COVID-19 Pandemic Effects on Brazilian Postgraduate Research: An Exploratory Study at Two Federal Institute Programmes

The education area is being deeply affected by COVID-19, and Brazilian students are trying to adapt. This chapter aims to research how postgraduate students are dealing with the challenges of the pandemic. From the following research question, "How did COVID-19 impact different dimensions of students' lives enrolled at master and doctorate programmes?" the chapter describes the challenges that students from Master and Doctorate programmes of two federal institutes are dealing with and the future perspectives in the context of the pandemic. The research methodology is based on an exploratory approach, grounded on a survey for data regarding the impacts of COVID-19 in three dimensions: private life, professional life, and academic life, aiming to understand if and how their research and educational products development were affected. The results show that, despite stress and efforts, the students could adapt their research for the pandemic situation.

REEMERGÊNCIA DA SÍFILIS EM MULHERES E SUA ASSOCIAÇÃO COM O AUMENTO DA SÍFILIS CONGÊNITA NO BRASIL NA ÚLTIMA DÉCADA: UM ESTUDO ECOLÓGICO

Introdução/objetivos: A Sífilis é uma infecção sexualmente transmissível (IST) causada pela infecção pela bactéria Treponema pallidum. Sua manifestação clinica se dá em três estágios: primária, secundária e terciária, cada uma com características clínicas, sendo que ocorre a maior probabilidade de ocorrência de disseminação em seus dois primeiros estágios. Durante a gestação, o T. pallidum pode ultrapassar a barreira placentária, levando à contaminação fetal. Metade das gestantes infectadas com T. pallidum, que não são tratadas durante o pré-natal, transmitem a infecção aos filhos antes do nascimento, causando sífilis congênita. O objetivo deste estudo foi examinar a incidência da sífilis em mulheres em idade reprodutiva, a incidência da sífilis congênita e o número de mortes neonatais na população brasileira durante 2010-2020. Metodologia: Foi realizado um estudo ecológico para coletar informações sobre a incidência de sífilis em gestantes, sífilis congênita e morte neonatal por sífilis congênita (dados até junho de 2020), sendo os dados coletados mediante busca eletrônica nos registros do Departamento de Informática do Sistema Único de Saúde/Brasil (DATASUS), por meio do Sistema de Informação de Agravos de Notificação (SINAN). Resultados: Foram totalizadas 3.013 óbitos decorrentes da sífilis congênita no Brasil de 1998-2020. Os casos de óbitos infantil em decorrência de sífilis congênita aumentaram de 90 óbitos (sendo 6.946 casos confirmados) em 2010 para 261 (sendo 24.130 casos confirmados) em 2019. O aumento dos casos de sífilis em gestantes de 20 a 29 anos (55,7%) foi associado ao aumento dos casos de sífilis congênita. Em 2020, foram notificados 173 óbitos infantis (sendo 8.932 casos confirmados) decorrentes da sífilis congênita, sendo 96,8% óbitos antes dos 7 dias de vida. Foram notificados 49.154 casos de sífilis adquirida em 2020 no Brasil, sendo 18.337 em mulheres. A taxa de detecção de sífilis em gestantes subiu de 3,5 em 2010 para 20,8 em 2019 (para cada 1000 nascidos vivos). Conclusão: Com o ressurgimento da sífilis na população em idade reprodutiva, se faz necessário abordar e tratar a sífilis, haja vista o número de casos e óbitos notificados em 2020. Os dados devem ser avaliados com cautela tendo em vista a situação de isolamento social decorrente a pandemia da COVID-19, o que levou a menor procura por serviços de saúde e nesse sentido, a queda dos casos notificados, podendo estes representar um risco epidemiológico e de saúde iminente.

Heterocyclic compounds as antiviral drugs: Synthesis, structure–activity relationship and traditional applications

A virus outbreak challenges the economic, medical, and public health infrastructure worldwide. More than one virus capable of triggering diseases have been identified per year since 1972, which requires the development of new ways of treatment and prevention, however, such processes are not rapid and easy. With the pandemic scenario experienced since early 2020, several drugs with well-known purposes have gained prominence, due to speculation of their use in the treatment against the new coronavirus. Among the main drugs studied, the vast majority contain a heterocyclic structure. In this review, we presented the traditional and efficient synthesis of 15 drugs that have been studied for the COVID-19 treatment, containing in their structure heterocycles like indole, quinoline, pyrimidone, tetrahydrofuran, pyrrolidine, triazole, pyridazine, pyrazole, pyrrolopyrimidine, azetidine, pyrrolotriazine, pyrazine, tetrahydropyran, benzofuran, spiroketal, and thiazole. Furthermore, we have shown the original applications, as well as their structure–activity relationship and what is their situation as a drug candidate against COVID-19. Thus, the objective was to consolidate the main synthetic and pharmacological aspects involving clinically developed heterocycles that at some point were presented as promising against SARS-CoV-2. © 2021 Wiley Periodicals LLC.

Data Science Procedures to Aggregate Unstructured Disease Data in Georeferenced Spreading Analysis

The importance of analyzing data on public health, especially on notifications of disease cases, can play an important role in the overall improvement of the framework for combating epidemics. This type of study proved to be extremely influential during the COVID-19 pandemic, which demanded rapid and specific actions for the management of different geographic regions. This work presents the design and results of a system that has made possible perform analysis of this nature even in contexts of scarcity of structured and even georeferenced data. It is hoped that the work will be an inspiration for new, more comprehensive initiatives, without implying that health professionals have an advanced knowledge about the techniques and technologies that form the basis of the platform, easily integrating with existing processes and adding value. The result was the generation of a structured and aggregated database of COVID-19 data in the city of Brasilia, Federal District, capital of Brazil. If the informs used to extract data previously provided only information about the disease situation, with the platform, they now provide a basis for complex epidemiological analyzes and even spreading animations. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

COVID-19: coping strategies and adaptive behaviors adopted by health professionals during the pandemic

Justification and Objectives: the number of confirmed cases and deaths by COVID-19 has increased, also among health professionals, whose impact reflects on practices, social and family life. In this sense, this study sought to identify and describe coping strategies and adaptive behaviors among health professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic according to national and international scientific literature. Content: this is an integrative review carried out based on the following guiding question: what are the coping strategies and adaptive behaviors adopted by health professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic in the national and international scenarios? The search took place in June 2020 from the bibliographic survey in the databases of LILACS, PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus and Embase using the expression Boolean operators AND and OR for the combination of indexed descriptors and their respective synonyms. 212 publications were found in the databases. From the previously established criteria, 32 studies were eligible for full reading. Finally, 30 were selected to be analyzed and discussed. Conclusion: coping strategies are related to the knowledge acquired, growth in the use of new health technologies through applications, adaptations to changes in protocols, in addition to adaptive behaviors related to practices, expression of negative feelings and values. Although less frequently, positive attitudes and good practices were identified that contribute to increased resilience and psychological well-being among health professionals.