Project e-HD: an archiving system for electronic documents related to High Dilution research

Peer-review journals and indexation agencies have an important role in the society as they certify the scientific common sense. However, they represent the edge-of-the-iceberg of the all produced knowledge. Within the “underwater production” there are many ideas, incomplete theoretical proposals and suggestions for new experimental models, some of them interesting, others more limited and a further group untenable. In common all of them are left aside and hidden from the most of people, including scientists. This article introduces a new initiative dedicated to the archiving of electronic documents (e-doc) referred to the High Dilution research, and was named as e-HD. It is opened to pre- and post-prints, lecture’s slides, movies, institutional websites and all relevant e-doc related to High Dilutions. e-HD is one more attempt to insert the High Dilution research in the scientific scenario giving visibility to all contributions in this field. While not substituting a peer-review journals, it can be used as a first step to refine preprints through open discussions before a more elaborated article’s version is done, aiming the final publication in peer-review journals.

Sex professionals in Latin America: Observing stakeholder participation through the form of legal/illegal/non-legal differentiation

We researched political and legal communications about the sex profession through the Inclusion/Exclusion Form. The theoretical content is based on Niklas Luhmann's theory of society as a social communication system and Luis Antônio Marcuschi's theory of language as a social work. In this research we explored dates of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. The corpora were made up of data catalogued on institutional websites, documents obtained from directors of associations and unions of sex workers, in addition to e-mail exchanges and online conversations with directors and sex professionals via virtual meetings. In the area of political communications, we observe inclusions and exclusions at the same time, as regulation has promoted several exclusions. The participation of workers in the discussions, when that had happened, was not reflected a posteriori either in public policies or in the implementation of regulations. As for legal communications, we observe that those who practice the profession experience inclusions and exclusions at the same time, since the profession is criminalized at the same time that it is recognized as a profession. The conclusion is that the inclusion/exclusion form broadens the spectrum of observation by allowing inclusion to be observed at the same time as exclusion.

Vaccine Hesitancy towards COVID-19 Vaccination: Investigating the Role of Information Sources through a Mediation Analysis

Mass vaccination campaigns have been implemented worldwide to counteract the SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 pandemic, however their effectiveness could be challenged by vaccine hesitancy. The tremendous rise in the use of social media have made them acquire a leading role as an information source, thus representing a crucial factor at play that could contribute to increase or mitigate vaccine hesitancy, as information sources play a pivotal role in shaping public opinion and perceptions. The aims of the study were to investigate if information sources could affect the attitude towards COVID-19 vaccination and if they could act as a mediator in the relationship between individual characteristics and vaccine hesitancy. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted by a professional panellist on a representative sample of 1011 citizens from the Emilia-Romagna region in Italy in January 2021. A mediation analysis using structural equation modelling was performed. Our results show how social media directly or indirectly increases vaccine hesitancy towards COVID-19 vaccination, while the opposite effect was observed for institutional websites. Given the global widespread use of social media, their use should be enhanced to disseminate scientifically sound information to a greater audience to counteract vaccine hesitancy, while at the same time continuing to promote and update institutional websites that have proven to be effective in reducing vaccine hesitancy.

If a picture is not worth a thousand words Digital infographics use during the Covid-19 pandemic crisis

This work aims to investigate the role played by public sector visual communi-cation within the specific context of an emergency. The analysis of the in-fographics divulged during the pandemic will focus on the meanings, themes, lin-guistic registers and narrative methods that have characterized the infor-mation divulged by the Ministry of Health and by Italian Regional Governments through institutional websites and social media accounts. The emergence of new idioms and language in the e-health management sector represents an opportunity to reflect on the roles and skills of public-sector communicators, and on emergen-cy communication as such.

