Solubilization of Trans-Resveratrol in Some Mono-Solvents and Various Propylene Glycol + Water Mixtures.

This research deals with the determination of solubility, Hansen solubility parameters, dissolution properties, enthalpy-entropy compensation, and computational modeling of a naturally-derived bioactive compound trans-resveratrol (TRV) in water, methanol, ethanol, n-propanol, n-butanol, propylene glycol (PG), and various PG + water mixtures. The solubility of TRV in six different mono-solvents and various PG + water mixtures was determined at 298.2-318.2 K and 0.1 MPa. The measured experimental solubility values of TRV were regressed using six different computational/theoretical models, including van't Hoff, Apelblat, Buchowski-Ksiazczak λh, Yalkowsly-Roseman, Jouyban-Acree, and van't Hoff-Jouyban-Acree models, with average uncertainties of less than 3.0%. The maxima of TRV solubility in mole fraction was obtained in neat PG (2.62 × 10-2) at 318.2 K. However, the minima of TRV solubility in the mole fraction was recorded in neat water (3.12 × 10-6) at 298.2 K. Thermodynamic calculation of TRV dissolution properties suggested an endothermic and entropy-driven dissolution of TRV in all studied mono-solvents and various PG + water mixtures. Solvation behavior evaluation indicated an enthalpy-driven mechanism as the main mechanism for TRV solvation. Based on these data and observations, PG has been chosen as the best mono-solvent for TRV solubilization.

Uma cura controversa: a promessa biomédica para a hanseníase em Portugal e no Brasil / A controversial cure: the biomedical promise for hanseniasis in Portugal and Brazil

Este artigo procura responder à pergunta, nascida na empiria do trabalho de campo: por que algumas pessoas portadoras de hanseníase e tratadas com a poliquimioterapia (PQT) se sentem curadas e outras não? Com base numa etnografia multissituada nas escalas transnacional (programa global para a hanseníase da Organização Mundial da Saúde), nacional (paisagens morais e paradigmas biopolíticos para a hanseníase em Portugal e Brasil) e local (prática clínica em contexto hospitalar e experiência incorporada das pessoas portadoras nos dois países), analisa como a incerteza documentada na clínica da hanseníase e a clivagem experienciada por algumas pessoas, entre a cura bacteriológica e o sentimento de se sentir sanado, abre uma controvérsia em torno dos principais postulados que sustentam o emprego da PQT como uma entidade autônoma do contexto e difratam a fronteira entre o normal e o patológico em que se baseia o enquadramento contemporâneo da hanseníase e as respostas institucionais à mesma. Finalmente, conclui pela necessidade de incluir uma escolha incorporada na atual política ontológica para a hanseníase que amplie a própria nosologia e refunde um novo paradigma de cuidado, de tipo participativo.

This paper aims to answer the following question that arouse during fieldwork: why some people with hanseniasis and treated with multidrug therapy (MDT) feel healed and others don't? From a multi-sited ethnography in the transnational (global program for hanseniasis from the World Health Organization), national (Portuguese and Brazilian moral landscapes and biopolitical paradigms), local (clinical practice and incorporated experience of people with hanseniasis in both countries) scales, it examines how the uncertainty documented in the clinic and the gap experienced by some people between the bacteriological cure and the feeling of being healed, opens for a controversy on the main postulates that sustain the use of MDT as an autonomous entity and diffract the contemporaneous framing of hanseniasis and the institutional responses to it. Finally, it concludes on the need for including an incorporated choice that might widen hanseniasis' ontological politics and rebuild a new participatory paradigm of care.

Regulatory false positives: true, false, or uncertain?

