Long-term trends in BMI: are contemporary childhood BMI growth references appropriate when looking at historical datasets?

Background Body mass index (BMI) is the most widely used surrogate measure of adiposity, and BMI z-scores are often calculated when comparing childhood BMI between populations and population sub-groups. Several growth references are currently used as the basis for calculation of such z-scores, for both contemporary cohorts as well as cohorts born decades ago. Due to the widely acknowledged increases in childhood obesity over recent years it is generally assumed that older birth cohorts would have lower BMIs relative to the current standards. However, this reasonable assumption has not been formally tested.   Methods Two growth references (1990 UK and 2000 CDC) are used to calculate BMI z-scores in three historical British national birth cohorts (National Survey of Health and Development (1958), National Child Development Study (1958) and British Cohort Study (1970)). BMI z-scores are obtained for each child at each follow-up age using the lambda-mu-sigma (LMS) method, and their distributions examined.   Results Across all three cohorts, median BMI z-score at each follow-up age is observed to be positive in early childhood. This is contrary to what might have been expected given the assumed temporal increase in childhood BMI. However, z-scores then decrease and become negative during adolescence, before increasing once more.   Conclusions The differences in BMI distribution between the historical cohorts and the contemporary growth references appear systematic and similar across the cohorts. This might be explained by contemporary reference data describing a faster tempo of weight increase relative to height than observed in older birth cohorts. Comparisons using z-scores over extended periods of time should therefore be interpreted with caution

Formando a maestros : la practica educativa en un programa de postgrado en Enfermería

Compreender as Práticas Educativas operadas na Pós-Graduação em Enfermagem do Centro de Ciências da Saúde da Universidade Federal da Paraíba CCS/UFPB e identificar as contradições produzidas, à luz de referenciais pedagógicos emancipatórios e não emancipatórios foram objetivos deste trabalho. Trata-se de um estudo de abordagem qualitativa. Os professores e alunos do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Enfermagem da UFPB foram os sujeitos do estudo. Foi utilizada a entrevista semi-estruturada e a análise dos dados ocorreu através da técnica de análise de discurso. A categoria empírica evidenciada foram: Contradições no Processo de Formação de Formadores e a Influência das Práticas Educativas Emancipatórias e não Emancipatórias. Constatou-se que a Prática Educativa dos docentes encontra-se alicerçada em bases não Emancipatórias, fato ratificado pelo discurso dos discentes. ______________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACTThis study aimed at understanding the educational practices operated in the Graduate Nursing Program of the Center of Sciences of the Health of the Federal University of Paraíba - UFPB and at identifying the produced contradictions, to the light of emancipatory pedagogic references and also non-emancipatory ones. This is a study of qualitative approach. The teachers and students of the Graduate Nursing Program of UFPB were the subject of the study. The semi-structured interview was used, and the analysis of the data happened through the technique of speech analysis. The evidenced empiric categories were: Contradictions in the Process of Formation of Teachers and Influence of the Educational Emancipatory ando non-Emancipatory Practices. It was verified that the teachers' Educational Practice is found in bases of non-Emancipatory, fact ratified by the speech of the students. ______________________________________________________________________________________ RESUMENEl objectivo de este estudio fue entiender las prácticas educativas operadas en el Programa Postgrado en Enfermería del Centro de Ciencias de la Salud de la Universidad Federal de Paraíba - UFPB y identificar las contradicciones producidas, a la luz de referencial pedagógicos emancipatorios y no emancipatorio. Es un estudio con abordaje cualitativo. El cuerpo docente y los estudiantes del Programa Postgrado en Enfermería de la UFPB fueron los sujetos del estudio. La entrevista semi-estructurada fue usada, y el análisis de los datos fue a través de la técnica de análisis del discurso. La categoría empírica evidente fueran: Contradicciones en el Proceso de Formación de Maestros y Influencia de las Practicas Educativas Emancipatorias y no Emancipatorias. Se observo que las Prácticas Educativas de los docentes se encuentra alicersada en bases no Emancipatorias, ratificado por el discurso de los estudiantes

Multi-objective optimization for building retrofit: a model using genetic algorithm and artificial neural network and an application

