Human case of West Nile neuroinvasive disease in Portugal, summer 2015

A case of West Nile virus (WNV) infection was reported in the Algarve region, Portugal, in the first week of September 2015. WNV is known to circulate in Portugal, with occasional reports in horses and birds (2004 to 2011) and very sporadically human cases (in 2004 and in 2010). Here we present the clinical and laboratory aspects related to the first human case of West Nile neuroinvasive disease reported in Portugal

Risks of Maternal Obesity in Pregnancy: A Case-control Study in a Portuguese Obstetrical Population

Objective The present study aims to understand to what extent obesity is related to adverse maternal, obstetrical, and neonatal outcomes in a Portuguese obstetrical population. Methods A retrospective case-control study was conducted at the Department of Obstetrics of a differentiated perinatal care facility. The study compared 1,183 obese pregnant women with 5,399 normal or underweight pregnant women for the occurrence of gestational diabetes, hypertensive pregnancy disorders, and preterm birth. Mode of delivery, birthweight, and neonatal intensive care unit (ICU) admissions were also evaluated. Mean blood glucose values were evaluated and compared between groups, in the first and second trimesters of pregnancy. Only singleton pregnancies were considered. Results The prevalence of obesity was 13.6%. Obese pregnant women were significantly more likely to have cesarean sections (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2.0, p < 0.001), gestational diabetes (aOR 2.14, p < 0.001), hypertensive pregnancy disorders (aOR 3.43, p < 0.001), and large-for-gestational age or macrosomic infants (aOR 2.13, p < 0.001), and less likely to have small-for-gestational age newborns (aOR 0.51, p < 0.009). No significant differences were found in terms of preterm births, fetal/neonatal deaths, low birthweight newborns, and neonatal ICU admissions among cases and controls. Maternal obesity was significantly associated with higher mean blood glucose levels, in the first and second trimesters of pregnancy. Conclusion Obesity is associated with increased risks of adverse pregnancy and neonatal outcomes. These risks seem to increase progressively with increasing body mass index (BMI) class. Female obesity should be considered a major public health issue and has consequences on maternal-fetal health

Software architecture for YOLO, a creativity-stimulating robot

YOLO is a social robot designed and developed to stimulate creativity in children through storytelling activities. Children use it as a character in their stories. This article details the artificial intelligence software developed for YOLO. The implemented software schedules through several Creativity Behaviors to find the ones that stimulate creativity more effectively. YOLO can choose between convergent and divergent thinking techniques, two important processes of creative thought. These techniques were developed based on the psychological theories of creativity development and on research from creativity experts who work with children. Besides promoting creativity, this software allows the creation of Social Behaviors that enable the robot to behave as a believable character. We built 3 main social behavior parameters: Exuberant, Aloof, and Harmonious. These behaviors are meant to ease immersive play and the process of character creation. The 3 social behaviors were based on psychological theories of personality and developed using children's input during co-design studies. Overall, this work presents the design, development, and usage of social robots that might nurture intrinsic human abilities, such as the ability to be creative.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A METHOD TO EVALUATE INTRACYCLE PROPULSIVE FORCE AND BODY VELOCITY CHANGES

Propulsive force in swimming show a periodical variation during each strike, resulting in either acceleration or deceleration of the body. Development of a computer-based system to measure force and velocity during- semi-tethered swinimill-g enables us to quantify intracycle variations and obtain an individual diagnosis of swimmiilg proficiency. The testing apparatus consists of a 314" shaft supported oh radial bearings in which a 4" barrel is welded. The measurements were effectuated' using 15 meters of stainless steel light cable coiled around the barrel, with its free end connected to a harness belt attached to the swimmer's waist. The force generated against the cable by the swimmer when moving away from the apparatus was sensed by a force transducer located between the harness belt and the cable, and converted to a proportional voltage output. The data is relayed to a computer through an a/d converter and processed to calculate force for each swimming stroke or for any given time period. Swimming velocity was measured based on the rotational velocity of the wheel. An adapted potentiometer was attached to an end of the shaft. The angle signal is also interfaced and converted to a digital signal. At the other end an electromagnetic brake was mounted, to prevent turning velocity of the wheel to fluctuate due to its own inertia, keeping the cable always stretched. A constant force of 30 N was necessary to initiate the rolling of the barrel. This procedure does not primarily aim at the quantitative acquisition of the overall velocity and force values, but at a qualitative evaluation of the intracycle fluctuations

