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Orientador: Carlos Eduardo Angeli Furlani / Resumo: Visto que a demanda de produção de alimentos é crescente no mundo, surge a necessidade de se utilizar melhor os recursos disponíveis nas áreas de cultivo agrícola. O objetivo do estudo foi avaliar o efeito da interação entre declividades do terreno e exposição à radiação solar no desenvolvimento e produtividade da cultura do milho em cada uma das condições de superfície e, além disso, avaliar o índice de estresse hídrico da cultura. O experimento foi conduzido na safra 2018/2019 no município de Jaboticabal, SP, Brasil, na FCAV/UNESP, em estrutura que simula diferentes condições de exposições e declividades. No primeiro, o delineamento utilizado foi o inteiramente casualizado, em esquema 6x4 com cinco repetições, sendo seis declividades (0,10,20,30,40 e 50%) e quatro exposições (Norte, Sul, Leste e Oeste). Foram avaliados componentes fitotécnicos da cultura: altura e massa de matéria seca de planta, massa de mil grãos, produtividade. No segundo trabalho, foram utilizadas três declividades (0, 30 e 50%) e duas exposições (Norte e Sul). Após verificação da normalidade dos dados, usou-se análise de variância pelo Teste F e, quando necessário, aplicou-se o teste de Tukey (p<0,05) para comparação das médias. A exposição da cultura do milho influenciou no desenvolvimento das variáveis diâmetro do colmo, massa de grãos, número de fileiras por espiga e produtividade. O índice de estresse hídrico varia de acordo com a exposição a que as plantas estão submetidas aos raios solares. / Abstract: Since the demand for food production is growing in the world, there is a need to make better use of the resources available in agricultural cultivation areas. The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of the interaction between land slopes and exposure to solar radiation on the development and productivity of the corn crop in each of the surface conditions and, in addition, to evaluate the water stress index of the crop. The experiment was conducted in the 2018/2019 harvest in the municipality of Jaboticabal, SP, Brazil, at FCAV / UNESP, in a structure that simulates different conditions of exposures and declivity. In the first, the design used was completely randomized, in a 6x4 scheme with five repetitions, six slopes (0.10,20,30,40 and 50%) and four exposures (North, South, East and West). Crop phytotechnical components were evaluated: height and dry matter of plant, mass of a thousand grains, productivity. In the second study, three slopes (0, 30 and 50%) and two exposures (North and South) were used. After verifying the normality of the data, analysis of variance was used by the F Test and, when necessary, the Tukey test (p <0.05) was applied to compare the means. The exposure of the corn crop influenced the development of the stem diameter, grain mass, number of rows per ear and productivity variables. The water stress index varies according to the exposure to which the plants are exposed to sunlight. / Mestre

Class of 2010 Abstract / OBJECTIVES: To determine if children ≤5 years of age come in contact with a greater number of harmful exposures, including medications during holidays compared to non-holidays from January 1, 2000- December 31, 2009. METHODS: This is a descriptive, retrospective study of children ≤5 years of age that are exposed to harmful substances. The independent variable will be holidays versus non-holidays. The primary dependent variable will be the number of harmful exposures. There will be two secondary dependent variables. The first being the number of medication exposures and the second will be the number of non-medication exposures. RESULTS: The proportion of total exposures (med and non-med) significantly increased during the period of 2005-2009 compared to 2000-2004 (1.1%, p<0.001). There were significantly fewer exposures on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday compared to the rest of the week (p<0.001). When comparing the number of exposures on holidays versus non-holidays, there were significantly fewer overall exposures for holidays versus non-holidays (p=0.039). Labor Day had significantly higher exposures than control data (p=0.019) while Christmas and New Year's had significantly less exposures than control data (p<0.0001 and p=0.007 respectively). Labor Day was associated with the highest average number of exposures (30.8) and Christmas was associated with the lowest average number of exposures (21.2) when comparing holidays to each other. A statistically significant greater number of exposures were due to non- medication versus medications for both holiday and non-holiday data (<0.001). The total number of exposures was significantly greater for boys (52.8%) versus girls (46.2%, p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Pediatric exposures for the pre-defined holidays are less common when compared to corresponding non-holidays. Interestingly, the same was found for weekends in general where Friday, Saturday, and Sunday yield fewer pediatric exposures than Monday through Thursday. The majority of exposures are due to non-medication sources with all exposures more common in boys than girls.

