Policy issues and data communications for NASA earth observation missions until 1985

The series of LANDSAT sensors with the highest potential data rates of the missions were examined. An examination of LANDSAT imagery uses shows that relatively few require transmission of the full resolution data on a repetitive quasi real time basis. Accuracy of global crop size forecasting can possibly be improved through information derived from LANDSAT imagery. A current forecasting experiment uses the imagery for crop area estimation only, yield being derived from other data sources

Implementação de um Estudo de Efetividade da Vacina Contra a Gripe no Contexto Hospitalar em Portugal: Projeto EVA Hospital

Introduction: The project ‘Integrated Monitoring of Vaccines in Europe’ aimed to measure seasonal influenza vaccine effectiveness against hospitalised adults, aged 65 years and over, with influenza. We describe the protocol implementation in Portugal. Material and Methods: We implemented a test-negative design, targeting community-dwelling patients aged 65 years old and over hospitalised with severe acute respiratory illness. Patients were reverse transverse-polymerase chain reaction tested for influenza. Cases were those positive for influenza while others were controls. Most variables were collected using hospital medical records. Selection bias was evaluated by comparison with the laboratory influenza test requests database according to demographic characteristics. Crude, season-adjusted influenza vaccine effectiveness was estimated as = 1 – odds ratio, and 95% confidence intervals were obtained by conditional logistical regression, matched with the disease onset month. Results: The recruitment rate was 37.8%. Most participants (n = 368) were female (55.8%) and aged 80 years old and over (55.8%). This was similar to values for potentially eligible severe acute respiratory illness patients (80 years old and over: 56.8%, female: 56.2%). The proportion of missing values was below 2.5% for 20 variables and above 5% (maximum 11.6%) for six variables. Influenza vaccine effectiveness estimates were 62.1% against AH1pdm09 (95% confidence intervals: -28.1 to 88.8), 14.9% against A(H3N2) (95% confidence intervals: -69.6 to 57.3), 43.6% against B/Yam (95% confidence intervals: -66.2 to 80.8). Discussion: Given the non-existence of a coded admission database in either participating hospital the selection of severe acute respiratory illness due to clinical features was the feasible one. These results are only valid for the older adult population residing in the catchment area of the two participating hospitals who were admitted to a public hospital with severe influenza or SARI symptoms. Conclusion: Despite the low participation rate, we observed comparable characteristics of participants and eligible severe acute respiratory illness patients. Data quality was high, and influenza vaccine effectiveness results were in accordance with the results of meta-analyses and European season-specific estimates. The final sample size was low, which inhibited obtaining estimates with good precision.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Assessment of Salvage Surgery in Persistent Cervical Cancer after Definitive Radiochemotherapy: A Systematic Review

Background and Objectives: The standard treatment approach in locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC) is exclusive concurrent chemoradiation therapy (RTCT). The risk of local residual disease after six months from RTCT is about 20–30%. It is directly related to relapse risk and poor survival, such as in patients with recurrent cervical cancer. This systematic review aims to describe studies investigating salvage surgery’s role in persistent/recurrent disease in LACC patients who underwent definitive RTCT. Materials and Methods: Studies were eligible for inclusion when patients had LACC with radiologically suspected or histologically confirmed residual disease after definitive RTCT, diagnosed with post-treatment radiological workup or biopsy. Information on complications after salvage surgery and survival outcomes had to be reported. The methodological quality of the articles was independently assessed by two researchers with the Newcastle–Ottawa scale. Following the recommendations in the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement, we systematically searched the PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane, Medline, and Medscape databases in May 2022. We applied no language or geographical restrictions but considered only English studies. We included studies containing data about postoperative complications and survival outcomes. Results: Eleven studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria and all were retrospective observational studies. A total of 601 patients were analyzed concerning the salvage surgery in LACC patients for persistent/recurrent disease after RTCT treatment. Overall, 369 (61.4%) and 232 (38.6%) patients underwent a salvage hysterectomy (extrafascial or radical) and pelvic exenteration (anterior, posterior, or total), respectively. Four hundred and thirty-nine (73%) patients had histologically confirmed the residual disease in the salvage surgical specimen, and 109 patients had positive margins (overall range 0–43% of the patients). The risk of severe (grade ≥ 3) postoperative complications after salvage surgery is 29.8% (range 5–57.5%). After a median follow-up of 38 months, the overall RR was about 32% with an overall death rate of 40% after hysterectomy or pelvic exenteration with or without lymphadenectomy. Conclusions: There is heterogeneity between the studies both in their design and results, therefore the effect of salvage surgery on survival and recurrence cannot be adequately estimated. Future homogeneous studies with an appropriately selected population are needed to analyze the safety and efficacy of salvage hysterectomy or pelvic exenteration in patients with residual tumors after definitive RTCT

