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Purpose: To evaluate the methodological and statistical design evolution of the publications in the Brazilian Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics (RBGO) from resolution 196/96., Methods: A review of 133 articles published in 1999 (65) and 2009 (68) was performed by two independent reviewers with training in clinical epidemiology and methodology of scientific research. We included all original clinical articles, case and series reports and excluded editorials, letters to the editor, systematic reviews, experimental studies, opinion articles, besides abstracts of theses and dissertations. Characteristics related to the methodological quality of the studies were analyzed in each article using a checklist that evaluated two criteria: methodological aspects and statistical procedures. We used descriptive statistics and the χ2 test for comparison of the two years., Results: There was a difference between 1999 and 2009 regarding the study and statistical design, with more accuracy in the procedures and the use of more robust tests between 1999 and 2009., Conclusions: In RBGO, we observed an evolution in the methods of published articles and a more in-depth use of the statistical analyses, with more sophisticated tests such as regression and multilevel analyses, which are essential techniques for the knowledge and planning of health interventions, leading to fewer interpretation errors.

Objective: This study was aimed at describing the nutritional status of 10 to 17 year old children enrolled in public and private schools from different regions having specific Brazilian semi-arid area characteristics., Material and Methods: This was a cross-sectional, descriptive and comparative study using a stratified probability sample (n=1 701). 900 children were male and 801 female selected from three cities, randomly chosen from 3 cities which were representative of the regions: Leste Potiguar-RLP (n=1,158), Oeste Potiguar-ROP (n=312) and Central Potiguar-RCP (n=231). They were divided into three age groups: 10 to 12 years, 13 and 14 years and e(3)15 years. Conde and Monteiro cutoff points were used for body mass index (BMI) classification., Results: Regarding the regions, there was a significant difference (p<0001) in BMI distribution. RLP presented excess weight and obesity (6.8 %, 15.2 %), ROP (16.3 %, 9.6 %) and RCP (10.4 %, 3.9 %), respectively., Conclusions: Adolescents in the most favored regions (especially students in private schools in the region) had a prevalence of being overweight and suffering from obesity.

Artificial feeding is an important toll for studying ticks feeding mechanism and transmission of pathogenic agents in the absence of vertebrate host. The objective was to feed artificially of engorged partially females of Dermacentor (Anocentor) nitens, proceeding of infested naturally equines and evaluate the influence of this technique on biological parameters of species. Engorged partially females were collected, weighted and separate by weight in two range of 40 to 60 milligrams and 61 to 100 milligrams. Each range was further sorted in four groups with homogeneous weight which were fed for 6, 12, 24 and 36 hours through capillaries tubes containing citrated bovine blood. It was observed that artificial feeding promoted increase weight of females in both range and definitive times. The Ticks fed artificially for periods more drawn out, had presented parameters of the non-parasitic phase next to the observed ones in conditions to laboratory for this species. Females of D. (A.) nitens partially engorged ingested great volume of blood when submitted to artificial feeding through capillaries tubes, without any effect in their biological parameters.

This qualitative and exploratory study investigated the meaning of care for hospitalized children with chronic diseases, accompanied by a family member. Participants were six nurses, who worked in a Pediatric Ward of the teaching hospital of Campinas State University, São Paulo, Brazil. The technique used for collecting data was semi-direct interview. Thematic Content Analysis introduced the thematic category "Care for chronically ill children with focus on the disease". This care approach in the nurse's practice was shown to be predominant.

Objective: To analyze the inequalities found using health indicators in the states and regions of Brazil, according to 1999 socioeconomic and demographic indicators., Methods: An exploratory ecological cross-sectional study was carried out. The units of analysis were Brazilian states (n = 27) and regions (n = 5). Descriptive measures of inequality were calculated. Pearson's correlation and also linear regression analysis were used to identify associations between health indicators and selected socio-economic and demographic indicators. The health indicators analyzed were: life expectancy at birth, infant mortality rate, mortality rate for children < 5 years due to acute diarrheal diseases and to acute respiratory infections, and deaths due to homicides and traffic accidents., Results: Important gains were seen in life expectancy at birth over the 1991-1999 period, especially for males. There was a trend towards larger gains in states that had had lower life expectancy at birth in 1991, which produced greater homogeneity across Brazil in this indicator in recent years. The infant mortality rate decreased by 28% between 1991 and 1999. However, this indicator still varies widely among the regions--from 52.5 per 1,000 live births in the northeast to 17.1 per 1,000 in the south--and among states--from 64.0 per 1,000 in Alagoas to 15.1 per 1,000 in Rio Grande do Sul. With respect to children < 5 years, the mortality rate due to acute diarrheal diseases was equal to or higher than the national median (4.1 per 10,000) in all the north-eastern states, and the mortality rate due to acute respiratory infections was equal to or higher than the national median (10.8 per 10,000) in all the southern, southeastern, and central-western states. The mortality rates (standardized by sex and age) due to traffic accidents and to homicides in 1999 were 17.7 and 26.0 per 100,000 inhabitants, respectively. Extreme values were found in some states for mortality due to homicide (57.8 per 100,000 in Pernambuco) and traffic accidents (54.5 per 100,000 in Roraima). The mortality rate due to homicide was strongly associated with urbanization (P = 0.001). Higher mortality rates due to traffic accidents were associated with lower poverty levels (beta = -0.93; P < 0.001), lower literacy rates (beta = -1.16; P = 0.005), and larger population growth over the past decade (beta = 3.10; P = 0.016)., Conclusions: The pattern of health inequality in Brazil indicates a polarization among regions and states as well as a juxtaposition of diseases associated with under-development and diseases linked to development, suggesting the need for a health system that is committed to addressing these issues.

In this paper we present a historical analysis of the concept of inequality, and we also discuss how inequality has been viewed within the field of health. Natural and social inequalities are discussed, along with the concept of equity, theoretical explanations for inequality, and stratification in modern societies. Finally, we focus on the relationships between epidemiology and studies on social inequalities in health since epidemiology was established as a discipline, during the so-called bacteriological era, and at the present time, when there is a growing interest in social inequalities in health.

In this qualitative study, four nurses of a teaching hospital in the city of Campinas, São Paulo-Brazil, all of them working with oncological patients were interviewed in order to verify the situation that most caused mental suffering in the day by day with these patients. Data collection were performed as proposed by the ethnographic approach and the non-directive interview and the direct observation was employed. The contain analysis has been utilized to the data analysis. The results have shown that many situations of the relationship nurses-oncological patients cause mental suffering in that professional. Those situations are tied to the work of the nurses, to the kind of patient treated by those professionals and to the kind of sickness presented by the patient. That study has shown that, many times, the nurses utilize defense mechanisms against that mental suffering. This work aims to contribute to the knowledge of the subject and therefore be itself a base in which one could elaborate measures that can make these problems that occur with the nurses that work in the Oncology area lighter. With that study to contribute to the comprehension of the challenge that the cancer, sickness that make professional and population frightened, is.

The surgical technic for decompression of the posterior fossa in cases of basilar impression and malformation of Arnold-Chiari mainly based in (1) endotracheal intubation without any flexion of the head, (2) position of the head without anterior flexion during the surgery, (3) plastic of the posterior fossa with dura-mater of cadaver conserved in glicerina, was emploied in 13 patients. The plastic was made to create space at the craniocervical joint in order to avoid cerebrospinal fluid fistula and to restore the integrity of the dura. Infection was not observed.

After a short introduction about the so-called Apert's syndrome. a clinical suggestive case is reported. Discussion shows how a clinic-genetical procedure may help the clinicians.