Sleep behavior of shift workers who maintained external work activities during the period of social restriction of COVID-19

Introduction: Sleep contributes to the proper functioning of the body and the immune system. During the COVID-19 pandemic, isolation was a strategy to contain the spread of the virus and altered daily routine and sleep. Some studies have shown improved sleep in some populations, while others have reported worsening, especially in health shift worker groups. Objective: To compare the sleep behavior of shift workers at a mining company, who remained active before and during the isolation period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The sample consisted of 15 workers (14 men and 1 woman) of a mining company in the State of Minas Gerais, aged 38.9 ± 3.5 years. All worked 6 hours a day in a fast-rotating shift (4x1) for 10.2±3.8 years on average. To assess sleep behavior, the actigraphy method was used, which assesses sleep onset latency (SOL), wake after sleep onset (WASO), total sleep time (TTS) all in minutes and sleep efficiency (ES) in percentage values. The assessments were carried out in October and November 2019 for the pre-pandemic moment and November and December 2020 for the postpandemic moment. For comparison between moments, the paired t-test was used, considering the value of p ≤ 0.05. Results: Clinically, sleep behavior in this group of shift workers did not change. Only SOL (3.4±1.7 vs. 1.9±0.9) showed a statistical difference (t(14)=4.399, p=0.001), while WASO (t(14)=0.916;p=0.375) with means 18.1±8.5 vs. 16.9±6.4, TTS (t(14)=-1.258;p=0.229) 422.5±36.9 vs. 437.2±68.9 and ES (t(14)=-0.934, p=0.366) 92.8±2.8 vs. 93.3±2.9 before and after the pandemic, respectively, showed no difference. Conclusion: The maintenance of external work, in the mining company, even with social restrictions in the workplace and outside it, contributed to the maintenance of the routine and sleep behavior. However, the workers in this study did not face increased workload, anxiety and greater risk of contagion associated with the work environment as health workers. Our results indicate that the improvement or worsening of sleep before and after the pandemic should be related to the group and culture that will be evaluated. The authors thank the support given by Pró-Reitoria De Pesquisa (PRPq) and PPG em Ciências do Esporte UFMG, Instituto Tecnológico VALE (ITV), CEPE (Centro De Estudos em Psicobiologia e Exerćcio), CEMSA (Centro Multidisciplinar De Sonolência e Acidentes), CNPq, FAPEMIG, CAPES e FEPE-UFMG.

Wicked multi-problems (COVID-19+Oil Spill plus wildFires) in Brazil and their effects on socioeconomic vulnerability

Purpose - This research aims to identify Brazil's socioeconomic vulnerability to wicked multi-problems arising from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) (2019-2020), from the most extensive (similar to 3,000 km) oil spill in tropical oceans (2019/2020) and from the highest rate of wildfires in the last decade. Design/methodology/approach - To this end, the authors measured the socioeconomic vulnerabilities of the 27 Brazilian states to these multi-problems (COVID-19 + Oil Spill + wildFire), considering the effects of these events individually and together. In addition, the authors calculated the vulnerability indices using two variables: production value and number of jobs created by an economic activity. Findings - Results show the states of Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro as the most susceptible, with a potential loss of 74.2% in production value and 47% in active employment relationships, caused by these overlapping events in time. The results also demonstrate that the country has failed in the coordination and management of these events (separately and jointly), showing difficulties especially in the stages of immediate response and recovery. Originality/value - Regarding its contributions, this paper innovates by establishing an unprecedented overlap of wicked problems, linking this concept to the analysis of socioeconomic vulnerability of the affected communities, through a model that applies to other regions worldwide.

MAPEAMENTO DOS PRINCIPAIS DETERMINANTES ANTIGÊNICOS(EPÍTOPOS) DOS AGENTES BACTERIANOS PARA O DESENVOLVIMENTO DE INSUMOS EM SAÚDE

