Luis Cesar de Castro

Papel do agente comunitário de saúde no controle do estoque domiciliar de medicamentos em comunidades atendidas pela estratégia de saúde da família

The scope of this study was to investigate the in-house stock of medication in communities served by the Family Health Strategy (FHS) in a city located in the south of Brazil. A sample of 10% of households in five FHS areas was studied. Data were collected by Community Healthcare Workers using the adapted Fernandes questionnaire (2000). The mean age of the interviewees was 42 years and of the residents was 16 years, 51% of which were female. Low income (1 to 3 minimum wages) was observed (69.1%), and low education levels (0 to 4 years of study) (42%). Of the households visited 98.7% had at least one medication in stock. In 533 of the storage places located, 43.5% of such places were exposed to heat, 39.6% were exposed to humidity and 16.51% to light. Of the 2,717 medicines found, 6.9% were past the validity date, 35.3% were not in the secondary wrapping and 67.9% were without the patient information leaflet. Analgesics were the most common medications in in-house stock (21%). This study revealed the need for a multi-professional team to promote health and the rationalization of in-house stock since the Community Healthcare Worker is an indispensable professional to promote the rational use of medication.

Seasonal and environmental variations in community structure of house dust mites (Acari) in subtropical southern Brazil

ABSTRACT House dust mites (HDM) are globally distributed in human habitats. The most favourable locations for their development are carpets, curtains, couches, mattresses and pillows. This association with indoor environments makes HDM one of the most important sources of indoor allergens. Distribution and concentration may be influenced by food availability, temperature and, mostly, humidity. This study investigated seasonal and environmental patterns in HDM communities in order to understand the influence of housing type and climate conditions on their richness, abundance and concentration. We sampled four different types of housing (brick houses, wooden houses, carpeted apartments and tiled-floor apartments) and four habitats (double mattress, couch, curtain and carpet). We carried out four samplings in 2010, each one in a season of the year, and collected a total of 128 samples. We analysed richness, abundance and concentration of all sample units. We found a total of 1653 mites. Blomia tropicalis (van Bronswijk, Cock & Oshima, 1973), Dermatophagoides farinae Hughes, 1961 and Tarsonemus fusarii Cooreman, 1941 were the most abundant species. All variables tended to decrease from winter to summer. Wooden and carpeted houses had higher richness and abundance than brick houses and tiled-floor apartments. Curtain had the highest concentration, followed by double mattress, couch and carpet. We found seasonal and environmental variations in the community structure of HDM. Concluding, we demonstrated the prevalence of allergenic indoor mites in the coldest months, in more favourable conditions of wooden and carpeted houses. This study indicates that through careful regulation of climatic conditions, housekeeping policies and laundering procedures, dust mite and allergen levels can be controlled even in a climate suitable for the development of breeding mite populations.

Avaliação da atividade antimicrobiana de extratos de Eugenia anomala e Psidium salutare (Myrtaceae) frente à Escherichia coli e Listeria monocytogenes

The foodborne diseases occur mainly due to the ingestion of food contaminated by pathogenic microorganisms, including Escherichia coli and Listeria monocytogenes. One of the alternatives studied to minimize contamination of food is the use of plants or their extracts as antimicrobial agents naturally occurring in food products. The objective of this study is to provide scientific data on two native plants of RS have not studied Eugenia anomala and Psidium salutare for a potential use as a natural antimicrobial agent in food. To this end, we evaluated the antimicrobial activity of extracts of E. anomala and P. salutare against E. coli and L. monocytogenes by determining the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) by the broth microdilution method, the antioxidant capacity of the extract for means DPPH radical reduction method and in vitro cytotoxicity using CHO-K1 cells. The results showed that the ethyl acetate and ethanolic extracts of both species have very high antioxidant activity, of 94.08% and 93.86%, respectively. Only the hexane extract of P. salutare showed a moderate antimicrobial activity (MIC = 312.5 mg/mL). Moreover, all extracts showed cytotoxic action of which the highest percentages were the chloroform extract of E. anomala (77.05%) and hexane P. salutare (76.79%) at a concentration of 100 mg/mL. Thus, the present study showed that plant species have potential for use as an antimicrobial agent against these microorganisms.

