43 research outputs found

    Análise de casos de malária em gestantes atendidas no Hospital Municipal de Benguela

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    Introdução: A malária é uma doença evitável e tratável que continua a ter um impacto devastador na saúde e nos meios de subsistência das pessoas em todo o mundo. A Região Africana da OMS continua a suportar o fardo mais pesado da malária. A infecção por malária durante a gravidez é um problema importante de saúde pública em regiões tropicais e subtropicais em todo o mundo. Todos os anos há pelo menos 30 milhões de mulheres grávidas em zonas maláricas da África, a maioria das quais reside em zonas de transmissão (Cunningham et al. 2019). Em Angola, a malária constitui um grave problema de saúde pública, actualmente, representando a primeira causa de mobimortalidade, absentismo laboral e escolar. No país, mais de três milhões de habitantes estão sob risco de contrair a doença, a qual lidera a lista de doenças endémicas nas 18 províncias, com possibilidade de surtos epidémicos em algumas delas (Chaves et al. 2018). Objetivos: Analisar os casos de malária em gestantes, atendidas no Hospital Municipal de Benguela de acordo a densidade parasitaria, faixa etária e proveniência durante o ano de 2021. Material e Métodos: Realizou-se um estudo retrospectivo de natureza descritiva com abordagem quantitativa. A população foi constituída por n=1197 gestantes encaminhadas para o laboratório de análises clínicas do Hospital Municipal de Benguela. Resultados: Nesta pesquisa, 80% (965) foram negativas e 20% (232) gestantes com diagnóstico positivo de malária, sendo que a faixa etária mais acometida pela doença é compreendida entre 21 a 30 anos de idade correspondendo á 50,9% (118) de casos. Em relação a densidade parasitária 99% (230) gestantes apresentaram baixa parasitemia, sendo que o maior número 43% (99) foram provenientes da Zona A. Já para alta parasitemia apenas 2 gestantes tiveram tal resultado, também foram provenientes da zona A. Conclusões: Conclui-se que a malária continua sendo um grande problema de saúde pública devido ao crescente número de casos. Mais da metade foram consideradas negativas, sendo que a menor proporção foi positiva, entre elas, maior parte apresentou baixa parasitemia e eram provenientes da zona A

    SPI: The spectrometer aboard INTEGRAL

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    SPI is a high spectral resolution gamma-ray telescope on board the ESA mission INTEGRAL (International Gamma Ray Astrophysics Laboratory). It consists of an array of 19 closely packed germanium detectors surrounded by an active anticoincidence shield of BGO. The imaging capabilities of the instrument are obtained with a tungsten coded aperture mask located 1.7 m from the Ge array. The fully coded field-of-view is 16º, the partially coded field of view amounts to 31º, and the angular resolution is 2.5º. The energy range extends from 20 keV to 8 MeV with a typical energy resolution of 2.5 keV at 1.3 MeV. Here we present the general concept of the instrument followed by a brief description of each of the main subsystems. INTEGRAL was successfully launched in October 2002 and SPI is functioning extremely well.Sanchez Martinez, Filomeno, [email protected]

    The role of a Mediterranean diet on the risk of oral and pharyngeal cancer.

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    BACKGROUND: The Mediterranean diet has a beneficial role on various neoplasms, but data are scanty on oral cavity and pharyngeal (OCP) cancer. METHODS: We analysed data from a case-control study carried out between 1997 and 2009 in Italy and Switzerland, including 768 incident, histologically confirmed OCP cancer cases and 2078 hospital controls. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet was measured using the Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS) based on the major characteristics of the Mediterranean diet, and two other scores, the Mediterranean Dietary Pattern Adherence Index (MDP) and the Mediterranean Adequacy Index (MAI). RESULTS: We estimated the odds ratios (ORs), and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI), for increasing levels of the scores (i.e., increasing adherence) using multiple logistic regression models. We found a reduced risk of OCP cancer for increasing levels of the MDS, the ORs for subjects with six or more MDS components compared with two or less being 0.20 (95% CI 0.14-0.28, P-value for trend <0.0001). The ORs for the highest vs the lowest quintile were 0.20 (95% CI 0.14-0.28) for the MDP score (score 66.2 or more vs less than 57.9), and 0.48 (95% CI 0.33-0.69) for the MAI score (score value 2.1 or more vs value less 0.92), with significant trends of decreasing risk for both scores. The favourable effect of the Mediterranean diet was apparently stronger in younger subjects, in those with a higher level of education, and in ex-smokers, although it was observed in other strata as well. CONCLUSIONS: Our study provides strong evidence of a beneficial role of the Mediterranean diet on OCP cancer

