Revolving doors and conflicts of interest in health regulatory agencies in Brazil

Regulatory health agencies exist in most public health systems (PHS) and play a crucial role in enacting regulation and overseeing economic activities in order to ensure the quality of health systems, goods and services.1 Multiple practices of corruption such as bribery or fraud have been reported in health policy and systems.2 Public health agencies are particularly susceptible to ‘regulatory capture’,3 4 a process by which an agency advances the special interests of the industries and of other actors it is entrusted with regulating. One of the mechanisms that can potentially lead to an agency capture is the so-called ‘revolving door’,5 the situation where an exchange of roles between public regulators and regulated institutions may result in health policy decisions which are biased in favour of industry interests. Revolving doors have previously been described in the USA and Europe, with an emphasis on legislative, energy, financial and patent agencies. However, there is little empirical evidence on the scale and scope of this problem in PHS. In this commentary, we explore the extent of the revolving doors phenomenon in Brazil by analysing the professional trajectories of public agents who held high positions at the two key health regulatory agencies in the country between 1999 and 2018

Composición del material particulado-PM 2.5 del aire de Cucuta-Colombia:Cuantificación de Hidrocarburos Aromaticos Policiclicos

El creciente interés existente en la actualidad por la investigación en el campo del material particulado atmosférico, se debe a la identificación de efectos adversos de este contaminante sobre la salud y los ecosistemas. El conocimiento de la composición química de las partículas que se encuentran en el aire es importante desde el punto de vista epidemiológico y técnico, ya que permite determinar el potencial efecto en la salud humana por la presencia de sustancias tóxicas y cancerígenas adheridas a este diminuto material. La razón más importante que motiva el estudio de estos compuestos, tanto en la cantidad como en el tipo, son los peligros para la salud que presentan o pueden presentar las exposiciones a largo plazo. En este estudio se realizó la cuantificación de hidrocarburos aromáticos poli cíclicos (HAP) presentes en muestras de material particulado fracción respirable PM2.5 del aire de la ciudad de Cúcuta - Norte deSantander- Colombia, inicialmente la materia orgánica presente en el material particulado PM2.5 se extrajo por ultrasonido con DCM como solvente de extracción,seguido de la concentración en un rotaevaporador, obteniéndose el extracto global,parte del cual se sometió a un proceso de fraccionamiento en una columna de silicagel ,obteniéndose finalmente tres fracciones. El contenido del extracto global y las tres fracciones se analizó en un cromatografo de gases Agilent 6890 plus con detector FIDpara realizar la cuantificación de los HAP presentes en el material particulado PM2.5.Entre los HAPs  identificados se encuentran: Naftaleno, Fluoreno, Fenantreno, Benzo(a)antraceno, Pireno, Dibenzo(a,h) antraceno e Indeno (1,2,3,c-d-pireno),estos HAPs son compuestos  tóxicos, mutágenos y carcinógenos para los animales y los seres humanossegún la agencia internacional de investigación del cáncer (IARC

