Assessment of fibrosis and vascularization of bone marrow stroma of chronic myeloid Leukemia patients treated with imatinib mesylate and their relationship with the cytogenetic response

Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) is a myeloproliferative disease characterized by the presence of the Philadelphia chromosome (translocation between chromosomes 9 and 22), resulting in the formation of the hybrid BCR-ABL protein. Currently, the treatment of CML patients is performed with imatinib mesylate (IM), which promotes the elimination of leukemic cells by inhibiting the kinase activity of BCR-ABL. This study evaluated the effectiveness of IM by monitoring 22 CML patients in a chronic phase treated at the CEPON/SC with IM for a minimum follow-up period of two years. Cytogenetic Response (CR) and bone marrow biopsies (BMB) were evaluated before and after IM treatment. BMB were evaluated by detection of reticulin degree and vascularization. The results were correlated to the CR. Mean time to achieve CR was 9 months and was attained by 77.27% of the patients. The results from the initial BMB analysis showed that 59.09% presented reticulin of between 2+ and 4+ whereas after treatment, only 27.17% presented this degree. With regard to vascularization of the initial sample, 90.91% were graded between II and IV, whereas after treatment, 40.91% had this degree. The results suggest a positive correlation of degree of reticulin and vascularization with CR.A Leucemia Mielóide Crônica (LMC) é uma doença mieloproliferativa caracterizada pela presença do cromossomo Filadélfia (translocação entre os cromossomos 9 e 22), que resulta na formação da proteína híbrida BCR-ABL. Atualmente o tratamento de pacientes com LMC é realizado com mesilato de imatinibe (MI), o qual promove a eliminação das células leucêmicas pela inibição da atividade quinase de BCR-ABL. O presente estudo avaliou a eficácia do MI por meio do acompanhamento de pacientes portadores de LMC em fase crônica, atendidos no CEPON/SC tratados com MI pelo tempo mínimo de dois anos. Foram avaliadas a Resposta Citogenética (RC) e as biópsias de medula óssea (BMO) antes e após o tratamento com MI. As BMO foram avaliadas quanto ao grau de reticulina e vascularização. Os resultados correlacionaram-se com a RC cujo tempo médio para obtenção da RC foi de 9 meses, sendo atingida por 77.27% dos pacientes. Na primeira BMO, 59.09% dos pacientes apresentaram grau de reticulina entre 2+ e 4+ e após o tratamento, apenas 27.17% apresentaram esta graduação. Quanto à vascularização da primeira amostra, 90.91% foram graduadas entre II e IV e após o tratamento, 40.91% apresentaram esta graduação. Os resultados sugerem uma correlação diretamente proporcional entre os graus de reticulina e vascularização com a RC

Role of production engineers in the public sector.

This paper aims to investigate the role of production engineers in the public sector. In the past, engineers used to be hired in the public sector only to work with technical issues in some departments. But nowadays, technical competency is not the only issue an engineer must have, and at the same time, there are some other approaches than technical ones that demand the presence of engineers in the government. In this scenario, production engineers rise as an important player on public affairs. It is explored in this paper the role of production engineers in public policies, technology and innovation issues, integration between technical and management approaches, and the holistic and systemic view that drives the career. This paper is constructed under some bibliographic information, as well as some empiric data and case studies. At the end of the work, one can conclude that as well as in the whole society, engineers? role in the public sector and government has been increasing and being crucial to build and sustain the competitiveness of the municipality / region / country and the effectiveness of the public services delivered to citizens

A Conserved Vector Current test using low energy beta-beams

We discuss the possibility of testing the weak currents and, in particular, the weak magnetism term through the measurement of the electron anti-neutrinos capture by protons at a low energy beta-beam facility. We analyze the sensitivity using both the total number of events and the angular distribution of the positrons emitted in a water Cerenkov detector. We show that the weak magnetism form factor might be determined with better than several percent accuracy using the angular distribution. This offers a new way of testing the Conserved Vector Current hypothesis.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

Design S-N curves for old Portuguese and French riveted bridges connection based on statistical analyses

