Neutralizing antibody response after immunization with a COVID-19 bivalent vaccine: Insights to the future.

The raising of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants led to the use of COVID-19 bivalent vaccines, which include antigens of the wild-type (WT) virus, and of the Omicron strain. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the impact of bivalent vaccination on the neutralizing antibody (NAb) response. We enrolled 93 volunteers who had received three or four doses of monovalent vaccines based on the original virus (n = 61), or a booster shot with the bivalent vaccine (n = 32). Serum samples collected from volunteers were subjected to neutralization assays using the WT SARS-CoV-2, and Omicron subvariants. In addition, immunoinformatics to quantify and localize highly conserved NAb epitopes were performed. As main result, we observed that the neutralization titers of samples from individuals vaccinated with the bivalent vaccine were higher for the original virus, in comparison to their capacity of neutralizing the Omicron variant and its subvariants. NAb that recognize epitopes mostly conserved in the WT SARS-CoV-2 were boosted, while those that recognize epitopes mostly present in the Omicron variant, and subvariants were primed. These results indicate that formulation of future vaccines shall consider to target present viruses, and not viruses that no longer circulate.

Association of Body Image and Genital Self-Image with Female Sexual Function: A Systematic Review.

The aim of this study was to identify, through a systematic review, how perceptions of genital and body self-image can influence the sexual function of young adult women. A systematic review was performed in which 704 studies were selected. After analyzing the articles, only 10 articles were included, from which the data for this research were extracted. The studies showed that there is an association between body and genital image and sexual function. However, those perceptions carry independent and distinct values depending on the associated condition and the audience being evaluated.

Autonomic modulation of heart rate during physical activity in pregnant women: A systematic review of literature.

BACKGROUND: There are important physiological changes in the heart rate autonomic modulation in pregnant women and these changes may affect the way their bodies respond to exercise stimulus. The objective of this review is to verify the physical exercise influence on autonomic modulation of heart rate in pregnant women. METHODS: This study is a Systematic Review. The electronic databases used to search for the studies were Cochrane Library, MEDLINE via PUBMED, Regional Health Portal and EMBASE. Experimental studies that evaluated heart-rate variability in pregnant women practicing physical exercises were included. And articles that addressed only fetal heart-rate variability, case reports, congress abstracts, clinical trial protocols without results, preprints, and gray literature were excluded. There were no language or publication year restrictions. The descriptors used in the Search were Cardiac Chronotropism, Sympathetic Nervous System, Pregnancy, and Physical Exercise. For statistical analysis, the fixed effect model was used. RESULTS: A total of 3106 articles were found, and 12 studies were included, which 5 were nonrandomized clinical trials, 4 were randomized clinical trials, and 3 were cross-sectional studies. Three hundred and four pregnant women were included in the studies. The application of physical exercise was varied, but in general they used aerobic exercises and with increased variability of the heart rate and reflex on the autonomic modulation of heart rate. CONCLUSION: Most studies demonstrate benefits heart rate in pregnant women, but limited research makes it hard to compare specific types of exercise and larger studies are needed to identify the best exercise.

Risk factors for falls in older adults with diabetes mellitus: systematic review and meta-analysis.

AIM: To identify risk factors for falls in older adults with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM). METHODS: The eligible studies identified factors associated with the risk of falls in older adults with T2DM. We searched PubMed, Cinahl, Web of Science, Scopus, and the Cochrane Library databases. The review has been updated and the last review date was November 30, 2023 (CRD42020193461). RESULTS: Twelve studies met the inclusion criteria, and eight studies were included in the meta-analysis. These studies included a total of 40,778 older adults with T2DM, aged 60 to 101 years. The risk of developing the outcome falls in older adults with T2DM is 63% higher compared to the risk in older adults without T2DM (HR 1.63; 95% CI [1.30 - 2.05]). The overall chance of falling in older adults with T2DM is 59% higher than that of non-diabetic older adults (OR 1.59; 95% CI [1.36 -1.87]), and in older adults with T2DM who take insulin the chance of falling is 162% higher (OR 2.62; 95% CI [1.87 - 3.65]). No results on diabetic polyneuropathy were found in the studies. CONCLUSION: Older adults with T2DM present a higher risk of falls compared to non-diabetics. Among the included older adults with T2DM, the most important factor associated with a higher risk of falls was insulin use. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (CRD42020193461).

Refractive index sensors based on cascaded multimode interference hetero-core optical fibers.

In this work, we demonstrate refractive index (RI) sensors based on the cascade of hetero-core structures using multimode and no-core optical fibers in sequence. The sensor device is engineered to have resonances at different wavelengths using different sensing region lengths. The device fabrication involves simple fiber cleaving and fusion splicing. For the experiments, the two sensor regions are exposed to liquids with different RIs. For the hetero-core fiber insertion length of 45 mm, the transmission valley is centered at 1082.5 nm with 15.1 nm full width at half-maximum (FWHM) for an external medium RI of 1.3370. Additionally, it shifts 4.1 nm towards longer wavelengths as the RI of the external medium increases to 1.3840. For the 30 mm long hetero-core structure, the valley is centered at 1599.7 nm with 23.3 nm FWHM for an external medium RI of 1.3370, which shifts 7.4 nm as the RI increases to 1.3840. The sensor sensitivities are up to -476d B/r e f r a c t i v e index unit (RIU) and 270 nm/RIU. The resolution of the devices is estimated to be 2×10-5 R I U.

A TinyML Soft-Sensor Approach for Low-Cost Detection and Monitoring of Vehicular Emissions.

Vehicles are the major source of air pollution in modern cities, emitting excessive levels of CO2 and other noxious gases. Exploiting the OBD-II interface available on most vehicles, the continuous emission of such pollutants can be indirectly measured over time, although accuracy has been an important design issue when performing this task due the nature of the retrieved data. In this scenario, soft-sensor approaches can be adopted to process engine combustion data such as fuel injection and mass air flow, processing them to estimate pollution and transmitting the results for further analyses. Therefore, this article proposes a soft-sensor solution based on an embedded system designed to retrieve data from vehicles through their OBD-II interface, processing different inputs to provide estimated values of CO2 emissions over time. According to the type of data provided by the vehicle, two different algorithms are defined, and each follows a comprehensive mathematical formulation. Moreover, an unsupervised TinyML approach is also derived to remove outliers data when processing the computed data stream, improving the accuracy of the soft sensor as a whole while not requiring any interaction with cloud-based servers to operate. Initial results for an embedded implementation on the Freematics ONE+ board have shown the proposal's feasibility with an acquisition frequency equal to 1Hz and emission granularity measure of gCO2/km.

Physical exercise and quality of life in patients with prostate cancer: systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer leads to worse quality of life due to treatment and consequences of disease; benefits of physical exercise remain unclear on the improvement of quality of life in this population. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of physical exercise in improving quality of life in patients with prostate cancer. METHODS: A systematic review and meta-analysis was carried out. For the search of studies, we used electronics databases such as Cochrane Library, MEDLINE via PUBMED, Regional Health Portal, and EMBASE, without language restrictions or year of publication. The descriptors used were as follows: "prostatic neoplasms," "exercise," and "quality of life." The risk analysis of bias in the meta-analysis was based on the Cochrane Collaboration Tool. For statistical analysis, the fixed effects model was used. Randomized controlled trials were included, which had a sample of patients with stage I-IV prostate cancer and that the intervention was aerobic physical exercise (AE) or resistance physical exercise (RE) or combined AE and RE. RESULTS: Five thousand six hundred nineteen studies were identified, but only 12 studies were selected. The quality of life of the patients was measured using instruments (SF 36, EORTC, AQoL-8D, IPSS and FACT-P), which served to divide the studies in groups where they presented the same instrument used. The analysis carried out shows that the quality of life of patients with prostate cancer submitted to aerobic training regimens had a protective effect in relation to the others. CONCLUSION: Most studies show an improvement in the quality of life of patients when they practice physical exercise, perceived by increasing the score of the instrument in question. However, methodological and heterogeneous differences between the studies increase the analysis bias.

An Evolving TinyML Compression Algorithm for IoT Environments Based on Data Eccentricity.

