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This study aimed to analyze the adaptation of prenatal care offered to Indigenous women and its association with maternal characteristics and health services. This is a cross-sectional study, conducted with 461 Indigenous women who gave birth and/or received immediate postpartum care in the municipalities of Mato Grosso do Sul, between 2021 and 2022. An indicator of minimum prenatal adequacy was developed, which was classified as adequate when the woman started prenatal care in the 1st trimester of pregnancy, had ≥7 consultations, and had routine exams recorded. Logistic regression models were used to estimate the adjusted odds ratios and factors associated with prenatal adequacy. It was found that 67.2% began prenatal care in the 1st trimester, 51.8% had ≥7 consultations, and 40.6% had exam results recorded. About 1 in 4 Indigenous women achieved the proposed adequacy; the associated maternal characteristics were ethnicity, region of residence, and place of residence. Prenatal care revealed health inequities, with low adequacy rates in prenatal care and worse rates among women living in villages and settlements in the southern region of the state.

The present article aimed to analyze the association between sociodemographic and hospitalization characteristics with the outcome of indigenous and non-indigenous pregnant and postpartum women, as well as factors associated with deaths among indigenous women hospitalized for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) due to COVID-19 in Brazil. This is a cross-sectional and analytical study, with secondary data of pregnant and postpartum women of reproductive age, classified into race/skin color (indigenous and non-indigenous), extracted from the Obstetric Observatory, which uses data from the Influenza Epidemiological Surveillance Information System. The outcome variables were analyzed using the chi-square test or Fisher's exact test, and logistic regression was performed for the factors associated with the death of indigenous people. The highest proportion of deaths occurred among non-indigenous women who were in the 2nd trimester of pregnancy (99.7%), who lived in urban/peri-urban areas (99.8%), as well as in the South/Southeast (99.8%) and Northeast (99.5%) regions. Indigenous people who lived in rural areas and in the North and Midwest regions have a greater chance of death when compared to indigenous people who lived in urban areas and in the South/Southeast regions.

The present study aimed to analyze notifications of intimate partner violence (IPV) against indigenous women in the macro-region of Dourados-MS, Brazil, from 2009 to 2020. This is a cross-sectional study with secondary data from registered reports in the Notifiable Diseases Information System (SINAN) of indigenous women who suffered violence. Descriptive statistics of the variables and Poisson regression were performed to determine the prevalence ratio (PR). IPV represented 56.6% of reports. The most reported types of violence were physical violence (93.3%) and psychological violence (27%). In the adjusted analysis, IPV was associated with women with partners (PR 1.32, 95%CI 1.19; 1.46), and women in situations of repeated violence (PR 1.15, 95%CI 1.05; 1.25) and at home as the place of occurrence (PR 1.13, 95%CI 1.01; 1.29). The majority of reports of violence against indigenous women registered in the Dourados health macro-region were perpetrated by an intimate partner. Knowledge of the profile of violence that arrives at health services, combined with associated factors, should enable the implementation of strategies aimed at reducing the number of cases.

The general population and workers are exposed to organophosphate insecticides, one of the leading chemical classes of pesticides used in rural and urban areas, in the control of arboviruses and agriculture. These pesticides cause environmental/occupational exposure and associated risks to human and environmental health. The objective of this study was to carry out an integrative review of epidemiological studies that identified and quantified dialkylphosphate metabolites in the urine of exposed populations, focusing on the vector control workers, discussing the application and the results found. Searches utilized the Pubmed, Scielo, and the Brazilian Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (BDTD) databases between 2000 and 2021. From the 194 selected studies, 75 (39%) were with children/adolescents, 48 (24%) with rural workers, 36 (19%) with the general population, 27 (14%) with pregnant women, and 9 (4%) with vector control workers. The total dialkylphosphate concentrations found in the occupationally exposed population were higher than in the general population. Studies demonstrate that dialkylphosphates are sensitive and representative exposure biomarkers for environmental and occupational organophosphate exposure. The work revealed a lack of studies with vector control workers and a lack of studies in developing countries., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

In Brazil, blood donation is regulated by the Brazilian Ministry of Health, and all States follow the same protocol for clinical and laboratory screening. Brazil is an endemic country for Chagas disease (CD), caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, and for leishmaniasis, caused by a species of Leishmania spp. Screening for leishmaniosis is not routinely performed by blood banks. Given the antigenic similarity between T. cruzi and Leishmania spp., cross-reactions in serological tests can occur, and inconclusive results for CD have been found. The objective of this study was to apply molecular techniques, e.g., nPCR, PCR, and qPCR, to clarify cases of blood donation candidates with non-negative serology for CD and to analyze the difference between the melting temperature during real-time PCR using SYBR Green. Thirty-seven cases that showed non-negative results for CD using chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay (CMIA) tests from blood banks in Campo Grande, MS, and Campinas, SP, were analyzed. In the serum samples, 35 samples were evaluated by ELISA, and 24.3% (9/35) showed positive results for CD. nPCR was able to detect 12 positive results in 35 samples (34.28%). qPCR for T. cruzi was quantifiable in the samples that showed a value ≥0.002 par eq/mL (parasite equivalents per milliliter), and in 35 samples, 11 (31.42%) were positive. Of all evaluated samples using the described tests (CMIA, ELISA, nPCR, and qPCR), 18 (48.6%) were positive for CD. For MCA by qPCR, the melting temperature was 82.06 °C ± 0.46 for T. cruzi and 81.9 °C ± 0.24 for Leishmania infantum . The Mann-Whitney test showed a significant value of p < 0.0001. However, the differentiation between T. cruzi and L. infantum could not be considered due to temperature overlap. For leishmaniasis, of the 35 samples with non-negative serology for CD tested by the indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT), only one sample (2.85%) was positive (1:80). The PCR for Leishmania spp. was performed on 36 blood samples from donation candidates, and all were negative. qPCR for L. infantum showed 37 negative results for the 37 analyzed samples. The data presented here show the importance of performing two different tests in CD screening at blood banks. Molecular tests should be used for confirmation, thereby improving the blood donation system.

Background: Agile, accessible and cheap diagnosis of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is essential to achieve the elimination of this infection, worldwide, as mandated by the World Health Organzation as part of its strategy for 2030. Dried blood spots (DBS) can be an attractive alternative for sample collection among people living in remote areas and vulnerable populations due to the less invasive collection, its biosafety, and storage & transportation of samples at room temperature., Design: This study aims to estimate the usefulness of dried blood spot samples for the diagnosis and the assessment of HCV infection rates in three different settings in Brazil. Cross-sectional analysis of a sample collection from different populations, aiming to assess the performance of the testing algorithms and respective procedures among different populations with diverse background infection rates., Methods: We reported the evaluation of DBS as alternative samples for detecting anti-HCV in different groups in real life conditions: (I) Vulnerable subjects living in remote areas of Southeast, North and Northeast Brazil (n = 1464); (II) Beauticians (n = 288); (III) People who use non-injectable drugs (n = 201); (IV) patients referred to outpatient care (n = 275)., Results: General assay accuracy was 99%, with a weighted kappa value of 0.9, showing an excellent performance. Sensitivities ranged from 87.5% to 100.0% between groups and specificities were above 99.2%. A total of 194 individuals had HCV RNA in serum and concordance of anti-HCV detection in DBS was 98.4%., Conclusions: DBS samples could be used for anti-HCV detection in different populations recruited in real life conditions and ambulatory settings, with a high overall sensitivity and specificity., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

A cross-sectional study was carried out in the Hematology and Hemotherapy Institute of the state of Mato Grosso do Sul (Hemosul) to evaluate the seroprevalence and risk factors of Hepatitis E Virus (HEV) exposure among volunteer blood donors in Central Brazil. Two-hundred fifty samples from the biorepository were tested for anti-HEV IgG and IgM using the Wantai HEV ELISA test. The seroprevalence of HEV exposure was 6.4% (95% CI: 3.9-10.2). Being born in another state of Brazil, mainly in the Southeast and South regions, was associated with a higher risk of HEV exposure (p < 0.001)., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U.)