Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

Carbon dioxide (CO2) in the soil is produced by mineralization of organic matter and by respiration of soil organisms. Biocrusts contribute to this f lux and is a key factor for the functioning of arid and semi‑arid ecosystems. This research was conducted in an area of microphyllous desert shrubland in northeastern Mexico. Four microenvironments were selected: open area without biocrusts (Aa), open area with biocrusts (AaC), under plant without biocrusts (Bp) and under plant with biocrusts (BpC). The biocrusts were mainly constituted by lichens and cyanobacteria. The following hypotheses were tested: i) biocrusts contribute to soil respiration in these areas to a greater extent than vascular plants; ii) soil respiration is higher in biocrusts microenvironments than in open areas without biocrusts; iii) soil respiration rates increase as soil temperature increases, regardless of the presence/ absence of biocrusts. Soil respiration was measured in situ using an EGM-4 equipment with a closed soil respiration chamber. Data were analyzed by Kruskal Wallis and Mann Whitney U tests. The relationship between temperature and soil respiration rate was evaluated with a Spearman correlation analysis. Statistical analyzes were performed in the SPSS® Statistics version 19 software. The results showed that the average respiration rate was higher in soil with biocrusts than in soils lacking biocrusts, with 3.03 μmol CO2 m-2 s-1. Respiration rates dif fered between microsites. AaC, BpC and Bp microenvironments reached equal respiration rates among them and were overall higher than the soil respiration rates in Aa, except for Bp, which showed similar values. The results also showed a positive relationship between soil respiration and temperature for all microenvironments. We conclude that the respiration rates were higher in areas with biocrust coverage ≥ 40%, compared with soil without biocrusts, both in the presence and absence of vascular plants.

This paper aims to analyze how the degrees in Nursing, Social Work, Psychology, or Pedagogy taken by community health agents can influence their knowledge, practices, and the directions of the profession. This is a qualitative, analytical research with triangulation of methods based on the interpretation of the various subjects that dispute the profession. The article is developed in three parts: the first compares normative aspects of the professional categories; the second discusses the knowledge of community health agents after entering higher education and the influence on professional practices; and the third analyzes the syllabuses of Nursing, Social Work, Psychology, Pedagogy, and community health agents as an element of dispute and construction of professional identities. Gaps are pointed out regarding theabsence of an ethical-political project and of a teaching and research association proper to community health agents, as well as the necessary dispute of epistemologies and theoretical foundation to achieve a cognitive and professional domain more committed to the transformation of the agents as a subject and of their reality.

The recurring expressions of Covid-19 negationism in Brazil are connected to the growth of the extreme right and produces a significant expansion of necropolitics. We realized a “crisis of interpretation” according to which “ignorance” is responsible for the spread of negationism. We sought to go beyond this interpretation, as we problematize the phenomenon in its complexity. Anchored in an absence of a shared world, negationism grows out of the “deficit in common practices”. However, it is necessary to differentiate the positions involved: there are those who deny seeking profit, from a desire for death and extermination, and those who enter into denial because of such a harsh reality of which they are victims. In view of this, education actions that have popular health education as a reference are important strategies to face this phenomenon, mobilizing the freirian notions of dialogue and conflict. These actions allow not to “deconstruct” health care, but “add reality” to them, bringing the importance of considering the living conditions of the popular classes. Finally, understanding the inseparable link between popular education and social movements, we present how favela movements have faced negationism in defense of life.

Editorial. Foto: Pavlofox/Pixabay

The COVID-19 pandemic began in Brazil in March 2020. Since then, there have been several disagreements and disputes between health professionals, researchers and regulatory bodies about prescribed treatments for this infection. Given this scenario, this note proposes to discuss medical autonomy in the described context, based on official documents of the Brazilian Federal Council of Medicine, produced between 2020 and 2021, considering the mentioned therapeutic possibilities. As a result, three official documents were obtained that show that the only form of ‘autonomy’ is ‘medical autonomy’, while the ‘patient autonomy’ is not evidenced in terms of the adoption of therapies. We did not observe discussions in the documents about the bioethical principle of non- aleficence and that of autonomy itself. In this way, it can be seen that the appreciation of ‘medical autonomy’, without considering the knowledge/doings of patients, nor the scientific findings, can promote misunderstandings and harm the principles of medical practice.

This article analyzes the access to Primary Health Care in remote rural municipalities in Western Pará state, Brazil, discussing barriers and challenges before the specificities of Amazonian territories. This was a qualitative study in five municipalities with distinct spatial logics, based on rivers or roads. There were 58 interviews with managers, health professionals, and users, as well as visits to basic health units, in 2019. The analysis matrix contemplated: geographical accessibility, organizational accessibility, primary health care unit as first contact, and Primary Health Care in the health care network. It was identified that the geographical access barriers involve great distances, times, costs, poor road conditions, and transportation, with differentiated seasonal variation, according to fluvial or terrestrial flows. Organizational accessibility is hindered by the insufficient offer of  consultations, exams, medications, restrictions on the days of operation, and itinerant actions, accentuated by the high professional turnover. The basic health units are the first contact service, but the demand is conditioned to the perceived resoluteness and satisfaction, where the performance of the community health agent stands out. The support for specialized care is precarious, with difficulties in supply, regulation, transportation, and communication. The Amazon socio- environmental scenario requires unique strategies for the supply and organization of services, reflected in specific funding.

The Advanced/Open Access model has been encouraged by managers and valued by Brazilian family and community medicine as a model of clinical management in the Family Health Team. This integrative review article discusses how this technology can qualify or hinder Primary Health Care. Although it helps to promote necessary changes in agendas traditionally focused on programmatic actions, the model has a strong managerialist bias. By disregarding basic premises, its implementation may result in professional suffering and alienation from the territory and integral health care, besides reinforcing the biomedical model and social medicalization. We point out ways for ‘advanced’ not to mean ‘precipitate’, highlighting that an implementation based on dialogue among workers, managers, and users seems more coherent with the literature on Advanced Access and with the national production on Welcoming in the Unified Health System.