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Plant-based meat substitutes are products used to replace meat in the human diet. These products have developed from traditional whole-grain meat substitutes to products based on an advanced technology called 2nd generation meat substitutes. Increased market visibility of 2nd generation products raised questions about the products´ healthiness once they are classified by NOVA as ultra-processed, are allegedly high in salt and saturated fat, and might not be nutritionally equivalent to meat. To answer those queries, we evaluated the nutritional profile of the 3 generations of products available in the Brazilian market. Products were classified into one of three stages of technology as traditional meat substitutes, 1st generation meat substitutes, or 2nd generation meat substitutes. Their nutritional values, ingredient composition, and nutrient profile were analyzed and compared. Most of the products analyzed (169 in total) were classified as 1st generation meat substitutes (55.6%), while 2nd generation ones represented 16% of products. The 2nd generation of meat substitutes presented a higher amount of protein, sodium, saturated fat, and a greater number of additives than previous generation products. The future generation of meat substitutes should focus on reducing saturated fat content and the use of fewer additives.

Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) encompass a wide variety of substances capable of interfering with the endocrine system, including but not limited to bisphenol A, organochlorines, polybrominated flame retardants, alkylphenols and phthalates. These compounds are widely produced and used in everyday modern life and have increasingly been detected in aquatic matrices worldwide. In this context, this study aimed to carry out a literature review to assess the evolution of EDCs detected in different matrices in the last thirty years. A bibliometric analysis was conducted at the Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases. Data were evaluated using the Vosviewer 1.6.17 software. A total of 3951 articles in English were retrieved following filtering. The results demonstrate a gradual and significant growth in the number of published documents, strongly associated with the increasing knowledge on the real environmental impacts of these compounds. Studied were mostly conducted by developed countries in the first two decades, 1993 to 2012, but in the last decade (2013 to 2022), an exponential leap in the number of publications by countries such as China and an advance in research by developing countries, such as Brazil, was verified., 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 © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of vaginal progesterone for the prevention of preterm birth and adverse perinatal outcomes in twin gestations., Data Sources: MEDLINE, Embase, LILACS, and CINAHL (from their inception to January 31, 2023), Cochrane databases, Google Scholar, bibliographies, and conference proceedings., Study Eligibility Criteria: Randomized controlled trials that compared vaginal progesterone to placebo or no treatment in asymptomatic women with a twin gestation., Methods: The systematic review was conducted according to the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. The primary outcome was preterm birth <34 weeks of gestation. Secondary outcomes included adverse perinatal outcomes. Pooled relative risks with 95% confidence intervals were calculated. We assessed the risk of bias in each included study, heterogeneity, publication bias, and quality of evidence, and performed subgroup and sensitivity analyses., Results: Eleven studies (3401 women and 6802 fetuses/infants) fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Among all twin gestations, there were no significant differences between the vaginal progesterone and placebo or no treatment groups in the risk of preterm birth <34 weeks (relative risk, 0.99; 95% confidence interval, 0.84-1.17; high-quality evidence), <37 weeks (relative risk, 0.99; 95% confidence interval, 0.92-1.06; high-quality evidence), and <28 weeks (relative risk, 1.00; 95% confidence interval, 0.64-1.55; moderate-quality evidence), and spontaneous preterm birth <34 weeks of gestation (relative risk, 0.97; 95% confidence interval, 0.80-1.18; high-quality evidence). Vaginal progesterone had no significant effect on any of the perinatal outcomes evaluated. Subgroup analyses showed that there was no evidence of a different effect of vaginal progesterone on preterm birth <34 weeks of gestation related to chorionicity, type of conception, history of spontaneous preterm birth, daily dose of vaginal progesterone, and gestational age at initiation of treatment. The frequencies of preterm birth <37, <34, <32, <30, and <28 weeks of gestation and adverse perinatal outcomes did not significantly differ between the vaginal progesterone and placebo or no treatment groups in unselected twin gestations (8 studies; 3274 women and 6548 fetuses/infants). Among twin gestations with a transvaginal sonographic cervical length <30 mm (6 studies; 306 women and 612 fetuses/infants), vaginal progesterone was associated with a significant decrease in the risk of preterm birth occurring at <28 to <32 gestational weeks (relative risks, 0.48-0.65; moderate- to high-quality evidence), neonatal death (relative risk, 0.32; 95% confidence interval, 0.11-0.92; moderate-quality evidence), and birthweight <1500 g (relative risk, 0.60; 95% confidence interval, 0.39-0.88; high-quality evidence). Vaginal progesterone significantly reduced the risk of preterm birth occurring at <28 to <34 gestational weeks (relative risks, 0.41-0.68), composite neonatal morbidity and mortality (relative risk, 0.59; 95% confidence interval, 0.33-0.98), and birthweight <1500 g (relative risk, 0.55; 95% confidence interval, 0.33-0.94) in twin gestations with a transvaginal sonographic cervical length ≤25 mm (6 studies; 95 women and 190 fetuses/infants). The quality of evidence was moderate for all these outcomes., Conclusion: Vaginal progesterone does not prevent preterm birth, nor does it improve perinatal outcomes in unselected twin gestations, but it appears to reduce the risk of preterm birth occurring at early gestational ages and of neonatal morbidity and mortality in twin gestations with a sonographic short cervix. However, more evidence is needed before recommending this intervention to this subset of patients., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Across multiple pandemics, global health governance institutions have struggled to secure the compliance of states with international legal and political commitments, ranging from data sharing to observing WHO guidance to sharing vaccines. In response, governments are negotiating a new pandemic treaty and revising the International Health Regulations. Achieving compliance remains challenging, but international relations and international law research in areas outside of health offers insights. This Health Policy analyses international relations research on the reasons why states comply with international law, even in the absence of sanctions. Drawing on human rights, trade, finance, tobacco, and environmental law, we categorise compliance mechanisms as police patrol, fire alarm, or community organiser models. We show that, to date, current and proposed global health law incorporates only a few of the mechanisms that have shown to be effective in other areas. We offer six specific, politically feasible mechanisms for new international agreements that, together, could create compliance pressures to shift state behaviour., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests CW served on the IHR Review Committee for Amendments to IHR, and subsequently has acted as a consultant for the WHO Regional Office for Europe. MMK serves as a special advisor to the UN Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS. LRH is a member of the UN Human Rights Committee, but this Health Policy is written in his personal capacity. All other authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: An indirect comparison meta-analysis published in 2013 reported that both vaginal progesterone and cerclage are equally efficacious for preventing preterm birth and adverse perinatal outcomes in women with a singleton gestation, previous spontaneous preterm birth, and a sonographic short cervix. The efficacy of vaginal progesterone has been challenged after publication of the OPPTIMUM study. However, this has been resolved by an individual patient-data meta-analysis (Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2018;218:161-180)., Objective: To compare the efficacy of vaginal progesterone and cerclage in preventing preterm birth and adverse perinatal outcomes in women with a singleton gestation, previous spontaneous preterm birth, and a midtrimester sonographic short cervix., Data Sources: MEDLINE, EMBASE, LILACS, and CINAHL (from their inception to March 2018); Cochrane databases, bibliographies, and conference proceedings., Study Eligibility Criteria: Randomized controlled trials comparing vaginal progesterone to placebo/no treatment or cerclage to no cerclage in women with a singleton gestation, previous spontaneous preterm birth, and a sonographic cervical length <25 mm., Study Appraisal and Synthesis Methods: Updated systematic review and adjusted indirect comparison meta-analysis of vaginal progesterone vs cerclage using placebo/no cerclage as the common comparator. The primary outcomes were preterm birth <35 weeks of gestation and perinatal mortality. Pooled relative risks (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals were calculated., Results: Five trials