Currently, the applications of the Internet of Things (IoT) generate a large amount of sensor data at a very high pace, making it a challenge to collect and store the data. This scenario brings about the need for effective data compression algorithms to make the data manageable among tiny and battery-powered devices and, more importantly, shareable across the network. Additionally, considering that, very often, wireless communications (e.g., low-power wide-area networks) are adopted to connect field devices, user payload compression can also provide benefits derived from better spectrum usage, which in turn can result in advantages for high-density application scenarios. As a result of this increase in the number of connected devices, a new concept has emerged, called TinyML. It enables the use of machine learning on tiny, computationally restrained devices. This allows intelligent devices to analyze and interpret data locally and in real time. Therefore, this work presents a new data compression solution (algorithm) for the IoT that leverages the TinyML perspective. The new approach is called the Tiny Anomaly Compressor (TAC) and is based on data eccentricity. TAC does not require previously established mathematical models or any assumptions about the underlying data distribution. In order to test the effectiveness of the proposed solution and validate it, a comparative analysis was performed on two real-world datasets with two other algorithms from the literature (namely Swing Door Trending (SDT) and the Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT)). It was found that the TAC algorithm showed promising results, achieving a maximum compression rate of 98.33%. Additionally, it also surpassed the two other models regarding the compression error and peak signal-to-noise ratio in all cases.

Acute and Time-Course Effects of Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment on Vascular and Autonomic Function in Patients With Heart Failure: A Randomized Trial.

OBJECTIVE: The purposed of this study was to valuate the effect of osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) on flow-mediated dilation and heart rate variability of patients with heart failure. BACKGROUND: Osteopathic manipulative treatment modulates both the vascular and autonomic nervous system (ANS) in healthy volunteers. However, the acute and time-course effects of the OMT on patients with an overactive ANS remain unclear. METHODS: This randomized controlled trial study included 20 patients with heart failure aged 50 to 60 years, allocated to a single session of OMT (base of the skull, retromaxillary region, heart, and thoracic duct) or sham. Flow-mediated dilation (FMD) at the brachial artery, hemodynamic measures, and heart rate variability were assessed in 3 periods (baseline, immediately after the intervention, and after 15 minutes). Multivariate analysis of variance procedure was used to compare intervention and periods. RESULTS: The OMT group had a greater FMD modulation compared with the sham (FMD,% =  9.5 vs. -5.6, 95% confidence interval (CI): [6.6, -12.35] vs. [-14.25, 2.8]; p = 0.001) and grater peak diameter (PD, mm =  0.77 vs -0.16 mm, 95% CI: [0.31,-1.24] vs [-0.63, 0.29]; P =  0.001), suggesting an important acute and time-course vascular effect from OMT. We also found some relevant heart rate variability modulation after 15 minutes from OMT: high frequency (HF, ms2 = 295 vs -354, 95% CI: [144.2, -769]; P = .001) and low frequency (LF, ms2) = 670 vs 775, 95% CI: [-98, 3591]; P = .001), suggesting a time-course ANS modulation after OMT. CONCLUSIONS: Osteopathic manipulative treatment was effective at increasing brachial blood flow and stimulating the vagal system in patients with heart failure. Moreover, vascular changes seem to precede the autonomic modulation.

Microsatellites for the Neotropical Ant, Odontomachus chelifer (Hymenoptera: Formicidae).

Odontomachus chelifer (Latreille) (Ponerinae) is a ground-dwelling, predominantly carnivorous ant whose colonies may contain multiple egg-laying queens and are potentially susceptible to border effects in the Brazilian savanna known as Cerrado. The ecology and natural history of O. chelifer is well studied, but very little is known about the genetic diversity of O. chelifer colonies. In this study, we developed microsatellite markers for the study of genetic variation in O. chelifer. We created a microsatellite-enriched library that resulted in the development and characterization of 22 markers, of which 18 were found to be polymorphic in the population studied. The mean expected heterozygosity was 0.59, whereas the mean rarified allelic richness was determined as 4.27 alleles per locus. The polymorphism level detected was similar to genetic diversity estimates found in other poneromorph ant species. The microsatellites developed here are likely to be useful for the investigation of colony structure, functional polygyny, breeding system, and population genetics in O. chelifer. Moreover, the description of O. chelifer's genetic diversity is crucial for its conservation and maintenance of its ecological role in the Cerrado savanna.

Impact of levamisole in co-administration with benznidazole on experimental Chagas disease.

