Seasonality of sporotrichosis in Brazil: A modelled analysis of the epidemic in São Paulo, 2011-2020.

BACKGROUND: Sporotrichosis is an endemic subcutaneous mycosis classically caused by the Sporothrix schenckii species complex. Recently, sporotrichosis has emerged in Brazil as a cat-transmitted epidemic caused by a new species, Sporothrix brasiliensis. OBJECTIVES: To survey the clinical-epidemiological profile of all sporotrichosis cases diagnosed between 2011 and 2020 at a reference hospital in São Paulo metropolitan area and evaluate the annual distribution of cases in relation to seasonality. METHODS: Patients' demographic and clinical-epidemiological data were surveyed. A generalized linear model was fitted to relate the quarterly number of sporotrichosis cases detected between 2015 and 2019 with precipitation and temperature series. Prediction of the number of cases from 2011 to 2014 was attempted based on the fitted model without the trend component that appears from 2015. RESULTS: Among 271 suspected cases admitted during 2011-2020, 254 were confirmed by fungal isolation and/or clinical-epidemiological criteria. We observed that 2015 onwards the number of cases regularly increased during Autumn and Winter, the driest and coldest stations of the year. We verified that temperature series affected the number of cases (p = .005) because an increase of 1°C in the temperature series was associated with a 14.24% decrease in the average cases number, with the average number of cases increasing by 10.96% (p < .0001) every quarter, corresponding to an annual increase of 52%. Between 2011 and 2014, the predicted number of sporotrichosis cases averaged 10-12 per year, with 33%-38% occurring in the winter. CONCLUSION: We hypothesize that sporotrichosis seasonality is associated with the felines' oestrus cycle, which may provide alternative, cat-directed approaches to the sporotrichosis epidemic control.

Pleural anthracosis as an indicator of lifetime exposure to urban air pollution: An autopsy-based study in Sao Paulo.

Many studies have been conducted to evaluate the association between air pollution and adverse health effects using a wide variety of methods to assess exposure. However, the assessment of individual long-term exposure to ambient air pollution is a challenging task and has not been evaluated in a large autopsy study. Our goal was to investigate whether exposure to urban air pollution is associated to the degree of lung anthracosis, considering modifying factors such as personal habits, mobility patterns and occupational activities. We conducted a study in Sao Paulo, Brazil from February 2017 to June 2018, combining epidemiological, spatial analysis and autopsy-based approaches. Information about residential address, socio-demographic details, occupation, smoking status, time of residence in the city and time spent commuting was collected via questionnaires applied to the next-of-kin. Images of the pleura surface from upper and lower lobes were used to quantify anthracosis in the lungs. We used multiple regression models to assess the association between the amount of carbon deposits in human lungs, measured by the fraction of pleural anthracosis (FA), and potential explanatory variables. We analyzed 413 cases and our data showed that for each additional hour spent in daily commuting, the ratio FA/(1-FA) is multiplied by 1.05 (95% confidence interval: [1.02; 1.08]). The estimated coefficient for daily hours spent in traffic was not considerably affected by the inclusion of socio-demographic variables and smoking habits. We estimate a tobacco equivalent dose of 5 cigarettes per day in a city where annual PM2.5 concentration oscillates around 25 µg/m3. Pleural anthracosis is a potential index of lifetime exposure to traffic-derived air pollution.

Estimation of post mortem interval by tomographic images of intra-cardiac hypostasis.

The determination of the post mortem interval (PMI) is important in many instances, especially in criminal investigations. So, we consider post mortem tomographic evaluation of intra-cardiac hypostasis as an additional method for such purpose. Tomographic images of the thoraces of the corpses of 23 patients who died in a hospital were obtained sequentially at one hour intervals to allow the analysis of changes in density due to hypostasis over time. The right and left atria, which appear in the mediastinal window, were selected for measurements of the average organ density. An exponential model was used to relate the difference between the attenuation coefficients of the anterior segment of the right atrium and the posterior segment of the left atrium to the PMI. In spite of the large variability of the data from this observational study, PMI estimates during the first 12 h after death can be estimated with a margin of error smaller than two hours. The results suggest that the difference between the attenuation coefficients stabilizes around 12 h post mortem and may be used as an additional method to estimate the PMI.

Trends in tobacco consumption in three different birth cohorts of elderly of São Paulo, Brazil.

