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Humanization in oncology patient care represents a significant innovation in health care practice, shifting the traditional focus solely on treating physical conditions to encompass the emotional and psychosocial dimensions of patient experience. This study aimed to explore the importance of humanization in oncology and the application of practices that promote a patient-centered approach. Through a narrative review of the past 2 decades, the objective was to analyze the practices, benefits, and challenges of humanization in the oncology context. The methodology involved reviewing the relevant literature on empathetic communication, psychological support, and the integration of these aspects into oncology care. The results indicated that humanization significantly contributes to improving patients' quality of life, increasing treatment adherence, and fostering a more satisfying work environment for health care teams. However, effective implementation faces challenges, such as the need for ongoing training, resource limitations, and resistance to change. Despite these obstacles, humanization is essential to provide more comprehensive and patient-centered care. The adoption of humanized practices transforms the oncology care experience, making it more empathetic and holistic., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Caregiver health literacy (HL) in patients' transition from hospital to home care is an important factor for good results., Methods: This cross-sectional study included 89 patient-informal caregiver dyads in Brazil. Data were collected using a sociodemographic questionnaire and the European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire short-short form. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, univariate analyses, and a binary logistic regression model., Results: The caregivers' average age was 48 ± 13.48 years, and 73.0% of them were female. It was found that 6.7% of the caregivers had inadequate HL, 61.8% had problematic HL, and 31.4% had sufficient HL. Being a healthcare professional was significantly associated with sufficient HL (P = 0.016). Furthermore, healthcare workers had more years of schooling than other caregivers (15.3 ± 4.6 vs. 11.2 ± 4.6; P = 0.013). For every 1-year increase in caregiver age, there was a decrease of 0.041 points on the European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire short-short form. Being a healthcare professional, increased HL scores by 11.4%., Conclusions: Key findings showed that caregivers with higher HL were typically younger, male, better educated, and more likely to be healthcare professionals. These caregivers managed patients with lower dependence on daily activities, while those with lower HL, mainly females, cared for patients with higher dependence. The study highlights the need for targeted interventions and public policies to enhance HL among caregivers, particularly to improve outcomes for patients with complex needs., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Soil mineralogy and texture are directly related to soil carbon due to the physical properties of the clay surface. Traditional techniques for quantifying carbon in soil are time-consuming and expensive, making large-scale quantification for mapping unfeasible. The alternative is the use of soil sensors, such as diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), an economical, fast, and accurate technique for predicting carbon stocks. In this sense, this study aimed to (a) investigate the relationship of C with different soil mineralogical, chemical, and physical attributes for different geological and geomorphological compartments; (b) understand which spectral bands are most important for estimating C content; (c) estimate C content from diffuse reflectance spectroscopy using different mathematical techniques and indicate which one is the best for tropical soil conditions; and (d) map C contents in detail. The study area was the Western Plateau of São Paulo (WPSP), which covers approximately 13 million hectares (~ 48% of the State of São Paulo, Brazil). A total of 265 samples were collected in this area. The attributes clay, silt, sand, crystalline and non-crystalline iron, base saturation, soil density, total pore volume, total C, C stock, kaolinite/(kaolinite + gibbsite) and hematite/(hematite + goethite), hematite and goethite contents, and spectral curves were evaluated. The spectra were recorded at 0.5-nm intervals, with an integration time of 2.43 nm s -1 over the 350 to 2500-nm range (350-800 nm-visible-VIS and 801-2500 nm-near-infrared-NIR). The data were subjected to descriptive statistics, Spearman correlation, stepwise analysis, and cluster grouping for characterization purposes; partial least squares regression (PLSR) and random forest (RF) for estimation purposes; and geostatistics analysis for creation of spatial maps. Our results indicate that the highest C contents are associated with more clayey soils, oxidic mineralogy, higher total pore volume, and lower soil density in highly dissected basalt compartments. The