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The main objective of this study was to measure the knowledge of undergraduate nursing students about Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and drugs. The study was carried out in 2007 with a random sample of 289 undergraduate students at a State University in the Northwest of Paraná, Brazil. The students self-applied a questionnaire validated by experts. Questions were divided into three levels of complexity: low, average and high. The level of correct answers was higher in the questions of low complexity, diminishing as the questions' complexity increased. Thirteen percent of questions concerning risk factors and vulnerability to HIV infection among injection drug users (IDU) and biological material for diagnosis of AIDS was correctly answered by 90% of students. Students possessed knowledge concerning AIDS and drugs, however such knowledge was considered insufficient, showing lack of information and gaps in education with a dissociation of interdisciplinary and inter-curricular content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and Objectives: This paper aims to: (a) determine the personal, sociodemographic, clinical, behavioural, and social characteristics of older Brazilians with clinical evidence of long COVID; (b) evaluate perceived quality of life and determine its association with personal, sociodemographic, behavioural, clinical and social variables; and (c) assess significant predictors of high perceived QoL., Background: Given the inherent vulnerabilities of the ageing process, the older people are an at-risk group for both contagion of SARS-CoV-2 and the perpetuation of residual symptoms after infection, the so-called long COVID or post-COVID syndrome., Design: A cross-sectional survey design using the STROBE checklist., Methods: Brazilian older people with long COVID syndrome (n = 403) completed a phone survey measuring personal, sociodemographic, behavioural, clinical, and social characteristics, and perceived Quality of Life (QoL). Data were collected from June 2021-March 2022. A multiple linear regression model was performed to identify salient variables associated with high perceived QoL., Results: The mean age of participants was 67.7 ± 6.6 years old. The results of the multivariate regression model showed that race, home ownership, daily screen time, musculoskeletal and anxiety symptoms, and work situation were the significant predictors of QoL among COVID-19 survivors., Conclusions: Knowledge about the persistence of physical, emotional, and social symptoms of COVID-19 can help nurses and other healthcare providers to improve the management of survivors, bringing benefits to the whole society., Relevance to Clinical Practice: Given the novelty of long-COVID and its heterogeneous trajectory, interventions focusing on the repercussions and requirements unique to more vulnerable older persons should be developed and these aspects should be included in public health recommendations and policymakers' concerns., Patient or Public Contribution: No patient or public contribution was required to design, to outcome measures or undertake this research. Patients/members of the public contributed only to the data collection., (© 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Objective: to evaluate the factors associated with risk related to the use of psychoactive substances in male inmates of a prison in a city in the South of Brazil., Method: a cross-sectional data from 220 men deprived of liberty, inmates of a provisional custody institution in the State of Paraná, collected with a screening instrument and questionnaire. Binary logistic regression and odds ratio analysis were used to verify associations between risk related to substance use and socio-demographic characteristics of living conditions before incarceration and current incarceration., Results: the adjusted model revealed association of consumption with skin color brown/black and yellow, those who had only one parent responsible until age 15, age at first arrest 18 or older, professing religion, working before arrest, owning their own house, living alone, receiving visitors in prison., Conclusion: the identified factors are useful to insert effective treatment proposals and reduce the gaps and social vulnerability existing in prison.

Introduction: Since 2020, the world has been going through a viral pandemic with a high morbidity and mortality rate along with the potential to evolve from an acute infection to post-acute and long-COVID, which is still in the process of elucidation. Diagnostic and prognostic research is essential to understand the complexity of factors and contexts involving the illness's process. This protocol introduces a study strategy to analyse predictors, sequelae, and repercussions of COVID-19 in adults and older adults with different disease severities in the State of Paraná, Brazil., Methods and Analysis: A mixed-methods sequential explanatory design. The quantitative data will be conducted by an ambispective cohort study, which will explore the manifestations of COVID-19 for 18 months, with nearly 3000 participants with confirmed diagnoses of COVID-19 (reverse transcription-PCR test) between March and December of 2020, retrieved from national disease reporting databases, over 18 years old, living in a Brazilian State (Paraná) and who survived the viral infection after being discharged from a health service. Data collection will be conducted through telephone interviews, at two different occasions: the first will be a recall 12 months after the acute phase as a retrospective follow-up, and the second will be another prospective interview, with data of the following 6 months. For the qualitative step, Grounded Theory will be used; participants will be selected from the cohort population. The first sample group will be composed of people who were discharged from the intensive care unit, and other sample groups will be composed according to theoretical saturation. The qualitative data will follow the temporal design and classification of the disease provided for in the cohort., Ethics and Dissemination: Ethics approval was granted by the State University of Maringá, under opinion number: 4 165 272 and CAAE: 34787020.0.0000.0104 on 21 July 2020, and Hospital do Trabalhador (Worker's Hospital), which is accountable for the Health Department of the State of Paraná, under opinion number: 4 214 589 and CAAE: 34787020.0.3001.5225 on 15 August 2020. The participants will verbally consent to the research, their consent will be recorded, and the informed consent form will be sent by mail or email. Outcomes will be widely disseminated through peer-reviewed manuscripts, conference presentations, media and reports to related authorities., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Objective: To analyze the prevalence and factors associated with non-communicable chronic diseases in deaf people., Methods: Cross-sectional study with 110 deaf people in Maringá-Paraná, selected using the snowball sampling technique. Data were collected from February to August 2019, using a structured instrument; and, in the analysis, multiple logistic regression was used., Results: The self-reported prevalence of chronic diseases was 43.6%, the most frequent being: arterial hypertension (12.7%), depression (6.4%), diabetes mellitus (5.4%), respiratory disease (5.4%) and hypothyroidism (4.5%). Using health services for routine consultations was significantly associated with being bimodal bilingual. The only risk behavior significantly associated with chronic disease was excessive consumption of sweet foods., Conclusion: The prevalence of chronic diseases in this population may be higher than that found, as there is a possibility of underdiagnosis due to the low demand for routine consultations and the difficulty of communication with health professionals.

