'If we take the engine out, how will the car go?': beliefs, understanding and access to vasectomy services in Timor-Leste.

Vasectomy is a safe, highly effective and affordable method of permanent contraception, and one of the few currently available contraceptive methods for men. Despite this, vasectomy uptake remains overall low, making up just 2% of the global contraceptive method mix. To better understand access to vasectomy in a country with negligible uptake, we conducted participatory and operational research in the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (Timor-Leste). We held 14 participatory group discussions with 175 community participants (84 men, 91 women; aged 18-72) across seven municipalities (Ainaro, Baucau, Bobonaro, Dili, Lautem, Manufahi, and Oecusse), and individual in-depth interviews with 24 healthcare providers (16 women, 8 men; aged 25-56 years). Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Community awareness and understanding about vasectomy were limited, with concerns expressed about physical and social side effects. Healthcare providers had limited experience and knowledge about vasectomy, and about male sexual and reproductive health more generally. However, our findings also indicate a small but existing demand for vasectomy services that could be grown and better met through health systems strengthening initiatives. Insights from our research have informed programmatic decision-making in Timor-Leste and can be further used to inform national health policy and practice.

Participatory Qualitative Research in a Multilingual Context: The Use of Panel Translation to Better Understand and Improve Sexual and Reproductive Health in Timor-Leste.

Understanding and respecting different linguistic and socio-cultural needs of health service users is critical to design, adapt and provide appropriate health services. We explored access to male family planning methods in The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, a linguistically and culturally diverse nation, by conducting 14 participatory group discussions (PGDs) with 175 participants across seven municipalities. Participants (84 men and 91 women, aged 18 to 72) spoke 13 different languages. PGDs were audio-recorded and translated to English using a multilingual panel translation approach that enabled rigorous and reflexive discussion and learning between researchers about context and meaning. Planning for language diversity helped us to centre participant voices and to hear perspectives that may have otherwise been excluded or misrepresented. Our study affirms the need for research teams to include diverse members who help ensure meaning and voice is not lost across cultural and linguistic differences. Linguistic respect, inclusion and transparency are required to realise improved health and development outcomes.

HMGB1 localization during experimental periodontitis.

AIM: This study sought to investigate the in vitro expression profile of high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) in murine periodontal ligament fibroblasts (mPDL) stimulated with LPS or IL-1ß and in vivo during ligature- or LPS-induced periodontitis in rats. MATERIAL AND METHODS: For the in vivo study, 36 rats were divided into experimental and control groups, and biopsies were harvested at 7-30 d following disease induction. Bone loss and inflammation were evaluated. HMGB1 expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry, qPCR, and Western blot. RESULTS: Significant increases in mPDL HMGB1 mRNA occurred at 4, 8, and 12 h with protein expression elevated by 24 h. HMGB1 mRNA expression in gingival tissues was significantly increased at 15 d in the LPS-PD model and at 7 and 15 d in the ligature model. Immunohistochemical staining revealed a significant increase in the number of HMGB1-positive cells during the experimental periods. CONCLUSION: The results show that PDL cells produce HMGB1, which is increased and secreted extracellularly after inflammatory stimuli. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that HMGB1 may be associated with the onset and progression of periodontitis, suggesting that further studies should investigate the potential role of HMGB1 on periodontal tissue destruction.

'It depends on who is asking and why they will use it': Access to male condoms in Timor-Leste.

The uptake of male condoms remains markedly low in The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (Timor-Leste), an island nation in South-East Asia. To understand why, we conducted participatory and operational research about beliefs, understanding and access to male condoms from both a community and healthcare provider perspective. We held 14 participatory group discussions (PGDs) with 175 community participants (84 men, 91 women; aged 18-72) across seven municipalities (Ainaro, Baucau, Bobonaro, Dili, Lautem, Manufahi, and Oecusse) in 2019. We held individual in-depth interviews (IDIs) with 24 healthcare providers working in the same community catchment areas as the PGDs. Two counsellors, four doctors, fifteen midwives, and three nurses participated (16 women, 8 men; aged 25-56 years). Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. PGD and IDI participant awareness, understanding and beliefs about male condoms were diverse. Male condoms were often discussed as something negative and taboo, and as something that is highly regulated and discouraged within society and the health system. However, many PGD and IDI participants also challenged this narrative by providing a more rights-based perspective about universal access to sexual and reproductive health information and services, including male condoms. Insights from our research have been used to inform programmatic decision-making in Timor-Leste, including health promotion and service delivery initiatives. Our findings can be further used to inform national health policy, healthcare provider training, and advocacy and communication work.

Work accidents which become disasters: mine tailing dam failures in Brazil.

