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OBJECTIVE: Mood disorders are a frequent problem in old age, and their symptoms constitute an important public health issue. These alterations affect the quality of life mainly by restricting social life. The participation in a regular exercise program is an effective way of reducing or preventing the functional decline associated with aging. The aim of the present study was to examine the effects of fitness-endurance activity (at the intensity of Ventilatory Threshold 1 (VT-1)) in depression, anxiety and quality of life scores in seniors. METHODS: The study involved 46 sedentary seniors aged 60-75 (66.97 ± 4.80) who were randomly allocated to two groups: 1) Control group, which was neither asked to vary their everyday activities nor to join a regular physical fitness program; and 2) Experimental group, whose members took part in an aerobic fitness program consisting of ergometer cycle sessions 3 times a week on alternate days for six months working at a heart rate corresponding to ventilatory threshold (VT-1) intensity. Subjects were submitted to a basal evaluation using the geriatric depression screening scale - GDS, STAI trait/state (anxiety scale) and SF-36 (quality of life scale). RESULTS: Comparing the groups after the study period, we found a significant decrease in depressive and anxiety scores and an improvement in the quality of life in the experimental group, but no significant changes in the control group. CONCLUSION: The data suggest that an aerobic exercise program at VT-1 intensity suffices to promote favorable modifications in depressive and anxiety scores to improve the quality of life in seniors.

Abstract Background Obesity has adverse physical, social, and economic consequences that can negatively affect quality of life (QOL). Thus the aim of this study was to verify the effects of a long-term multidisciplinary lifestyle intervention on QOL, body image, anxiety, depression and binge eating in obese adolescents. Methods Sixty-six obese adolescents (41 girls and 25 boys; BMI: 35.62 ± 4.18 kg/m2) were recruited from the Multidisciplinary Obesity Intervention Program outpatient clinic, and were submitted to a multidisciplinary lifestyle therapy (short-term = 12 weeks and long-term = 24 weeks), composed of medical, dietary, exercise and psychological programs. Validated self-report questionnaires were used to assess symptoms of anxiety Trait/State (STAI); depression (BDI); binge eating (BES), body image dissatisfaction (BSQ) and QOL (SF-36). Data were analyzed by means of scores; comparisons were made by ANOVA for repeated measures, and Tukey's test as post-hoc and Students T test. Results Long-term therapy decreased depression and binge eating symptoms, body image dissatisfaction, and improved QOL in girls, whereas, for boys, 24 weeks, were effective to reduce anxiety trait/state and symptoms of binge eating, and to improve means of dimensions of QOL (p < .05). Conclusion A long-term multidisciplinary lifestyle therapy is effective to control psychological aspects and to improve QOL in obese adolescents.

Background: This study investigated the prevalence of neuropathic pain (NP) among people affected by leprosy and its effects on functional limitation and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in an endemic area in Northeast Brazil., Methods: This is a cross-sectional study of 122 leprosy patients. Functional limitation and HRQoL were assessed using the Screening of Activity Limitation and Safety Awareness (SALSA) and WHO Quality-of-Life (WHOQoL-BREF) scales, respectively. Participants were assessed for the presence of pain and completed the Douleur Neuropathique 4 and the Brief Pain Inventory scales., Results: The prevalence of NP was 59%. Participants with NP had higher SALSA scores than those without pain (median; IQR: 42; 32-49.5 vs 27.5; 24-34; p=0.002). Increasing SALSA scores were related to decreasing WHOQoL-BREF scores in the physical (r=-0.54; p<0.001), psychological (r=-0.33; p=0.002) and environmental (r=-0.22; p=0.01) domains, but not in the social domain (r=-0.14; p=0.10). Individuals with NP had the lowest scores in all domains compared with individuals without pain., Conclusions: Appropriate tools and training of clinicians for diagnosing NP in leprosy patients are necessary for their appropriate management and better HRQoL outcomes., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.)