Hansen et al. (2007) recently assessed the historical performance of the precautionary principle in 88 specific cases, concluding that "applying our definition of a regulatory false positive, we were able to identify only four cases that fit the definition of a false positive." Empirically evaluating how prone the precautionary principle is to classify nonproblems as problems ("false positives") is an excellent idea. Yet, Hansen et al.'s implementation of this idea applies a diverse set of questionable criteria to label many highly uncertain risks as "real" even when no real or potential harm has actually been demonstrated. Examples include treating each of the following as reasons to categorize risks as "real": considering that a company's actions contaminated its own product; lack of a known exposure threshold for health effects; occurrence of a threat; treating deliberately conservative (upper-bound) regulatory assumptions as if they were true values; treating assumed exposures of children to contaminated soils (by ingestion) as evidence that feared dioxin risks are real; and treating claimed (sometimes ambiguous) epidemiological associations as if they were known to be true causal relations. Such criteria can classify even nonexistent and unknown risks as "real," providing an alternative possible explanation for why the authors failed to find more false positives, even if they exist.

Community health nursing practices in contexts of poverty, uncertainty and unpredictability: a systematization of personal experiences.

Several years of professional nursing practices, while living in the poorest neighbourhoods in the outlying areas of Brazil's Amazon region, have led the author to develop a better understanding of marginalized populations. Providing care to people with leprosy and sex workers in riverside communities has taken place in conditions of uncertainty, insecurity, unpredictability and institutional violence. The question raised is how we can develop community health nursing practices in this context. A systematization of personal experiences based on popular education is used and analyzed as a way of learning by obtaining scientific knowledge through critical analysis of field practices. Ties of solidarity and belonging developed in informal, mutual-help action groups are promising avenues for research and the development of knowledge in health promotion, prevention and community care and a necessary contribution to national public health programmers.

Community health nursing practices in contexts of poverty, uncertainty and unpredictability: a systematization of personal experiences

Several years of professional nursing practices, while living in the poorest neighbourhoods in the outlying areas of Brazil's Amazon region, have led the author to develop a better understanding of marginalized populations. Providing care to people with leprosy and sex workers in riverside communities has taken place in conditions of uncertainty, insecurity, unpredictability and institutional violence. The question raised is how we can develop community health nursing practices in this context. A systematization of personal experiences based on popular education is used and analyzed as a way of learning by obtaining scientific knowledge through critical analysis of field practices. Ties of solidarity and belonging developed in informal, mutual-help action groups are promising avenues for research and the development of knowledge in health promotion, prevention and community care and a necessary contribution to national public health programmers.

Muitos anos de prática profissional em enfermagem, vivendo nas vizinhanças mais pobres de áreas distantes da região Amazônica brasileira levaram a autora a desenvolver uma melhor compreensão das populações marginalizadas. O cuidado às pessoas com lepra e trabalhadores do sexo de comunidades ribeirinhas tem sido realizado em condições de incerteza, insegurança, imprevisibilidade e violência institucional. A questão levantada é como podemos desenvolver práticas de enfermagem na saúde da comunidade neste contexto. A sistematização de experiências pessoais baseadas na educação popular é usada e analisada como uma maneira de conhecer e obter conhecimento científico através da análise crítica das práticas da área. Laços de solidariedade e pertencimento desenvolvidos em ações de grupos informais de ajuda mútua são caminhos promissores para pesquisa e desenvolvimento do conhecimento em promoção a saúde, prevenção e cuidado à comunidade e uma contribuição necessária para os programas de saúde pública nacional.

Varios años de prácticas profesionales de enfermería, viviendo en los distritos más pobres de las áreas periféricas de la región amazónica de Brasil, llevaron o autor a desarrollar una mejor comprensión de poblaciones marginalizadas. La provisión de cuidados a personas con lepra y trabajadores del sexo en comunidades ribereñas ha sido llevado a cabo en condiciones de incertidumbre, inseguridad, imprevisibilidad y violencia institucional. Se pregunta como podemos desarrollar prácticas de enfermería en salud comunitaria en este contexto. Una sistematización de experiencias personales basada en educación popular es usada y analizada como un método de saber, obteniendo conocimiento científico mediante un análisis crítico de prácticas en el campo. Lazos de solidaridad y pertenencia desarrollados en grupos de acción informales, de ayuda mutua son caminos prometedores para la investigación y el desarrollo de conocimiento en la promoción de la salud, prevención y atención comunitaria y una contribución necesaria a programas nacionales de salud pública.