A comunicação de informações nas instituições públicas e privadas: o caso XBRL - eXtensible Business Reporting Language no Brasil

O XBRL - eXtensible Business Report Language - é uma linguagem que está sendo implementada em vários países para divulgação das informações contábil-financeiras pela internet. Este artigo mostra o estado-da-arte do XBRL e como se deu sua evolução, bem como avalia o estágio atual do Brasil na divulgação de informações contábil-financeiras pela internet. Foi realizada uma pesquisa do tipo survey com empresas de capital aberto no Brasil. A pesquisa revelou uma forte aceitação do meio eletrônico para divulgação de informações financeiras e também que ainda é muito pequeno o conhecimento da linguagem XBRL no país e, conseqüentemente, menor ainda o número de entidades que já iniciaram formalmente os estudos para sua implementação. Mostrou ainda a inexistência de um padrão de divulgação de informações eletrônicas, tendo predominado os formatos PDF, HTML e DOC, o que dificulta a análise e comparação de informações entre órgãos reguladores e com o público em geral.

Quality of life, life satisfaction and happiness in shift- and non-shiftworkers

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the quality of life, life satisfaction, happiness and demands of work in workers with different work schedules. METHODS: The survey was carried out on professional workers in social care. Some were shiftworkers whose schedule included night shifts (N=311), some were shiftworkers without night shifts (N=207) and some were non-shiftworkers (N=1,210). Surveys were mailed and the response rate was 86%. For the purpose of this study several variables were selected from the Survey: The Quality of Life Profile, which measures importance, satisfaction, control and opportunities in nine domains of life plus measures of happiness, life satisfaction and demands of work. RESULTS: While both groups of shiftworkers, compared to non-shiftworkers, reported needing more physical effort to complete their work, and reported 'being' more physically tired, no differences were found in reports of overall happiness, life satisfaction or total quality of life. However, night-shiftworkers reported greater percentage of time unhappy than the other two groups of workers. In analyses of the quality of life, night-shiftworkers were less satisfied with domains of spiritual 'being' and physical and community 'belonging' than day-shiftworkers and non-shiftworkers. They also reported having fewer opportunities to improve their physical 'being', leisure, and personal growth than the other two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Quality of life in specific domains in night-shiftworkers was rated worse than in other groups of workers. Domain-based quality of life assessment gives more information regarding the particular needs of workers than overall or global measures of well-being.

Can varying the number of teams in a shift schedule constitute a preventive strategy?

OBJECTIVE: The study examines the implications for shiftworkers of applying different numbers of teams in the organization of shiftwork. METHODS: The participating operators came from five different companies applying continuous shift rotation systems. The companies shared the same product organization and a common corporate culture belonging to the same multinational company. Each company had a shift system consisting of four, five or six teams, with the proportion of shifts outside day work decreasing as the number of teams increased. Questionnaire and documentary data were used as data sources. RESULTS: Operators in systems with additional teams had more daywork but also more irregular working hours due to both overtime and schedule changes. Operators using six teams used fewer social compensation strategies. Operators in four teams were most satisfied with their work hours. Satisfaction with the time available for various social activities outside work varied inconsistently between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: In rotating systems the application of more teams reduces the number of shifts outside day work. This apparent improvement for shiftworkers was counteracted by a concomitant irregularity produced by greater organizational requirements for flexibility. The balance of this interaction was found to have a critical impact on employees.

Conflicts between employee preferences and ergonomic recommendations in shift scheduling: regulation based on consent is not sufficient

OBJECTIVE: Contribution to the discussion of the role of participation/consent of employees in working hours regulation. METHODS: Exploratory analysis of conflicts between preferences of employees and ergonomic recommendations in shift scheduling by analysing a large number of participative shift scheduling projects. RESULTS: The analysis showed that very often the pursuit of higher income played the major role in the decision making process of employees and employees preferred working hours in conflict with health and safety principles. CONCLUSIONS: First, the consent of employees or the works council alone does not ensure ergonomically sound schedules. Besides consent, risk assessment procedures seem to be a promising but difficult approach. Secondly, more research is necessary to check the applicability of recommendations under various settings, to support the risk assessment processes and to improve regulatory approaches to working hours.

