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Background: Fungal keratitis is a severe eye infection that can result in blindness and visual impairment, particularly in developing countries. Fusarium spp. are the primary causative agents of this condition. Diagnosis of Fusarium keratitis (FK) is challenging, and delayed treatment can lead to serious complications. However, there is limited epidemiological data on FK, especially in tropical areas. Objectives: This study aimed to describe the clinical, laboratorial and epidemiological characteristics of FK in a tropical semi‐arid region of Brazil. Patients/Methods: Adult patients with laboratory‐confirmed FK diagnosed between October 2019 and March 2022 were evaluated. Fusarium isolates were characterized at molecular level and evaluated regarding antifungal susceptibility. Results: A total of 226 clinical samples from patients suspected of keratitis were evaluated; fungal growth was detected in 50 samples (22.12%); out of which 42 were suggestive of Fusarium spp. (84%). Molecular analysis of a randomly selected set of 27 isolates identified F. solani species complex (n = 14); F. fujikuroi sensu lato (n = 6) and F. dimerum sensu lato (n = 7); a total of 10 haplotypes were identified among the strains. All but one Fusarium strains were inhibited by amphotericin B, natamycin and fluconazole. Most patients were male (71.42%; 30 out of 42), aged from 27 to 73 years old. Trauma was the most important risk factor for FK (40.47%; 17 out of 42). Patients were treated with antifungals, corticoids and antibiotics; keratoplasty and eye enucleation were also performed. Conclusions: The study provided insights into the characteristics of FK in tropical regions and emphasized the importance of enhanced surveillance and management strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Inventories are essential for forest management, but, in the Amazon region, the absence of standardization produces information loss, low accuracy, and inconsistent measurements. This prevents valid comparisons and compromises the use of information in networks and software. Sampling unit size is of key importance in the inventory of native forests, particularly regarding accuracy and costs. Objective: To identify a plot size that provides adequate precision for dendrometric parameters in the Amazon. Methods: In Cotriguaçu, Mato Grosso, Brazil, we tested four plot sizes with six repetitions each: 2 500, 5 000, 7 500, and 10 000 m². We measured diameter at breast height, population density, basal area, and biomass. We applied Shannon and Jaccard indexes; Weibull 2P and Gamma functions to fit the diametric distribution; and the Akaike Information Criterion for the best model. Results: There was a directly proportional relationship between plot area and population similarity, but diversity did not indicate significant alterations. Plot size did not affect dendrometric attributes and diametric distribution. Larger plot areas led to lower coefficients of variation and smaller confidence intervals. The Gamma function was the best model to represent the distributions of different plot sizes. Conclusions: For similar forests, we recommend the 2 500 m² plot to evaluate diameter at breast height, population density, basal area, and biomass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pine plantations are an important wood source in Brazil, with Pinus taeda being most frequently planted. Most pinewood is directed to the paper and pulp industry, but there is an increasing demand for wood for solid end-uses, requiring large stems from longer rotations which can be obtained using P. taeda as the canopy in two-aged stands. We evaluated radial growth and wood density at different stem heights of P. taeda in the highlands of Southern Brazil over a production period of 36 years and subjected to shelterwood harvest. Cross-sectional disks were obtained from 15 trees in different stem heights; 10 were used for growth analyses and 5 for growth and density analyses. We used disk images and X-ray techniques for growth and density analyses, respectively. Samples were analyzed for ring (width and density), earlywood, and latewood (width, density, and proportion). Ring width varied between 0.4 and 1.7 cm, with the widest rings in the first years (3–5 years.) of growth. Ring density increased with age, with higher densities on the lower stem portions. Mature wood started to be formed from the 16th ring onwards. Shelterwood harvest affected both ring width and density, but the effects on ring width lasted for at least 5 years, while the effects on wood density were short-lasting. Mature P. taeda trees increased their size after the shelterwood harvest without compromising their wood density. Longer production periods of P. taeda as retained trees in the canopy of two-aged stands provide high-quality wood for structural purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The aim of the present study was to verify the presence of a microgap between implants and prosthetic abutments on their external surfaces in five different external-hex implant systems and to determine whether bacterial leakage occurs through the implant-abutment (I-A) interface. Materials and Methods: Ten samples of each implant system were used. Eight samples of each implant system were inoculated with 0.3 µL of a suspension of Escherichia coli for bacterial leakage evaluation. Two other samples were used as controls. Sample analysis was accomplished at 24 and 48 hours and on the 5th, 7th, and 14th day after inoculation. After microbiologic analysis, all samples were prepared for I-A interface evaluation by scanning electron microscopy. The mean of the microgap misfit was obtained from six points at ×1,000 and ×3,000 magnifications. Results: The Neodent implant system (0.51 ± 0.39 µm) showed the closest adaptation, followed by Dentoflex (1.44 ± 0.73 µm), Titanium Fix (1.88 ± 1.28 µm), SIN (2.46 ± 3.38 µm), and Conexão (2.68 ± 3.02 µm). Twenty-five percent of the Dentoflex samples showed bacterial leakage through the I-A interface; no other implant system presented bacterial leakage. Conclusion: The width of the microgap at the I-A interface was less than 3 µm in all systems. A direct correlation between bacterial leakage and I-A interface misfit was not observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Remote sensing applications in forest inventories allow for a detailed view of areas with extensive forest cover while potentially lowering costs. In this context, the objective of this study was to propose a methodology for using Landsat data to predict and project eucalyptus forest growth and yield, as well as to analyze forest growth dynamics. Three scenarios with varying sample sizes were proposed to assess the possibility of cost savings. The estimation was performed using an artificial neural network (ANN) and the random forest (RF) algorithm. Wall-to-wall prediction and projection were used, and projection maps were used to calculate the mean and current monthly increments. The relative root mean square error (RRMSE) values for the wall-to-wall prediction and for the projection ranged from 7.9% to 14.5% and 6.8% to 11.8%, respectively. All of the estimated means fell within the forest inventory confidence intervals. The mean and current monthly increment values projected by the ANN model did not differ from those obtained by the continuous forest inventory. Considering that the sampling intensity of traditional continuous forest inventories normally is one plot every 10 ha, the methodology presented here can be used to reduce sampling intensity to one plot for every 83.3 ha, without significant loss of accuracy, which represents a relevant cost reduction. [Display omitted] • Landsat data were used for modeling the eucalyptus forest growth and yield. • Different sample sizes were proposed for cost savings assessment. • Remote sensing data were effective in projecting the forest growth behavior. • Landsat data can be used to reduce the costs of the forest inventory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Controlling the COVID-19 outbreak in Brazil is a challenge due to the population's size and urban density, inefficient maintenance of social distancing and testing strategies, and limited availability of testing resources.Objective: The purpose of this study is to effectively prioritize patients who are symptomatic for testing to assist early COVID-19 detection in Brazil, addressing problems related to inefficient testing and control strategies.Methods: Raw data from 55,676 Brazilians were preprocessed, and the chi-square test was used to confirm the relevance of the following features: gender, health professional, fever, sore throat, dyspnea, olfactory disorders, cough, coryza, taste disorders, and headache. Classification models were implemented relying on preprocessed data sets; supervised learning; and the algorithms multilayer perceptron (MLP), gradient boosting machine (GBM), decision tree (DT), random forest (RF), extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), k-nearest neighbors (KNN), support vector machine (SVM), and logistic regression (LR). The models' performances were analyzed using 10-fold cross-validation, classification metrics, and the Friedman and Nemenyi statistical tests. The permutation feature importance method was applied for ranking the features used by the classification models with the highest performances.Results: Gender, fever, and dyspnea were among the highest-ranked features used by the classification models. The comparative analysis presents MLP, GBM, DT, RF, XGBoost, and SVM as the highest performance models with similar results. KNN and LR were outperformed by the other algorithms. Applying the easy interpretability as an additional comparison criterion, the DT was considered the most suitable model.Conclusions: The DT classification model can effectively (with a mean accuracy≥89.12%) assist COVID-19 test prioritization in Brazil. The model can be applied to recommend the prioritizing of a patient who is symptomatic for COVID-19 testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Family-centered rehabilitative care optimizes outcomes for children with significant developmental disabilities. Family-centered services involve assessing family resources that promote positive developmental outcomes for children. Little is known regarding family resources in the context of caring for a child with developmental disabilities in Brazil due to an absence of validated measures. This study describes the translation and cultural adaptation of the Family Resource Scale and explored the measurement quality of the resulting measure (the Brazilian-Family Resource Scale, or B-FRS)., Methods: A rigorous serial translation process that emphasized linguistic accuracy as well as cultural adaptation was utilized. The resulting 27-item B-FRS was theoretically related and reflected the contextual intent of the original measure., Results: A four-factor scoring approach yielded acceptable internal consistency estimates for the subscales and total scale score. Overall, low levels of family resources were reported by caregivers of children with Congenital Zika Syndrome. Low family resources were associated with parental depressive and stress-related symptoms., Conclusion: Confirmatory factor analysis of the B-FRS in a larger sample is recommended. Practitioners in Brazil should broadly consider family needs and resources to provide family-centered care that is effective for the child and engages the family in a way that highlights their strengths and promotes positive developmental trajectories.

The sexual dimorphism of the Kinosternon scorpioides was evaluated using two different techniques (linear and geometric morphometry) from images and linear measurements of the carapace and plastron of adults (male and female). Linear morphometry indicated that the height and width of carapace and plastron are statistically different between sexes, with females being wider and taller. In the evaluation of geometric morphometry, ANOVA demonstrated variation in the size of the plastron and the shape of the carapace and plastron, expressing a tendency in shape for each sex. Sexual dimorphism, therefore, is verified for this species, notably by the plastron. This study indicates an additional tool for the phenotypic knowledge of animals, contributing to the study of threatened populations.

Purpose: To examine the psychological well-being of primary caregivers of infants and toddlers with Congenital Zika Syndrome (CZS), and the roles of family resources, parenting stress, and coping strategies in caregivers' adaptation., Materials and Methods: Family caregivers ( N  = 50) of children with CZS who were receiving treatment at a rehabilitation hospital in Recife, Brazil participated a cross-sectional survey study. Caregivers completed measures of anxiety and depression, coping strategies, family resources, and parenting stress., Results: Mild to severe symptoms of depression were identified in 40% of caregivers and were a more prominent concern than symptoms of anxiety. Fewer family resources and high levels of parenting stress were significantly associated with both anxiety and depression. The association between parenting stress and depression was moderated by coping, such that parenting stress was associated with higher caregiver depression at low but not high levels of coping strategy use., Conclusions: Practitioners in Brazil should consider the role of family coping and resources as important resilience promoting factors in the development of new programs designed to promote psychological adaptation in caregivers to children with CZS. It is recommended that caregiver mental health support services be integrated into existing early intervention programs targeting children with CZS.Implications for RehabilitationParents and other primary caregivers are encouraged to take an active role in the care and developmental monitoring of children born with CZS, but their ability to provide care may be compromised by difficulties in psychological adaptation.Moderate and severe symptoms of depression were more prominent in caregivers than moderate and severe symptoms of anxiety (20% versus 6%, respectively).Practitioners should include assessment of coping strategies, parenting stress and family resources conjointly with evaluation of symptoms of depression and anxiety as part of routine CZS family evaluations.A useful approach for caregivers in Brazil may be to more fully integrate caregiver mental health support services into existing early intervention programs for children with CZS.

Background: Controlling the COVID-19 outbreak in Brazil is a challenge due to the population's size and urban density, inefficient maintenance of social distancing and testing strategies, and limited availability of testing resources., Objective: The purpose of this study is to effectively prioritize patients who are symptomatic for testing to assist early COVID-19 detection in Brazil, addressing problems related to inefficient testing and control strategies., Methods: Raw data from 55,676 Brazilians were preprocessed, and the chi-square test was used to confirm the relevance of the following features: gender, health professional, fever, sore throat, dyspnea, olfactory disorders, cough, coryza, taste disorders, and headache. Classification models were implemented relying on preprocessed data sets; supervised learning; and the algorithms multilayer perceptron (MLP), gradient boosting machine (GBM), decision tree (DT), random forest (RF), extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), k-nearest neighbors (KNN), support vector machine (SVM), and logistic regression (LR). The models' performances were analyzed using 10-fold cross-validation, classification metrics, and the Friedman and Nemenyi statistical tests. The permutation feature importance method was applied for ranking the features used by the classification models with the highest performances., Results: Gender, fever, and dyspnea were among the highest-ranked features used by the classification models. The comparative analysis presents MLP, GBM, DT, RF, XGBoost, and SVM as the highest performance models with similar results. KNN and LR were outperformed by the other algorithms. Applying the easy interpretability as an additional comparison criterion, the DT was considered the most suitable model., Conclusions: The DT classification model can effectively (with a mean accuracy≥89.12%) assist COVID-19 test prioritization in Brazil. The model can be applied to recommend the prioritizing of a patient who is symptomatic for COVID-19 testing., (©Íris Viana dos Santos Santana, Andressa CM da Silveira, Álvaro Sobrinho, Lenardo Chaves e Silva, Leandro Dias da Silva, Danilo F S Santos, Edmar C Gurjão, Angelo Perkusich. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 08.04.2021.)

