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Purpose: The expatriation literature has developed an insightful body of research on the reasons why women are not assigned abroad as frequently as men. However, the authors know very little about the systemic and recursive consequences of women's underrepresentation in international assignments (IAs), which are examined in this conceptual paper. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing upon expatriation research and a system dynamics perspective, the authors propose a conceptual model to explain both women's underrepresentation in IAs and its recursive consequences. Findings: The authors highlight how women's underrepresentation in IAs results from a complex system of recursive effects that jeopardizes women's professional development and undermines both their own career progression to top management and firms' competitive advantage and international growth. The authors argue that organizations make decisions that contravene their own interest in a competitive global context. First is that they are limiting their talent pool by not considering female candidates. Second is that they are missing the opportunity to use IAs to advance women's careers. Research limitations/implications: The model provides a solid grounding for future research on selecting the most effective organizational actions and designing supportive measures to disrupt the persistent dynamics contributing to women's underrepresentation in IAs. Future research could also expand our study by incorporating individual differences and the proactive role that women may take. Practical implications: The model points to specific managerial interventions (e.g. increased access to job training and specific training ahead of the assignment, dual-career support, women's mentoring and affirmative action) which have the potential to reduce women's underrepresentation in IAs and in top management. Originality/value: The system dynamics approach enables a broader understanding of why women are underrepresented in IAs, how this underrepresentation further exacerbates gender segregation in international business, and how these recursive outcomes can be averted to the advantage of firms' sustainable growth.

Background:Research on the interplay between mothers' and children's eating behaviors is needed to better inform sensitive and tailored interventions for treatment-seeking children with overweight/obesity. The present study aimed to identify mothers' eating behavior phenotypes, investigating their associations with problematic eating behaviors of children undergoing weight loss treatment in two central hospitals.Methods:This is a cross-sectional study evaluating 136 mother–child dyads (Mothers: age 39.58 ± 5.40 years; Children: n= 75 female; age 10.13 ± 1.37 years). Mothers' eating behavior (restraint, emotional, and uncontrolled eating) and depression/anxiety, and children's problematic eating attitudes/behaviors were assessed. A cluster analysis (K-means) was performed using mothers' eating behavior dimensions. Multivariate Analysis of Covariance investigated differences between clusters on mothers' and children's sociodemographic, anthropometric, psychological, and eating-related variables.Results:Three clusters emerged: The Disordered Eatinggroup (n= 39) of mothers with the highest scores on emotional eating and uncontrolled eating dimensions, the Restraint Eatinggroup (n= 48), including mothers scoring high in cognitive restraint, and the Low Disordered Eating(n= 49) group where mothers scored low in all eating behavior dimensions. Children of mothers in the Disordered Eatingcluster had significantly higher emotional overeating relative to children of mothers in the other two clusters.Conclusions:Distinctive eating behavior profiles of mothers, instead of the presence of single eating behaviors, seem to be associated with specific problematic eating behaviors of children undergoing weight loss treatment. Prospective studies are essential to determine whether these profiles can predict differential weight change trajectories in pediatric obesity treatment.

Purpose: APOLO-Teens is an ongoing web-based program combining a manualized intervention delivered by Facebook®, a self-monitoring web application and monthly chat sessions to optimize treatment as usual for adolescents with overweight and obesity. The aims of this paper are twofold: (1) to describe the study protocol of the APOLO-Teens randomized controlled effectiveness trial and (2) to present baseline descriptive information of the Portuguese sample. Methods: APOLO-Teens includes adolescents aged between 13 and 18 years with BMI percentile ≥ 85 (N= 210; 60.00% girls, BMI z-score 2.40 ± 0.75) undergoing hospital ambulatory treatment for overweight/obesity. Participants completed a set of self-report measures regarding eating behaviors and habits, psychological functioning (depression, anxiety, stress, and impulsivity), physical activity, and quality of life. Results: Depression, anxiety, stress, impulsivity, and percentage body fat were inversely associated with health-related quality of life (rs= − 0.39 to − 0.62), while physical activity out-of-school was positively correlated with health-related quality of life (rs= 0.22). When compared to boys, girls demonstrated statistically significant higher scores on psychological distress, disturbed eating behaviors, impulsivity, were less active at school and had lower scores on the health-related quality of life (p< 0.05). Conclusion: The results showed that there were gender differences in key psychological constructs that are likely to determine success with the treatment and that, therefore, need to be considered in future interventions. The results of APOLO-Teens randomized controlled trial will determine the impact of these constructs on the efficacy and adherence to a web-based intervention for weight loss in the Portuguese population. Level of evidence:: Level V, cross-sectional descriptive study.