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The presence of human pharmaceuticals in the environment has raised concerns regarding their potential adverse effects on non-target aquatic organisms. Pharmaceuticals are designed to target specific molecular pathways in humans in order to produce known pharmacological and physiological responses, before toxicological effects are seen. The “Read-Across Hypothesis” stipulates that pharmaceuticals can produce similar biological effects in fish, as in humans, if the molecular target is conserved, and the internal (blood plasma) concentrations are similar. The read-across hypothesis was tested using ibuprofen, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, and the model fish test species, the fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas), to determine if ibuprofen can cause similar target-mediated effects in teleost fish and humans, at comparable blood plasma concentrations. Fathead minnows were exposed, using continuous flow-through systems, for ≤96 hours to a range of ibuprofen water concentrations (100, 270, 370 and 500 µg/L) to determine if plasma concentrations similar to human therapeutic plasma concentrations (HTPCs, or Cmax) could be established in fish blood plasma. The mode of action of ibuprofen was used to identify relevant endpoints (i.e. cyclooxygenase (COX) enzyme) in order to examine target-mediated effects following drug exposure. The water and plasma ibuprofen concentrations were determined using LC-MS/MS. The measured ibuprofen plasma concentrations in individual fish were linked to target-mediated effects on COX gene expression, COX enzyme activity and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) synthesis (products of COX activity), which were quantified using molecular (QPCR) and biochemical (colourimetric and enzyme immunoassay) assays, and linked with the Cmax of ibuprofen. It was demonstrated that in fish with a mean ibuprofen plasma concentration 1.8-fold below the Cmax, PGE2 concentrations (the most robust endpoint) was significantly inhibited following ibuprofen exposure. However, in fish exposed to an ibuprofen concentration closer to (2 to 3-fold above) environmentally relevant water concentrations (i.e. 9 µg/L), when the mean plasma concentration was 224-fold below the Cmax, fish did not respond to ibuprofen exposure. This study provides qualitative and quantitative evidence for the applicability of the “read-across hypothesis”, and highlights its potential utility for prioritising pharmaceuticals for environmental risk assessment.

The impact of AIDS and the dread of acquiring HIV infection from patients have led to the resurgence in infection-control practices among health care workers. Recent reports of blood-borne pathogen transmission in health care settings, including oral health, have caused considerable public health concern. Transmission has been reported from patient to patient, patient to health care workers, but rarely from health care worker to patient. The risks of dental clinicians acquiring serious infections have been well documented but the risk to dental assistants has received less attention, especially in South Africa. Aim: To assess infection-control practices of dental assistants and their level of adherence to universal precautions in public health care facilities in Limpopo Province. Objectives: To establish the prevalence and the type of occupational exposures among dental assistants working in public health care facilities in Limpopo Province. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among dental assistants in Limpopo Province in 2005. The study population comprised all 73 employees who performed the functions of a dental assistant in public dental facilities. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect information regarding work experiences and training, infection-control practice and knowledge, and the nature, incidences and reporting of any occupational exposures they had experienced. A follow-up telephone call was made to these dental assistants, after they had received the questionnaire, to re-iterate the importance of the survey and to request them to complete and return the questionnaire in the prepaid envelope they had been given. The facilities were clustered according to the six districts in Limpopo Province. Ethical approval was given by the University of the Witwatersrand and the Department of Health and Welfare in Limpopo Province. Results: Fifty-nine dental assistants returned the completed questionnaire, giving a response rate of 80.8%. Epi Info Version 3.3.2 programme was used to analyze the data. The majority of respondents were female (95%), with a mean age of 40.2 years (age range 23-54). More than 90% of the respondents had no formal training for their occupation, half (49.1%) did not have any health training, 22% were auxiliary nurses, 18.6% were “correspondence-trained” assistants who had been trained via distance learning and had no practical clinical training and only 10.2% of the respondents had received training at a technikon or university . The majority of the dental facilities (57.6%) had one dental assistant working alone, followed by those with two or three assistants (39.5%). The number of respondents assisting more than two oral clinicians in a day was 93.3%. The mean number of clinicians assisted per day was 3.8. The total numbers of dental assistants who experienced occupational exposures while working at the various dental clinics were 26 (44.1%), with 11.5% experiencing multiple injuries within the preceding six months. Auxiliary nurses and trained assistants were significantly more likely than untrained assistants to be aware of universal precautions, their protective effects, needle stick protocols, and of the need for personal protective equipments to be worn for all procedures (p=0.001). Compliance with infection-control practices was low overall. More than twothirds of the assistants routinely wore gloves during procedures. The lowest compliance reported was the use of protective eye shields, whilst more than 62.7% were not vaccinated against hepatitis B virus. More than two-thirds of the assistants were injured in the process of removing and or cleaning instruments; 65.3% of the injuries were direct punctures. Twenty-three percent did not report the injury. The risk of injury for the untrained assistants was 9.9 times higher than that for auxiliary nurses, p=0.008. A small percentage (23.8%) of those with sharp injuries was placed on antiretroviral drugs. Surprisingly, a significant high percentage of respondents were given wound cleaning only as treatment of their occupational exposures (78.4%) and sharp injuries (83%). Conclusion and recommendation More than 90% of the respondents had no formal training for their occupation. Dental assistants were understaffed and had increased workload. The greatest incidence of injury was associated with the handling of sharp objects, and this included recapping used needles. Occupational exposures to infectious material were found to be relatively high whilst compliance to some basic infection-control guidelines was low among dental assistants. The training of dental assistants should be regulated. More suitably qualified dental assistants should be appointed and existing ones should be given inservice training on the importance of infection-control practices and compliance with universal precautions.

