Association between social capital and self-perception of health in Brazilian adults

OBJECTIVE To investigate the association between social capital and social capital and self-perception of health based on examining the influence of health-related behaviors as possible mediators of this relationship.METHODS A cross-sectional study was used with 1,081 subjects, which is representative of the population of individuals aged 40 years or more in a medium-sized city in Southern Brazil. The subjects who perceived their health as fine, bad or very bad were considered to have a negative self-perception of their health. The social capital indicators were: number of friends, people from whom they could borrow money from when needed; the extent of trust in community members; whether or not members of the community helped each other; community safety; and extent of participation in community activities. The behaviors were: physical activity during leisure time, fruits and vegetable consumption, tobacco use and alcohol abuse. The odds ratios (OR) and confidence intervals (CI) 95% were calculated by binary logistic regression. The significance of mediation was verified using the Sobel test.RESULTS Following adjustment for demographic and clinical variables, subjects with fewer friends (OR = 1.39, 95%CI 1.08;1.80), those who perceived less frequently help from people in the neighborhood (OR = 1.30, 95%CI 1.01;1.68), who saw the violent neighborhood (OR = 1.33, 95%CI 1.01;1.74) and who had not participated in any community activity (OR = 1.39, 95%CI 1.07;1.80) had more negative self-perception of their health. Physical activity during leisure time was a significant mediator in the relationship between all social capital indicators (except for the borrowed money variable) and self-perceived health. Fruit and vegetable consumption was a significant mediator of the relationship between the extent of participation in community activities and self-perceived health. Tobacco use and alcohol abuse did not seem to have a mediating role in any relationship.CONCLUSIONS Lifestyle seems to only partially explain the relationship between social capital and self-perceived health. Among the investigated behaviors, physical activity during leisure time is what seems to have the most important role as a mediator of this relationship.

Microhabitats de mosquitos (Diptera, Culicidae) em internódios de taquara na Mata Atlântica, Paraná, Brasil

During two consecutive years, from January 1985 to December 1986, a comparative study of mosquitoes preferences for breeding habitat was carried out in the Atlantic Forest of the Serra do Mar, Paraná State, Brazil. To achieve it, 1875 bamboo internodes aligned vertically in live green, bamboo plants Merostachys speciosa Munro and Merostachys sp. were used, in which metabolic water was exuded from the plant itself, and presenting different size/pattern holes at their lateral walls, bored by the local sylvan fauna. Another group of 1200 individual internode traps was used as comparative element, carved out with a transversal cut by a saw, filled with local stream water and held in branches at different heights in the vegetal strata nearby. At both microhabitat types, a total of 17 culicid species was registered. Culex (Microculex) neglectus Lutz, 1904, Cx. (Carrollia) soperi Antunes & Lane, 1937, Sabethes (Sabethes) batesi Lane & Cerqueira, 1942 and Sa. (Sabethinus) melanonymphe (Dyar, 1924)colonized exclusively live plant internodes, while Culex (Microculex) elongatus Rozeboom & Lane, 1950, Cx. (Carrollia) iridescens (Lutz, 1905), Cx. (Carrollia) kompi Valencia,1973and Trichoprosopon (Trichoprosopon) soaresi Dyar & Knab, 1907 bred only in internode traps. The remaining nine species colonized both habitats indistinctly. Quantitatively, was detected the abundance of 60.1% at live green internodes, against 39.9% for internode traps. Concerning the different patterns of bored live internode holes, 40.3% of the total computed specimens were collected in square or rectangular holes, 31.9% in two hole internodes, one minute circular, the other wider, and the remaining 28.8% of specimens distributed in other pattern type internodes. The mosquitoes breeding at these microhabitats fall in the culicid entomofauna specialized at locating and detecting peculiar and propitious mesogen conditions for breeding purposes.

