Alinhamento de vocabulário de domínio utilizando os sistemas AML e LogMap

Introduction: In the context of the Semantic Web, interoperability among heterogeneous ontologies is a challenge due to several factors, among which semantic ambiguity and redundancy stand out. To overcome these challenges, systems and algorithms are adopted to align different ontologies. In this study, it is understood that controlled vocabularies are a particular form of ontology. Objective: to obtain a vocabulary resulting from the alignment and fusion of the Vocabularies Scientific Domains and Scientific Areas of the Foundation for Science and Technology, - FCT, European Science Vocabulary - EuroSciVoc and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization - UNESCO nomenclature for fields of Science and Technology, in the Computing Sciences domain, to be used in the IViSSEM project. Methodology: literature review on systems/algorithms for ontology alignment, using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses - PRISMA methodology; alignment of the three vocabularies; and validation of the resulting vocabulary by means of a Delphi study. Results: we proceeded to analyze the 25 ontology alignment systems and variants that participated in at least one track of the Ontology Alignment Evaluation Initiative competition between 2018 and 2019. From these systems, Agreement Maker Light and Log Map were selected to perform the alignment of the three vocabularies, making a cut to the area of Computer Science. Conclusion: The vocabulary was obtained from Agreement Maker Light for having presented a better performance. At the end, a vocabulary with 98 terms was obtained in the Computer Science domain to be adopted by the IViSSEM project. The alignment resulted from the vocabularies used by FCT (Portugal), with the one adopted by the European Union (EuroSciVoc) and another one from the domain of Science & Technology (UNESCO). This result is beneficial to other universities and projects, as well as to FCT itself.Introdução: No contexto da Web Semântica, a interoperabilidade entre ontologias heterogêneas é um desafio devido a diversos fatores entre os quais se destacam a ambiguidade e a redundância semântica. Para superar tais desafios, adota-se sistemas e algoritmos para alinhamento de diferentes ontologias. Neste estudo, entende-se que vocabulários controlados são uma forma particular de ontologias. Objetivo: obter um vocabulário resultante do alinhamento e fusão dos vocabulários Domínios Científicos e Áreas Científicas da Fundação para Ciência e Tecnologia, - FCT, European Science Vocabulary - EuroSciVoc e Organização das Nações Unidas para a Educação, a Ciência e a Cultura - UNESCO nomenclature for fields of Science and Technology, no domínio Ciências da Computação, para ser usado no âmbito do projeto IViSSEM. Metodologia: revisão da literatura sobre sistemas/algoritmos para alinhamento de ontologias, utilizando a metodologia Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses - PRISMA; alinhamento dos três vocabulários; e validação do vocabulário resultante por meio do estudo Delphi. Resultados: procedeu-se à análise dos 25 sistemas de alinhamento de ontologias e variantes que participaram de pelo menos uma track da competição Ontology Alignment Evaluation Iniciative entre 2018 e 2019. Destes sistemas foram selecionados Agreement Maker Light e LogMap para realizar o alinhamento dos três vocabulários, fazendo um recorte para a área da Ciência da Computação. Conclusão: O vocabulário foi obtido a partir do Agreement Maker Light por ter apresentado uma melhor performance. Ao final foi obtido o vocabulário, com 98 termos, no domínio da Ciência da Computação a ser adotado pelo projeto IViSSEM. O alinhamento resultou dos vocabulários utilizados pela FCT (Portugal), com o adotado pela União Europeia (EuroSciVoc) e outro do domínio da Ciência&Tecnologia (UNESCO). Esse resultado é proveitoso para outras universidades e projetos, bem como para a própria FCT

Non‐invasive telemonitoring improves outcomes in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction : a study in high‐risk patients