Objective: Healthcare workers are at risk for COVID-19 contamination. It is important to protect them in order to reduce nosocomial transmission and maintain the assistance capacity of health systems. To evaluate the diagnostic test and retest strategy with RT-PCR for SARS-CoV-2 and factors associated with the diagnosis of COVID-19 among healthcare workers., Patients and Methods: Cross-sectional study carried out in a Brazilian hospital. From April 27 to June 16, 2020, symptomatic healthcare workers underwent an RT-PCR test on upper respiratory tract specimens as soon as possible and, if negative, it was repeated close to the 5th day of symptom evolution. Working areas were divided into assistance areas dedicated or not dedicated to COVID-19 and non-assistance areas. The type of activity was divided into assistance or non-assistance activity., Results: 775 individuals were evaluated. 114 were diagnosed with COVID-19, of whom 101 followed the testing protocol. A second RT-PCR identified five (4.9%) of the positive cases. Working in an area dedicated to patients with COVID-19 was more prevalent among positive cases (35.1% x 19.8%, p=0.001) as well as working in an assistance activity (80.7% x 70.8%, p=0.031)., Conclusions: A second RT-PCR test after the 5th day of symptom evolution showed limited diagnostic improvement. The adoption of a single test-based strategy, carried out at the right time after the onset of symptoms, allows the optimal use of resources. Working in a COVID-19 dedicated area and in direct contact with patients is related to a higher prevalence of COVID-19 among symptomatic healthcare workers.

Modeling is an important statistical tool to Forest Science, especially to forest planning by predicting the forest's yield and assortments, for instance. This paper evaluated the accuracy of bivariate and generalized linear mixed modeling in the representation of the Pinus taeda L. trunk taper and the estimation of its assortments. To compose the fitting data, 558 trees from plantations located in the Southern region of Santa Catarina, Brazil, were scaled. Initially, the data's bivariate normality was evaluated, and the bivariate standard normal distribution was fitted. Six generalized linear mixed models were fitted for the bivariate representation of diameter and height in the trunk. Afterwards, some statistical indices were obtained to verify the quality of the fitted models and, in a complementary way, of the bivariate graphs of the residuals. Even with the application of Box-Cox transformation, the results indicate the non-normality of the variables, but the transformation contributed to improve the model fitting in 50%. The ordinal and exponential models obtained the best statistics for height representation, with the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) value being reduced from 16,430.13 to 5,686.78 when considering normal distribution. When evaluating the assortments prediction, there were high discrepancies in the estimated values (246 logs for sawmill and 120 logs for veneers) versus the observed ones (881 logs for sawmill and 628 logs for veneers), which corresponds to a 75% underestimation of total logs per hectare. Thus, the generalized linear mixed modeling improved the trunk taper representation, and the bivariate modeling was not efficient to predict assortments production., 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.)