Tratamento eclético da lepra: 20 anos de experiência

The author gives the clinical records of 20 patients, 14 of which were treated during 17 months, and the rest much less. The method used for treatment was the ecclectical — preferred by the A. since many years —, in which he associates electricity with minor surgery, chaulmestrol (pure or with 0.5 p. c. iodine or 4 p. c. creosote) and other auxilliary curative agents. The chaulmoogra derivatives were used daily as nostrils tamponage (2 p.c. mentholated or thymolated ester), periodically by injections inside the enlarged lymph nodes and nerve abscesses, and twice weekly by subcutaneous infiltrations (MUIR method) 5 c.c. each, and chaulmoogra soap tablets per os. The galvanocauterisation session was once per week, on active leprotic lesions, followed by painting with 30 p. c. trichloracetic acid solution. All 20 patients were bacilliferous before treatment, and became stronger positive after some months treatment. At the end 14 negativated and 6 remained positive and sometimes bacilli being very scanty. 16 out of 20 gave interesting serological reactions, viz.: Wassermann, Stern, Kahn. Rubino, Witebsky and Gaté (Formol-gel) positive in 5; Stern, Rubino. Witebsky and Gaté positive and Wassermann and Kahn negative in 2; Stern. Kahn, Witebsky and Gaté positive and Wassermann anticomplementary in 1; Wassermann. Stern, Kahn, Rubino and Gaté negative in 1. in the beginning, and a few months later Stern. Witebsky and Gaté becoming positive; Stern. Rubino. Witebsky and Gaté positive and anticomplementary W. in 1; Stern, Witebsky and Gaté positive and Wassermann. Kahn and Rubino negative in 1; Witebsky and Gaté positive and Wassermann, Stern, Kahn and Rubino negative in 1; Witebsky 3 times anticomplemantary and strongly positive Gaté in 1; Wassermann and Gaté positive in 1; Stern and Rubino positive in 1 and Stern test negative in one. In 7 cases high Formol-gel were associated with a high sedimentation index. Many cases had very high S.I. being a false measure of the severity of the disease; others remained very high notwithstanding the great improvement of the disease. All patients with more than 12 months treatment became practically symptom free. Lepra reaction amongst them was rare and always started by embolic rash, being controlled by destruction of such skin lesions by galvanocauterisation. In a few cases the lepromata infiltrated with "Subintrol" (a 3 p. c. special chaulmoogra soap prepared by Dr. ASTROGILDO MACHADO) were completely destroyd and never relapsed. In October 1946 Dr. ERNEST MUIR saw here a few cases treated by the author's method and suggested the combination of Diasone with galvanocauterisation which is being done now with satifactory results. The second part of this paper, reporting many leprosy cases treated by the so-called ecclectical method, which are symptom free and negativated since five to ten years, will be published as soon as the sulfone-therapy be summarised in some reliable scientific report to be compared with.

Morfologia do Mycobacterium leprae hominis e do M. leprae muris: estudo baseado na microscopia electrônica e de contraste de fases

Hansen's Bacillus: By electron microscopy this bacillus shows membrane and halo, this being more visible when sorrounding the globi or bundles of bacilli; shows, also, free granules of various sizes which were before considered as dust of the dyes; shows external granules bound with the membrane and some times branching. By phases contrast microscopy examining leproma suspensions and subcataneous lymph at 400 x we saw many free granules with intense rotatory movement; granulated bacilli with screw, skip or stroke motion, producing slow progressive motion. All such elementes are surrounded by a halo, corresponding to the classical gloea. By a patient and delayed examination we were able to see that the internal granules are motile and help the progression of the bacilli, giving the impression that the cytoplasm is liquid. By a lasting observation we could see the larger granules form prolapse, like a pseudopode and abandon the bacilli and going in very rapid rotatory movement. There are branched bacilli; there are pedunculated fred granules like comets. The addition of a drop of formol at the preparation stops all movements. Stefansky's Bacillus: Repeated examination by RCA electron microscope, type EMU-25 of fresh suspensions of rat lepromas, led us to confirm the close relationship between human and murine leprosy agents. We examined also material from carabo (Lepra bubalorum) from Java, but due to fixation, the material was unsuitable for comparative studies. The Stefansky's bacilli showed also emmbranes and halos, internal or external granules (smaller than those of Hansen's bacillus). The bacilli shaded by chromium look thicker and shorter than those of Hansen. Due to electron bombardment both, Hansen's and Stefansky's baccilli suffer considerable alterations in their structure, showing black barrs of chromatin condensation at their extremities as also in their centers. By phase microscopy the Stefansky's bacilli showed elements with 1, 2 (bipolar), 3 or more internal small granules, developing identical movements as those of Hansen. The globi seem to be non-motile but the free bacilli appearing around the globi show intense movement. At 1000 x the examination is less satisfactory than at 400 x. The addition of formol solution in the preparation suppresses all movements, even the brownian, but the material becomes more suitable for the study of static morphology of the bacilli. CONCLUSION - The electron and phases contrast microscopy of leprous material from different types and phases of the disease may explain some of the unknown aspects of the biology and morphology of the bacilli.

Institutional landmarks in Brazilian research on soil erosion: a historical overview

The problem of soil erosion in Brazil has been a focus of agricultural scientific research since the 19th century. The aim of this study was to provide a historical overview of the institutional landmarks which gave rise to the first studies in soil erosion and established the foundations of agricultural research in Brazil. The 19th century and beginning of the 20th century saw the founding of a series of institutions in Brazil, such as Botanical Gardens, executive institutions, research institutes, experimental stations, educational institutions of agricultural sciences, as well as the creation and diversification of scientific journals. These entities, each in its own way, served to foster soil erosion research in Brazil. During the Imperial period (1808-1889), discussions focused on soil degradation and conserving the fertility of agricultural land. During the First Republic (1889-1930), with the founding of various educational institutions and consolidation of research on soil degradation conducted by the Agronomic Institute of Campinas in the State of São Paulo, studies focused on soil depletion, identification of the major factors causing soil erosion and the measures necessary to control it. During the New State period (1930-1945), many soil conservation practices were developed and disseminated to combat erosion and field trials were set up, mainly to measure soil and water losses induced by hydric erosion. During the Brazilian New Republic (1945-1964), experiments were conducted throughout Brazil, consolidating soil and water conservation as one of the main areas of Soil Science in Brazil. This was followed by scientific conferences on erosion and the institutionalization of post-graduate studies. During the Military Regime (1964-1985), many research and educational institutions were founded, experimental studies intensified, and coincidently, soil erosion reached alarming levels which led to the development of the no-tillage system.

Reações ácido-base: conceito, representação e generalização a partir das energias envolvidas nas transformações

Undergraduate students on the first year of Chemistry Courses are unfamiliar with the representation of acid-base reactions using the ionic equation H+ + OH- → H2O. A chemistry class was proposed about acid-base reactions using theory and experimental evaluation of neutralization heat to discuss the energy involved when water is formed from H+ and OH- ions. The experiment is suggested using different strong acids and strong base pairs. The presentation of the theme within a chemistry class for high school teachers increased the number of individuals that saw the acid-base reaction from this perspective.

Reencontro de Balanoglossus gigas Fr. Muller no litoral brasileiro

Re-finding of Balanoglossus gigas FR. MUULLER on the brasilian sea shore. Balanoglossus gigas, the giant Enteropneusta, has been described for the first time by Fritz Muller in his notes collected and published by Dr. HERMANN VON IHERING (1898, pg. 35). FR. MULLER found the Balanoglossus on the coats of the State of Santa Catarina in 1884. Once again in 1885 several specimens of that animal were captured by FR. MULLER in the same place. Since that time up to now no references on the occurrence of this animal have been found in the zoological bibliography. During the spring of 1948 Prof. W. BESNARD, Director of he Instituto Paulista de Oceanografia saw some signals indicating the existence of Balanoglossus at the beach of São Sebastião, State of São Paulo. From 1948 to now several attempts have been made to catch the animal alive and complete. On the last September during a shorts visit to the beach of São Sebastião one Balanoglossus was captured and brought to the Department of General and Animal Physiology in good conditions. The animal measured 1.80 m in length. It seems to be the largest Balanoglossus known. According to the descriptions of SPENGEL (1893, pg. 158), and VAN DER HORST (1939) pg. 717) it was possible to identify this Enteropneusta as Balanoglossus gigas FR. MULLER, refound at the Brazilian coast sixty six years after its discovery by FR. MÜLLER.

Celiotomy by plastrotomy in a yellow-footed tortoise (Geochelone denticulata)

One herein reports a successful case of celiotomy by plastrotomy for removal of foreign bodies in yellow-footed tortoise (Geochelone denticulata). The animal was treated at the Veterinary Hospital of the Federal University of Piaui, with appetite loss, regurgitation, constipation, lethargy, reluctance to walk and slightly reddish ocular mucous membranes. Radiographic examination was performed, confirming the presence of foreign bodies in the stomach. The tortoise underwent celiotomy by plastrotomy for the removal of the foreign bodies. The opening of the plastron was performed through the abdominal shields, with the aid of a circular mini grinding saw. One performed an incision in the midline between the two abdominal veins to access the abdominal cavity. A gastrotomy for removal of the foreign bodies (nails, toothpicks, stones, pieces of plastic, glass and crockery pieces) was performed after the location of the stomach. The surgery was successful and confirmed with radiographic evaluation in the immediate postoperative period. The celiotomy by plastrotomy for removal of foreign bodies in that animal proved to be a viable, very important and safe technique to the survival of chelonians.