Maintenance of ancient road and railway metallic bridges has become a major concern for governmental agencies in the past few decades. Indeed, since the construction of these structures, between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, traffic conditions have evolved, both in weight and frequency. In the purpose to assess the remaining life of old metallic bridges, some critical structural details have been identified and associated to S-N curves in order to be used in damage estimation (using Palmgren-Miner’s rule for cumulative damage, for example). These constructional details are described by design rules of several European and North American standards, such as the Eurocode 3, BS 5400 and AASHTO standards. The particularity of ancient bridges is that hot riveted assemblies, commonly used for their construction, are not represented in most construction standards. Further experiences on the matter by numerous research teams have suggested detail category C71 from the Eurocode 3 as appropriate. In this paper, experimental data from double shear assemblies manufactures from three different metallic ancient bridges is used to identify, through a statistical analysis, the S-N curves that best fit this constructional detail. Portuguese and French puddled iron bridges were considered.The authors of this paper thank the National Society of French Railways and the SciTech - Science and Technology for Competitive and Sustainable Industries, R&D project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000022 cofinanced by Programa Operacional Regional do Norte ("NORTE2020"), through Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) for their collaboration and support during this research works. The authors also acknowledge the Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT) for the financial support through the post-doctoral grant SFRH/BPD/107825/2015

Obtenção de híbridos em pimenta-do-reino (Piper nigrum L.) através de polinização controlada.

A pimenta-do-reino tem importância econômica e social por se tratar de um produto de exportação, sendo uma espécie introduzida, caracteriza-se pela variabilidade genética restrita, considerando-se alguns caracteres como, principalmente a resistência e/ou tolerância a doenças, entre as quais a fusariose causada pelo fungo Fusarium solani f.sp piper. Assim sendo, o programa de melhoramento genético da Embrapa Amazônia Oriental teve por objetivo a obtenção de híbridos intraespecificos (cruzamentos dentro da espécie P. nigrum, L) e interespecíficos (entre P. nigrum e espécies de piperáceas nativas resistentes a fusariose) como primeira etapa desse programa, o trabalho foi realizado em campo e laboratório, onde foram efetuadas as polinizações e as germinações respectivamente. O percentual de pegamento foi abaixo do desejável não interferindo, no entanto, no resultado final; o material obtido é tido como resultado promissor, pois é ponto inicial para propagação desses híbridos através de clonagem in vitro. Há maior índice de pegamento quando os cruzamentos apresentam como cultivar doadora de pólen, a cultivar guajarina.PIBIC-2011

InFLUyentes: a strategy to improve flu vaccination coverage among hispanics in Pittsburgh, PA

Although vaccination has proven to be the best flu prevention method, misconceptions and myths regarding the vaccine and the disease, are factors that affects intentions to get the vaccine, and set Hispanics’ health in disadvantage when compared with non-Hispanic Whites. Hispanics are more prone than Non-Hispanic Whites to develop chronic and respiratory diseases, which place this population in high risk to develop flu complications. Therefore, it is of pivotal public health significance, to develop strategies that can address flu misperceptions in Hispanics. This essay proposes a local strategy in Pittsburgh, PA called InFLUyentes, as a possible method to increase vaccination coverage among Hispanics. InFLUyentes, the Spanish word for influential, endeavors to prepare members, from all educational levels of the Hispanic community, to positively change other’s flu misperceptions. With the support of a health promotion campaign, InFLUyentes will be ready to intervene with accurate information, whenever a misleading comment about flu is presented in their daily environment. The ultimate goal of the InFLUyentes strategy is to facilitate accurate information-based decisions regarding flu prevention, and to eventually aim to integrate yearly flu vaccinations into a new community norm within Hispanics in Pittsburgh. InFLUyentes strategy bases its educational information on previous health belief and focus groups studies, regarding flu perception in Hispanics, and utilizes the social contagion theory to integrate the information to the community. Community-based approaches are the best method to create community solutions, which take in consideration the actual needs, perception, motivations, and norms of a community. These are pivotal factors that will lead to the creation and implementation of an effective intervention. A limitation of this strategy is that it will not necessarily impact everyone, since some people may not accept the corrections to their flu misperceptions. Further investigations on the impact of the InFLUyentes strategy should be addressed. Throughout this project, competency of important Public Health concepts, such as strategic planning, health communication, cultural competency, and infectious disease management, were demonstrated

Desenvolvimento de um sistema de monitoramento remoto de umidade do solo.

Este trabalho tem por objetivo apresentar o protótipo de um sistema autônomo de monitoramento de umidade do solo. O sistema consiste de três sensores de umidade de solo conectados a um microcontrolador Arduino, alimentado por uma bateria carregada por uma célula fotovoltaica. O propósito desse sistema é realizar a transmissão por módulo Xbee® de sinal analógico referente ao teor de umidade do solo. O sinal transmitido é captado por outro módulo Xbee® ligado a um programa servidor capaz de armazenar continuamente as informações captadas