Promoção de saúde escolar e uso de drogas em escolares no Sul do Brasil

I Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Saúde Coletiva. São Leopoldo, RS, Brasil II Centro Universitário Ritter dos Reis. Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil III Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia Farroupilha. Farroupilha, RS, Brasil IV Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde. Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil V Universidade Integrada Vale do Taquari Ensino Superior. Taquari, RS, Brasil VI Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos. Unidade de Pesquisa e Pós-Graduação. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Saúde Coletiva. São Leopoldo, RS, Brasil VII Secretária Municipal da Saúde. Centro de Atenção Psicossocial – Álcool e Drogas. Taquara, RS, BrasilABSTRACT OBJECTIVE: To analyze the relationship between the health promotion conditions in schools and the consumption of alcohol and other drugs by students. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study with a probabilistic sample of 3,464 students aged 12 to 17 from all schools of the cities of Lajeado and Sapiranga, state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, and 53 managers from the same schools; the data was collected in 2012. Reports of the use of tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs in 2012 were used as outcomes, and the health promotion score in the school environment was used as the exposure of interest. We submitted the data to multilevel analysis. RESULTS: The prevalence of the annual use of tobacco was 9.8% (95%CI 8.8-10.8), alcohol was 46.2% (95%CI 44.5-47.8), and other drugs was 10.9% (95%CI 9.9-12.0). In the crude analysis, only the use of tobacco was associated with less health promoting schools (OR = 1.89, 95%CI 1.16-3.09) when compared to those with better conditions. This association lost statistical significance in the adjusted analysis (OR = 1.27, 95%CI 0.74-2.19). CONCLUSIONS: The effects of the school environment on the use of drugs, especially tobacco and alcohol, are manifested mainly by the individual and family conditions of the adolescents.

Exposure to physical and sexual violence and suicidal ideation among schoolchildren

Objective: The purpose of this study was to estimate the association between exposure to physical and sexual violence, and suicidal ideation in Brazilian Schoolchildren, accounting for confounding variables of religious practice, and problems with alcohol and other drugs. Methods: This study consists of a cross-sectional analytical approach of a larger school-based study conducted in 2012 in two medium-sized municipalities in south of Brazil. Participants were 3,547 students aging 12 to 17 years old who answered an assembled questionnaire. Descriptive and Logistic Regression analyses were conducted with suicide ideation outcome testing prediction models stratified by sex. Results: Suicide ideation prevalence in the sample was of 21.7%, and regression analysis indicated that girls and boys exposed to physical or sexual violence had 3.42 and 3.14 times more probability of referring suicidal ideation in the past 30 days. Adjusted analyses showed little interference of religious practice, while problems with alcohol and other drugs seemed to also explain suicidal ideation in the sample. Conclusion: We highlight the importance of future longitudinal studies to investigate the mechanisms through which exposure to physical or sexual abuse influence suicidal ideation among boys and girls, as well as mediation studies that could enlighten the role of drug and alcohol use in this relationship.

Relacionamento entre pai e mãe e consumo de álcool segundo relato de escolares de 12 a 14 anos do sul do Brasil

Objective To examine the relationship between parents’ relationship and their alcohol consumption as reported by students from 12 to 14 years old. Methods A cross-sectional school-based study was performed, visiting all schools of two towns in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil (2012), involving a sample stratified by gender, age, municipality and type of school (public or private). Data were submitted to descriptive and Poisson regression analysis with design effect control for the variable school. Results The sample consisted of 2,189 students who were 1,351 (61.7%) from the city of Lajeado and 838 (38.3%) from Sapiranga. No statistically significant association between mother’s alcohol consumption and relationship between father and mother perceived as negative was found. Father’s alcohol consumption reduced the likelihood of the relationship between him and the mother being reported as negative in the crude analysis [PR = 0.857 (95%CI: 0.744-0.988)]. This association also disappears when the analysis was adjusted by sex, age and education level of the main responsible in the family house. Conclusion There is a risk of strong dissonance between the perception the students have about the influence of adults’ alcohol beverage on the relationships in their homes and speeches aiming to show to schoolchildren that alcohol consumption is harmful to loving relationships and care.