Art students: do they really draw what they know about the inner body?

The aim of the present study was to examine seven case studies and ascertain whether the imagos internalized by students of Fine Arts, a Young Person and an Elderly Person can be reworked, after the students have been submitted to a course in Anatomy. In the present study, we have combined two methods - gathering written responses and drawings - and examined what students know about the organs they drew and used a content analysis grid to evaluate the mental representation of the interior of the body of both profiles (Young Person and Elderly Person), before and after academic training (Anatomy classes). The preliminary data collected provided a prima facie scenario for the existence of at least one sequencial comulative progression in the development of the art students drawings. However further research is needed to establish the extent to which this finding might apply beyond the tasks assigned in the present protocol.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

ESTUDO DO ENVELHECIMENTO ACELERADO DE UM NOVO ÓLEO VEGETAL ISOLANTE, À BASE DE PINHÃO-MANSO, PARA USO EM TRANSFORMADORES ELÉTRICOS

O presente trabalho foca na avaliação de um novo fluido isolante vegetal para transformadores elétricos de potência à base do óleo de Jatropha curcas. Foi proposta uma metodologia para ensaios de envelhecimento acelerado do óleo, a fim de verificar o comportamento deste em condições extremas, comparando-o com fluido comercial BIOTEMP®. Utilizou-se óleo de Jatropha curcas extraído e processado neste estudo, cujas propriedades preencheram todas as especificações das normas ASTM D6871 e ABNT NBR 15422 para óleos vegetais isolantes novos para transformador. Os ensaios de envelhecimento acelerado foram realizados utilizando os dois óleos em diferentes condições: sem aditivos; com a adição de fio de cobre e papel Kraft; e com a adição destes dois componentes mais  antioxidantes. Os antioxidantes utilizados foram o ácido ascórbico, BHT (di-terc-butil-metilfenol) e TBHQ (terc-butil hidroquinona). O melhor resultado para o óleo de Jatropha curcas (menor viscosidade e menor variação do índice de acidez) foi obtido na presença de TBHQ 2 %m/m óleo, fio de cobre e papel kraft. No entanto, o BIOTEMP® foi mais estável do que o óleo de Jatropha curcas. Este estudo indicou que o óleo de Jatropha curcas tem potencial para ser usado em transformadores de potência. No entanto, os testes de envelhecimento acelerado precisam ser refinados

Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension in Corrected Valvular Heart Disease: Hemodynamic Insights and Long-Term Survival.

Background The determinants and consequences of pulmonary hypertension after successfully corrected valvular heart disease remain poorly understood. We aim to clarify the hemodynamic bases and risk factors for mortality in patients with this condition. Methods and Results We analyzed long-term follow-up data of 222 patients with pulmonary hypertension and valvular heart disease successfully corrected at least 1 year before enrollment who had undergone comprehensive hemodynamic and imaging characterization as per the SIOVAC (Sildenafil for Improving Outcomes After Valvular Correction) clinical trial. Median (interquartile range) mean pulmonary pressure was 37 mm Hg (32-44 mm Hg) and pulmonary artery wedge pressure was 23 mm Hg (18-26 mm Hg). Most patients were classified either as having combined precapillary and postcapillary or isolated postcapillary pulmonary hypertension. After a median follow-up of 4.5 years, 91 deaths accounted for 4.21 higher-than-expected mortality in the age-matched population. Risk factors for mortality were male sex, older age, diabetes mellitus, World Health Organization functional class III and higher pulmonary vascular resistance-either measured by catheterization or approximated from ultrasound data. Higher pulmonary vascular resistance was related to diabetes mellitus and smaller residual aortic and mitral valve areas. In turn, the latter correlated with prosthetic nominal size. Six-month changes in the composite clinical score and in the 6-minute walk test distance were related to survival. Conclusions Persistent valvular heart disease-pulmonary hypertension is an ominous disease that is almost universally associated with elevated pulmonary artery wedge pressure. Pulmonary vascular resistance is a major determinant of mortality in this condition and is related to diabetes mellitus and the residual effective area of the corrected valve. These findings have important implications for individualizing valve correction procedures. Registration URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Unique identifier: NCT00862043.This study was funded by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Spain, the European Union–European Regional Development Fund (EC07/90772 and PI19/00649), and the Consorcio de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Cardiovasculares (CIBERCV).S

OptFlux: an open-source software platform for in silico metabolic engineering

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Over the last few years a number of methods have been proposed for the phenotype simulation of microorganisms under different environmental and genetic conditions. These have been used as the basis to support the discovery of successful genetic modifications of the microbial metabolism to address industrial goals. However, the use of these methods has been restricted to bioinformaticians or other expert researchers. The main aim of this work is, therefore, to provide a user-friendly computational tool for Metabolic Engineering applications.</p> <p>Results</p> <p><it>OptFlux </it>is an open-source and modular software aimed at being the reference computational application in the field. It is the first tool to incorporate strain optimization tasks, i.e., the identification of Metabolic Engineering targets, using Evolutionary Algorithms/Simulated Annealing metaheuristics or the previously proposed OptKnock algorithm. It also allows the use of stoichiometric metabolic models for (i) phenotype simulation of both wild-type and mutant organisms, using the methods of Flux Balance Analysis, Minimization of Metabolic Adjustment or Regulatory on/off Minimization of Metabolic flux changes, (ii) Metabolic Flux Analysis, computing the admissible flux space given a set of measured fluxes, and (iii) pathway analysis through the calculation of Elementary Flux Modes.</p> <p><it>OptFlux </it>also contemplates several methods for model simplification and other pre-processing operations aimed at reducing the search space for optimization algorithms.</p> <p>The software supports importing/exporting to several flat file formats and it is compatible with the SBML standard. <it>OptFlux </it>has a visualization module that allows the analysis of the model structure that is compatible with the layout information of <it>Cell Designer</it>, allowing the superimposition of simulation results with the model graph.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The <it>OptFlux </it>software is freely available, together with documentation and other resources, thus bridging the gap from research in strain optimization algorithms and the final users. It is a valuable platform for researchers in the field that have available a number of useful tools. Its open-source nature invites contributions by all those interested in making their methods available for the community.</p> <p>Given its plug-in based architecture it can be extended with new functionalities. Currently, several plug-ins are being developed, including network topology analysis tools and the integration with Boolean network based regulatory models.</p

The Large Observatory For X-ray Timing: LOFT

LOFT, the Large Observatory for X-ray Timing, is a new space mission concept devoted to observations of Galactic and extra-Galactic sources in the X-ray domain with the main goals of probing gravity theory in the very strong field environment of black holes and other compact objects, and investigating the state of matter at supra-nuclear densities in neutron stars. The instruments on-board LOFT, the Large area detector and the Wide Field Monitor combine for the first time an unprecedented large effective area (~10 m2 at 8 keV) sensitive to X-ray photons mainly in the 2-30 keV energy range and a spectral resolution approaching that of CCD-based telescopes (down to 200 eV at 6 keV). LOFT is currently competing for a launch of opportunity in 2022 together with the other M3 mission candidates of the ESA Cosmic Vision Progra