Introdução: Os agentes da etiológicos da coqueluche, difteria e cólera são responsáveis por milhares de morte toda ano, segundo OMS estima se que no período de 2020 e 2021 essas mortes aumentaram consideravelmente devido a baixa cobertura vacinal, principalmente causada pela pandemia de Covid-19 e também pelos movimentos anti vacinas. Destaca-se o aumento de difteria em diversos países de América Latina, principalmente na Venezuela e Haiti, surtos de cólera tem sido uma constância na África e o ressurgimento da coqueluche já um fato em diversos países, mesmo com uma boa cobertura vacinal. Objetivo: Identificar os principais epítopos da Bordetella pertussis, Corynebacterium diphtheriae e Vibrio cholerae para o desenvolvimentos de insumos em saúde, contribuindo assim para o aperfeiçoamento de vacinas e o desenvolvimento de novos métodos diagnóstico. Métodos: : As sequências completas das proteínas foram obtidas do SWISSPROT e Tr-EMBL (http://www.expasy.ch). Após a identificação dos epítopos, um alinhamento múltiplo (programa ClustalW) foram realizados para identificar possíveis sequências peptídicas semelhantes depositadas em banco de dados. A síntese de bibliotecas peptídicas foi realizada em sintetizador (Spot Synthesis-ASP222). Foram identificados os epitopos IgM e IgG. Foram comparados testes de Elisa existente no mercado com teste Elisa padronizado utilizando os epítopos mais imunodominates de cada agente etiológicos identificados. Resultados: Na Bordetella pertussis 24 epítopos foram identificados na toxina pertussis e 25 epítopos da pertactina. Na Corynebacterium diphtheriae foram identificados 20 epítopos na toxina diftérica. Na enterotoxina da cólera foram identificaram 14 epítopos ne três proteínas testadas. Os testes de Elisa padronizados para coqueluche e difteria apresentaram uma sensibilidade de 99% e uma especificidade de 100%. Conclusão: Nestes estudos identificamos todos os epítopos B lineares dos imunógenos da toxina pertussis, pertactina, toxina da difteria e enterotoxina da cólera. A identificação e o mapeamentos dos epítopos poderão contribuir para o desenvolvimento de métodos de diagnósticos mais eficientes. Resultados desses trabalhos também poderão contribuir para entendermos o processo de imunização e o aperfeiçoamento de vacinas para que sejam mais eficientes e menos reatogências.

Sustainable development goals against COVID-19: The performance of brazilian cities in SDGS 3 and 6 and their reflection on the pandemic

The aim of this article is to understand the relationship between two of the Sustainable Development Goals (UN Agenda 2030) – Good health and well-being (SDG 3) and Clean water and sanitation (SDG 6) – and the statistics of the COVID-19 pandemic (number of cases and deaths) in Brazilian cities. To analyze this relationship, we used secondary data from public organizations on the SDG panorama by city and conducted a moderated regression analysis. The sample was composed of 649 cities with a population exceeding 50 thousand inhabitants. The results show that the higher were the indicators used to measure SDGs, the lower was the number of cases and deaths from the disease. We have also proved that cities’ population density and their distance from the pandemic epicenter moderate this relationship, since a higher level of these moderation variables increases the impact of a lower level of SDGs 3 and 6 coverage in society on the number of cases and deaths from COVID-19. Thus, the efficient and effective investment to reach SDGs 3 and 6 is directly associated with cities’ ability to successfully deal with infectious diseases and the resulting number of deaths. As for its contribution, this research innovates by establishing a model for analyzing the impact of compliance with SDGs on cities’ performance in their fight against COVID-19, which may also suit other nations. © 2021, Russian Geographical Society. All rights reserved.

Alcohol based solutions for hand and surface sanitation in the prevention of COVID-19: informative compendium regarding the involved chemistry

The recent coronavirus pandemic has already victimized hundreds of thousands of people around the world, and until this moment does not exist any medicine for healing or vaccine to avoid the contamination. Therefore, the actions of social isolation associated with the use of masks and surface and hand sanitation are the most effective actions to avoid the virus dissemination. The hands are one of the main vectors of contagious, and should be washed constantly and sanitized with some disinfectant agent. Among the recommendations, the formulations based on ethyl alcohol and isopropyl alcohol are the most used, being the efficiency of these formulations based on the alcohol type, the concentration, the applied volume, and the contact time. The gel disinfectants are preferred by the population due to the facile and safer manipulation. However, due to the pandemic, the main gelling agent has become sparse and, in the function of this, some countries authorized the utilization of alternative formulations. The World Health Organization recommends two formulations, being one based on ethyl alcohol (80 Vol%) and the second on isopropyl alcohol (75 Vol%), destined for the local manufacture and with a fast and effective action.