BACKGROUND: The effects of birth cohorts reflect the historical differences in physical and social environments. The objectives of the present study were to describe the tobacco consumption and to evaluate the behavioral trends with respect to smoking in three different birth cohorts of a population-based sample of elderly individuals. METHODS: A series of three cross-sectional studies conducted with elderly individuals of 60-64 years of age interviewed in 2000 (birth cohort 1936-1940; n=427), 2006 (birth cohort 1942-1946; n=298) and 2011 (birth cohort 1947-1951; n=355) in a population-based sample from the city of São Paulo, Brazil. The interviewees were participating in a prospective cohort study entitled Health, Well-Being and Aging (Saúde, Bem-Estar e Envelhecimento [SABE]). Data on tobacco consumption were self-reported and interviewees were then classified as never smokers, former smokers or current smokers. Linear model for categorical data was used to test differences on tobacco consumption between three birth elderly cohorts. FINDINGS: Men were more likely than women to be smokers. Being evangelical and having more schooling constituted protective factors against smoking. Regarding trends, the tobacco consumption of the men did not change in any of the three cohorts studied (p=0.7454), whereas there was an increase in the number of women smokers, principally former smokers, over the periods evaluated (p=0.0189). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the anti-smoking policies implemented in Brazil were effective in women of this age group; however, different prevention strategies are required to target elderly men.

An approach to using heart rate monitoring to estimate the ventilation and load of air pollution exposure.

BACKGROUND: The effects of air pollution on health are associated with the amount of pollutants inhaled which depends on the environmental concentration and the inhaled air volume. It has not been clear whether statistical models of the relationship between heart rate and ventilation obtained using laboratory cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) can be applied to an external group to estimate ventilation. OBJECTIVES: To develop and evaluate a model to estimate respiratory ventilation based on heart rate for inhaled load of pollutant assessment in field studies. METHODS: Sixty non-smoking men; 43 public street workers (public street group) and 17 employees of the Forest Institute (park group) performed a maximum cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET). Regression equation models were constructed with the heart rate and natural logarithmic of minute ventilation data obtained on CPET. Ten individuals were chosen randomly (public street group) and were used for external validation of the models (test group). All subjects also underwent heart rate register, and particulate matter (PM2.5) monitoring for a 24-hour period. RESULTS: For the public street group, the median difference between estimated and observed data was 0.5 (CI 95% -0.2 to 1.4) l/min and for the park group was 0.2 (CI 95% -0.2 to 1.2) l/min. In the test group, estimated values were smaller than the ones observed in the CPET, with a median difference of -2.4 (CI 95% -4.2 to -1.8) l/min. The mixed model estimated values suggest that this model is suitable for situations in which heart rate is around 120-140bpm. CONCLUSION: The mixed effect model is suitable for ventilation estimate, with good accuracy when applied to homogeneous groups, suggesting that, in this case, the model could be used in field studies to estimate ventilation. A small but significant difference in the median of external validation estimates was observed, suggesting that the applicability of the model to external groups needs further evaluation.

Associação entre sinais de sofrimento psíquico até dezoito meses e rebaixamento da qualidade de vida aos seis anos de idade / Association between signs of psychological distress up to 18 months and decrease in quality of life at six years of age / Association entre des signaux de détresse psychologique jusqu'à dix-huit mois et qualité de vie inférieure à six ans / Asociación entre las señales del sufrimiento psíquico hasta los dieciocho meses y la disminución de la calidad de vida en los seis años de edad

A pedido do Ministério da Saúde foi desenvolvido e validado um protocolo de Indicadores clínicos de Risco para o Desenvolvimento Infantil (IRDI) para detectar riscos para transtornos psíquicos de desenvolvimento em bebês de 0 a 18 meses. Este trabalho teve como objetivo verificar a validade preditiva do IRDI, a partir de sua relação com dois instrumentos: o Autoquestionnaire Qualité de Vie Enfant Imagé (AUQUEI) e o Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ), ambos já validados no Brasil e aplicados aos seis anos de vida. A amostra foi composta por 46 crianças de três centros de saúde de São Paulo. Os resultados indicaram que o IRDI não se mostrou sensível à avaliação de qualidade de vida obtida com o uso do AUQUEI. No entanto, a associação estatisticamente significante encontrada entre resultados obtidos no IRDI e no CHQ mostrou maior capacidade do IRDI para predizer qualidade de vida relacionada ao índice psicossocial do que ao índice físico do mesmo instrumento.

