PREVALÊNCIA DE MARCADORES SOROLÓGICOS DO VÍRUS DA HEPATITE B (HBV) NOS MUNICÍPIOS DE URBANO SANTOS, AXIXÁ, HUMBERTO DE CAMPOS, MORROS E ICATU: RESULTADOS PARCIAIS DE UM ESTUDO DE BASE POPULACIONAL

As hepatites virais são doenças que apresentam distribuição universal. No Brasil, há grande variação regional na prevalência de cada hepatite. A prevalência da infecção pelo vírus da hepatite B (HBV) nas capitais do Nordeste é de 0,5%. Não há informações sobre a prevalência desta infecção no estado do Maranhão. Em estudo realizado no ano de 2010 com pacientes do Maranhão observou-se que muitos portadores do HBV eram provenientes dos municípios de Urbano Santos, Axixá, Morros, Icatu e Humberto de Campos. Esta maior frequência também já vinha sendo observada pelo Programa de Hepatites Virais da Secretaria Estadual de Saúde. Essas observações sugerem que esta é uma região onde a prevalência do HBV pode ser maior que a descrita para a região Nordeste do Brasil. Este trabalho objetiva identificar os indivíduos com sorologia positiva para os marcadores do HBV (HBsAg, anti-HBc total e anti-HBs). Trata-se de um estudo de prevalência com base em uma população definida. A amos-tra é composta por 4.000 pessoas residentes nos municípios citados. Os pacientes foram entrevistados mediante um questionário epidemiológico, demográfico e clínico. Posteriormente foram coletadas amos-tras de sangue para realização dos exames sorológicos e moleculares. Das 871 amostras testadas até o momento, a prevalência do HBsAg foi de 2.99%. As prevalências de anti-HBc total e anti-HBs foram 32.53% e 40.34%, respectivamente. Anti-HBs isoladamente positivo esteve presente em 19.63%. Esta prevalência do HBsAg identificada até o momento sugere que aquela região tenha uma endemicidade intermediária para infecção crônica pelo HBV.Palavras-chave: Hepatite. Prevalência. Maranhão.  PREVALENCE OF SEROLOGIC MARKERS OF HEPATITIS B VIRUS (HBV) IN THE TOWNS OF URBANO SANTOS, AXIXÁ, HUMBERTO DE CAMPOS, MORROS AND ICATÚ: PARTIAL RESULTS OF A POPULATIONAL SURVEY ABSTRACT: Viral hepatitis is a disease that presents universal distribution. In Brazil there is substantial regional variation in the prevalence of each hepatitis. The prevalence of infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) in the capitals of the Northeast is 0.5%. There is no information about the prevalence of this infec-tion in the state of Maranhão. In a study conducted in 2010 patients with Maranhão be noted that many HBV carriers were from the cities of Urbano Santos, Axixá, Morros, Icatu and Humberto de Campos. This increased frequency also was already being observed by the State Department of Health Viral Hepatitis Program. These observations suggest that this is a region where the prevalence of HBV may be greater than that described for the Northeast region of Brazil. This paper intends to identify individuals with positive serology for HBsAg markers, anti-HBc and anti-HBs in HBV. This is a prevalence study based on a defined population. The sample consists of 4,000 people living in that cities. Patients were interviewed using an epidemiological, demographic and clinical questionnaire. Subsequently, blood samples were collected to measure the serological and molecular tests. Among 871 samples examined so far, the prevalence of HB-sAg was 2.99% so far. The prevalence of anti-HBc and anti-HBs were 32.53% and 40.34%, respectively. Positive isolated anti-HBs was present in 19.63%. This prevalence of HBV infection, detected so far in the study, identifies this region as intermediate endemicity.KEYWORDS: Hepatitis. Prevalence. Maranhão State PREVALENCIA DE MARCADORES SEROLÓGICOS DEL VIRUS DE HEPATITIS B (HBV) EN LOS MUNICIPIOS DE URBANO SANTOS, AXIXÁ, HUMBERTO DE CAMPOS, MORROS E ICATÚ: RESULTADOS PARCIALES DE UN ESTUDIO CON BASE EN LA POBLACIÓN.RESUMEN: Las hepatitis virales son enfermedades que presentan distribución universal. En Brasil, hay gran variación regional en la prevalencia de cada hepatitis. La prevalencia de la infección por el virus de hepatitis B (HBV) en las capitales del Nordeste es de 0,5%. No hay informaciones sobre la prevalencia de esta infección en el Estado de Maranhão. En estudio realizado en el año de 2010 con pacientes de Maranhão se observó que muchos portadores de HBV eran provenientes de los municipios de Urbano Santos, Axixá, Morros, Icatú y Humberto de Campos. Esta mayor frecuencia también ya estaba siendo observada por el Programa de Hepatitis Virales de la Secretaría Estadual de Salud. Estas observaciones sugieren que esta es una región donde la prevalencia de la HBV puede ser mayor que la descrita para la región Nordeste de Brasil. Este trabajo busca identificar a los individuos con serología positiva para los marcadores HBsAg, anti-HBc total y anti-HBs de la HBV. Se trata de un estudio de prevalencia con base en una población definida. La muestra es compuesta por 4.000 personas residentes en los municipios de Urbano Santos, Axixá, Humberto de Campos, Morros e Icatú. Los pacientes fueron entrevistados me-diante un cuestionario epidemiológico, demográfico y clínico. Posteriormente fueron recogidas muestras de sangre para realización de los exámenes serológicos y moleculares. De las 871 serologías realizadas, la prevalencia de HBsAg fue de 2.99%. Las prevalencias de anti-HBc Total y anti-HBs fueron 32.53% y 40.34%, respectivamente. Anti-HBs aisladamente positivo estuvo presente en 19.63%. La prevalencia de2.99% de la infección por la HBV, detectada hasta el momento por el estudio, identifica esta región como de endemicidad intermediaria.PALABRAS CLAVE: Hepatitis. Prevalencia. Maranhão