Levamisole (Lms) is an anthelminthic drug with immunomodulatory activity. Chagas disease (CD) is caused by Trypanosoma cruzi and there is very low access to the drugs available, benznidazole (Bz) and nifurtimox, both far from ideal. In a drug-repurposing strategy to test potential activity as antiparasitic and immunomodulatory agent for CD, Lms was assayed on acute T. cruzi murine infection, alone and in co-administration with Bz. During protocol standardization, 100 and 10 mpk of Bz given for five consecutive days resulted in parasitaemia suppression and 100% animal survival only with the highest dose. Flow cytometry showed that both optimal (100 mpk) and suboptimal (10 mpk) doses of Bz equally decreased the plasma levels of cytokines commonly elevated in this acute infection model. Lms alone (10-0.5 mpk) did not decrease parasitaemia nor mortality rates. Co-administration was investigated using the suboptimal dose of Bz and different doses of Lms. While Bz 10 mpk did not alter parasitaemia, the combo partially reduced it but only slightly promoted animal survival. This effect could be related to Th1-response modulation since interleukin-6 and interferon-γ were higher after treatment with the combo.

Low-level laser therapy combined to functional exercise on treatment of fibromyalgia: a double-blind randomized clinical trial.

This study aims to investigate the effects of low-level laser therapy (LLLT) combined to a functional exercise program on treatment of FM. A double-blind and placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial composed of 22 women divided into two groups: placebo group (functional exercise program associated with placebo phototherapy n = 11) and laser group (same exercise program associated with active phototherapy; n = 11). Each session lasted from 40 to 60 min and was performed three times a week for 8 weeks. Phototherapy (808 nm, 100 mW, 4 J, and 142.85 J/cm2 per point) was bilaterally applied to different points of the quadriceps (8), hamstrings (6), and triceps sural muscles (3) immediately after each exercise session. Pre- and post-intervention evaluations regarding pain (sites, intensity, and threshold), functional performance (balance, functional tests), muscle performance (flexibility and isokinetic variables), depression, and quality of life were conducted. A reduction in pain and improvement in functional and muscular performance, depression, and quality of life were observed in both groups (p < 0.05); however, with no significant differences between them (p > 0.05). In conclusion, the benefic effects of functional exercise were not improved by combination with LLLT.

A Customer Feedback Platform for Vehicle Manufacturing Compliant with Industry 4.0 Vision.

In the last decade, the growth of the automotive market with the aid of technologies has been notable for the economic, automotive and technological sectors. Alongside this growing recognition, the so called Internet of Intelligent Vehicles (IoIV) emerges as an evolution of the Internet of Things (IoT) applied to the automotive sector. Closely related to IoIV, emerges the concept of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), which is the current revolution seen in industrial automation. IIoT, in its turn, relates to the concept of Industry 4.0, that is used to represent the current Industrial Revolution. This revolution, however, involves different areas: from manufacturing to healthcare. The Industry 4.0 can create value during the entire product lifecycle, promoting customer feedback, that is, having information about the product history throughout it is life. In this way, the automatic communication between vehicle and factory was facilitated, allowing the accomplishment of different analysis regarding vehicles, such as the identification of a behavioral pattern through historical driver usage, fuel consumption, maintenance indicators, so on. Thus, allowing the prevention of critical issues and undesired behaviors, since the automakers lose contact with the vehicle after the purchase. Therefore, this paper aims to propose a customer feedback platform for vehicle manufacturing in Industry 4.0 context, capable of collecting and analyzing, through an OBD-II (On-Board Diagnostics) scanner, the sensors available by vehicles, with the purpose of assisting in the management, prevention, and mitigation of different vehicular problems. An intercontinental evaluation conducted between Brazil and Italy locations shown the feasibility of platform and the potential to use in order to improve the vehicle manufacturing process.

Sesquiterpene lactone in nanostructured parenteral dosage form is efficacious in experimental Chagas disease.

