Problemas ligados ao álcool em centros de emergência (PLACE)-People experiencing homelessness with alcohol-related problems in Lisbon's emergency shelters during the COVID-19 pandemic: a description and analysis of a harm reduction intervention.

Introduction: Alcohol-related problems disproportionally affect people experiencing homelessness. As the first wave of the COVID-2019 pandemic spread in 2020, a number of emergency shelters were opened in Lisbon. Increased difficulties in obtaining alcohol could have led to an increased incidence of alcohol withdrawal. Therefore, a low-threshold harm reduction intervention was introduced to these emergency shelters. This consisted of a fixed medication treatment, made available immediately for those with specific conditions, without the need for a medical evaluation or abstinence from alcohol, together with an offer of subsequent access to specialized addiction centers. The Problemas Ligados ao Álcool em Centros de Emergência (PLACE) study (alcohol-related problems in emergency shelters) is a retrospective mixed-methods observational study. It describes the demographic, health, and social characteristics of shelter users participating in the program and aims to evaluate the intervention as well as the experience of the patients, professionals, and decision-makers involved. Results: A total of 69 people using shelters self-reported alcohol-related problems. Among them, 36.2% of the people accepted a pharmacological intervention, and 23.2% selected an addiction appointment. The take-up of the intervention was associated with better housing outcomes. A description of an individual's trajectory after leaving the shelter is provided. Discussion: This study suggests that non-abstinence-focused interventions can be useful and well-tolerated in treating addiction in this population.

Advances in the computational analysis of SARS-COV2 genome.

Given a data-set of Ribonucleic acid (RNA) sequences we can infer the phylogenetics of the samples and tackle the information for scientific purposes. Based on current data and knowledge, the SARS-CoV-2 seemingly mutates much more slowly than the influenza virus that causes seasonal flu. However, very recent evolution poses some doubts about such conjecture and shadows the out-coming light of people vaccination. This paper adopts mathematical and computational tools for handling the challenge of analyzing the data-set of different clades of the severe acute respiratory syndrome virus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). On one hand, based on the mathematical paraphernalia of tools, the concept of distance associated with the Kolmogorov complexity and Shannon information theories, as well as with the Hamming scheme, are considered. On the other, advanced data processing computational techniques, such as, data compression, clustering and visualization, are borrowed for tackling the problem. The results of the synergistic approach reveal the complex time dynamics of the evolutionary process and may help to clarify future directions of the SARS-CoV-2 evolution.

Integrative taxonomy reveals the historically poorly defined armoured catfish Hypostomus variipictus (Ihering 1911), from the upper rio Paraná basin, Brazil (Siluriformes, Loricariidae).

In a recent expedition to the rio Grande basin, a tributary of the rio Paraná in southern Brazil, individuals of the armoured catfish genus Hypostomus with a peculiar and beautiful colour pattern composed of pale vermiculations on the head and four to five horizontal stripes on the flanks were collected. Initially, the specimens were identified as a colour morph of the pale-spotted H. margaritifer. However, when we compared their partial cytochrome C oxidase subunit I (COI) mitochondrial gene to sequences of some typically pale-spotted H. margaritifer, the striped specimens were genetically distinct. Further analysis of the striped individuals revealed that they are the poorly known but valid species Hypostomus variipictus, which was described by Ihering in 1911 from the rio Pardo, a tributary of the rio Grande, upper rio Paraná basin, in São Paulo State, Brazil. Since its descriptions, no robust taxonomic work has been published concerning this species. In this study, the newly sampled population was compared to the original description and to the holotype of H. variipictus, providing the foundation for a complete redescription, proper diagnosis, and first live colour illustration and description of the previously hidden H. variipictus.

Dengue na Amazônia: aspectos epidemiológicos no Estado de Rondônia, Brasil, de 1999 a 2010 / Dengue in the Amazon: epidemiological aspects in Rondônia State, Brazil, from 1999 to 2010

A dengue é uma doença viral, aguda e sistêmica, que é transmitida principalmente pelo mosquito Aedes aegypti. Está presente em todos os 26 Estados da Federação Brasileira e no Distrito Federal e no país registram-se, aproximadamente, 70 por cento das notificações mundiais. O objetivo deste estudo é analisar a epidemiologia da dengue entre os anos 1999 e 2010 no Estado de Rondônia, comparando os dados obtidos com a situação do país no período equivalente. Utilizaram-se como fonte de informações os registros oficiais do Sistema Nacional de Agravos de Notificação, da Agência Estadual de Vigilância Sanitária e do Departamento de Informática do SUS. Os dados são referentes ao período de 1999, início das notificações, a 2010, último ano com números completos. Foram coletadas informações referentes aos casos notificados e confirmados, formas graves da doença, taxa de incidência, número de óbitos, entre outros...

Dengue is a viral, acute, and systemic disease that is mainly transmitted by the mosquito Aedes aegypti. It is spread through all 26 states of the Brazilian Federation and in the Federal District, and approximately 70 per cent of all the world’s notifications of dengue are recorded in Brazil. The objective of the present study is to analyze the epidemiology of dengue between 1999 and 2010 in Rondônia State, comparing the data obtained with that of the country as a whole during this period. As information sources, we used the official records from the National System for Notifiable Diseases (Sistema Nacional de Agravos de Notificação), the State Agency of Sanitary Surveillance (Agência Estadual de Vigilância Sanitária), and the Department of Informatics (Departamento de Informática) of the Brazilian Unified Health System (DATASUS). The data refer to the period from 1999 (the beginning of the notifications) to 2010 (the last year with complete data). Information was collected regarding the notified and confirmed cases, severe forms of the disease, the incidence rate, and the number of deaths. From the beginning of documentation, there was an exponential increase in the cases of dengue in the state...