random forest algorithm associated with the Vis-NIR spectral range is more efficient for estimating and mapping C contents. This suggests that integrating diffuse reflectance spectroscopy with machine learning techniques holds promise for shaping public policies related to land use, mitigating CO 2 emissions, and facilitating the implementation of carbon credit policies in a rapid and economically efficient manner., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Raphanus sativus L. is a potential source of raw material for biodiesel fuel due to the high oil content in its grains. In Brazil, this species is cultivated in the low rainfall off-season, which limits the productivity of the crop. The present study investigated the effects of water restriction on the physiological and biochemical responses, production components, and oil quality of R. sativus at different development stages. The treatments consisted of 100% water replacement (control), 66%, and 33% of field capacity during the phenological stages of vegetative growth, flowering, and grain filling. We evaluated characteristics of water relations, gas exchange, chlorophyll a fluorescence, chloroplast pigment, proline, and sugar content. The production components and chemical properties of the oil were also determined at the end of the harvest cycle. Drought tolerance of R. sativus was found to be mediated primarily during the vegetative growth stage by changes in photosynthetic metabolism, stability of photochemical efficiency, increased proline concentrations, and maintenance of tissue hydration. Grain filling was most sensitive to water limitation and showed a reduction in yield and oil content. However, the chemical composition of the oil was not altered by the water deficit. Our data suggest that R. sativus is a drought-tolerant species.

Holding and restraining children during non-urgent clinical procedures continues to be surrounded by uncertainty and mired in controversy. This review aimed to locate, appraise and map the evidence related to health professionals reported and observed practice of holding and restraining children, from birth to 16 years, for clinical procedures. This scoping review, conducted in April 2022, was based on the Joanna Briggs Institute protocol. Screening and full text review resulted in the inclusion of 30 papers. In total, 14 different terms were used to refer to the act of holding or restraining a child for a procedure, in many papers the action of holding was not defined. Professionals report the main factors influencing their decisions to use restraint and/or holding were the age of a child, with younger children being restrained or held most frequently; a child's behaviour; and concerns around a child's safety. Professionals also report that they can perceive pressure from parent/carers to hold or restrain their child and describe how holding practices can be influenced by service and organisational pressures. Health professionals, mainly nurses, continue to report ethical and moral tensions linked to their involvement in the restraint or holding of a child against their will for a clinical procedure. Evidence indicates a need to move practice forward as the issues identified in paediatric practice are long-standing and historical., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Deciphering the molecular pathways associated with N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAr) hypofunction and its interaction with antipsychotics is necessary to advance our understanding of the basis of schizophrenia, as well as our capacity to treat this disease. In this regard, the development of human brain-derived models that are amenable to studying the neurobiology of schizophrenia may contribute to filling the gaps left by the widely employed animal models. Here, we assessed the proteomic changes induced by the NMDA glutamate receptor antagonist MK-801 on human brain slice cultures obtained from adult donors submitted to respective neurosurgery. Initially, we demonstrated that MK-801 diminishes NMDA glutamate receptor signaling in human brain slices in culture. Next, using mass-spectrometry-based proteomics and systems biology in silico analyses, we found that MK-801 led to alterations in proteins related to several pathways previously associated with schizophrenia pathophysiology, including ephrin, opioid, melatonin, sirtuin signaling, interleukin 8, endocannabinoid, and synaptic vesicle cycle. We also evaluated the impact of both typical and atypical antipsychotics on MK-801-induced proteome changes. Interestingly, the atypical antipsychotic clozapine showed a more significant capacity to counteract the protein alterations induced by NMDAr hypofunction than haloperidol. Finally, using our dataset, we identified potential modulators of the MK-801-induced proteome changes, which may be considered promising targets to treat NMDAr hypofunction in schizophrenia. This dataset is publicly available and may be helpful in further studies aimed at evaluating the effects of MK-801 and antipsychotics in the human brain., (© 2024 International Society for Neurochemistry.)