Risk factors for dengue virus infection in rural Amazonia: Population-based cross-sectional surveys

A comparison of dengue virus (DENV) antibody levels in paired serum samples collected from predominantly DENV-naive residents in an agricultural settlement in Brazilian Amazonia (baseline seroprevalence, 18.3%) showed a seroconversion rate of 3.67 episodes/100 person-years at risk during 12 months of follow-up. Multivariate analysis identified male sex, poverty, and migration from extra-Amazonian states as significant predictors of baseline DENY seropositivity, whereas male sex, a history of clinical diagnosis of dengue fever, and travel to an urban area predicted subsequent seroconversion. The laboratory surveillance of acute febrile illnesses implemented at the study site and in a nearby town between 2004 and 2006 confirmed 11. DENV infections among 102 episodes studied with DENV IgM detection, reverse transcriptase-polymerise chain reaction, and virus isolation; DENV-3 was isolated. Because DENV exposure is associated with migration or travel, personal protection measures when visiting high-risk urban areas may reduce the incidence of DENV infection in this rural population.

Health surveys and use of maternal and child health care services in three municipalities within the Sao Paulo metropolitan area

Objectives. To describe the changes in the use of maternal and child health care services by residents of three municipalities-Embu, Itapecerica da Serra, and Taboao da Serra-in the Sao Paulo metropolitan area, 12 years after the implementation of the Unified Health System (SUS) in Brazil, and to analyze the potential of population-based health care surveys as sources of data to evaluate these changes. Methods. Two population-based, cross-sectional surveys were carried out in 1990 and 2002 in municipalities located within the Sao Paulo metropolitan area. For children under 1 year of age, the two periods were compared in terms of outpatient services utilization and hospital admission; for the mothers, the periods were compared in terms of prenatal care and deliveries. In both surveys, stratified and multiple-stage conglomerate sampling was employed, with standardization of interview questions. Results. The most important changes observed were regarding the location of services used for prenatal care, deliveries, and hospitalization of children less than 1 year of age. There was a significant increase in the use of services in the surrounding region or hometown, and decrease in the utilization of services in the city of Sao Paulo (in 1990, 80% of deliveries and almost all admissions for children less than 1 year versus 32% and 46%, respectively, in 2002). The use of primary care units and 24-hour walk-in clinics also increased. All these changes reflect care provided by public resources. In the private sector, there was a decrease in direct payments and payments through company-paid health insurance and an increase in payments through self-paid health insurance. Conclusions. The major changes observed in the second survey occurred simultaneous to the changes that resulted from the implementation of the SUS. Population-based health surveys are adequate for analyzing and comparing the utilization of health care services at different times.

Chronic Diseases: Chronic Diseases and Development 2 Health, agricultural, and economic effects of adoption of healthy diet recommendations

Transition to diets that are high in saturated fat and sugar has caused a global public health concern as the pattern of food consumption is a mayor modifiable risk factor for chronic non-communicable diseases Although agri food systems are intimately associated with this transition, agriculture and health sectors are largely disconnected in their priorities policy, and analysis with neither side considering the complex inter relation between agri trade patterns of food consumption health, and development We show the importance of connection of these perspectives through estimation of the effect of adopting a healthy diet on population health, agricultural production trade the economy and livelihoods, with a computable general equilibrium approach On the basis of case studies from the UK and Brazil we suggest that benefits of a healthy diet policy will vary substantially between different populations, not only because of population dietary intake but also because of agricultural production trade and other economic factors

Sanitation assessment of wastewater treated by stabilization ponds for potential reuse in agricultural irrigation sanitation assessment

Wastewater reuse has become an important alternative to agricultural irrigation; on the other hand, it poses concern with regard to public health. Total coliform and Escherichia coli concentration, presence of helminth eggs and Salmonella, and physical-chemical parameters were evaluated in raw and treated wastewater. Chemical and biochemical oxygen demand removal efficiency was 74.6 and 77.9%, respectively. As for organic nitrogen, total phosphorus, and total suspended solids, total efficiency removal was 17.4, 12.5, and 32.9%, respectively. The average density of total coliforms and E. coli was 3.5 x 10(9) and 1.8 x 10(8) MPN/100 mL and 1.1 x 10(7) MPN/100 mL and 3.9 x 10(5) MPN/100 mL for raw and treated wastewater, respectively. Ascaris eggs were observed in 80.8% of the samples collected, and viable eggs in 42.3% of the samples. Salmonella was detected in 36.4% of the samples. The values observed in treated wastewater did not show the adequate bacteriological quality, as recommended by World Health Organization (Geneva, Switzerland). Therefore, additional measures should be taken to achieve an improved microbiological and parasitological quality.

Extended time weather forecasts contributes to agricultural productivity estimates

Weather conditions in critical periods of the vegetative crop development influence crop productivity, thus being a basic parameter for crop forecast. Reliable extended period weather forecasts may contribute to improve the estimation of agricultural productivity. The production of soybean plays an important role in the Brazilian economy, because this country is ranked among the largest producers of soybeans in the world. This culture can be significantly affected by water conditions, depending on the intensity of water deficit. This work explores the role of extended period weather forecasts for estimating soybean productivity in the southern part of Brazil, Passo Fundo, and Londrina (State of Rio Grande do Sul and Parana, respectively) in the 2005/2006 harvest. The goal was to investigate the possible contribution of precipitation forecasts as a substitute for the use of climatological data on crop forecasts. The results suggest that the use of meteorological forecasts generate more reliable productivity estimates during the growth period than those generated only through climatological information.

Epidemiology and control of frontier malaria in Brazil: lessons from community-based studies in rural Amazonia

We describe the epidemiology of malaria in a frontier agricultural settlement in Brazilian Amazonia. We analysed the incidence of slide-confirmed symptomatic infections diagnosed between 2001 and 2006 in a cohort of 531 individuals (2281.53 person-years of follow-up) and parasite prevalence data derived from four cross-sectional surveys. Overall, the incidence rates of Plasmodium vivax and P. falciparaum were 20.6/100 and 6.8/100 person-years at risk, respectively, with a marked decline in the incidence of both species (81.4 and 56.8%, respectively) observed between 2001 and 2006. PCR revealed 5.4-fold more infections than conventional microscopy in population-wide cross-sectional surveys carried out between 2004 and 2006 (average prevalence, 11.3 vs. 2.0%). Only 27.2% of PCR-positive (but 73.3% of slide-positive) individuals had symptoms when enrolled, indicating that asymptomatic carriage of low-grade parasitaemias is a common phenomenon in frontier settlements. A circular cluster comprising 22.3% of the households, all situated in the area of most recent occupation, comprised 69.1% of all malaria infections diagnosed during the follow-up, with malaria incidence decreasing exponentially with distance from the cluster centre. By targeting one-quarter of the households, with selective indoor spraying or other house-protection measures, malaria incidence could be reduced by more than two-thirds in this community. (C) 2010 Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The signature of dark energy perturbations in galaxy cluster surveys

Models of dynamical dark energy unavoidably possess fluctuations in the energy density and pressure of that new component. In this paper we estimate the impact of dark energy fluctuations on the number of galaxy clusters in the Universe using a generalization of the spherical collapse model and the Press-Schechter formalism. The observations we consider are several hypothetical Sunyaev-Zel`dovich and weak lensing (shear maps) cluster surveys, with limiting masses similar to ongoing (SPT, DES) as well as future (LSST, Euclid) surveys. Our statistical analysis is performed in a 7-dimensional cosmological parameter space using the Fisher matrix method. We find that, in some scenarios, the impact of these fluctuations is large enough that their effect could already be detected by existing instruments such as the South Pole Telescope, when priors from other standard cosmological probes are included. We also show how dark energy fluctuations can be a nuisance for constraining cosmological parameters with cluster counts, and point to a degeneracy between the parameter that describes dark energy pressure on small scales (the effective sound speed) and the parameters describing its equation of state.