MARSWRF Prediction of Entry Descent Landing Profiles : Applications to Mars Exploration

We are grateful to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for making the EDL vertical profiles of past Mars missions available online through the Planetary Atmospheres Node of the PDS (http://pds‐atmospheres.nmsu.edu/). Alessio Aboudan from the University of Padova is also acknowledged for providing the reconstructed vertical profiles for the Schiaparelli EDL. The simulations presented in this paper were performed on resources provided by the Swedish National Infrastructure for Computing (SNIC) at the High Performance Computing Center North (HPC2N) Abisko cluster. This work was partially funded by the European Research Foundation (ERF). We would like to thank an anonymous reviewer and Claire Newman for their many detailed and insightful comments and suggestions that helped to improve significantly the quality of the paper. The model data used to generate the figures presented in this paper can be obtained from the authors. We have uploaded the data to the following website (https://atmospheres.research.ltu.se/owncloud/index.php/s/PlZWyxd1T24vl16).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Leprosy presenting as remitting seronegative symmetrical synovitis with pitting oedema syndrome - a case report

Background: Leprosy typically manifests with skin and peripheral nerve involvement. Musculoskeletal complaints are the third most common, and can be the sole presenting manifestation. They range from arthralgia/arthritis in reactional states to full mimics of systemic rheumatic diseases. Remitting Seronegative Symmetrical Synovitis with Pitting Oedema syndrome has only been described once in a patient with already diagnosed Leprosy. Case report: A 68-year-old male, from an endemic region of familial amyloid polyneuropathy, presented with an inaugural Remitting Seronegative Symmetrical Synovitis with Pitting Oedema like syndrome, more that 20 years after travelling to Leprosy endemic areas. Arthritis would resurface whenever oral prednisone was tapered, so methotrexate was started, controlling the complaints. Only one year later, after the appearance of peripheral neuropathy and skin lesions, it was possible to diagnose Leprosy, through the identification of Mycobacterium leprae bacilli in a peripheral nerve biopsy. Conclusion: This report is an example of the heterogeneity of manifestations of Leprosy, namely rheumatic, and the challenge of diagnosing it when typical complaints are absent. It is also a reminder that this disease should be considered whenever a patient with a combination of skin/neurologic/rheumatic complaints has travelled to endemic countries in the past.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Patient with McCune albright syndrome : case report and 10 Years of follow-up imaging examination

The McCune Albright syndrome (MAS) is a rare, multi-system disease composed of the triad of polyostotic fibrous dysplasia of bone (PFDB), café-au-lait skin hyperpigmentation, and endocrine disorders. The diagnosis involves clinical, biochemical and imagi

Control of allergic rhinitis and asthma test – a formal approach to the development of a measuring tool

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The concurrent management of allergic rhinitis and asthma (ARA) has been recommended by Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) guidelines. However, a tool capable of assessing simultaneously the control of upper and lower airways diseases is lacking.</p> <p>Aim</p> <p>To describe the studies conducted to design the control of ARA test (CARAT) questionnaire.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We performed a literature review to generate a list of potentially important items for the assessment of control of ARA. A formal consensus development process, that used an innovative web-based application, was designed – 111 experts in ARA and 60 patients participated. At the final consensus meeting, 25 primary and secondary care physicians formulated the questions and response options. A qualitative feasibility study (n = 31 patients) was conducted to evaluate the comprehensibility of the questionnaire while testing two different designs.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Thirty-four potentially important items were identified. All the steps of the consensus process were completed in 2.5 months. The opinions of experts and patients lead to the formulation of 17 questions. At the feasibility study the instructions and wording problems were corrected and a semi-tabular format was chosen.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A tool to measure the control of allergic rhinitis and asthma was developed using a comprehensive set of methodological steps ensuring the design quality and the face and content validity. Additional validation studies to assess the psychometric properties of the questionnaire have started.</p

Voxel-based registration of simulated and real patient CBCT data for accurate dental implant pose estimation

