Search

One of the policies adopted to reduce vehicular emissions is subway network expansion. This work fitted interrupted regression models to investigate the effects of the inauguration of subway stations on the mean, trend, and seasonality of the NO, NO2, NOx, and PM10 local concentrations. The regions investigated in the city of São Paulo (Brazil) were Pinheiros, Butantã, and St. Amaro. In Pinheiros, after the inauguration of the subway station, there were downward trends for all pollutants. However, these trends were not significantly different from the trends observed before. In Butantã, only regarding NO, there was a significant reduction and seasonal change after the subway station’s inauguration. In St. Amaro, no trend in the PM10 concentration was noted. The absence of other transportation and land use policies in an integrative way to the subway network expansion may be responsible for the low air quality improvement. This study highlights that the expansion of the subway network must be integrated with other policies to improve local air quality.

PURPOSE This study was aimed to determine the magnitude and predictors of self-reported short/long sleep duration (SDUR) reclassifications using objective measurements. METHODS Adult participants from the ELSA-Brasil study performed self-reported SDUR, 7-day wrist actigraphy, and a portable sleep study. We explored two strategies of defining self-reported SDUR reclassification: (1) short and long SDUR defined by 9 h). RESULTS Data from 2036 participants were used in the final analysis (43% males; age: 49±8 years). Self-reported SDUR were poorly correlated (r=0.263) and presented a low agreement with actigraphy-based total sleep time. 58% of participants who self-reported short SDUR were reclassified into the reference (6-7.99 h) or long SDUR groups using actigraphy data. 88% of participants that self-reported long SDUR were reclassified into the reference and short SDUR. The variables independently associated with higher likelihood of self-reported short SDUR reclassification included insomnia (3.5-fold), female (2.5-fold), higher sleep efficiency (1.35-fold), lowest O2 saturation (1.07-fold), higher wake after sleep onset (1.08-fold), and the higher number of awakening (1.05-fold). The presence of hypertension was associated with a 3.4-fold higher chance of self-reported long SDUR reclassification. Analysis of five self-reported SDUR categories revealed that the more extreme is the SDUR, the greater the self-reported SDUR reclassification. CONCLUSION In adults, we observed a significant rate of short/long SDUR reclassifications when comparing self-reported with objective data. These results underscore the need to reappraise subjective data use for future investigations addressing SDUR.

This work proposes a new class of models, namely Conway–Maxwell–Poisson seasonal autoregressive moving average model (CMP-SARMA), which extends the class of Conway–Maxwell–Poisson autoregressive mo...

In this work, we propose a dynamic regression model based on the ConwayŮMaxwell–Poisson (CMP) distribution with time‐varying conditional mean depending on covariates and lagged observations. This new class of ConwayŮMaxwell–Poisson autoregressive moving average (CMP‐ARMA) models is suitable for the analysis of time series of counts. The CMP distribution is a two‐parameter generalization of the Poisson distribution that allows the modeling of underdispersed, equidispersed, and overdispersed data. Our main contribution is to combine this dispersion flexibility with the inclusion of lagged terms to model the conditional mean response, inducing an autocorrelation structure, usually relevant in time series. We present the conditional maximum likelihood estimation, hypothesis testing inference, diagnostic analysis, and forecasting along with their asymptotic properties. In particular, we provide closed‐form expressions for the conditional score vector and conditional Fisher information matrix. We conduct a Monte Carlo experiment to evaluate the performance of the estimators in finite sample sizes. Finally, we illustrate the usefulness of the proposed model by exploring two empirical applications.

Background Atrial fibrillation is a predictor of poor prognosis after stroke. Aims To evaluate atrial fibrillation and all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in a stroke cohort with low socioeconomic status, taking into consideration oral anticoagulant use during 12-year follow-up. Methods All-cause mortality was analyzed by Kaplan–Meier survival curve and Cox regression models to estimate hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). For specific mortality causes, cumulative incidence functions were computed. A logit link function was used to calculate odds ratios (OR) with 95% CIs. Full models were adjusted by age, sex, oral anticoagulant use (as a time-dependent variable) and cardiovascular risk factors. Results Of 1121 ischemic stroke participants, 17.8% had atrial fibrillation. Overall, 654 deaths (58.3%) were observed. Survival rate was lower (median days, interquartile range-IQR) among those with atrial fibrillation (531, IQR: 46–2039) vs. non-atrial fibrillation (1808, IQR: 334–3301), p-log rank Conclusions Among individuals with low socioeconomic status, atrial fibrillation was an independent predictor of poor survival, increasing all-cause and cardiovascular mortality risk. Long-term oral anticoagulant use was associated with a markedly reduced risk of all-cause and stroke mortality.

In this paper, we call attention of two observed features in practical applications of the Generalized Autoregressive Moving Average (GARMA) model due to the structure of its linear predictor. One ...

This work proposes a wavelet based Vector Error Correction Model with time-varying cointegration. The maximum likelihood estimators and likelihood ratio statistics were evaluated based on Monte Carlo and Bootstrap simulations. The model was used to study the Purchasing Power Parity hypothesis.

Objective Every one-hour change in sleep duration (SDUR) has a dose-response impact on cardiovascular disease and mortality. However, self-reported SDUR may not represent the real sleep time in a significant proportion of the adult population. This study was designed to determine the frequency of potential SDUR under/overestimation when comparing subjective versus objective SDUR data. Methods Consecutive adults from the ELSA-Brasil study collected subjective SDUR and underwent wrist actigraphy for seven days. We defined SDUR underestimation (underSDUR) and overestimation (overSDUR) when the differences between subjective and objective SDUR reached at least -1/+1-hour, respectively. We performed multinomial logistic regression analyses to identify independent factors of under- and overSDUR. Results Data from 2,036 participants were used in the final analysis (42.7% males; age: 49±8 years). The frequency of underSDUR and overSDUR were 19.4% and 19.7%, respectively. The predictors of underSDUR included black race (OR: 1.65; 95% CI: 1.79–3.93), mixed-race (OR: 1.69; 95% CI: 1.20–2.38); daytime sleepiness (OR: 1.37; 95% CI: 1.05–1.80); longer objective SDUR (OR: 3.00; 95% CI: 2.54–3.56); longer wake time after sleep onset time, WASO (OR: 2.19; 95% CI: 1.22–3.95), and moderate/severe insomnia (OR: 2.54; 95% CI: 1.78–3.63). Longer WASO (OR: 2.26; 95% CI: 1.33–3.82), and a higher number of awakenings (OR: 1.02; 95% CI: 1.00–1.03) were independently associated with overSDUR. Conclusions We found a significant rate of SDUR under/overestimation when comparing subjective versus objective data. While underSDUR was independently associated with black/mixed race, daytime sleepiness, longer SDUR and WASO, overSDUR was specifically associated with markers of sleep fragmentation.

This study presents two time series models to estimate the mean increase in the monthly mean temperature in Sao Paulo City from 1960 to 2017. The basic model consists of a linear regression model including trend and sine and cosine functions to consider seasonality. As the errors are supposed to be autocorrelated for time series, we can include in the regression model the lagged temperatures or autoregressive errors. The first approach is often used in practice, but the trend parameter estimator is biased to estimate the long-run trend effect. The unbiased trend effect estimator is presented with its variance and confidence interval. The second approach provides directly the unbiased trend estimator. Finally, there is evidence that the temperature trend effect is constant over time and both models lead to a significant increase of $$1.9{\,}^{\circ }$$ C in the last 50 years in Sao Paulo City. The 95% confidence interval is equal to [1.6; 2.2] for the model with autoregressive errors, which is beyond the limits announced in the Paris Agreement of 2015.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Atherosclerotic in carotids can determinate a poor prognosis in individuals after acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Thus, we aimed to evaluate mortality associated to carotid intima media thickness (CIMT) in the participants from the Strategy of Registry of Acute Coronary Syndrome (ERICO) study. METHODS Carotid intima media thickness was evaluated by B-mode ultrasound for mortality risk assessment in 180 days, 1-3 years. We performed Kaplan-Meier survival curves and Cox logistic regression models to evaluate all-cause, cardiovascular (CVD) and coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality by CIMT tertiles in crude, age and sex- and multivariate models. RESULTS Among 644 ACS individuals (median age 61-year old), we observed a median CIMT of 0.74 mm. Besides aging, low education, hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia were associated with the 3rd tertile of CIMT values. During 3 years of follow-up, we observed 65 deaths (10.1%), crude case-fatality rates were progressively higher across the CIMT tertiles in all periods, being the highest rates observed in participants with the highest CIMT (3rd tertile) (180-day: 6.6% vs 1-year: 9.0% vs 2-year:12.3% vs 3-year:16.0%, P