Background: COVID-19 comprises a respiratory infection resulting from contamination by SARS-CoV-2, with acute respiratory failure being one of its main characteristics, leading to a high frequency of orotracheal intubation (OTI), which in turn increases the risk for dysphagia. Since this can lead to pulmonary impairment, knowing the real occurrence of dysphagia in part of the Brazilian population and its associations allows early and effective clinical management of the multidisciplinary team in relation to patients., Objective: To verify the occurrence of dysphagia in COVID-19-positive adult patients in two Brazilian reference hospitals in the care of the pandemic., Methods: This was a prospective, longitudinal observational study carried out in two private hospitals in Brazil, both references in the care of patients with coronavirus isolation. Data were initially collected by consulting the medical records of each patient. Information was collected regarding sex, age, previous diseases, COVID-19 testing, and the OTI period. After data collection, the clinical speech-language assessment of swallowing for each patient was carried out using the adapted Gugging Swallowing Screen (GUSS), the ASHA NOMS and the Functional Oral Intake Scale (FOIS)., Results: A total of 129 participants were evaluated, with a mean age of 72 years. According to the GUSS scale, 9.3% of the patients presented normal/functional swallowing, while 90.7% presented dysphagia, with mild dysphagia in 17.05%, moderate dysphagia in 33.33%, and severe dysphagia in 37.98%. As for the results of the ASHA NOMS, the majority (36.5%) of the patients were at level 1, which represents the patient who is not able to receive his or her food supply orally, having the need to use tube feedings. This is in line with the results observed with the FOIS scale, whereby most patients (42.1%) were classified as Level I, when food intake occurs exclusively through feeding tubes, with no oral supply. Of the 129 participants, 59% of them required OTI. When comparing the time of OTI and the severity of dysphagia, there was a statistically significant difference, with more severe dysphagia, the longer the patient remained intubated., Conclusion: There is a high incidence of oropharyngeal dysphagia in patients with COVID-19, with increased severity during longer periods of OTI.

In this study mathematical models to predict Salmonella enterica growth in sushi at different temperatures were developed considering data obtained in 26 restaurants in Southern Brazil. The sushi type chosen to develop the models was the one that presented the highest total aerobic mesophilic counts among sushis collected in the establishments. Salmonella was inoculated (2-3 log UFC/g) in this sushi type prepared in the laboratory (pH 4.8; aw 0.98) and incubated under isothermal conditions at 7, 15, 20, 25 and 37 °C. Baranyi and Roberts model was used to describe Salmonella growth curves, generating R 2 values of ≥0.98 and RMSE values of <0.24 log CFU/g/h for primary models. Ratkowsky's equation was used in secondary model, generating R 2 of 0.99 and RMSE of 0.02 log CFU/g/h. The model validation was simulated under non-isothermal conditions, using the worst-case scenario that was built through data from the environmental conditions and data obtained from the restaurants. The non-isothermal conditions were performed at 36.3 °C for 6 h, 10 °C for 24 h and 29.5 °C for 6 h sequentially, reaching 6.7 log CFU/g of Salmonella and generating RMSE of 0.06 log CFU/g/h, Bias factor of 0.97 and Accuracy factor of 1.03. The negligible growth time (ς) for Salmonella, considering the average of higher distribution temperatures of chosen sushi type (approximately 18 °C), was 8.9 h. However, growth rates of total aerobic mesophilic demonstrated that at 15 °C and 20 °C, the lag phases were approximately 11 and 5 h respectively. Based on these results, we suggest for sushi distribution the use of temperatures of ≤15 °C for 6 h (maximum time of distribution allowed in Brazil) considering the Salmonella growth., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Illicit drug use is related to individual characteristics; however, social and family environments seem to be associated with this consumption. The aim of this study was to analyze the association of the relationships between parents or guardians and Brazilian adolescents that use illicit drugs. This is a cross-sectional study with data from the Brazilian National Survey of School Health (PeNSE, 2015), in which the target population was school children from the ninth grade (eighth year). A total of 102,072 students were included in the current research, being 52,782 females and 49,290 males. Illicit drug use was the outcome and family relationship factors were the exposure. For adjustments, factors as sociodemographic characteristics, mental health, as well as tobacco and alcohol use were established. Univariate and multivariate analysis stratified by sex was conducted through Poisson regression, with a robust variance estimator to calculate the prevalence ratio and the 95% confidence interval. The general prevalence of illicit drug use was 3.8%; 3.3% among females and 4.4% among males. The following factors increase the prevalence ratio for illicit drug use in adolescents: not living with their parents, not feeling supervised by parents, and skipping classes without parents' consent. Never feeling understood by parents and frequent physical aggressions by family members were also associated with illicit drug use. Family relationships collaborate to illicit drug use among Brazilian adolescents, considering their sociodemographic factors, alcohol and smoking habits and parents and friends' profiles.

The identification of plant species is not a trivial task, since it is carried out by experts and depends on the presence of fruits, flowers and leaves. However, fruits and flowers are not available throughout the year, while leaves are accessible most of the year. In order to assist the specialized work of species identification, methods of texture image analysis are used to extract characteristics from samples of imaged leaves and thus predict the species. Texture image analysis is a versatile and powerful technique able to extract measurements from patterns in the images. Using this technique, recent research has found a close relationship between texture and plant species (da Silva et al. , 2015 and 2016). Here, we describe the procedure to extract texture features from microscopic images of leaves using Fourier (Cosgriff, 1960; Azencott, 1997; Gonzalez and Woods, 2006). It is important to highlight that other methods for texture extraction can be used as well. This protocol is split into two parts: (A) leaf epidermal dissociation and (B) automatic method for leaf epidermal image analysis., (Copyright © 2017 The Authors; exclusive licensee Bio-protocol LLC.)