Clinical outcomes of aspergillosis among paediatric and adult inpatients: A multicentre study in a Brazilian metropolitan area.

Background: Invasive Aspergillosis (IA) is a disease of significant clinical relevance, especially among immunosuppressed patients, and is associated with high mortality rates. In this study, we evaluated the epidemiological features and clinical outcomes in children and adults with IA.

Methods: This was an observational, multicentre, prospective surveillance study of inpatients with IA at two different hospitals in Campinas, Brazil, between 2018 and 2021.

COVID-19 and invasive fungal coinfections: A case series at a Brazilian referral hospital.

Background: COVID-19 co-infections have been described with different pathogens, including filamentous and yeast fungi.

Methodology: A retrospective case series study conducted from February to December 2020, at a Brazilian university hospital. Data were collected from two hospital surveillance systems: Invasive fungal infection (IFI) surveillance (Mycosis Resistance Program - MIRE) and COVID-19 surveillance.

The role of geophysics in enhancing mine planning decision-making in small-scale mining.

Small-scale mining usually operates under high geological uncertainty conditions. This turns mine planning into a complex and sometimes inaccurate task, resulting in low productivity and substantial variability in the quantity and quality of the mineral products. This research demonstrates how the application of a novel methodology that relies on traditional and low-cost geophysical methods can contribute to mine planning in small-scale mining.

Prenatal care and childbirth assistance in Amazonian women before and after the Pacific Highway Construction (2003-2011): a cross-sectional study.

Background: Attention to prenatal care and child delivery is important for the health of women and children, but in the Amazon these indicators tend to be historically unfavorable, in part by geographical and political isolation. In 2003 both Brazilian and Peru governments have finished paving an international road connecting remotes areas in the Brazilian Amazon to the Pacific coast in Peru.

Methods: The situation of prenatal care and child delivery with mothers of children under 5 years old living in the urban area of Assis Brasil, Acre was assessed in two cross-sectional studies performed in 2003 and 2011, corresponding to the period before and after the Pacific highway construction.

Stunting in children under five years old is still a health problem in the Western Brazilian Amazon: a population-based study in Assis Brasil, Acre, Brazil.

Despite the process of nutritional transition in Brazil, in some places, such as the Amazon region, stunting is still an important public health problem. We identified the prevalence and factors associated with stunting in children under five years old residing in the urban area of Assis Brasil. A survey was conducted in which a questionnaire on socioeconomic, maternal and children's conditions was applied, and height or length was measured.

Child Health in the Peruvian Amazon: Prevalence and Factors Associated with Referred Morbidity and Health Care Access in the City of Iñapari.

Introduction. Children under 5 years of age are more susceptible to developing morbidities such as diarrhea, respiratory infections, anemia, and malnutrition. The objective of the study is to evaluate the prevalence of reported morbidities in this age group in the city of Iñapari (Peru) and the access to health services in this municipality.

Relationship between Arginase 1 and Arginase 2 levels and genetic polymorphisms with erectile dysfunction.

Arginase 1 and Arginase 2 are homologous enzymes that convert l-Arginine to Urea and l-ornithine and compete with nitric oxide synthases for l-Arginine. Increased Arginase 1 and 2 activity may reduce nitric oxide production by the endothelium in disease states, including erectile dysfunction (ED). Here we aimed at assessing whether Arginase 1 and 2 plasma levels, plasma arginase activity, or genetic factors are associated with ED risk and severity.

Clustering symptoms of non-severe malaria in semi-immune Amazonian patients.

Malaria is a disease that generates a broad spectrum of clinical features. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical spectrum of malaria in semi-immune populations. Patients were recruited in Mâncio Lima, a city situated in the Brazilian Amazon region.

PREVALENCE OF INCIDENTAL GALLBLADDER CANCER IN A TERTIARY-CARE HOSPITAL FROM PERNAMBUCO, BRAZIL.

Background: Gallbladder cancer is sometimes incidentally uncovered following cholecystectomy for gallstones diseases. The supposed highly variable prevalence of incidental gallbladder cancer through our country is unknown.

Objective: To explore the prevalence of incidental gallbladder cancer in our tertiary-care hospital.

Socioeconomic inequities and hepatitis A virus infection in Western Brazilian Amazonian children: spatial distribution and associated factors.

Background: Hepatitis A is still a neglected health problem in the world. The most affected areas are the ones with disadvantaged socioeconomic conditions. In Brazil, seroprevalence studies showed that 64.

Side Effects of Chloroquine and Primaquine and Symptom Reduction in Malaria Endemic Area (Mâncio Lima, Acre, Brazil).

Side effects of antimalarial drug can overlap with malaria symptoms. We evaluated 50 patients with vivax malaria in Mâncio Lima, Acre, treated with chloroquine and primaquine. Patients were evaluated for the presence of 21 symptoms before and after treatment and for reported side effects of these drugs after treatment was started.

Hepatitis A seroprevalence in preschool children in Assis Brazil, Acre, Brazil, in 2003 and 2010.

Background: The Amazon region has the highest seroprevalence of hepatitis A virus (HAV) in Brazil.

Methods: In the present study, the seroprevalence of total HAV antibodies in two groups, composed of 147 and 254 children between 1 and 5 years old in Assis Brasil, Acre, was measured in 2003 and 2010, respectively, and compared with socio-economic changes in the city.

