The World as a Readymade: A Conversation with Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei positions himself first and foremost as a thinker, driven by curiosity and even selfishness, and not shying away from ridicule. Through immersion and direct response to different, unfamiliar conditions, he aims to defamiliarize pre-set thinking, not letting himself be trapped by rationality and led by simplified, predetermined conclusions about the world. Despite the self-proclaimed selfishness at their core, Ai’s artistic acts become selfless through resonance, inviting the viewer into his thought experiments with the world, which he engages with as if the world were a readymade. This conversation departed from the transnational film Tree (2021), where Ai meticulously documents the work of Brazilian and Chinese artisans in creating his 32-metre iron sculpture Pequi Tree (2018–2020). We began with political curiosity as a creative driver for the artist, the influence of Duchamp and Warhol, and the choice of the audiovisual medium to reflect reality. The conversation branched out to consider aesthetics, tying the issue of aestheticization to Ai’s role as a public intellectual, from an earlier refusal of aesthetics or ‘beautification’ in the interest of unmediated transparency to the realization that new aesthetics are needed for new publics.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

In Situ Breakage of Implanon® - Two Cases of a Rare Occurrence

BACKGROUND: In situ breakage of Implanon® is a rare occurrence with unknown clinical significance. Authors report two different cases of broken Implanon® of women attended at our Family Planning Clinic. DISCUSSION: In situ implants may spontaneously and asymptomatically break, although some uncertainty relies on whether that situation has a real impact on the contraceptive effectiveness or on bleeding patterns. Even more, it can be argued if, as a result of an occurrence of that nature, the implant shall or shall not be removed before the envisaged 3-year period of effectiveness. CONCLUSION: Currently, the clinical significance of implant breakage remains unknown. The decision to remove a broken or bent implant should be based on clinical judgements considering patients' wishes

Interictal Spike Quantification in Continuous Spike-Wave of Sleep (CSWS): Clinical Usefulness of a Wearable EEG Device

Continuous spike-wave of sleep (CSWS) syndrome is one of the most common epileptic encephalopathies of childhood. Because the associated cognitive/behavioral disturbances relate more to the amount of spike activity than of seizures, methods of spike quantification gained relevance in diagnosis and monitoring treatment. The conventional methodology for quantification of spike index (SI) relies on repeated full 10-20 long-term ambulatory electroencephalography (aEEG), which is both expensive and poorly tolerated.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A 63-Year-Old Woman Presenting with a Synovial Sarcoma of the Hand: a Case Report

INTRODUCTION: Synovial sarcoma is a high-grade, soft-tissue sarcoma that most frequently is located in the vicinity of joints, tendons or bursae, although it can also be found in extra-articular locations. Most patients with synovial sarcoma of the hand are young and have a poor prognosis, as these tumors are locally aggressive and are associated with a relatively high metastasis rate. According to the literature, local recurrence and/or metastatic disease is found in nearly 80% of patients. Current therapy comprises surgery, systemic and limb perfusion chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. However, the 5-year survival rate is estimated to be only around 27% to 55%. Moreover, most authors agree that synovial sarcoma is one of the most commonly misdiagnosed malignancies of soft tissues because of their slow growing pattern, benign radiographic appearance, ability to change size, and the fact that they may elicit pain similar to that caused by common trauma. CASE PRESENTATION: We describe an unusual case of a large synovial sarcoma of the hand in a 63-year-old Caucasian woman followed for 12 years by a multidisciplinary team. In addition, a literature review of the most pertinent aspects of the epidemiology, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of these patients is presented. CONCLUSION: Awareness of this rare tumor by anyone dealing with hand pathology can hasten diagnosis, and this, in turn, can potentially increase survival. Therefore, a high index of suspicion for this disease should be kept in mind, particularly when evaluating young people, as they are the most commonly affected group

A multilevel study of the environmental determinants of swine ascariasis in England

Ascariasis is considered a common parasitosis of swine worldwide. The disease causes significant economic losses due to its effect on feed conversion ratio and liver condemnations at slaughter (liver milk spots). This study aimed to characterise the between-farm and spatial variance in porcine ascariasis in England and to assess the association between the percentage of infected animals and potential environmental risk factors, including production system, socioeconomic deprivation, soil characteristics (pH, topsoil bulk density, topsoil organic matter, topsoil texture class, soil water regime, topsoil available water capacity, and elevation), and climatic conditions (relative humidity, air temperature, and rainfall) before slaughter. Post-mortem inspection results were provided by the Food Standards Agency and comprised information about the number of rejected livers, the number of animals sent to slaughter and the production system. All farms were georeferenced based on the postcode, which allowed the assessment of the area index of socioeconomic deprivation and the extraction of soil and climatic characteristics available in different online databases. Under a multilevel framework with adjustment for spatial autocorrelation, a standard linear mixed model was fitted to estimate the association between these determinants and the percentage of infected animals. From 2,513,973 English farmed pigs included in the study, 4.3% had their livers rejected due to milk spots. The percentage of infected pigs per batch ranged from 0% to 100%. The highest percentages were found in Surrey, East and West Sussex (8.9%) and lowest in Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire (2.0%). Significant associations were found at multivariable analysis between the proportion of infection and the number of animals sent to slaughter (β = −0.005; 95%CI = −0.005, −0.004), soil texture (peat compared to coarse textured soils; β = −0.516; 95%CI = −1.010, −0.063), relative humidity (β = 0.011; 95%CI = 0.006, 0.015), mean temperature (β = 0.007; 95%CI = 0.003, 0.012), and rainfall (β = 0.022; 95%CI = 0.004, 0.037). In conclusion, our findings suggest that ascariasis can be influenced by a complex network of environmental factors. Future research needs to acknowledge these intermingled relationships to guide the development and application of control measures by the industry.This study was funded by FEDER through the Operational Programme Competitiveness and Internationalization and national funding from the Foundation for Science and Technology – FCT (Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education) under the Unidade de Investigação em Epidemiologia – Instituto de Saúde Pública da Universidade do Porto (EPIUnit) (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006862; Ref. UID/DTP/04750/ 2013)

Association between the density and type of trees around urban schools and exhaled nitric oxide levels in school children

Greenspaces in school's neighbourhood represent an important environment to promote healthy development. The aim of this study was to assess the association between the density and type of trees around schools and exhaled Nitric Oxide (NO) levels in schoolchildren. Data on 845 children from 20 primary schools in Porto was analysed. Airway inflammation was assessed by measuring exhaled NO level. The density and type of trees were quantified within a 500 m buffer around schools. Associations were estimated using mixed-effect models. A significant association was observed between non-tree covered areas around schools and exhaled NO levels in schoolchildren (β = - 1.42, 95% CI - 2.84, - 0.001). Our results suggested that the presence of trees in school neighbourhoods may play a role in the biological mechanisms underlying the complex links between environment and airway inflammation.Authors gratefully acknowledge the funding by EXALAR 21 project financed by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER), through the Competitiveness and Internationalization Operational Programme, and by national funding from the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the project info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/9471 - RIDTI/PTDC/GES-AMB/30193/2017/PT (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-030193, 02/SAICT/2017 - Project nº 30193). This study was also funded by FEDER through the Operational Programme Competitiveness and Internationalization and national funding from the Foundation for Science and Technology – FCT (Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education) under the Unidade de Investigação em Epidemiologia - Instituto de Saúde Pública da Universidade do Porto (EPIUnit) (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006862; Ref. UID/DTP/04750/2019)

Salt reduction strategies in Portuguese school meals, from pre-school to secondary education-the Eat Mediterranean program

High sodium (salt) consumption is associated with an increased risk of developing non-communicable diseases. However, in most European countries, Portugal included, sodium intake is still high. This study aimed to assess the sodium content of school meals before and after the Eat Mediterranean (EM) intervention-a community-based program to identify and correct nutritional deviations through the implementation of new school menus and through schools' food handlers training. EM (2015-2017) was developed in 25 schools (pre to secondary education) of two Portuguese Municipalities, reaching students aged 3-21 years old. Samples of the complete meals (soup + main course + bread) from all schools were collected, and nutritional quality and laboratory analysis were performed to determine their nutritional composition, including sodium content. Overall, there was a significant decrease (-23%) in the mean sodium content of the complete school meals, which was mainly achieved by the significant reduction of 34% of sodium content per serving portion of soup. In conclusion, EM had a positive effect on the improvement of the school meals' sodium content, among the participant schools. Furthermore, school setting might be ideal for nutrition literacy interventions among children, for flavors shaping, and for educating towards less salty food acceptance

Pulmonary Disease and Age at Immigration among Hispanics. Results from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos

Rationale: Asthma has been reported to be more prevalent among Hispanics of Puerto Rican heritage than among other Hispanics and among Hispanics born in the United States or who immigrated as children than among those who came as adults; however, direct comparisons across Hispanic groups are lacking

Analysis of two-player quantum games in an EPR setting using geometric algebra

The framework for playing quantum games in an Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) type setting is investigated using the mathematical formalism of Clifford geometric algebra (GA). In this setting, the players' strategy sets remain identical to the ones in the classical mixed-strategy version of the game, which is then obtained as proper subset of the corresponding quantum game. As examples, using GA we analyze the games of Prisoners' Dilemma and Stag Hunt when played in the EPR type setting.Comment: 20 pages, no figure, revise