The 10-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV10) was introduced in the Brazilian National Immunization Program in March 2010, scheduled at 2, 4, and 6 months, with a booster at 12–15 months of age. The meningococcal C conjugate vaccine (MCC) was introduced in November 2010, scheduled at 3 and 5 months, with a booster dose at 12–15 months of age and no catch-up for older age groups. In this interrupted time-series analysis study, we used Brazilian mortality data from 2005 to 2015 for children under five years of age (excluding data from the state of Bahia) to assess the combined impact of these vaccines on the overall burden of meningitis mortality among children aged 0–23 months and 2–4 years, as defined using meningitis and meningococcemia specific International Classification of Diseases - tenth revision codes. Secular trends and seasonality were taken into account. We found significant reductions for both age groups relative to those observed for the comparison group of diseases, with immediate effects after the transition period (2010-2011) of 29.2% and 27.5% for children aged 0–23 months and 2–4 years, respectively. These immediate effects were sustained throughout the post-vaccination period (2012–2015). In total, 337 deaths were averted by the combined effect of both vaccines, 238 (95%CI 169-319) for children aged 0–23 months and 99 (95%CI 56–144) for those aged 2–4 years. These results add strong evidence in support of investments in these vaccines by low and middle-income countries.

The identification of seasonality and trend patterns of the weekly number of hospitalizations may be useful to plan the structure of health care and the vaccination calendar. A generalized additive model with the negative binomial distribution and a generalized additive model with autoregressive terms (GAMAR) and Poisson distribution are fitted including seasonal parameters and nonlinear trend using splines. The GAMAR includes autoregressive terms to take into account the serial correlation, yielding correct standard errors and reducing overdispersion. For the number of hospitalizations of people older than 60 years due to respiratory diseases in Sao Paulo city, both models present similar estimates but the Poisson-GAMAR presents uncorrelated residuals, no overdispersion and provides smaller confidence intervals for the weekly percentage changes. Forecasts for the next year based on both models are obtained by simulation and the Poisson-GAMAR presented better performance.

Cumulative sum control charts have been used for health surveillance due to its efficiency to detect soon small shifts in the monitored series. However, these charts may fail when data are autocorrelated. An alternative procedure is to build a control chart based on the residuals after fitting autoregressive moving average models, but these models usually assume Gaussian distribution for the residuals. In practical health surveillance, count series can be modeled by Poisson or Negative Binomial regression, this last to control overdispersion. To include serial correlations, generalized autoregressive moving average models are proposed. The main contribution of the current article is to measure the impact, in terms of average run length on the performance of cumulative sum charts when the serial correlation is neglected in the regression model. Different statistics based on transformations, the deviance residual, and the likelihood ratio are used to build cumulative sum control charts to monitor counts with time varying means, including trend and seasonal effects. The monitoring of the weekly number of hospital admissions due to respiratory diseases for people aged over 65 years in the city São Paulo-Brazil is considered as an illustration of the current method.