© 2020 The Authors. ESC Heart Failure published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.Aims: Non-invasive telemonitoring (TM) in patients with heart failure (HF) and reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (HFrEF) may be useful in the early diagnosis of HF decompensation, allowing therapeutic optimization and avoiding re-hospitalization. We describe a TM programme in this population and evaluate its effectiveness during a 12 month period. Methods and results: We conducted a single-centre study of patients discharged from hospital after decompensated HF, allocated into three groups: prospective TM programme, prospective HF protocol follow-up programme (PFP) with no TM facilities, and retrospective propensity-matched usual care (UC). TM effectiveness was assessed by all-cause hospitalizations and mortality; HF-related hospitalization (HFH), days lost to unplanned hospital admissions/death, functional capacity and quality of life (New York Heart Association, Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire, 6 min walk test, and plasma N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide) were also evaluated. A total of 125 patients were included [65.9 ± 11.9 years, 32% female, left ventricular ejection fraction 27% (21-32)]. TM was similar to PFP regarding effectiveness; TM reduced all-cause hospitalization and mortality (HR 0.27; 95% CI 0.11-0.71; P < 0.01) and HFH (HR 0.29; 95% CI 0.10-0.89; P < 0.05) as compared with UC. TM reduced the average number of days lost due to unplanned hospital admissions or all-cause death as compared with PFP (5.6 vs. 12.4 days, P < 0.05) and UC (5.6 vs. 48.8 days, P < 0.01). Impact on quality of life was similar between TM and PFP (P = 0.36). Conclusions: In patients with HFrEF and recent HF hospitalization, non-invasive TM reduced 12 month all-cause hospitalization/mortality and HFH as compared with usual care. TM also reduced the number of days lost due to unplanned hospital admission/death as compared with either an optimized protocol-based follow-up programme or usual care.This work was supported by National Health System programme with specific budget attributed to non-invasive TM of HF patients. TM was performed in cooperation with Linde Healthcare®, which had no role in the data interpretation or writing of the report. The corresponding author had full access to all the data in the study and had the final responsibility for the decision to submit for publication.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Digestibility and feeding behavior of cattle fed soybean hulls to replace corn in high concentrate diets

The objective of this study was to evaluate the replacement of 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% of ground corn (GC) with pelleted soybean hulls (SH) in the concentrate portion of cattle diets. The evaluation was conducted using five 13-month-old Nellore steers cannulated in the rumen, with a mean body weight of 265.00 + 11.60 kg. The steers received a diet composed of 90% concentrate and 10% sugarcane bagasse as the only source of roughage. The statistical design used was a 5x5 Latin square. There was no effect (p > 0.05) of replacement levels or interaction (p > 0.05) between replacement levels and sampling time on ruminal pH, which ranged from 5.8 to 6.0. The apparent digestibility of DM, CP, EE, CHOT and CHONF were not influenced (p > 0.05) by the replacement levels, showing mean values of 67.88 + 2.02; 67.43 + 2.89; 68.29 + 4.11; 70.54 + 1.68 and 80.21 + 1.85%, respectively. The NDF digestibility increased linearly (p 0.05) of replacement levels on time spent feeding (F) and total idle time (TI), with mean values of 10.51 and 4.61% of the day, respectively. However there was a quadratic effect (p < 0.05) of soybean hull inclusion on the time spent ruminating. It was concluded that although the replacement of corn with soybean hull does not improve the ruminal pH of steers fed diets with a high proportion of concentrate, pelleted soybean hulls improve the digestibility of the fibrous fraction of the diet and increase the time spent ruminating, indicating that this ingredient can be included in high-concentrate diets to improve economic efficiency

Análise do efeito imunomodulador da prática de atividade física frente ao COVID-19 / Analysis of the immunomodulatory effect of physical activity against COVID-19

A pandemia originada com o surgimento de uma doença respiratória viral denominada Doença do Novo Coronavírus em 2019 (COVID-19) tornou claro que, apesar das medidas de higiene em saúde coletiva e isolamento social impostas pelos órgãos de saúde, fatores como a capacidade de defesa imunológica do hospedeiro são de suma importância na análise da eficácia de medidas para o controle da contaminação popular. Assim sendo, a prática regular de atividade física de moderada intensidade se mostra crucial no aprimoramento do sistema imune em defesa ao Coronavírus. Sua capacidade de estimular uma resposta celular de padrão predominantemente anti-inflamatório (com predomínio essencialmente da interleucina 6 e 10) e modular a distribuição, fenótipo e atuação dos macrófagos e leucócitos no combate do patógeno está diretamente relacionada com a menor chance de contaminação não somente pelo coronavírus, mas também por infecções virais como influenza. Desta forma, a recomendação da prática de pelo menos 150 minutos por semana de atividade física moderada se torna uma das medidas de auxílio na prevenção da contaminação pelo COVID-19 ao promover bom padrão global de saúde e aprimorar a defesa imunológica do indivíduo

Câncer de mama recem diagnósticado: do diagnóstico ao tratamento / Newly diagnosed breast cancer: from diagnosis to treatment