Objective: To analyze the spatial correlation between confirmed cases of covid-19 and the intensive care unit beds exclusive to the disease in municipalities of Paraná., Methods: This is an epidemiological study of ecological type which used data from the Epidemiological Report provided by the Department of Health of Paraná on the confirmed cases of covid-19 from March 12, 2020, to January 18, 2021. The number of intensive care beds exclusive to covid-19 in each municipality of Paraná was obtained by the Cadastro Nacional de Estabelecimentos de Saúde (CNES - National Registry of Health Establishments), provided online by the Departamento de Informática do Sistema Único de Saúde (Datasus - Informatics Department of the Brazilian Unified Health System). The Bivariate Moran's Index (local and global) was used to analyze the intensive care bed variable and spatial correlation, with a 5% significance level. LISA Map was used to identify critical and transition areas., Results: In the analyzed period, we found 499,777 confirmed cases of covid-19 and 1,029 intensive care beds exclusive to the disease in Paraná. We identified a positive spatial autocorrelation between the confirmed cases of covid-19 (0.404-p ≤ 0.001) and intensive care beds exclusive to the disease (0.085-p ≤ 0.001) and disparities between the regions of Paraná., Conclusion: Spatial analysis indicated that confirmed cases of covid-19 are related to the distribution of intensive care beds exclusive to the disease in Paraná, allowing us to find priority areas of care in the state regarding the dissemination and control of the disease.

This is a cross-sectional study with data and biological material collection from vineyard farmers in southern Brazil. An interview was carried out through a questionnaire developed according to the reference guide of the state government. Plasma and urine samples were screened for Aluminum, Chromium, Manganese, Copper, Nickel, Cobalt, Zinc, Arsenic, Selenium, Cadmium, Antimony, Barium, Mercury, Lead and Uranium, with a technique for fast determination of these elemental contents in biological material utilizing dynamic reaction cell inductively coupled mass spectrometry. Principal component analysis was used to identify associations between these elemental contents in biological samples and the information obtained from the interviews. The farmers showed some trace elements in plasma and urine at a higher concentration than unexposed populations from other studies. This study highlights recent findings of trace elements in biological material and their association with characteristics of pesticide use. In addition, it also contributes to the gap in the literature regarding trace elements content in plasma and urine of workers exposed to pesticides., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Objective: To analyze the knowledge and practices of education of Family Health Strategy professionals regarding child intoxication for the autonomy and empowering of the families., Methods: Qualitative research, carried out through semistructured interviews with 50 professionals from the Family Health Strategy of a city in the Northwest of Paraná. Data was problematized using Paulo Freire's sociocultural approach and its concepts of dialogism and autonomy., Results: The statements showed the many ways in which the care for child intoxication is perceived and their relations with educational action, but these were traditional educational practices, with elements focused on the dissemination of information about health-disease, probably because the dialogic approach is still abstract and has no interface with the concrete practices., Final Considerations: The education knowledge and practices of the professionals for the autonomy and empowering of families suggested that there is a transition stage between the biomedical model, focused on a cure, and the dialogical one.

