diacylated PI, (1-O-[(28∶0)-lyso-glycero-3-phosphatidyl-]2-O-(C16:0)-Ins). IFN-γ production by NKT cells requires the presence of CD1d and simultaneously TLR receptor signalling through MyD88 and secretion of IL-12. Similar to α-GalCer application, EhLPPG treatment significantly reduces the severity of ALA in ameba-infected mice. Our results suggest that EhLPPG is an amebic molecule that is important for the limitation of ALA development and may explain why the majority of E. histolytica-infected individuals do not develop amebic liver abscess

A multi-layer approach for estimating the Energy Use Intensity on an urban scale

Various governments are planning their cities to be climate responsive by reducing the energy consumption and carbon emissions according to different scenarios whilst maintaining good indoor comfort conditions. A robust and reliable tool that can estimate the Energy Use Intensity (EUI) of a city is required. This paper presents a new bottom-up engineering-based multi-layer approach able to analyse the energy performance of existing settlements of every size by retaining as much information as possible about their complexities. The process involves i) creating a 3D model of the urban area, ii) building up templates representing different building characteristics such as functions, the age-band of the buildings and operating schedules, iii) running dynamic thermal simulations and iv) displaying the EUI or total energy demand in the 3D model which can be post-processed for further analysis. This approach offers a flexible simulation process according to various purposes, which is particularly useful in decision-making for urban energy retrofitting or planning for new areas. The hourly high-resolution outcomes would benefit the detailed analysis of energy efficiency strategies in order to achieve carbon reduction. The application of this approach is demonstrated for the case of Yuzhong district in Chongqing municipality, China

Neutralizing Antibody Responses to SARS-CoV-2 in Recovered COVID-19 Patients Are Variable and Correlate With Disease Severity and Receptor-Binding Domain Recognition

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) caused outbreaks of the pandemic starting from the end of 2019 and, despite ongoing vaccination campaigns, still influences health services and economic factors globally. Understanding immune protection elicited by natural infection is of critical importance for public health policy. This knowledge is instrumental to set scientific parameters for the release of “immunity pass” adopted with different criteria across Europe and other countries and to provide guidelines for the vaccination of COVID-19 recovered patients. Here, we characterized the humoral response triggered by SARS-CoV-2 natural infection by analyzing serum samples from 94 COVID-19 convalescent patients with three serological platforms, including live virus neutralization, pseudovirus neutralization, and ELISA. We found that neutralization potency varies greatly across individuals, is significantly higher in severe patients compared with mild ones, and correlates with both Spike and receptor-binding domain (RBD) recognition. We also show that RBD-targeting antibodies consistently represent only a modest proportion of Spike-specific IgG, suggesting broad specificity of the humoral response in naturally infected individuals. Collectively, this study contributes to the characterization of the humoral immune response in the context of natural SARS-CoV-2 infection, highlighting its variability in terms of neutralization activity, with implications for immune protection in COVID-19 recovered patients

Osteogenesis at implants without primary bone contact - An experimental study in dogs.

AIM: To evaluate the healing at implants with a moderately rough surface placed and stabilized in recipient sites of dimensions deeper and larger than that of the implants to avoid any contact between parent bone and the implant. MATERIAL & METHODS: In six Labrador dogs, premolars and first molars were extracted bilaterally in the mandible. After 3 months of healing, mucoperiosteal full-thickness flaps were elevated and the premolar area of the alveolar bony crest was selected. Three recipient sites were prepared to place three implants. One implant was used as control. The other two were placed in recipient sites which left a circumferentially and periapical prepared defect of 0.7 mm (small) and 1.2 mm (large), respectively. All implants were stabilized with passive fixation plates to maintain the implants stable and without any contact with the implant bed. After 3 months of submerged healing, the animals were sacrificed. Ground sections were prepared and analyzed histomorphometrically. RESULTS: The BIC% was 5.3% and 0.3% for implants placed in small and large defect sites, respectively, whereas it was 46.1% for control implants. The differences were statistically significant. The width of the residual defects was 0.4 and 0.5 mm at the small and large defects, respectively. An approximately 0.09 mm layer of dense connective tissue (DCT) rich in fibers and fibroblast-like cells was observed adherent to the implant surfaces. The percentage of implant surface covered by DCT was 92.8% and 95.6% at the small and large defects, respectively. CONCLUSION: Osseointegration was observed at the test sites, and the dimensions of the defects influenced the outcomes. However, the degree of osseointegration at both small and large defects was very low compared with the control sites. \ua9 2012 John Wiley & Sons A/S