Acute Oral Manifestations in Patients Submitted to Radiotherapy in the Head and Neck Region: Literature Narrative Review

The use of ionizing radiation, affects not only malignant cells but also healthy tissues, and promotes several side acute or late effects in the oral cavity. Among the acute effects, oral mucositis, xerostomia, hyposalivation, dysgeusia and dysphagia present a prominent role. The present study aims to conduct a narrative literature review on radiotherapy in the head and neck region as a therapeutic modality for cancer in this region and the main acute oral manifestations and their respective treatments. This was an exploratory literature review, through the database of Scielo, Pubmed, Medline and institutional websites using the crossing of the descriptors in English and Portuguese “head and neck neoplasms”, “radiotherapy”, “xerostomia”, “dysgeusia” and “dysphagia”. According to the established criteria, a total of 46 articles and 2 institutional websites were selected from the databases, and one book was added for presenting relevance on this theme. The results demonstrate that oral mucositis is the most prevalent acute effect and has a direct impact on patient’s quality of life, but there is no gold standard treatment. Dysphagia, xerostomia, hyposalivation and dysgeusia are common manifestations in irradiated patients, and present several therapeutic modalities. Given the importance of side effects of radiotherapy in head and neck region, further studies are needed to widely disseminate acute oral manifestations in irradiated patients. Keywords: Oral Mucositis. Head and Neck Neoplasms. Radiotherapy. Xerostomia. ResumoA utilização de radiação ionizante, no câncer de cabeça e pescoço, afeta não somente células malignas, mas também tecidos sadios, o que promove diversos efeitos colaterais em cavidade oral, classificados em agudos ou tardios. Dentre os efeitos agudos, a mucosite oral, xerostomia, hipossalivação, disgeusia e disfagia apresentam papel de destaque. O presente trabalho visou realizar uma revisão narrativa de literatura sobre a radioterapia em região de cabeça e pescoço como modalidade terapêutica para o câncer nesta região e as principais manifestações orais agudas decorrentes da radiação ionizante e seus respectivos tratamentos. Tratou-se de revisão de literatura do tipo exploratória, através das bases de dados da Scielo, Pubmed, Medline e sites institucionais utilizando o cruzamento dos descritores em inglês e português “neoplasias de cabeça e pescoço”, “radioterapia”, “mucosite oral”, “xerostomia”, “disgeusia” e “disfagia”. De acordo com os critérios estabelecidos, um total de 46 artigos e 2 sites institucionais foram selecionados nas bases de dados, e 1 livro foi acrescentado por apresentar relevância sobre a temática em questão. Os resultados demonstram que a mucosite oral é o efeito agudo mais prevalente e apesar de ter impacto direto na qualidade de vida, não há tratamento considerado padrão ouro para esta condição. A disfagia, xerostomia, hipossalivação e disgeusia são manifestações comuns em pacientes irradiados, e apresentam diversas modalidades terapêuticas que podem ser empregadas. Dada à importância dos efeitos colaterais da radioterapia de cabeça e pescoço, torna-se necessária a realização de mais estudos afim de divulgar amplamente as manifestações orais agudas em pacientes irradiados. Palavras-chave: Mucosite Oral. Neoplasias de Cabeça e Pescoço. Radioterapia. Xerostomia

A framework to guide industrial trips in engineering training institutions

The paper presents a framework to guide industrial trips in engineering training. The framework was developed through an assessment of various practices relating to industrial trips, gathered from institutional websites and published works on industrial trips, as well as the authors’ experience in leading students for industrial trips. A draft framework was first shared with some lecturers and students as well as electrical engineers working in Ghana’s power sector. Comments from them were incorporated in the draft framework to produce the final document. The finalized framework when adopted by institutions will greatly enhance the effectiveness of industrial trips which will lead to improved training of students.

Women Mayors in Spain: An Analysis of Gender Differences in the Management and Quality of Information on Municipal Websites

This article analyses the differences in the level of transparency and quality of information on the institutional websites of Spanish councils depending on whether the mayor’s office is held by a woman or a man. We focus on 605 Spanish municipalities with more than 10,000 inhabitants in which women mayors represent 26.3% (n = 159) of the total. The method is based on 52 quantitative indicators divided into two thematic blocks related to municipal transparency and to information for participation. The principal results reveal that municipalities led by women yield better results in terms of compliance with the indicators evaluated, with 50.68%, compared to the municipalities in which the mayor is a man, with 38.13%. In addition, a more detailed analysis reveals how women mayors obtain better results in all groups of indicators: transparency, quality of the information published on municipal websites and tools provided for citizen participation. The study reveals how the increase in elected women has a positive influence on the implementation of policies that allow for more transparent information and communication and that promote greater inclusion of citizens in the public debate.