Since the beginning of the current coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19), there has been great concern over a disease that has spread rapidly in several countries worldwide, with the result of several deaths, including deaths of pregnant women. Therefore, the aim of this study was to conduct a literature review on placental changes in infected pregnant women and/or asymptomatic carriers of COVID-19 during pregnancy, aiming at the possible vertical transmission. A systematic collection was carried out on the effects of that COVID-19 can cause directly and/or indirectly to pregnancy and the placenta in the following databases: Pubmed, Science Direct, Scielo, Lilacs, and Web of Science. For search, the following descriptors were used: placenta, pregnant woman, COVID-19, maternal-fetal. The results indicate transplacental transmission in some cases reviewed in many reports from this study. The presence of the virus was seen in the amniotic fluid, umbilical cord, and peripheral blood. Finally, pathological studies suggest that there are morphological changes related to infection in the placentas. We can conclude that, based on the researched material, there is little evidence of transplacental vertical viral transmission and its respective morphological changes related to viral infection in the placenta., (© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Society for the Study of Reproduction. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Objective: to evaluate the impact of an educational intervention, on nurses' self-perception, about knowledge and skills for initial care for burn victims., Methods: a quasi-experimental study of the type before and after, with 18 nurses who assist burn victims. The intervention was carried out for 11 days in face-to-face meetings and online activities, and comprised active case-based learning strategies, simulation training, concept maps and digital portfolio. A structured instrument was used to collect sociodemographic data, and another one related to the knowledge and essential skills to the initial care for burn victims., Results: The average scores found before the intervention ranged from 2.78 to 3.33 and, after the intervention, they ranged from 3.89 to 4.72. Relevant statistical differences (p <0.005) were found in all questions addressed., Conclusion: this educational intervention, based on innovative teaching methods, showed a positive impact on nurses' knowledge and skills on initial care for people with burns.

Objectives: to understand the experiences of family members of drivers who violate the law against drinking and driving and the post-penal repercussions., Methods: a qualitative study, with family members of drivers who violated the law against drinking and driving who participated in the Projeto Justiça e Sobriedade no Trânsito de Maringá - PR (Traffic Justice and Sobriety Project in Maringá - PR). Data collection was carried through semi-structured interviews, analyzed through thematic analysis., Results: it was observed in the family members' reports: the suffering of families due to the consumption of alcohol and other drugs; the violation of the law against drinking and driving meaning turning point, with positive and negative changes in the family context; and the meanings of the Traffic Justice and Sobriety Project., Final Considerations: the law against drinking and driving penalties triggered unemployment and financial expenses, but the positive aspects were quitting alcohol use and/or not drinking and driving anymore. The Traffic Justice and Sobriety Project was informed as solidarity and a trigger for changing the offenders' behavior.

Objectives: to analyze characteristics of homeless people and factors associated with living on the streets., Methods: a census-type sectional survey carried out between 2015 and 2018, in the municipality of Maringá-Paraná. A total of 701 homeless answered a structured questionnaire with sociodemographic data, living conditions, and drug use. We used Pearson's correlation test for the association analysis of the variables at a 95% confidence level., Results: men (90.7%) the average age of 37.7 years had been homeless for an average of 5.39 years. Most had little education (54.2%), and homelessness was due to drug use (47.2%) and family disagreements (38.9%)., Conclusions: drug use and family disagreements were the main reasons for homelessness. Time on the street, gender, and drugs were associated with a negative correlation to be homeless; and age, mean daily income, the number of daily meals, having been in prison, and having an income source were associated with positive correlation.

Objective: to assess risk related to drug use in men admitted to a psychiatric hospital and to identify associations with sociodemographic, socioeconomic variables, and risk conditions., Method: a cross-sectional study with the application of a screening test in 209 participants hospitalized for mental and behavioral disorders due to the use of psychoactive substances. Statistical analysis was performed using descriptive statistics and adjustment of a binary logistic regression model for moderate or high risk of drug use. The odds ratio measured the strength of association., Results: high use in life was observed, with alcohol and tobacco experimentation in adolescence. A high prevalence of related risk was observed for alcohol, tobacco, smoked and inhaled cocaine, and marijuana. Moderate and elevated risks were found for tobacco (22.5% and 62.5%, respectively), alcohol (13.5% and 73%), marijuana (16% and 32.5%), smoked cocaine (3% and 41%) and inhaled cocaine (9% and 19.5%)., Conclusion: the results showed high use in life, with an age of early experimentation. Tobacco and alcohol are the main drugs used by hospitalized men.

