Introduction: In Brazil, as in all Latin America, access to infertility care, including assisted reproductive technology (ART) is on debate. This paper evaluates the availability and access of Brazilian couples to ART services. Methods: It is a qualitative study conducted about the Brazilian possibilities of ART in the public sector. A questionnaire was sent by e-mail to 14 public centers identified as providing ART (IVF/ICSI and/or IUI), with questions about their performance on 2013. The questionnaire was objective with seven questions. It was asked the number of patients seen for 1 st time in 2013, and number IVF procedures and/or IUI in this interval, the source of funds to support the center, the input source of the patients, who pays for medications and how much (%), number of cycles or age limitations, whether or not oocyte donation is held. Results: There were 11 answers out of 14 and during 2013 in public centers were performed 1088 IUI cycles plus 4044 IVF/ICSI cycles. The waiting lists of patients can vary from 300 to 1500 and wait from 6 months to 4 years. Conclusions: As infertility goes, charges remain incompatible with the financial possibilities of the majority of Brazilian population. The Brazilian government should consider buying cycles in private accredited centers to offer ART procedures at no cost to low-income populations. Other possibility is to state as mandatory that Health Insurance Assistance Companies cover ART treatments, making it accessible for a large part of the population.

Summary Engineered materials to improve the shelf‐life of desiccated microbial strains are needed for cost‐effective bioaugmentation strategies. High temperatures and humidity of legume‐growing regions challenge long‐term cell stabilization at the desiccated state. A thermostable xeroprotectant core and hydrophobic water vapour barrier shell encapsulation technique was developed to protect desiccated cells from the environment. A trehalose core matrix increased the stability of desiccated Bradyrhizobium by three orders of magnitude over 20 days at 32°C and 50% relative humidity (RH) compared to buffer alone; however, the improvement was not deemed sufficient for a shelf‐stable bioproduct. We tested common additives (skim milk, albumin, gelatin and dextran) to increase the glass transition temperature of the desiccated product to provide further stabilization. Albumin increased the glass transition temperature of the trehalose‐based core by 40°C and stabilized desiccated Bradyrhizobium for 4 months during storage at high temperature (32°C) and moderate humidity (50% RH) with only 1 log loss of viability. Although the albumin‐trehalose core provided exceptional protection against high temperature, it was ineffective at higher humidity conditions (75%). We therefore incorporated a paraffin shell, which protected desiccated cells against 75% RH providing proof of concept that core and shell encapsulation is an effective strategy to stabilize desiccated cells.

No pós-Guerra Fria, a cooperação internacional caminha para um consenso em torno dos serviços de Saúde Mental e Apoio Psicossocial (SMAPS) em situações humanitárias, o qual culmina, no início deste século, na elaboração de certas diretrizes para este fim. Este artigo possui o objetivo de analisar a abordagem da cultura, enquanto foco temático, pelo método da codificação teórica das menções a este termo nas referidas diretrizes. Entre os resultados, há que se destacar o fato de que, embora a dimensão da interação entre culturas — característica da abordagem intercultural — esteja presente, há um grande foco nas suas diferenças, mais típico da multicultural. Conclui-se que tal foco pode vir a causar ‘danos’ às pessoas em situação humanitária, sobretudo no contexto de emergências, pois não é dada às pessoas que são público-alvo dos serviços de SMAPS, muitas vezes, a oportunidade de participar ativamente no desenho dessas intervenções. Destaca-se, por fim, a educação intercultural e seu papel formador de agentes humanitários em emergências diversas, em particular dos que atuam com serviços de saúde mental e apoio psicossocial, para buscar reparar os danos causados no passado e prevenir os danos futuros.

This research aims to critically analyze the protective measures of the women's rights in the Dadaab camps (Kenya), where much of the population is namely bearing a protracted refugee situation. The High Commissioner of the United Nations for Refugees (UNHCR) fits in such a category any "populations from 25,000 refugees or more living in exile for five years onwards" (UNHCR, 2004). Established in 1992, Dadaab is nowadays the largest camp complex, with almost 260,000 registered individuals, most of whom are under 18 Somali refugees. In this, as in other camps, UNHCR partners with other entities, either governmental or not, namely to protect the refugees' rights. The main norms supporting their actions particularly in such situations in the Africa region are described in Chapter 1. The protective measures for major women's rights violations in the camps are dealt with by Chapter 2. Then Chapters 3 addresses the field Dadaab and measures to protect human rights of women in such places, further questioning the official data. Eventually, the final Conclusions recalls issues related to protection dilemmas that might renew debates on both refugee camps and settlements in contemporary Law studies.