A comparative study was performed on the venoms of adult specimens of the neotropical rattlesnake, Crotalus durissus, from Guatemala, Costa Rica, Venezuela and Brazil, together with the venom of newborn specimens of C. d. durissus from Costa Rica. Venoms from Brazil (C. d. terrificus) and from newborn specimens of C. d. durissus presented an electrophoretic pattern characterized by the predominance of bands with molecular mass of 36 and 15 kDa, whereas those of adult specimens of C. d. durissus from Guatemala and Costa Rica, and C. d. cumanensis from Venezuela, showed a conspicuous band of 62 kDa, and additional bands of 36, 29 and 15 kDa. Moreover, venoms from C. d. terrificus and C. d. cumanensis showed a prominent band of < 10 kDa that probably corresponds to crotamine, since a 'crotamine-like' activity was detected in these venoms upon intraperitoneal injection in mice. Venoms of C. d. terrificus, C. d cumanensis and newborn C. d. durissus induced higher lethal and myotoxic effects than those of adult C. d. durissus. In contrast, adult C. d. durissus and C. d. cumanensis venoms induced hemorrhage, whereas venoms of C. d. terrificus and newborn C. d. durissus lacked this effect. All venoms showed coagulant effect in plasma, the highest activity being observed in the venom of newborn C. d. durissus. An anti-crotalic antivenom produced by Instituto Butantan (Brazil), using C. d. terrificus venom as antigen, was effective in the neutralization of lethal, myotoxic and coagulant effects of all venoms studied, being ineffective in the neutralization of hemorrhagic activity of the venoms of C. d. cumanensis and C. d. durissus. On the other hand, a polyvalent antivenom produced by Instituto Clodomiro Picado (Costa Rica), using the venoms of C. d. durissus. Bothrops asper and Lachesis stenophrys as antigens, was able to neutralize lethal, myotoxic, coagulant and hemorrhagic effects of C. d. durissus venom, but was ineffective in the neutralization of lethality and myotoxicity of C. d. terrificus, C. d. cumanensis and newborn C. d. durissus venom. The high toxicity of South American and newborn C. d. durissus venoms is related to the presence of high concentrations of the neurotoxic phospholipase A2 complex 'crotoxin'. Accordingly, antivenom from Instituto Butantan has a much higher titer of anti-crotoxin antibodies than antivenom from Instituto Clodomiro Picado. Crotalus durissus represents an example of intraspecies variation in venom composition and pharmacology that has relevant pathophysiologic and therapeutic implications.

Background: Nitric oxide is an important regulator of various biological activities in human physiology, and it has been studied in the physiopathology of asthma, especially in exhaled air., Objective: We studied the presence of NO in sera of patients with distinct degrees of asthma severity in order to determine a parameter of diagnosis and control of efficacious treatment., Methods: We determined the presence of NO based upon the Griess reaction in the sera of 124 donors--34 controls and 90 asthmatic subjects., Results: Asthmatic patients presented higher levels of nitric oxide in peripheral blood (56.54 +/- 33.37) compared to the control group (3.06 +/- 4.48). A statistically significant difference (p < 0.0001) between the nitric oxide sera levels from the two groups was demonstrated., Conclusion: This study demonstrates that nitric oxide sera levels can be used as an additional inflammatory marker in asthma, especially as an auxiliary diagnostic method in children where NO exhaled air analysis is difficult.

This article shows the importance of the nursing service in the health organizations. The metaphor "giant" will be used to describe the extent of this service, and the term "silent" will be used to refer to the little acknowledgment the nursing service receives from the community. The extent and complexity of the nursing assistance is vital for the effectiveness of the processes of health care, however its structure and organization is unknown by the community. The nursing service congregates a great number of personnel with different levels of education. The planning, organization, structure and operation of this service follow the principles of the General Theory of Administration. Knowledge from this area has also been used to help health institutions to achieve its goals and objectives. This study also approaches the client and the quality of health assistance, pointing out the need of reexamining the administrative model adopted and looking forward to systemic alternatives.

According to several studies, nursing, especially in hospital settings, is one of the most stressful professions. The objective of this study was to identify the sources of stress related to the administrative tasks of nurses working in a hospital, as well as the main health changes that stress caused these professionals. The quantitative survey was carried out in 1996 with a sample of 207 nurses at a university hospital in the city of Porto Alegre, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. A questionnaire was used to collect data on stress sources and symptoms. The questionnaire also gathered demographic data, as well as information on the nurses' feelings about their working conditions. The average age of the study participants was 35.8 years, and the average time working at the hospital was 8.5 years. Among participants, 48% were considered to be stressed. Work overload was the stress source that best predicted relative risk of stress (6.1). In terms of stress symptoms, the most commonly reported ones were cardiovascular changes. However, gastrointestinal changes were related to a higher risk of stress (5.3). Managing other staff was the stress source that had the greatest number of significant correlations with stress symptoms. On the other hand, immunologic changes were the symptoms that had the highest correlation with stress sources. Our results suggest that stress related to administrative tasks in nursing may trigger changes in nurses' health.

This study aimed to understand the meaning of being with AIDS among HIV/AIDS mothers. It looks for to identify the emotions and the way of cope with the situation as a mother has a healthy son. This study was conducted based on the Social Representations Theory. The findings showed "to be mother" and "to have AIDS" represented as a process that does not finish in the disease itself. Also it was found that there is a polarize link between the good and the evil. Indeed, this study brought the sexuality likewise the polarized link, being AIDS linked to evil aspect. These women from this study had perceived themselves as guilty of something, as a result, they deserved the punishment that the AIDS imposed on them.