Despite notable scientific and medical advances, broader political, socioeconomic and behavioural factors continue to undercut the response to the COVID-19 pandemic1,2. Here we convened, as part of this Delphi study, a diverse, multidisciplinary panel of 386 academic, health, non-governmental organization, government and other experts in COVID-19 response from 112 countries and territories to recommend specific actions to end this persistent global threat to public health. The panel developed a set of 41 consensus statements and 57 recommendations to governments, health systems, industry and other key stakeholders across six domains: communication; health systems; vaccination; prevention; treatment and care; and inequities. In the wake of nearly three years of fragmented global and national responses, it is instructive to note that three of the highest-ranked recommendations call for the adoption of whole-of-society and whole-of-government approaches1, while maintaining proven prevention measures using a vaccines-plus approach2 that employs a range of public health and financial support measures to complement vaccination. Other recommendations with at least 99% combined agreement advise governments and other stakeholders to improve communication, rebuild public trust and engage communities3 in the management of pandemic responses. The findings of the study, which have been further endorsed by 184 organizations globally, include points of unanimous agreement, as well as six recommendations with >5% disagreement, that provide health and social policy actions to address inadequacies in the pandemic response and help to bring this public health threat to an end.

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Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) has been evaluated in breast cancer patients to identify those most likely to benefit from herceptin-targeted therapy. HER2 amplification, detected in 20-30% of invasive breast tumors, is associated with reduced survival and metastasis. The most frequently used technique for evaluating HER2 protein status as a routine procedure is immunohistochemistry (IHC). HER2 copy number alterations have also been evaluated by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) in moderate immunoexpression (IHC 2+) cases. An alternative procedure to evaluate gene amplification is chromogenic in situ hybridization (CISH), which has some advantages over FISH, including the correlation between HER2 status and morphological features. Other methodologies have also been used, such as silver-enhanced in situ hybridization (SISH) and quantitative real-time RT-PCR, to determine the number of HER2 gene copies and expression, respectively. Here we will present a short and comprehensive review of the current advances concerning HER2 evaluation in human breast cancer.

Mycobacteria have emerged as a major cause of opportunistic infections. Until the present, only a few studies have characterized mycobacteria present in the water distribution system of urban areas. In this study, we characterize these microorganisms in the Lisbon water distribution system. Our results indicate a high rate of positivities (90.5%) with mainly saprophytic mycobacteria. Around 63% of these results belong to strains of Mycobacterium gordonae indicating a generalized proliferation of this species in the Lisbon water distribution system. A total of 21.05% of the isolates are from M. kansasii, M. intracellulare and M. chelonae.

Introdução: A tecnologia assistiva apresenta produtos, recursos, métodos, estratégias, práticas e serviços que promovem a funcionalidade de pessoas com deficiência, visando sua autonomia, independência, qualidade de vida e inclusão social. Seu desenvolvimento e disponibilização podem ser considerados uma tentativa de neutralizar as barreiras causadas pela deficiência. Objetivo: Compreender e apontar as relações existentes entre tecnologia assistiva e qualidade de vida de pessoas com deficiência. Método: Utilizou-se a história de vida tópica. Foram entrevistadas três pessoas com deficiência física/motora, três com deficiência visual, e três com deficiência auditiva. Identificou-se individualmente a relação entre tecnologia assistiva e qualidade de vida, e os traços em comum nas respostas considerando o “grupo” da deficiência. Resultado: As aplicações da tecnologia assistiva englobam atividades da vida diária, atividades instrumentais de vida diária, educação, trabalho e lazer, que implicam diferentes relações com a qualidade de vida. Conclusão: A tecnologia assistiva está relacionada à qualidade de vida de pessoas com deficiência ao facilitar e possibilitar a realização das atividades, promovendo autonomia e independência, gerando efeitos positivos individuais e sociais.

Our study showed that hereditary and acquired thrombophilias are higher than previously expected and reported.

This study aimed to describe the occurrence of Leptospira interrogans serovars Icterohaemorrhagiae and Canicola, in coastal zone and in southern grasslands of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. In each one of the four analyzed farms blood samples were collected from free-living wild animals, domestic animals and humans to perform serological testing for leptospirosis. The presence of antibodies was verified by microscopic agglutination test (MAT). The criterion adopted to consider a serum as agglutination reactant was at least 50% of leptospira for a microscopic field of 100x. From 17 blood samples collected at Chuí, five (29.41%) were positive, three (60.00%) for serovar Icterohaemorrhagiae and two (40.00%) for Canicola. From 21 samples collected in the County of Santana da Boa Vista, six (28.57%) were positive, four (66.67%) for serovar Canicola and two (33.33%) for serovar Icterohaemorrhagiae. From 32 samples collected at Alegrete, 10 (31.25%) were positive, seven (70.00%) for serovar Icterohaemorrhagiae and three (30.00%) foro serovar Canicola. From 17 blood samples collected in Cruz Alta, three (17.64%) were positive, two (66.67%) for serovar Icterohaemorrhagiae and one (33.33%) for Canicola. It is necessary to improve sanitary practices on farms in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, in order to achieve success in leptospirosis control programs.