Eficiência de fungicidas no controle da ferrugem asiática da soja no DF (PAD/DF) - ensaio cooperativo safra 2011/2012.

Como parte integrante da rede de ensaios cooperativos do consórcio antiferrugem, foi instalado experimento na Fazenda Dani, PAD/DF, Brasília, DF. A cultivar utilizada foi a MSoy 7908, inoculada e semeada com espaçamento de 0,50 m entre linhas e 12 pl/m. O delineamento experimental foi blocos ao acaso, com 16 tratamentos e 4 repetições. As repetições foram constituídas por parcelas de 6 linhas de 6 m de comprimento. Os produtos testados foram T1 Testemunha, T2 Folicur, T3 Alto 100, T4 Priori + Nimbus, T5 Priori Xtra + Nimbus, T6 Opera + Assist, T7 Aproach Prima + Nimbus, T8 Fox + Áureo, T9 Domark XL + Nimbus, T10 BAS 702 F EC + Assist T11 NTX3900, T12 IBIQF11165 + IHAROL, T13 Azimut + Nimbus, T14 Horos + Nimbus, T15 Guapo Ultra + Nimbus e T16 CHABF 0332511 + Nimbus, nas doses recomendadas pelas empresas. Após a análise dos dados, verificou-se que houve diferença estatística significativa entre os produtos, quanto à severidade da doença, no estádio R6, sendo que os tratamentos T8 (Fox + Áureo), T10 (BAS 702 F EC + Assist), T14 (Horos + Nimbus), T7 (Aproach Prima + Nimbus) apresentaram mais baixa severidade. Quanto ao rendimento de grãos, os tratamentos que apresentaram as melhores produtividades foram o T8 (Fox + Áureo), T10 (BAS 702 F EC + Assist), T9 (Domark XL + Nimbus), T13 (Azimut + Nimbus). A diferença de rendimento de grãos entre o melhor tratamento T8 (Fox + Áureo) e a testemunha T1 foi equivalente a 1723 kg.ha-1

Estabilidade de populações segregantes e respectivos genitores em feijoeiro comum.

Para verificar se a estabilidade de seis populações segregantes, conduzidas pelo método do “bulk”, em diferentes locais e épocas de semeaduras, é maior que a das cinco cultivares genitoras das referidas populações, foram utilizados dados de experimentos conduzidos no período de 1993 a 1999, em três locais do Estado de Minas Gerais. As populações utilizadas foram provenientes dos cruzamentos das cultivares precoces Manteigão Fosco 11 e ESAL 686, com as cultivares de ciclo normal - Ouro, Carioca MG e Milionário. A partir da geração F2, essas populações foram avaliadas em experimentos com delineamento de blocos ao acaso, com cinco repetições, em três safras durante o ano, semeaduras em fevereiro, julho e novembro. Constatou-se que o componente da interação genitores x ambientes foi 7,6 vezes superior ao observado para a interação populações segregantes x ambientes; as populações segregantes, em média, foram mais estáveis que as cultivares genitoras, contudo, algumas cultivares tiveram comporta mento semelhante ao das populações segregantes; as cultivares precoces foram as mais instáveis e com menor previsibilidade de comportamento; as estimativas da repetibilidade dos parâmetros de estabilidade foram altas, indicando que é possível antever o sucesso com a seleção para estabilidade

Peripheral blood mono-nuclear cells implantation in patients with Peripheral Arterial Disease: a pilot study for clinical and biochemical outcome of neoangiogenesis.

BACKGROUND: Substantial progresses in the management of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) have been made in the past two decades. Progress in the understanding of the endothelial-platelet interaction during health and disease state has resulted in better antiplatelet drugs that can prevent platelet aggregation, activation and thrombosis during angioplasty and stenting. A role in physiological and pathological angiogenesis in adults has been recently shown in bone marrow–derived circulating endothelial progenitors (BM-DCEPs) identified in the peripheral blood. These findings have paved the way for the development of therapeutic neovascularization techniques using endothelial progenitors. METHODS: This pilot study includes five patients, aged 60 to 75, with a history of claudication and recruited from September 2010 to February 2011 at the A.O.U. Federico II of Naples. PBMNCs have been implanted three times in the limb with the worst ABI value in all the patients included in the study. The clinical follow up was performed during the subsequent 12 months from the beginning of the treatment. RESULTS: In four patients there was a regression of ulcerative lesions. One patient’s condition improved after the first implantation but later did not respond to the further treatments. All patients achieved a pain relief as judged by the numeric pain scale. Pain relief remained satisfactory in three patients for one year. Pain gradually returned to the pre-treatment level in two patients. All patients referred an ameliorating in their quality of life expressed even by an improvement in claudication free walking distance. These improvements are reflected also by intra-arterial digital subtraction angiography (IADSA) that shows an improvement of arterial vascularization. CONCLUSIONS: The data from this study suggest an efficacy of BM-DCEPs implantation in terms of improvement of the vascularization and quality of life in patients affected by Peripheral Arterial Disease. Nevertheless a double-blind placebo-controlled study is needed to confirm our findings

There is detectable variation in the lipidomic profile between stable and progressive patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF)

Background Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic interstitial lung disease characterized by fibrosis and progressive loss of lung function. The pathophysiological pathways involved in IPF are not well understood. Abnormal lipid metabolism has been described in various other chronic lung diseases including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, its potential role in IPF pathogenesis remains unclear. Methods In this study, we used ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF-MS) to characterize lipid changes in plasma derived from IPF patients with stable and progressive disease. We further applied a data-independent acquisition (DIA) technique called SONAR, to improve the specificity of lipid identification. Results Statistical modelling showed variable discrimination between the stable and progressive subjects, revealing differences in the detection of triglycerides (TG) and phosphatidylcholines (PC) between progressors and stable IPF groups, which was further confirmed by mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) in IPF tissue. Conclusion This is the first study to characterise lipid metabolism between stable and progressive IPF, with results suggesting disparities in the circulating lipidome with disease progression

Feasibility of inguinal hernioplasty under local anaesthesia in elderly patients.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study is to evaluate the feasibility and the safety of hernioplasty under local anaesthesia in elderly patients with significant comorbidity. METHODS: A total of 218 patients underwent inguinal hernia repair with mesh between June 2009 and July 2012. Presence of comorbid conditions and complications were compared between patients younger and older than 70 years. RESULTS: Hernia repair in older patients were more likely associated with comorbid conditions than in their younger counterparts ( hypertension: 25% vs 8.16%; cardiovascular diseases: 50% vs 22%; benign prostatic hypertrophy 60% vs 30%). The most common postoperative complications in both groups were recurrence, wound infection, urinary retention. There was a slightly higher rate of complication in elderly group. CONCLUSIONS: Inguinal hernia repair with local anaesthesia is quite safe and results in a good success rate in elderly patients despite a higher rate of comorbidity typical of this kind of patient