This paper analyses Brazil's place in BRICS today, considering the drastic change of political direction effected by the government that rose to power after the coup d 'etat which deposed the legitimately elected administration of President Dilma Rousseffand the subsequent election to the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro. The authors point out the weaknesses and failures as well as the achievements of President Lula de Silva's administration, particularly in poverty reduction, environmental preservation and global diplomatic outreach, many of which are being reversed by the new government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background:Adiponectin circulates as low-, medium-, and high-molecular-weight multimers (LMW, MMW, and HMW) and influences lipid profile and insulin resistance (IR), HMW being considered as the most biologically active form. We aimed to study the relation between adiponectin and markers of metabolic syndrome (MS) in pediatric obesity, and the impact of physical exercise.Methods:The study consisted of a cross-sectional part and an 8-mo physical exercise program. Lipid profile, insulin, glucose, C-reactive protein (CRP), total adiponectin (TA), and homeostasis model assessment IR (HOMA-IR) were measured. Adiponectin multimers were studied in a prepubertal group.Results:Obesity is associated with increased dyslipidemia, IR, and inflammation. TA is correlated inversely with adiposity, triglycerides, HOMA-IR, and CRP, and positively with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLc)/total cholesterol (TC) ratio. HMW mimicked TA associations. The intervention program led to a reduction of TC, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDLc), insulin, HOMA-IR, and trunk percentage of fat, and an increase of HDLc/TC ratio, in the obese group. BMI improvements prevented adiponectin reduction and correlated with increments in HMW and MMW.Conclusion:Obesity-related increase in MS features might be linked to lower adiponectin. HMW and MMW were the multimers that most explained the MS features. The intervention program improved the lipid profile and IR, and prevented the reduction of adiponectin.

Byrsonima coccolobifolialeaf and stem extracts were studied in the search for possible leishmanicidal compounds using arginase (ARG) from Leishmania amazonensisas a molecular target. Flavonoids 1b, 1e–1g, 2a, 2b, and 2d–2fshowed significant inhibitory activity, with IC50values ranging from 0.9 to 4.8 μM. The kinetics of the most active compounds were determined. Flavonoids 1e, 1f, 2a, 2b, and 2ewere characterized as noncompetitive inhibitors of ARG with dissociation constants (Ki) ranging from 0.24 to 3.8 μM, demonstrating strong affinity. Structure–activity relationship studies revealed some similarities in the structural features of flavonoids related to ARG activity.

To generate effective changes in the work processes of an institution, such as hospitals, strategies are needed for the implementation of services. These should be based on the needs of the practice scenario and evidence that may develop programs applied to the routine of health care. This study aimed to implement medication reconciliation (MR) at the transition of care in the pediatric department of a public hospital located in Northeast Brazil.

Studies have reported the worsening of psychiatric symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, few studies have evaluated the impact on the access to mental health services during COVID-19. Our aim was to analyze temporal trends and prediction of appointments held in Brazil's public health system, to compare the observed and expected number of mental healthcare appointments during the COVID-19 pandemics.

To evaluate family problems among crack/cocaine users compared with alcohol and other substance users.