A utilização de Apps e outras Ferramentas Digitais em Educação Visual e Educação Tecnológica como facilitadoras do processo de Ensino e Aprendizagem

Para ilação do Mestrado em Ensino de Educação Visual e Tecnológica no Ensino Básico, na Escola Superior de Educação de Viseu, foi elaborado o presente relatório final, este é composto por duas partes, uma primeira parte com a contextualização e análise das três Práticas de Ensino Supervisionadas, que pretende apresentar a síntese de um longo trabalho desenvolvido na prática de ensino supervisionado, que teve uma importância essencial, para o desempenho da função a que nos propomos como profissional, e, na segunda parte o projeto de investigação desenvolvido no sentido de perceber se a utilização das apps e ferramentas digitais podem ser facilitadoras e utilizadas nas disciplinas de Educação Visual e Educação Tecnológica. Além de pesquisa de documentação existente sobre temáticas em torno deste tema, houve também uma parte experimental com alunos de 5º ano de forma a compreender no campo como estes reagem à inclusão das tecnologias nas disciplinas.To complete the Master's Degree in Visual and Technological Education in Basic Education, at the Escola Superior de Educação de Viseu, this final report was prepared. This is composed of two parts, a first part with a contextualization and analysis of the three Supervised Teaching Practices, which aims to present a summary of a long work carried out in the practice of supervised teaching, which has an essential importance for the performance of the function we propose as professionals, and, in the second part of the research project carried out without a sense of perception. digital applications and tools can be facilitators and used in the disciplines of Visual Education and Technological Education. In addition to researching existing documentation on topics surrounding this topic, there was also an experimental part with 5th year students in order to understand the area and how they react, including the technologies present in the subjects

Influência de cinco tipos de porta-enxerto na produção e nas características dos frutos da cultivar Thompson Seedless no Submédio São Francisco.

O presente trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar aspectos relacionados à produção e ao crescimento vegetativo da cultivar Thompson Seedless, bem como características e composição química dos frutos, sob a influência de cinco diferentes porta-enxertos (IAC 766, Couderc 1613, Harmony, Paulsen 1103 e 420A), nas condições do Vale do São Francisco, a fim de recomendar uma cultivar porta-enxerto que tenha afinidade com a variedade copa estudada

Influence of Immobilization Strategies on the Antibacterial Properties of Antimicrobial Peptide-Chitosan Coatings

It is key to fight bacterial adhesion to prevent biofilm establishment on biomaterials. Surface immobilization of antimicrobial peptides (AMP) is a promising strategy to avoid bacterial colonization. This work aimed to investigate whether the direct surface immobilization of Dhvar5, an AMP with head-to-tail amphipathicity, would improve the antimicrobial activity of chitosan ultrathin coatings. The peptide was grafted by copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) chemistry by either its C- or N- terminus to assess the influence of peptide orientation on surface properties and antimicrobial activity. These features were compared with those of coatings fabricated using previously described Dhvar5-chitosan conjugates (immobilized in bulk). The peptide was chemoselectively immobilized onto the coating by both termini. Moreover, the covalent immobilization of Dhvar5 by either terminus enhanced the antimicrobial effect of the chitosan coating by decreasing colonization by both Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa) bacteria. Relevantly, the antimicrobial performance of the surface on Gram-positive bacteria depended on how Dhvar5-chitosan coatings were produced. An antiadhesive effect was observed when the peptide was grafted onto prefabricated chitosan coatings (film), and a bactericidal effect was exhibited when coatings were prepared from Dhvar5-chitosan conjugates (bulk). This antiadhesive effect was not due to changes in surface wettability or protein adsorption but rather depended on variations in peptide concentration, exposure, and surface roughness. Results reported in this study show that the antibacterial potency and effect of immobilized AMP vary greatly with the immobilization procedure. Overall, independently of the fabrication protocol and mechanism of action, Dhvar5-chitosan coatings are a promising strategy for the development of antimicrobial medical devices, either as an antiadhesive or contact-killing surface.This work was financed by the FCT- Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia through projects POCI-01-0145-FEDER-031781 (AntINFECT), UIB/50006/2020 (LAQV-REQUIMTE) and FEDER—Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional through NORTE 2020—Programa Operacional Regional do Norte-Bio2Skin Advanced (NORTE-01-0247-FEDER-047225). M Barbosa (SFRH/BD/108966/2015) and Pedro Alves (SFRH/BD/145471/2019) Ph.D. grants were financially supported by national (FCT/Norte 2020 Framework) and European Union funds (ESF—European Social Fund). Paula Parreira (CEECIND/01210/2018) and Maria Cristina L. Martins (LA/P/0070/2020) also thank FCT for funding. Maria Cristina L. Martins also acknowledges the MOBILIsE Project, which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement no. 951723

