Internato médico rural na Serra Gaúcha: a experiência da Universidade de Caxias do Sul / Rural medical internship in Serra Gaúcha: the experience of the Universidade de Caxias do Sul

Um dos desafios das comunidades rurais e remotas é a dificuldade no recrutamento e a retenção de recursos humanos em saúde. A educação médica em áreas rurais é uma das estratégias para enfrentar tal deficiência. No Brasil, há relativamente poucos relatos de experiências de educação médica em áreas rurais, especialmente de duração prolongada, e há necessidade de se avaliar as existentes para contribuir com a formulação de políticas públicas. Este trabalho descreve o estágio rural do internato médico em Medicina de Família e Comunidade (MFC) da Universidade de Caxias do Sul (UCS). Até agora, durante os treze anos desde seu início, mais de 550 estagiários passaram pelas unidades de saúde de quatro municípios da Serra Gaúcha. Reflexões sobre a experiência para a formação médica e para as políticas de recursos humanos são apresentadas. O estágio rural tem sido importante espaço de diversificação de cenário para educação, reforçando o papel da Atenção Primária à Saúde e da MFC, além de possibilitar a aproximação da Universidade com a comunidade, confirmando sua responsabilidade social. Os resultados contribuem para as estratégias de formação médica e para as políticas de recrutamento e retenção de recursos humanos na saúde para áreas rurais e remotas.(AU)

One of the challenges of rural and remote communities is the difficulty in recruiting and retaining human resources in health. Medical education in rural areas is one of the strategies to tackle this deficiency. In Brazil, there are relatively few reports of medical education experiences in rural areas, especially of long duration, and there is a need to evaluate the existing ones to generate useful reflections for the formulation of public policies. This work describes the medical internship in Family Medicine (FM) at the Universidade de Caxias do Sul (UCS). To date, during the thirteen years since its inception, more than 550 medical students have passed through four municipalities in the Serra Gaúcha. Reflections on the experience about medical training and human resources policies for rural health are presented. The rural internship has been an important space for diversifying the scenario for medical education, reinforcing the role of Primary Health Care and of FM, in addition to making it possible to bring the University closer to the community, confirming its social responsibility. The results of this report contribute to medical training strategies and policies for the recruitment and retention of human resources in health for rural and remote areas.(AU)

Circulating microRNAs in obese and lean heart failure patients: A case-control study with computational target prediction analysis.

AIMS: MicroRNAs (miRs) regulate processes involved in both cardiac remodeling and obesity. We investigated if the expression of selected miRs in patients with heart failure (HF) is influenced by the presence of obesity. METHODS: In this case-control study, we compared plasma levels of miR-21, -130b, -221, -423-5p, and the -221/-130b ratio in 57 age- and gender-matched subjects: 40 HF patients (20 obese HF and 20 lean HF) and 17 lean healthy controls. Body composition was estimated by bioelectrical impedance analysis. MiRs were measured by quantitative reverse transcription-PCR. Bioinformatics analysis was performed based on miRs findings to predict their putative targets and investigate their biological function. RESULTS: HF was associated with increased miR-423-5p levels in both lean and obese patients (P<0.05 vs. controls) without differences between HF groups. MiR-130b levels were reduced in obese HF patients compared with HF lean (P=0.036) and controls (P=0.025). MiR-221 levels were non-significantly increased in obese HF patients. MiR-21 levels were not different among the groups. MiR-221/-130b ratio was increased in obese HF patients, and was positively associated with body fat percentage (r=0.43; P=0.002), body mass index (r=0.44; P=0.002), and waist circumference (r=0.40; P=0.020). Computational prediction of target genes followed by functional enrichment analysis indicated a relevant role of miR-130b and miR-221 in modulating the expression of genes associated to cardiovascular and endocrine diseases, and suggested their influence in important signaling mechanisms and in numerous processes related to the circulatory and endocrine systems. CONCLUSIONS: In HF patients, the presence of obesity is associated with a differential expression of selected miRs and the miR-221/-130b ratio had significant correlations with adiposity parameters. Computational target prediction analysis identified several interrelated pathways targeted by miR-130b and miR-221 with a known relationship with endocrine and cardiovascular diseases, representing potential mechanisms to be further validated.

Association study of polymorphisms in the receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE) gene with susceptibility and prognosis of heart failure.

BACKGROUND: Functional polymorphisms in the receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE) gene have been implicated in several vascular diseases. However, to date, no study investigated the association of RAGE polymorphisms with heart failure (HF). OBJECTIVE: In this study we tested the hypothesis that the 63-bp insertion/deletion, the -374T>A (rs1800624) and the -429T>C (rs1800625) polymorphisms in the RAGE gene might be associated with susceptibility to HF and could predict all-cause mortality in Brazilian outpatients with left ventricular systolic dysfunction. METHODS: A total of 273 consecutive HF patients (196 Caucasian- and 77 African-Brazilians) and 334 healthy blood donors (260 Caucasian- and 74 African-Brazilians) were enrolled in a tertiary care university hospital. Genotyping of RAGE polymorphisms was done by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or PCR followed by enzyme restriction analysis. RESULTS: The allele, genotype and haplotype frequencies of -374T>A and -429T>C polymorphisms were not significantly different between HF patients and healthy blood donors in both ethnic groups. However, among African-Brazilians, the frequency of carriership of the del allele was lower in HF patients than in blood donors (2.6% vs 12.2%, respectively, p=0.008). Patients were followed-up for a median of 38 months and the survival analysis did not reveal a consistent association between RAGE polymorphisms and all-cause death in both ethnic groups. CONCLUSION: The -374T>A and -429T>C polymorphisms in the RAGE gene were not associated with the susceptibility and prognosis of HF. Notwithstanding, the 63-bp ins/del polymorphism might be involved in the susceptibility to HF in African-Brazilians.