Background There are few data about the association between work‐related stress and the American Heart Association ideal cardiovascular health ( CVH ) metrics. We studied the association between work‐family conflict ( WFC ) and ideal CVH scores in the ELSA ‐Brasil (Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health) baseline study. Methods and Results We analyzed data of active workers (5424 men and 5967 women), aged 35 to 74 years, from 2008 to 2010. Ideal CVH scores were calculated based on the lifestyle and health metrics proposed by the American Heart Association, using data from questionnaires and clinical and laboratory examinations from the ELSA ‐Brasil study baseline. The WFC questionnaire was based on the Frone model, validated for Brazilian Portuguese. WFC domains (time and strain‐based work interference with family, family interference with work, and lack of time for personal care and leisure) and frequency (never to rarely, sometimes, or frequently) were self‐reported. Main models were adjusted for age, sex, race, educational level, income, and study site. Positive relative predicted score differences ( rPSDs ) indicate higher predicted scores. We found lower lifestyle ideal CVH scores among men ( rPSD , −5.7%; P =0.002) and women ( rPSD, −10.2%; P CVH scores among women with frequent strain‐based work interference with family ( rPSD, −5.1%; P =0.002), and family interference with work ( rPSD , −8.6%; P =0.001). We found higher health ideal CVH scores among men with frequent WFC , which may be attributable to reverse causation. Conclusions We found significant associations between WFC and ideal CVH scores. These associations were heterogeneous according to sex.

One of the main problems of the decellularization technique is the subjectivity of the final evaluation of its efficacy in individual organs. This problem can result in restricted cell repopulation reproducibility and worse responses to transplant tissues. Our proposal is to analyze the optical profiles produced by hearts during perfusion decellularization, as an additional method for evaluating the decellularization process of each individual organ. An apparatus comprised of a structured LED source and photo detector on an adjustable base was developed to capture the relationship between transmitted light during the perfusion of murine hearts, and residual DNA content. Voltage-time graphic records were used to identify a nonlinear mathematical model to discriminate between decellularizations with remaining DNA above (Incomplete Decellularization) and below (Complete Decellularization) the standardized limits. The results indicate that temporal optical evaluation of the process enables inefficient cell removal to be predicted in the initial stages, regardless of the apparent transparency of the organ. Our open system also creates new possibilities to add distinct photo detectors, such as for specific wavelengths, image acquisition, and physical-chemical evaluation of the scaffold, in order to collect different kinds of information, from dozens of studies. These data, when compiled and submitted to machine learning techniques, have the potential to initiate an exponential advance in tissue bioengineering research.

Dengue fever is a disease with increasing incidence, now occurring in some regions which were not previously affected. Ribeirão Preto and São Paulo, municipalities in São Paulo state, Brazil, have been highlighted due to the high dengue incidences especially after 2009 and 2013. Therefore, the current study aims to analyse the temporal behaviour of dengue cases in the both municipalities and forecast the number of disease cases in the out-of-sample period, using time series models, especially SARIMA model. We fitted SARIMA models, which satisfactorily meet the dengue incidence data collected in the municipalities of Ribeirão Preto and São Paulo. However, the out-of-sample forecast confidence intervals are very wide and this fact is usually omitted in several papers. Despite the high variability, health services can use these models in order to anticipate disease scenarios, however, one should interpret with prudence since the magnitude of the epidemic may be underestimated.

Background The influence of poststroke depression on long-term survival is poorly investigated. Thus, we aimed to evaluate the influence of major depression disorder (MDD) on long-term survival in the participants from The Study of Stroke Mortality and Morbidity in Adults (EMMA Study) in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Methods We prospectively evaluated ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke (HS) cases from the EMMA Study. Baseline and stroke characteristics and cardiovascular risk factors were evaluated according to MDD assessed by the Patient Health Questionnaire, which was applied 30 days after index event and periodically during 1-year follow-up. We performed Kaplan–Meier survival analysis, as well as crude and multiple Cox proportional hazards models. Results In this subset of the EMMA Study, we evaluated 164 (85.9%) patients with ischemic stroke and 27 (14.1%) with HS. Among these, overall incidence of MDD was 25.1% during 1 year of follow-up, regardless stroke subtype. The peak rate of major depression postacute event was beyond 1 month. We observed a lower survival rate among individuals who developed poststroke MDD than among those who did not develop this condition after 1 year of follow-up (85.4% versus 96.5%, log rank P = .006). After multiple analysis, we kept a higher risk of all-cause mortality among those who developed MDD compared to participants without MDD (hazard ratio = 4.60, 95% confidence interval = 1.36-15.55, P = .01). Conclusion Our findings suggest that incident MDD is a potential marker of poor prognosis 1 year after stroke.

OBJECTIVES: Vaginal atrophy and breast cancer are common conditions in postmenopausal women and tamoxifen is the standard endocrine treatment for hormone-sensitive tumors. The present study aimed to assess the effect of tamoxifen on Ki-67 protein expression in the vaginal epithelium of castrated rats. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Forty Wistar-Hannover adult, virgin, castrated rats were randomly divided into two groups, group I (control, n=20) and group II (tamoxifen, n=20), receiving 0.5 ml of propylene glycol and 250 µg of tamoxifen diluted in 0.5 ml of propylene glycol, respectively, daily by gavage for 30 days. On the 31st day, the rats were euthanized and their vaginas were removed and fixed in 10% buffered formalin for the immunohistochemical study of Ki-67 protein expression. Data were analyzed by the Levene and Student’s t tests (p

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of raloxifene and tamoxifen on Ki-67 antigen expression in the vaginal epithelium of castrated rats.Thirty-nine virgin, adult, castrated female Wistar-Hannover rats were randomly divided into three groups: Group I (control, n = 13), Group II (raloxifene, n = 13) and Group III (tamoxifen, n = 13). After confirmation of their hypoestrogenic state, the rats were given 0.5 ml of propylene glycol (vehicle), 750 μg of raloxifene or 250 μg of tamoxifen, respectively, by gavage, for 30 days. On the 31st day, the rats were euthanized and their vaginas removed and fixed in 10% buffered formalin for of Ki-67 immunohistochemical evaluation. Data were analyzed using Levene's test and Tukey's method (p 0.05).Mean Ki-67 expression in groups I, II and III was 27 ± 2.6, 32.3 ± 1.9 and 43.7 ± 3.5, respectively. In Group III (tamoxifen), there was a greater proportion of stained cells compared to Groups I and II (p 0.0003), with no statistically significant difference between Groups I and II (p = 0.3626).The present results show that tamoxifen significantly increased cell proliferation in the vaginal epithelium of the castrated rats and no difference between the raloxifene and control groups.

The Nelson&ndash, Siegel framework published by Diebold and Li created an important benchmark and originated several works in the literature of forecasting the term structure of interest rates. However, these frameworks were built on the top of a parametric curve model that may lead to poor fitting for sensible term structure shapes affecting forecast results. We propose DCOBS with no-arbitrage restrictions, a dynamic constrained smoothing B-splines yield curve model. Even though DCOBS may provide more volatile forward curves than parametric models, they are still more accurate than those from Nelson&ndash, Siegel frameworks. DCOBS has been evaluated for ten years of US Daily Treasury Yield Curve Rates, and it is consistent with stylized facts of yield curves. DCOBS has great predictability power, especially in short and middle-term forecast, and has shown greater stability and lower root mean square errors than an Arbitrage-Free Nelson&ndash, Siegel model.

Made available in DSpace on 2018-11-26T15:47:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2018-03-01 Breast cancer is a disease of unknown etiology, whose major risk factors are genetic alterations. Polymorphism of the calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) has been a focus of some recent studies, due to a probable association with breast cancer risk and tumor aggressiveness. A relationship between polymorphic rs17251221 variant of the CaSR gene, and allele G (considered a gain-of-function mutation) and breast cancer risk has been stressed, despite the paucity of studies found in the literature. The present study involved 137 women (69 women with breast cancer-case; and 68 controls without breast cancer) who had 3 ml of peripheral blood drawn for DNA study. Genomic DNA was extracted from leukocytes by genotyping technique with real-time polymerase chain reaction. The AG genotype (rs17251221) was present in 13 women (18.84%) from the case group and in 8 (11.76%) women from the control group (p = 0.3434), while the GG genotype (rs17251221) did not occur in any group. In contrast, no statistically significant difference was observed between the AG genotype of variant rs17251221 in premenopausal case and control women (p = 0.71). There was also no statistically significant difference between postmenopausal case and control patients (p = 0.6851). In the current study, CaSR gene polymorphism of SNP variant rs17251221 did not show any statistically significant association with breast cancer, in both premenopausal and postmenopausal women. Univ Fed Piaui, Postgaduate Program Hlth & Sci, BR-64049550 Teresina, Brazil Univ Fed Piaui, Postgrad Program Northeast Network Biotechnol REN, BR-64049550 Teresina, Brazil Univ Fed Piaui, Natan Portella Hosp, Dept Mol Biol, BR-64001450 Teresina, Brazil State Univ Sao Paulo, Dept Stat, BR-03178200 Sao Paulo, Brazil Univ Fed Sao Paulo, Dept Mastol, BR-04023900 Sao Paulo, Brazil State Univ Sao Paulo, Dept Stat, BR-03178200 Sao Paulo, Brazil

To detect outbreaks of diseases in public health, several control charts have been proposed in the literature. In this context, the usual generalized linear model may be fitted for counts under a Negative Binomial distribution with a logarithm link function and the population size included as offset to model hospitalization rates. Different statistics are used to build CUSUM control charts to monitor daily hospitalizations and their performances are compared in simulation studies. The main contribution of the current paper is to consider different statistics based on transformations and the deviance residual to build control charts to monitor counts with seasonality effects and evaluate all the assumptions of the monitored statistics. The monitoring of daily number of hospital admissions due to respiratory diseases for people aged over 65 years in the city São Paulo-Brazil is considered as an illustration of the current proposal.

Background: Stroke prognosis is related to the multimorbidity profile. Moreover, performing an individual evaluation of most common cerebrovascular risk factors (CVRF) not always identifies patients with poor prognosis. Thus, we decided to evaluate multimorbidity profile, focusing on the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) validated by Goldstein for ischaemic stroke (IS) patients, a score that measures a burden of comorbidities and its related mortality in the long-term survival of the EMMA Study (Study of Stroke Mortality and Morbidity). Methods: Nine hundred fifty-nine individuals (median age 70 years) had validated data on the diagnosis of IS, main CVRF and clinical comorbidities pre index event such as atrial fibrillation (AF), stroke recurrence, diabetes, hypertension, heart failure and cancer. CCI modified by Goldstein was calculated, which includes 17 clinical conditions with scores ranging from 1 to 6 (0-31 points). Survival analyses were performed by Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox logistic regression models (cumulative hazard ratio [HR] with [95% CI]) for all-cause mortality at 180 days, and every 3 years up to 9-year follow-up. Mortality analyzes were performed by CCI categorized according to weight added to comorbidities (Reference group: zero, moderate: 1, severe: 2 and very severe: ≥3 points). We also tested the modification effect of AF and stroke recurrence including these conditions in the CCI. Results: The overall survival rate was 47% (508 deaths/959). The worst survival (577, 95% CI 381-773 days) and the highest risk of death after stroke were observed in the very severe CCI group (HR 3.18; 95% CI 2.16-4.69) up to 9 years. The inclusion of previous AF and stroke in the CCI slightly increased the risk of death for very severe CCI (HR 3.27; 95% CI 2.07-5.18). Conclusions: A high burden of comorbidities represented an independent predictor of poor prognosis increasing the risk of dying by 2 to 3 times among IS up to 9 years in the EMMA study. The inclusion of other CVRF such as AF and stroke recurrence slightly modified all-cause mortality risk.

To evaluate Ki-67 antigen expression in mammary epithelium of female rats in persistent estrus treated with anastrozole.Twenty-eight Wistar-Hanover female rats in persistent estrus induced by subcutaneous injection of 1.25 mg of testosterone propionate in the second day of life were randomly divided into two groups, control and experimental, with 14 animals each. The animals of control group received only the vehicle (propyleneglycol) and the animals of group experimental received 0.125 mg daily of anastrozole by gavage during 28 days. After 28 days of treatment, all animals were sacrificed and the first pair of abdominal-inguinal mammary glands was removed and fixed in 10% buffered formalin to investigate Ki-67 antigen expression by immunohistochemistry.The mean percentage of Ki-67-stained nuclei per 500 cells in the mammary epithelium was 76.97 ± 0.76 and 14.44 ± 2.02 [mean ± standard error of the mean (SEM)] in the control and experimental groups, respectively (p 0.0001).Anastrozole treatment significantly reduced Ki-67 expression in the mammary epithelium of rats in persistent estrus.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of intralesional tamoxifen on keloids, particularly on the concentration of fibroblasts, dermal inflammatory infiltrate, and collagen degeneration. A prospective study was carried out to evaluate keloids in 13 patients of both genders pre- and post-treatment with intralesional tamoxifen. Two samples of keloid lesions were obtained by 4-mm punch biopsies during the study: the first at the time of diagnostic confirmation of keloid and the other eight weeks later at the end of intralesional tamoxifen treatment. The biopsy samples were placed in 10% buffered formalin for HE staining and morphological and morphometric study. The degree of collagen fiber reduction and inflammatory infiltration were analyzed. Student’s t-test was used for statistical analysis of the mean number of fibroblasts before and following tamoxifen treatment ( P Impact statement Effective treatment of keloid that is a commonly recurrent dermatosis is very difficult, even after standard treatment. Standard treatment consists of partial resection of the lesion (shaving excision), in addition to local corticosteroid injection. Therefore, there is interest in alternative forms of topical treatment, e.g., selective estrogen receptor modulators, particularly tamoxifen has demonstrated in vitro studies to be a promising drug. Nevertheless, there is scarcity of publications on the effects of intralesional tamoxifen on keloids have been found, leading us to the conception of the present study. In this study, tamoxifen has proven to be an interesting alternative drug for the topical treatment of keloid, allowing us to conclude that the intralesional application of tamoxifen in keloids promotes a variable but ever-present inflammatory stimulus, associated with intense reduction of collagen fiber, in addition to a significant decrease in the number of fibroblasts that produce collagen and are involved in disease maintenance.

We aimed to study the association between the American Heart Association cardiovascular health (CVH) score and job strain in the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health baseline. We analyzed data from 11,351 active workers (aged 35 to 74 years) without overt cardiovascular disease and who had complete data. Job strain was assessed using the 17-item Brazilian version of the Swedish Job Demand-Control-Support Questionnaire. Clinical (fasting plasma glucose, total cholesterol, and blood pressure) and lifestyle (diet, physical activity, smoking, and body mass index) components of CVH score were assessed according to the American Heart Association criteria. We used quasi-Poisson and multinomial regression models, adjusted for age, gender, race, educational level and income, and positive relative predicted score differences (rPSDs) indicate greater predicted scores. Subjects with low skill discretion scores had lower global (rPSD: -1.8%; p = 0.021) and lifestyle (rPSD: -3.6%; p = 0.018) CVH scores. Participants with low decision authority (rPSD: -2.4%; p = 0.029) and low social support scores (rPSD: -3.3%; p = 0.001) also had lower lifestyle CVH scores. In conclusion, we found significant associations between job strain and CVH scores in this large multicenter sample.

The replacement of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SNB) by ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (US-guided FNA) cytology of axillary lymph nodes is controversial, despite the simplicity and reduced cost of the latter. In the present study, US-guided FNA was performed in 27 patients with early-stage breast cancer for comparison with SNB. Data were analyzed by calculation of sample proportions. Tumor subtypes included invasive ductal carcinoma (85%), invasive lobular carcinoma (7%), and tubular and metaplastic carcinoma (4%). FNA had a sensitivity of 45%, specificity of 100%, positive predictive value of 100% and a negative predictive value of 73%. Axillary lymph node cytology obtained by US guided-FNA in patients with breast cancer had a specificity similar to that of sentinel lymph node histopathology in the presence of axillary node metastases. However, when lymph node cytology is negative, it does not exclude the existence of metastatic implants, due to its low sensitivity in comparison to sentinel lymph node histopathology.

