77 research outputs found
Estudos de biodegradação de fungicidas acilalanina por estirpes selecionadas de Zygomycetes
O principal objetivo deste trabalho consistiu em selecionar e avaliar diferentes estirpes de fungos Zygomycetes quanto Ă capacidade de degradação de fungicidas acilalaninas, nomeadamente o metalaxil e o metalaxil-M. Com vista Ă seleção dos fungos mais promissores na degradação dos fungicidas procedeu-se a um rastreio em meio sĂłlido e as estirpes que mostraram maior capacidade para tolerar os fungicidas em estudo, foram selecionadas para avaliação do perfil de crescimento da biomassa, taxa de utilização da sacarose e taxa de degradação do metalaxil, em meio de cultura lĂquido. Foi ainda possĂvel identificar a presença de fenoloxidases extracelulares nos sobrenadantes das culturas lĂquidas das estirpes em estudo, potencialmente envolvidas no processo de biodegradação. Em conclusĂŁo, os resultados obtidos para as estirpes de Zygomycetes em estudo, propiciam boas perspetivas futuras quanto a estudos de biorremediação de fungicidas acilalanina e dos mecanismos bioquĂmicos envolvidos na sua degradação; ABSTRACT:The main goal of this study was to select and evaluate the capability of different fungal strains of Zygomycetes fungi to degrade acylalanine fungicides, including metalaxyl and metalaxyl-M. In order to select the most promising fungicide degraders a solid medium was used to screening the fungi. The strains that showed the greater capability to tolerate the fungicides, were selected for evaluation, in liquid culture medium, the biomass growth profile, sucrose consumption and metalaxyl degradation rates. It was also possible to identify the presence of extracellular phenol oxidases in the supernatants of liquid cultures, wich are potentially involved in the biodegradation process. In conclusion, the results obtained for the Zygomycetes strains in study can provide good knowledge for future works related with bioremediation of acylalanine fungicides and the biochemical mechanisms involved in its degradation
Unidade de Internamento PsiquiĂĄtrico para Jovens dos 15 aos 25 Anos: Um Estudo de Follow-up
Introduction: Adolescence and early adulthood are life stages characterized by significant physical, psychological, and social transformations. The transitional age, between 15 and 25 years old, is considered a high-risk period for the development of psychopathology, representing a critical period of opportunities and challenges for mental
health intervention. Our objective was to do 4-year follow-up study was conducted on young individuals who were hospitalized during the year 2018 in the acute psychiatric inpatient unit Unidade Partilhada, dedicated to individuals aged 15 to 25 years old. The aim was to assess the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of the sample, inpatient characteristics, rehospitalization rate, psychopathological status, quality of life, satisfaction with the provided care, and maintenance of follow-up appointments; establishing relationships between the mentioned variables.
Methods: Standardized telephone interviews were conducted using the reduced version of the Mental Health Inventory (MHI) and the World Health Organizationâs Abbreviated Instrument for Quality of Life Assessment. Clinical records were also consulted.
Results: There was a higher percentage of female patients (52.1%). The discharge diagnosis of mood disorders (54.3%) was significantly higher in females, while psychotic disorders (23.4%) were significantly higher in males (Fisher = 40; p<0.001). The duration of hospitalization (average=16.1 days; SD=13.6 days) was significantly longer for psychotic disorders compared to mood disorders (p=0.009). A percentage of 41.5% of young individuals were readmitted, with 6.3% readmitted within 30 days and 35.2% readmitted within 365 days. At the time of the follow-up interview, 80.9% considered themselves âbetter,â and 62.7% reported being âsatisfiedâ or âvery satisfiedâ with their lives. A percentage of 74.5% continued to receive outpatient care, with significantly lower MHI scores observed among individuals without current followâup. A percentage of 37.2% reported being âvery satisfiedâ or âextremely satisfiedâ with the care provided.
Conclusion: Obtaining knowledge and data that allow for the characterization of psychiatric hospitalization during the transitional age is fundamental for the planning, organization, and optimization of care provided to this population. Valuing patient opinions and fostering closer relationships between healthcare professionals and young patients promotes treatment adherence.IntroduçaÌo: A adolesceÌncia e iniÌcio da idade adulta, saÌo fases do ciclo de vida marcadas por grandes transformaçoÌes fiÌsicas, psicoloÌgicas e sociais. A faixa etaÌria de transiçaÌo, entre os15 e 25 anos, eÌ considerada uma idade de risco para o desenvolvimento de psicopatologia, representando um periÌodo criÌtico de oportunidades e desafios para a intervençaÌo em sauÌde mental. O nosso objetivo foi realizar um estudo de follow-up a 4 anos dos jovens internados durante o ano de 2018 na unidade de internamento agudo psiquiaÌtrico Unidade Partilhada, destinado a jovens dos 15 aos 25anos de idade; pretendeuâse avaliar as caracteriÌsticas sociodemograÌficas e cliÌnicas da amostra, as caracteriÌsticas do internamento, a taxa de reinternamento, o estado psicopatoloÌgico, qualidade de vida, grau de satisfaçaÌo com os cuidados prestados e manutençaÌo do seguimento em consulta; estabelecendo relaçoÌes entre as variaÌveis mencionadasMeÌtodos: Entrevista telefoÌnica padronizada, com aplicaçaÌo da versaÌo reduzida do Mental Health Inventory (MHI) e o Instrumento Abreviado de AvaliaçaÌo da Qualidade de Vida da OrganizaçaÌo Mundial de SauÌde; consulta de processo cliÌnico.Resultados: HaÌ uma maior percentagem de doentes do sexo feminino (52,1%). O diagnoÌstico de alta de perturbaçaÌodo humor (54,3%) foi significativamente superior no sexo feminino e o de perturbaçaÌo psicoÌtica (23,4%) foi significativamente superior no sexo masculino (Fisher= 40; p<0,001). A duraçaÌo do internamento (meÌdia=16,1 dias; DP=13,6 dias) foi significativamente superior para as perturbaçoÌes psicoÌticas em comparaçaÌo com as perturbaçoÌes do humor (p=0,009). Dos jovens, 41,5% foram readmitidos, 6,3% num periÌodo inferior a 30 dias e 35,2% num periÌodo inferior a 365 dias. AÌ data da entrevista de follow-up, 80,9% consideram estar âmelhorâ; e 62,7% estar âsatisfeitosâou âmuito satisfeitosâ com a sua vida. ManteÌm acompanhamento em consulta 74,5%, sendo a pontuaçaÌo do MHI significativamente inferior nos jovens sem seguimento atual. Referem estar âmuito satisfeitosâ ou âmais que muitoâ com o atendimento prestado, 37,2%.ConclusaÌo: O conhecimento e obtençaÌo de dados que permitam a caracterizaçaÌo do internamento psiquiaÌtrico em idade de transiçaÌo eÌ fundamental para a planificaçaÌo, organizaçaÌo e otimizaçaÌo dos cuidados prestados a esta populaçaÌo. A valorizaçaÌo da opiniaÌo do doente e a aproximaçaÌo entre profissionais de sauÌde e doentes jovens, favorece a adesaÌo ao tratamento
Influenza virus type/subtype and different infection profiles by age group during 2017/2018 season
DDI-INSA em colaboração com a Rede Portuguesa de Laboratórios para o Diagnóstico da GripeBackground: Influenza has a major impact in hospitalization during each influenza season. We analysed the influenza type/subtype distribution by age group and medical care wards (ambulatory, hospital, intensive care unit).
Material and Methods: During 2017/2018 season, 14 hospitals from Portugal mainland and Atlantic Island (Azores and Madeira) reported to the National Influenza Centre 13747 cases of respiratory infection, all tested for influenza type and/or subtype. Epidemiological data: age, sample collection, hospital dwelling service and patient outcome were reported.
Results: From the 13747 reported cases, 3717(27%) were influenza positive of which 2033 (55%) were influenza B, 722 (19%) A unsubtyped, 505 (14%) AH3, 442 (12%) AH1pdm09 and 15(0,1%) mixed infections. Influenza A was detected in 71% (204/208) of toddlers(<5 years) although in the remaining age groups influenza B was detected in more than 50% of the confirmed flu cases. Influenza B was the predominant virus in hospitalized and ICU influenza cases between 5-14 years (69% and 75%, respectively) and played a major role in elderly (65+ years) hospitalized and ICU cases(57% and 67%, respectively). AH1pdm09 virus was detected in 30% of the influenza confirmed ICU patients, 2.1 times more than in hospitalized cases in other wards and 3.3 times more than influenza AH1pdm09 cases in ambulatory care. Influenza mixed infection were detected sporadically,mainly in hospitalized and ICU patients. From 2080 known outcomes, 40(1.9%) patients deceased, influenza was confirmed in 11(28%) of these cases.
Conclusions: Cocirculation of different influenza virus type/subtype may indicate different infection profiles by age groups and should guide influenza preventive/treatment measures.N/
Energy Estimation of Cosmic Rays with the Engineering Radio Array of the Pierre Auger Observatory
The Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) is part of the Pierre Auger
Observatory and is used to detect the radio emission of cosmic-ray air showers.
These observations are compared to the data of the surface detector stations of
the Observatory, which provide well-calibrated information on the cosmic-ray
energies and arrival directions. The response of the radio stations in the 30
to 80 MHz regime has been thoroughly calibrated to enable the reconstruction of
the incoming electric field. For the latter, the energy deposit per area is
determined from the radio pulses at each observer position and is interpolated
using a two-dimensional function that takes into account signal asymmetries due
to interference between the geomagnetic and charge-excess emission components.
The spatial integral over the signal distribution gives a direct measurement of
the energy transferred from the primary cosmic ray into radio emission in the
AERA frequency range. We measure 15.8 MeV of radiation energy for a 1 EeV air
shower arriving perpendicularly to the geomagnetic field. This radiation energy
-- corrected for geometrical effects -- is used as a cosmic-ray energy
estimator. Performing an absolute energy calibration against the
surface-detector information, we observe that this radio-energy estimator
scales quadratically with the cosmic-ray energy as expected for coherent
emission. We find an energy resolution of the radio reconstruction of 22% for
the data set and 17% for a high-quality subset containing only events with at
least five radio stations with signal.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO
Measurement of the Radiation Energy in the Radio Signal of Extensive Air Showers as a Universal Estimator of Cosmic-Ray Energy
We measure the energy emitted by extensive air showers in the form of radio
emission in the frequency range from 30 to 80 MHz. Exploiting the accurate
energy scale of the Pierre Auger Observatory, we obtain a radiation energy of
15.8 \pm 0.7 (stat) \pm 6.7 (sys) MeV for cosmic rays with an energy of 1 EeV
arriving perpendicularly to a geomagnetic field of 0.24 G, scaling
quadratically with the cosmic-ray energy. A comparison with predictions from
state-of-the-art first-principle calculations shows agreement with our
measurement. The radiation energy provides direct access to the calorimetric
energy in the electromagnetic cascade of extensive air showers. Comparison with
our result thus allows the direct calibration of any cosmic-ray radio detector
against the well-established energy scale of the Pierre Auger Observatory.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DOI.
Supplemental material in the ancillary file
Measurement of the cosmic ray spectrum above eV using inclined events detected with the Pierre Auger Observatory
A measurement of the cosmic-ray spectrum for energies exceeding
eV is presented, which is based on the analysis of showers
with zenith angles greater than detected with the Pierre Auger
Observatory between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2013. The measured spectrum
confirms a flux suppression at the highest energies. Above
eV, the "ankle", the flux can be described by a power law with
index followed by
a smooth suppression region. For the energy () at which the
spectral flux has fallen to one-half of its extrapolated value in the absence
of suppression, we find
eV.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO
Healthcare Access and Quality Index based on mortality from causes amenable to personal health care in 195 countries and territories, 1990-2015 : a novel analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015
Background National levels of personal health-care access and quality can be approximated by measuring mortality rates from causes that should not be fatal in the presence of effective medical care (ie, amenable mortality). Previous analyses of mortality amenable to health care only focused on high-income countries and faced several methodological challenges. In the present analysis, we use the highly standardised cause of death and risk factor estimates generated through the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) to improve and expand the quantification of personal health-care access and quality for 195 countries and territories from 1990 to 2015. Methods We mapped the most widely used list of causes amenable to personal health care developed by Nolte and McKee to 32 GBD causes. We accounted for variations in cause of death certification and misclassifications through the extensive data standardisation processes and redistribution algorithms developed for GBD. To isolate the effects of personal health-care access and quality, we risk-standardised cause-specific mortality rates for each geography-year by removing the joint effects of local environmental and behavioural risks, and adding back the global levels of risk exposure as estimated for GBD 2015. We employed principal component analysis to create a single, interpretable summary measure-the Healthcare Quality and Access (HAQ) Index-on a scale of 0 to 100. The HAQ Index showed strong convergence validity as compared with other health-system indicators, including health expenditure per capita (r= 0.88), an index of 11 universal health coverage interventions (r= 0.83), and human resources for health per 1000 (r= 0.77). We used free disposal hull analysis with bootstrapping to produce a frontier based on the relationship between the HAQ Index and the Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a measure of overall development consisting of income per capita, average years of education, and total fertility rates. This frontier allowed us to better quantify the maximum levels of personal health-care access and quality achieved across the development spectrum, and pinpoint geographies where gaps between observed and potential levels have narrowed or widened over time. Findings Between 1990 and 2015, nearly all countries and territories saw their HAQ Index values improve; nonetheless, the difference between the highest and lowest observed HAQ Index was larger in 2015 than in 1990, ranging from 28.6 to 94.6. Of 195 geographies, 167 had statistically significant increases in HAQ Index levels since 1990, with South Korea, Turkey, Peru, China, and the Maldives recording among the largest gains by 2015. Performance on the HAQ Index and individual causes showed distinct patterns by region and level of development, yet substantial heterogeneities emerged for several causes, including cancers in highest-SDI countries; chronic kidney disease, diabetes, diarrhoeal diseases, and lower respiratory infections among middle-SDI countries; and measles and tetanus among lowest-SDI countries. While the global HAQ Index average rose from 40.7 (95% uncertainty interval, 39.0-42.8) in 1990 to 53.7 (52.2-55.4) in 2015, far less progress occurred in narrowing the gap between observed HAQ Index values and maximum levels achieved; at the global level, the difference between the observed and frontier HAQ Index only decreased from 21.2 in 1990 to 20.1 in 2015. If every country and territory had achieved the highest observed HAQ Index by their corresponding level of SDI, the global average would have been 73.8 in 2015. Several countries, particularly in eastern and western sub-Saharan Africa, reached HAQ Index values similar to or beyond their development levels, whereas others, namely in southern sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and south Asia, lagged behind what geographies of similar development attained between 1990 and 2015. Interpretation This novel extension of the GBD Study shows the untapped potential for personal health-care access and quality improvement across the development spectrum. Amid substantive advances in personal health care at the national level, heterogeneous patterns for individual causes in given countries or territories suggest that few places have consistently achieved optimal health-care access and quality across health-system functions and therapeutic areas. This is especially evident in middle-SDI countries, many of which have recently undergone or are currently experiencing epidemiological transitions. The HAQ Index, if paired with other measures of health-systemcharacteristics such as intervention coverage, could provide a robust avenue for tracking progress on universal health coverage and identifying local priorities for strengthening personal health-care quality and access throughout the world. Copyright (C) The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.Peer reviewe
COVID-19 symptoms at hospital admission vary with age and sex: results from the ISARIC prospective multinational observational study
Background:
The ISARIC prospective multinational observational study is the largest cohort of hospitalized patients with COVID-19. We present relationships of age, sex, and nationality to presenting symptoms.
Methods:
International, prospective observational study of 60â109 hospitalized symptomatic patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 recruited from 43 countries between 30 January and 3 August 2020. Logistic regression was performed to evaluate relationships of age and sex to published COVID-19 case definitions and the most commonly reported symptoms.
Results:
âTypicalâ symptoms of fever (69%), cough (68%) and shortness of breath (66%) were the most commonly reported. 92% of patients experienced at least one of these. Prevalence of typical symptoms was greatest in 30- to 60-year-olds (respectively 80, 79, 69%; at least one 95%). They were reported less frequently in children (â€â18 years: 69, 48, 23; 85%), older adults (â„â70 years: 61, 62, 65; 90%), and women (66, 66, 64; 90%; vs. men 71, 70, 67; 93%, each Pâ<â0.001). The most common atypical presentations under 60 years of age were nausea and vomiting and abdominal pain, and over 60 years was confusion. Regression models showed significant differences in symptoms with sex, age and country.
Interpretation:
This international collaboration has allowed us to report reliable symptom data from the largest cohort of patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19. Adults over 60 and children admitted to hospital with COVID-19 are less likely to present with typical symptoms. Nausea and vomiting are common atypical presentations under 30 years. Confusion is a frequent atypical presentation of COVID-19 in adults over 60 years. Women are less likely to experience typical symptoms than men
MRI Imaging of Liver Fibrosis with Vitamin A Functionalized Magnetolipossomes in Rats
Garcia Ribeiro R.S., Van Santvoort A., Kektar-Atre A., de Schaepdrijver L., Bueters R., Rangarajan J.R., van Heerden M., Himmelreich U., ''MRI imaging of liver fibrosis with vitamin A functionalized magnetolipossomes in rats'', 2nd Belgian molecular imaging congress - BMIC 2015, April 22, 2015, Brussels, Belgium.status: publishe
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