Effects of irregular-shift work and physical activity on cardiovascular risk factors in truck drivers

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the putative effect of type of shift and its interaction with leisure-time physical activity on cardiovascular risk factors in truck drivers.METHODS: A cross-sectional study was undertaken on 57 male truck drivers working at a transportation company, of whom 31 worked irregular shifts and 26 worked on the day-shift. Participants recorded their physical activity using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire along with measurements of blood pressure, body mass index and waist-hip ratio. Participants also provided a fasting blood sample for analysis of lipid-related outcomes. Data were analyzed using a factorial model which was covariate-controlled for age, smoking, work demand, control at work and social support.RESULTS: Most of the irregular-shift and day-shift workers worked more than 8 hours per day (67.7% and 73.1%, respectively). The mean duration of experience working the irregular schedule was 15.7 years. Day-shift workers had never engaged in irregular-shift work and had been working as a truck driver for 10.8 years on average. The irregular-shift drivers had lower work demand but less control compared to day-shift drivers (p < 0.05). Moderately-active irregular-shift workers had higher systolic and diastolic arterial pressures (143.7 and 93.2 mmHg, respectively) than moderately-active day-shift workers (116 and 73.3 mmHg, respectively) (p < 0.05) as well as higher total cholesterol concentrations (232.1 and 145 mg/dl, respectively) (p = 0.01). Irrespective of their physical activity, irregular-shift drivers had higher total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol concentrations (211.8 and 135.7 mg/dl, respectively) than day-shift workers (161.9 and 96.7 mg/dl, respectively (ANCOVA, p < 0.05).CONCLUSIONS: Truck drivers are exposed to cardiovascular risk factors due to the characteristics of the job, such as high work demand, long working hours and time in this profession, regardless of shift type or leisure-time physical activity.

Metabolic syndrome in fixed-shift workers

OBJECTIVE To analyze if metabolic syndrome and its altered components are associated with demographic, socioeconomic and behavioral factors in fixed-shift workers.METHODS A cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 902 shift workers of both sexes in a poultry processing plant in Southern Brazil in 2010. The diagnosis of metabolic syndrome was determined according to the recommendations from Harmonizing the Metabolic Syndrome. Its frequency was evaluated according to the demographic (sex, skin color, age and marital status), socioeconomic (educational level, income and work shift), and behavioral characteristics (smoking, alcohol intake, leisure time physical activity, number of meals and sleep duration) of the sample. The multivariate analysis followed a theoretical framework for identifying metabolic syndrome in fixed-shift workers.RESULTS The prevalence of metabolic syndrome in the sample was 9.3% (95%CI 7.4;11.2). The most frequently altered component was waist circumference (PR 48.4%; 95%CI 45.5;51.2), followed by high-density lipoprotein. Work shift was not associated with metabolic syndrome and its altered components. After adjustment, the prevalence of metabolic syndrome was positively associated with women (PR 2.16; 95%CI 1.28;3.64), workers aged over 40 years (PR 3.90; 95%CI 1.78;8.93) and those who reported sleeping five hours or less per day (PR 1.70; 95%CI 1.09;2.24). On the other hand, metabolic syndrome was inversely associated with educational level and having more than three meals per day (PR 0.43; 95%CI 0.26;0.73).CONCLUSIONS Being female, older and deprived of sleep are probable risk factors for metabolic syndrome, whereas higher educational level and higher number of meals per day are protective factors for metabolic syndrome in fixed-shift workers.

Schistosoma mansoni: effects of anesthetics and antimonial drugs on worm shift in the mouse

Mice experimentally infected with Schistosoma mansoni were injected with sodium thiopental or sodium antimonyl gluconate (Triostib R), or submitted to halothane inhalation, with or without a previous injection of thiopental. Data obtained showed that halothane and thiopental induce worm shift to the liver (99 and 76%, respectively). Sodium gluconate and antimonium (Triostib R) shifted 52% of worms towards the liver. These results seem to indicate that the use of antimonium would be unnecessary, when surgical removal of schistosomules is carried out through the extracorporeal filtration technique, in patients with portal hypertension.

SHIFT IN HUMAN ROTAVIRUS DISTRIBUTION IN BELO HORIZONTE, BRAZIL DETECTED BY RIBONUCLEIC ACID ELECTROPHORESIS

Rotavirus has been considered the main agent of infectious diarrhea especially among younger children. We addressed the prevalence of rotavirus-associated diarrhea and the diversity of circulating electropherotypes by immunochromatography and RNA electrophoresis. Stool samples were taken from 391 children (267 with diarrhea) from the lower socioeconomic stratum who sought treatment in the Hospital Infantil João Paulo II/Belo Horizonte, during 2005 and 2006. Rotavirus was detected in 79/20.2% of subjects, 64/24.0% with diarrhea and 15/12.1% with no diarrhea. The virus was strongly associated with diarrhea (p = 0.003). A total of 76/19.4% and 69/17.6% rotavirus-positive children were identified by immunochromatography and electrophoresis, respectively. Rotavirus-associated diarrhea was more frequently detected in dry months (p < 0.001) and almost exclusively in children aged up to three years. Long profile strains prevailed (54/78.3%) but a shift toward short electropherotype was identified. Despite the decrease seen in 2006, rotavirus infection is still very common in our area. Although viral RNA electrophoresis is useful as a typing method, it should not be used exclusively in the diagnosis of rotavirus infection. We confirmed a shift from long to short profile strains, as already described for other South American countries.

The Portuguese language version of social phobia and Anxiety Inventory: analysis of items and internal consistency in a Brazilian sample of 1,014 undergraduate students

OBJECTIVE: Theoretical and empirical analysis of items and internal consistency of the Portuguese-language version of Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory (SPAI-Portuguese). METHODS: Social phobia experts conducted a 45-item content analysis of the SPAI-Portuguese administered to a sample of 1,014 university students. Item discrimination was evaluated by Student's t test; interitem, mean and item-to-total correlations, by Pearson coefficient; reliability was estimated by Cronbach's alpha. RESULTS: There was 100% agreement among experts concerning the 45 items. On the SPAI-Portuguese 43 items were discriminative (p < 0.05). A few inter-item correlations between both subscales were below 0.2. The mean inter-item correlations were: 0.41 on social phobia subscale; 0.32 on agoraphobia subscale and 0.32 on the SPAI-Portuguese. Item-to-total correlations were all higher then 0.3 (p < 0.001). Cronbach's alphas were: 0.95 on the SPAI-Portuguese; 0.96 on social phobia subscale; 0.85 on agoraphobia subscale. CONCLUSION: The 45-item content analysis revealed appropriateness concerning the underlying construct of the SPAI-Portuguese (social phobia, agoraphobia) with good discriminative capacity on 43 items. The mean inter-item correlations and reliability coefficients demonstrated the SPAI-Portuguese and subscales internal consistency and multidimensionality. No item was suppressed in the SPAI-Portuguese but the authors suggest that a shortened SPAI, in its different versions, could be an even more useful tool for research settings in social phobia.

