Variables associated with the risk of early death after liver transplantation at a liver transplant unit in a university hospital

Background. Graft dysfunction after liver transplantation is a serious complication that can lead to graft loss and patient death. This was a study to identify risk factors for early death (up to 30 days after transplantation). Methods. It was an observational and retrospective analysis at the Liver Transplantation Unit, Hospital de Clinicas, State University of Campinas, Brazil. From July 1994 to December 2012, 302 patients were included (>18 years old, piggyback technique). Of these cases, 26% died within 30 days. For analysis, Student t tests and chi-square were used to analyze receptor-related (age, body mass index, serum sodium, graft dysfunction, Model for End-Stage Liver Disease score, renal function, and early graft dysfunction [EGD type 1, 2, or 3]), surgery (hot and cold ischemia, surgical time, and units of packed erythrocytes [pRBC]), and donor (age, hypotension, and brain death cause) factors. Risk factors were identified by means of logistic regression model adjusted by the Hosmer-Lemeshow test with significance set at P < .05. Results. We found that hyponatremic recipients had a 6.26-fold higher risk for early death. There was a 9% reduced chance of death when the recipient serum sodium increased 1 unit. The chance of EGD3 to have early death was 18-fold higher than for EGD1 and there was a 13% increased risk for death for each unit of pRBC transfused. Conclusions. Donor total bilirubin, hyponatremia, massive transfusion, and EGD3 in the allocation graft should be observed for better results in the postoperative period.Graft dysfunction after liver transplantation is a serious complication that can lead to graft loss and patient death. This was a study to identify risk factors for early death (up to 30 days after transplantation). Methods. It was an observational and re4741008101

Sequencing of E2 and NS5A regions of HCV genotype 3a in Brazilian patients with chronic hepatitis

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major cause of liver disease throughout the world. The NS5A and E2 proteins of HCV genotype 1 were reported to inhibit the double-stranded (ds) RNA-dependent protein kinase (PKR), which is involved in the cellular antiviral response induced by interferon (IFN). The response to IFN therapy is quite different between genotypes, with response rates among patients infected with types 2 and 3 that are two-three-fold higher than in patients infected with type 1. Interestingly, a significant percentage of HCV genotype 3-infected patients do not respond to treatment at all. The aim of this paper was to analyse the sequences of fragments of the E2 and NS5A regions from 33 outpatients infected with genotype 3a, including patients that have responded (SVR) or not responded (NR) to treatment. HCV RNA was extracted and amplified with specific primers for the NS5A and E2 regions and the PCR products were then sequenced. The sequences obtained covered amino acids (aa) 636-708 in E2 and in NS5A [including the IFN sensitivity determining region (ISDR), PKR-binding domain and extended V3 region)]. In the E2 and NS5A regions, we did observe aa changes among patients, but these changes were not statistically significant between the SVR and NR groups. In conclusion, our results suggest that the ISDR domain is not predictive of treatment success in patients infected with HCV genotype 3a.publishersversionpublishe

The ωDD\omega DD vertex in a Sum Rule approach

The study of charmonium dissociation in heavy ion collisions is generally performed in the framework of effective Lagrangians with meson exchange. Some studies are also developed with the intention of calculate form factors and coupling constants related with charmed and light mesons. These quantities are important in the evaluation of charmonium cross sections. In this paper we present a calculation of the $\omega DD$ vertex that is a possible interaction vertex in some meson-exchange models spread in the literature. We used the standard method of QCD Sum Rules in order to obtain the vertex form factor as a function of the transferred momentum. Our results are compatible with the value of this vertex form factor (at zero momentum transfer) obtained in the vector-meson dominance model.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physics Letters

First steps on the resistance profiling of Kawisari coffee hybrid through cytological and gene expression analyses

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

An efficient local binary pattern based plantar pressure optical sensor image classification using convolutional neural networks

The objective of this study was to design and produce highly comfortable shoe products guided by a plantar pressure imaging data-set. Previous studies have focused on the geometric measurement on the size of the plantar, while in this research a plantar pressure optical imaging data-set based classification technology has been developed. In this paper, an improved local binary pattern (LBP) algorithm is used to extract texture-based features and recognize patterns from the data-set. A calculating model of plantar pressure imaging feature area is established subsequently. The data-set is classified by a neural network to guide the generation of various shoe-last surfaces. Firstly, the local binary mode is improved to adapt to the pressure imaging data-set, and the texture-based feature calculation is fully used to accurately generate the feature point set; hereafter, the plantar pressure imaging feature point set is then used to guide the design of last free surface forming. In the presented experiments of plantar imaging, multi-dimensional texture-based features and improved LBP features have been found by a convolution neural network (CNN), and compared with a 21-input-3-output two-layer perceptual neural network. Three feet types are investigated in the experiment, being flatfoot (F) referring to the lack of a normal arch, or arch collapse, Talipes Equinovarus (TE), being the front part of the foot is adduction, calcaneus varus, plantar flexion, or Achilles tendon contracture and Normal (N). This research has achieved an 82% accuracy rate with 10 hidden-layers CNN of rotation invariance LBP (RI-LBP) algorithm using 21 texture-based features by comparing other deep learning methods presented in the literature

The future problem solving program international: an intervention to promote creative skills in portuguese adolescents

The Future Problem Solving Program International (FPSPI) is an internationally applied educational program that involves young people. Its theoretical foundation is both the Creative Problem Solving Model and the Futurist Thinking. It aims to promote creative and critical thinking through a futurist approach to problems. This study intended to analyze the effects of the program on creative skills evaluated by the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (Figural Version). The participants’ perceptions of the efficacy of the program were also assessed. This intervention was carried out with 131 adolescents over a period of 7 months in an extra-curricular context. The evaluation of the program takes into account periods both before and after interventions, using similar experimental and control groups. The results showed significant statistical differences for the all skills studied and very positive perceptions of the efficacy of FPSPI. Two significant gender differences in creative performance were also found. The results are described and discussed in order to promote awareness for future research concerning this program(undefined)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

‘No memory, no desire’: psychoanalysis in Brazil during repressive times

Until recently, the growth and significance of Brazilian psychoanalysis has been neglected in histories of psychoanalysis. Not only is this history long and rich in its professional and cultural dimensions, but there was an especially important ‘event’ – the so-called ‘Cabernite-Lobo affair’ – that took place during the period of the military dictatorship, which can be seen as dramatising some of the issues concerning the erasure of memory in psychoanalysis, especially in connection with political difficulties. In this paper, we provide an outline of the origins and dissemination of psychoanalysis in Brazil before looking again at the Cabernite-Lobo affair in order to examine in a situated way how psychoanalysis engages with political extremism, and particularly to explore the consequences of an unthinking generalisation of the idea of ‘neutrality’ from the consulting room to the institutional setting. We draw especially on Brazilian papers in Portuguese, which have not been accessible in the English-language psychoanalytic literature