InSync

Version 1.0 ====================================== Abstract: ====================================== The InSync data set was collected at the Pervasive Computing lab at Ulster University. It consists of subjects performing activities of daily living (ADLs) in an atmosphere that mimics a real-life environment while data is collected using three different sensing technologies: inertial, image, and audio. The data set can be used to research human activity recognition algorithms to tackle problems on classification, transfer learning, data fusion, data segmentation, feature extraction, so on and so forth. Number of instances: ====================================== 16,959 (inertial data points) + 650 (thermal images) + 16,986 (audio files) Relevant information: ====================================== InSync contains 12 hours of data from ten subjects, consisting of 78 runs (times that a subject performed the scripted protocol). Sensor data from three different technologies (inertial, images and audio) captured the performance (not simulation) of the subjects performing ADLs. All the activities were annotated a posteriori using a video stream. ***** ACTIVITIES OF DAILY LIVING As the data set aimed at recording the subject's physical activity performance. The tasks consisted of ADLs and well-known scenarios. Three general scenarios were chosen, a bedroom-related scenario in which the subjects performed two of the ADLs, namely, personal hygiene and dressing, a breakfast-related scenario was chosen to embrace the ADL of feeding as it has extensively been used in literature, and free of obstacle scenario in which the subjects can walk alongside to demonstrate their transferring capabilities. The script was designed with nine high-level activities: Bedroom: (1) Napping (2) Wearing joggers (3) Combing hair (4) Brushing teeth Corridor: (5) Operating door Kitchen: (6) Drinking water (7) Eating cereal Livingroom: (8) Transporting (i.e. walking) (9) Resting (i.e. sitting in a chair) Details of the room's dimensions and sensor locations are available in the Relevant Papers. ***** SENSING TECHNOLOGY The deployed sensing technology included thirteen shimmer devices enabled with 3-axis accelerometers, four Matrix Voice ESP32 consisting of eight embedded microphones and four Thermal Vision Sensor (TVS). The sensing technology was placed as described next: Shimmers wore by the subject: - Right wrist - Left wrist - Lower back - Upper back - Right shoe Shimmers mounted on everyday items: - Comb - Toothbrush - Glass - Spoon - Jogger - Belt - Strap to mimic a watch - Strap to mimic smart shoe Matrix Voice ESP32 (one located in each room): - Bedroom - Corridor - Kitchen - Livingroom Thermal sensor (one located in each room): - Bedroom - Corridor - Kitchen - Livingroom Attribute information: ====================================== The data set comprises the readings of inertial sensors, thermal images, and audio files to recorded performed ADLs. There is a total of 60 attributes for the inertial data which includes the mean value and root-mean-square (RMS) from x, y, and z-axis. The thermal data consists of grayscale images in 32x32 pixels, and the audio data consists of 44.1 kHz waveform audio files. A list of videos of the experiment can be seen in the following links. Bedroom: (1) napping: https://youtu.be/IqWLKsgch6A (2) wearing joggers: https://youtu.be/FJBjO9C4Q4U (3) combing hair: https://youtu.be/bYKrKbVBNos (4) brushing teeth: https://youtu.be/wuVkrWlsmSs Corridor: (5) operating door: https://youtu.be/pWJjx3TH6Q4 Kitchen: (6) drinking water: https://youtu.be/wS9OBKK_LFY (7) eating cereal: https://youtu.be/nOK8TuyCXBA Livingroom: (8) transporting (i.e. walking): https://youtu.be/45MGsYS9cYg (9) resting (i.e. sitting in a chair): https://youtu.be/45MGsYS9cYg IMPORTANT: The videos previously provided were recorded using conventional webcams. The videos were used as ground truth; they were not used for training nor testing purposes. Note that the participant's identity has been considered by blurring their face. The speed of the videos varies as different sampling rates were used when recording the videos

Detecting the presence-absence of bluefin tuna by automated analysis of medium-range sonars on fishing vessels

This study presents a methodology for the automated analysis of commercial medium-range sonar signals for detecting presence/absence of bluefin tuna (Tunnus thynnus) in the Bay of Biscay. The approach uses image processing techniques to analyze sonar screenshots. For each sonar image we extracted measurable regions and analyzed their characteristics. Scientific data was used to classify each region into a class (“tuna” or “no-tuna”) and build a dataset to train and evaluate classification models by using supervised learning. The methodology performed well when validated with commercial sonar screenshots, and has the potential to automatically analyze high volumes of data at a low cost. This represents a first milestone towards the development of acoustic, fishery-independent indices of abundance for bluefin tuna in the Bay of Biscay. Future research lines and additional alternatives to inform stock assessments are also discussed

Performance evaluation of a hybrid vehicle and sensor network to prevent traffic accidents

In recent years, wireless networks have become a widespread communication technology as well as a research challenge. Many contributions have been made on ad hoc networks, such as wireless sensor networks (WSNs) and vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs). Recently, the number of cars on our streets, roads, and highways has been increasing, giving rise to a great interest in vehicular communication technologies. This paper presents an hybrid sensor and vehicular network (HSVN) platform, as well as the description and evaluation of a communication protocol between VANETs and WSNs using a network simulator for its evaluation

Deciphering interplay between Salmonella invasion effectors

Bacterial pathogens have evolved a specialized type III secretion system (T3SS) to translocate virulence effector proteins directly into eukaryotic target cells. Salmonellae deploy effectors that trigger localized actin reorganization to force their own entry into non-phagocytic host cells. Six effectors (SipC, SipA, SopE/2, SopB, SptP) can individually manipulate actin dynamics at the plasma membrane, which acts as a ‘signaling hub’ during Salmonella invasion. The extent of crosstalk between these spatially coincident effectors remains unknown. Here we describe trans and cis binary entry effector interplay (BENEFIT) screens that systematically examine functional associations between effectors following their delivery into the host cell. The results reveal extensive ordered synergistic and antagonistic relationships and their relative potency, and illuminate an unexpectedly sophisticated signaling network evolved through longstanding pathogen–host interaction

