925 research outputs found
Indoor Air Quality in Elderly Centers: Pollutants Emission and Health Effects
The world population is ageing, in particular in the developed world, with a significant increase in the percentage of people above 60 years old. They represent a segment of the population that is more vulnerable to adverse environmental conditions. Among them, indoor air quality is one of the most relevant, as elders spend comparatively more time indoors than younger generations. Furthermore, the recent COVID-19 pandemic contributed immensely to raising awareness of the importance of breathing air quality for human health and of the fact that indoor air is a vector for airborne infections and poisoning. Hence, this work reviews the state of the art regarding indoor air quality in elderly centers, considering the type of pollutants involved, their emission sources, and their health effects. Moreover, the influence of ventilation on air quality is also addressed. Notwithstanding the potential health problems with the corresponding costs and morbidity effects, only a few studies have considered explicitly indoor air quality and its impacts on elderly health. More studies are, therefore, necessary to objectively identify what are the impacts on the health of elderly people due to the quality of indoor air and how it can be improved, either by reducing the pollutants emission sources or by more adequate ventilation and thermal comfort strategies. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Funding: This work was financially supported by base funding of the following projects: LA/P/0045/2020 (ALiCE), UIDB/00511/2020 (LEPABE), and UIDB/50022/2020 (LAETA), funded by national funds through FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC). Fátima Felgueiras gratefully acknowledges the Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research, and Technology (FCT) for the financial support through the Grant BD/6521/2020. António Martins thanks FCT for funding through program DL 57/2016—Norma transitória. Teresa Mata gratefully acknowledge the funding of Project NORTE-06-3559-FSE-000107, cofinanced by Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (NORTE2020), through Fundo Social Europeu (FSE)
Health-related quality of life in patients with venous leg ulcer treated in primary care in Brazil and Portugal
Background
Venous ulcers constitute an important public health problem as they can cause disability with consequences for multiple dimensions of quality of life.
Objective
To describe the quality of life in patients with venous leg ulcer treated in primary care in two cities from Brazil and Portugal.
Methods
This was a cross-sectional comparative study with a non-probabilistic sample of 171 patients with venous leg ulcers who were treated in primary care in two cities from Brazil and Portugal, namely, Natal and Évora. A form covering sociodemographic and health data and the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey were used, and descriptive and inferential analyses were performed.
Results
Significant differences in age and income were observed between the two samples. Patients with venous leg ulcer from Brazil had lower income and were younger than those from Portugal. Quality of life scores were significantly higher in Portugal for the physical aspects, pain, and social functioning, among domains, and for the physical health dimension and total score of QOL.
Conclusion
The quality of life was better in Portugal than in Brazil and the differences between the countries need further investigation
Noncommutative cosmological models coupled to a perfect fluid and a cosmological constant
In this work we carry out a noncommutative analysis of several
Friedmann-Robert-Walker models, coupled to different types of perfect fluids
and in the presence of a cosmological constant. The classical field equations
are modified, by the introduction of a shift operator, in order to introduce
noncommutativity in these models. We notice that the noncommutative versions of
these models show several relevant differences with respect to the
correspondent commutative ones.Comment: 27 pages. 7 figures. JHEP style.arXiv admin note: substantial text
overlap with arXiv:1104.481
Combination of surgical excision and custom designed silicon pressure splint therapy for keloids on the helical rim
Keloids are defined as dermal fibrotic lesions which are considered an aberration of the wound healing process. Their etiology and pathogenesis are poorly understood. Different treatment modalities are described in the literature depending on the morphology and size of the keloid. We report a case of a large ear keloid on the helical rim which was successfully treated with surgery and a custom designed silicon pressure clip
Adherence to secondary prophylaxis and disease recurrence in 536 Brazilian children with rheumatic fever
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>More than 15 million people worldwide have rheumatic fever (RF) and rheumatic heart disease due to RF. Secondary prophylaxis is a critical cost-effective intervention for preventing morbidity and mortality related to RF. Ensuring adequate adherence to secondary prophylaxis for RF is a challenging task. This study aimed to describe the rates of recurrent episodes of RF, quantify adherence to secondary prophylaxis, and examine the effects of medication adherence to the rates of RF in a cohort of Brazilian children and adolescents with RF.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This retrospective study took place in the Pediatric Rheumatology outpatient clinic at a tertiary care hospital (Instituto de Puericultura e Pediatria Martagão Gesteira) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and included patients with a diagnosis of RF from 1985 to 2005.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>536 patients with RF comprised the study sample. Recurrent episodes of RF occurred in 88 of 536 patients (16.5%). Patients with a recurrent episode of RF were younger (p < 0.0001), more frequently males (p = 0.003), and less adherent (p < 0.0001) to secondary prophylaxis than patients without RF recurrence. Non-adherence to medication at any time during follow-up was detected in 35% of patients. Rates of non-adherence were higher in the group of patients that were lost to follow-up (42%) than in the group of patients still in follow-up (32%) (p = 0.027). Appointment frequency was inadequate in 10% of patients. Higher rates of inadequate appointment frequency were observed among patients who were eventually lost to follow-up (14.5%) than in patients who were successfully followed-up (8%) (p = 0.022). 180 patients (33.5%) were lost to follow up at some point in time.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We recommend implementation of a registry, and a system of active search of missing patients in every service responsible for the follow-up of RF patients. Measures to increase adherence to secondary prophylaxis need to be implemented formally, once non-adherence to secondary prophylaxis is the main cause of RF recurrence. Detection of irregularity in secondary prophylaxis or in appointments should be an alert about the possibility of loss of follow-up and closer observation should be instituted.</p
Astrobiological Complexity with Probabilistic Cellular Automata
Search for extraterrestrial life and intelligence constitutes one of the
major endeavors in science, but has yet been quantitatively modeled only rarely
and in a cursory and superficial fashion. We argue that probabilistic cellular
automata (PCA) represent the best quantitative framework for modeling
astrobiological history of the Milky Way and its Galactic Habitable Zone. The
relevant astrobiological parameters are to be modeled as the elements of the
input probability matrix for the PCA kernel. With the underlying simplicity of
the cellular automata constructs, this approach enables a quick analysis of
large and ambiguous input parameters' space. We perform a simple clustering
analysis of typical astrobiological histories and discuss the relevant boundary
conditions of practical importance for planning and guiding actual empirical
astrobiological and SETI projects. In addition to showing how the present
framework is adaptable to more complex situations and updated observational
databases from current and near-future space missions, we demonstrate how
numerical results could offer a cautious rationale for continuation of
practical SETI searches.Comment: 37 pages, 11 figures, 2 tables; added journal reference belo
Regionalização para o cultivo do feijão no Rio Grande do Sul com base na interação genótipo x ambiente¹.
bitstream/item/59171/1/Iraja-V59N002P19810.pd
- …