Associations of pollution with expected rates of morbidity and mortality are discussed extensively in the literature, but associations between pollution and quantiles of these rates may change substantially. In this study, we compare the association of pollution and climate variables controlling for seasonality with the expectation and quantile of the hospitalization rate. The generalized linear model with the binomial negative distribution and the quantile regression are fitted to the daily number of hospitalizations of resident people older than 65 years in Sao Paulo City from 2006 to 2011. The daily average nitrogen oxide concentration presented the most significant association with the expected hospitalization rate and with the 90th percentile of this rate but no significant association with the median rate, controlling for seasonality and climate variables. The minimum temperature and relative humidity presented significant association with the expected hospitalization rate but no significant association with the 90th percentile. The effects may be very distinct for the average rate or high quantiles, which may affect planning the number of hospital beds mainly during the winter. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Background: Our objective was to determine the cerebrovascular prevalence in a town in the Brazilian Amazon basin and compare the ribeirinhos (riparians) to the urban population in the same municipality. Methods: From May to October 2011, 6,216 residents over 35 years of age in the town of Coari were interviewed using a screening questionnaire, the Stroke Symptom Questionnaire. Cerebrovascular prevalence rates (PRs) from the door-to-door surveillance were calculated according to the location of the home. Results: Respondent totals were 4,897 in the urban area and 1,028 in the rural area. The crude prevalence of stroke was 6.3% in rural and 3.7% in urban areas with differences maintained after sex and age adjustment. Among stroke cases, the ribeirinhos were those with less access to medical care in comparison to the urban area (32.1 vs. 52.5%, p = 0.01), and a positive association between rural area and no medical care for stroke remained (PR, 1.33; 95% confidence interval, 1.03-1.71), independently of age, sex, education and functional impairment. Conclusions: This study provides the first population-based cerebrovascular prevalence comparison between an urban and a rural population in the Amazon rain forest. The PRs were higher in the ribeirinha compared to the urban population in the same municipality.

Background Reductions in heart disease mortality rates are variable according to socioeconomic status. Methods We performed a time trend analysis of all heart diseases (all circulatory diseases, except rheumatic, cerebrovascular, and aortic diseases) comparing three different household income levels (high, middle, and low) in the city of Sao Paulo from 1996 to 2010. Results A total of 197,770 deaths were attributed to heart diseases; 62% of them were due to coronary diseases. The rate of death due to heart diseases declined for the city as a whole. The annual percent change (APC) and 95% confidence intervals for men living in the high, middle and low income areas were − 4.1 (− 4.5 to − 3.8), − 3.0 (− 3.5 to − 2.6), and − 2.5 (− 2.8 to − 2.1), respectively. The decline in death rate was greatest among men in the wealthiest area. The trend rates of women living in the high-income area had one joinpoint; APC was − 4.4 (− 4.8 to − 3.9) from 1996–2005 and − 2.6 (− 3.8 to − 1.4) from 2005–2010. Middle and low income areas had an APC of − 3.6 (− 4.1 to − 3.1) and − 3.0 (− 3.2 to − 2.7) from 1996–2010, respectively. During the last 5 years of observation, there was a gradient of the decline of the risk of death, faster for people living in the wealthiest area and slower for people living in the more deprived neighborhoods. Conclusion Reduction in deaths due to heart diseases is greatest for men and women living in the wealthiest neighborhoods.

Pneumonia is most problematic for children in developing countries. In 2010, Brazil introduced a 10-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV10) to its National Immunization Program. To assess the vaccine’s effectiveness for preventing pneumonia, we analyzed rates of hospitalization among children 2–24 months of age who had pneumonia from all causes from January 2005 through August 2011. We used data from the National Hospitalization Information System to conduct an interrupted time-series analysis for 5 cities in Brazil that had good data quality and high PCV10 vaccination coverage. Of the 197,975 hospitalizations analyzed, 30% were for pneumonia. Significant declines in hospitalizations for pneumonia were noted in Belo Horizonte (28.7%), Curitiba (23.3%), and Recife (27.4%) but not in São Paulo and Porto Alegre. However, in the latter 2 cities, vaccination coverage was less than that in the former 3. Overall, 1 year after introduction of PCV10, hospitalizations of children for pneumonia were reduced.