At the request of the Ministry of Health, a protocol of Clinical Risk Indicators for Child Development (IRDI) capable of detecting risk for psychic development disorders in infants aged between 0 and 18 months was developed and validated. This study aimed to verify the degree of association between IRDI and two other instruments for assessing quality of life: Autoquestionnaire Qualité de Vie Enfant Image - AUQUEI and Child Health Questionnaire - CHQ, both already validated in Brazil and applied at the age of six years. The sample comprised 46 children from three health centers in São Paulo, Brazil. The results indicated that IRDI was not sensitive to the assessment of quality of life achieved by using AUQUEI. However, a statistically significant association found between the results of IRDI and CHQ showed higher capacity of IRDI to predict quality of life related to psychosocial index than the physical index of the same instrument.

À la demande du Ministère de la Santé, un groupe de psychanalystes a développé et validé un protocole d'Indicateurs de Risque Cliniques pour le Développement de l'Enfant (IRDI), capable de détecter les risques de troubles dans le développement mentaux chez bébés d'âge entre 0 et 18 mois. Cette étude visait à déterminer le degré d'association entre l'IRDI et des deux autres instruments qui évaluent la qualité de vie : l'Autoquestionnaire Qualité de Vie Enfant Imagé (AUQUEI) et le Child Health Qtuestionnaire (CHQ). Les deux ont été validés au Brésil et on été appliqués aux enfants à l'áge de six ans. L'échantillon comprenait 46 enfants hospitalisés dans trois centres de santé à São Paulo, au Brésil. Les résultats indiquent que l'IRDI n'est pas sensible à l'évaluation de la qualité de vie obtenue par l'AUQUEI. Cependant, l'association statistiquement significatif trouvée dans les résultats a montrée une capacité du IRDI de prédire la qualité de vie liée à l'index psychosocial plus grande que de laquelle liée à l'index physique du même instrument.

Un protocolo de Indicadores clínicos de Riesgo para el Desarrollo Infantil (IRDI) fue desarrollado y validado a demanda del Ministerio de Salud para detectar los riesgos de trastornos psíquicos de desarrollo en los niños de 0 a 18 meses. Este estudio tuvo como objetivo determinar el grado de asociación entre el IRDI y otros dos instrumentos que evalúan la calidad de vida: el Autoquestionnaire Qualité de Vie Enfant Imagen (AUQUEI) y el Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ), ambos ya validados en Brasil y aplicados a los seis años de edad. La muestra consta de 46 niños de tres centros de salud de São Paulo. Los resultados indicaron que el IRDI no se mostró sensible a la evaluación de la calidad de vida obtenida mediante el uso del AUQUEI. Sin embargo, la asociación estadísticamente significativa encontrada entre los resultados obtenidos en el IRDI y CHQ mostró una mayor capacidad del IRDI para predecir la calidad de vida relacionada al índice psicosocial que al físico del mismo instrumento.

Epidemiologia das doenças do aparelho circulatório no Brasil: uma análise da tendência da mortalidade / Epidemiology of diseases of the circulatory system: an analysis of the mortality trends

A doença do aparelho circulatório é a principal causa de morte na maioria dos países desenvolvidos e em desenvolvimento. A tendência da mortalidade tem sido de queda nos países desenvolvidos desde meados da década de 1960. O objetivo deste artigo é descrever e analisar a tendência da mortalidade por doença do aparelho circulatório, doença cerebrovascular e doença isquêmica do coração, no Brasil e em Estados selecionados. Os dados foram coletados do Sistema de Informações sobre Mortalidade da Secretaria de Vigilância em Saúde do Ministério da Saúde. As tendências foram analisadas descritivamente pelas taxas de mortalidade padronizadas pelo método direto para o Brasil, de 1980 a 2003. Foram ajustados modelos de regressão binominal negativa para avaliar a tendência da mortalidade no Brasil e em 11 Estados selecionados. Foi observada redução da mortalidade por doença do aparelho circulatório no Brasil e na maioria dos Estados selecionados. Somente demonstraram tendência de aumento os Estados de Pernambuco e Mato Grosso....