Extrahepatic cholestasis associated with paracoccidioidomycosis: Challenges in the differential diagnosis of biliopancreatic neoplasia.

BACKGROUND: Paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM) may involve the hepatic pedicle and peripancreatic lymph nodes, cause damage to the bile duct and manifest, exceptionally, in combination with extrahepatic cholestasis (EHC), making investigation and treatment challenging. AIM: To investigate the management of patients with visceral PCM admitted with EHC. METHODS: All patients diagnosed with PCM treated in a public, tertiary teaching hospital between 1982 and 2020 were retrospectively evaluated. Those also identified with EHC were allocated to two groups according to the treatment approach for the purpose of comparing clinical, laboratory, and imaging findings, resources used for etiological diagnosis, treatment results, and prognosis. Statistical analyses were performed using the linear mixed-effects model (random and fixed effects), which was adjusted using the PROC MIXED procedure of the SAS® 9.0 software, and Fisher's exact test. RESULTS: Of 1645 patients diagnosed with PCM, 40 (2.4%) had EHC. Of these, 20 (50.0%) lived in the rural area and 29 (72.5%) were men, with a mean age of 27.1 years (3-65 years). Jaundice as first symptom and weight loss of at least 10 kg were observed in 16 patients (40.0%), and a mass in the head of the pancreas was observed in 8 (20.0%). The etiological diagnosis was made by tissue collection during surgery in 4 cases (10.0%) and by endoscopic methods in 3 cases (7.5%). Twenty-seven patients (67.5%) received drug treatment alone (Group 1), whereas 13 (32.5%) underwent endoscopic and/or surgical procedures in combination with drug treatment (Group 2). EHC was significantly reduced in both groups (40.7% in Group 1, with a mean time of 3 months; and 38.4% in Group 2, with a mean time of 7.5 months), with no statistically significant difference between them. EHC recurrence rates, associated mainly with treatment nonadherence, were similar in both groups: 37% in Group 1 and 15.4% in Group 2. The mortality rate was 18.5% in Group 1 and 23% in Group 2, with survival estimates of 71.3% and 72.5%, respectively, with no statistically significant difference. CONCLUSION: Although PCM-related EHC is rare, it needs to be included in the differential diagnosis of malignancies, as timely treatment can prevent hepatic and extrahepatic sequelae.

Panorama of COVID-19, risk perception and vaccine confidence in São Paulo State population, Southeast Brazil.

In 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic remained uncontrolled in Brazil, with more than 17.6 million cases diagnosed and more than a half a million deaths in total. It is known that an accurate risk perception by populations and a consequent adherence to preventive measures can increase the effectiveness of policies to contain the transmission of infectious diseases. The objective of this study was to draw a panorama of COVID-19 in São Paulo State and investigate the population's risk perception about the new coronavirus, attitudes regarding preventive measures and vaccine confidence through an open web survey. A total of 1111 individuals participated (71.6% females). Of those, 15% declared themselves unemployed, almost 6% lost their jobs during the pandemic, and more than 30% suffered a decrease in their monthly income. As for the COVID-19, almost 32% of the participants were tested sometime in 2020, and 11.3% reported a confirmed diagnosis for a level of hospitalisation of 5%. As for the risk perception, it was observed that situations with crowds of people were more frequently considered as of high risk and cause of greater concern with contamination of family members than with themselves. Almost 23% of the participants questioned whether they would take the vaccine when available and do not know if the COVID-19 vaccine will be safe for the population. Almost 70% disagreed with the statement that the actions of the country's health authorities are effective in combating COVID-19. Considering the Cramer's V coefficient, these variables were not associated with gender or educational level.

Ecological analysis of adolescent birth rates in Brazil: Association with Human Development Index.

BACKGROUND: Adolescent pregnancy is a multidimensional public health problem. It is known that every year in Brazil approximately 1.1 million adolescents become pregnant and around 20% of all newborns are born to teenage mothers. AIM: This ecological study describes the spatio-temporal patterns of the percentages of live births to adolescent mothers between the years of 2010 and 2016 in Brazil and their associations with human development indexes in the meso-regions where they reside. METHODS: Percentages of live births to adolescent mothers are the ratio between the number of live births to women aged 10-19 years old and total number of live births in each Brazilian meso-regions during the study period. A spatio-temporal Bayesian model was used to associate the percentages of live births to adolescent mothers with the human development index of each meso-region. Moran's index was used to measure the spatial autocorrelation between the meso-regions at an aggregate level, whereas the local indicator of spatial auto-correlation measured local correlation. FINDINGS: Percentages of live births to adolescent mothers for the whole country were 19.3% in 2010 and 17.5% in 2016. There is a heterogeneous spatial distribution pattern for these percentages, being the highest percentages in the North region (24.8% in 2016) and the lowest percentages in the Southeast region of the country (14.3% in 2016). The Bayesian model showed that meso-regions with lower human development index values have higher percentages of live births to adolescent mothers. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that adolescent pregnancy is deeply associated with environmental characteristics.