The drugs available for Chagas disease treatment are toxic and ineffective. We studied the in vivo activity of a new drug, lychnopholide (LYC). LYC was loaded in nanocapsules (NC), and its effects were compared to free LYC and benznidazole against Trypanosoma cruzi. Infected mice were treated in the acute phase at 2.0 mg/kg/day with free LYC, LYC-poly-ε-caprolactone NC (LYC-PCL), and LYC-poly(lactic acid)-co-polyethylene glycol NC (LYC-PLA-PEG) or at 50 mg/kg/day with benznidazole solution by the intravenous route. Animals infected with the CL strain, treated 24 h after infection for 10 days, evaluated by hemoculture, PCR, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay exhibited a 50% parasitological cure when treated with LYC-PCL NC and 100% cure when treated with benznidazole, but 100% of the animals treated during the prepatent period for 20 days with these formulations or LYC-PLA-PEG NC were cured. In animals with the Y strain treated 24 h after infection for 10 days, only mice treated by LYC-PCL NC were cured, but animals treated in the prepatent period for 20 days exhibited 100, 75, and 62.5% cure when treated with LYC-PLA-PEG NC, benznidazole, and LYC-PCL NC, respectively. Free LYC reduced the parasitemia and improved mice survival, but no mice were cured. LYC-loaded NC showed higher cure rates, reduced parasitemia, and increased survival when used in doses 2five times lower than those used for benznidazole. This study confirms that LYC is a potential new treatment for Chagas disease. Furthermore, the long-circulating property of PLA-PEG NC and its ability to improve LYC efficacy showed that this formulation is more effective in reaching the parasite in vivo.

Sleep quality of adult recreational cannabis users: a systematic review of literature.

INTRODUCTION: Human sleep is fundamental for the proper occurrence of organic functions. Hence, the lack of sleep can impair cognitive function, resulting in emotional problems, memory changes and disease onset. However, it is worth noting that sleep is influenced by outside factors, such as drug use. In this sense, the aim of this work is to analyze studies that had as their research object the influence of recreational marijuana on the sleep quality of adults. METHODS: A high-sensitivity research was conducted in databases (Biblioteca Virtual em Saúde, Medline via Pubmed, Cochrane, Embase, Web of Science and Scopus) using descriptors linked to marijuana and sleep habits. RESULTS: Eighteen studies from four countries were included with a total sample size of 29,858 participants. It was identified that marijuana affects sleep characteristics-such as latency and duration-with these changes being more evident in users who make greater use of marijuana and in those who started premature use. CONCLUSIONS: It was observed that most articles demonstrated a detrimental effect of recreational cannabis use on the quality of sleep in adults.

Conservative treatment of sexual dysfunction among men undergoing prostate cancer treatment: a systematic review.

INTRODUCTION: One of the changes caused by pelvic cancers is the decrease in patients' sexual function, which influences their quality of life (QoL) during and after treatment. Sexual dysfunction (SD) is associated with severe ejaculatory dysfunction, sexual dissatisfaction, reduced libido and sexual desire, decreased intensity of orgasm, difficulty in erection, and lower sexual frequency. OBJECTIVES: This systematic review investigated the effectiveness of conservative treatments (nonsurgical and nonpharmacologic) for SD in males with pelvic cancer. METHODS: Systematic searches were performed in the Cochrane Library, PubMed, CINAHL, PEDro, Embase, and VHL databases in September 2023 by using MeSH terms related to population, study design, intervention, and outcome. RESULTS: Only prostate cancer studies were included due to a lack of studies in other treatments. Studies used pelvic floor muscle training (8 studies); biofeedback (1 study); a penile vibrator (1 study); electrostimulation (2 studies); shock wave therapy (2 studies); aerobic, resistance, and flexibility exercises (2 studies); and a vacuum erection device (1 study). All articles assessed sexual function and reported improvements in the intervention group, including 5 with no differences between the groups. Articles involving shock wave therapy described improvements in SD but were not clinically relevant. Studies evaluating QoL reported benefits in the experimental groups. Adverse effects of a vacuum erection device and penile vibrator were reported. CONCLUSION: Conservative treatments are more effective than others in treating SD in men with prostate cancer. Further studies are needed to assess the unwanted effects of these treatments. In this study, we found evidence that this type of therapy improves sexual function and QoL in this population.

Effectiveness of Physical Therapy Interventions for Temporomandibular Disorders Associated with Tinnitus: A Systematic Review.

Temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) refers to different clinical conditions affecting the temporomandibular joints, masticatory muscles, and adjacent structures. Although TMDs signs and symptoms (e.g., pain and limited mouth opening) are common, otological symptoms, such as tinnitus, might also be present. This study aims to summarize the evidence of the effectiveness of physical therapy interventions in individuals with TMDs associated with tinnitus. Randomized controlled trials investigating the effectiveness of physical therapy in individuals of both genders aged 18 or older with TMDs associated with tinnitus were included. The electronic search was performed in the following databases: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PEDro and CENTRAL. A total of four studies were included. All studies showed that physical therapy reduced the intensity of tinnitus, and two trials showed a decrease in the pain intensity caused by TMDs, an increase in the pressure pain thresholds in the masticatory muscles and an improvement of mandibular function. Two studies presented a low risk of bias. Despite a low certainty of the evidence, this review showed that physical therapy reduces the intensity or severity of tinnitus associated with TMDs. Results may support future research on the topic and evidence-based practice by recommending the best physical therapy approach for patients, clinicians, researchers, and health system managers.

The effectiveness of interventions in the prevention of perineal trauma in parturients: A systematic review with meta-analysis.

AIM: To investigate the effectiveness of interventions to prevent the occurrence of perineal trauma in parturients. METHODS: A bibliographic search was carried out in Cochrane Library, MEDLINE via PUBMED, LILACS via Virtual Health Library (VHL), Embase, Scopus, CINAHL, Scielo, Web of Science, and PEDro databases. Randomized clinical trials evaluating the effects of any intervention to prevent perineal trauma during pregnancy and/or childbirth were included. There were no temporal or language restrictions. The risk of bias assessment was performed using the Revised Cochrane Risk-of-bias Tool for Randomized Trials. RESULTS: Fifty studies, with a total of 17,221 participants, were included in this meta-analysis. No intervention during childbirth was effective for the prevention of perineal trauma (RR = 1.07, 95% CI [0.98.1.18], p < 0.01, I2 = 83%) when compared to no intervention. However, a lower risk of perineal laceration was verified with techniques performed during pregnancy, when compared to no intervention (RR = 0.81, 95% CI [0.71, 0.93], p = 0.05, I2 = 47%). Among them, highlight the effects of perineal massage in preventing lacerations (RR = 0.69, 95% CI [0.54, 0.87], p < 0.01) when compared to no intervention. CONCLUSIONS: The techniques performed during pregnancy, especially perineal massage, are associated with a lower risk of perineal laceration.

Are There Edge Effects on the Genetic Diversity of the Trap-Jaw Ant Odontomachus chelifer (Formicidae: Ponerinae) in a Neotropical Savanna Fragment? A First Assessment.

Habitat fragmentation is considered an important threat to biodiversity, increasing species exposure to edge effects. The Brazilian Cerrado savanna is considered a biodiversity hotspot and has been converted to small, isolated fragments due to human activities. Ant communities and colony survivorship are known to be affected by edge effects in Cerrado, but to date there is no information on the genetic diversity of ant colonies at the edge of fragmented areas. Here, we investigate if colony genetic diversity and structure of Odontomachus chelifer (Latreille) ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) are subject to edge effects in a Cerrado reserve in southeast Brazil. Using microsatellites, we evaluated the number of breeders (queens and males) and the genetic diversity in O. chelifer colonies located in the interior versus edge of a Cerrado fragment. All O. chelifer nests had multiple queens, which presented a low mating frequency. The number of breeders and most estimates of genetic diversity did not differ between colonies at the edge versus interior of the fragment. Genetic structure was not influenced by nest location as well. However, we detected a small and positive increase in the observed heterozygosity in colonies located at fragment edges. High heterozygosity is thought to be particularly important in fast-changing environments, such as edges, providing an advantage for genetic diversity. Further investigation is needed to assess in greater detail how habitat loss affects O. chelifer biology. Our study is a first step toward elucidating edge effects on genetic diversity of ant colonies, a topic still poorly explored in tropical environments.

The impact of heart failure on the sexual response cycle: A systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Heart failure (HF) is the most prevalent disease among chronic diseases and has been associated with a high prevalence of erectile dysfunction (ED). OBJECTIVE: this study aims to analyze research that has as its object of study the sexual activity of patients with HF. METHODS: A high-sensitivity search was performed in databases (PUBMED via MEDLINE, Cochrane, EMBASE, Web of Science, SCOPUS AND CINAHL) using descriptors linked to sexuality and heart failure. RESULTS: Fifteen studies from 7 countries with a total sample of 6244 participants were included. CONCLUSION: It was identified that patients with HF have alterations in their sexual activities, which are more common in males. Among men, it was noticed that the most reported sexual disorder was erectile dysfunction.