    Mediterranean diet and colorectal cancer risk : A pooled analysis of three Italian case-control studies

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    Background: Adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD) is associated with a reduced risk of several cancers. However, studies conducted in Mediterranean regions are scanty. Methods: To investigate the relation between MD and colorectal cancer risk in Italy, we pooled data from three case-control studies, including a total of 3745 colorectal cancer cases and 6804 hospital controls. Adherence to the MD was assessed using an a priori Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS), based on nine components. Results: Compared with the lowest adherence to the MD (0-2 MDS), the odds ratio (OR) was 0.52 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.43-0.62) for the highest adherence (7-9 MDS), with a significant inverse trend in risk (P<0.0001). The OR for a 1-point increment in the MDS was 0.89 (95% CI 0.86-0.91). The inverse association was consistent across studies, cancer anatomical subsites and strata of selected covariates. Conclusions: This Italian study confirms a favourable role of MD on colorectal cancer risk

    Adjuvant capecitabine in triple negative breast cancer patients with residual disease after neoadjuvant treatment: real-world evidence from CaRe, a multicentric, observational study

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    Background: In triple negative breast cancer patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy, residual disease at surgery is the most relevant unfavorable prognostic factor. Current guidelines consider the use of adjuvant capecitabine, based on the results of the randomized CREATE-X study, carried out in Asian patients and including a small subset of triple negative tumors. Thus far, evidence on Caucasian patients is limited, and no real-world data are available. Methods: We carried out a multicenter, observational study, involving 44 oncologic centres. Triple negative breast cancer patients with residual disease, treated with adjuvant capecitabine from January 2017 through June 2021, were recruited. We primarily focused on treatment tolerability, with toxicity being reported as potential cause of treatment discontinuation. Secondarily, we assessed effectiveness in the overall study population and in a subset having a minimum follow-up of 2 years. Results: Overall, 270 patients were retrospectively identified. The 50.4% of the patients had residual node positive disease, 7.8% and 81.9% had large or G3 residual tumor, respectively, and 80.4% a Ki-67 &gt;20%. Toxicity-related treatment discontinuation was observed only in 10.4% of the patients. In the whole population, at a median follow-up of 15 months, 2-year disease-free survival was 62%, 2 and 3-year overall survival 84.0% and 76.2%, respectively. In 129 patients with a median follow-up of 25 months, 2-year disease-free survival was 43.4%, 2 and 3-year overall survival 78.0% and 70.8%, respectively. Six or more cycles of capecitabine were associated with more favourable outcomes compared with less than six cycles. Conclusion: The CaRe study shows an unexpectedly good tolerance of adjuvant capecitabine in a real-world setting, although effectiveness appears to be lower than that observed in the CREATE-X study. Methodological differences between the two studies impose significant limits to comparability concerning effectiveness, and strongly invite further research

    Clonal chromosomal mosaicism and loss of chromosome Y in elderly men increase vulnerability for SARS-CoV-2

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    The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19) had an estimated overall case fatality ratio of 1.38% (pre-vaccination), being 53% higher in males and increasing exponentially with age. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, we found 133 cases (1.42%) with detectable clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations (mCA) and 226 males (5.08%) with acquired loss of chromosome Y (LOY). Individuals with clonal mosaic events (mCA and/or LOY) showed a 54% increase in the risk of COVID-19 lethality. LOY is associated with transcriptomic biomarkers of immune dysfunction, pro-coagulation activity and cardiovascular risk. Interferon-induced genes involved in the initial immune response to SARS-CoV-2 are also down-regulated in LOY. Thus, mCA and LOY underlie at least part of the sex-biased severity and mortality of COVID-19 in aging patients. Given its potential therapeutic and prognostic relevance, evaluation of clonal mosaicism should be implemented as biomarker of COVID-19 severity in elderly people. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, individuals with clonal mosaic events (clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations and/or loss of chromosome Y) showed an increased risk of COVID-19 lethality
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