In recent decades, rates of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and diabetic complications have reached epidemic proportions among Canadian Aboriginal people. Evidence in several populations suggests that abnormal birth weight, particularly low birth weight (LBW) and possibly high birth weight (HBW) may be linked to the development of T2DM. LBW often reflects poor maternal health/ nutritional status which may interfere with normal pancreatic development. HBW is a frequent complication of diabetic pregnancies which are associated with obesity and carbohydrate intolerance in adulthood. Since Saskatchewan Aboriginal newborns historically had higher rates of LBW, and more recently have experienced higher HBW rates, it follows that sub-optimal maternal/ fetal health may be important in the epidemic of T2DM in this population.<p> This thesis describes a case-control study that used Saskatchewan Health databases to determine the relationship between birth weight and T2DM. A sample of 846 adult diabetic Registered Indians (RI) were age and sex matched to three control groups: 1) non-diabetic RI, 2) diabetic general population (GP) subjects, and 3) non-diabetic GP subjects. RI subjects were identified as such by the provincial Health Insurance Registration File.<p> The results of this study show a significant association between HBW (> 4000 grams) and T2DM for RI people [odds ratio (OR) 1.63; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.20, 2.24]. This association increased in strength from the middle to the latter part of this century and was found to be stronger for RI females than RI males. The comparison of birth weights within the four study groups revealed that diabetic RI (16.2%) were significantly more likely (p<0.05) than controls (10.7%,10.0%, 7.5% respectively) to have HBW. An association between LBW and T2DM (< 2500 grams) was not evident within either RI or GP sample populations.<p> The findings of this study support the hypothesis that HBW and its causes may be risk factors for T2DM among RI people. Programs to prevent gestational diabetes, and to diagnose and optimally manage diabetes during pregnancy could help to reduce rates of diabetes in future generations of Aboriginal peoples.

Purpose Two new scales, CORECTS and PUQE-24 are introduced and validated, and the safety and effectiveness of Proctofoam-HC® in pregnancy is demonstrated. Method 315 of Motherisk NVP patients provided information on five clinical parameters as well as PUQE scores. 28 patients visiting a proctologist were graded for the severity of anal conditions by a proctologist before administering CORECTS. Pre and postnatal interviews were conducted with 204 pregnant women prescribed Proctofoam-HC®. Results Strong correlations were found between the following: PUQE-24 scores and parameters of well-being, hospitalization, and multivitamin intake; bleeding and pain components of CORECTS and the proctologist’s grade.There was no significant difference between mean birth weight of Proctofoam-HC® treated and comparison groups. There was a significant reduction in all symptoms of hemorrhoids. Conclusion PUQE-24 and CORECTS are the first validated scales used to assess the severity of NVP and hemorrhoids. Proctofoam-HC® is safe and effective for use in pregnancy.

Purpose Two new scales, CORECTS and PUQE-24 are introduced and validated, and the safety and effectiveness of Proctofoam-HC® in pregnancy is demonstrated. Method 315 of Motherisk NVP patients provided information on five clinical parameters as well as PUQE scores. 28 patients visiting a proctologist were graded for the severity of anal conditions by a proctologist before administering CORECTS. Pre and postnatal interviews were conducted with 204 pregnant women prescribed Proctofoam-HC®. Results Strong correlations were found between the following: PUQE-24 scores and parameters of well-being, hospitalization, and multivitamin intake; bleeding and pain components of CORECTS and the proctologist’s grade.There was no significant difference between mean birth weight of Proctofoam-HC® treated and comparison groups. There was a significant reduction in all symptoms of hemorrhoids. Conclusion PUQE-24 and CORECTS are the first validated scales used to assess the severity of NVP and hemorrhoids. Proctofoam-HC® is safe and effective for use in pregnancy.