Results: In 2003, the HAV seroprevalence rate was 26.

Statistical analysis of texture in trunk images for biometric identification of tree species.

The identification of tree species is a key step for sustainable management plans of forest resources, as well as for several other applications that are based on such surveys. However, the present available techniques are dependent on the presence of tree structures, such as flowers, fruits, and leaves, limiting the identification process to certain periods of the year. Therefore, this article introduces a study on the application of statistical parameters for texture classification of tree trunk images.

Seroprevalence and seroconversion of dengue and implications for clinical diagnosis in amazonian children.

This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of serum IgG dengue in children in an Amazonian population, to assess the seroconversion rate in 12 months, and to estimate how many seropositive children had a prior clinical diagnosis of dengue. We conducted a population-based study between 2010 and 2011, with children aged 6 months to 12 years that were living in the urban area of a small town in the Brazilian Amazon. The prevalence of IgG antibodies against dengue antigens was determined by indirect ELISA technique, and seronegative children were reexamined after 12 months to determine seroconversion rates.

Socioeconomic inequalities are still a barrier to full child vaccine coverage in the Brazilian Amazon: a cross-sectional study in Assis Brasil, Acre, Brazil.

Introduction: Vaccines are very important to reduce morbidity and mortality by preventable infectious diseases, especially during childhood. Optimal coverage is not always achieved, for several reasons. Here we assessed vaccine coverage for the first 12 months of age in children between 12 and 59 months old, residing in the urban area of a small Amazonian city, and factors associated with incomplete vaccination.

How we enhanced medical academics skills and reduced social inequities using an academic teaching program.

The training of future physicians should be concurrent with the development of different skills and attitudes. This warrants the need to regularly provide students with opportunities for self-development throughout their academic career. This approach was exemplified in a medical school in the Brazilian Amazon, where students were allowed to play the role of high school teachers.

nNOS polymorphisms are associated with responsiveness to sildenafil in clinical and postoperative erectile dysfunction.

Aim: Sildenafil potentiates the nitric oxide (NO) signaling pathway. Since neuronal NOS is very important in the penis, we assessed whether NOS1 polymorphisms are associated with altered responsiveness to sildenafil in erectile dysfunction (ED).

Materials & Methods: Patients (n = 137) were divided as clinical ED or postoperative ED.

Vivax malaria in an Amazonian child with dilated cardiomyopathy.

A child living in the Brazilian Amazon region who had had vivax malaria at the age of 11 months was admitted three months later with a history of progressive dyspnoea and fever, which culminated in respiratory distress and severe dilated cardiomyopathy at hospital admission in a malaria-free area. She received treatment for cardiac insufficiency and was tested for malaria with two thick blood smears, which were negative. There was general improvement of cardiorespiratory function in the next two weeks, but in the third week of hospital admission, there was re-appearance of fever, severe anaemia, severe plaquetopaenia, and respiratory distress.

Epidemiology and control of child toxocariasis in the western Brazilian Amazon - a population-based study.

Toxocara spp. infection and the seroconversion rate in the Amazon have been poorly investigated. This study analyzed individual and household-level risk factors for the presence of IgG antibodies to Toxocara spp.

Nutritional status of children under 5 years of age in the Brazilian Western Amazon before and after the Interoceanic highway paving: a population-based study.

Background: The aim of this study was to analyse the prevalence of undernutrition, overweight and associated factors, before and after the implementation of the Interoceanic Highway.

Methods: A population-based cross-sectional study on children under 5 years of age was conducted in the municipality of Assis Brasil, AC, Brazil, in 2003 and 2010. Prevalence of undernutrition was observed by using height-for-age Z-scores (HAZ) and adopting a cut-off point equal to or lower than a -2 Z-score.

Low nitric oxide bioavailability is associated with better responses to sildenafil in patients with erectile dysfunction.

Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a multifactorial disease associated with vascular dysfunction, low nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability, and oxidative stress. However, it is not known whether low NO bioavailability and oxidative stress affect the responsiveness of ED patients to sildenafil. We tested this hypothesis by studying 28 healthy subjects (control group), 26 patients with ED without comorbidities (ED group), and 18 patients with ED and diabetes mellitus (ED/DM group).

Lovastatin protects mithochondrial and renal function in kidney ischemia-reperfusion in rats.

Purpose: To investigate the effect of lovastatin on renal ischemia followed by reperfusion.

Methods: Thirty one Wistar rats submitted to left renal ischemia for 60 minutes followed by contralateral nephrectomy were divided into two groups: A (n =17, control, no treatment), and B (n=14, lovastatin 15 mg/kg/day p.o.

Using Mitrofanoff's principle and Monti's technique as a surgical option for bladder augmentation with a continent stoma: a case report.

Introduction: Hydronephrosis, reflux and renal failure are serious complications that occur in patients with neurogenic bladder associated with myelomeningocele. When the bladder compliance is lost, it is imperative to carry out surgery aimed at reducing bladder storage pressure. An ileocystoplasty, and for patients not suitable for intermittent catheterization, using the Mitrofanoff principle to form a continent stoma and the subsequent closure of the bladder neck, can be used.