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Mental health of Brazilian adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic

Psychiatry Research Communications

Volume 2, Issue 1, March 2022, 100015

Abstract

We aimed to assess the factors associated with frequent sadness and nervousness in Brazilian adolescents, during the Covid-19 pandemic, in 9470 adolescents (aged 12–17 years), interviewed from June 27 to September 17, 2020. Prevalences and prevalence ratios were estimated according to socio-demographic variables and factors related to family, school, friends, and health. Brazilian adolescents often felt sad (32.4%) and nervous (48.7%). Higher prevalences of these feelings were related to: being female; aged 15–17 year; from families with financial difficulties; having learned little or nothing with remote education; missing friends; having few friends; family disagreements; having regular/bad health before the pandemic; and worsened health and sleep during the pandemic. Higher prevalence of nervousness was also found in adolescents who worked before the pandemic and those who reported lack of concentration and not knowing if they had COVID-19. Sadness and nervousness in Brazilian adolescents is high and the need for action by the government, schools, health services, and parents to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on the physical and mental health of adolescents. Special attention must be paid to adolescents with previous health problems and those belonging to the most socially vulnerable population.

Keywords

Mental health, Pandemics, Coronavirus infections, Health surveys, Adolescent
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Referência: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772598721000155. Acesso em: 22/02/2022. Fonte da figura: https://www.gettyimages.com. Acesso em: 22/02/2022.

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Black Authors Shake Up Brazil’s Literary Scene

Young Black Brazilians are publishing on their own terms, achieving the critical and commercial success that eluded past generations of writers from marginalized communities.

RIO DE JANEIRO — Itamar Vieira Júnior, whose day job working for the Brazilian government on land reform took him deep into the impoverished countryside, knew next to nothing about the mainstream publishing industry when he put the final touches on a novel he had been writing on and off for decades.

On a whim, in April 2018, he __________ the manuscript for “Torto Arado,” which means crooked plow, to a literary contest in Portugal, wondering what the jury would make of the hardscrabble tale of two sisters in a rural district in northeastern Brazil where the legacy of slavery remains palpable.

“I wanted to see if anyone saw value in it,” Mr. Vieira, 42, said. “But I didn’t have much hope.”

To his astonishment, “Torto Arado” won the 2018 LeYa award, a major Portuguese-language literary prize focused on discovering new voices. The recognition jump-started Mr. Vieira’s career, making him a leading voice among the Black authors who have jolted Brazil’s literary establishment in recent years with imaginative and searing works that have found commercial success and critical acclaim.

“Torto Arado” was the best-selling book in Brazil in 2021, with more than 300,000 copies sold to date. The previous year, that distinction __________ to Djamila Ribeiro’s “A Little Anti-Racist Handbook,” a succinct and plainly written dissection of systemic racism in Brazil.

Mr. Vieira and Ms. Ribeiro, 41, are part of a generation of Black Brazilians who became the first in their families to get a college degree, taking advantage of programs enacted by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who governed Brazil from 2003 to 2010.

The two are among the highest profile figures of a literary boom that includes contemporary writers and authors who are experiencing posthumous acclaim that eluded them when their seminal works were initially published.

“Writers from marginalized communities have been producing important work for decades,” said Fernanda Rodrigues de Miranda, a literature professor in São Paulo, “but they ___________ trouble getting visibility.”

For her doctoral dissertation, Ms. Rodrigues, who is Black, compiled all of the published novels she could find written by Black women from 1859 to 2006.

Referência: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/12/world/americas/brazil-black-authors.html. Acesso em: 02/02/2022.

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Reckless urbanization meets climate change in Brazil’s deadly mudslides

Fonte: AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo. Disponível em: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/brazil-deadly-mudslides-reflect-neglect172632587.html. Acesso em: 20/02/2022.

RIO DE JANEIRO - The landslides that devastated Petropolis this week demolished houses and ripped families

apart, scarred hillsides and hearts, left at least 120 dead and nearly as ___________ missing.
And it ____________ all largely predictable - and to some degree, preventable. 

Rapid urbanization, poor planning, lack of financing for subsidized housing — all of these things have afflicted this
[05] mountain city in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro state. Little has been done in response to repeated warnings about the risks
of mountainside construction, researchers as well as current and former public servants told The Associated Press.
And with evidence indicating that climate change is causing more intense rainfall, peril has only increased – not just
for Petropolis, but elsewhere as well. 

More than 1,500 people have died in similar landslides in recent decades in that portion of the Serra do Mar range.
[10] There have been more than 400 deaths from heavy storms in Petropolis alone since 1981.
Antônio Guerra, a geography professor in the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, has studied weather-related
catastrophes in Petropolis for almost 30 years. He has visited dozens of sites where houses and lives __________
swallowed by torrents of mud, and investigated the root causes.