comparing vaginal progesterone vs placebo (265 women) and 5 comparing cerclage vs no cerclage (504 women) were included. Vaginal progesterone, compared to placebo, significantly reduced the risk of preterm birth <35 and <32 weeks of gestation, composite perinatal morbidity/mortality, neonatal sepsis, composite neonatal morbidity, and admission to the neonatal intensive care unit (RRs from 0.29 to 0.68). Cerclage, compared to no cerclage, significantly decreased the risk of preterm birth <37, <35, <32, and <28 weeks of gestation, composite perinatal morbidity/mortality, and birthweight <1500 g (RRs from 0.64 to 0.70). Adjusted indirect comparison meta-analyses did not show statistically significant differences between vaginal progesterone and cerclage in the reduction of preterm birth or adverse perinatal outcomes., Conclusion: Vaginal progesterone and cerclage are equally effective for preventing preterm birth and improving perinatal outcomes in women with a singleton gestation, previous spontaneous preterm birth, and a midtrimester sonographic short cervix. The choice of treatment will depend on adverse events and cost-effectiveness of interventions and patient/physician's preferences., (Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Background: The efficacy of vaginal progesterone for preventing preterm birth and adverse perinatal outcomes in singleton gestations with a short cervix has been questioned after publication of the OPPTIMUM study., Objective: To determine whether vaginal progesterone prevents preterm birth and improves perinatal outcomes in asymptomatic women with a singleton gestation and a midtrimester sonographic short cervix., Study Design: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, LILACS, and CINAHL (from their inception to September 2017); Cochrane databases; bibliographies; and conference proceedings for randomized controlled trials comparing vaginal progesterone vs placebo/no treatment in women with a singleton gestation and a midtrimester sonographic cervical length ≤25 mm. This was a systematic review and meta-analysis of individual patient data. The primary outcome was preterm birth <33 weeks of gestation. Secondary outcomes included adverse perinatal outcomes and neurodevelopmental and health outcomes at 2 years of age. Individual patient data were analyzed using a 2-stage approach. Pooled relative risks with 95% confidence intervals were calculated. Quality of evidence was assessed using the GRADE methodology., Results: Data were available from 974 women (498 allocated to vaginal progesterone, 476 allocated to placebo) with a cervical length ≤25 mm participating in 5 high-quality trials. Vaginal progesterone was associated with a significant reduction in the risk of preterm birth <33 weeks of gestation (relative risk, 0.62; 95% confidence interval, 0.47-0.81; P = .0006; high-quality evidence). Moreover, vaginal progesterone significantly decreased the risk of preterm birth <36, <35, <34, <32, <30, and <28 weeks of gestation; spontaneous preterm birth <33 and <34 weeks of gestation; respiratory distress syndrome; composite neonatal morbidity and mortality; birthweight <1500 and <2500 g; and admission to the neonatal intensive care unit (relative risks from 0.47-0.82; high-quality evidence for all). There were 7 (1.4%) neonatal deaths in the vaginal progesterone group and 15 (3.2%) in the placebo group (relative risk, 0.44; 95% confidence interval, 0.18-1.07; P = .07; low-quality evidence). Maternal adverse events, congenital anomalies, and adverse neurodevelopmental and health outcomes at 2 years of age did not differ between groups., Conclusion: Vaginal progesterone decreases the risk of preterm birth and improves perinatal outcomes in singleton gestations with a midtrimester sonographic short cervix, without any demonstrable deleterious effects on childhood neurodevelopment., (Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Introduction: Many theories have been proposed for the coexistence of constipation and lower urinary tract dysfunction (LUTD), such as bladder compression from a distended rectum and stimulation of sacral reflexes from a full rectum. In these cases, successful treatment of constipation should result in resolution of bladder symptoms. Some children have refractory constipation and others respond well to treatment, but once treatment is discontinued most children relapse back into their constipation. This may indicate the existence of a defect in colon motility, with a persistent peristalsis problem. The existence of a common neuromuscular disorder should be the base for both bladder and bowel dysfunction (BBD)., Objective: To study colonic transit time (CTT) in children and adolescents with refractory constipation and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS)., Materials and Methods: A total of 15 children (mean age 9.7 years) with