Produção de Vídeos como Proposta de Abordagem das Normas de Segurança e Atividades Experimentais na Formação Inicial em Química

As disciplinas experimentais no âmbito do curso de Licenciatura em Química são importantes para contribuir na formação dos graduandos quanto aos conhecimentos químicos, bem como nos aspectos de um laboratório químico, relativos às normas de segurança, técnicas de manipulação de instrumentos, preparo de soluções, descarte adequado de resíduos, entre outros. Tendo em vista que muitos discentes enfrentam dificuldades com relação a condutas adequadas de segurança no laboratório e habilidades procedimentais na realização de práticas experimentais foi proposto neste estudo, uma estratégia didática pautada na produção de vídeos pelos estudantes com temas relacionados aos aspectos gerais de um laboratório. Os estudantes foram divididos em grupos, sendo cada um responsável para produzir um vídeo que versasse sobre uma temática apresentada no livro “Manual de Química Experimental”. O vídeo deveria ter um tempo mínimo de cinco minutos e máximo de 10 minutos; deveria haver dinamismo nas informações, uso de imagens, dramatizações e/ou teatro. Foram estabelecidos critérios de análise das apresentações dos vídeos pelos estudantes. Também, eles responderam um questionário sobre suas percepções referentes ao uso de vídeos como possibilidade de aprendizagem. Foi possível verificar que a estratégia didática vivenciada pelos estudantes contribuiu de forma significativa na compreensão dos temas relacionados aos aspectos gerais de um laboratório químico. 

Hydronephrosis in a Dog Related to Ovariosalpingohysterectomy

Background: Hydronephrosis is the dilation of the pelvis and renal calyxes due to post-renal obstruction. The obstruction is often associated with extraluminal masses, blood clots and ureter ligation in castration procedures. Ureter ligation is reported as a malpractice. The renal function is reestablished if ligation is rapidly undone, but not for obstructions longer than four weeks. Often, clinical signs are results from months to years after the castration, when nephrectomy is the best therapeutic option. This paper aims to report a case of asymptomatic unilateral hydronephrosis in a 10-year-old dog caused by chronic ureter occlusion with Nylon 3.0 suture during an elective procedure.Case: A 10-year-old female pinscher dog, spayed 3 years ago was admitted at the Surgery Department of the Veterinary Hospital of the Federal University of Jataí (HV-UFJ). The animal was taken for periodontal treatment. In the physical and laboratory examination (complete blood count, hepatic and renal biochemical tests) no significant and noteworthy alterations were found. Ultrasonographic examination showed no changes in the topography and echotexture of the left kidney, however the right kidney was not visualized, with an anechoic structure suggestive of advanced and severe hydronephrosis. Therefore, exploratory laparotomy was proposed to identify the observed structure, with the periodontal treatment considered for a later time. So, a retroumbilical incision was made, followed by linea alba and the removal of simple isolated suture remaining from previous surgical procedure. In the cavity, the viscera were isolated and the left kidney was identified, observing preserved anatomy. On the other hand, the right kidney had altered topography and morphology, being exposed after release of adhesions in adjacent structures. The right renal artery and vein were dissected and a double ligature was made. Then, the right ureter was dissected, observing marked dilatation in the proximal portion and the presence of local ligation with Nylon 3.0. Right ureterectomy and right nephrectomy were performed. After nephrectomy, the capsule was ruptured, observing dark fluid in it and absence of tissue compatible with renal parenchyma. The material was preserved in 10% formaldehyde and sent for histopathological examination. Histopathology revealed risk of rupture of the renal capsule due to the advance of renal degeneration and complete absence of parenchyma. However, contrary to the severity of the histopathological, surgical and ultrasonographic findings, the patient did not present clinical signs at the time of diagnosis.Discussion: In the intraoperative evaluation, the cause of the hydronephrosis was verified to be in fact the ligation of the ureter, which may have been accidental or due to the malpractice of the veterinarian surgeon. Other possible causes such as adhesions and granulomas were ruled out because the Nylon 3.0 suture was found in the proximal portion of the right ureter. It is believed that the patient may have presented clinical signs of hydronephrosis that may have been confused by the tutors as postoperative complications, changes that if identified and performed in time, could have avoided the occurrence or worsening of hydronephrosis and subsequent nephrectomy. Clinically, the bitch did not show clinical signs presented in the literature as consistent with hydronephrosis such as polyuria, polydipsia, abdominalgia, external fistula and anorexia. Therefore, it is believed that this case is one of the first reports of the occurrence of severe hydronephrosis without typical clinical manifestations of hydronephrosis. This fact raises a warning about the thorough monitoring in the postoperative period by owners and veterinarians, in addition to highlighting concerns regarding the occurrence of medical malpractice versus surgical accidents. Keywords: castration, malpractice, nephrectomy, nylon

Fractal and Polar Microstrip Antennas and Arrays for Wireless Communications

This chapter presents the research done by authors in recent years on microstrip antennas and their applications in wireless sensors network. The subject is delimited to the study of conventional microstrip antennas, from which antennas with fractal and polar shapes are proposed. A detailed description of the antenna design methodology is presented for some prototypes of microstrip antennas manufactured with different dielectric substrates. Analysis of the proposed antennas has been done through computational simulation of full-wave methods. Experimental characterization of antennas and dielectric materials has been performed with the use of a vector network analyzer. The results obtained for the resonant and radiation parameters of the antennas are presented. Computer-aided design (CAD) of microstrip antennas and arrays using fractal and polar geometrical transformations results in a wide class of antenna elements with desirable and unique characteristics, such as compact, exclusive, and esthetic antenna design for multiband or broadband frequency operation with stable radiation pattern

Avaliação de carcaça bovina: uma revisão sobre o uso do ultrassom

Diversos métodos de avaliação de carcaça bovina vêm sendo utilizados para expressar características relacionadas à carcaça, à qualidade da carne e ao produto final de um determinado sistema de produção. Atualmente, o uso do ultrassom na técnica de ultrassonografia é um desses métodos. Assim, o objetivo desta revisão é informar sobre o uso do ultrassom na avaliação de carcaça bovina, pontuar os principais indicadores de medidas na carcaça e sua avaliação, além de apresentar as vantagens e limitações do seu uso. A ultrassonografia vem sendo usada para quatro finalidades dentro das técnicas de avaliação de carcaças: avaliação da composição corporal quanto à deposição de músculo e gordura; avaliação dos reprodutores e sua progênie; seleção em rebanhos; e rendimento de carcaça para o mercado consumidor. A técnica permite a coleta de três principais medidas de carcaças in vivo: espessura de gordura subcutânea, área de olho de lombo e gordura de marmoreio, onde esses indicadores, feitos por ultrassom, apresentam boas correlações com as medidas de carcaça post mortem. Como benefícios da utilização da técnica tem-se a obtenção em tempo real, de forma rápida e barata, das características de composição de carcaça em animais ainda vivos. As principais limitações são tecnológicas, experiência do operador, e características particular do animal. Portanto, conclui-se que a ultrassonografia é uma ferramenta que tem sido largamente utilizada, sendo sua aplicação de extrema importância na avaliação da condição corporal e na seleção genética, possibilitando assim a produção de um animal que atenda o mercado consumidor

Microflora de sementes de baraúna produzidas no estado da Paraíba: Microflora of baraúna seeds produced in the state of Paraíba

A baraúna (Schinopsis brasiliensis Engl.) é uma das maiores árvores florestais da caatinga brasileira. Devido ao crescimento lento e resistência natural a decomposição, apresenta elevada importância socioeconômica principalmente para a região Nordeste. O objetivo deste trabalho foi identificar os fungos associados às sementes de baraúna coletadas na Paraíba. As sementes foram coletadas em dois municípios, sendo o lote 1 coletado no município de Olivedos e o lote 2 coletado no município de Baraúna. O experimento foi desenvolvido no Laboratório de Fitopatologia, da Universidade Federal da Paraíba. As sementes foram acondicionadas em garrafas do tipo PET e mantidas em temperatura ambiente (25 ± 2 ºC) até o momento de utilização. O teste de sanidade foi conduzido em delineamento inteiramente casualizado (DIC). As sementes foram submetidas ao procedimento de desinfestação, em solução de hipoclorito de sódio a 1% com posterior dupla lavagem com água destilida esterilizada (ADE). Após este procedimento, as sementes foram incubadas em placas de Petri sobre dupla camada de papel filtro esterilizado e umedecido com ADE. Foram identificados três gêneros de fungos presentes em ambos os lotes avaliados neste estudo, sendo eles: Aspergillus, Penicillium e Fusarium. Além destes, o lote 1 apresentou incidência de Alternaria sp. e Rhizoctonia sp. e o lote 2 apresentou incidência de Rhizopus sp. A incidência de Fusarium sp. foi de 34% no lote 1 e 1% no lote 2