Introdução: Neoplasia maligna mais frequentemente diagnosticada, o câncer (CA) de mama é a principal causa de morte por câncer em mulheres. Objetivos: O objetivo desse estudo é revisar sobre o diagnóstico, o estadiamento e manejo das pacientes com câncer de mama recém diagnosticado. Métodos: Os bancos de dados Pubmed, Diretrizes e UpToDate foram pesquisados eletronicamente utilizando os descritores câncer de mama, massa mamária, neoplasia de mama nos idiomas inglês e português. Discussão e Conclusão: O diagnóstico de câncer de mama é definido pela presença de células epiteliais malignas (carcinoma) no exame histológico. Ele é tratado com uma abordagem multidisciplinar envolvendo oncologia cirúrgica, oncologia por radiação e oncologia médica, que tem sido associada à redução da mortalidade por câncer de mama

Influenza seroprotection correlates with predominant circulating viruses during 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons in Portugal

Rede Portuguesa de Laboratórios para o Diagnóstico da GripeBACKGROUND: Population immune profile for influenza is highly affected by circulating influenza viruses, thus changing the risk of infection for influenza. This study aims to assess influenza immunity in the Portuguese population by age groups, during 2014 and 2015 and establish a relationship between seroprotection and circulating influenza viruses in 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons. METHODS: Two cross-sectional studies were developed based on a convenience serum sample collected in June 2014 (n=626) and July 2015 (n=675) in hospitals from mainland and Azores and Madeira.Serums equally represent all age groups. Antibody titers were evaluated by HI assay for strains recommended for seasonal influenza vaccine northern hemisphere,2014/15 and 2015/2016. Seroprevalences were estimated for each strain by age group and the association with seasonal cumulative influenza-like illness (ILI) rates for influenza virus during both seasons was analised. RESULTS: In June 2014 the highest seroprotection was observed for influenza A(H3) (39.0%; 95% CI: 36.2-43.8%) and A(H1)pdm09 (29.7; 95% CI: 26.3-33.4%), with higher levels in children 5-14 years old. In 2014/2015 a dominant circulation of influenza B/Yamagata was observed with high incidence rates in individuals under 65 years old, the ones that had lower seroprotection. Although before the start of the season high protection for A(H3) was observed, the circulation of the new drift A(H3) strains had gained an immunological advantage,in accordance with A(H3) elevated incidence rates observed during 2014/15. In July 2015 the highest seroprotection was observed for influenza B/ Yamagata (55.1%; 95% CI: 51.4-58.9%), 2.4 times the estimated 2014.This increase was even more pronounced in younger (≤ 4 years old), 6.3 times increase in 2015.This fact is in agreement with the predominant influenza B virus detected and the high ILI incidence rate observed in children during 2014/2015 epidemic. Seroprotection levels for influenza A in July 2015 were not significantly different from 2014.During 2015/16 season, influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 was predominant, with high incidence rate in < 65 year old. Influenza B/Victoria lineage,although detected at low levels increased in frequency, in agreement with the lowest level of seroprotection detected in the general population before the start of 2015/2016 season (21.8%; 95% CI: 18.7-24.0%). CONCLUSIONS There was a correlation between virus circulation, incidence rates for each age group and the previous seroprotection for seasonal influenza viruses.Our study highlights the value of measuring the serological profile for influenza to establishe risk groups for infection for which an increase preventive measures, including vaccination, should be fostered.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Complete blood count parameters as biomarkers of retinopathy of prematurity: a Portuguese multicenter study

© The Author(s) 2023. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.Purpose: To evaluate complete blood count (CBC) parameters in the first week of life as predictive biomarkers for the development of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). Methods: Multicenter, prospective, observational study of a cohort of preterm infants born with gestational age (GA) < 32 weeks or birth weight < 1500 g in eight Portuguese neonatal intensive care units. All demographic, clinical, and laboratory data from the first week of life were collected. Univariate logistic regression was used to assess risk factors for ROP and then multivariate regression was performed. Results: A total of 455 infants were included in the study. The median GA was 29.6 weeks, and the median birth weight was 1295 g. One hundred and seventy-two infants (37.8%) developed ROP. Median values of erythrocytes (p < 0.001), hemoglobin (p < 0.001), hematocrit (p < 0.001), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (p < 0.001), lymphocytes (p = 0.035), and platelets (p = 0.003) of the group of infants diagnosed with ROP any stage were lower than those without ROP. Mean corpuscular volume (MCV) (p = 0.044), red blood cell distribution width (RDW) (p < 0.001), erythroblasts (p < 0.001), neutrophils (p = 0.030), neutrophils-lymphocytes ratio (p = 0.028), and basophils (p = 0.003) were higher in the ROP group. Higher values of MCV, erythroblasts, and basophils remained significantly associated with ROP after multivariate regression. Conclusion: In our cohort, the increase in erythroblasts, MCV, and basophils in the first week of life was significantly and independently associated with the development of ROP. These CBC parameters may be early predictive biomarkers for ROP.Open access funding provided by FCT|FCCN (b-on). This work was supported by the Laboratório de Genética and the Instituto de Saúde Ambiental (ISAMB) of the Faculdade de Medicina of Universidade de Lisboa and the Instituto de Investigação Científica Bento da Rocha Cabral. The writing of the manuscript was also supported by funds from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia to ISAMB (ref. UIDB/04295/2020 and UIDP/04295/2020). This work was also part of a doctoral project funding by the company CUF with a PhD grant in Medicine awarded in 2021 and by the Portuguese Society of Ophthalmology with a PhD grant awarded in 2019.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Mycobacterium tuberculosis associated with severe tuberculosis evades cytosolic surveillance systems and modulates IL-1β production

Genetic diversity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis affects immune responses and clinical outcomes of tuberculosis (TB). However, how bacterial diversity orchestrates immune responses to direct distinct TB severities is unknown. Here we study 681 patients with pulmonary TB and show that M. tuberculosis isolates from cases with mild disease consistently induce robust cytokine responses in macrophages across multiple donors. By contrast, bacteria from patients with severe TB do not do so. Secretion of IL-1β is a good surrogate of the differences observed, and thus to classify strains as probable drivers of different TB severities. Furthermore, we demonstrate that M. tuberculosis isolates that induce low levels of IL-1β production can evade macrophage cytosolic surveillance systems, including cGAS and the inflammasome. Isolates exhibiting this evasion strategy carry candidate mutations, generating sigA recognition boxes or affecting components of the ESX-1 secretion system. Therefore, we provide evidence that M. tuberculosis strains manipulate host-pathogen interactions to drive variable TB severities

Influenza severe cases in hospitals, between 2014 and 2016 in Portugal

Rede Portuguesa de Laboratórios para o Diagnóstico da GripeBackground: Since 2009, the Portuguese Laboratory Network (PLNID) for Influenza Diagnosis has integrated 15 Laboratories in mainland and Atlantic Islands of Azores and Madeira. This PLNID added an important contribute to the National Influenza Surveillance Program regarding severe and hospitalized influenza cases. The present study aims to describe influenza viruses detected in influenza like illness (ILI) cases: outpatients (Outp), hospitalized (Hosp), and intensive care units (ICU), between 2014 and 2016. Methods: The PLNID performs influenza virus diagnosis by biomolecular methodologies. Weekly reports to the National Influenza Reference Laboratory ILI cases tested for influenza. Reports include data on detecting viruses, hospital assistance, antiviral therapeutics, and information on death outcome. Were reported during two winter seasons 8059 ILI cases,being 3560 cases in 2014/15 (1024 in Outp, 1750 Hosp, and 606 in ICU) and 4499 cases in 2015/2016 (1933 in Outp, 1826 Hosp, and 740 in ICU). Results: The higher percentage of influenza positive cases were detected in Outp in both seasons, 18% during 2014/15 and 20% in 2015/16. In 2014/15,influenza cases were more frequent in individuals older than 65 years old and these required more hospitalizations,even in ICU. In 2015/16,the influenza cases were mainly detected in individuals between 15-64 years old. A higher proportion of influenza positive cases with hospitalization in ICU were observed in adults between 45-64 years old.During the study period,the predominant circulating influenza viruses were different in the two seasons: influenza B and A(H3) co-circulated in 2014/15,and influenza A(H1)pdm09 was predominant during 2015/16. Even when influenza A is notthe dominant virus, A(H3) and A(H1)pdm09 subtypes correlate with higher detection rate in hospitalized cases (Hosp and UCI), with higher frequencies in adults older than 45. Influenza B,detected in higher proportion in outpatients, was frequently relatedwith influenza cases in younger age groups: 0-4 and 5-14 years old. Conclusions: This study highlights the correlation of theinfluenza virus type/subtype that circulates in each season with the possible need for hospitalization and intensive care in special groups of the population. Circulation of influenza A subtypes can cause more frequentdisease in individuals older than 45, with need of hospitalization including intensive care. On the other hand, influenza B is more frequently associated with less severe cases and with infection in children and younger adults. Influenza B circulation might predict lower number of hospitalizations.The identification of influenza type in circulation,byPLNID ineach season, could guide action planning measures in population health care.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio