Published September 11, 2024.

The fourth book “Health research: current challenges and future perspectives 4” by Editora Atena is a collection of studies in the field of Public Health and Clinical Research.
Brazilian, Azerbaijani, Jamaican and Puerto Rican researchers contributed their research to this collection and we hope that this diversity of texts can contribute to your studies.
A review presented in this book aimed to categorize and elucidate the mechanisms of action of polymers responsive to pH, temperature, redox, enzymes and non-biological stimuli, providing information about their roles in the controlled release of medicines.
Another text refers to the risk factors that predict hospital mortality among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease related to ventilator-associated pneumonia.
Another research concerns ultrasound-guided biopsy of lung masses, which consists of a method described in this work where its use and relatively low cost will be highlighted, especially in environments with limited resources.
We also present a study that reports a case of a 30-year-old woman with a medical history of hypertension and asthma who presented to the Emergency Room several times and required intensive care, which demonstrated that there was another disease that was aggravating her condition.
We thank the authors for contributing to the creation of this collection. Atena Editora thus maintains its purpose of sharing knowledge and increasing the visibility of different research.

Enjoy!

Thais Fernanda Tortorelli Zarili