"Progress in Biomedical Optics and Imaging, vol. 16, nr. 42"The success of dental implant-supported prosthesis is directly linked to the accuracy obtained during implant's pose estimation (position and orientation). Although traditional impression techniques and recent digital acquisition methods are acceptably accurate, a simultaneously fast, accurate and operator-independent methodology is still lacking. Hereto, an image-based framework is proposed to estimate the patient-specific implant's pose using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) and prior knowledge of implanted model. The pose estimation is accomplished in a threestep approach: (1) a region-of-interest is extracted from the CBCT data using 2 operator-defined points at the implant's main axis; (2) a simulated CBCT volume of the known implanted model is generated through Feldkamp-Davis-Kress reconstruction and coarsely aligned to the defined axis; and (3) a voxel-based rigid registration is performed to optimally align both patient and simulated CBCT data, extracting the implant's pose from the optimal transformation. Three experiments were performed to evaluate the framework: (1) an in silico study using 48 implants distributed through 12 tridimensional synthetic mandibular models; (2) an in vitro study using an artificial mandible with 2 dental implants acquired with an i-CAT system; and (3) two clinical case studies. The results shown positional errors of 67±34μm and 108μm, and angular misfits of 0.15±0.08 and 1.4, for experiment 1 and 2, respectively. Moreover, in experiment 3, visual assessment of clinical data results shown a coherent alignment of the reference implant. Overall, a novel image-based framework for implants' pose estimation from CBCT data was proposed, showing accurate results in agreement with dental prosthesis modelling requirements.This work has been supported by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia in the scope of the Ph.D. grant SFRH/BD/68270/2010, SFRH/BD/93443/2013 and the project EXPL/BBB-BMD/2146/2013.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Produção e caracterização físico-química do fermentado de caju / Production and physical and chemical characterization of cashew fermented

O caju (Anacardium occidentale, Anacardiaceae) é uma fruta oriunda da Região Norte/ Nordeste do Brasil. O cajueiro possui afinidade por clima subtropical e tropical, tendo propensão por locais com estação seca definida, sendo um pseudofruto rico em vitamina C, ferro, cálcio e fósforo.Analisando o alto índice de desperdício, em seu período de safra, e as boas características físico-químicas do caju na região, foi executado um estudo para a produção do fermentado de caju. Usou-se no processo, a polpa do pseudofruto in natura e o microrganismo Saccharomyces cerevisiae, para conversão dos açúcares do mosto em etanol. Inicialmente foi realizada uma caracterização físico-química ao fruto em estudo, para analisar suas condições favoráveis ao processo fermentativo. Análises como: pH, acidez, concentração de etanol, ºBrix e sensorial, foram realizadas durante o processo como forma de verificar se o fermentado alcóolico obtido encontrava-se dentro das condições ofertadas pela legislação brasileira, o qual estabelece que o fermentado dever ser uma bebida com graduação alcoólica entre 4 (quatro) e 14 (quatorze) por cento. A partir das análises realizadas foram obtidos sobre o produto final o teor alcoólico e o ART (Açúcares Redutores Totais), 11,4% e 1,64 g/ L, respectivamente, tendo-se assim um teor alcoólico dentro da legislação e um ART que identifica o fermentado como seco (até 5 g/ L) e nota a partir da análise sensorial de 8,2. 

Improved serological detection of rheumatoid arthritis: a highly antigenic mimotope of carbonic anhydrase III selected in a murine model by phage display

© 2015 Araujo et al. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.Introduction: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease that affects around 1% of the human population worldwide. RA diagnosis can be difficult as there is no definitive test for its detection. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify biomarkers that could be used for RA diagnosis. Methods: Sera from a collagen-induced arthritis mouse model were used to select potential biomarkers for RA diagnosis by phage display technology. In silico and in vitro analyses were performed to characterize and validate the selected peptides. Samples were classified into three groups: RA; two other immune-mediated rheumatic diseases (systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS)); and healthy controls (HC). Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was carried out to determine antibody levels, and diagnostic parameters were determined by constructing receiver operating characteristic curves. Mass spectrometry and Western blot were performed to identify the putative autoantigen that was mimicked by a highly reactive mimotope. Results: After three rounds of selection, 14 clones were obtained and tested for immunoreactivity analysis against sera from RA and HC groups. The phage-fused peptide with the highest immunoreactivity (M12) was synthesized, and was able to efficiently discriminate RA patients from SLE, AS and HCs (p < 0.0001) by ELISA. The specificity and sensitivity of anti-M12 antibodies for RA diagnosis were 91 % and 84.3 %, respectively. The M12 peptide was identified as one that mimics a predicted antigenic site of the carbonic anhydrase III (CAIII) protein, a ubiquitous biomarker that has been identified in patients with other diseases. Conclusion: M12 is the first peptide associated with the CAIII protein that may be used as an antigen for antibody detection to aid in RA diagnosis with high sensitivity and specificity.This study was supported by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) Foundation, Ministry of Education of Brazil (CSF SDW-2027/13-5) and the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Patient-physician discordance in assessment of adherence to inhaled controller medication: a cross-sectional analysis of two cohorts

We aimed to compare patient's and physician's ratings of inhaled medication adherence and to identify predictors of patient-physician discordance.(SFRH/BPD/115169/2016) funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT); ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) through the operations: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029130 ('mINSPIRERS—mHealth to measure and improve adherence to medication in chronic obstructive respiratory diseases—generalisation and evaluation of gamification, peer support and advanced image processing technologies') cofunded by the COMPETE2020 (Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização), Portugal 2020 and by Portuguese Funds through FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio