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The traditional protective and repressive conception of law can no longer explain the reality, which has undergone a radical transformation. This change came about through the transition from a pure liberal state to a welfare state called the welfare state. Bobbio clarifies that before the law was tied to the image of a state that set rules and an arbitrator, therefore also bound to a sanctioning and coercive action. The role of law in society has always been that of protecting certain interests by repressing deviant acts - from negative sanctions. However, with the new requirements of the welfare state, the law no longer only protects compliant acts, but also encourages innovative acts, based on promotional norms.

Chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA) has been recommended and practiced routinely since 2010 both in the USA and Europe as the first-tier cytogenetic test for patients with unexplained neurodevelopmental delay/intellectual disability, autism spectrum disorders, and/or multiple congenital anomalies. However, in Brazil, the use of CMA is still limited, due to its high cost and complexity in integrating the results from both the private and public health systems. Although Brazil has one of the world’s largest single-payer public healthcare systems, nearly all patients referred for CMA come from the private sector, resulting in only a small number of CMA studies in Brazilian cohorts. To date, this study is by far the largest Brazilian cohort (n = 5788) studied by CMA and is derived from a joint collaboration formed by the University of São Paulo and three private genetic diagnostic centers to investigate the genetic bases of neurodevelopmental disorders and congenital abnormalities. We identified 2,279 clinically relevant CNVs in 1886 patients, not including the 26 cases of UPD found. Among detected CNVs, the corresponding frequency of each category was 55.6% Pathogenic, 4.4% Likely Pathogenic and 40% VUS. The diagnostic yield, by taking into account Pathogenic, Likely Pathogenic and UPDs, was 19.7%. Since the rational for the classification is mostly based on Mendelian or highly penetrant variants, it was not surprising that a second event was detected in 26% of those cases of predisposition syndromes. Although it is common practice to investigate the inheritance of VUS in most laboratories around the world to determine the inheritance of the variant, our results indicate an extremely low cost–benefit of this approach, and strongly suggest that in cases of a limited budget, investigation of the parents of VUS carriers using CMA should not be prioritized.

Brazil is the country with the second-largest number of deaths due to the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). Two variants of concern (VOCs), Alpha (B.1.1.7) and Gamma (P.1), were first detected in December 2020. While Alpha expanded within an expected rate in January and February 2021, its prevalence among new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) cases started to decrease in March, which coincided with the explosion of Gamma variant incidence all over the country, being responsible for more than 95% of the new cases over the following months. A significantly higher viral load [i.e., mean cycle threshold (Ct) values] for Gamma in comparison to non-VOC samples was verified by the analysis of a large data set of routine reverse transcription–PCR (RT–PCR) exams. Moreover, the rate of reinfections greatly increased from March 2021 onward, reinforcing the enhanced ability of Gamma to escape the immune response. It is difficult to predict the outcomes of competition between variants since local factors like frequency of introduction and vaccine coverage play a key role. Genomic surveillance is of uttermost importance for the mitigation of the pandemic.

In December 2020, research surveillance detected the B.1.1.7 lineage of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Rapid genomic sequencing and phylogenetic analysis revealed 2 distinct introductions of the lineage. One patient reported no international travel. There may be more infections with this lineage in Brazil than reported.

Introduction - To date, there is a lack of information on how immunomodulatory drugs for autoimmune rheumatic diseases (ARDs) impair humoral immune response following SARS-CoV-2 exposure. Hence, we examined anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG/IgM positivity in ARD patients on disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs).Methods - We conducted a prospective study with ARD patients on different synthetic or biologic DMARDs (sDMARDs or bDMARDs) and control patients without DMARDs. All patients underwent a clinical baseline interview. They were tested for anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG/IgM at baseline and three months later. Patients were monitored for incident respiratory symptoms during the follow-up. rRT-PCR for SARS-CoV-2 was performed for suspected COVID-19 infection. A univariate analysis was conducted according to antibody positivity to find significant associations for seroconversion.Results - We included one hundred patients for the analysis. Half of the patients who turned IgG positive in the study remained asymptomatic. All positive rRT-PCR patients showed seroconversion for anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG. A borderline significant association was found for bDMARD use in IgG-positive patients (42.9% vs. 19.8%, p=0.056). On the other hand, none of the patients on non-antimalarial sDMARD had detectable anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG compared to 35.4% of the remainder of the sample, reaching borderline statistical significance (0.0% vs. 35.4%, p=0.050).Conclusions - Serology for COVID-19 yielded a 14% incidence in our sample, half evolving asymptomatically. Temporally withholding bDMARD therapy in ARD patients during the pandemic based on possible humoral response impairment is not suitable. sDMARD was associated with a lower incidence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG positivity, and further studies on this possible impact are warranted.

Este artigo tem por intuito discutir a ressignificação do conceito de liberdade à luz da teoria comunicativa de Jürgen Habermas. O problema enfrentado consiste em que a liberdade, enquanto reflexo do paradigma liberal, não mais atende às necessidades das sociedades contemporâneas, e enquanto conceito reconstruído pelo republicanismo, não dá conta de garantir a proteção e a autonomia dos sujeitos individuais. Lança-se mão, pois, da hipótese de que a consolidação de um entendimento comunicativo da liberdade, como feito por Habermas, é a única capaz de resguardar a moral, a justiça e a independência individual. Pretende-se demonstrar o caráter intersubjetivo da liberdade, tomando-a como elemento central da emancipação dos indivíduos pela razão comunicativa. Para isso será elaborado um resgate filosófico dos conceitos de liberdade dentro da dualidade histórica que vem sendo tomada entre liberais e republicanos, a partir das visões de Benjamin Constant, Isaiah Berlin e Philip Pettit. Ao final, com o auxílio de Flávio Siebeneichler, objetiva-se demonstrar que a racionalidade discursiva, única de potencial emancipatório, encontra na liberdade comunicativa de Habermas o elemento chave para o seu funcionamento. Quanto à metodologia, a pesquisa se caracteriza como bibliográfica e exploratória, uma vez que pretende fazer uma discussão, a partir de obras já publicadas, para melhor compreensão do tema.

Os Estados nacionais perderam competitividade frente à globalização e à comunicação digital. Nesse âmbito, urge a necessidade de superar essa crise, bem como de realizar uma nova leitura acerca dos negócios jurídicos, que leve em consideração a dignidade da pessoa humana e os princípios democráticos. Habermas, em A constelação pós-nacional, em vista da autolimitação das atribuições estatais, sugere como possibilidade de resposta a formação de fusões em âmbito mundial, de Estados Globais, para a recuperação da força política estatal e da própria soberania, em âmbito interno e externo. Assim, este artigo tem como hipótese que um direito pós-nacional, calcado na organização de blocos globais e instituições de força e soberania internacionais, sirva de resposta à crise dos Estados Nacionais e fortaleça uma leitura democrática dos negócios jurídicos. Através de uma metodologia bibliográfica e exploratória, faz-se uma leitura pós-nacional no cenário de constitucionalismo global.

O contrato social garante o homem enquanto cidadão livre, funcionando como fim último, como a própria garantia da humanidade de cada um, valorizando o ser humano e os princípios republicanos. Assim, o contrato é um verdadeiro consenso em torno do bem-comum, tendo o povo por soberano, e a justiça por objetivo.

Eichmann em Jerusalém é fruto da análise do julgamento do nazista Adolf Eichmann em 1961. Hannah Arendt fora enviada pelo jornal New Yorker para cobrir o julgamento que, ao final, resultou na sua obra mais polêmica e que mais tarde levou à própria decadência da aceitação da autora nas comunidades judaicas, na Europa e nos Estados Unidos.