Recurring adaptive introgression of a supergene variant that determines social organization

Introgression has been proposed as an essential source of adaptive genetic variation. However, a key barrier to adaptive introgression is that recombination can break down combinations of alleles that underpin many traits. This barrier might be overcome in supergene regions, where suppressed recombination leads to joint inheritance across many loci. Here, we study the evolution of a large supergene region that determines a major social and ecological trait in Solenopsis fire ants: whether colonies have one queen or multiple queens. Using coalescent-based phylogenies built from the genomes of 365 haploid fire ant males, we show that the supergene variant responsible for multiple-queen colonies evolved in one species and repeatedly spread to other species through introgressive hybridization. This finding highlights how supergene architecture can enable a complex adaptive phenotype to recurrently permeate species boundaries

Influence of opioids on immune function in patients with cancer pain: from bench to bedside

In patients with cancer, opioids are principally used for the management of acute surgical and chronic cancer-related pain. However, opioids have many non-analgesic effects, including direct and indirect effects on cancer cells and on anti-tumour immunity (NK cells, macrophages and T-cells). Direct effects on immune cells are manifested via opioid and non-opioid toll-like receptors, whereas indirect effects are manifested via the sympathetic nervous system and hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis. Opioids can also decrease/alter immune cell infiltration into the tumour micro-environment. Animal models have shown that this is not a class effect, in that morphine and fentanyl suppress NK cell cytotoxicity; buprenorphine does not affect NK cell cytotoxicity, whereas tramadol increases NK cell cytotoxicity, reducing metastasis. In healthy individuals, morphine suppresses and fentanyl enhances NK cell cytotoxicity. In patients undergoing surgery, fentanyl decreased and tramadol increased NK cell cytotoxicity; clinical outcomes were not determined. Meta-analyses of opioid-sparing surgical studies report an association between improved recurrence-free and/or overall survival with regional/neuraxial anaesthesia compared with systemic opioids. In patients receiving opioids for non-surgical cancer-related pain, morphine has variable effects on immunity; clinical outcomes were not assessed. Although there is a potential association between systemic opioid administration and shorter survival in cancer patients with a prognosis of months to years, studies have not been designed to primarily assess survival, as a consequence of which causality cannot be apportioned. Pain is immunosuppressive, so analgesia is important. Opioids for cancer-related pain will continue to be recommended until definitive data on the effects of opioids on clinical outcomes in specific patient groups becomes available

Strings in AdS_4 x CP^3: finite size spectrum vs. Bethe Ansatz

We compute the first curvature corrections to the spectrum of light-cone gauge type IIA string theory that arise in the expansion of $AdS_4\times \mathbb{CP}^3$ about a plane-wave limit. The resulting spectrum is shown to match precisely, both in magnitude and degeneration that of the corresponding solutions of the all-loop Gromov--Vieira Bethe Ansatz. The one-loop dispersion relation correction is calculated for all the single oscillator states of the theory, with the level matching condition lifted. It is shown to have all logarithmic divergences cancelled and to leave only a finite exponentially suppressed contribution, as shown earlier for light bosons. We argue that there is no ambiguity in the choice of the regularization for the self-energy sum, since the regularization applied is the only one preserving unitarity. Interaction matrices in the full degenerate two-oscillator sector are calculated and the spectrum of all two light magnon oscillators is completely determined. The same finite-size corrections, at the order 1/J, where $J$ is the length of the chain, in the two-magnon sector are calculated from the all loop Bethe Ansatz. The corrections obtained by the two completely different methods coincide up to the fourth order in $\lambda' =\lambda/J^2$. We conjecture that the equivalence extends to all orders in $\lambda$ and to higher orders in 1/J.Comment: 32 pages. Published version; journal reference adde

Holographic three-point functions of giant gravitons

Working within the AdS/CFT correspondence we calculate the three-point function of two giant gravitons and one pointlike graviton using methods of semiclassical string theory and considering both the case where the giant gravitons wrap an S^3 in S^5 and the case where the giant gravitons wrap an S^3 in AdS_5. We likewise calculate the correlation function in N=4 SYM using two Schur polynomials and a single trace chiral primary. We find that the gauge and string theory results have structural similarities but do not match perfectly, and interpret this in terms of the Schur polynomials' inability to interpolate between dual giant and pointlike gravitons.Comment: 21 page