Infecção pelo HIV e AIDS em um pequeno município no Sudeste brasileiro

OBJECTIVE: Studies on the aspects of HIV infection in small Brazilian municipalities are invaluable to appropriately design control strategies, better allocate resources, and improve health care services. The objective of the study was to assess the clinical and epidemiological aspects of HIV infection in a small municipality. METHODS: A descriptive study was carried out in Miracema, a small municipality in the northwestern area of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between July 1999 and December 2003. All HIV-infected adult patients followed up at the local HIV/AIDS Program were included. Clinical and epidemiologic characteristics were prospectively assessed through standardized questionnaires. RESULTS: A total of 65 adult patients who attended the local HIV/AIDS Program were analyzed. Most (34) were women (male to female ratio: 0.9). An absolute predominance of patients who were born in Miracema or neighboring municipalities (94%), lived in Miracema (90.7%), were single (70.8%), attributed the acquisition of HIV infection to unprotected heterosexual intercourse (72.3%) and had a past history of snorting cocaine (27.7) was found Central nervous system disorders (including five cases of cryptococcal meningitis) and acute pulmonary pneumocystosis-like respiratory failure were major causes of morbidity. Most patients (56.9%) were at presented in advanced stages of HIV infection. CONCLUSIONS: The predominance of patients on advanced stages of HIV infection suggest the existence of a large pool of undiagnosed cases in the community. A major feature of the cohort was an inverted male to female ratio. Further investigations over a broader geographic area are urgently needed for better understanding the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of HIV infection in small Brazilian municipalities and rural areas.OBJETIVO: Estudos sobre as características da infecção pelo HIV em pequenos municípios brasileiros são de grande importância para o desenho de estratégias de intervenção, para a alocação apropriada de recursos e melhoria da assistência. O objetivo foi investigar as características clínicas e epidemiológicas da infecção pelo HIV em um pequeno município. MÉTODOS: Foi realizado estudo descritivo em Miracema, município do noroeste do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, entre julho de 1999 e dezembro de 2003. Foram analisados todos os pacientes adultos com diagnóstico de infecção pelo HIV atendidos no Programa Municipal de HIV/Aids. Dados clínicos e epidemiológicos foram coletados prospectivamente por meio de questionário padronizado. RESULTADOS: Foram analisados no total 65 pacientes adultos que receberam atendimento no Programa Municipal de HIV/Aids. A maioria (34) eram mulheres (razão de sexos homem-mulher de 0,9). Encontrou-se preponderância absoluta de pacientes que nasceram em Miracema ou municípios vizinhos (94%), moravam em Miracema (90,7%), eram solteiros (70,8%), atribuíam a aquisição da infecção ao contato heterossexual desprotegido (72,3%) e tinham antecedentes de uso de cocaína inalada (27,7%). Desordens do sistema nervoso central (incluindo cinco casos de neurocriptococose) e insuficiência respiratória aguda semelhante à pneumocistose pulmonar foram as principais causas de morbidade. A maioria dos pacientes (56,9%) iniciou acompanhamento em estágios avançados de infecção pelo HIV. CONCLUSÕES: A preponderância de pacientes em estágios avançados de infecção pelo HIV sugere a existência de um grande reservatório de casos não diagnosticados na comunidade. Uma característica marcante da casuística foi a inversão da razão de sexos homem-mulher. Investigações adicionais cobrindo áreas geográficas maiores são urgentemente necessárias para o melhor entendimento do espectro clínico e epidemiológico da infecção pelo HIV em pequenos municípios brasileiros e áreas rurais

Mycobiota and mycotoxins present in finished fish feeds from farms in the Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil

The aim of the present study was to determine species of the fungal genera Aspergillus, Fusarium, and Penicillium and fumonisin B1 (FB1), aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), and ochratoxin A (OTA) contamination from feed intended for fish farms. A total of 60 samples were sampled from tilapia farms in the Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. The quantitative enumeration of fungi as colony-forming units per gram of feed (CFU/g) was performed using the surface spread method in different culture media. The results were expressed as fungal isolation frequency and relative density. Fungal total counts ranged from <1 × 102 to 4.7 × 104 CFU/g. Fusarium counts were not observed. Among toxigenic genera, Aspergillus (68%) was the most prevalent, followed by Penicillium species (60%). Aspergillus niger aggregate (36%), Aspergillus flavus (35%), and Penicillium citrinum (71%) were the most prevalent species. A high percentage of samples (98%) were contaminated with FB1 levels, while 55% and 3.3% were contaminated with AFB1 and OTA, respectively. The simultaneous occurrence of these mycotoxins emphasizes the need for further research in the area to better assess the risk to the health of fish farms and their implications for the health of consumers of this meat.Fil: Barbosa, Tatiana S.. Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro ; BrasilFil: Pereyra, Carina Maricel. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Fisicoquímicas y Naturales. Departamento de Microbiología e Inmunología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Soleiro, Carla A.. Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro ; Brasil. Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimiento Científico y Tecnológico; BrasilFil: Dias, Erica O.. Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro ; BrasilFil: Oliveira, Aguida A.. Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro ; Brasil. Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimiento Científico y Tecnológico; BrasilFil: Keller, Kelly M.. Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro ; Brasil. Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimiento Científico y Tecnológico; BrasilFil: Silva, Pedro P. O.. Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: Cavaglieri, Lilia Reneé. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Fisicoquímicas y Naturales. Departamento de Microbiología e Inmunología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Rosa, Carlos Alberto da Rocha. Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro ; Brasil. Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimiento Científico y Tecnológico; Brasi

EmIR: An emotional intelligent robot assistant

The development of robots that are truly sociable requires understanding how human interactions can be applied to the interaction between humans and robots. A sociable robot must be able to interact with people taking into account aspects like verbal and non-verbal communications (emotions, postures, gestures). This work presents a social robot which main goal is to provide assistance to older people in carrying out their daily activities (through suggestions or reminders). In addition, the robot presents non-verbal communications like perceiving emotions and displaying human identifiable emotions in order to express empathy. A prototype of the robot is being tested in a daycare centre in the northern area of Portugal.This work is partially supported by the MINECO/FEDER TIN2015-65515-C4- 1-R and the FPI grant AP2013-01276 awarded to Jaime-Andres Rincon. Angelo Costa thanks the FCT - Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia for the PostDoc grant SFRH/BPD/102696/2014. This work is supported by FCT within the projects UID/CEC/00319/2013 and COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER007043

The role of automatic shape and position recognitionin streamlining manufacturing

The main features of most components consist of simple basic functional geometries: planes, cylinders, spheres and cones. Shape and position recognition of these geometries is essential for dimensional characterization of components, and represent an important contribution in the life cycle of the product, concerning in particular the manufacturing and inspection processes of the final product. This work aims to establish an algorithm to automatically recognize such geometries, without operator intervention. Using differential geometry large volumes of data can be treated and the basic functional geometries to be dealt recognized. The original data can be obtained by rapid acquisition methods, such as 3D survey or photography, and then converted into Cartesian coordinates. The satisfaction of intrinsic decision conditions allows different geometries to be fast identified, without operator intervention. Since inspection is generally a time consuming task, this method reduces operator intervention in the process. The algorithm was first tested using geometric data generated in MATLAB and then through a set of data points acquired by measuring with a coordinate measuring machine and a 3D scan on real physical surfaces. Comparison time spent in measuring is presented to show the advantage of the method. The results validated the suitability and potential of the algorithm hereby proposedCMAT, the Research Centre of Mathematics of the University of Minho with the Portuguese Funds from the “Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia”, through the Project PEstOE/MAT/UI0013/2014; MEtRICs – (Mechanical Engineering and Resource Sustainability Center); CGIT - Centro de Gestão Industrial e da Tecnologi

Desenvolvimento de uma metodologia de avaliação da resistência ao rolamento de diferentes misturas betuminosas

