Women's lives in times of Zika: mosquito-controlled lives?

Zika virus infection during pregnancy is a cause of congenital brain abnormalities. Its consequences to pregnancies has made governments, national and international agencies issue advices and recommendations to women. There is a clear need to investigate how the Zika outbreak affects the decisions that women take concerning their lives and the life of their families, as well as how women are psychologically and emotionally dealing with the outbreak. We conducted a qualitative study to address the impact of the Zika epidemic on the family life of women living in Brazil, Puerto Rico, and the US, who were affected by it to shed light on the social repercussions of Zika. Women were recruited through the snowball sampling technique and data was collected through semi-structured interviews. We describe the effects in mental health and the coping strategies that women use to deal with the Zika epidemic. Zika is taking a heavy toll on women's emotional well-being. They are coping with feelings of fear, helplessness, and uncertainty by taking drastic precautions to avoid infection that affect all areas of their lives. Coping strategies pose obstacles in professional life, lead to social isolation, including from family and partner, and threaten the emotional and physical well-being of women. Our findings suggest that the impacts of the Zika epidemic on women may be universal and global. Zika infection is a silent and heavy burden on women's shoulders.

Women's lives in times of Zika: mosquito-controlled lives? / A vida das mulheres na era do Zika: vidas controladas por mosquitos? / Las vidas de las mujeres en tiempos de Zika: ¿vidas controladas por mosquitos?

Zika virus infection during pregnancy is a cause of congenital brain abnormalities. Its consequences to pregnancies has made governments, national and international agencies issue advices and recommendations to women. There is a clear need to investigate how the Zika outbreak affects the decisions that women take concerning their lives and the life of their families, as well as how women are psychologically and emotionally dealing with the outbreak. We conducted a qualitative study to address the impact of the Zika epidemic on the family life of women living in Brazil, Puerto Rico, and the US, who were affected by it to shed light on the social repercussions of Zika. Women were recruited through the snowball sampling technique and data was collected through semi-structured interviews. We describe the effects in mental health and the coping strategies that women use to deal with the Zika epidemic. Zika is taking a heavy toll on women's emotional well-being. They are coping with feelings of fear, helplessness, and uncertainty by taking drastic precautions to avoid infection that affect all areas of their lives. Coping strategies pose obstacles in professional life, lead to social isolation, including from family and partner, and threaten the emotional and physical well-being of women. Our findings suggest that the impacts of the Zika epidemic on women may be universal and global. Zika infection is a silent and heavy burden on women's shoulders.

A infecção pelo vírus Zika durante a gravidez é causa de anomalias congênitas do sistema nervoso central do feto. As graves consequências gestacionais fizeram com que governos nacionais e agências internacionais emitissem conselhos e recomendações para as mulheres. Existe uma necessidade clara de investigar de que maneira a epidemia de Zika afeta as decisões das mulheres sobre suas próprias vidas e de suas famílias, e de como as mulheres estão lidando psicológica e emocionalmente com a epidemia. Realizamos um estudo qualitativo para avaliar o impacto social da epidemia de Zika na vida familiar das mulheres no Brasil, Porto Rico e Estados Unidos. As mulheres foram recrutadas através da técnica de "bola de neve", e os dados foram coletados com entrevistas semiestruturadas. O artigo descreve os efeitos sobre a saúde mental e as estratégias das mulheres para enfrentar a epidemia do vírus Zika. O vírus está tendo um impacto pesado no bem-estar emocional das mulheres. Elas estão lidando com sentimentos de medo, desamparo e incerteza, ao tomar precauções drásticas para evitar uma infecção que afeta todas as áreas de suas vidas. As estratégias de enfrentamento envolvem obstáculos na vida profissional, levam ao isolamento social, inclusive em relação à família e ao companheiro e ameaçam o bem-estar emocional e físico das mulheres. Nossos achados sugerem que os impactos da epidemia de Zika sobre as mulheres podem ser universais e globais. A infecção pelo vírus Zika põe uma carga pesada e silenciosa nos ombros das mulheres.

La infección por el virus del Zika durante el embarazo es una causa de anormalidades cerebrales congénitas. Sus consecuencias para los embarazos han hecho que los gobiernos, las agencias nacionales e internacionales emitan consejos y recomendaciones para las mujeres. Existe una clara necesidad de investigar cómo el brote de Zika afecta las decisiones que toman las mujeres con respecto a sus vidas y la de sus familias y también cómo las mujeres están lidiando psicológica y emocionalmente con el brote. Llevamos a cabo un estudio cualitativo para abordar el impacto de la epidemia de Zika en la vida familiar de las mujeres que se vieron afectadas por la enfermedad, y que viven en Brasil, Puerto Rico y los EE.UU., para arrojar luz sobre las repercusiones sociales del Zika. Las mujeres fueron reclutadas a través de la técnica de muestreo de bola de nieve y los datos fueron recolectados a través de entrevistas semiestructuradas. Describimos los efectos en la salud mental y las estrategias de afrontamiento que las mujeres usan para lidiar con la epidemia de Zika. La enfermedad está afectando mucho el bienestar emocional de las mujeres. Están enfrentando sentimientos de miedo, impotencia e incertidumbre tomando precauciones drásticas para evitar infecciones que afectan todas las áreas de sus vidas. Las estrategias de afrontamiento representan obstáculos en la vida profesional, conducen al aislamiento social, incluso de la familia y la pareja, y ponen en peligro el bienestar emocional y físico de las mujeres. Nuestros hallazgos sugieren que los impactos de la epidemia de Zika en las mujeres pueden ser universales y globales. La infección por Zika es una carga silenciosa y pesada para los hombros de las mujeres.

Phenomenon of hepatic overload of copper in Mugil cephalus: role of metallothionein and patterns of copper cellular distribution.

In this work we describe a phenomenon of accumulation of copper (Cu) in livers of a teleost fish commonly known as mullet, Mugil cephalus. High levels of Cu, up to 1936 microg/g wet weight were found. The high Cu levels seem not to be associated with environmental Cu contamination, since the fish were collected from widely separated regions with low Cu concentrations. Other fish species sharing the same environment did not show high levels of Cu. The accumulation of Cu in mullet was seen in liver and most of the hepatic Cu was located in the non-cytosolic fraction. The intrahepatic distribution of Cu in mullet seems to depend on the total Cu content in the liver; as the total liver burden of Cu rose, Cu was increasingly recovered from the non-cytosolic fraction. Metallothionein in hepatic cytosols from mullet contained the most Cu. However, the Cu concentration not bound to metallothionein rose when total cytosolic Cu increased; which show that metallothionein, particularly at higher Cu levels, is not the major hepatic Cu-binding protein in cytosols of mullet. This report shows mullet as a very useful model to study the accumulation of Cu in the liver, which may lead to a better understanding of cellular mechanisms which control Cu homeostasis.

Substitution of a single residue in Stichodactyla helianthus peptide, ShK-Dap22, reveals a novel pharmacological profile.

ShK, a peptide isolated from Stichodactyla helianthus venom, blocks the voltage-gated potassium channels, K(v)1.1 and K(v)1.3, with similar high affinity. ShK-Dap(22), a synthetic derivative in which a diaminopropionic acid residue has been substituted at position Lys(22), has been reported to be a selective K(v)1.3 inhibitor and to block this channel with equivalent potency as ShK [Kalman et al. (1998) J. Biol. Chem. 273, 32697-32707]. In this study, a large body of evidence is presented which indicates that the potencies of wild-type ShK peptide for both K(v)1.3 and K(v)1.1 channels have been previously underestimated. Therefore, the affinity of ShK-Dap(22) for both channels appears to be ca. 10(2)-10(4)-fold weaker than ShK. ShK-Dap(22) does display ca. 20-fold selectivity for human K(v)1.3 vs K(v)1.1 when measured by the whole-cell voltage clamp method but not in equilibrium binding assays. ShK-Dap(22) has low affinity for K(v)1.2 channels, but heteromultimeric K(v)1.1-K(v)1.2 channels form a receptor with ca. 200-fold higher affinity for ShK-Dap(22) than K(v)1.1 homomultimers. In fact, K(v)1.1-K(v)1.2 channels bind ShK-Dap(22) with only ca. 10-fold less potency than ShK and reveal a novel pharmacology not predicted from the homomultimers of K(v)1.1 or K(v)1.2. The concentrations of ShK-Dap(22) needed to inhibit human T cell activation were ca. 10(3)-fold higher than those of ShK, in good correlation with the relative affinities of these peptides for inhibiting K(v)1.3 channels. All of these data, taken together, suggest that ShK-Dap(22) will not have the same in vivo immunosuppressant efficacy of other K(v)1.3 blockers, such as margatoxin or ShK. Moreover, ShK-Dap(22) may have undesired side effects due to its interaction with heteromultimeric K(v)1.1-K(v)1.2 channels, such as those present in brain and/or peripheral tissues.