Protein-DNA associations in a gender-specific gene of Schistosoma mansoni: characterization by UV cross-linking, DNase I footprinting and band shift assays

Protein extracts obtained from male and female shistosomes were incubated with a gender-specific gene, F-10, transcribed only in adult females and encoding a major egg-shell protein. The protein/DNA interaction was measured using the band shift, DNase-I-footprinting and UV cross-linking techniques. The results showed a clear band shift when a 302 bp restriction fragment containing the 3'end of the gene was incubated with either female or male proteins. This fragment also contained a putative steroid hormone regulatory element (HRE). In contrast, only the male proteins produced a shift with the 495 bp fragment corresponding to the middle region of the gene. DNase I footprinting showed that proteins from males and females interacted with the F-10 gene by binding to multiple adjacent sites along the DNA, thus generatingrelatively long protected fragments of approximately 100 bp. This result suggested that the adjacent binding of several moles of proteins occured at the 5'end of the gene. UV cross-linking between schistosome proteins and a 21 bp synthetic oligonucleotide the F-10 HRE, evidence proteins having MWS of 30,45 and 65 kDNA. These proteins are presumably involved in the regulation of transcription of the F-10 gene.

Pre-mRNA trans-splicing: from kinetoplastids to mammals, an easy language for life diversity

Since the discovery that genes are split into intron and exons, the studies of the mechanisms involved in splicing pointed to presence of consensus signals in an attempt to generalize the process for all living cells. However, as discussed in the present review, splicing is a theme full of variations. The trans-splicing of pre-mRNAs, the joining of exons from distinct transcripts, is one of these variations with broad distribution in the phylogenetic tree. The biological meaning of this phenomenon is discussed encompassing reactions resembling a possible noise to mechanisms of gene expression regulation. All of them however, can contribute to the generation of life diversity.

The shift from low to high non-structural protein 1 expression in rotavirus-infected MA-104 cells

A hallmark of group/species A rotavirus (RVA) replication in MA-104 cells is the logarithmic increase in viral mRNAs that occurs four-12 h post-infection. Viral protein synthesis typically lags closely behind mRNA synthesis but continues after mRNA levels plateau. However, RVA non-structural protein 1 (NSP1) is present at very low levels throughout viral replication despite showing robust protein synthesis. NSP1 has the contrasting properties of being susceptible to proteasomal degradation, but being stabilised against proteasomal degradation by viral proteins and/or viral mRNAs. We aimed to determine the kinetics of the accumulation and intracellular distribution of NSP1 in MA-104 cells infected with rhesus rotavirus (RRV). NSP1 preferentially localises to the perinuclear region of the cytoplasm of infected cells, forming abundant granules that are heterogeneous in size. Late in infection, large NSP1 granules predominate, coincident with a shift from low to high NSP1 expression levels. Our results indicate that rotavirus NSP1 is a late viral protein in MA-104 cells infected with RRV, presumably as a result of altered protein turnover.

Mycobacteria mobility shift assay: a method for the rapid identification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and nontuberculous mycobacteria

The identification of mycobacteria is essential because tuberculosis (TB) and mycobacteriosis are clinically indistinguishable and require different therapeutic regimens. The traditional phenotypic method is time consuming and may last up to 60 days. Indeed, rapid, affordable, specific and easy-to-perform identification methods are needed. We have previously described a polymerase chain reaction-based method called a mycobacteria mobility shift assay (MMSA) that was designed for Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTC) and nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) species identification. The aim of this study was to assess the MMSA for the identification of MTC and NTM clinical isolates and to compare its performance with that of the PRA-hsp65 method. A total of 204 clinical isolates (102 NTM and 102 MTC) were identified by the MMSA and PRA-hsp65. For isolates for which these methods gave discordant results, definitive species identification was obtained by sequencing fragments of the 16S rRNA and hsp65 genes. Both methods correctly identified all MTC isolates. Among the NTM isolates, the MMSA alone assigned 94 (92.2%) to a complex or species, whereas the PRA-hsp65 method assigned 100% to a species. A 91.5% agreement was observed for the 94 NTM isolates identified by both methods. The MMSA provided correct identification for 96.8% of the NTM isolates compared with 94.7% for PRA-hsp65. The MMSA is a suitable auxiliary method for routine use for the rapid identification of mycobacteria.