Os pavimentos rodoviários são infraestruturas de grande importância para o desenvolvimento económico de qualquer país. Atualmente, o principal critério utilizado na conceção dessas infraestruturas deixou de ser apenas o seu menor custo, valorizando-se a perspetiva ambiental e procurando determinar todos os impactos de longo prazo (económicos, ambientais ou sociais) deste tipo de investimentos. Nesse sentido, o consumo de combustível dos veículos que circulam nos pavimentos tem um peso significativo em termos económicos e ambientais, justificando a procura de soluções que permitam reduzir esse consumo de forma a garantir um desenvolvimento mais sustentável. No que diz respeito às características dos pavimentos, um dos fatores que mais influencia o consumo dos veículos é a resistência ao rolamento. Tendo em conta que as características dos pavimentos, em especial as superficiais, têm uma influência significativa nessa propriedade, com o presente trabalho pretendeu desenvolver-se uma metodologia de avaliação da resistência ao rolamento de misturas betuminosas com diferentes características superficiais. Assim, é possível avaliar que misturas ou características superficiais permitem contribuir para uma redução do consumo de combustível e das emissões de gases resultantes da sua queima ao longo do ciclo de vida de um pavimento. A obtenção de resultados do consumo energético necessário para circular sobre diferentes misturas betuminosas foi conseguida através do desenvolvimento de um protótipo. O consumo energético do movimento circular das rodas, equipadas com pneus convencionais de veículos ligeiros, foi medido para diferentes superfícies e a sua utilização para a avaliação da sustentabilidade das misturas estudadas é analisada no presente artigoFEDER através do Programa Operacional de Competitividade - COMPETE e por fundos nacionais através da FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia - no âmbito do Projeto PLASTIROADS - PTDC/ECM/119179/201

Cognition and its relationship with endogenous and exogenous factors in engineering students

In this research, a relational study was carried out between student cognition with endogenous factors (student attitude and age) and exogenous (collegiate origin) in engineering students of the University of Cartagena. The project was carried out in three (3) phases where the survey allowed the desired information to be obtained from an estimated nine hundred sixty (960) students between 2014 and 2016. In the second phase, the instrument was used to collect the information, which was constituted the cognitive scale of the Self-Regulation Inventory for Learning (SRLI) and in the third phase, the independent endogenous and exogenous variables were crossed with the dependent one (student cognition), constructing the bar diagram of the relationship analysis; being possible to determine statistical significance with the attitude of the student to a level of confidence of 95% while with the age and collegial origin was not relevant

QUALITY OF SUPPLY DRIVEN INVESTMENT PLANNING AND REGULATORY SUPPORT USING REPRESENTATIVE NETWORKS

ABSTRAC

Características epidemiológicas da infecção pelo HIV em três municípios do interior do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

In Brazil relatively little attention is being paid to the study of the features of the spread of the AIDS epidemic towards small cities and rural areas. We report a descriptive study on the epidemiological features of HIV infection among 208 adult patients seen between July 1999 and May 2006 in the municipal HIV/AIDS Programs of three cities of inner Rio de Janeiro State: Saquarema, Santo Antonio de Pádua and Miracema. A portrait of a heterosexual epidemic emerged, with an overall male to female ratio of 1.1. More than 90% were residents of the studied cities, demonstrating a local demand for HIV-related assistance and the importance of municipal HIV/AIDS Programs. Past or current use of snorted cocaine was reported by a quarter of the patients. Older age and male gender were independent predictors of having a diagnosis of AIDS at presentation. The latter is in accordance with a more recent wave of epidemic spread towards female gender. A low frequency of male circumcision, an important determinant of heterosexual HIV transmission, was recorded. Almost 60% of the patients first presented in advanced stages of HIV infection, suggesting the existence of a large pool of undiagnosed cases in the community.No Brasil, relativamente pouca atenção vem sendo dispensada ao estudo das características do avanço da epidemia de Aids em direção aos pequenos municípios e áreas rurais. Apresentamos um estudo descritivo sobre as características epidemiológicas da infecção pelo HIV entre 208 pacientes adultos atendidos entre julho de 1999 e maio de 2006 pelos Programas Municipais de HIV/Aids de três municípios do interior do Estado do Rio de Janeiro: Saquarema, Santo Antonio de Pádua, e Miracema. Os resultados delineiam uma epidemia de perfil heterossexual, com uma razão de sexos homem-mulher de 1,1. Mais de 90% eram residentes das cidades estudadas, demonstrando uma demanda local por assistência relacionada ao HIV e a importância dos Programas Municipais de HIV/Aids. Um quarto dos pacientes referiu antecedentes de uso de cocaína inalada. Variáveis idade e gênero masculino mostraram-se independentemente associadas a um diagnóstico de Aids quando da apresentação. Esta última mostra-se de acordo com um mais recente avanço da epidemia em direção às mulheres. Registramos uma baixa freqüência de circuncisão masculina, um importante determinante da transmissão heterossexual do HIV. Quase 60% dos pacientes se apresentaram em estágios avançados de infecção HIV, o que sugere a existência de um grande reservatório de casos não diagnosticados na comunidade

