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Arteriosclerosis and associated cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of mortality. Improved methods for vascular plaque detection allow early diagnose and better therapeutic options. Present diagnostic tools require intense technical expenditure and diminish value of modern screening methods. Our group developed an microwave sensor for on-site detection of plaque formation in arterial vessels. The sensor is an oscillator working around 27 GHz which is coupled to a microstrip stub line. The final flexible polyimid interposer has a length of 38 cm, a width of 1.2 mm and a thickness of 200 μm. Because of its minimal size the interposer completed a catheter with a diameter of 8F ready for further clinical use in cardiology and heart surgery.

Objectives: to analyze the factors associated with maternal well-being during childbirth among postpartum women in Minas Gerais., Methods: a cross-sectional study nested within a cohort was conducted with postpartum women in a municipality of Minas Gerais. The Maternal Well-being in Childbirth Scale 2 was used. The prevalence of maternal well-being during childbirth was estimated. The magnitude of the association between maternal distress and care practices was estimated using the Prevalence Ratio (PR), applying Poisson regression., Results: a total of 183 postpartum women aged between 15 and 46 years participated, with 26.2%, 27.9%, and 45.9% reporting excellent, adequate, and poor well-being during childbirth care, respectively. Maternal distress was more prevalent among women who underwent cesarean sections (PR = 1.60) and those who did not receive breastfeeding information (PR = 1.59)., Conclusions: a high prevalence of maternal distress during childbirth was observed, associated with cesarean delivery and the lack of breastfeeding information.

Objectives: assess the implementation of actions to prevent vertical transmission of HIV., Methods: a retrospective cohort study conducted in two maternity hospitals in the city of Montes Claros, State of Minas Gerais. All women admitted for childbirth diagnosed with HIV and their respective newborns were included from 2014 to 2017. Data were collected from medical records and analyzed descriptively., Results: population consisted of 46 pairs of mothers and newborns. Management was considered inadequate in 30 cases of parturient/postpartum women (65.2%) and 14 cases of newborns (30.4%). The main reasons for inadequate maternal management were lack of pharmacological inhibition of lactation (53.3%) and counseling/consent for HIV testing (43.3%). For newborns, late onsetoffirst dose ofZidovudine (50.0%) and no prescriptionofNevirapine (28.6%)., Conclusions: important prevention opportunities were missed, pointing to the need for improved care.

Objective: to analyze factors associated with Apgar of 5 minutes less than 7 of newborns of women selected for care at the Center for Normal Birth (ANC)., Method: a descriptive cross-sectional study with data from 9,135 newborns collected between July 2001 and December 2012. The analysis used absolute and relative frequency frequencies and bivariate analysis using Pearson's chi-square test or the exact Fisher., Results: fifty-three newborns (0.6%) had Apgar less than 7 in the 5th minute. The multivariate analysis found a positive association between low Apgar and gestational age less than 37 weeks, gestational pathologies and intercurrences in labor. The presence of the companion was a protective factor., Conclusion: the Normal Birth Center is a viable option for newborns of low risk women as long as the protocol for screening low-risk women is followed.

Objective: To compare collaborative and traditional childbirth care models., Methods: Cross-sectional study with 655 primiparous women in four public health system hospitals in Belo Horizonte, MG, Southeastern Brazil, in 2011 (333 women for the collaborative model and 322 for the traditional model, including those with induced or premature labor). Data were collected using interviews and medical records. The Chi-square test was used to compare the outcomes and multivariate logistic regression to determine the association between the model and the interventions used., Results: Paid work and schooling showed significant differences in distribution between the models. Oxytocin (50.2% collaborative model and 65.5% traditional model; p < 0.001), amniotomy (54.3% collaborative model and 65.9% traditional model; p = 0.012) and episiotomy (collaborative model 16.1% and traditional model 85.2%; p < 0.001) were less used in the collaborative model with increased application of non-pharmacological pain relief (85.0% collaborative model and 78.9% traditional model; p = 0.042). The association between the collaborative model and the reduction in the use of oxytocin, artificial rupture of membranes and episiotomy remained after adjustment for confounding. The care model was not associated with complications in newborns or mothers neither with the use of spinal or epidural analgesia., Conclusions: The results suggest that collaborative model may reduce interventions performed in labor care with similar perinatal outcomes.

This cross-sectional study of 831 low-risk pregnancies compared the management of labor and delivery in a birthing center, a hospital that had previously won the "Galba de Araújo" Award (for excellence in obstetric and neonatal care), and a standard-protocol maternity facility. The rates for use of ocytocin during labor were 27.9%, 59.5%, and 40.1%, while amniotomy was performed in 67.6%, 73.6%, and 82.2% of the women, respectively. Episiotomy rates were lower in the first two facilities, which have adopted patient-centered obstetric practices (7.2% at the birthing center and 14.8% at the award-winning hospital) as compared to 54.9% at the standard maternity facility. The liberal offer of epidural anesthesia at the awarding-winning hospital resulted in a higher anesthesia rate (54.4%) as compared to the standard facility (7.7%). Forceps delivery and neonatal admission rates were higher in the standard hospital, but there were no differences in mean Apgar or cesarean rates. The findings suggest resistance to selective use of interventions in all three models of obstetric care, although favoring the birthing center as a strategy for controlling interventions during labor and childbirth in low-risk pregnancies, with no resulting harm to the mothers or newborns.

This was a descriptive and retrospective study of 2,117 deliveries from January 2002 to July 2003 at the Dr. David Capistrano da Costa Filho Birthing Center in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Widespread questions have been raised concerning the quality of services provided at birthing centers by obstetric nurses. The results of the current study were: 11.4% maternal transfer rate; 2.2% cesarean sections; 1.2% neonatal ICU admissions; and 1% 5-minute Apgar scores below 7. Delivery dystocia and the request for epidural anesthesia were the main reasons for maternal transfer, and respiratory distress was the main cause of neonatal ICU admission. Corrected neonatal mortality was 2 per 1,000 live births. The results at this birthing center did not differ significantly from those in a review of the international literature. The most striking finding was the low cesarean rate. Comparative studies and more comprehensive national data on low-risk gestations are needed.