COVID-19 outcomes in people living with HIV: Peering through the waves

Objective: To evaluate clinical characteristics and outcomes of COVID-19 patients infected with HIV, and to compare with a paired sample without HIV infection. Methods: This is a substudy of a Brazilian multicentric cohort that comprised two periods (2020 and 2021). Data was obtained through the retrospective review of medical records. Primary outcomes were admission to the intensive care unit, invasive mechanical ventilation, and death. Patients with HIV and controls were matched for age, sex, number of comorbidities, and hospital of origin using the technique of propensity score matching (up to 4:1). They were compared using the Chi-Square or Fisher's Exact tests for categorical variables and the Wilcoxon for numerical variables. Results: Throughout the study, 17,101 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized, and 130 (0.76%) of those were infected with HIV. The median age was 54 (IQR: 43.0;64.0) years in 2020 and 53 (IQR: 46.0;63.5) years in 2021, with a predominance of females in both periods. People Living with HIV (PLHIV) and their controls showed similar prevalence for admission to the ICU and invasive mechanical ventilation requirement in the two periods, with no significant differences. In 2020, in-hospital mortality was higher in the PLHIV compared to the controls (27.9% vs. 17.7%; p = 0.049), but there was no difference in mortality between groups in 2021 (25.0% vs. 25.1%; p > 0.999). Conclusions: Our results reiterate that PLHIV were at higher risk of COVID-19 mortality in the early stages of the pandemic, however, this finding did not sustain in 2021, when the mortality rate is similar to the control group

High anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody seroconversion rates before the second wave in Manaus, Brazil, and the protective effect of social behaviour measures: results from the prospective DETECTCoV-19 cohort

Background: The city of Manaus, Brazil, has seen two collapses of the health system due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We report anti-SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid IgG antibody seroconversion rates and associated risk factors in Manaus residents before the second wave of the epidemic in Brazil. Methods: A convenience sample of adult (aged ≥18 years) residents of Manaus was recruited through online and university website advertising into the DETECTCoV-19 study cohort. The current analysis of seroconversion included a subgroup of DETECTCoV-19 participants who had at least two serum sample collections separated by at least 4 weeks between Aug 19 and Oct 2, 2020 (visit 1), and Oct 19 and Nov 27, 2020 (visit 2). Those who reported (or had no data on) having a COVID-19 diagnosis before visit 1, and who were positive for anti-SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid IgG antibodies at visit 1 were excluded. Using an in-house ELISA, the reactivity index (RI; calculated as the optical density ratio of the sample to the negative control) for serum anti-SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid IgG antibodies was measured at both visits. We calculated the incidence of seroconversion (defined as RI values ≤1·5 at visit 1 and ≥1·5 at visit 2, and a ratio >2 between the visit 2 and visit 1 RI values) during the study period, as well as incidence rate ratios (IRRs) through cluster-corrected and adjusted Poisson regression models to analyse associations between seroconversion and variables related to sociodemographic characteristics, health access, comorbidities, COVID-19 exposure, protective behaviours, and symptoms. Findings: 2496 DETECTCoV-19 cohort participants returned for a follow-up visit between Oct 19 and Nov 27, 2020, of whom 204 reported having COVID-19 before the first visit and 24 had no data regarding previous disease status. 559 participants were seropositive for anti-SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid IgG antibodies at baseline. Of the remaining 1709 participants who were seronegative at baseline, 71 did not meet the criteria for seroconversion and were excluded from the analyses. Among the remaining 1638 participants who were seronegative at baseline, 214 showed seroconversion at visit 2. The seroconversion incidence was 13·06% (95% CI 11·52–14·79) overall and 6·78% (5·61–8·10) for symptomatic seroconversion, over a median follow-up period of 57 days (IQR 54–61). 48·1% of seroconversion events were estimated to be asymptomatic. The sample had higher proportions of affluent and higher-educated people than those reported for the Manaus city population. In the fully adjusted and corrected model, risk factors for seroconversion before visit 2 were having a COVID-19 case in the household (IRR 1·49 [95% CI 1·21–1·83]), not wearing a mask during contact with a person with COVID-19 (1·25 [1·09–1·45]), relaxation of physical distancing (1·31 [1·05–1·64]), and having flu-like symptoms (1·79 [1·23–2·59]) or a COVID-19 diagnosis (3·57 [2·27–5·63]) between the first and second visits, whereas working remotely was associated with lower incidence (0·74 [0·56–0·97]). Interpretation: An intense infection transmission period preceded the second wave of COVID-19 in Manaus. Several modifiable behaviours increased the risk of seroconversion, including non-compliance with non-pharmaceutical interventions measures such as not wearing a mask during contact, relaxation of protective measures, and non-remote working. Increased testing in high-transmission areas is needed to provide timely information about ongoing transmission and aid appropriate implementation of transmission mitigation measures. Funding: Ministry of Education, Brazil; Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Amazonas; Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)/WHO.World Health OrganizationRevisión por pare