“Rain is the great villain, but the main cause is poor land use. There’s a total lack of planning,” Guerra said in a phone
[15] interview. […]
Petropolis’s haphazard sprawl is recent. Nestled in the mountains _________ 40 miles from Rio de Janeiro and
named for a former Brazilian emperor, Petropolis __________ among the nation’s first planned cities. […] 

Referência: https://www.adn.com/nation-world/2022/02/18/reckless-urbanization-meets-climate-change-in-brazils-deadlymudslides/. Acesso em: 15/02/2022.

TREATMENT TO RESTORE VISION BY INJECTING STEM CELLS INTO THE EYE COULD ‘HELP PEOPLE WITH DAMAGED EYESIGHT’

By Tom Bawden

(1^st §) An effective new treatment to restore vision that works by injecting genetically modified stem cells into the eye to mend the damaged retina is on the horizon.

(2^nd §) Stem cells can be transplanted into the eye, releasing therapeutic molecules with neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory properties that promote the survival, proliferation and self-repair of retinal cells. The stem cells can also generate new retinal cells, replacing lost or damaged ones.

(3^rd§) “One of the main hurdles in using stem cells to treat damaged eyesight is low cell migration and integration in the retina,” says Pia Cosma, at the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona. “After the cells are transplanted, they need to reach the retina and integrate through its layers. Yet, we have found a way to enhance this process using stem cells commonly found in the bone marrow, which, in principle, can be used with any transplanted cells,” Dr Cosma said.

(4^th§) “There is still considerable work to be done, but our findings could make stem cell transplants a feasible and realistic option for treating visual impairment and restoring eyesight,” she said. The technique holds promise for improving sight in people with poor vision – and potentially even to cure blindness altogether – but the researchers cautioned that any such development requires much bigger studies to confirm their findings.

Adapted from: https://inews.co.uk. Accessed 10 November, 2021.

TREATMENT TO RESTORE VISION BY INJECTING STEM CELLS INTO THE EYE COULD ‘HELP PEOPLE WITH DAMAGED EYESIGHT’

By Tom Bawden

(1^st §) An effective new treatment to restore vision that works by injecting genetically modified stem cells into the eye to mend the damaged retina is on the horizon.

(2^nd §) Stem cells can be transplanted into the eye, releasing therapeutic molecules with neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory properties that promote the survival, proliferation and self-repair of retinal cells. The stem cells can also generate new retinal cells, replacing lost or damaged ones.

(3^rd§) “One of the main hurdles in using stem cells to treat damaged eyesight is low cell migration and integration in the retina,” says Pia Cosma, at the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona. “After the cells are transplanted, they need to reach the retina and integrate through its layers. Yet, we have found a way to enhance this process using stem cells commonly found in the bone marrow, which, in principle, can be used with any transplanted cells,” Dr Cosma said.

(4^th§) “There is still considerable work to be done, but our findings could make stem cell transplants a feasible and realistic option for treating visual impairment and restoring eyesight,” she said. The technique holds promise for improving sight in people with poor vision – and potentially even to cure blindness altogether – but the researchers cautioned that any such development requires much bigger studies to confirm their findings.

Adapted from: https://inews.co.uk. Accessed 10 November, 2021.

School-based cavity prevention program reduces health disparities and brings dental care to children

(1.º§)    A school-based cavity prevention program involving nearly 7,000 elementary school students reduced cavities by more than 50 percent, according to a study led by researchers at NYU College of Dentistry. The study was conducted in 33 public, high-need elementary schools in Massachusetts, where dental hygienists provided care to 6,927 children. The services were provided at no cost to families.

(2.º§)    Dental cavities are the most common chronic disease in children, and one in five elementary school children have at least one untreated cavity. While cavities can be prevented with dental visits and good at-home oral hygiene, some families experience barriers to seeing a dentist, including cost and parents having to take time off of work. "School-based cavity prevention programs eliminate these barriers by bringing basic dental care to children, rather than bringing children to care," said Niederman.

(3.º§)    "In 2010, the federal government set a goal of reducing the prevalence of cavities in children by 10 percent by 2020. Our study shows that this is not only feasible, but also that a comprehensive school-based program can reduce cavities by five times their goal," said Niederman.

(4.º§)    The widespread implementation of oral health programs in schools could increase the reach of traditional dental practices and improve children's oral health – all while reducing health disparities and the cost of care.", says Richard Niederman, DMD, Professor and Chair of the Department of Epidemiology & Health Promotion at NYU College of Dentistry and the study's senior author.

(5.º§)    The COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted most school-based dental care because of school closures and fear of creating aerosols, even as oral health care in dental practices has safely resumed with additional infection control measures in place. The researchers stress the importance of safely continuing school-based care, given its ability to prevent cavities using aerosol-free procedures.

Adapted from News-Medical. Available at: https://www.news-medical.net. Accessed 17 September 2021.