In this study, the knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding pesticide use and the levels of exposure of farmers and residents to organophosphorous and/or carbamates pesticides were evaluated in two rural settings in Brazil. A questionnaire was completed by 112 farm workers aged ≥18 years. Almost all farmers acknowledged that pesticides were potentially harmful to their health (87.5%); however, over half rarely (48.2%) or never (7.2%) used personal protective devices (PPDs). An association was found (p = 0.001) between the work regimen and the use of PPDs, with more frequent equipment use among hired laborers than those involved in family agriculture. A significant correlation (p = 0.027) was found between the reporting of adverse symptoms and the use of backpack sprayers. Mean AChE activities of farmers (n = 64) and residents (n = 18) during the exposure and non-exposure periods were significantly lower than their control groups. Mean BChE activities of farmers and residents were significantly lower than their controls during the exposure period. Among the 60 farmers that had blood samples collected in both the exposure and non-exposure (baseline) periods, 10 (16.7%) had AChE depletion of over 30% during the exposure period compared with the baseline level. Six residents living on the same farms also presented this depletion. AChE was over 30% higher than the baseline level for 19 farmers (31.7%), indicating a reboot effect. Special education programs are needed in these regions to promote the safe use of pesticides in the field to decrease the risks from exposure to pesticides for farmers, and from secondary exposure to these compounds for their families.

Erwinia psidii causes bacterial blight of guava (Psidium guajava), one of the most important diseases of this crop in Brazil. Control measures are not effective, and dissemination often occurs through contaminated but asymptomatic propagating plant material. Considering the need for a reliable and sensitive method for detecting the pathogen in asymptomatic plant material, E. psidii-specific PCR primers were designed from a 355-bp fragment of the recombinase A gene (recA) amplified from E. psidii type strain. Primer pair Ep2L/2R only amplified DNA from E. psidii and its detection limit was 10 −5 ng/μL of purified DNA and 10 CFU (colony forming units) of bacterial cell suspension/mL. Three methods, conventional PCR, IC-PCR, and BIO-PCR were evaluated with the selected primers for their potential to detect E. psidii on guava leaves. BIO-PCR and conventional PCR were more sensitive and less time-consuming than IC-PCR. The detection limits on extracts of macerated guava leaves spiked with bacterial suspensions at different concentrations were 10 and 10 3 CFU/mL for BIO-PCR and conventional PCR, respectively. The PCR method here described could be useful for developing a protocol for early detection of this pathogen in asymptomatic guava plants.

Pregnant and postpartum women lack knowledge about UI and POP. Preconceptional counseling provides an opportunity for educational intervention.

<p>La investigación se desarrolló en Cuenca, tercera ciudad más importante del Ecuador, cuyo objetivo principal se enfocó en analizar el nivel de uso, así como la administración de redes sociales y aplicaciones móviles en los procesos de comunicación y mercadotecnia en las Micro y Pequeñas Empresas (MIPES).<br />Debido a que la globalización del internet ha hecho que las empresas deban adaptarse a entornos cada vez más complejos y competitivos, creando estrategias de valor para llegar a satisfacer a un nuevo estilo de demandantes, que influenciados por publicaciones en diferentes medios virtuales, están cada vez más informados, lo que repercute en una sociedad más exigente de confort. La investigación es de tipo cuantitativa, la muestra se tomó de las Micro y Pequeñas empresas de la ciudad. Para la recolección de información se implementó una encuesta, instrumento que fue aplicado a los establecimientos seleccionados. Los constructos de medición se validaron mediante el uso del alfa de Cronbach. Los resultados obtenidos demuestran un bajo nivel de adopción de redes sociales en la microempresa y un nivel medio en la pequeña empresa. Adicionalmente, se observa que en los establecimientos que utilizan las redes sociales y las aplicaciones móviles para actividades de comunicación y mercadotecnia, éstas no se explotan en su totalidad por múltiples factores como: desconocimiento en el uso y administración, no lo consideran necesario, falta de confianza y credibilidad entre otros aspectos.</p>

Hemorrhage and transfusion accounted for most complications. A combination of diameter of dominant myoma and number of myomata removed reliably predicted complications while minimizing false positives. Both factors can be easily defined prior to surgery and can be potentially used to guide referral patterns, optimize pre-operative counseling, and guide the implementation of preventative measures for hemorrhage and transfusion.