I'D RATHER HAVE A FLY IN MY SOUP! MUTTERINGS OF MS. ZIZI IN PANDEMIC TIMES

Dilemma: In scenarios of great uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is it still feasible to maintain the tradition of purely face-to-face sales, or is it time to join the delivery system? And is that enough? Educational objective: This case aims to provide students with experience of situations consistent with the organizational reality and the development of decision-making abilities, focusing on the dilemma of whether or not to implement an alternative service system, given the operating restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Contextualization: COVID-19 caused sweeping changes in the daily life of Brazilian enterprises, including the Eating Out sector (known in Portuguese as Alimentação For a do Lar - AFL). Ms. Zizi and her son Pedro, owners of a homemade food restaurant in the municipality of Goiânia, needed to reinvent themselves during the pandemic period, in order to avoid the losing, laying offstaff, and closing the establishment. Main topic: Decision-making in times of pandemic. Audience: Students at undergraduate level in business administration, in the disciplines of marketing, entrepreneurship and strategic planning. Originality/value: Students will play the role of managers and will be asked to make decisions about a series of issues that arise in the daily lives of companies in times of crisis. The study focuses on basic concepts of the Marketing Mix, Porter's Five Forces, Decision-Making theory and Analysis of the Competition, seeking to outline strategies to deal with contingences in times of pandemic, and increase the value proposition of the Gastrô Mineiro restaurant. Dilema: Em cenários de grandes incertezas decorrentes da pandemia, ainda é viável manter a tradição de apostar somente no atendimento presencial ou é hora de aderir ao sistema de delivery? Somente isso é suficiente? Objetivo educacional: Este caso de ensino propicia aos discentes vivências de situações condizentes com a realidade organizacional e o desenvolvimento da capacidade de tomada de decisão, ao analisar o dilema de implantação ou não de um sistema alternativo de atendimento, dadas as medidas restritivas de funcionamento decorrentes da pandemia da COVID-19. Contextualização: O advento da COVID-19 ocasionou mudanças drásticas no cotidiano dos empreendimentos brasileiros, inclusive no setor de Alimentação Fora do Lar (AFL). Dona Zizi e seu filho Pedro, donos de um restaurante de comida caseira no município de Goiânia, precisaram reinventar o formato do atendimento ao cliente no período pandêmico, com o intuito de evitar a perda da clientela, a demissão em massa de colaboradores e o fechamento do estabelecimento. Tea principal: Tomada de decisão em tempos de pandemia. Público: O caso pode ser aplicado a estudantes dos cursos de graduação em administração, nas disciplinas de marketing, empreendedorismo e planejamento estratégico. Originalidade/valor: Os discentes irão assumir o papel do gestor e tomar decisões sobre um leque de inquietações e problemas que surgiram no cotidiano do Gastrô Mineiro, no período da pandemia. Este caso de ensino resgata conceitos teóricos básicos sobre o Mix de Marketing, Cinco Forças de Porter, Teoria da Decisão e Análise da Concorrência, com objetivo de traçar estratégias que atendam as contingências decorrentes da pandemia e ampliar a proposta de valor do restaurante em estudo.

Knowledge About COVID-19 in Brazil: Cross-Sectional Web-Based Study.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 is a highly transmissible illness caused by SARS-CoV-2. The disease has affected more than 200 countries, and the measures that have been implemented to combat its spread, as there is still no vaccine or definitive medication, have been based on supportive interventions and drug repositioning. Brazil, the largest country in South America, has had more than 140,000 recorded deaths and is one of the most affected countries. Despite the extensive quantity of scientifically recognized information, there are still conflicting discussions on how best to face the disease and the virus, especially with regard to social distancing, preventive methods, and the use of medications. OBJECTIVE: The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the Brazilian population's basic knowledge about COVID-19 to demonstrate how Brazilians are managing to identify scientifically proven information. METHODS: A cross-sectional study design was used. An original online questionnaire survey was administered from June 16 to August 21, 2020, across all five different geopolitical regions of the country (ie, the North, Northeast, Center-West, Southeast, and South). The questionnaire was comprised of questions about basic aspects of COVID-19, such as the related symptoms, conduct that should be followed when suspected of infection, risk groups, prevention, transmission, and social distancing. The wrong questionnaire response alternatives were taken from the fake news combat website of the Brazilian Ministry of Health. Participants (aged ≥18 years) were recruited through social networking platforms, including Facebook, WhatsApp, and Twitter. The mean distributions, frequencies, and similarities or dissimilarities between the responses for the different variables of the study were evaluated. The significance level for all statistical tests was less than .05. RESULTS: A total of 4180 valid responses representative of all the states and regions of Brazil were recorded. Most respondents had good knowledge about COVID-19, getting an average of 86.59% of the total score with regard to the basic aspects of the disease. The region, education level, age, sex, and social condition had a significant association (P<.001) with knowledge about the disease, which meant that women, the young, those with higher education levels, nonrecipients of social assistance, and more economically and socially developed regions had more correct answers. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, Brazilians with social media access have a good level of basic knowledge about COVID-19 but with differences depending on the analyzed subgroup. Due to the limitation of the platform used in carrying out the study, care should be taken when generalizing the study findings to populations with less education or who are not used to accessing social networking platforms.

The COVID-19 pandemic in Brazilian pregnant and postpartum women: results from the REBRACO prospective cohort study.

Brazil presented a very high number of maternal deaths and evident delays in healthcare. We aimed at evaluating the characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 infection and associated outcomes in the obstetric population. We conducted a prospective cohort study in 15 Brazilian centers including symptomatic pregnant or postpartum women with suspected COVID-19 from Feb/2020 to Feb/2021. Women were followed from suspected infection until the end of pregnancy. We analyzed maternal characteristics and pregnancy outcomes associated with confirmed COVID-19 infection and SARS, determining unadjusted risk ratios. In total, 729 symptomatic women with suspected COVID-19 were initially included. Among those investigated for COVID-19, 51.3% (n = 289) were confirmed COVID-19 and 48% (n = 270) were negative. Initially (before May 15th), only 52.9% of the suspected cases were tested and it was the period with the highest proportion of ICU admission and maternal deaths. Non-white ethnicity (RR 1.78 [1.04-3.04]), primary schooling or less (RR 2.16 [1.21-3.87]), being overweight (RR 4.34 [1.04-19.01]) or obese (RR 6.55 [1.57-27.37]), having public prenatal care (RR 2.16 [1.01-4.68]), planned pregnancies (RR 2.09 [1.15-3.78]), onset of infection in postpartum period (RR 6.00 [1.37-26.26]), chronic hypertension (RR 2.15 [1.37-4.10]), pre-existing diabetes (RR 3.20 [1.37-7.46]), asthma (RR 2.22 [1.14-4.34]), and anaemia (RR 3.15 [1.14-8.71]) were associated with higher risk for SARS. The availability of tests and maternal outcomes varied throughout the pandemic period of the study; the beginning was the most challenging period, with worse outcomes. Socially vulnerable, postpartum and previously ill women were more likely to present SARS related to COVID-19.

PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF COVID-19 IN THE TRIÂNGULO MINEIRO REGION, MINAS GERAIS STATE, BRAZIL: A CROSS-SECTIONAL SURVEY

This was a cross-sectional, anonymous, online survey aimed at assessing the perceptions and basic knowledge of COVID-19, a highly transmissible disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, in a sample population in the Triângulo Mineiro region, Minas Gerais, Brazil. A questionnaire devised by the researchers and distributed through social media was applied between June 16, 2020 and August 21, 2020. The survey consisted of questions about the basic aspects of COVID-19, which included symptoms, risk groups, suspicion of infection, prevention, transmission, and perception regarding social isolation. The average distribution, frequencies, similarities and differences between the responses for the different variables were evaluated. Five hundred twenty valid responses were obtained from participants aged ≥18 years. Most of the respondents showed satisfactory basic knowledge of COVID-19. Moreover, the data showed that the participants scored an average of 87.6%. Sex, age, and socioeconomic vulnerability presented a statistically significant link with knowledge of the disease;women, young participants, and the least socioeconomically vulnerable had the highest scores. This study indicated that the population in the Triângulo Mineiro region able to access social networking platforms were basically well informed regarding COVID-19, although differences were observed depending on the group analyzed. © 2021 Brazilian Society of Parasitology. All rights reserved.

A Combined Molecular Docking and Density Functional Theory Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Study of Trans-Dehydrocrotonin Interacting with COVID-19 Main Protease and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 3C-Like Protease.

For the development of drugs that treat SARS-CoV-2, the fastest way is to find potential molecules from drugs already on the market. Unfortunately, there is currently no specific drug or treatment for COVID-19. Among all structural proteins in SARS-CoV, the spike protein is the main antigenic component responsible for inducing host immune responses, neutralizing antibodies, and/or protecting immunity against virus infection. Molecular docking is a technique used to predict whether a molecule will bind to another. It is usually a protein to another or a protein to a binding compound. Natural products are potential binders in several studies involving coronavirus. The structure of the ligand plays a fundamental role in its biological properties. The nuclear magnetic resonance technique is one of the most powerful tools for the structural determination of ligands from the origin of natural products. Nowadays, molecular modeling is an important accessory tool to experimentally got nuclear magnetic resonance data. In the present work, molecular docking studies aimed is to investigate the limiting affinities of trans-dehydrocrotonin molecule and to identify the main amino acid residues that could play a fundamental role in their mechanism of action of the SARS-CoV spike protein. Another aim of this work is all about to evaluate 10 hybrid functionalities, along with three base pairs using computational programs to discover which ones are more reliable with the experimental result the best computational method to study organic compounds. We compared the results between the mean absolute deviation (MAD) and root-mean-square deviation (RMSD) of the molecules, and the smallest number between them was the best result. The positions assumed by the ligands in the active site of the spike glycoprotein allow assuming associations with different local amino acids.