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Objective: To estimate the prevalence and demographic and socioeconomic factors associated with depression in adults and in the elderly in a low income community of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul., Methods: Cross-sectional study of adults with ≥ 20 years of age living in the Health Districts of Restinga/Extremo Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, between July and December 2009. The dependent variable was depression measured by the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. Independent variables were sex, age, current marital status, educational level and economic level. The Chi-square test was used for the crude analysis and Poisson regression with robust variance for the adjusted analysis., Results: Among respondents, the prevalence of depression was 16.1% (95% CI: 14.9%, 17.4%). After adjusted analysis, we found that depression was associated with the female gender (PR = 2.38). In addition, there was a trend of higher occurrence of depression with increasing age and decreasing levels of schooling and income., Conclusions: The values of the results for depression were similar to other population studies. Specific attention should be given to women and individuals with low schooling.

Hepatic manifestations are described as unusual complications of dengue and may lead to severe and potentially lethal conditions. Liver abnormalities in 41 patients diagnosed with dengue hemorrhagic fever in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, between January 1 and March 31, 2002, were evaluated. All were serologically positive for dengue in laboratory tests (IgM ELISA). ALT alterations were observed in 61% (25/41) and AST alterations in 80.5% (33/41), but there were no statistically significant differences between the various clinical forms. The range in ALT levels was 14-547 U/l and in AST levels was 11-298 U/l. Nausea and/or vomiting were reported by 90% (37/41) of the patients; 46.3% (19/41) had abdominal pain and 10% (3/29) presented hepatomegaly at clinical examination. The patients' ages ranged from 18 to 88 years; 23 (56%) were female and 18 (44%) were male.

In January 1998, home treatment regimens were launched in the municipality of Dourados, State of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, and accompanied by indigenous health agents as a means of replacing the previous regimen, in which Guaraní-Kaiwá tuberculosis patients were systematically hospitalized for up to six months in the Porta da Esperan a Hospital. In order to verify whether this change in strategy had any effect on the cure and treatment dropout rates, a retrospective study was conducted on 594 patient records from January 1996 to December 1999. Patients were divided into two groups: Group I, treated by hospitalization (291 cases) and Group II, treated as outpatients (303 cases). Group II patients showed a significant increase in the cure rate and a significant reduction in the treatment dropout rate. The study also showed a high tuberculosis prevalence rate in children (40%), subsequently reported to the competent health authorities and thus launching specific projects to deal with this epidemiological reality. Based on these results, it is recommended that the assisted treatment strategy be adopted for other Indian populations.

Clinical and epidemiological features of 422 cases of paracoccidioidomycosis attended at University Hospital of Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul (Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil) from January 1980 to August 1999, were analysed. The mean age was 43.4 years old and the male: female ratio was 10:1. Nearly half (45.5%) of the patients were agricultural workers at the moment of diagnosis. In the acute/subacute form (juvenile type) the phagocytic-monocytic system was very much impaired and mainly marked by lymphadenopathy (95.4%), hepatomegaly (40%), splenomegaly (23.1%). The chronic form (adult type) presents more lesions in oropharynx (66.4%), dysphonia (31.4%) and cough (50.7%). Mycological diagnosis was obtained by direct microscopy of wet mounts in 185/365 (50.7%) patients and by histopathological examination of biopsies in 294/302 (97.3%) patients. The treatment of choice was Sulfamethoxazole/ trimethoprim (Co-trimoxazole), used in 90.3% patients. Sequelae occurred in 30.3% and death in 7.6% of the cases.

A clinical and electrocardiographic case control study was carried out with 186 pairs of persons with positive and negative serology for T. cruzi infection from the Sertão Paraíba and in 200 seropositive cases from the region of Caatinga in the State of Piauí, North-eastern Brazil. The predominant clinical manifestations in seropositive cases in both areas were: palpitations, dyspnea on effort, precordial pain, dysphagia, odynophagia, pyrosis and intestinal constipation. The EKG abnormalities rates suggestive of chronic chagasic cardiopathy were respectively in Paraíba and Piauí: AV block 3.8% and 2%, RBBB III 6.4% and 7%, RBBB III+ LAB 10.7% and 10.5%, and multifocal extrasystoles 2.7% and 3%. Xenodiagnosis in a sample of 54 seropositive individuals in the Sert-ao of Para-iba and in 120 in the Caatinga of Piauí was revealed 13% and 34% positive; PCR tests in a sample of 47 seropositives in Paraíba and 101 in Piauí revealed positives in 44.6% and 59.5% respectively. Blood culture in LIT media of 101 seropositive cases from the Caatinga of Piauí was positive for T. cruzi in 25.7%. A triatomine survey carried out in a sample of 132 domiciles and peridomiciles in the Sertão of Paraíba and in a sample of 159 in the Caatinga of Piauí showed the following results: In Paraíba, 16 specimens of T. brasiliensis, not infected with T. cruzi, were captured. In Piauí, 750 triatomines were captured, of these 625 were examined: 49 were T. pseudomaculata, not infected with T. cruzi (19 in peridomiciles and 30 in the domiciles), and 576 were T. brasiliensis (371 in the domiciles and 205 in the peridomiciles) and of this latter specie 32 (5.5%) were infected with T. cruzi (31 in the domiciles and one in the peridomicile).

Two sectional studies about chronic Chagas' disease were performed at a 4.5 year interval, involving the urban populations of Agua Branca, Catingueira, Emas, Imaculada, Mãe D'Agua, Olho D'Agua, Piancó and São José de Caiana counties in the Sertão region of the State of Paraíba. The evolution of heart disease was evaluated in 125 matched pairs of chronic chagasic and non-chagasic patients of the same sex, age and county of origin through electrocardiograms (ECG) at rest. The following evaluation criteria were considered: unchanged - no change in the original ECG pattern; progressive-changes in ECG pattern from normal to abnormal or deterioration of ECG abnormalities; and ECG normalization. In chagasic patients evolution of the disease was unchanged in 101 (80.8%), progressive in 13 (10.4%) and ECG normalization in 11 (8.8%), while those observed in non-chagasic patients were respectively values 117 (93.6%), 6 (4.8%) and 2%) patients. Findings indicate that the share of Chagas-linked etiological component affecting the development of chronic Chagas cardiopathy was 5.9% with an estimated annual average of 1.3%. There was no significant difference in the frequency of progressive disease between the sexes either in the chagasic or in the non-chagasic group. On the other hand, progression of heart disease occurred earlier among chagasic patients. Lethality caused by heart disease was 1.6% (2 cases) in the chagasic group and zero in the non-chagasic group during the period under survey. These morbidity and mortality rates were significantly lower than those found in endemic areas such as Virgem da Lapa and Pains-Iguatama in the State of Minas Gerais and can probably be attributed to the weaker pathogenic it of human infection by Trypanosoma cruzi in the Paraíba hinterland.