Screening for Structural Hemoglobin Variants in Bahia, Brazil.

Brazil was the country that received the largest number of Africans during the time of colonization, and Bahia was the Brazilian state that received the largest number of slaves from Africa. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the coverage of the newborn screening program for sickle cell disease in the Recôncavo Baiano region of the state of Bahia, and to show the frequency of the subjects with hemoglobin variants in the 2006-2009 period. Blood samples from neonates in twelve cities in the Recôncavo Baiano region were analyzed by High Performance Liquid Chromatography. A total of 16,402 children were born in this period, 14,773 of which underwent newborn screening. In this period 1416 children were born carrying hemoglobin variants HbS and HbC. Forty-seven patients--20 HbSS genotype and 27 HbSC genotype--were diagnosed in eleven of the twelve cities surveyed. The proportion of children born with sickle cell disease in the Recôncavo Baiano region was 1/314, which was higher than the 1/650 rate for the state of Bahia. The data presented in this study confirm the high frequency of sickle cell disease in Recôncavo Baiano, demonstrating the need to create a referral center for the care of patients with sickle cell diseases in the region.

Biomechanical and organizational risk and prevalence of low back pain in the old adults caregivers of a nursing home in Joao Pessoa/PB.

The objective present study was to investigate the presence of low back pain in caregivers of a nursing home, related with the labored activities executed by these workers. 16 subjects were investigated, 15 female and one male, with 40,8 age average all being caregivers as their profession. It consisted of three phases, where the first concerns the analysis of the collective work, assessed in a perspective of caregivers, Second, a postural assessment to verify the retractions in such workers and the third stage was used Diagram of Corllet to identify the presence of signs and symptoms in caregivers. The study demonstrated that organizational and biomechanical factors are responsible for the high level of physical fatigue and presence of pain in 93,75% of the caregivers in some region of the body. 50% referred pain in the lumbar region. The results of the postural evaluation confirmed that the caregivers had alterations in the postural alignment, presenting retractions of the anterior and posterior chain. The suggestions are to minimize the risk factors of this productive process and the symptoms and signals presented from these workers by adoption ergonomic measures and the realization of a physical program with stretching and muscular strengthening of the muscles of the anterior and posterior body chain based on the method of Reorganization Postural Sensoperceptive.

Evaluation of the exercise intervention with the "Back School" education program in a Brazilian company of cigars: a case study.

The purpose of this study was to assess the benefits of an exercise program associated to the educational phase of the "Back School Program" in the quality of life of workers from a cigar factory. This is a case study conducted over four months with three activities a week, two times a day, with the third day devoted to educational activities, focusing on healthy lifestyle, correct posture, postural orientations, daily living and work activities, work motivation, and other issues.

Características da marcha em sujeitos com deficiência visual / Gait characteristics in subjects with visual disability

Introdução: A marcha é um evento bastante estudado, principalmente no que diz respeito às suas caracterísiticas espaço-temporais e angulares, no entanto, em se tratando de populações especiais, a exemplo dos cegos, estas variáveis ainda são pouco conhecidas. Objetivo: Avaliar as características espaço-temporais do andar no plano de portadores de deficiência visual e comparar com sujeitos norma-visuais, sem uso de alta tecnologia. Método: Participaram do estudo 20 sujeitos de ambos os sexos, divididos em dois grupos: portadores de deficiência visual - PDV (idade = 17,8 ± 2,8 anos; massa corporal = 56,6 ± 12,5 kg; estatura = 1,57 ± 0,06 m; IMC = 23,0 ± 0,7 kg/m2; altura da pelve = 87,8 ± 3,8 cm), composto por 10 sujeitos (6 homens e 4 mulheres) e norma-visuais - NV (idade = 22,5 ± 1,6 anos; massa corporal = 59,0 ± 16,7 kg; estatura = 1,63 ± 0,95 m; IMC = 22,2 ± 0,5 kg/m2; altura da pelve = 87,3± 4,1 cm), também composto por 10 sujeitos (3 homens e 7 mulheres). Os sujeitos caminharam sobre uma passarela de 7m e foram registrados os dados de variáveis espaço-temporais dos 5m centrais por meio do método Step Page. Para análise dos dados utilizou-se o SPSS (16.0), comparando-se as médias intra (teste t Student e Wilcoxon) e intergrupos (teste t Student, Mann-Whitney e ICe), adotando-se um nível de significância de 5% em todas as comparações. Resultados: Na comparação intra-grupos, não houve diferença estatística entre os membros para as variáveis de comprimento do passo (CP), comprimento da passada (CPas) e ângulo de rotação do pé (ARP) para ambos os grupos. Porém, na comparação entre os grupos (PDV x NV), houve diferença estatisticamente significante no comprimento do passo direito (CPD; p<0,05); comprimento do passo esquerdo (CPE; p

Introduction: The gait is an event well studied, especially with regard to their spatiotemporal and angular characteristics, however, when it comes to special populations, like the blind, these variables are still poorly known. Objective: The objective was to evaluate spatial and temporal gait characteristics of subjects with visual impairments and to compare them with normal vision subjects, without use of high technology. Method: The study included 20 individuaisof both sexes, divided into two groups: those with visual impairments - VIP (age = 17.8 ± 2.8 years, body weight =56.6 ± 12.5 kg, height = 1.57 ± 0.06 m, BMI = 23.0 ± 0.7 kg/m2; the pelvis = 87.8 ± 3.8 cm), composed of 10 subjects(6 men and 4 women) and normal visual - NV (age = 22.5 ± 1.6 years, body mass = 59.0 ± 16.7 kg, height =1.63 ± 0.95 m, BMI = 22.2 ± 0.5 kg/m2 ; the pelvis = 87.3 ± 4.1 cm), also composed of 10 subjects (3 men and 7 women). The subjects walked on a walkway of 7m and the data of spatiotemporal variables of the central 5m were recorded by the method Step Page. It was used the SPSS software (16.0) for the data analysis, the mean intra (Student t test and Wilcoxon) and between groups (Student t test, Mann-Whitney and ICe) were compared, adopting a significance levei of 5% for ali comparisons. Results: In comparison within groups there was no statistical difference between the members of the variables of step length (StL), stride length (SdL) and rotation angle of the foot (ARP) for both groups. But in the between groups analysis (VIP x NV), there was statistically significant difference for the variables right step length (RStL, p <0.05), left step length (LStL, p <0.01), right stride length (RSdL p <0.01), left stridelength (LSdL, p <0.01) and gait speed (p <0.01). Conclusion: According to the results of this study, we can inferthat the visually impaired patients group (VIP) moves more slowly and with shorter steps than the subjects with normal vision group (NV).