COVID-19 in Two Children with New-Onset Diabetes: Case Reports

Delayed diagnosis, low socioeconomic status and infection have been associated with diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) at type 1 diabetes mellitus presentation. A teenager from a low socioeconomic status family, with longstanding weight loss, polyphagia, polyuria, vomiting and abdominal pain, attended the emergency department, also complaining of anosmia and odynophagia. He was diagnosed with COVID-19 and new-onset DKA. The second child had 2 weeks of diabetes symptoms and was admitted with new-onset mild DKA. SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR test was positive, although asymptomatic. Persistent hyperglycaemia with high insulin requirements was a common feature to both patients. Both cases support that SARS-CoV-2 may have an association with rapidly increasing insulin daily needs. In case one, not only fear of COVID-19 delayed hospital attendance but also the setting of a low socioeconomic status family appears to have enhanced the risk for late diagnosis and challenging disease management.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The medico-legal importance of establishing human identity by palatal rugoscopy: evaluation of the immutability and individuality of palatal rugae under the influence of ante mortem orthodontic treatment

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited."Introduction: The palatal rugae can be an alternative method of forensic identification. Through the years, several investigations focused on the effect of orthodontic treatment in the palatal rugae pattern. Objectives: Evaluate the concepts of immutability and individuality of the palatal rugae in a Portuguese adult population submitted to orthodontic treatment, for the purpose of medico-legal identification through Thomas and Kotze classification system. Additionally, we wanted to establish comparison of the palatal rugae of each subject, and between genders. Materials and Methods: Thirty three pairs of study dental casts, from thirty three patients submitted to orthodontic treatment in the Department of Orthodontics in College of Dentistry - University of Lisbon, were photographed and classified according to the classification system described by Thomas and Kotze. We proceeded to a statistical analysis running SPSS for Windows, version 20.0, using descriptive analysis and tests, with an inclusion level p <0.05. The tests applied were normality tests and T Student for paired samples. Results: The number and length of primary rugae remain identical when comparing the situation before and after orthodontic treatment. The number of secondary rugae decreases after orthodontic treatment. The variation of the angle of divergence was not statistically significant. The area of primary rugae presented statistically significant reduction after orthodontic treatment. There has no statistically significant differences between genders for total number number of rugae or average length of primary rugae (p <0.05). Discussion and Conclusion: The palatal rugae pattern does not remain stable after orthodontic treatment, and this refutes the supposed long term stability of the palatal rugae pattern. Therefore, it influences the ability to establish a positive medico-legal identification of a recent copse, if the person was submitted to ante mortem orthodontic treatment. The identification might still be possible if we possess a last ante mortem palatal record in these situations, to allow identification based on positive individual characteristics, through comparison with the post-mortem record. Considering gender, no statistically significant differences were found. This subject remains controversial and deserves further research.

Characterization of tasks and skills of workers, middle and top managers in the Industry 4.0 context

This study intends to make a characterization of the main tasks and skills needed to face the Industry 4.0. Moreover, it gives special attention to the different company’s hierarchical levels. To achieve the goals of this paper, a methodology based on Collaborative Decision Making method was used. Firstly, thirty participants were interviewed to understand their point of views. Next, they were split into Group Works to refine the results. Finally, a Group Concordance took place to create the final list of tasks and skills. The skills were organized into four categories: Technical, Social, Methodological and Personal. The results show different requirements in each level. In the Workers level, due to the presence of more technical tasks, eight of the top ten skills belong to the Technical category. In the Middle Managers level, there are tasks of both leading and analyzing nature and thus the top ten skills needed are split through the four categories. Finally, in the Top Managers level, due to the presence of mainly strategy tasks, the top ten skills are split between the Methodological and Social categories. To the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies to use a Collaborative Decision Making methodology to develop a set of tasks and skills that future work environments will demand on the different hierarchical levels of the organization.This work was supported by the research unit on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policy (UIDB/04058/2020) and by Algoritmi Research Unit (UIDB/00319/2020), funded by national funds through FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia

Uma introdução à técnica SVET

Este artigo apresenta uma introdução à Técnica do Eléctrodo Vibrante de Varrimento (SVET). Começa por uma breve resenha histórica, seguida da descrição do princípio de funcionamento, exemplos da aplicação a casos de corrosão, alguns cálculos possíveis, limitações, instrumentação, detalhes experimentais e exemplos da sua associação a outras técnicas electroquímicas

Vertebroplastia percutânea por fractura osteoporótica

A Vertebroplastia Percutânea é uma técnica minimamente invasiva relativamente recente, que tem reconhecidas vantagens e aplicações em fracturas compressivas dos corpos vertebrais. Basicamente, consiste na injecção de um Cimento Acrílico no interior do corpo vertebral, e desse modo, minimizar e estabilizar fracturas compressivas dos corpos vertebrais, que são frequentemente de etiologia osteoporótica. Fortemente indicada no tratamento de fracturas incapacitantes, possui como complicação principal o extravasamento do Cimento. Este artigo pretende abordar a técnica, expondo suas indicações, vantagens e complicações mais frequentes. Esta permite reduzir a elevada taxa de morbilidade e impacto económico-social associado à Osteoporose.Percutaneous vertebroplasty is a relatively new minimally invasive technique, which has recognized advantages and applications in vertebral compression fracture. Basically consists of injecting acrylic cement inside the vertebral body, minimizing and stabilizing the compression fractures of vertebral bodies, which are often osteoporotic etiology. Strongly indicated for the treatment of debilitating fractures, has as major complication of cement leakage. This article intends to explain the technique, with their main indications, advantages and complications. This technique allows reducing the high rate of morbidity and socio-economic impact associated with Osteoporosis

Interesse patrimonial dos aspectos geológicos e geomorfológicos da região de Aveleda-Baçal, Parque Natural de Montesinho, NE de Portugal

O Parque Natural de Montesinho (PNM) fica situado no Nordeste de Portugal, abrange a parte norte dos concelhos de Vinhais e Bragança e engloba as serras da Coroa e Montesinho. Geologicamente o PNM situa-se nas unidades autóctones da Zona Centro Ibérica e nas unidades parautóctones e alóctones da Zona Galiza-Trás-os-Montes. Nesta primeira abordagem acerca do Património Geológico do PNM, faz-se a análise da região situada entre Aveleda e Baçal, cuja clareza das formas de relevo e a definição das relações com a geologia e com a tectónica, no seio de uma área protegida, são razões para a sua valorização. Assim, no presente trabalho descrevem-se e interpretam-se os aspectos geomorfológicos desta região. A partir de locais de observação estabelecidos é possível constatar que a região de Aveleda-Baçal corresponde ao bloco abatido de um graben controlado por falhas de orientação NNE-SSW, com destaque para a falha de Portelo que origina uma escarpa pelo soerguimento do bloco ocidental e abatimento a leste. No bloco ocidental deste acidente tectónico estão representados restos de uma superfície de aplanamento a cotas superiores a 900 metros (superfície de Espinhosela) e para norte a serra de Montesinho (1481 m), um bloco mais elevado de topos relativamente aplanados

A Mouse Model of Metabolic Syndrome: Insulin Resistance, Fatty Liver and Non-Alcoholic Fatty Pancreas Disease (NAFPD) in C57BL/6 Mice Fed a High Fat Diet

Diet-induced obesity in C57BL/6 mice triggers common features of human metabolic syndrome (MetS). The purpose is to assess the suitability of a diet-induced obesity model for investigating non-alcoholic fatty pancreatic disease (NAFPD), fatty liver and insulin resistance. Adult C57BL/6 mice were fed either high-fat chow (HFC, 60% fat) or standard chow (SC, 10% fat) during a 16-week period. We evaluated in both groups: hepatopancreatic injuries, pancreatic islets size, alpha and beta-cell immunodensities, intraperitoneal insulin tolerance test (IPITT) and oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). The HFC mice displayed greater mass gain (p<0.0001) and total visceral fat pads (p<0.001). OGTT showed impairment of glucose clearance in HFC mice (p<0.0001). IPITT revealed insulin resistance in HFC mice (p<0.0001). The HFC mice showed larger pancreatic islet size and significantly greater alpha and beta-cell immunodensities than SC mice. Pancreas and liver from HFC were heavier and contained higher fat concentration. In conclusion, C57BL/6 mice fed a high-fat diet develop features of NAFPD. Insulin resistance and ectopic accumulation of hepatic fat are well known to occur in MetS. Additionally, the importance of fat accumulation in the pancreas has been recently highlighted. Therefore, this model could help to elucidate target organ alterations associated with metabolic syndrome