Knowledge of Toxoplasmosis among Doctors and Nurses Who Provide Prenatal Care in an Endemic Region

Congenital toxoplasmosis is a potentially severe infection and its prevention is most often based on serological screening in pregnant women. Many cases could be prevented by simple precautions during pregnancy. Aiming to assess the knowledge about toxoplasmosis among professionals working in antenatal care in a high prevalent region, a questionnaire was administered to 118 obstetric nurses and physicians attending at primary care units and hospitals. The questionnaire was self-completed and included questions on diagnosis, clinical issues, and prevention. Only 44% of total answers were corrected. Lower scores were observed among those with over 10 years of graduation, working in primary care units, and nurses. Errors were mainly observed in questions of prevention and diagnosis. As congenital toxoplasmosis is a mother-to-child (MTC) transmitted disease, early diagnosis and treatment can prevent serious and irreversible fetal damage. Thus, doctors and nurses who provide prenatal care must be appropriately trained on prophylactic, diagnostic, and clinical aspects of toxoplasmosis. The authors suggest that measures should be taken for continuing education regarding toxoplasmosis in pregnancy

Development of cardiorespiratory fitness standards for working memory using receiver operating curves in 15-year-old adolescents

Background: Working memory performance is associated with better academic achievements in children and adolescents, and it is positively related to CRF. However, what level of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) discriminates higher working memory performance is not known. The purpose of this study was to identify CRF thresholds linked to working memory in adolescents. Methods: Data of 141 adolescents (53.2 % girls) were collected (14.9 years) from a cross-sectional study during the year 2019. CRF was assessed by the 20-m shuttle run test, and maximal oxygen uptake was calculated using the Mahar ' s equation. Working memory was evaluated by the Corsi blocks test and performance was classified by percentiles. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to identify CRF thresholds. Results: The ROC analysis indicated that CRF could be used to discriminate working memory in adolescents. CRF thresholds of >= 45.03 ml.kg(-1).min(-1)for boys and >= 36.63 ml.kg(-1).min(-1)for girls were found to be indicative of "normal" working memory performance. Conclusions: CRF could discriminate low and normal working memory performance in 14-16- year-old adolescents. These thresholds could allow for earlier identification and intervention of low working memory performance using CRFThe authors would like to thank the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq) for the research productivity grant (ERVR) and the CoordenacAo de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES) for the PhD/MSc scholarship (VMRW, DZF, MROB)

Motives for sports practice in young soccer and volleyball athletes

The reasons why athletes, especially young people, seek to adhere to sports practice has aroused the interest of research. The aim of this study was to identify the reasons for the sports practice of young soccer and volleyball athletes according to gender, age, family economic class, practice time and level of competitiveness. 188 athletes, 56 volleyball athletes and 132 soccer players aged 10-16 participated in the study. The reasons for the sport were identified through the Participation Motivation Questionnaire (PMQ). The data were analyzed through Covariance Analysis. The results indicated that, in general, the most important reason for sports practice was “Technical Competence” (4.51±0.54), followed by factors of intermediate importance: “Competition” (4.30±0.73), “Group Activity” (4.29±0.71) and “Physical Fitness” (4.25±0.64). Low-income families (C) attributed greater importance to the motivation factors related to “Social Recognition” and “Group Activity”. Athletes with lower practice time conceded less relevance to “Group Activity” and “Affiliation”, while those with a national competitive level demonstrated greater importance to all motivation factors, with the exception of “Competition.” Young athletes have been motivated to practice sports, especially for reasons related to self-realization, improvement of technical skills and overcoming challenges. Differences were also identified between family economic class groups, practice time and competitive level in the motivation factors for sports practice

Indicadores microbiológicos de qualidade do solo em recuperação de um sistema agroflorestal

The verification of soil quality is an important tool to monitor its degradation, and to plan the implementation of sustainable management practices. The objective of this study was to evaluate soil quality in three agroforestry systems located in the Associação de Pais e Amigos dos Excepcionais (APAE RURAL) of Campo Mourão, Paraná. The three areas present distinct stages: an initial one, with characteristics of soil degradation activity (Area 1); an intermediary, where the agroforestry system was implemented a year ago (Area 2); and an advanced one, presenting more mature and perennial forest formation (Area 3). Three functional groups of microorganisms were used in each of the areas: total fungi, aerobic bacteria and cellulase producing bacteria. All microorganisms were quantified by Colony Forming Units per gram (UFC / g) of diluted soil. Area 1 showed lower abundance of total microorganisms, in the order of 105 UFC; Area 2 presented intermediate composition of total fungi, aerobic bacteria and cellulase producing bacteria, with UFC around 107 for the three functional groups; Area 3 had the highest amount of fungi (108), aerobic bacteria (1010) and cellulase producing bacteria (1011). When comparing the areas within each functional group, the lowest amount of aerobic bacteria in Area 1 (107) was observed, as well as a higher amount of cellulase producing bacteria in Area 3 (1011). These results show that the areas have distinct qualities in relation to microorganisms. Area 1 with less microorganisms, Area 2 with intermediate quantities and Area 3 with more colonies formed as expected due to the time of implantation of the agroforestry system in each area.A verificação da qualidade do solo é um instrumento importante para monitorar a sua degradação, e planejar a implantação de práticas sustentáveis de manejo. Este estudo teve como objetivo avaliar a qualidade do solo em três áreas com sistema agroflorestal localizadas na Associação de Pais e Amigos dos Excepcionais (APAE RURAL) de Campo Mourão, Paraná. As três áreas apresentam estágios distintos: uma inicial, com características de atividade de degradação do solo (Área 1); uma intermediária, onde foi implantado o sistema agroflorestal há um ano (Área 2); e uma avançada, apresentando formação florestal mais madura e perene (Área 3). Foram utilizados três grupos funcionais de microrganismos em cada uma das áreas, sendo eles: fungos totais, bactérias aeróbias e bactérias produtoras de celulase. Todos os microrganismos foram quantificados por Unidades Formadoras de Colônia por grama (UFC/g) de solo diluído. A Área 1 exibiu menor abundância de microrganismos totais, na ordem de 105 UFC; Área 2 apresentou composição intermediária de fungos totais, bactérias aeróbias e bactérias produtoras de celulase, com UFC em torno de 107 para os três grupos funcionais; Área 3 apresentou maior quantidade dos microrganismos em estudo, com maior quantidade de fungos (108), bactérias aeróbias (1010) e bactérias produtoras de celulase (1011). Quando comparadas as áreas dentro de cada grupo funcional, destacou-se a menor quantidade de bactérias aeróbias na Área 1 (107), assim como maior quantidade de bactérias produtoras de celulase na Área 3 (1011). Esses resultados mostram que as áreas têm qualidades distintas em relação a micro-organismos. A Área 1 com menos micro-organismos, a Área 2 com quantidades intermediárias e a Área 3 com mais colônias formadas conforme o esperado devido ao tempo de implantação do sistema agroflorestal em cada área

Aleitamento materno no contexto do SARS-CoV-2

A pandemia causada por um novo tipo de Coronavírus, o SARS-Cov-2, notificado em dezembro de 2019, tem gerado discussões sobre possível transmissão do vírus pelo leite materno. Sabe-se que a amamentação é uma prática alimentar que fornece nutrientes equilibrados para o desenvolvimento saudável do recém-nascido, como também é fundamental para o vínculo afetivo entre mãe e filho. No presente momento, as pesquisas científicas não demostraram contágio pelo leite materno, sendo aconselhável a manutenção do aleitamento mesmo por mães diagnosticadas com COVID-19 ou classificadas como caso suspeito de infecção. Analisar as recomendações para a prática da amamentação no contexto do novo Coronavírus. Trata-se de uma revisão integrativa da literatura, através de um estudo observacional do tipo quantitativo, a partir de buscas nos bancos de dados PubMed, SciELO, BVS e Google Acadêmico, utilizando os Descritores em Ciências da Saúde (DECS) “COVID-19”, “aleitamento materno” e “SARS-CoV-2”, em inglês, espanhol e português, associados aos operadores booleanos “AND” e “OR”. Os critérios de inclusão compreenderam relevância, temática, e período de publicação de 2020. Levando em consideração tais critérios de inclusão, foram selecionados 6 artigos de um total de 30 referências analisadas. Os dados mais recentes demostram que não há transmissão vertical do SARS-Cov-2, porém as evidências científicas ainda estão sendo processadas e o conhecimento sobre seu potencial de transmissão pelo leite materno ainda carece de estudos com maior amostragem. Desse modo não há uma referência padrão acerca do seguimento do aleitamento materno. Contudo, baseando no princípio de que os benefícios do aleitamento superam os riscos, a Organização Mundial da Saúde (OMS), orienta que mulheres com o novo Coronavírus podem amamentar de acordo com seu desejo, porém deve-se dispor de cuidados especiais para proteção do recém-nascido. É recomendado o uso de máscara durante todo o período de aleitamento e higienização adequada antes e depois de manter contato com a criança. Em relação a ordenha, também aconselha práticas de segurança associadas ao uso de máscara e assepsia. A pandemia do COVID 19 é recente, tendo um desenvolvimento rápido, desafiando inúmeros cientistas em busca de progressivo conhecimento. Sobre a amamentação, reconhece-se a necessidade de maiores evidências, contudo a OMS recomenda-se seu seguimento, uma vez, que atualmente não foi demonstrado amostras do vírus no leite humano. Ademais, é importante os profissionais de saúde estarem em constante atualização para otimizar as práticas mais adequadas no contexto da promoção da amamentação

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

Pollinator-flower interactions in gardens during the covid 19 pandemic lockdown of 2020

During the main COVID-19 global pandemic lockdown period of 2020 an impromptu set of pollination ecologists came together via social media and personal contacts to carry out standardised surveys of the flower visits and plants in gardens. The surveys involved 67 rural, suburban and urban gardens, of various sizes, ranging from 61.18° North in Norway to 37.96° South in Australia, resulting in a data set of 25,174 rows, with each row being a unique interaction record for that date/site/plant species, and comprising almost 47,000 visits to flowers, as well as records of flowers that were not visited by pollinators, for over 1,000 species and varieties belonging to more than 460 genera and 96 plant families. The more than 650 species of flower visitors belong to 12 orders of invertebrates and four of vertebrates. In this first publication from the project, we present a brief description of the data and make it freely available for any researchers to use in the future, the only restriction being that they cite this paper in the first instance. The data generated from these global surveys will provide scientific evidence to help us understand the role that private gardens (in urban, rural and suburban areas) can play in conserving insect pollinators and identify management actions to enhance their potential

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