Tin determination in fistula seals from Conimbriga and Augusta Emerita

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A modeling domain-specific language for IoT-enabled operating systems

With the increased complexity of low-end devices in the Internet of Things (IoT), mainly due to the connectivity and interoperability requirements, the development and configuration of embedded operating systems (OSes) for such devices is not straight forward. The complexity of the communication requirements is usually mitigated by the OS, e.g., the Contiki-OS, as it already incorporates an IoT-compliant network stack. Yet, the configuration of such stack requires major knowledge on the code structure, leading to additional development time, particularly when the network comprises several wireless nodes and individual configurations with subsequent firmware that needs to be generated. Based on a developed software modeling domain-specific language, this paper presents the EL4IoT framework. It aims to reduce and ease the development time by promoting a design automation tool that can configure, and automatically generate code (ready to compile) for low-end IoT devices running the Contiki-OS. Although leveraging the whole Contiki-OS modeling, this work only refactored and modeled the network stack while approaching the OS itself as one big building block or component. The proposed approach can be extended to other IoT-enabled OSes as well as integrated in other design automation tools.This work has been supported by COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043 and FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2013. Tiago Gomes is supported by FCT PhD grant SFRH/BD/90162/2012

Use of CPAP to Reduce Arterial Stiffness in Moderate-to-Severe Obstructive Sleep Apnoea, Without Excessive Daytime Sleepiness (STIFFSLEEP): an Observational Cohort Study Protocol

INTRODUCTION: Sleepiness is a cardinal symptom in obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) but most patients have unspecific symptoms. Arterial stiffness, evaluated by pulse wave velocity (PWV), is related to atherosclerosis and cardiovascular (CV) risk. Arterial stiffness was reported to be higher in patients with OSA, improving after treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). This study aims to assess whether the same effect occurs in patients with OSA and without sleepiness. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This observational study assesses the CV effect of CPAP therapy on a cohort of patients with moderate-to-severe OSA; the effect on the subcohorts of sleepy and non-sleepy patients will be compared. A systematic and consecutive sample of patients advised CPAP therapy will be recruited from a single outpatient sleep clinic (Centro Hospitalar de Lisboa Central-CHLC, Portugal). Eligible patients are male, younger than 65 years, with confirmed moderate-to-severe OSA and apnoea-hypopnea index (AHI) above 15/hour. Other sleep disorders, diabetes or any CV disease other than hypertension are exclusion criteria. Clinical evaluation at baseline includes Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), and sleepiness is defined as ESS above 10. OSA will be confirmed by polygraphic study (cardiorespiratory, level 3). Participants are advised to undertake an assessment of carotid-femoral PWV (cf-PWV) and 24 hours evaluation of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM), at baseline and after 4 months of CPAP therapy. Compliance and effectiveness of CPAP will be assessed. The main outcome is the variation of cf-PWV over time