RFJ Spatial variability in fertigated coffee yields and plant nutrients in soil saturation extracts

The spatial distribution and levels of available plant nutrients (elements) in the soil can limit coffee yield and must be evaluated for effective crop management. Therefore, we analyzed spatial variability in yield and plant nutrients in the saturation extract of a clayey Oxisol cropped with fertigated coffee. The experiment was carried out on 14 hectares of coffee in Monte Carmelo, Minas Gerais, Brazil.  Soil samples were collected (0 - 0.2m layer) at 61 regular grid points (spaced 50x50m) and used to determine plant nutrients in the saturation extract. Coffee yield was also determined at these points. Descriptive statistics were calculated for each variable and geostatistics were used to build a spatial variability model representing the physical attributes of the soil. Variographic analysis was performed using semivariograms. These showed that yield and soil chemistry varied throughout the study site. Thus, the maps generated from geostatistics can be useful tools for soil management in fertigated coffee crops

Speech therapy and oral health issues in the perception of the older adults that access the Unified Health System

Modelo de estudo: Estudo observacional e transversal com dados coletados a partir de questionários aplicados aos idosos em visitas domiciliares, sobre acesso a serviços de saúde. Objetivo: Analisar a percepção de idosos independentes sobre questões fonoaudiológicas e odontológicas nos serviços de Atenção Primária à Saúde do Sistema Único de Saúde. Métodos: Foram analisadas frequências absolutas das variáveis de estudo relacionadas a questões fonoaudiológicas e odontológicas através do teste do Qui-quadrado e Teste Exato-de-Fisher, ambos com nível de 0,05% de significância. Resultados: Os idosos entrevistados foram predominantemente mulheres (76,5%), cor branca (73,5%), com no mínimo ensino médio de escolaridade (64,7%). Destes idosos, 92,6% afir-maram não possuir dificuldades para se alimentar, apesar de 51,5% nunca ter feito uma avaliação fonoaudiológica. Houve maior proporção indicando que os idosos não necessitaram de consulta com fonoaudióloga (73,5%). Quanto à utilização de serviços da atenção primária, 68,7% utilizavam o sistema público e desses, 94,1% autoperceberam sua condição de saúde bucal como regular/ruim. Conclusão: Sugere-se o fortalecimento do cuidado dos idosos de forma interdisciplinar e integral, a fim de abranger as necessidades e especificidades dessa população. A baixa percepção da importância do cuidado sugere a necessidade do fortalecimento dos serviços de fonoaudiologia para a saúde da população idosa brasileira.Study design: Cross-sectional study with data collected from questionnaires applied to older adults at domiciliary visits regarding access to health services. Objective: Analyzing the perception of independent elderly about spee-ch-language and dental issues in the Primary Health Care Services of the Unified Health System/SUS. Methods: Absolute frequencies of the study variables related to speech-language and dental questions were analyzed using the Chi-square test and Fisher’s Exact Test, both with a 0.05% significance level. Results: The elderly interviewed were predominantly women (76.5%), white (73.5%), with at least high school education (64.7%). Of these, 92.6% said they had no difficulty in eating, although 51.5% never had a speech therapist evaluation. There was also a higher pro-portion indicating that the elderly did not need an appointment with the speech therapist (73.5%). Regarding the use of primary care services, 68.7% used the public system, and of these, 94.1% self-perceived their oral health condition as fair/poor. Conclusion: It is suggested to strengthen the care of the elderly in an interdisciplinary and integral way to cover the needs and specificities of this population. The low perception of the importance of care suggests the need for strengthening speech therapy services for the health of the elderly Brazilian population

Dinâmica socioespacial das “cidades do agronegócio” em Goiás - um estudo de caso de São João D’Aliança

O presente artigo visa explorar o fenômeno da espacialização da sojicultura no município de São João d'Aliança. Ligado às regiões metropolitanas de Goiânia e Brasília pela BR010 e a pouco mais de 400Km da região do extremo-oeste baiano, é a “porta” para o Parque Nacional da Chapada dos Veadeiros, a partir de onde entra-se em uma região com pouca aptidão natural para a sojicultura em escala. No entanto, a sojicultura no município se sobressai na microrregião. Reverberam notórios discursos públicos de apologia das ambições do setor diante de conflitos de interesse, sobretudo em choque com a política de conservação. Através de uma pesquisa predominantemente descritiva, mas também com ênfase exploratória, inquiriu-se sobre a possibilidade de inferir se a atividade desencadeia uma dinamização econômica do município e se a magnitude de seu impacto produtivo no espaço mostra-se capaz de sustentar a economia municipal. Constatou uma discrepância em termos de área produtiva e produção bruta com a produtividade da cultura, comparativamente deficitária. Os índices socioeconômicos não permitem corroborar reivindicações de que a sojicultura promove dinamização socioeconômica. Os resultados levantam o debate sobre outros perfis de políticas públicas compatibilizando-se com a resiliência ecológica no território geográfico, contemplando um quadro mais democraticamente representativo de seguimentos sociais da população

Diagnostic performance of anti-Zika virus IgM, IgAM and IgG ELISAs during co-circulation of Zika, dengue, and chikungunya viruses in Brazil and Venezuela

BACKGROUND: Serological diagnosis of Zika virus (ZIKV) infection is challenging because of the antibody cross-reactivity among flaviviruses. At the same time, the role of Nucleic Acid Testing (NAT) is limited by the low proportion of symptomatic infections and the low average viral load. Here, we compared the diagnostic performance of commercially available IgM, IgAM, and IgG ELISAs in sequential samples during the ZIKV and chikungunya (CHIKV) epidemics and co-circulation of dengue virus (DENV) in Brazil and Venezuela. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Acute (day of illness 1-5) and follow-up (day of illness ≥ 6) blood samples were collected from nine hundred and seven symptomatic patients enrolled in a prospective multicenter study of symptomatic patients recruited between June 2012 and August 2016. Acute samples were tested by RT-PCR for ZIKV, DENV, and CHIKV. Acute and follow-up samples were tested for IgM, IgAM, and IgG antibodies to ZIKV using commercially available ELISAs. Among follow-up samples with a RT-PCR confirmed ZIKV infection, anti-ZIKV IgAM sensitivity was 93.5% (43/48), while IgM and IgG exhibited sensitivities of 30.3% (10/35) and 72% (18/25), respectively. An additional 24% (26/109) of ZIKV infections were detected via IgAM seroconversion in ZIKV/DENV/CHIKV RT-PCR negative patients. The specificity of anti-ZIKV IgM was estimated at 93% and that of IgAM at 85%. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our findings exemplify the challenges of the assessment of test performance for ZIKV serological tests in the real-world setting, during co-circulation of DENV, ZIKV, and CHIKV. However, we can also demonstrate that the IgAM immunoassay exhibits superior sensitivity to detect ZIKV RT-PCR confirmed infections compared to IgG and IgM immunoassays. The IgAM assay also proves to be promising for detection of anti-ZIKV seroconversions in sequential samples, both in ZIKV PCR-positive as well as PCR-negative patients, making this a candidate assay for serological monitoring of pregnant women in future ZIKV outbreaks