Retrofitting of existing buildings offers significant opportunities for improving occupants’ comfort and well-being, reducing global energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. This is being considered as one of the main approaches to achieve sustainability in the built environment at relatively low cost and high uptake rates. Although a wide range of retrofit technologies is readily available, methods to identify the most suitable set of retrofit actions for particular projects are still a major technical and methodological challenge. This paper presents a multi-objective optimization model using genetic algorithm (GA) and artificial neural network (ANN) to quantitatively assess technology choices in a building retrofit project. This model combines the rapidity of evaluation of ANNs with the optimization power of GAs. A school building is used as a case study to demonstrate the practicability of the proposed approach and highlight potential problems that may arise. The study starts with the individual optimization of objective functions focusing on building's characteristics and performance: energy consumption, retrofit cost, and thermal discomfort hours. Then a multi-objective optimization model is developed to study the interaction between these conflicting objectives and assess their trade-offs

Active gravitational mass and the invariant characterization of Reissner-Nordstrom spacetime

We analyse the concept of active gravitational mass for Reissner-Nordstrom spacetime in terms of scalar polynomial invariants and the Karlhede classification. We show that while the Kretschmann scalar does not produce the expected expression for the active gravitational mass, both scalar polynomial invariants formed from the Weyl tensor, and the Cartan scalars, do.Comment: 6 pages Latex, to appear in General Relativity and Gravitatio

Socioeconomic deprivation, urban-rural location and alcohol-related mortality in England and Wales

Background: Many causes of death are directly attributable to the toxic effects of alcohol and deaths from these causes are increasing in the United Kingdom. The aim of this study was to investigate variation in alcohol-related mortality in relation to socioeconomic deprivation, urban-rural location and age within a national context. Methods: An ecological study design was used with data from 8797 standard table wards in England and Wales. The methodology included using the Carstairs Index as a measure of socioeconomic deprivation at the small-area level and the national harmonised classification system for urban and rural areas in England and Wales. Alcohol-related mortality was defined using the National Statistics definition, devised for tracking national trends in alcohol-related deaths. Deaths from liver cirrhosis accounted for 85% of all deaths included in this definition. Deaths from 1999-2003 were examined and 2001 census ward population estimates were used as the denominators. Results: The analysis was based on 28,839 deaths. Alcohol-related mortality rates were higher in men and increased with increasing age, generally reaching peak levels in middle-aged adults. The 45-64 year age group contained a quarter of the total population but accounted for half of all alcohol-related deaths. There was a clear association between alcohol-related mortality and socioeconomic deprivation, with progressively higher rates in more deprived areas. The strength of the association varied with age. Greatest relative inequalities were seen amongst people aged 25-44 years, with relative risks of 4.73 (95% CI 4.00 to 5.59) and 4.24 (95% CI 3.50 to 5.13) for men and women respectively in the most relative to the least deprived quintiles. People living in urban areas experienced higher alcohol-related mortality relative to those living in rural areas, with differences remaining after adjustment for socioeconomic deprivation. Adjusted relative risks for urban relative to rural areas were 1.35 (95% CI 1.20 to 1.52) and 1.13 (95% CI 1.01 to 1.25) for men and women respectively. Conclusions: Large inequalities in alcohol-related mortality exist between sub-groups of the population in England and Wales. These should be considered when designing public health policies to reduce alcohol-related harm

Scale invariant scalar metric fluctuations during inflation: non-perturbative formalism from a 5D vacuum

We extend to 5D an approach of a 4D non-perturbative formalism to study scalar metric fluctuations of a 5D Riemann-flat de Sitter background metric. In contrast with the results obtained in 4D, the spectrum of cosmological scalar metric fluctuations during inflation can be scale invariant and the background inflaton field can take sub-Planckian values.Comment: final version to be published in Eur. Phys. J.

Interictal brain SPECT in patients with medically refractory temporal lobe epilepsy

The objective of this study was to evaluate the utility of interictal brain SPECT in localizing the epileptogenic focus in a population of patients of Epilepsy Clinic of Hospital Universitário Clementino Fraga Filho (HUCFF/UFRJ), with medically refractory temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and normal computed tomography (CT) scans, studying the correlation between SPECT, electroencephalogram (EEG) and, in 11 cases, brain magnectic resonance imaging (MRI), and to compare the results to the other six literatura series. Twelve (52.2%) patients presented abnormal SPECT. Among these, five (41.6% of abnormal SPECTs) presented unilateral SPECT changes at the same side of EEG (hypoperfusion in four and hyperperfusion in one), three (25% of abnormal SPECTs) presented bilateral hypoperfusion and bilateral EEG changes too, and four (33.3%) presented unilateral hypoperfusion and bilateral EEG changes. The statistical analysis was based on fuzzy logic. The correlation index among SPECT X EEG, SPECT X MRI and SPECT X EEG X MRI were highly significant, with signifcance levels at 0.01, p < 0.0005 and trust interval at 99% in all correlations. The correlation studies between the series presented similar results.O objetivo desse estudo foi avaliar a utilidade do SPECT cerebral interictal na localização do foco epileptogênico em 23 pacientes do Ambulatório de Epilepsias do Hospital Universitário Clementino Fraga Filho (HUCFF/UFRJ), com epilepsia do lobo temporal (ELT) de difícil controle e tomografia computadorizada (TC) do crânio normal, estudando a correlação entre SPECT interictal, eletrencefalograma (EEG) e, em 11 casos, ressonância magnética (RM) do crânio, e comparar os resultados com os de outras seis séries da literatura. Doze (52,2%) pacientes apresentaram SPECT anormal. Entre esses, cinco (41,6% dos SPECTs anormais) apresentaram alteração unilateral ao SPECT do mesmo lado do EEG (hipoperfusão em 4 e hiperperfusão em 1), três (25% dos SPECTs anormais) apresentaram hipoperfusão bilateral ao SPECT e alterações também bilaterais ao EEG e 4 (33,3% dos SPECTs anormais) apresentaram hipoperfusão unilateral ao SPECT e EEG bilateral. A análise estatística fundamentou-se na lógica fuzzy. Os índices de correlação entre SPECT X EEG, SPECT X RM e SPECT X EEG X RM foram altamente significativos, com níveis de significância de 0,01, p < 0,0005 e intervalo de 99% de confiança em todas as correlações. Os estudos de correlação entre as séries estudadas apresentaram resultados semelhantes entre si.Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro Faculdade de MedicinaUniversidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro Coordenação dos Programas de Pós-Graduação em EngenhariaLaboratoire d'Analyse et d'Architecture de Systèmes de ToulouseUniversidade Federal do Rio de JaneiroUniversidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM)Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro HUCFF Serviço de NeurologiaUniversidade do Rio de Janeiro Serviço de NeurologiaUNIFESP, EPMSciEL

The regulatory subunit of PKA-I remains partially structured and undergoes β-aggregation upon thermal denaturation

Background: The regulatory subunit (R) of cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) is a modular flexible protein that responds with large conformational changes to the binding of the effector cAMP. Considering its highly dynamic nature, the protein is rather stable. We studied the thermal denaturation of full-length RIα and a truncated RIα(92-381) that contains the tandem cyclic nucleotide binding (CNB) domains A and B. Methodology/Principal Findings: As revealed by circular dichroism (CD) and differential scanning calorimetry, both RIα proteins contain significant residual structure in the heat-denatured state. As evidenced by CD, the predominantly α-helical spectrum at 25°C with double negative peaks at 209 and 222 nm changes to a spectrum with a single negative peak at 212-216 nm, characteristic of β-structure. A similar α→β transition occurs at higher temperature in the presence of cAMP. Thioflavin T fluorescence and atomic force microscopy studies support the notion that the structural transition is associated with cross-β-intermolecular aggregation and formation of non-fibrillar oligomers. Conclusions/Significance: Thermal denaturation of RIα leads to partial loss of native packing with exposure of aggregation-prone motifs, such as the B' helices in the phosphate-binding cassettes of both CNB domains. The topology of the β-sandwiches in these domains favors inter-molecular β-aggregation, which is suppressed in the ligand-bound states of RIα under physiological conditions. Moreover, our results reveal that the CNB domains persist as structural cores through heat-denaturation. © 2011 Dao et al

O uso seletivo de classificadores binários na solução de problemas multirrótulos

Algumas tarefas de classificação permitem que exemplos pertençam a mais de uma classe simultaneamente, uma delas é chamada de classificação multirrótulo. Uma forma simples e eficiente de solucionar problemas desta natureza consiste em transformá-los em vários problemas binários e tratá-los independetemente. Em geral, o mesmo classificador base é usado para induzir os diversos modelos, sem considerar seu viés e as particularidades de cada conjunto binário. Todavia, nesse estudo, investigamos a hipótese de que utilizar o classificador adequado para cada conjunto binário melhora a classificação multirrótulo. Utilizando o método de transformação Binary Relevance, foi adotada uma estratégia de meta-aprendizado para recomendar o classificador adequado para cada subproblema. Os resultados experimentais validam a hipótese investigada e mostram o potencial da abordagem utilizada. Além disso, a estratégia proposta é genérica, de modo que, pode ser aplicada em outros problemas de transformação multirrótulo.FAPES