HOSPITAL NUTRITIONAL CARE: PROPOSITIONS ENDORSED BY THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: the incidence of hospital undernutrition and its consequences for both the patient and the hospital has demanded procedures that ensure the delivery of good-quality hospital nutritional care. On the basis of literature reports, this study aimed to build a hospital nutritional care propositions that the scientific community later evaluated and endorsed. METHODS: forty-one propositions concerning patient clinical nutritional care and hospital food service management by the Hospital Nutrition and Food Service were designed. One hundred professionals, researchers, and professors evaluated the propositions. Agreement with the propositions was analyzed by means of a five-point Likert scale (I strongly disagree; I partially disagree; I have no opinion; I partially agree; I totally agree) associated with each proposition. Agreement was considered to occur when 70% or more of the interviewees agreed (partially or totally) with the proposition. The procedure Proc Corresp of the software SAS 10, version 8, aided descriptive statistics and correspondence analysis. RESULTS: more than 90% of the interviewees completely or partially agreed with 85% (35) of the 41 propositions; between 80 and 90% of the interviewees totally or partially agreed with 15% (6) of the 41 propositions. All the proposed criteria had over 70% agreement (total and partial). The lowest value of total agreement was 70%, attributed to the proposition that suggested patient's participation in nutritional intervention. CONCLUSIONS: the scientific community presented high level of agreement with the hospital nutritional care propositions, which suggested an important consensus about it.

Antecedentes/objetivos: la incidencia de desnutrición hospitalaria y sus consecuencias tanto para el paciente como para el hospital ha exigido procedimientos que aseguren un servicio de atención nutricional hospitalaria de buena calidad. Basado en los informes de la literatura, este estudio tuvo como objetivo construir proposiciones sobre los cuidados nutricionales hospitalarios, que después fueran evaluados y aprobados por la comunidad científica. Métodos: fueron desarrolladas cuarenta y una proposiciones relativas a la atención nutricional clínica del paciente y a la gestión del servicio de alimentación por el Servicio de Alimentación y Nutrición Hospitalaria. Un total de cien profesionales, investigadores y profesores evaluaron las proposiciones. Para analizar si los evaluadores estaban de acuerdo con las proposiciones se utilizó una escala Likert de cinco puntos (estoy en total desacuerdo, estoy parcialmente en desacuerdo, no tengo opinión, estoy parcialmente de acuerdo, estoy totalmente de acuerdo) asociada a cada proposición. Fue considerada concordancia cuando el 70% o más de los evaluadores estaban de acuerdo (totalmente o parcialmente) con la proposición. Para el análisis estadístico fue utilizado el procedimiento Proc Corresp del software SAS 10, versión 8, estadística descriptiva y análisis de correspondencias. Resultados: más del 90% de los entrevistados estaban total o parcialmente de acuerdo con el 85% (35) de las 41 proposiciones; entre el 80 y 90% de los entrevistados estaban total o parcialmente de acuerdo con el 15% (6) de las 41 proposiciones. Todos los criterios propuestos tuvieron más del 70% de concordancia (total y parcial). El menor valor de concordancia total fue del 70%, atribuido a la proposición que sugiere la participación del paciente en la intervención nutricional. Conclusiones: la comunidad científica presentó alto nivel de concordancia con las proposiciones para la atención nutricional hospitalaria, lo que sugiere un importante consenso al respecto.

Association between religiousness and blood donation among Brazilian postgraduate students from health-related areas.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine the association between religiousness and blood donation among postgraduate students. METHODS: The Portuguese-language version of the Duke University Religion Index was administered to a sample of 226 Brazilian students with ages ranging from 22 to 55 years. All study participants had completed undergraduate courses in health-related areas. RESULTS: In the present study, 23.5% of the students were regular donors. Organizational religiousness was found to be associated with attitudes related to blood donation. This study also shows evidence that regular blood donors have a higher intrinsic religiousness than subjects who donate only once and do not return. CONCLUSION: This study shows that the attitudes concerning blood donation may have some association with religiosity.

Cetrimide and M-PA-C agar media efficiency for isolating Pseudomonas aeruginosa from mineral water samples / Eficácia de meios ágar M-PA-C e ágar Cetrimide no isolamento de Pseudomonas aeruginosa em amostras de água mineral

This study evaluated the efficacy of two selective media, M-PA-C agar and Cetrimide agar, for isolating P. aeruginosa cells at different incubation temperatures. P. aeruginosa recovery rates, as well as the selectivity of both media were compared. A random effects Bayesian model for binary data was used for performing statistical analysis, and a Poisson Bayesian model was applied to compare the potential of both media selectivity and P. aeruginosa recovery. A discernible difference on the media selectivity was evidenced, and M-PA-C medium presented a higher mean counting rate. P. aeruginosa recovery was similar in both media, and no significant difference was noted in three counts on M-PA-C at 42C (208 CFU) , and on Cetrimide Agar at 35C (231 CFU), at 10-6 dilution. With regards to analyzed mineral water samples, no evidence of distinct occurrence rates of P. aeruginosa on either media, at different temperatures, was noted.

Estudou-se a eficácia dos meios ágar M-PA-C e ágar Cetrimide no isolamento de Pseudomonas aeruginosa, em diferentes temperaturas de incubação. Foram comparadas as taxas de recuperação de P. aeruginosa e a seletividade dos dois meios. Utilizou-se o modelo Bayesiano de efeitos aleatórios para dados binários na análise estatística e o modelo Bayesiano de Poisson na comparação da seletividade dos meios e quanto à recuperação de P. aeruginosa. Os resultados obtidos revelaram diferença significativa na seletividade dos meios, em que o meio ágar M-PA-C apresentou maiores valores médios de contagem. Para a recuperação de células de P.aeruginosa, os resultados foram equivalentes. As médias nas três contagens realizadas em ágar M-PA-C a 42ºC foi de 208 UFC e em Cetrimide a 35C de 231 UFC na diluição de 10-6. Com relação às amostras de água mineral, não houve evidência de diferentes taxas de freqüência de P. aeruginosa entre os cultivos nos dois meios seletivos em diferentes temperaturas.