Brazilian adolescents' knowledge and beliefs about abortion methods: A school-based internet inquiry

Background: Internet surveys that draw from traditionally generated samples provide the unique conditions to engage adolescents in exploration of sensitive health topics.Methods: We examined awareness of unwanted pregnancy, abortion behaviour, methods, and attitudes toward specific legal indications for abortion via a school-based internet survey among 378 adolescents aged 12-21 years in three Rio de Janeiro public schools.Results: Forty-five percent knew peers who had undergone an abortion. Most students (66.0%) did not disclose abortion method knowledge. However, girls (aOR 4.2, 95% CI 2.4-7.2), those who had experienced their sexual debut (aOR1.76, 95% CI 1.1-3.0), and those attending a prestigious magnet school (aOR 2.7 95% CI 1.4-6.3) were more likely to report methods. Most abortion methods (79.3%) reported were ineffective, obsolete, and/or unsafe. Herbs (e.g. marijuana tea), over-the-counter medications, surgical procedures, foreign objects and blunt trauma were reported. Most techniques (85.2%) were perceived to be dangerous, including methods recommended by the World Health Organization. A majority (61.4%) supported Brazil's existing law permitting abortion in the case of rape. There was no association between gender, age, sexual debut, parental education or socioeconomic status and attitudes toward legal abortion. However, students at the magnet school supported twice as many legal indications (2.7, SE.27) suggesting a likely role of peers and/or educators in shaping abortion views.Conclusions: Abortion knowledge and attitudes are not driven simply by age, religion or class, but rather a complex interplay that includes both social spaces and gender. Prevention of abortion morbidity and mortality among adolescents requires comprehensive sexuality and reproductive health education that includes factual distinctions between safe and unsafe abortion methods

Violência sexual contra mulheres no Brasil: conquistas e desafios do setor saúde na década de 2000

O artigo traz uma revisão sobre as políticas públicas para o enfrentamento da violência sexual contra mulheres desenvolvidas ao longo da década de 2000. Analisa o embate sobre os avanços, retrocessos e desafios do tema à luz das proposições do setor saúde. Foram analisados documentos institucionais e artigos selecionados sobre o assunto, apontando variadas estratégias para intervenções propostas e realizadas pelo Sistema Único de Saúde. O texto apresenta ainda questões emblemáticas que nos fazem refletir sobre os desafios a serem superados pelos gestores de saúde na década atual, tais como a cobertura e continuidade dos serviços de atenção e capacitação permanente dos profissionais, bem como o atendimento para a interrupção da gravidez, prevista em lei.The article brings a revision on the public politics for the confronting of the sexual violence against women developed along the decade of 2000s. It analyzes the collision on the progress, retreats and challenges of the theme to the light of the proposi-tions of the section health. Institutional documents and articles were analyzed selected on the subject, pointing varied strategies for intervention proposed and accomplished by the Brazilian National Health System. The text still presents emblematic ques-tions that send us to think on the challenges to be overcome by the managers of health in the current decade, such as the covering and continuity of the services of attention, the professionals’ permanent training, as well as the service to the legal abortion

Amiodarone Inhibits Trypanosoma cruzi

We present the results of the first detailed study of the antiproliferative and ultrastructural effects of amiodarone on Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas' disease. Moreover, we report the effects of this compound on the recovery of F-actin fibrils, connexin43, and contractility in T. cruzi-infected cardiac myocytes. Amiodarone is the most prescribed class III antiarrhythmic agent and is frequently used for the symptomatic treatment of Chagas' disease patients with cardiac compromise. In addition, recent studies identified its antifungal and antiprotozoal activities, which take place through Ca(2+) homeostasis disruption and ergosterol biosynthesis blockade. We tested different concentrations of amiodarone (2.5 to 10 μM) on infected primary cultures of heart muscle cells and observed a dose- and time-dependent effect on growth of the clinically relevant intracellular amastigote form of T. cruzi. Ultrastructural analyses revealed that amiodarone had a profound effect on intracellular amastigotes, including mitochondrial swelling and disorganization of reservosomes and the kinetoplast and a blockade of amastigote-trypomastigote differentiation. Amiodarone showed no toxic effects on host cells, which recovered their F-actin fibrillar organization, connexin43 distribution, and spontaneous contractility concomitant with the drug-induced eradication of the intracellular parasites. Amiodarone is, therefore, a promising compound for the development of new drugs against T. cruzi

Amiodarone inhibits Trypanosoma cruzi infection and promotes cardiac cell recovery with gap junction and cytoskeleton reassembly in vitro

Submitted by Sandra Infurna ([email protected]) on 2018-08-08T11:25:02Z No. of bitstreams: 1 daniel _adesse_etal_IOC_2010.pdf: 6190363 bytes, checksum: 186c26faeff51157c4b30590631545db (MD5)Approved for entry into archive by Sandra Infurna ([email protected]) on 2018-08-08T11:36:02Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 daniel _adesse_etal_IOC_2010.pdf: 6190363 bytes, checksum: 186c26faeff51157c4b30590631545db (MD5)Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-08T11:36:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 daniel _adesse_etal_IOC_2010.pdf: 6190363 bytes, checksum: 186c26faeff51157c4b30590631545db (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Laboratório de Ultraestrutura Celular. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Laboratório de Ultraestrutura Celular. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Laboratório de Ultraestrutura Celular. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientificas. Centro de Biofísica y Bioquímica. Laboratório de Química Biológica. Caracas, Venezuela.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Laboratório de Ultraestrutura Celular. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.We present the results of the first detailed study of the antiproliferative and ultrastructural effects of amiodarone on Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas' disease. Moreover, we report the effects of this compound on the recovery of F-actin fibrils, connexin43, and contractility in T. cruzi-infected cardiac myocytes. Amiodarone is the most prescribed class III antiarrhythmic agent and is frequently used for the symptomatic treatment of Chagas' disease patients with cardiac compromise. In addition, recent studies identified its antifungal and antiprotozoal activities, which take place through Ca(2+) homeostasis disruption and ergosterol biosynthesis blockade. We tested different concentrations of amiodarone (2.5 to 10 μM) on infected primary cultures of heart muscle cells and observed a dose- and time-dependent effect on growth of the clinically relevant intracellular amastigote form of T. cruzi. Ultrastructural analyses revealed that amiodarone had a profound effect on intracellular amastigotes, including mitochondrial swelling and disorganization of reservosomes and the kinetoplast and a blockade of amastigote-trypomastigote differentiation. Amiodarone showed no toxic effects on host cells, which recovered their F-actin fibrillar organization, connexin43 distribution, and spontaneous contractility concomitant with the drug-induced eradication of the intracellular parasites. Amiodarone is, therefore, a promising compound for the development of new drugs against T. cruzi