Maria Zélia Rouquayrol

Promoção à saúde e educação: diagnóstico de saneamento através da pesquisa participante articulada à educação popular (Distrito São João dos Queiróz, Quixadá, Ceará, Brasil)

This study was conducted in a rural community, São João dos Queiróz, a township in the county of Quixadá, Ceará, Brazil, using a combination of participatory research and community education in compliance with the health promotion reference and principles of the 1986 Ottawa Charter. The project was joined by representatives of several local government institutions and organizations from the grassroots community movement. The theme generating the research, as defined by an assembly meeting of the community association, was a diagnosis of sanitation conditions in the community. The starting point was the assessment of local conditions. Results showed adverse local conditions in sanitation, literacy, income, and employment. Suggestions for solving the problems were organized so as to be included in the planning agenda for local health policies. Evaluation was procedural and enriched with daily research activities. The problem-solving pedagogical approach developed during the educational process contributed to a critical reconstruction, appropriation, and sharing of the resulting knowledge.

Interpretation of the presence of IgM and IgG antibodies in a rapid test for dengue: analysis of dengue antibody prevalence in Fortaleza City in the 20th year of the epidemic

INTRODUCTION The diagnosis of dengue and the differentiation between primary and secondary infections are important for monitoring the spread of the epidemic and identifying the risk of severe forms of the disease. The detection of immunoglobulin (Ig)M and IgG antibodies is the main technique for the laboratory diagnosis of dengue. The present study assessed the application of a rapid test for dengue concerning detection of new cases, reinfection recognition, and estimation of the epidemic attack rate. METHODS This was a retrospective, cross-sectional, descriptive study on dengue using the Fortaleza Health Municipal Department database. The results from 1,530 tested samples, from 2005-2006, were compared with data from epidemiological studies of dengue outbreaks in 1996, 2003, and 2010. RESULTS The rapid test confirmed 52% recent infections in the tested patients with clinical suspicion of dengue: 40% detected using IgM and 12% of new cases using IgG in the non-reactive IgM results. The positive IgM plus negative IgG (IgM+ plus IgG-) results showed that 38% of those patients had a recent primary dengue infection, while the positive IgG plus either positive or negative IgM (IgG+ plus IgM+/-) results indicated that 62% had dengue for at least a second time (recent secondary infections). This proportion of reinfections permitted us to estimate the attack rate as >62% of the population sample. CONCLUSIONS The rapid test for dengue has enhanced our ability to detect new infections and to characterize them into primary and secondary infections, permitting the estimation of the minimal attack rate for a population during an outbreak.

Atividade moluscicida de Pithecelobium multiflorum

The authors found that Pithecelobium multiflorum (an indigenous plant from Brazil), shows molluscicidal-activity against snails vectors of schistosomiasis. Many variables such as concentration and time of exposure, toxicity for fishes and domestic animals, activity against eggs and adults snails, are described in this work as a preliminary study of molluscicidal activity from natural products.

Aplicação do teste de informação, memória e concentração (IMC) ao estudo epidemiológico de demência senil em Fortaleza

O presente trabalho teve por objetivo verificar a ocorrencia de demencia senil em amostra de pessoas de 65 e mais anos de idade residentes no Municipio de Fortaleza. Foram testados 865 idosos, a partir do teste de Informacao, Memoria e Concentracao, IMC (teste de Hachinski, modificado), que aborda aspectos concernentes a identificacao da pessoa, a memoria de fatos atuais e remotos e a concentracao, determinando os estados demenciais em funcao do numero e grau de respostas numa sequencia programada e previamente testada quanto a sensibilidade e especificidade. Analisando-se os resultados quanto a idade, sexo e condicao social, evidenciou-se uma prevalencia de 8,4% de demencia senil no conjunto geral, com diferenca nao-significativa na faixa de 75 e mais anos de idade (9,3%), comparada ao grupo de 65 a 74 anos (7,5%). Os percentuais foram semelhantes para homens e mulheres: 8,7% e 8,3%, respectivamente. Quanto a condicao social, foi verificado um aumento progressivo nas proporcoes de estados demenciais, desde 4,2% para o estrato A/B (abastados), 6,9% para o grupo C (nivel intermediario) e 10,3% no nivel D/E correspondente ao estrato de pessoas economicamente desprivilegiadas. Estes resultados, entretanto, deverao ser vistos com cena reserva, dado o grau de recusa por ocasiao das entrevistas, especialmente nos estratros A/B (19,3%) e D/E (9,3%).

Hycanthone e oxamniquine no tratamento de crianças portadoras de S. mansoni

The authors present their experience in the treatment of children infected with S. mansoni using Hycanthone (2.3 to 2.7 mg/kg body weight) and Oxamniquine capsules (11.4 to 20.0 mg/kg body weight); a control group was given placebo. Hycanthone cured 100% of the 36 children given the drug; Oxamniquine capsules cured 80% of the 36 children treated and a cure rate of 92% was achieved with a second oxamniquine treatment course. Side-effects were most frequently observed with Hycanthone; no significant tiver test function alterations were detected with both drugs. The authors suggest the use of oxamniquine syrup for the treatment of children in order to obtain better results with more adequate dosages according to the body weight.

Estudo da mortalidade pelas principais causas de violência em Fortaleza, 1998-2007 - doi:10.5020/18061230.2008.p246

Objective: To describe the mortality from external causes in Fortaleza (Brazil), including homicides, suicides, falls and traffic violence. Methods: A descriptive study about the mortality of residents in Fortaleza, in which 105,000 deaths occurring in the period of 1999 to 2007 were evaluated. The deaths were registered and available in the Mortality Information System (SIM) of the Municipal Health Secretariat (SMS). Death distribution by year of occurrence and gender were compared. To measure the population’s growth and the increase of deaths and of mortality rates in time we used linear regression. The correlations with coefficients of determination equal or above 70% (R2 ? 0.70) were considered significant. Results: It was found that, for the entire period, deaths from all external causes showed to be higher in men than in women, either in attacks or in traffic accidents or in cases of selfinflicted injuries. In the period, deaths from external causes presented a growth with level of significance above 70%, at a rate of 49.5 deaths per year, reaching 1.774 deaths in 2007 (R2 = 0.74). Regarding the absolute numbers of deaths, growth occurred at the expense of increase of homicides and suicides in men (R2 ? 0.73) and not in women (R2 ? 0.56) and was not observed in mortality rates, indicating a correlation with population growth. Conclusion: By the study of trends in mortality rates, there are signs, albeit weak, of a trend to the reduction of deaths from external causes, which, probably, is reflecting the gains achieved by the efforts of resources mobilization and the organization of society against violence.