Incidence and impact of hospital-acquired pneumonia: a Portuguese nationwide four-year study

This article presents the incidence of hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) in Portugal during a four-year period (2014-2017). Data were retrieved from the 100 Portuguese hospital diagnosis discharge database for adult patients and included gender, age, chronic comorbidities, mortality and hospital length of stay. There were 28,632 episodes of HAP, an incidence of 0.95 per 100 admissions. HAP patients had both a prolonged hospital length of stay (mean 26.4 days) and high mortality (33.6%). Most episodes occurred in patients aged ≥65 years and in males (76.1% and 61.7%, respectively). Invasive ventilation was required in 18.8%.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Photonic superdiffusive motion in resonance line radiation trapping - partial frequency redistribution effects

The relation between the jump length probability distribution function and the spectral line profile in resonance atomic radiation trapping is considered for Partial Frequency Redistribution (PFR) between absorbed and reemitted radiation. The single line Opacity Distribution Function [M.N. Berberan-Santos et.al. J.Chem.Phys. 125, 174308 (2006)] is generalized for PFR and used to discuss several possible redistribution mechanisms (pure Doppler broadening, combined natural and Doppler broadening and combined Doppler, natural and collisional broadening). It is shown that there are two coexisting scales with a different behavior: the small scale is controlled by the intricate PFR details while the large scale is essentially given by the atom rest frame redistribution asymptotic. The pure Doppler and combined natural, Doppler and collisional broadening are characterized by both small and large scale superdiffusive Levy flight behaviors while the combined natural and Doppler case has an anomalous small scale behavior but a diffusive large scale asymptotic. The common practice of assuming complete redistribution in core radiation and frequency coherence in the wings of the spectral distribution is incompatible with the breakdown of superdiffusion in combined natural and Doppler broadening conditions

Hybrid sol-gel materials doped with AgY and NaY Zeolites

The sol-gel process is a chemical synthesis often considered as a green technology due to mild conditions preparation since is waste-free and the processing temperature is generally low (e.g., close to room temperature). Also, uses compounds that do not introduce impurities into the end material and excludes the washing stage. Compared to other chemical routes, sol-gel method has several advantages in the design and synthesis of organic-inorganic hybrid (OIH) materials.1 This method allows the control of several experimental conditions leading to a simple sequence, which may be tuned to the nature, final shape, and according to a desired function. This route allows to obtain end products with high specific porosity and surface area which favours the introduction of materials complementary functionalities, such as UV protection, anti-fouling, anti-reflection, moisture resistance, corrosion and adhesion protection. Moreover, the low synthesis temperatures minimize the thermal volatilization and degradation of the entrapped species. Therefore, the introduction of supplementary functionalities together with the enhancement of the mechanical, thermal, and optical properties, opens a wide range of applications in numerous fields of science. This work reports the synthesis of OIH sol-gel matrices, which were obtained using a functionalized siloxane, 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane, by reaction with an oligopolymer named JeffamineTHF 170.2 The OIH matrices were doped with different contents of AgY or NaY zeolites (i.e., 1, 3 and 5 wt%). The doped and undoped OIH matrices were characterized by different techniques namely Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analysis, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Results obtained so far suggest that the introduction of AY or NaY enhance the stability of the hybrid sol-gel materials and could be explored as sensors.This research was funded by Operational Program Competitiveness and Internationalization (COMPETE 2020), the Lisbon Regional Operational Program (in its FEDER component), and by Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), grant reference POCI-01-0145-FEDER-031220. The support of Centro de Química-UM through FCT project UID/QUI/00686/2019 is also acknowledged and BioTecNorte (operation NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Time to blood culture positivity as a predictor of clinical outcome in patients with Candida albicans bloodstream infection

Background: Few studies have assessed the time to blood culture positivity as a predictor of clinical outcome in fungal bloodstream infections (BSIs). the purpose of this study was to evaluate the time to positivity (TTP) of blood cultures in patients with Candida albicans BSIs and to assess its impact on clinical outcome.Methods: A historical cohort study with 89 adults patients with C. albicans BSIs. TTP was defined as the time between the start of incubation and the time that the automated alert signal indicating growth in the culture bottle sounded.Results: Patients with BSIs and TTPs of culture of 36 h (n = 50) were compared. Septic shock occurred in 46.2% of patients with TTPs of 36 h (p = 0.56). A central venous catheter source was more common with a BSI TTP of = 20 at BSI onset, the development of at least one organ system failure (respiratory, cardiovascular, renal, hematologic, or hepatic), SOFA at BSI onset, SAPS II at BSI onset, and time to positivity were associated with death. By using logistic regression analysis, the only independent predictor of death was time to positivity (1.04; 95% CI, 1.0-1.1, p = 0.035), with the chance of the patient with C. albicans BSI dying increasing 4.0% every hour prior to culture positivity.Conclusion: A longer time to positivity was associated with a higher mortality for Candida albicans BSIs; therefore, initiating empiric treatment with antifungals may improve outcomes.Universidade Federal de São Paulo UNIFESP, Div Infect Dis, São Paulo, BrazilHosp Israelita Albert Einstein, Div Med Practice, São Paulo, BrazilVirginia Commonwealth, Univ Sch Med, Dept Internal Med, Richmond, VA USAUniversidade Federal de São Paulo UNIFESP, Div Infect Dis, São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Utilizacao da embriogenese somatica no processo de melhoramento da tamareira.

A tamareira Phoenix dactilifera L. é uma palmeira do gênero Phoenix que produz frutos comestíveis que fazem parte de uma dieta básica de povos devários países do Oriente Médio (Bailey, 1944). Suas flores frescas são a base para uma bebida destilada (tora water). Uma goma medicional (kukm chil) é feita de seu palmito, sendo de comprovada eficácia em doenças do aparelho respiratório

Geometric Aspects of the Dipolar Interaction in Lattices of Small Particles

The hysteresis curves of systems composed of small interacting magnetic particles, regularly placed on stacked layers, are obtained with Monte Carlo simulations. The remanence as a function of temperature, in interacting systems, presents a peak that separates two different magnetic states. At low temperatures, small values of remanence are a consequence of antiferromagnetic order due to the dipolar interaction. At higher values of temperature the increase of the component normal to the lattice plane is responsible for the small values of remanence. The effect of the number of layers, coordination number and distance between particles are investigated.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figure

Are victims also judged more positively if they say their lives are just?

Non-victims who express high versus low personal belief in a just world (PBJW) are judged as having more social value, both social utility (i.e., market value) and social desirability (i.e., affective value). Our goal was to test whether this pattern differed when the targets were presented as innocent or noninnocent victims of enduring suffering. A hundred and eighty-six participants of both sexes took part in our 2 (degree of PBJW expressed: high/low) X 3 (Target identity: innocent victim/ non-innocent victim/non-victim) between-subjects experimental study. Participants rated the targets on four measures: positive/negative social utility/desirability. Targets were judged more positively and less negatively if they expressed high versus low PBJW, regardless of their being non-victims or (non-)innocent victims. This pattern is taken as further evidence that the expression of high PBJW is a judgment norm, that is, a socially valued discourse irrespective of it being true or untrue.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio