Role of healthy-looking banana and alternate hosts in the spread of banana bunchy top disease

Poster presented at Symposium of the Pest Management Council of the Philippines. 200

Compositional analysis of the association between mortality and 24-hour movement behaviour from NHANES

Aims:Previous prospective studies of the association between mortality and physical activity have generally not fully accounted for the interplay between movement behaviours. A compositional data modelling approach accounts for relative scale and co-dependency in time-use data across physical activity behaviours of the 24-hour day. Methods:A prospective analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005-2006 on N = 1468 adults (d = 135 deaths) in ages 50-79 years was undertaken using compositional Cox regression analysis. Daily time spent in sedentary behaviour, light intensity (LIPA) and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) was determined from waist-mounted accelerometer data (Actigraph 7164) and supplemented with self-reported sleep data to determine the daily time-use composition. Results:The composition of time spent in sedentary behaviour, LIPA, MVPA and sleep was associated with mortality rate after allowing for age and sex effects (p < 0.001), and remained significant when other lifestyle factors were added (p < 0.001). This was driven primarily by the preponderance of MVPA; however, significant changes are attributable to LIPA relative to sedentary behaviour and sleep, and sedentary behaviour relative to sleep. The final ratio ceased to be statistically significant after incorporating lifestyle factors. The preponderance of MVPA ceased to be statistically significant after incorporating health at outset and physical limitations on movement. Conclusions: An association is inferred between survival rate and the physical activity composition of the day. The MVPA time share is important, but time spent in LIPA relative to sedentary behaviour and sleep is also a significant factor. Increased preponderance of MVPA may have detrimental associations at higher levels of MVPA

Symmetric Differentiation on Time Scales

We define a symmetric derivative on an arbitrary nonempty closed subset of the real numbers and derive some of its properties. It is shown that real-valued functions defined on time scales that are neither delta nor nabla differentiable can be symmetric differentiable.Comment: This is a preprint of a paper whose final and definite form will be published in Applied Mathematics Letters. Submitted 30-Jul-2012; revised 07-Sept-2012; accepted 10-Sept-201

Higher-order infinite horizon variational problems in discrete quantum calculus

We obtain necessary optimality conditions for higher-order infinite horizon problems of the calculus of variations via discrete quantum operators.Comment: Submitted 11-May-2011; revised 16-Sept-2011; accepted 02-Dec-2011; for publication in Computers & Mathematics with Application

An Evolutionary Mono-Objective Approach for Solving the Menu Planning Problem

This work proposes an evolutionary approach to solve the Menu Planning Problem. Our work uses the Brazilian school context and our principal goal is to create menus that minimize the total cost of these menus. However, those menus must also satisfy requirements of the Brazilian government, such as: (i) student age group, (ii) school category, (iii) school duration time, (iv) school location, (v) variety of preparations, (vi) harmony of preparations, (vii) maximum amount to be paid for each meal and, (viii) lower and upper limits of macronutrients. The results demonstrate that the evolutionary approach is not only able to generate a set of inexpensive and healthy menus but also respect the required set of constraints. A constrained deterministic approach is performed to generate 5-day menu through a greedy-based function taking into account the normalized sum of all macronutrients and the monetary cost of the menu. A comparison between the 5-day menu obtained by the proposed approach and the constrained greedy-based approach menu is carried out. Despite the fact the obtained menu outperforms the greed-based menu taking into account the total cost, this difference is not so expressive. However, all macronutrients were outside the pre-defined range at least in one day of the week. The 5-day menu obtained by the proposed approach is evaluated by a nutritionist. The overall quality of the menu is outstanding and the time spent to generate it is 60 seconds

Immunoparasitological Diagnosis Of Strongyloides Stercoralis In Garbage Collectors In Uberlândia, Mg, Brazil

The objective of this study was to determine the presence of Strongyloides stercoralis in urban garbage collectors through the use of immunological and parasitological methods. A total of 92 individuals were evaluated from August, 1997, to June, 1998. For the parasitological diagnosis Baermann and Lutz' methods were applied. The immunological diagnosis involved the indirect fluorescence antibody test (IFAT) and the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect specific IgG antibodies. Of the 92 workers examined, six (6.5%) were infected with larvae of S. stercoralis. The IFAT detected 19 (16.3%) and the ELISA 17 (18.5%) positive serum samples. The differences between the results of parasitological and immunological methods were statistically significant (p<0.05). These results demonstrate that there is a need to improve the health conditions of this category of city employees.6203/04/15180182CONCHA, R., HARRINGTON, J.R.W., ROGERS, A.L., Intestinal strongyloidiasis: Recognition, management and determinants of outcome (2005) J Clin Gastroenterol, 39, pp. 203-211SIDDIQUI, A.A., BERK, S.L., Diagnosis of Strongyloides stercoralis infection (2001) Clin Infect Dis, 33, pp. 1040-1047FERREIRA, M., Strongyloidiasis and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (2003) Enf Emerg, 5, pp. 18-26VADLAMUDI, R.S., CHI, D.S., KRISHANASWAMY, G., Intestinal strongyloidiasis and hyperinfection syndrome (2006) Clin Mol Allergy, 4, pp. 1-13BAERMANN G. Eine Einfache methode zur auffindung von Ankylostomum (Nematoden) larven in Erdproben. Mededeel mit h. Geneesk Lab Weltvreden Feestbundel, Batavia, 1917, p. 41-7LUTZ, A.V., Schistosoma mansoni e a schistosomose, Segundo observações feitas no Brasil. (1919) Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz, 11, pp. 121-125COSTA-CRUZ, J.M., BULLAMAH, C.B., GONÇALVEZ-PIRES, M.R.F., Cryo-microtome sections of coproculture larvae of Strongyloides stercoralis and Strongyloides ratti as antigen sources for the immunodiagnosis of human strongyloidiasis (1997) Rev Inst Med Trop São Paulo, 39, pp. 313-317MACHADO, E.R., UETA, M.T., GONÇALVES-PIRES, M.R.F., Strongyloides venezuelensis alkaline extract for the diagnosis of human strongyloidiasis by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (2003) Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz, 98, pp. 849-853MACHADO, E.R., COSTA-CRUZ, J.M., Strongyloides stercoralis and other enteroparasites in children at Uberlândia City, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil (1998) Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz, 93, pp. 161-164PAULA, F.M., CASTRO, E., GONÇALVES-PIRES, M.R.F., Parasitological and immunological diagnoses of strongyloidiasis in immunocompromised and nonimmunocompromised children at Uberlândia City, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil (2000) Rev Inst Med Trop São Paulo, 42, pp. 51-55OLIVEIRA, L.C.M., RIBEIRO, C.T., MENDES, D.M., Frequency of Strongyloides stercoralis in alcoholics (2002) Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz, 97, pp. 119-121LINDO, J.F., CONWAY, D.J., ATKINS, N.S., Prospective evaluation of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and immunoblot methods for the diagnosis of endemic Strongyloides stercoralis infection (1994) Am J Trop Med Hyg, 51, pp. 175-179CLARK, C.S., LINNEMANN Jr, C.C., CLARK, J.G., Enteric parasites in workers occupationally exposed to sewage (1984) J Occup Med, 26, pp. 273-275SCHLOSSER, O., RALL, D., LAURECEAU, M.-N., Intestinal parasite carriage in workers exposed to sewage (1999) Eur J Epidemiol, 15, pp. 261-265GOMES, T.C., ALMEIDA, M.F., MUIRA, L.A., Helmintoses intestinais em população de rua da cidade do Rio de Janeiro. (2002) Rev Soc Bras Med Trop, 35, pp. 531-53

Improvement of Production Line in the Automotive Industry Through Lean Philosophy

