Coronary disease risk assessment in men: Comparison between ASCVD Risk versus Framingham.

INTRODUCTION: This study evaluated the risk of men developing coronary heart disease and its determinant variables, comparing these results through two validated coronary risk scales. METHODS: A cross sectional epidemiological analytical study in which data were collected by spontaneous demand, through a semi-structured questionnaire, clinical examination, and blood collection. The Chi-square test, logistic regression and Kappa for statistical analysis were performed. RESULTS: The study included 637 men. Age was a determining factor (p<0.05) in blood pressure (BP) changes, central obesity, BMI, glycemia, total cholesterol, LDL and triglycerides. From this group of 637, 252 presented BP above the recommended values. It was found that 34.54% of men had high total cholesterol, 19.94% had high LDL, 46.78% presented HDL below normal values and 36.42% had elevated triglycerides. Metabolic syndrome was found in 24.96% of the men. With the Framingham scale, 637 men were evaluated, 12.56% were at intermediate-risk and 5.49% elevated risk, while on the ASCVD Risk scale 553 men were evaluated, and 7.05% had moderate risk and none had high coronary risk. In this study, 50.43% of men still had no previous diagnosis for any disease that increases the risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: The determinant clinical variables were age, blood pressure, smoking, central obesity, race and education. The Framingham scale allowed the assessment of cardiac risk of all men in the study, with no age restriction or cholesterol value, so in population studies it shows advantages over the ASCVD Risk due to its comprehensive feature of including all individuals.

Performance of Hitchens-Pike-Todd-Hewitt medium for group B streptococcus screening in pregnant women.

Group B streptococcus (GBS), which commonly colonizes the female genital tract and rectum, can cause infections in newborns with varying severity, possibly leading to death. The aim of the present study was to evaluate Hitchens-Pike-Todd-Hewitt (HPTH) medium performance for GBS screening in pregnant women. A descriptive analytical cross-sectional study was performed with 556 pregnant women, of which 496 were at 35-37 weeks of gestation and 60 were at ≥ 38 weeks of gestation. The study was conducted from September 2011 to March 2014 in northern Paraná, Brazil. Vaginal and anorectal clinical specimens from each pregnant woman were plated on sheep blood agar (SBA) and seeded on HPTH medium and Todd-Hewitt enrichment broth. Of the 496 pregnant women at 35-37 weeks of gestation, 141 (28.4%) were positive for GBS, based on the combination of the three culture media and clinical specimens. The GBS colonization rates that were detected by each medium were 22.2% for HPTH medium, 21.2% for SBA, and 13.1% for Todd-Hewitt enrichment broth. Of the 60 pregnant women at ≥ 38 weeks of gestation, seven (11.7%) were positive for GBS. These results demonstrate that HPTH medium and SBA were more sensitive than Todd-Hewitt enrichment broth for GBS screening in pregnant women and good GBS recovery in culture, indicating that the two media should be used together for vaginal and anorectal specimens.

Dispersal and memory of sand flies in an endemic area of cutaneous leishmaniasis, southern Brazil.

The dispersal of and the existence of memory in sand flies were measured in a transmission area of cutaneous leishmaniasis, in the municipality of Bandeirantes, Paraná, Brazil. Sand flies were caught in a rural area, with Shannon trap installed in the forest and three Falcão traps installed in a human-inhabited environment (HIE) and three others in an impacted environment presently uninhabited by humans (EUH), from 1800 to 0600 hours. The captured sand flies were marked with yellow, blue, or red fluorescent powder, according to the environments where they were captured. All marked sand flies were released at 0700 hours at a point between the three environments. The recaptures were made with 28 Falcão traps, distributed in the environments from for 10 consecutive days. The sand flies recaptured were examined under a stereomicroscope and later identified. It was concluded that sand flies are able to disperse over an average distance of 73 m, reaching 130 m in 24 h, showing that: 1) the sand flies were attracted with different intensities to each environment, and the ability to move among different environments allows the existence of enzootic cycle of Leishmania; 2) the sand flies possess a spatial memory, olfactory memory, or both, that enable them to return to the environment where they were captured initially, although the distances were different.

[Cytopathological alterations and risk factors for uterine cervical neoplasm]. / Alterações citopatológicas e fatores de risco para a ocorrência do câncer de colo uterino.

The aim of the present study was to verify the occurrence of citopathological alterations and risk factors of Uterine Cervical Neoplasm in women attended by SUS--the Public Healthcare System--in a district situated in the North of Paraná State, Brazil from 2001 to 2006. It was a descriptive transversal observational study. The data collection consisted in collection of test results from medical records and interviews. It was achieved 6.356 tests and, 1.02% (65) of the women examined presented alterations. From the tests made 4.869 (70,8%) were from women aged between 25 and 59 years. And 38,5% of the tests presented Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasm (CIN) I, 32,3% CIN II, 18,5% CIN I and Human Papiloma Virus (HPV). It was interviewed 25 women from the total sample. Most of them presented a risk factor as: smoking habits, sexually transmitted diseases, use of hormonal contraceptive, number of sexual partners, early sexual intercourse. This study concludes that is required educative and more effective actions in order to reduce the alterations, meanly among teenagers.