Analysis of the Concept of Obstetric Violence: Scoping Review Protocol.

(1) Background: Obstetric violence has been highlighted in the political and social agenda of several countries. Efforts have been made to create policies to humanize obstetric care, guarantee the rights of pregnant women and respond to this form of violence. The lack of consensus on the appropriate terminology to name and define the behaviours that constitute obstetric violence, hinders this process. (2) Objective: To analyse the concept of obstetric violence related to assistance to women during labor. (3) Methodology: Scoping review protocol, according to the Joanna Briggs Institute method. The search will be performed on EBSCOhost Research Platform, PubMed, Virtual Health Library and SciVerse Scopus databases. The Open Scientific Repository of Portugal will also be considered. All types of studies, published in the last 10 years, in English, Spanish and Portuguese languages, constitute inclusion criteria. Studies of women experiencing labor, in a hospital setting, that address the dimensions of the concept of obstetric violence will be reviewed. (4) Discussion: The results will serve as a basis for identifying the appropriate terminology of the concept of obstetric violence, in order to direct future research with interest in the problem.

The impact of COVID-19 on households´ income in the EU.

This analysis makes use of economic forecasts for 2020 issued by the European Commission in Autumn 2019 and Spring 2020, and of a counterfactual under a no-policy change assumption, to analyse the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on EU households´ income. Additionally, our analysis assesses the cushioning effect of discretionary fiscal policy measures taken by the EU Member States. We find that the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to affect significantly households' disposable income in the EU, with lower income households being more severely hit. However, our results show that due to policy intervention, the impact of the crisis is expected to be similar to the one experienced during the 2008-2009 financial crisis. In detail, our results indicate that discretionary fiscal policy measures will play a significant cushioning role, reducing the size of the income loss (from -9.3% to -4.3% for the average equivalised disposable income), its regressivity and mitigating the poverty impact of the pandemic. We conclude that policy interventions are therefore instrumental in cushioning against the impact of the crisis on inequality and poverty. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10888-021-09485-8.

Transcriptome-wide differences between Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. boulardii: Clues on host survival and probiotic activity based on promoter sequence variability.

Although Saccharomyces cerevisiae and S. cerevisiae var. boulardii share more than 95% genome sequence homology, only S. cerevisiae var. boulardii displays probiotic activity. In this study, the transcriptomic differences exhibited by S. cerevisiae and S. cerevisiae var. boulardii in intestinal like medium were evaluated. S. cerevisiae was found to display stress response overexpression, consistent with higher ability of S. cerevisiae var. boulardii to survive within the human host, while S. cerevisiae var. boulardii exhibited transcriptional patterns associated with probiotic activity, suggesting increased acetate biosynthesis. Resorting to the creation of a S. cerevisiae var. boulardii genomic database within Yeastract+, a possible correlation between loss or gain of transcription factor binding sites in S. cerevisiae var. boulardii promoters and the transcriptomic pattern is discussed. This study suggests that S. cerevisiae var. boulardii probiotic activity, when compared to S. cerevisiae, relies, at least partially, on differential expression regulation, based on promoter variability.

Quantitative Whole Slide Assessment of Tumor-Infiltrating CD8-Positive Lymphocytes in ER-Positive Breast Cancer in Relation to Clinical Outcome.

There is a need for a reliable and reproducible quantification of the immune infiltrate within the heterogeneous microenvironment of tumors in order to support therapy selection in oncology. Here we present an automated, modular method for whole-slide image analysis of the spatial distribution of tumor-infiltrating CD8-positive lymphocytes. The method uses a deep learning tissue-type classification algorithm on the hematoxylin eosin (HE) stained tissue section to identify the central tumor (CT) and invasive margin (IM) of the tumor. A CD8-positive cell detection algorithm using a deep learning-based nucleus detection is applied to a sequential immunohistochemistry (IHC)-stained tissue section. Image registration then allows obtaining IHC-derived CD8 scores for the HE-derived CT and the IM, respectively. Both, the mean and the standard deviation of the spatial CD8-positive density distributions were determined for the CT and IM in a cohort of post-menopausal, estrogen receptor-positive invasive breast cancer patients who received adjuvant tamoxifen therapy. Spatial density distributions were found to be highly heterogeneous. In contrast to previous studies, CD8 density in the IM and CT correlated positively with clinical outcome. However, statistical significance was only achieved for the standard deviation of the CD8 density distribution. We hypothesize that this is due to the positive contribution of local high-density areas. The IM/CT density ratio did not correlate with outcome. In view of the clinical relevance of our finding, we would like to encourage a study with a larger cohort. Our modular pipeline approach allows a robust and objective scoring of CD8 infiltrate based on routine pathology staining and should contribute to clinical adoption of computational pathology.

Saccharomyces boulardii: What Makes It Tick as Successful Probiotic?

Saccharomyces boulardii is a probiotic yeast often used for the treatment of GI tract disorders such as diarrhea symptoms. It is genetically close to the model yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and its classification as a distinct species or a S. cerevisiae variant has long been discussed. Here, we review the main genetic divergencies between S. boulardii and S. cerevisiae as a strategy to uncover the ability to adapt to the host physiological conditions by the probiotic. S. boulardii does possess discernible phenotypic traits and physiological properties that underlie its success as probiotic, such as optimal growth temperature, resistance to the gastric environment and viability at low pH. Its probiotic activity has been elucidated as a conjunction of multiple pathways, ranging from improvement of gut barrier function, pathogen competitive exclusion, production of antimicrobial peptides, immune modulation, and trophic effects. This review summarizes the participation of S. boulardii in these mechanisms and the multifactorial nature by which this yeast modulates the host microbiome and intestinal function.

O primeiro ensino de Lacan: o sujeito, entre saber e verdade

Esta dissertação está circunscrita ao campo da teoria freudiana, à luz da orientação de Jacques Lacan, a partir da leitura que efetuou sobre os textos de Freud. O principal objetivo é estabelecer a relação entre o sujeito da ciência e o sujeito da psicanálise. Muito embora a ciência estabeleça uma disjunção entre o saber e a verdade, nisso distinguindo-se da psicanálise, vamos estabelecer os pontos de intervenção entre ambas, demonstrando que o 'o sujeito sobre quem operamos em psicanálise só pode ser o sujeito da ciência'. Deste modo, o trabalho consiste em pesquisar os principais textos freudianos e os lacanianos, dentro do período situado como o primeiro ensino de Lacan, até o Seminário 11, de maneira a demonstrar que é pela via dos sonhos, do desejo indestrutível, que Freud chega ao saber inconsciente, apontando para a verdade do sujeito, a verdade da fantasia, que expressa a dimensão da subjetividade humana (AU)