No abstract

This theoretical essay aims to point out the main contributions in the health and workers' safety aspects, considering the laws, public policies, international recommendations, and point out possible paths and roles of Occupational Therapy to fight against COVID-19 Brazilian pandemic. The literature shows that health care workers have three times more likely to get infected than the general population. Thus, in Brazil, the Federal Government needs to articulate with the local and regional sphere to create, adapt, implement and inspect laws, policies, and standards on workers' health and safety to ensure conditions to work and reduce health risks for workers during the pandemic. Regarding Occupational Therapy, initial guidelines were pointed out about the work in the occupational health, considering policies of the Unified Health System, National Health Policy for Workers and Federal Council of Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy. The actions must be directed not only to health service workers, but also to other essential assistance services, and those who work in an unregulated manner.

The aim of this study was to investigate epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene alterations in two groups of patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) (a test group of subjects aged ≤40 years and a control group of subjects aged ≥50 years) and to associate the results with EGFR immunostaining, clinicopathological features, and the prognosis. Sixty cases of OSCC were selected (test group, n=21; control group, n=39). The tissue microarray technique was applied to ensure the uniformity of results. Gene amplification was analyzed by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), and immunohistochemical staining for EGFR was analyzed using an automated imaging system. EGFR amplification was higher in the test group than in the control group (P=0.018) and was associated with advanced clinical stage (P=0.013), regardless of age. Patients with EGFR overexpression had worse survival rates, as did patients who had T3-T4 tumours and positive margins. EGFR overexpression has a negative impact on disease progression. Despite the higher amplification of EGFR in young adults, it does not significantly impact the survival rates of affected patients.

Este ensaio teórico tem o objetivo de apontar as principais contribuições no âmbito da saúde e segurança do trabalhador ao enfrentamento da COVID-19, baseando-se em leis, políticas, normas e recomendações internacionais, de forma a apontar caminhos possíveis com relação às atuações em Terapia Ocupacional na saúde do trabalhador e no combate à pandemia no Brasil. A literatura aponta que profissionais da saúde possuem três vezes mais chance de contrair o vírus do que a população em geral. Diante disso, percebe-se, no Brasil, a necessidade de articulação do Governo Federal com os Estaduais e Municipais para elaborar, adaptar, implementar e fiscalizar leis, políticas e normas sobre saúde e segurança do trabalhador, de forma a garantir condições de trabalho adequadas e diminuir riscos à saúde dos trabalhadores durante a pandemia. Sobre a Terapia Ocupacional, foram pontuados direcionamentos iniciais acerca da atuação no âmbito da saúde do trabalhador, levando em consideração o que preconiza o Sistema Único de Saúde, a Política Nacional de Saúde do Trabalhador e da Trabalhadora e o Conselho Federal de Fisioterapia e Terapia Ocupacional. Destaca-se que as ações devem ser direcionadas aos trabalhadores de serviços de saúde, mas também aos de outros serviços assistenciais essenciais e considerar estratégias para alcançar aqueles que trabalham de forma desregulamentada. Também foi indicada a existência de intervenções voltadas diretamente às pessoas que contraírem o vírus e à rede de suporte dessas pessoas, tanto no âmbito da Atenção Básica à Saúde quanto no contexto hospitalar.

Genetically modified bacterial flagellin (Fla), a Toll-like receptor-5 (TLR5) ligand, was evaluated as a fusion partner for human papillomavirus (HPV) L2-based immunogens in two animal challenge models; either cutaneous inoculation of rabbits with HPV ‘quasivirions’ containing cottontail rabbit papillomavirus (CRPV) genomes that induce warts, or intra-vaginal inoculation of mice with HPV ‘pseudovirions’ encapsidating a luciferase reporter plasmid and measurement of bioluminescence to determine infectivity. An Escherichia coli production system was developed for flagellin-L2 (Fla-L2) fusions containing either monomeric HPV-16 L2 a.a. 11(× 11–200) or oligomeric L2 comprising a fusion of the a.a. 11–88 peptides of five (Fla~5 × 11–88) or eight (Fla~8 × 11–88) genital HPV types. Immunogenicity and bioactivity of Fla-L2 constructs were assessed using an in vitro neutralization and cell-based TLR-5 binding assay, respectively. Efficacy was evaluated following active immunization of rabbits or mice administered 3 intramuscular doses of Fla-L2 recombinants without exogenous adjuvant, followed by challenge. In addition, passive immunization studies of naïve rabbits with serial dilutions of pooled immune sera were used to determine End-Point Protection Titers (EPPT) for each formulation against a broader spectrum of HPV quasivirions. Efficacy was assessed for up to 10 weeks on the basis of wart volume induced following challenge and results compared to licensed L1-VLP vaccines (Gardasil and Cervarix). Following active immunization at doses as low as 1 μg, Fla-L2 fusions afforded complete protection against infection (mice) and disease (rabbits) following either homologous or heterologous HPV challenge. Passive immunization with anti-L2 immune sera discriminated between the different vaccine candidates under evaluation, demonstrated the protective role of antibody and suggested the superiority of this oligomeric L2-TLR5 agonist fusion approach compared to L1-based vaccines in its ability to cross-protect against non-vaccine HPV types.