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Purpose: The acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has had a high impact on patients with chronic diseases. In the literature, there are different perspectives on asthma as comorbidity or risk factor on COVID-19 severity. Patients and Methods: The aim of this retrospective study across 13 allergy departments in Spain was to determine the severity of COVID-19 in asthmatic adults followed in allergy departments and its relationship with atopy, clinical and demographic characteristics, phenotypes and laboratory data. In addition, lung function test and asthma control test (ACT) before and after COVID-19 were analyzed. Data was obtained from electronic medical records from March 2020 to April 2021. Results: Two hundred one asthmatic patients were diagnosed with COVID-19 infection by validated detection test. About 30% of the patients were admitted for bilateral pneumonia. Advanced age, elevated D-dimer, lower numbers of lymphocytes and eosinophils, heart diseases and hypertension were associated with severe COVID-19. Allergic and mixed allergic/eosinophilic phenotype and their biomarkers (total IgE, aeroallergens sensitizations, allergic rhinitis, and blood eosinophilia) were related to fewer hospital admissions. Poor control and lower forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1) were related to worse prognosis of COVID-19. Conclusion: Asthmatic patients with allergic and eosinophilic phenotype have a better evolution of COVID-19 and lower risk of admissions. Older patients, cardiovascular comorbidities, AERD and eosinopenia are related to severity COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here we present three short stories written by Hubert Jennings while he lived in Portugal, in 1968 and 1969: "Rua Dona Estefânia," "From a Lisbon Window," and "At the Brasileira" – the first two unpublished, and the latter having four different versions (three recently found in the Jennings archive, and one published in 1988 in the South African journal Contrast). The introduction to these texts also analyzes the short story "Judica Me Deus," the only fictional chapter of Jennings's book The DHS Story, in which, seemingly for the first time, Fernando Pessoa was turned into a literary character. By focusing on "At the Brasileira" and "Judica Me Deus," comparing and contrasting how those pieces recreate Pessoa, this presentation places Jennings among authors such as José Saramago and Antonio Tabucchi, who would later also turn Pessoa and/or his heteronymous personae into elements of their own fictional worlds.

É forçoso admitir a existência de temas-tabu na sociedade brasileira. Com uma tradição fortemente lastreada em valores cristãos, aos quais se associa a ideia da intangibilidade corporal, falar-se dos limites ético-jurídicos da autonomia da pessoa em relação aos usos do corpo, no Brasil, é tarefa bastante árdua, principalmente se se pretende explorar a fundo a temática dos transplantes de órgãos e tecidos. Embora consista no maior programa público de transplantes do mundo, o Sistema Nacional de Transplantes, totalmente estruturado a partir de doações, não tem conseguido suprir o problema da escassez de enxertos. Registra-se aumento da demanda, com número considerável de pessoas aguardando nas filas de espera. Ao problema da escassez, associam-se a falta de precisão nos critérios de morte e as restrições à autonomia individual nas decisões sobre doação, sendo, portanto, indispensável discutirem-se as bases sobre as quais esse sistema se assenta. Frise-se que a construção de qualquer consenso em uma sociedade democrática, aberta e plural - como pretendido pela nossa - pressupõe um debate fundado no uso público da razão e no império do melhor argumento. Assim, e (re)pensando a questão sob uma perspectiva eminentemente ético-intersubjetiva, é possível apontar falhas, acertos e novas propostas para se tentar alcançar os principais objetivos de um sistema ético de transplantes: reduzir o déficit entre a oferta e a demanda de enxertos, tornar os procedimentos transplantatórios mais seguros, universalmente acessíveis, bem como se valorizarem as escolhas autônomas dos envolvidos.