This work refers to concepts and definitions of Lean Philosophy. The main targets were to study how waste reduction can be achieved on a production scenario, by identifying added-value operations, enhance productivity, levelling and over-processing reduction. The project behind this study is a massive one, which involves the installation of seven final production lines and more seven pre-assembly lines, being considered by the company, a project that must be as profitable as possible. After implementation and validation, costs were evaluated and the savings reached 10,9 % (2 159 000 €) considering all costs of industrialization.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Spectroelectrochemical studies of electrochromic diarylethene ionic Liquids : From solution to ionogel based devices

Acord transformatiu CRUE-CSICThis study establishes the photoelectrochromic properties of four diarylethene ionic liquids (DAE-ILs) composed of a diarylethene dicarboxylate (DAE) moiety, as counter-anion, and different organic cations ([Cmim], [CPyr] , [N], [P]). The synthetized ILs viscous fluids maintain the photochemical and electrochemical properties of this well-known family of photoswitches, as well as the typical features of ILs (e.g., low melting point, and high thermal and electrochemical stability). Our strategy of making multi-stimuli-responsive ionic liquids by ionic exchange opens the door to easily tune the physicochemical properties of smart DAE-ILs in function of the selected cation. Finally, those DAE-ILs are used to formulate smart ionogels (IGs), a type of materials that, by showing good conductive properties and retaining the stimuli-responsive behavior of the embedded DAE molecules, allow the fabrication of photoelectrochemical devices

Bioactivities and extract dereplication of actinomycetales isolated from marine sponges

In the beginning of the twenty-first century, humanity faces great challenges regarding diseases and health-related quality of life. A drastic rise in bacterial antibiotic resistance, in the number of cancer patients, in the obesity epidemics and in chronic diseases due to life expectation extension are some of these challenges. The discovery of novel therapeutics is fundamental and it may come from underexplored environments, like marine habitats, and microbial origin. Actinobacteria are well-known as treasure chests for the discovery of novel natural compounds. In this study, eighteen Actinomycetales isolated from marine sponges of three Erylus genera collected in Portuguese waters were tested for bioactivities with the main goal of isolating and characterizing the responsible bioactive metabolites. The screening comprehended antimicrobial, anti-fungal, anti-parasitic, anti-cancer and anti-obesity properties. Fermentations of the selected strains were prepared using ten different culturing media. Several bioactivities against the fungus Aspergillus fumigatus, the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus methicillin-resistant (MRSA) and the human liver cancer cell line HepG2 were obtained in small volume cultures. Screening in higher volumes showed consistent anti-fungal activity by strain Dermacoccus sp. #91-17 and Micrococcus luteus Berg02-26. Gordonia sp. Berg02-22.2 showed anti-parasitic (Trypanosoma cruzi) and anti-cancer activity against several cell lines (melanoma A2058, liver HepG2, colon HT29, breast MCF7 and pancreatic MiaPaca). For the anti-obesity assay, Microbacterium foliorum #91-29 and #91-40 induced lipid reduction on the larvae of zebrafish (Danio rerio). Dereplication of the extracts from several bacteria showed the existence of a variety of secondary metabolites, with some undiscovered molecules. This work showed that Actinomycetales are indeed good candidates for drug discovery.This research was partially supported by the Strategic Funding UID/Multi/04423/2013 through national funds provided by FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), in the framework of the programme PT2020, the EU H2020-TWINN-2015, BLUEandGREEN – Boosting scientific excellence and innovation capacity in biorefineries based on marine resources (Project No. 692419) and the European ERA-NET Marine Biotechnology project CYANOBESITY (ERA-MBT/0001/2015), financed by national funds through FCT (Foundation for Science and Technology, Portugal). Ralph Urbatzka was supported by a FCT postdoc grant (SFRH/BPD/112287/2015). The MEDINA authors disclosed the receipt of financial support from Fundación MEDINA, a public-private partnership of Merck Sharp & Dohme de España S.A./Universidad de Granada/Junta de Andalucía. Moreover, some of the equipment used in this work was supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación and the European Union (Grant INP-2011-0016-PCT-010000-ACT6)