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Abstract Background Individuals with class II/III obesity have a high percentage of body fat. Assessing body composition in cases of severe obesity can be difficult and controversial both in clinical practice and scientific research. Thus, it is essential to explore the different aspects of evaluating body composition and to discuss the available methods to assess it in this population. Aims To summarise and discuss the methods used to measure body composition in adults with class II/III obesity and their potential in clinical practice and scientific research. Methods This is a narrative review using data from PubMed, Scielo, and Lilacs databases. Original articles on body composition analysis in adults with class II/III obesity i.e., a BMI ≥ 35 kg/m2 were eligible. Body composition assessment methods were analysed and described. Results Some imaging methods produced significantly accurate results. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) significantly produces accurate results and has been used in clinical studies. However, due to its high cost, it is not applicable in clinical practice. Multifrequency bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) has good accuracy and is more appropriate for clinical practice than other methods. We have highlighted several aspects of the importance and applicability of performing body composition analysis in individuals with class II/III obesity. Conclusion DXA has been considered the most adequate method for clinical research. Multifrequency BIA may be a viable alternative to DXA for use in clinical practice. Assessing body composition and its components is important for people with class II/III obesity. It can help improve the effectiveness of interventions and clinical treatments, especially in reducing the risk of losing muscle mass. Muscle loss can cause sarcopenic obesity and other clinical complications, so understanding body composition is crucial. Assessing body composition can also help understand the impact of interventions on bones and avoid clinical complications.

Abstract Background Oral health has been associated with general health conditions, but few longitudinal studies evaluated the effect of dentition status on gait speed. Objective This study aimed to investigate the longitudinal association between different time-varying measures of dentition status (i.e., number of teeth, the presence of periodontal pockets and the functional impact of oral health) and gait speed (outcome) in older Brazilian adults. Materials and methods This was a prospective study using data from the Health, Well-being and Aging cohort study (SABE) from 2006, 2010 and 2015. The gait speed was the dependent variable and the independent variables of interest were dentition status evaluated using the number of teeth, use of dental prostheses, presence of periodontal pocket, clinical attachment loss and self-perceived poor functional oral health. Dentition status measures were obtained through clinical oral examinations, performed by trained dentists using standardized criteria proposed by the World Health Organization. Self-perceived poor functional oral health was evaluated using the functional domain of the Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index. The longitudinal effect of dentition status on gait speed was evaluated using mixed-effects linear models. The effect of the number of teeth/periodontal pocket/attachment loss on gait speed change over time was evaluated by including an interaction term between these variables. The effect of periodontal pocket was tested only among dentate individuals. Results Data for the complete sample included 3,306 observations from 1,964 individuals. The analyses for dentate individuals included 1,883 observations from 1,149 individuals. There was a positive association between the number of teeth and mean gait speed. Individuals using dental prostheses also had higher means of gait speed than those without dental prostheses. Gait speed was lower among individuals with periodontal pockets and with attachment loss. No interaction was found between any of the indicators of dentition status and time. Conclusion Gait speed was associated with dentition status and this association was constant over time.

Abstract Background Hysterectomy is a gynaecological surgical procedure in which the uterus is removed as a treatment for both malignant and benign gynaecological diseases. A hysterectomy is also performed to minimise risks in women with problems related to the uterus. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of reported hysterectomy and associated risk factors in Brazilian women aged 50 and older. Methods A cross-sectional study using data from the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSI-Brazil) was conducted. A total of 5,293 women aged 50 and over who participated in the ELSI-Brazil study in 2015 and 2016 were included. The prevalence rate of hysterectomy was estimated and the main reasons for performing the surgery were identified. The bivariate analyses utilised the chi-square test, while multivariate analyses employed Poisson regression with a robust estimator. Results The reported prevalence of hysterectomy was 17.8%. The most prevalent reason for the surgery was the presence of uterine myoma. Significant and independent associations were observed in women aged 63 and older, married, having undergone preventive exams, hormonal treatment, had up to three deliveries and having a private health plan. Conclusion The main objective of the study was achieved. The prevalence of hysterectomy in Brazilian women aged 50 and older was 17.8%. Significant associations were observed with participants’ sociodemographic and clinical characteristics reinforcing the importance of considering the reproductive characteristics of women as indicators of health status.

Abstract Low serum 25(OH)D levels (

Abstract Background Tools for assessing a country’s capacity in the face of public health emergencies must be reviewed, as they were not predictive of the COVID-19 pandemic. Social cohesion and risk communication, which are related to trust in government and trust in others, may have influenced adherence to government measures and mortality rates due to COVID-19. Objective To analyse the association between indicators of social cohesion and risk communication and COVID-19 outcomes in 213 countries. Results Social cohesion and risk communication, in their dimensions (public trust in politicians, trust in others, social safety nets, and equal distribution of resources index), were associated with lower excess mortality due to COVID-19. The number of COVID-19-related disorder events and government transparency were associated with higher excess mortality due to COVID-19. The lower the percentage of unemployed people, the higher the excess mortality due to COVID-19. Most of the social cohesion and risk communication variables were associated with better vaccination indicators, except for social capital and engaged society, which had no statistically significant association. The greater the gender equality, the better the vaccination indicators, such as the number of people who received all doses. Conclusion Public trust in politicians, trust in others, equal distribution of resources and government that cares about the most vulnerable, starting with the implementation of programs, such as cash transfers and combating food insecurity, were factors that reduced the excess mortality due to COVID-19. Countries, especially those with limited resources and marked by social, economic, and health inequalities, must invest in strengthening social cohesion and risk communication, which are robust strategies to better cope with future pandemics.

Background: Despite the current data on morbidity and mortality, a growing number of patients with a diagnosis of cancer survive due to an early diagnosis and advances in treatment modalities. This study aimed to compare the quality of life and coping strategies in three groups of patients with cancer and identify associated clinical and sociodemographic characteristics. Methods: A comparative study was conducted with outpatients at a public hospital in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The 300 participants were assigned to three groups: patients in palliative care (Group A), patients in post-treatment follow-up with no evidence of disease (Group B), and patients undergoing treatment for cancer (Group C). Data collection involved the use of the McGill Quality of Life Questionnaire and the Ways of Coping Questionnaire. No generic quality-of-life assessment tool was utilized, as it would not be able to appropriately evaluate the impact of the disease on the specific group of patients receiving palliative care. Results: Coping strategies were underused. Participants in the palliative care group had poorer quality of life, particularly in the psychological well-being and physical symptom domains. Age, currently undergoing treatment, and level of education were significantly associated with coping scores. Age, gender, income, and the absence of pharmacological pain control were independently associated with quality-of-life scores. Moreover, a positive association was found between coping and quality of life. Conclusion: Cancer patients in palliative care generally report a lower quality of life. However, male patients, those who did not rely on pharmacological pain control, and those with higher coping scores reported a better perception of their quality of life. This perception tended to decrease with age and income level. Patients currently undergoing treatment for the disease were more likely to use coping strategies. Patients with higher education and quality-of-life scores also had better coping scores. However, the use of coping strategies decreased with age.

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease that can cause psychological stress. This study was conducted to perform the translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the QSD-R for diabetic patients into Portuguese (Brazil). Methods: This study was a cross-cultural adaptation process carried out in a public university in São Paulo, Brazil, in three stages: translation and backtranslation by two native-speaking independent professionals, analysis by a committee of specialists, and a pre-test phase. Results: The final version was created by seven experts after making semantic, idiomatic, and cultural changes to eighteen items. The results indicated a satisfactory content validation index (CVI ≥ 0.80). This version was applied to 30 patients. No item was excluded from the instrument. Conclusion: The translated version of the QSD-R was considered adequate and culturally adapted for use in Brazil to enable the psychometric validation of the instrument.

Objective: To investigate the effects of sociodemographic and working condition variables, as well as the coping strategies used by nurses, on their occupational stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 104 nurses who worked in intensive and emergency care at a public hospital in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. Data collection was performed in person and online using a questionnaire assessing sociodemographic and occupational characteristics, the Nursing Stress Inventory, and the Occupational Coping Scale. Results: The participants had a high level of stress (median = 132), especially in the ‘interpersonal relations’ domain (median = 63), and made little use of occupational coping strategies (median = 87). Income (p = 0.027), work shift (p = 0.028), being on leave from work (p = 0.020), number of hospitals with employment ties (p = 0.001), and relationship with management were independently associated with the levels of stress among the nurses. Conclusion: In the present study, the high levels of stress among nurses were influenced by financial and work-related factors as well as interpersonal relationships. No significant association was found between stress among the nurses and the use of occupational coping strategies.

Copyright of GeSec: Revista de Gestao e Secretariado is the property of Sindicato das Secretarias e Secretarios do Estado de Sao Paulo (SINSESP) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Nanoparticles of titanium dioxide (NPs-TiO2) are used in several industries, with common applications due to their surface photocatalytic effect. An alternative use is the TiO2 addition to partially replace white Portland cement (WPC) to maintain the reflectivity surface over time. However, although it is known that the TiO2 addition influences the reaction kinetics of Portland cement, there are still literature controversies about how this material's physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics affect this dynamic. Therefore, this paper aims to monitor the chemical reaction after adding NPs-TiO2 in WPC suspensions and discuss its effect on the hydration process concerning TiO2 characteristics and the addition content. For this purpose, two TiO2 samples with distinct mineralogical characteristics—pure anatase (TiPC105) and a combination of rutile and anatase (TiP25)—were used. The evolution of hydration kinetics was analyzed by calorimetry, while XRD analyzed the suspension's mineralogy over time, and the hydrated compounds were quantified by thermogravimetry. It was found that the physical characteristics of the particles are more important for the suspension's reaction kinetics than their mineralogical characteristics. However, in early hydration, adding finer NPs-TiO2 did not lead to higher heat flow rates due to their tendency to agglomerate, reducing their effective surface area and consequently the area available for the precipitation of new hydrates. After a certain period, however, the trend usually found in literature prevails, with finer particles leading to higher reactivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of GeSec: Revista de Gestao e Secretariado is the property of Sindicato das Secretarias e Secretarios do Estado de Sao Paulo (SINSESP) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Rainfall stable isotopes ratios of water, 2H/1H and 18O/16O, play a crucial role as natural tracers through the various compartments of the hydrological cycle in hydrological studies. Knowing the isotopic signatures of precipitation help us to interpret water entry into continental hydrological systems, such as basins and aquifers. Spatial predictions of δ18O and δ2H in precipitation across South America were performed using multivariate geostatistics supported by remote sensing covariates. This is the first map dedicated to describing countries and biogeographical region’s spatiotemporal isotopic distributions with their Local Meteoric Water Lines (LMWL). R2 from 0.90 to 0.99 were found considering all LMWLs. Historical, May-September, and October-April periods modeling errors are 2.83, 2.41, and 2.67% for δ2H, and 0.33, 0.37, and 0.41% for δ18O, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precision agriculture for coffee production requires spatial knowledge of crop yield. However, difficulties in implementation lie in low-sampled areas. In addition, the asynchronicity of this crop adds complexity to the modeling. It results in a diversity of phenological stages within a field and also continuous production of coffee over time. Big Data retrieved from remote sensing can be tested to improve spatial modeling. This research proposes to apply the Sentinel-2 vegetation index (NDVI) and the Sentinel-1 dual-polarization C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) dataset as auxiliary variables in the multivariate geostatistical modeling of coffee yield characterized by the presence of outliers and assess improvement. A total of 66 coffee yield points were sampled from a 4 ha area in a quasi-regular grid located in southeastern Brazil. Ordinary kriging (OK) and block cokriging (BCOK) were applied. Overall, coupling coffee yield with the NDVI and/or SAR in BCOK interpolation improved the accuracy of spatial interpolation of coffee yield even in the presence of outliers. Incorporating Big Data for improving the modeling for low-sampled fields requires taking into account the difference in supports between different datasets since this difference can increase uncontrolled uncertainty. In this manner, we will consider, for future research, new tests with other covariates. This research has the potential to support precision agriculture applications as site-specific plant nutrient management.

Homogeneous management zones (HMZs) delineation is important for the application of precision agriculture because farm management decisions are based on it. Diverse soil chemical characteristics are important for the HMZs delineation. However, summarizing several variables into homogeneous zoning while taking into account the spatial distribution pattern of soil chemical characteristics is a challenge. Addressing this challenge is important to produce HMZs oriented for practical use for the farmers. In this work, 17 soil chemical variables were jointly analyzed for HMZ delineation by using indicator kriging (IK) to interpolate a soil fertility index (SFI). Soil samples were taken from a 4.5 ha area in a quasi-regular grid at 0 - 0.20 m depths in November 2019 (66 samples) and May 2021 (40 samples). Soil P, K, Ca, Mg, S, Na, H, Mn, Fe, Zn, B, cation exchange capacity, aluminum saturation, total organic carbon, base saturation, and organic matter were analyzed. In May 2021 the coffee yield was sampled together with the soil. Applying the SFI and then interpolating it using IK were effective for summarizing soil chemical variables into binary HMZs, showing a zone with higher priority for fertilization (therefore, lower general soil fertility) and another zone with low priority for fertilization. The summarizing process of several variables into binary HMZ was validated by evaluating the boxplots of each variable in each HMZ. Also, higher soil fertility areas presented a higher average coffee yield. Results indicated that joint use of SFI and IK was adequate to delineate HMZs in terms of summarizing soil fertility and separating coffee yield average variability. Delineating management zones by using the SFI approach is flexible for relatively limited sampled studies (less than one hundred samples) where machine learning and geostatistical methods may fail for lack of data.

Em meio às repercussões dos processos históricos de colonização, os conceitos de colonialidade e modernidade exercem profunda influência nas construções coletivas e individuais. Apesar da transformação destes processos em diferentes manifestações, a colonialidade persiste como uma força latente de dominação capaz de moldar o pensamento coletivo em múltiplas camadas. Consequentemente, a prática musical como componente dessas camadas incorpora seus paradigmas, afetando a escuta, a educação e até mesmo o imaginário sonoro e musical. Este texto busca propor discussões no contexto da música contemporânea, investigando como o fenômeno da colonialidade sublinha as práticas composicionais. Paralelamente, aborda a busca de caminhos decoloniais e, ao mesmo tempo, problematiza a ideia de soluções fechadas e definitivas. Para tal, elucidamos os conceitos de colonização, colonialidade, decolonialidade e modernidade, contextualizando-os no domínio das práticas musicais. Posteriormente, avaliamos possíveis caminhos decoloniais e as contradições que surgem quando adotamos esta postura na criação musical, com exemplos específicos do cenário da música contemporânea e de nossas próprias composições musicais.