None.

BackgroundThe aim of this study was to estimate excess pneumonia and influenza (P&I) hospitalizations during influenza epidemics and measure their correlation with influenza vaccine coverage in the 65 and more years old, according to the type/subtype of influenza virus.MethodsThe study period comprised week 40/1998‐40/2015. Age‐specific weekly P&I hospitalizations (ICD‐9: 480‐487) as main diagnosis were extracted from the National Hospital Discharge database. Age‐specific baseline hospitalization rates were estimated by autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model without time periods with excess hospitalizations. Excess hospitalizations were calculated by subtracting expected hospitalization rates from the observed during influenza epidemic periods. Correlation between excess P&I hospitalizations and influenza vaccine coverage in the elderly was measured with Pearson correlation coefficient.ResultsThe average excess P&I hospitalizations/season was 19.4/105 (range 0‐46.1/105), and higher excess was observed in young children with <2 years (79.8/105) and ≥65 years (68.3/105). In epidemics with A(H3) dominant, the highest excess hospitalizations were observed among 65 and over. Seasons which influenza B or A(H1)pdm09 dominance the highest excess was observed in children with <2 years. High negative correlation was estimated between excess hospitalizations associated with A(H3) circulation and vaccine coverage in the elderly (r = −.653; 95% CI: −0.950 to −0.137).ConclusionOver 80% of the influenza epidemics were associated with excess hospitalizations. However, excess P&I hospitalizations pattern differed from age group and circulating virus. This ecologic approach also identified a reduction in excess P&I associated with A(H3) circulation with increasing vaccine coverage in the elderly.

The aim of this study was to estimate the excess mortality associated with the influenza activity registered in Portugal between week 49 of 2008 and week 5 of 2009. For this purpose available mortality data from the Portuguese Daily Mortality Monitoring (VDM) System were used. Several estimates of excess deaths associated with the recent recorded influenza activity were determined through statistical modelling (cyclic regression) for the total population and disaggregated by gender and age group. The results show that the impact of the 2008-9 influenza season was 1,961 excess deaths, with approximately 82% of these occurring in the age group of 75 years and older.

Vaccination of the elderly (&gt;=65 years of age) against influenza is recommended in all European countries

Este trabalho teve como objetivo obter a graviola em pó, submetendo a polpa de graviola a um processo de liofilização e em seguida a uma maceração em rolos cilíndricos de graduação variável. Para o processo de liofilização, a polpa de graviola foi congelada a uma temperatura de -50°C, tendo-se estabelecido nesta temperatura, sua cinética de congelamento. Para esta finalidade foi utilizada uma unidade criogênica composta de um sistema de controle de temperatura que varia de -50 a -90 o C. Depois do produto congelado o material foi levado a um liofilizador Terroni Modelo LB 1500 onde a polpa congelada foi submetida a um vácuo parcial de 50 microns de Hg. O material em forma de pó e em forma de polpa foi submetido a analises química para determinação de ácido ascórbico, açúcares totais e redutores, acidez total titulável, determinação dos sólidos solúveis totais e pH. As análises foram feitas seguindo-se as metodologias propostas pela AOAC e por Benassi e Antunes para ácido ascórbico. A graviola em pó produzida foi, também, submetida a uma análise sensorial quanto aos aspectos de cor, sabor, aroma e aparência. Para comprovação de manutenção do sabor, o produto em pó foi reconstituído com água sendo elaborado um suco de graviola com os mesmos quantitativos de elaboração de um suco de graviola proveniente de uma fruta "in natura". Desta forma neste trabalho pode-se concluir que graviola em pó obtida pelo processo de liofilização conserva em grande parte as suas características organolepticas, no entanto os valores nutricionais foram alterados em virtude do produto ter sofrido uma concentração.