SUMMARY OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to compare heart rate variability indices in early and late postmenopausal women and assess their correlation and prognostic value to predict late postmenopausal. METHODS: An observational and retrospective study was performed with the medical records of patients from Hospital das Clínicas, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Sao Paulo between 2018 and 2019. We selected medical records of women with menopause, over 40 years old, which were divided into two groups, according to postmenopausal time, i.e., early and late postmenopausal. RESULTS: We analyzed data from 123 women (55 in the early and 68 in the late postmenopausal group). RRtri (triangular index) was lower in the late postmenopausal group (8.68 vs. 7.15, p=0.040). There was a significant weak negative correlation in SDNN, RRtri, and SD2 and postmenopausal time. RRtri presented the potential to predict late postmenopausal. CONCLUSION: The increase in postmenopausal time decreases global heart rate variability indices. The geometric index RRtri was significantly lower in late postmenopausal women and presented the potential to predict late postmenopausal.

ABSTRACT Dolutegravir (DTG) is amongst the most prescribed antiretrovirals worldwide and is recommended as first line regimen in most HIV treatment guidelines. Its use, although infrequently, had been associated to an increased chance of neural tube defects (NTD) in Botswana, Africa. Herein we describe two cases of NTD in women who conceived while taking DTG as part of their antiretroviral treatment in the city of Porto Alegre, Brazil.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of normal saline lavage of the distal vas deferens ampulla in patients undergoing vasectomy on the time to achieve azoospermia. METHODS: A prospective randomized study of 60 men divided into two groups, group lavage (GL, n=30) in which distal vas deferens ampulla lavage was performed with 10 ml of normal saline during the vasectomy, and group without lavage (GWL, n=30) in which control patients received only a vasectomy. The patients provided sperm for semen analysis at the 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th and 25th ejaculations. RESULTS: Fifteen participants in GL and 16 in GWL, for a total of 31 patients, were excluded due to not completing the control spermiogram. The tests carried out at the five ejaculations showed immobile spermatozoa in 40 and 85.71%, 66.67 and 78.57%, 93.33 and 85.71%, 86.67 and 71.43%, and 93.33 and 85.71% of participants in GL and GWL, respectively. CONCLUSION: Vas deferens duct lavage with 10 ml of normal saline during vasectomy did not decrease the time required to achieve postoperative azoospermia.

RESUMO JUSTIFICATIVA E OBJETIVOS: A dor é comum nas enfermarias e dificulta o tratamento e a recuperação dos pacientes, principalmente ortopédicos. Assim, o objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar a adequação da analgesia em pacientes submetidos a cirurgias ortopédicas, no pré e pós-operatório, e verificar possíveis variáveis preditoras da adequação analgésica desses pacientes nos dois momentos. MÉTODOS: Trata-se de um estudo quase-experimental com dois grupos, pré e pós-operatório ortopédico, realizado através de entrevista estruturada, exame físico e análise de prontuário, na Clínica Cirúrgica do Hospital Escola da Faculdade de Medicina de Itajubá/MG, desenvolvido com pacientes no pré e pós-operatório de cirurgia ortopédica. RESULTADOS: Foram avaliados 31 pacientes, todos tinham prescrição médica de algum fármaco analgésico, sendo o opioide fraco o mais prescrito em 84% dos casos no pré-operatório passando para 87% no pós-operatório; 39% não apresentavam dor no pré-operatório, diminuindo para 36% no pós-operatório. Por outro lado, 39% dos pacientes apresentaram dor moderada a intensa no pré-operatório, aumentando para 45% no período pós-operatório, 74% apresentaram adequação analgésica no pré-operatório, aumentando para 81% no pós-operatório. CONCLUSÃO: A maior parte dos pacientes desta pesquisa tinha adequação analgésica no pré e pós-operatório de cirurgia ortopédica. Na amostra estudada, as variáveis selecionadas não apresentaram predição da adequação analgésica nos dois momentos da cirurgia ortopédica.

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Pain is frequent in wards and impairs patients’ treatment and recovery, especially orthopedic patients. So, this study aimed at evaluating pre and postoperative analgesic adequacy in patients submitted to orthopedic surgeries, and at looking for possible variables predicting the analgesic adequacy of such patients in both moments. METHODS: This is a quasi-experimental study with two groups, orthopedic pre and postoperative periods, carried out through structured interview, physical evaluation and medical record analysis, in the Surgical Clinic of the Teaching Hospital, School of Medicine, Itajuba/MG, developed with patients in the pre and postoperative periods of orthopedic surgery. RESULTS: Participated in the study 31 patients, all of them with medical prescription of some analgesic drug, being weak opioids those most frequently prescribed in 84% of preoperative cases, increasing to 87% in the postoperative period; 39% had no preoperative pain, decreasing to 36% in the postoperative period. On the other hand, 39% of patients had moderate to severe pain in the preoperative period, increasing to 45% in the postoperative period, being that 74% had analgesic adequacy in the preoperative period, increasing to 81% in the postoperative period. CONCLUSION: Most patients of this study had adequate analgesia in the pre and postoperative periods of orthopedic surgery. In our sample, selected variables have not adequately predicted analgesic adequacy in both moments of the orthopedic surgery.