Status epilepticus in the childhood. A Review of seven years

Rev Neurol. 2000 Mar 1-15;30(5):414-8. [Status epilepticus in the childhood. A review of seven years] [Article in Spanish] Oliveira D, Oliveira MJ, Alves V, Temudo T. Hospital Geral de Santo António, Porto, Portugal. Abstract INTRODUCTION: Status epilepticus is a neurological emergency that requires early and prompt treatment. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This retrospective study includes 32 children treated for status epilepticus at Hospital Geral de Santo António, from January 1992 to December 1998. We evaluated the clinical features, duration, aetiology and prognostic. RESULTS: Symptomatic or criptogenetic aetiology was present in 53% of children and idiopathic in 47%. 27% of episodes of status epilepticus were induced by fever. The most common neurological sequel was epilepsy (onset of new epilepsy in 20%; aggravated in 25%). Two children (10%) had major neurological sequelae after status epilepticus. CONCLUSION: In our study the duration of status epilepticus and sequelae seems to be related with aetiology. PMID: 10775965 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE

Avaliação de caracteres emergência em matrizes de tucumanzeiro (Astrocaryum vulgare Mart.) selecionadas para produção de frutos.

Avaliaram-se caracteres de emergência em matrizes de tucumanzeiro selecionadas para alta produção de frutos. Foram coletados e identificados cachos com maturação completa de 29 matrizes selecionadas no Banco Ativo de Germoplasma de tucumã da Embrapa Amazônia Oriental, em Belém ? PA. De cada matriz foi retirado um cacho e uma amostra de 100 frutos, despolpados manualmente, retirados o endocarpo e, em seguida, as sementes foram hidratadas por oito dias. As sementes foram semeadas em sementeira com substrato contendo uma mistura de terra+areia+serragem na proporção de 1:1:1. Foram avaliados os seguintes caracteres: dias para início (DIE) e final da emergência (DFE), dias emergindo (DEM), porcentagem de emergência (PE) e índice de velocidade de emergência (IVE), por 428 dias, com os dados sendo obtidos de dois em dois dias, a partir da primeira emergência. Os dados obtidos foram submetidos à análise de estatística simples. As 29 matrizes selecionadas apresentaram, em média, 158,78 dias para DIE; 33,44 dias para DEM; 192,22 dias para DFE com a porcentagem de emergência baixíssima (PE=4%) e 0,03 IVE

Connective tissue disease-associated interstitial lung disease

Background: Connective tissue diseases (CTD) are frequently associated with interstitial lung disease (ILD), significantly impacting their morbidity and mortality. Aim: Analyze the experience of an autoimmune specialized unit on treating CTD-ILD and characterize the population based on most frequent diseases, imaging patterns, lung function tests results, serology and treatment. Assess mortality and mortality predictors in these patients. Methods: Retrospective, descriptive and statistical analysis of the CTD-ILD patients followed up at an autoimmune diseases unit during a 6-year period. Results: Over the study period, 75 patients with CTD-ILD were treated with a mean follow-up of 49 ± 31 months. The most frequent CTD were systemic sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis. ILD was diagnosed prior to CTD in 8% of patients and concomitantly in 35%. Nonspecific interstitial pneumonia was the CT pattern in 60% and 35% had an isolated diminished DLCO on lung function tests. Pulmonary hypertension was present in 12% and it was the single most important mortality predictor (OR 14.41, p = 0.006). Corticosteroids are the mainstay of treatment but biologics were prescribed in 39% of the patients (mostly tocilizumab and rituximab). Two scleroderma patients were recently treated with nintedanib. Conclusions: ILD is a potential complication of every CTD and can impose a dramatic burden on these patients. The clinical relevance of ILD together with their early expression in the course of the disease underlines the importance of the presence of chest physicians in these units.publishersversionpublishe

Simulations of extensional flow in microrheometric devices

We present a detailed numerical study of the flow of a Newtonian fluid through microrheometric devices featuring a sudden contraction–expansion. This flow configuration is typically used to generate extensional deformations and high strain rates. The excess pressure drop resulting from the converging and diverging flow is an important dynamic measure to quantify if the device is intended to be used as a microfluidic extensional rheometer. To explore this idea, we examine the effect of the contraction length, aspect ratio and Reynolds number on the flow kinematics and resulting pressure field. Analysis of the computed velocity and pressure fields show that, for typical experimental conditions used in microfluidic devices, the steady flow is highly three-dimensional with open spiraling vortical structures in the stagnant corner regions. The numerical simulations of the local kinematics and global pressure drop are in good agreement with experimental results. The device aspect ratio is shown to have a strong impact on the flow and consequently on the excess pressure drop, which is quantified in terms of the dimensionless Couette and Bagley correction factors. We suggest an approach for calculating the Bagley correction which may be especially appropriate for planar microchannels

Modeling of tension–compression asymmetry and orthotropy on metallic materials: numerical implementation and validation

The details concerning the implementation of the yield criterion developed by Cazacu et al. 2006 (CPB06), which accounts for both tension–compression asymmetry and orthotropy of the plastic flow, in the fully implicit FE solver DD3IMP (contraction of ‘Deep Drawing 3-D IMPlicit') are presented in this work. The implemented constitutive model is extensively described, including the analytical first and second order derivatives required to the stress update algorithm. A set of anisotropy parameters describing the mechanical behavior of two metallic materials at room temperature, namely Zirconium and AZ31-Mg alloy, are identified with the DD3MAT (contraction for ‘Deep Drawing 3-D MATerial’) in-house code (Alves, 2004) [2]. The anisotropy parameters are identified for both the CPB06 and the Cazacu and Barlat (2001) (CB2001) yield criteria, in order to emphasize the importance and role of the strength differential effect. The results clearly show that the CPB06 yield criterion is able to accurately describe both the in-plane anisotropy and tension–compression asymmetry, as well a different anisotropic behavior in uniaxial tension and uniaxial compression. The numerical simulation of a four-point bending test is performed, considering different orientations of the beam, i.e. of the hard/soft to deform direction relatively to the load direction, allowing to validate the implementation. The results obtained with the CPB06 show its ability to describe with accuracy the strain fields in the beam's central cross-section, the distribution of the tensile and compressive layers and, consequently, the shift of the neutral layer. The comparison with the results obtained with CB2001 indicates that the strength differential effect affects the final deformed shape of the beam, particularly for materials exhibiting strong tension–compression asymmetry.The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), Portugal via the projects PTDC/EME-TME/118420/2010, UID/EMS/00285/2013 and by FEDER, Portugal funds through the program COMPETE - Programa Operational Factores de Competitividade, under the project CENTRO-07-0224-FEDER-002001 (MT4MOBI). The first author is also grateful to the FCT for the Ph.D. Grant SFRH/BD/98545/2013.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

DD3MAT: a code for yield criteria anisotropy parameters identification

This work presents the main strategies and algorithms adopted in the DD3MAT in-house code, specifically developed for identifying the anisotropy parameters. The algorithm adopted is based on the minimization of an error function, using a downhill simplex method. The set of experimental values can consider yield stresses and r - values obtained from in-plane tension, for different angles with the rolling direction (RD), yield stress and r - value obtained for biaxial stress state, and yield stresses from shear tests performed also for different angles to RD. All these values can be defined for a specific value of plastic work. Moreover, it can also include the yield stresses obtained from in-plane compression tests. The anisotropy parameters are identified for an AA2090-T3 aluminium alloy, highlighting the importance of the user intervention to improve the numerical fit.The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) via the projects PTDC/EME-TME/118420/2010 and UID/EMS/00285/2013. The first author is also grateful to the FCT for the PhD grant SFRH/BD/98545/2013.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Influence of the orthotropic behaviour on defects prediction in cup drawing, reverse redrawing and expansion

Finite elements analysis is commonly used in the cans tool design since it allows predicting different sheet metal defects and instabilities that significantly affect the efficient production of beverage cans. These defects include caring, due to the material orthotropic behaviour, thinning and fracture. The numerical prediction of these kind of defects is more complex when different combinations of strain paths are involved. The process conditions considered in this work involve the drawing of a cylindrical cup, the reverse redrawing and the expansion. The two materials under analysis are an AA5352 aluminium alloy and a TH330 steel. The materials orthotropic plastic behaviour is modelled with a non-quadratic yield criterion. The results show that changes in the yield surface lead to slight changes in the caring profile and in the location were strain localization occurs. Moreover, the numerical model must describe in detail the process conditions, since they may affect the formability prediction.The authors would like to acknowledge the funding from of the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under projects with reference PTDC/EME-EME/30592/2017 and PTDC/EME-EME/31243/2017 and by European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Portugal 2020 program and the Centro 2020 Regional Operational Programme (CENTRO-01-0145-FEDER-031657) under project MATIS (CENTRO-01-0145-FEDER-000014) and UID/EMS/00285/2020

Study on the influence of the strain rate sensitivity on the springback of the AA5086 alloy under warm forming conditions

Warm forming processes have been successfully applied to overcome some important drawbacks of the aluminium alloys, such as poor formability and large springback. The virtual try-out of this type of processes requires the accurate prediction of springback. The process conditions considered in this work are the ones established for the benchmark 3 - Springback of an Al-Mg alloy in warm forming conditions, proposed under the Numisheet 2016 international conference. The material under analysis is the AA5086-H111 aluminium alloy. Its mechanical behaviour is described by a Hockett-Sherby hardening law and an orthotropic yield function. The numerical analysis of the warm forming process is performed considering different yield criteria, using a strain rate-dependent flow rule. Although the material presents a positive strain rate sensitivity at 240 degrees C, the influence of the punch velocity on the punch force evolution is negligible due to the impact of the punch velocity on the temperature distribution in the cup. Since the hoop stress distribution on the ring (before splitting) is only slightly influenced by the punch velocity, the impact of the punch velocity on the springback is also negligible.The authors would like to acknowledge the funding from of the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under projects with reference PTDC/EME-EME/30592/2017 and PTDC/EME-EME/31657/2017 and by European Regional Development Fund through the Portugal 2020 program and the Centro 2020 Regional Operational Programme under the project MATIS and UIDB/00285/2020

Monitoring public perception of health risks in brazil and italy: Cross-cultural research on the risk perception of choking in children

One of the most relevant public health issues among pediatric injuries concerns foreign body (FB) aspiration. The risk perception of choking hazards (CH) and risk perception, in general, are complex multifactorial problems that play a significant role in defining protective behavior. Risk prevention policies should take this aspect into account. A lack of scientific knowledge of FB injury risk perception may be evidenced in Brazil and other newly developed countries. This study aims to characterize the differences and peculiarities in risk perception of CH between Italian and Brazilian populations. The risk perception among adults in Italy and Brazil between September and October 2017 was investigated in a survey. A Multiple Correspondence Analysis was carried out to identify the latent components characterizing the risk perception in Italian and Brazilian population samples. The most relevant dimension characterizing risk perception is the “Professional–educational status and the related perception of Risk” (13% of factorial inertia). The Italians identify batteries and magnets as the most dangerous choking risks (20% of responses). On the other hand, Brazilian people, mainly manual laborers (22%) with secondary or primary education (94%), perceive coins as the most dangerous items (30% of responses, p < 0.001). Socio-economic issues characterize the subjective risk perception of Italian and Brazilian survey respondents. In this framework, data-driven prevention strategies could be helpful to tailor intervention strategies to the cultural context to which they are addressed

Application of the incremental volumetric remapping method in the simulation of multi-step deep drawing processes

Since sheet metal forming has a high percentage contribution in the overall design costs of a new car, this engineering area assisted in the last decades to considerable development efforts. The present challenge is to simulate all the production stages, from the initial blank sheet to the final part ready to assembly. On this particular issue of multi-step deep-drawing simulation, this work presents a new remapping method called Incremental Volumetric Remapping (IVR) developed to minimize the error that occurs, when performing the variable transfer operation between two different meshes. The IVR method is based in a volumetric approach where the calculus of the remapped state variables is obtained by means of a weighted average of the intersection volume between the meshes. The method performance is tested and compared with a standard extrapolation-interpolation, by applying a numerical example of the Numisheet'005 Conference, "The Channel Draw/Cylindrical Cup Benchmark".(undefined