Evaluation of the risk of death for very low-birthweight babies and comparation between neonatal intensive care units: application of ROC curves

In general, the neonatal rates of mortality are considered the most important measure for the evaluation of health services and the development of society. Babies with very low birthweight (<1500g at birth) contribute significantly to the increase of the mortality and morbidity rates.This study aims to compare, in the same set of babies, 4 different indexes of clinical seriousness; these indexes quantify the risk of death for babies with very low birthweight. The study was conducted on 169 new-borns with birthweight under 1500g, admitted to the Neonatology Unit of the Hospital Garcia de Orta in Portugal, between January 1992 and July 1995. The data were collected retrospectively on the same set of new-horns to permit the comparison of the different indexes. To compare Neonatal Intensive Care Units, we use another set of new-borns. These data (234 new-borns with very low birthweight) were collected in 4 different Portuguese hospitals (H-1, H-2, H-3 and H-4) during 1995.The 4 indexes studied were: CRIB (Clinical Risk Index for Babies), TISS (Neonatal Therapeutical Intervention Score System), SNAP (Score for Neonatal Acute Physiology) and SNAP-PE (Score for Neonatal Acute Physiology-Perinatal Extension). Also, included in the study was the variable WEIGHT (birthweight) because it is an important index to evaluate the initial risk of death.The selection of the best diagnostic test was based on the Receiver Operating Characteristic (RDC) curves. The results, based on the ROC curves, allow the conclusion that CRIB is the best index for evaluating the risk of neonatal death, and that hospital H-4 has better performance in terms of neonatal intensive care

Early Identification of Violent Criminal Gang Members

Gang violence is a major problem in the United States accounting for a large fraction of homicides and other violent crime. In this paper, we study the problem of early identification of violent gang members. Our approach relies on modified centrality measures that take into account additional data of the individuals in the social network of co-arrestees which together with other arrest metadata provide a rich set of features for a classification algorithm. We show our approach obtains high precision and recall (0.89 and 0.78 respectively) in the case where the entire network is known and out-performs current approaches used by law-enforcement to the problem in the case where the network is discovered overtime by virtue of new arrests - mimicking real-world law-enforcement operations. Operational issues are also discussed as we are preparing to leverage this method in an operational environment.Comment: SIGKDD 201

Configurational temperature control for atomic and molecular systems

A new configurational temperature thermostat suitable for molecules with holonomic constraints is derived. This thermostat has a simple set of motion equations, can generate the canonical ensemble in both position and momentum space, acts homogeneously through the spatial coordinates, and does not intrinsically violate the constraints. Our new configurational thermostat is closely related to the kinetic temperature Nosé-Hoover thermostat with feedback coupled to the position variables via a term proportional to the net molecular force. We validate the thermostat by comparing equilibrium static and dynamic quantities for a fluid of n-decane molecules under configurational and kinetic temperature control. Practical aspects concerning the implementation of the new thermostat in a molecular dynamics code and the potential applications are discussed

Stationary substrates facilitate bioinvasion in Paranaguá Bay in southern Brazil

Artificial substrates in and near ports and marinas commonly have many non-indigenous species and are the first stepping stone for the establishment of bioinvasors. Substrate movement influences fouling communities and so understanding of how species assemblages are related to specific substrate conditions is crucial as a management tool. Here we describe the species assemblage of the community after six months of development on granite plates in Paranaguá Bay. Species richness was similar in the two treatments, with 12 species on floating (constant depth) plates and 15 on stationary (variable depth) plates. However, species composition differed, with the community on floating plates being dominated by the native bivalve Mytella charruana (66.1 ± 5.5% cover) and that on stationary plates dominated by the barnacles Fistulobalanus citerosum (49.8 ± 3.5% cover) and the introduced Amphibalanus reticulatus (33.9 ± 3.7% cover). Other introduced species were Garveia franciscana, on one stationary plate, and Megabalanus coccopoma also on one stationary plate and not very abundant on half of the floating plates (< 2%). Thus, stationary plates were more susceptible to introduced species that may become very abundant, suggesting that this type of substrate should be a priority in management for bioinvasion control. We also hypothesize that the native bivalve M. charruana is the dominant competitor for space on floating substrates, thereby reducing the invasiveness of that type of substrate.Substratos artificiais em regiões de portos e marinas geralmente abrigam muitas espécies introduzidas e sua colonização constitui o primeiro passo no estabelecimento de bioinvasores. O grau de movimentação do substrato influencia a comunidade incrustante e o conhecimento da assembléia de espécies associada a cada situação é crucial como ferramenta de manejo. Neste trabalho, reportamos a estrutura de comunidades de seis meses desenvolvidas em substratos de granito na baía de Paranaguá. Foram encontradas 12 espécies na condição flutuante (profundidade constante) e 15 na condição fixa (profundidade variável), mas o número médio de espécies por placa não foi diferente nos tratamentos. A comunidade das placas flutuantes foi dominada pelo bivalve nativo Mytella charruana (66.1 ± 5.5% de cobertura), enquanto as placas fixas foram dominadas pelos cirripédios Fistulobalanus citerosum (49.8 ± 3.5%) e Amphibalanus reticulatus (33.9 ± 3.7%), este último introduzido na região. Outras espécies introduzidas encontradas foram Garveia franciscana, em apenas uma placa fixa, e Megabalanus coccopoma também em uma placa fixa e em metade das placas flutuantes, mas sempre com baixa cobertura (< 2%). Em conclusão, placas fixas foram mais suscetíveis às espécies introduzidas, uma delas ocorrendo em alta abundância, o que sugere que este tipo de substrato deveria ser priorizado em ações de controle e manejo de bioinvasão. Também hipotetizamos que o bivalve nativo M. charruana é o competidor dominante por espaço na condição flutuante, reduzindo a susceptibilidade deste substrato à bioinvasão

