Background: Vascular disease resulting from arteriosclerosis is a severe worldwide health risk. Early diagnosis and intervention is important to control adverse cerebral and cardiovascular events. The aim of this study was to assess the potential predictors of mortality in patients submitted to coronary bypass surgery.Methods: Cohort study included asymptomatic cerebrovascular disease patients scheduled for coronary artery bypass grafting admitted to the cardiology reference center. All patients were submitted to carotid artery ultrasound assessment prior to surgery and were followed up during the entire in-hospital postoperative period. Carotid artery stenosis was considered clinically significant when cross sectional area ≥50%. Significance was set at p <0.05. Logistic regression was used to identify independent predictors of mortality.Results: Of 455 patients with a mean age of 62.2 years 65.6% were males. The prevalence of carotid artery stenosis was 18.7%. It was absent in 3.6% of the patients, below 50% in 77.8%, between 50 and 69% in 11.6%, and between 70 and 99% in 6.9%. The carotid artery was occluded in 0.2% of the sample. An overall mortality of 12%, affecting 35 men (P=0.001) with stenosis ≥50%. After logistic regression analysis, carotid artery stenosis ≥50% was confirmed as being an independent predictor of mortality (P=0.005).Conclusion: In this series carotid artery stenosis showed a high prevalence in the sample assessed and was an independent predictor of mortality.

Esse artigo apresenta o desenvolvimento e implementação de um chat de acolhimento de pessoas em sofrimento psicológico em decorrência do contexto da pandemia de COVID-19. O protocolo breve (uma sessão) envolve avaliação inicial, escuta ativa para organização da demanda e intervenção, síntese do acolhimento (indicação de material sobre educação em saúde e psicoeducação e/ou encaminhamento para serviços especializados) e acompanhamento. Na fase de implementação, recrutamos e treinamos 77 voluntários que oferecem o serviço de suporte psicológico via chat sob a supervisão de 20 psicológos. Em menos de 2 meses, 1.1107 intervenções via chat foram oferecidas. Esperamos que a intervenção aqui apresentada possa ser um recurso valioso durante a pandemia de COVID-19, embora estudos sejam necessários para avaliar sua viabilidade e sua eficácia.

Rhodococcus hoagii infection is associated with exposure to farm animals but, in the present case, the patient had not left her urban environment. The immunocompromised female patient presented bloodstream infection by an organism that defied straightforward diagnosis and her life was saved only by a timely change in antibiotic therapy.