The recent Vale S.A. dam failure in 2019 is one of the most serious work accidents ever in Brazil and is becoming a milestone for mining risk management systems in the country. It is characterized as an incident with irreversible and hard-to-manage intensive and direct impacts on workers and extensive impacts in space and time. Despite their low frequency, dam failures are not rare, but represent an open fracture in an universe in which abnormalities become the normal state of affairs in the everyday routine of corporations. Work accidents like this one and that involving the Samarco dam in 2015 undermine the trust in the entire mine tailings dam failure risk prevention and control system. We need to learn from these incidents to change the ideas and methods in vigor in an intersectoral and participatory manner.

O recente rompimento da barragem da mineradora Vale S.A., em 2019, figura entre os mais graves acidentes de trabalho já registrados no Brasil e caminha para se tornar um marco no sistema de gerenciamento de riscos dessas atividades no país. Ele caracteriza-se como um evento que envolve desde impactos intensivos e diretos sobre trabalhadores e comunidades a efeitos extensivos no espaço e tempo, irreversíveis e de difícil gestão. Rompimentos de barragens não são eventos raros, porém, apesar da baixa frequência, configuram uma fratura exposta de um universo de anormalidades transformadas em normalidades no cotidiano das corporações. Acidentes de trabalho como esse e o da Samarco em 2015 abalam a confiança em todo o sistema de prevenção e controle de riscos de acidentes e desastres em barragens de mineração. Devemos extrair lições dos mesmos com o sentido de mudar as lógicas vigentes de modo intersetorial e participativo.

Matte photographic paper as a low-cost material for metal ion retention and elemental measurements with laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy.

Matte photographic paper was explored as a low-cost material for metal-ion retention. The extraction was promoted by ultrasound, the mechanical waves of which forced adhesion to the photographic paper surface of an ion pair formed by DTAB (dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide) with the anionic coordination complex formed by metal ions and SPADNS (1,8-dihydroxy-2-(4-sulfophenylazo)naphthalene-3,6-disulfonic acid trisodium salt). As a proof of concept, the migration of copper ions present in aqueous solution to the solid phase and their direct measurement by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) was evaluated. The main parameters that affected the extraction (paper type and sonication time) and analyte detection in the solid phase (delay, spot size and accumulated number of pulses) were optimised in a univariate way. The conditions influencing the complexation reaction and formation of the ion pair in aqueous solution (pH and copper, SPADNS and DTAB concentrations) were set according to a previous study. Under the optimised conditions, it was possible to use this extraction technology as an alternative in determining copper content in aqueous solutions by LIBS, overcoming the intrinsic difficulties of this instrumental technique in the analysis of liquid samples. The calibration curves were obtained in a linear range of 0.50-7.50 mg L-1 copper in solution, with detection and quantification limits estimated at 0.08 and 0.24 mg L-1, respectively. The precision of the method was less than 4.3% and the accuracy was checked by spike and recovery tests on liquid samples with different chemical compositions and by comparison of LIBS results with graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry data. The potential of the proposed method for extraction of Al3+, Ag+, Fe3+, Mn2+, Ni2+ and Zn2+ was also evaluated and adequate extraction efficiencies were obtained. The proposed method stands out due to its low cost and ease of execution.

Acidentes de trabalho que se tornam desastres: os casos dos rompimentos em barragens de mineração no Brasil / Work accidents which become disasters: mine tailing dam failures in Brazil

O recente rompimento da barragem da mineradora Vale S.A., em 2019, figura entre os mais graves acidentes de trabalho já registrados no Brasil e caminha para se tornar um marco no sistema de gerenciamento de riscos dessas atividades no país. Ele caracteriza-se como um evento que envolve desde impactos intensivos e diretos sobre trabalhadores e comunidades a efeitos extensivos no espaço e tempo, irreversíveis e de difícil gestão. Rompimentos de barragens não são eventos raros, porém, apesar da baixa frequência, configuram uma fratura exposta de um universo de anormalidades transformadas em normalidades no cotidiano das corporações. Acidentes de trabalho como esse e o da Samarco em 2015 abalam a confiança em todo o sistema de prevenção e controle de riscos de acidentes e desastres em barragens de mineração. Devemos extrair lições dos mesmos com o sentido de mudar as lógicas vigentes de modo intersetorial e participativo.

The recent Vale S.A. dam failure in 2019 is one of the most serious work accidents ever in Brazil and is becoming a milestone for mining risk management systems in the country. It is characterized as an incident with irreversible and hard-to-manage intensive and direct impacts on workers and extensive impacts in space and time. Despite their low frequency, dam failures are not rare, but represent an open fracture in an universe in which abnormalities become the normal state of affairs in the everyday routine of corporations. Work accidents like this one and that involving the Samarco dam in 2015 undermine the trust in the entire mine tailings dam failure risk prevention and control system. We need to learn from these incidents to change the ideas and methods in vigor in an intersectoral and participatory manner.