Objective: To describe the contents and structure of the social representation of cancer., Method: A qualitative study based on the Theory of Social Representations, carried out in a High Complexity Care Unit in Oncology. Data collection included a socio-occupational and clinical characterization questionnaire and free evocations form from 100 cancer patients in chemotherapy treatment and in-depth interviews with 29 of them. The analysis was performed using EVOC software., Results: One hundred (100) patients participated in the study. The social representation of cancer has the words normal, difficult disease, death and fear in its central nucleus. The apparent ambivalence between the continuity of life and its finitude as structuring meanings of this representation enables establishing an inferential hypothesis that relates normal disease to the possibility of treatment, control and cure of cancer, while the fear of death remains in the representational field linked to the disease, which has a difficult treatment to cope with., Conclusion: The social representations of cancer based on the presented interrelationships provide reflections which may contribute to increasing the individual and social care of patients with malignant neoplasm and their family in health services.

Objective: todescribe the application of educational intervention performed with working men and identify, according to their perceptions, the main results obtained., Methods: a descriptive and exploratory research, of qualitative nature, developed in a municipality of Southern Brazil, with 35 metallurgists. Data were collected between March and June 2014, through the recording of the operating groups and participant observation. Transcripts and field diaries were submitted to content analysis., Results: participants intensified their interest in the search for health information, and some of them managed to implement changes in lifestyles, especially in relation to eating habits and sedentarism, and the support of the group was perceived as motivating for the changes., Final Considerations: health education activities that embrace meaningful themes for participants and are built by a cohesive group whose members support each other, favor lifestyle modification.

Objective: to understand the feelings of families before drug dependence., Method: exploratory, analytical and qualitative study carried out with families of drug users, which are followed up by the Centro de Atenção Psicossocial Álcool e Drogas (Psychosocial Care Center for Alcohol and DARUGS). The collection of data took place by in-depth interview, with the support of field diary. Three visits were done, on average, for each family. The software IRAMUTEQ was adopted for textual corpus organization and was discussed in the light of Michel Maffesoli., Results: nine families participated in the research; from the analysis, four classes arose: "My life has changed a lot because of drugs"; "I fear leaving him alone"; "I trust and have faith in God", and "I am always worried in my own house"., Final Considerations: the families revealed how much drug dependence did not only affect the user, but also the whole family, provoking in the family complex feelings and emotions.

The influence of in vitro maturation (IVM) in oocytes is still not totally understood. The aim of this study was to determine the influence of IVM on the metabolism and homeostasis of bovine cumulus-oocyte complexes. In the present study, we demonstrated that IVM leads to accumulation of neutral lipids associated with differential levels of the mono-, di- and triacylglycerols in both cumulus cells and oocytes. We observed that in vitro -matured oocytes exhibited decreased glutathione and reactive oxygen species levels and a lower ATP/ADP ratio when compared to in vivo -matured oocytes, with no significant differences in metabolism and stress-related mRNA or miRNA levels. Moreover, in addition to an increase in lipids in in vitro -matured cumulus cells, fatty acid synthesis and accumulation as well as glycolysis pathway genes were upregulated, whereas those affiliated with the β-oxidation pathway were decreased. Our gene expression data in cumulus cells suggest the disruption of endoplasmic reticulum stress, apoptosis and cellular stress response pathways during IVM. Furthermore, a total of 19 miRNAs were significantly altered by the maturation process in cumulus cells. These results indicate some new negative influences of the in vitro system in cumulus-oocyte complexes, demonstrating the occurrence of functional disruption in lipid metabolism and stress pathways and showing evidences suggesting the occurrence of altered mitochondrial activity and energy metabolism during IVM, with a massive dysregulation of the corresponding transcripts in the surrounding cumulus cells., (© 2017 Society for Reproduction and Fertility.)

Nuclear reprogramming mediated by somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) has many applications in medicine. However, animal clones show increased rates of abortion and reduced neonatal viability. Herein, we used exosomal-miRNA profiles as a non-invasive biomarker to identify pathological pregnancies. MiRNAs play important roles in cellular proliferation and differentiation during early mammalian development. Thus, the aim of this study was to identify exosomal-miRNAs in maternal blood at 21 days of gestation that could be used for diagnosis and prognosis during early clone pregnancies in cattle. Out of 40 bovine-specific miRNAs, 27 (67.5%) were with low abundance in the C-EPL (Clone - Early pregnancy loss) group compared with the C-LTP (Clone - Late pregnancy) and AI-LTP (Artificial Insemination - Late pregnancy) groups, which had similar miRNAs levels. Bioinformatics analysis of the predicted target genes demonstrated signaling pathways and functional annotation clusters associated with critical biological processes including cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, angiogenesis and embryonic development. In conclusion, our results demonstrate decreased exosomal-miRNAs in maternal blood at 21 days of gestation in cloned cattle pregnancies that failed to reach term. Furthermore, the predicted target genes regulated by these 27 miRNAs are strongly associated with pregnancy establishment and in utero embryonic development.