refractory constipation and LUTS were evaluated with: standardized medical history; physical examination; bladder and bowel diaries; Bristol stool scale; Rome III criteria; Dysfunctional Voiding Scoring System (DVSS); ultrasound examination of the kidneys and urinary tract, and measurement of rectal diameter; urodynamic evaluation; and a CTT study using radiopaque markers., Results: Urodynamic features were abnormal in 13 out of 15 children: 10 (66.7%) presented with detrusor overactivity (DO) and voiding dysfunction (VD), two (16.7%) had isolated DO, and one (8.3%) had a VD. The CTT study was abnormal in 12 out of 15 children: nine (60%) presented with slow transit constipation, three (20%) had outlet obstruction, and three (20%) had a normal CTT study. When comparing CTT and LUTD, nine (100%) children with slow transit constipation (STC) and three (50%) with no STC had DO (P = 0.04). Seven (77.8%) children with STC and three (50%) with no STC had VD (P = 0.29). The DVSS scores ranged from 6 to 21. The subgroup with STC had a DVSS score that was significantly higher than that of the subgroup with noF STC (Figure)., Discussion: The present study showed a high prevalence of STC in children and adolescents with refractory constipation and LUTS. This was in accordance with previous studies that have demonstrated a rate of 50-60% of STC in children with refractory constipation. In addition, DO was found to be associated with STC, which raises the chance for the existence of a common neuromuscular disorder to be the base for both bladder and bowel dysmotility. The limitation of this study was the number of participants., Conclusions: The present study demonstrated an association between DO and STC., (Copyright © 2015 Journal of Pediatric Urology Company. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: No randomized controlled trial has compared vaginal progesterone and cervical cerclage directly for the prevention of preterm birth in women with a sonographic short cervix in the mid trimester, singleton gestation, and previous spontaneous preterm birth. We performed an indirect comparison of vaginal progesterone vs cerclage using placebo/no cerclage as the common comparator., Study Design: Adjusted indirect metaanalysis of randomized controlled trials., Results: Four studies that evaluated vaginal progesterone vs placebo (158 patients) and 5 studies that evaluated cerclage vs no cerclage (504 patients) were included. Both interventions were associated with a statistically significant reduction in the risk of preterm birth at <32 weeks of gestation and composite perinatal morbidity and mortality compared with placebo/no cerclage. Adjusted indirect metaanalyses did not show statistically significant differences between vaginal progesterone and cerclage in the reduction of preterm birth or adverse perinatal outcomes., Conclusion: Based on state-of-the-art methods for indirect comparisons, either vaginal progesterone or cerclage are equally efficacious in the prevention of preterm birth in women with a sonographic short cervix in the mid trimester, singleton gestation, and previous preterm birth. Selection of the optimal treatment needs to consider adverse events, cost and patient/clinician preferences., (Copyright © 2013. Published by Mosby, Inc.)

Objective: To determine whether the use of vaginal progesterone in asymptomatic women with a sonographic short cervix (≤ 25 mm) in the midtrimester reduces the risk of preterm birth and improves neonatal morbidity and mortality., Study Design: Individual patient data metaanalysis of randomized controlled trials., Results: Five trials of high quality were included with a total of 775 women and 827 infants. Treatment with vaginal progesterone was associated with a significant reduction in the rate of preterm birth <33 weeks (relative risk [RR], 0.58; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.42-0.80), <35 weeks (RR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.55-0.88), and <28 weeks (RR, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.30-0.81); respiratory distress syndrome (RR, 0.48; 95% CI, 0.30-0.76); composite neonatal morbidity and mortality (RR, 0.57; 95% CI, 0.40-0.81); birthweight <1500 g (RR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.38-0.80); admission to neonatal intensive care unit (RR, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.59-0.94); and requirement for mechanical ventilation (RR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.44-0.98). There were no significant differences between the vaginal progesterone and placebo groups in the rate of adverse maternal events or congenital anomalies., Conclusion: Vaginal progesterone administration to asymptomatic women with a sonographic short cervix reduces the risk of preterm birth and neonatal morbidity and mortality., (Copyright © 2012. Published by Mosby, Inc.)