EDITORIAL EDITORIAL
José da Rocha Carvalheiro
Guilherme Rodrigues da Silva, former President of Abrasco and one of the most influential intellectuals in Brazilian and Latin-American Collective Health has passed away. Guilherme's academic production was acknowledged and valued, and he was the main leader in the design of the Brazilian Sanitary Reform whose high point was at the 8th National Health Conference in 1986, of which he was the Rapporteur. In synchrony with society's struggle for better living conditions, he held many relevant positions, of which we highlight Chief Executive Officer of the São Paulo University Medical Center (Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da USP), the largest healthcare center in Latin America. Guilherme combined an intense intellectual life to expressive political formulation and concrete actions in healthcare. A true leader. The present issue of RBE is in mourning because of the death of this member of its Editorial Committee.
In order to pay tribute to Guilherme Rodrigues da Silva, we are publishing, in addition to several manifestations of grief, one of his expressive texts in the field of Epidemiology. It is the transcription of a talk presented at an important scientific conference in the early 80's, which was not much disseminated, and is in our Drawers and Shelves section.
The threat to global health is increasingly more present, with the identification of a flu among migratory birds and its spreading in confined domestic birds. It has infected people in Asia and, more recently in Europe and Africa. Following the editorial line initiated in the last issue of RBE, in December 2005, we are publishing a special section coordinated by Maria Rita Donalísio, with several opinions of Brazilian experts addressing key issues of this endemic-epidemic process. This debate will continue in coming issues. In this issue we are publishing: (1) Prospects for viral surveillance in Brazil, by Terezinha Maria Paiva, from the Respiratory Virus Laboratory, Instituto Adolfo Lutz, São Paulo; (2) Possible mutations of H5N1 virus an its adaptation in inter-human transmission, by Rita Catarina Medeiros Souza, from the Tropical Medicine Center, Federal University of Pará and Respiratory Virus Laboratory, Instituto Evandro Chagas; (3) Clinical Aspects of the avian influenza, by Luiz Jacintho da Silva, from the Clinical Medicine Department, College of Medical Sciences, Unicamp; (4) Antiviral therapeutic efficiency in human cases, by Dirceu Bartolomeu Greco, from the Internal Medicine Department, School of Medicine, Federal University of Minas Gerais; (5) Prospects for the production of the vaccine in Brazil, by Isaias Raw, from Instituto Butantan, São Paulo.
In the Debates section, we are continuing to publish contributions to the controversial role of the general practitioner as a "filter" in the health system. We have redefined the discussion process, selecting two teachers of São Paulo University's Medical School to conduct it, Sandra Grisi and Paulo Elias. In this issue we have collected another contribution to the debate, of the renowned American intellectual, Barbara Starfield.
We have begun a new debate, by publishing a text on the concept of "health problem" written by two teachers of the Federal University of Pelotas, Juvenal Dias da Costa and César Victora. We welcome contributions from our readers.
In the core of this issue, in the section of original work that has undergone the regular peer review process, we are publishing eleven articles. The growth in the flow of articles has not diminished the promptness of our Associate Editors and ad hoc revisers. We have kept the regularity and have increased the number of articles, which may lead to greater frequency in the near future, making RBE bimonthly. It is a plausible target for 2008, when we will have completed ten years of existence. As usual in RBE, there are no single author articles; the average number of authors per paper is 3.1; women prevail (67.7); thematic and methodological distribution is still widely diverse. There is one foreign paper, from Rosario, Argentina; two papers from the northeast (Ceará and Rio Grande do Norte); two others from the south (Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul); six from the southeast (Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro, four from São Paulo).
One of the papers, by two authors from Unicamp, analyzes mortality due to respiratory diseases in the elderly and its temporal relationship with influenza vaccination campaigns.
The study, by two researchers from the Instituto de Salud Juan Lazarte and Universidad Nacional de Rosário, Argentina, is a theoretical and methodological discussion about multiple-level models and their application in the study of inequalities in the "health/disease/care process", as they prefer to call the phenomenon.
Two studies discuss the utilization of databases and information systems in epidemiological studies (child mortality). One of them, by researchers from São Paulo, from USP (FSP and FM), FEA/PUC and Fundação SEADE, addresses the poor improvement of the Mortality Information System (SIM) concerning the lack of information on perinatal deaths, even those that occur inside hospital facilities. Another study, by teachers of the Federal University of Ceará, along with authors from the Ceará State Health Department and a City Health Department (Maracanaú), establishes the linkage between databases of liveborn infants and child deaths, to study risk factors.
One paper by authors from Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, from the local USP School of Medicine and Instituto Adolfo Lutz, analyzes dog feces from public areas to identify their "zoonosis potential" for protozoa and helminths.
Two papers address postural changes of the spine in school children and pain symptoms in workers of the textile industry. The first study was conducted in Tangará (SC) by authors that belong to the University of West Santa Catarina (UNOESC). The second study was conducted in the city of Santa Cruz (RN), by authors that belong to the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte.
Two papers focus on risk factors for neoplasia. One of them, by authors from the Federal University of Pelotas and from the Federal University of Rio Grande, both in RS, studies the factors associated with not having a Pap smear done, in women from the city of Pelotas (RS). In the other, authors from Fluminense Federal University and National School of Public Health, both in Rio de Janeiro, analyze, in an ecological study, mortality due to colon and rectum cancer and their possible relationship with food consumption patterns in "selected Brazilian capitals".
Finally, two papers analyze food consumption. One of them, carried out among schoolchildren from Piracicaba (SP), by researchers from USP (FSP and ESALQ) and from UNIFESP, addresses the consumption of sweets, soft drinks and sugared beverages. Another, conducted in Greater Vitória (ES), compares the nutritional status and life styles of vegetarians and omnivores, as the authors call those who have a "typically Western diet".
Enjoy your reading.
The Editor
Publication Dates
-
Publication in this collection
04 June 2007 -
Date of issue
Mar 2006