Role of cGMP and cAMP in the hemodynamic response to intrathecal sildenafil administration

INTRODUCTION: Results from our laboratory have demonstrated that intracerebroventricular administration of sildenafil to conscious rats promoted a noticeable increase in both lumbar sympathetic activity and heart rate, with no change in the mean arterial pressure. The intracerebroventricular administration of sildenafil may have produced the hemodynamic effects by activating sympathetic preganglionic neurons in the supraspinal regions and spinal cord. It is well documented that sildenafil increases intracellular cGMP levels by inhibiting phosphodiesterase type 5 and increases cAMP levels by inhibiting other phosphodiesterases. OBJECTIVE: To examine and compare, in conscious rats, the hemodynamic response following the intrathecal administration of sildenafil, 8-bromo-cGMP (an analog of cGMP), forskolin (an activator of adenylate cyclase), or dibutyryl-cAMP (an analog of cAMP) in order to elucidate the possible role of the sympathetic preganglionic neurons in the observed hemodynamic response. RESULTS: The hemodynamic responses observed following intrathecal administration of the studied drugs demonstrated the following: 1) sildenafil increased the mean arterial pressure and heart rate in a dose-dependent manner, 2) increasing doses of 8-bromo-cGMP did not alter the mean arterial pressure and heart rate, 3) forskolin did not affect the mean arterial pressure but did increase the heart rate and 4) dibutyryl-cAMP increased the mean arterial pressure and heart rate, similar to the effect observed following the intrathecal injection of the highest dose of sildenafil. CONCLUSION: Overall, the findings of the current study suggest that the cardiovascular response following the intrathecal administration of sildenafil to conscious rats involves the inhibition of phosphodiesterases other than phosphodiesterase type 5 that increase the cAMP level and the activation of sympathetic preganglionic neurons

Synthesis and defect characterization of hybrid ceria nanostructures as a possible novel therapeutic material towards COVID-19 mitigation

This study reports the synthesis of hybrid nanostructures composed of cerium dioxide and microcrystalline cellulose prepared by the microwave-assisted hydrothermal route under distinct temperature and pH values. Their structural, morphological and spectroscopic behaviors were investigated by X-Rays Diffraction, Field Emission Gun Scanning Electron Microscopy, High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy, and Fourier-Transform Infrared, Ultraviolet–Visible, Raman and Positron Annihilation Lifetime spectroscopies to evaluate the presence of structural defects and their correlation with the underlying mechanism regarding the biocide activity of the studied material. The samples showed mean crystallite sizes around 10 nm, characterizing the formation of quantum dots unevenly distributed along the cellulose surface with a certain agglomeration degree. The samples presented the characteristic Ce–O vibration close to 450 cm−1 and a second-order mode around 1050 cm−1, which is indicative of distribution of localized energetic levels originated from defective species, essential in the scavenging of reactive oxygen species. Positron spectroscopic studies showed first and second lifetime components ranging between 202–223 ps and 360–373 ps, respectively, revealing the presence of two distinct defective oxygen species, in addition to an increment in the concentration of Ce3+-oxygen vacancy associates as a function of temperature. Therefore, we have successfully synthesized hybrid nanoceria structures with potential multifunctional therapeutic properties to be further evaluated against the COVID-19.Fil: Silva Rosa Rocha, Leandro. Universidade Federal do São Carlos; BrasilFil: Simões, A. Z.. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; BrasilFil: Macchi, Carlos Eugenio. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Centro de Investigaciones en Física e Ingeniería del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tandil. Centro de Investigaciones en Física e Ingeniería del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. - Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Centro de Investigaciones en Física e Ingeniería del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Somoza, Alberto Horacio. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Centro de Investigaciones en Física e Ingeniería del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tandil. Centro de Investigaciones en Física e Ingeniería del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. - Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Centro de Investigaciones en Física e Ingeniería del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Giulietti, G.. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata; ArgentinaFil: Ponce, Miguel Adolfo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales; ArgentinaFil: Longo, E.. Universidade Federal do São Carlos; Brasi