Musculoskeletal disorders in nurses who provide home care

Work related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSDs) have been described as the most important occupational health problem tormenting the nursing workers. This work demonstrated a preliminary analysis on the evaluation of responses to a questionnaire based on one developed by Kuorinka and colleagues. Main goal of this work is the characterisation and evaluation of the risk of WRMSDs on the home care nursing. The first results reveal that a great percentage of the respondents provide home care. The most frequent complaints are in spine and shoulders. There are no significant association between the related disorders and the home car

Forecasting the risk of WRMSDs in home care nurses

Studies regarding work related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSDs) in nurses have been carried out mostly in hospitals or in other institutional contexts. Information about this theme in providing home-based care is scarce. The main goals of this work are the characterization of musculoskeletal complaints in nurses who work at the Health Centers of the northern Portugal and that provide home-based care, the identification of the main risk factors present in the homecare context and the development of statistical models to forecast the risk in the same context. The principal methodology used in this work was a questionnaire developed in electronic format which was based on the “Standardized Nordic Questionnaire” for the analysis of musculoskeletal symptoms. It were used univariate models of binary logistic regression to estimate the risk of WRMSDs present in the practice of home-based care and also to assess which risk factors that could contribute to the appearance of complaints in the lumbar region in the professionals who provide homecare. The body areas with more musculoskeletal complaints are the back and the shoulders. The nurses who provide home care have nearly triple chance of having musculoskeletal complaints in the lumbar region than their counterparts of Health Centers (OR=3.19 (p<0.05), 95% Confidence Interval [1.26; 8.08]). We obtained various statistical models for forecast the risk of having low back complaints in home care nurses. From all of them was selected the one that presented more stability and reliability. The model performance was evaluated by ROC (Receiver Operating Characteristic) analysis yielding a value for the area under the ROC curve of 0.889 (p<0.05). This value reveals a high discriminating power, that is, the model is able to correctly forecast the complaints in the lumbar region in 88.9% of cases

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders in home care nurses: study of the main risk factors

BACKGROUND: Nurses are a risk group for work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs). Several studies reveal that nurses have high prevalence rates of injuries and symptoms related to WMSDs. However, many of these studies focus mostly on hospital nurses. Worldwide, few studies include home care nurses. Objective This work aimed to identify the body region most affected by musculoskeletal complaints in home care nursing, and subsequently develop a statistical model, that includes the main risk factors, to predict the risk of having musculoskeletal complaints in the identified region. Methods The research method was based on the Standardised Nordic Questionnaire applied to home care nurses working at Health Centres of northern Portugal. Univariate and multivariate models of logistic regression were used to meet the goals of this work. Results Home care nurses have a three times greater chance of having lumbar complaints than their counterparts working only at Health Centres (OR = 3.19 (p < 0.05), with a 95% confidence interval [1.256; 8.076]). A statistical model with seven variables (forearm posture; static postures; arm posture; arm supported; bed height; job satisfaction; assistive devices) was obtained to predict lumbar complaints. Conclusions The lumbar region was identified as the most affected by musculoskeletal complaints. These complaints were associated with seven factors.This work was financed by National Funds - Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, under UID/CEC/00319/2013.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Weak Galactic Halo--Fornax dSph Connection from RR Lyrae Stars

For the first time accurate pulsation properties of the ancient variable stars of the Fornax dwarf spheroidal galaxy (dSph) are discussed in the broad context of galaxy formation and evolution. Homogeneous multi-band $BVI$ optical photometry of spanning {\it twenty} years has allowed us to identify and characterize more than 1400 RR Lyrae stars (RRLs) in this galaxy. Roughly 70\% are new discoveries. We investigate the period-amplitude distribution and find that Fornax shows a lack of High Amplitude (A_V\gsim0.75 mag) Short Period fundamental-mode RRLs (P\lsim0.48 d, HASPs). These objects occur in stellar populations more metal-rich than [Fe/H]$\sim$-1.5 and they are common in the Galactic halo (Halo) and in globulars. This evidence suggests that old (age older than 10 Gyr) Fornax stars are relatively metal-poor. A detailed statistical analysis of the role of the present-day Fornax dSph in reproducing the Halo period distribution shows that it can account for only a few to 20\% of the Halo when combined with RRLs in massive dwarf galaxies (Sagittarius dSph, Large Magellanic Cloud). This finding indicates that Fornax-like systems played a minor role in building up the Halo when compared with massive dwarfs. We also discuss the occurrence of HASPs in connection with the luminosity and the early chemical composition of nearby dwarf galaxies. We find that, independently of their individual star formation histories, bright (M_V\lsim-13.5 mag) galaxies have HASPs, whereas faint ones (M_V\gsim-11 mag) do not. Interestingly enough, Fornax belongs to a luminosity range (--11$<$M$_V<$--13.5 mag) in which the occurrence of HASPs appears to be correlated with the early star formation and chemical enrichment of the host galaxy.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, A&A, accepte