Consumer behaviour concerning food safety in Brazil and New Zealand : modelling food safety risk in the home : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Food Technology (Food Safety) at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand

Foodborne illnesses are among the most widespread public health issues, killing about 2.2 million people annually worldwide, and costing hundreds of billions of US dollars for governments, companies, families and consumers. In Brazil, foodborne illness in the home accounts for 44% of identified disease outbreaks and in New Zealand it represents 27% of notifiable disease outbreaks. Several studies have investigated aspects of consumer behaviour concerning food safety, but it remains a challenge to obtain a full picture of critical control points (CCPs) and key factors contributing to food contamination, pathogen growth or survival, when the food is under the consumer’s responsibility. This study aimed to assess threats to food safety in the home in Brazil and New Zealand. From August 2011 to March 2012, survey questionnaires from 2,775 consumers most responsible for cooking in the home in Brazil were collected. From September 2012 to November 2012, 658 households in New Zealand responded to the same survey. Both surveys found similar CCPs with the potential to threaten food safety in the domestic environment – food preparation, cooking and handling leftovers. Information from New Zealand suggests that choosing and purchasing food, and for Brazil food transportation, are also steps of concern. The age, marital status, gender, ethnicity, first-aid in response to illness and the way a person learned to cook had a significant influence in the risky practices of consumers in both countries, suggesting that similar consumer behaviour concerning food safety can be found in countries of substantially different degrees of economic development and culture. The young, the men, socioeconomic minorities, people most susceptible to illness and ethnic groups were people of most concern, often ranked at-risk, demanding special attention of public health authorities in both countries. The CCPs of most concern and contributing factors identified in this study were officially reported in New Zealand, helping to validate the methodology used in this study and its possible use in other countries. Furthermore, food safety educational campaigns built on the steps of most concern and groups ranked at moderate or high risk, have the potential to be most effective in reducing food poisoning in the home

Alterações comportamentais e na memória de Mus musculus coinfectado por Toxocara canis e Toxoplasma gondii

Several researchers have stated that parasites can alter the behavior of their hosts, in order to increase the transmission rate, principally when prey-predator relationships are a reliable way of infection transmission. The aim of this study was to verify the occurrence of changes in anxiety and short-term memory patterns in experimentally infected Mus musculus by Toxocara canis and/or Toxoplasma gondii. Forty male Mus musculus (Balb/c) eight-week-old were divided into four groups of 10 mice each. One group was infected with 300 eggs of Toxocara canis; a second group was submitted to infection with 10 cysts of Toxoplasma gondii; a third group was concomitantly infected with both parasites with the same inoculums and the last group was maintained without infection. The anxiety levels were evaluated using an elevated plus maze and an actometer; the short-term memory was determined by a two-way active avoidance equipment. The determination of anxiety levels were conducted 40 and 70 days after infection and the short-term memory was evaluated 140 days after infection. Mice chronically infected by Toxoplasma gondii showed impaired learning and short-term memory, but no significant differences were found in mice infected by Toxocara canis or concomitantly infected by Toxocara canis and Toxoplasma gondii when compared to non infected mice.Pesquisadores afirmam que parasitos podem alterar o comportamento de seus hospedeiros a fim de aumentar a sua taxa de transmissão. O objetivo deste estudo foi verificar a ocorrência de alterações na ansiedade e padrões de memória de curta duração em Mus musculus experimentalmente infectados por Toxocara canis e/ou Toxoplasma gondii. Utilizaram-se 40 camundongos da espécie Mus musculus machos (Balb/c) com oito semanas de idade, divididos em quatro grupos de 10 ratos cada. Um grupo foi infectado com 300 ovos de Toxocara canis, um segundo grupo foi submetido à infecção com 10 cistos de T. gondii, um terceiro grupo foi infectado concomitantemente com ambos os parasitas e o último grupo foi mantido sem infecção. Os níveis de ansiedade foram avaliados por meio de labirinto em cruz elevado e actômetro, a memória de curta duração foi determinada por esquiva aversiva. A determinação dos níveis de ansiedade foi realizada 40 e 70 dias após infecção e a memória de curto prazo foi avaliada 140 dias após a infecção. Camundongos cronicamente infectados por Toxoplasma gondii mostraram deficiência de aprendizagem e memória de curto prazo, mas não foram encontradas diferenças significantes em camundongos infectados por Toxocara canis ou concomitantemente infectados por Toxocara canis e Toxoplasma gondii quando comparados com camundongos não infectados

Efficient Identification of HIV Serodiscordant Couples by Existing HIV Testing Programs in South Brazil.

ObjectiveTo examine the feasibility of identifying HIV negative at risk individuals in HIV serodiscordant couples, during voluntary HIV testing in South Brazil.MethodsWe surveyed HIV testers at 4 public testing sites in Rio Grande do Sul. We obtained information on risk behaviors and sexual partnerships. HIV testing and testing for recent infection were performed; HIV prevalence and risk behaviors were assessed among subjects who reported having a steady partner who was HIV positive (serodiscordant group) and compared with the general testing population.ResultsAmong 3100 patients, 490 (15.8%) reported being in a steady relationship with an HIV positive partner. New HIV infections were diagnosed in 23% of the serodiscordant group (vs. 13% in the general population, p = 0.01); among newly positive subjects, recent HIV infections were more frequent (23/86, 26.7%) among testers with positive partners than among the general testing group (52/334; 15.6%; p = 0.016). Less than half of the serodiscordant testers reported having used a condom during the last sexual intercourse with their HIV-positive partner. Participants with inconsistent condom use with steady partner were four times more likely to test positive for HIV compared to those who reported always using condoms with the steady partner (OR: 4.2; 95% CI: 2.3 to 7.5).ConclusionIt is highly feasible to identify large numbers of HIV susceptible individuals who are in HIV serodiscordant relationships in South Brazil testing sites. Condom use within HIV serodiscordant couples is low in this setting, suggesting urgent need for biomedical prevention strategies to reduce HIV transmission

A prestação obrigacional do dentista como obrigação de resultado: sistematização e análise crítica dos argumentos

Este artigo aborda e sistematiza os argumentos favoráveis à consignação de obrigação de resultado à obrigação jurídica do dentista. Três grupos de fundamentos são identificados e discutidos: a especialidade, a natureza estética dos procedimentos, algumas características tidas como específicas da atividade.This paper addresses and schematizes the arguments in favor of the assigning of the result nature to the dentist’s legal obligation. Three groups of key components are identified and discussed: the specialty, the aes-thetic nature of the procedures and some features assumed as distinctive of the activity. 

O GRUPO PASSA DOIS (FORMAÇÕES CORUMBATAÍ E ESTRADA NOVA) NO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO, BRASIL: FONTE DE MATÉRIA PRIMA PARA A INDÚSTRIA CERÂMICA: The Passa Dois Group (Corumbataí and Estrada Nova Formations) in the State of São Paulo, Brazil: source of raw material for the ceramic industry

Studies show the clayey rocks of the Passa Dois Group, including Corumbataí and Estrada Nova formations, and excluding Irati formation- Permian of Paraná sedimentary basin, present variations in their geological and ceramic technological properties along their occurrence strip in the State of Sao Paulo. These variations are related from different sedimentary facies to diagenetic modification processes and hydrothermal and tectonic events during post depositional evolution. In the Santa Gertrudes Ceramic Pole, in the central São Paulo State, Brazil, the Corumbataí Fm. clays supply the wall and floor ceramic tiles industry as the main raw material. In addition, in the Porto Ferreira/Tambau and Laranjal Paulista/Cesário Lange poles, located less than 100 km far from Santa Gertrudes, Corumbatai clays are mainly used to manufacture structural ceramic products. The main difference between these clays is the higher presence of Na2O in the Santa Gertrudes pole, due to de presence of albite in clays, which given to these material an important fluxing role in the ceramic sintering process. This fact allows the local industries to manufacture a huge amount of floor and wall ceramic tiles by using dry route making process, mainly classified as semi porous type (Water Absorption Group BIIb, according to Brazilian and worldwide ceramic tile classification). In the poles of Tambau/Porto Ferreira and Laranjal Paulista/Cesário Lange, according to the ceramic results obtained, the majority of the samples were classified as a porous material (Group BIII). It should be noted that the different lithofacies found in the rocks of the Passa Dois Group allow them to be used not only for the production of structural ceramics and semi-porous and porous ceramic plates, but also in the updating of masses in the production of porcelain and stoneware.Os resultados mostraram que as rochas argilosas do Grupo Passa Dois, exclusive a Formação Irati, representadas pelas Formações Corumbataí e Estrada Nova apresentaram variações nas suas propriedades geológicas e tecnológicas ao longo de sua ocorrência no Estado de São Paulo. Estas variações são resultantes de uma interação complexa de processos atuantes durante e após a sua deposição na bacia sedimentar do Paraná o que direcionou seu aproveitamento como matéria-prima cerâmica. A Formação Corumbataí representa a principal fornecedora de matéria-prima para a indústria cerâmica tradicional, em especial a de revestimento cerâmico. O diferencial da matéria-prima da Formação Corumbataí localizada no polo cerâmico de Santa Gertrudes em relação aos outros polos produtores é a presença elevada do Na2O dada principalmente pelo feldspato sódico albita sendo este um elemento fundente essencial no processo de sinterização cerâmica facilitando a fabricação de revestimentos cerâmico semi-poroso por via seca, classificados como BIIb de acordo com grupos de absorção de água. Em outras regiões produtoras, aqui designados informalmente de polos de Tambaú/Porto Ferreira e Laranjal Paulista/Cesário Lange, de acordo com os resultados cerâmicos obtidos, a maioria das amostras foram classificadas como poroso (BIII). Deve-se salientar que as diferentes litofácies encontradas nas rochas do Grupo Passa Dois permitem utilizá-las não somente para a produção de cerâmica estrutural e de placas cerâmicas semi-porosas e porosas, mas também na formulação de massas na produção de porcelanatos e grés. &nbsp

Pigmented squamous cell carcinoma in situ : report of a new case and review of the literature

Pigmented squamous cell carcinoma in situ (PSCCIS) is very rare, being clinically described as a pigmented lesion with histological characteristics of an in-situ carcinoma presenting pigmentation within neoplastic cells. A 50-year-old Afro-descendant man came for clinical evaluation of a painful black and red lesion located on the right aspect of the oropharyngeal isthmus. After incisional biopsy, the resulting sample was described as a pigmented squamous cell carcinoma in situ, a diagnosis further confirmed by immunohistochemical analysis. Treatment consisted in total excision of the lesion, and no recurrence was observed after a 30-month follow-up. Clinicians and pathologists should be aware of PSCCIS as a differential diagnosis of melanoma, a lesion which significantly increases the morbidity and mortality rates among these patients