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

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements

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 understanding 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,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 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 underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities 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 organism 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 neglected 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 lost

Factors associated with physical violence against pregnant women from São Luís, Maranhão State, Brazil: an approach using structural equation modeling

Abstract: The factors associated with physical violence against pregnant women were analyzed in a cross-sectional study of 1,446 pregnant women from a prenatal cohort who were interviewed in 2010 and 2011 in São Luís, Brazil. In the initial model, socioeconomic status occupied the most distal position, determining sociodemographic factors, social support and the behavioral factors that ultimately determined physical violence, which was investigated as a latent variable. Structural equation modeling was used in the analysis. Pregnant women who were from more disadvantaged backgrounds (p = 0.027), did not reside with intimate partners (p = 0.005), had low social support (p < 0.001) and had a high number of lifetime intimate partners (p = 0.001) reported more episodes of physical violence. Low social support was the primary mediator of the effect of socioeconomic status on physical violence. The effect of marital status was mainly mediated by a high number of lifetime intimate partners

Low handgrip strength is associated with worse functional outcomes in long COVID

Abstract The diagnosis of long COVID is troublesome, even when functional limitations are present. Dynapenia is the loss of muscle strength and power production that is not caused by neurologic or muscular diseases, being mostly associated with changes in neurologic function and/or the intrinsic force-generating properties of skeletal muscle, which altogether, may partially explain the limitations seen in long COVID. This study aimed to identify the distribution and possible associations of dynapenia with functional assessments in patients with long COVID. A total of 113 patients with COVID-19 were evaluated by functional assessment 120 days post-acute severe disease. Body composition, respiratory muscle strength, spirometry, six-minute walk test (6MWT, meters), and hand-grip strength (HGS, Kilogram-force) were assessed. Dynapenia was defined as HGS < 30 Kgf (men), and < 20 Kgf (women). Twenty-five (22%) participants were dynapenic, presenting lower muscle mass (p < 0.001), worse forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1) (p = 0.0001), lower forced vital capacity (p < 0.001), and inspiratory (p = 0.007) and expiratory (p = 0.002) peek pressures, as well as worse 6MWT performance (p < 0.001). Dynapenia, independently of age, was associated with worse FEV1, maximal expiratory pressure (MEP), and 6MWT, (p < 0.001) outcomes. Patients with dynapenia had higher intensive care unit (ICU) admission rates (p = 0.01) and need for invasive mechanical ventilation (p = 0.007) during hospitalization. The HGS is a simple, reliable, and low-cost measurement that can be performed in outpatient clinics in low- and middle-income countries. Thus, HGS may be used as a proxy indicator of functional impairment in this population