Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves to identify birth weight cutoffs to predict overweight in Mexican school children

OBJETIVO: Identificar pontos de corte do peso ao nascer na predição do excesso de peso em crianças e adolescentes mexicanos em idade escolar da cidade de Chilpancingo, México, em 2004. MÉTODOS: Seiscentos e sessenta e dois escolares de ambos os sexos, entre 5 e 13 anos, foram selecionados por amostragem probabilística, com partilha proporcional ao tamanho. Medidas do peso ao nascer foram extraídas das carteiras de vacinação. Para a classificação do estado nutricional, utilizaram-se pontos de corte do índice de massa corporal (IMC) segundo idade e sexo. Equações de predição foram construídas utilizando-se modelos de regressão linear. Áreas sob as curvas ROC (receiver operating characteristic) foram calculadas e curvas ROC de dois gráficos (TG-ROC) foram construídas, respectivamente, para detecção da acurácia global e identificação de pontos de corte do peso ao nascer, correspondentes à intersecção das curvas de sensibilidade e especificidade. RESULTADOS: Entre as crianças, a prevalência de excesso de peso foi maior no sexo feminino (46%) que no masculino (38,5%); entre adolescentes, as respectivas prevalências foram de 43,5 e 38,9%. O IMC médio e os decis de peso ao nascer apresentaram relação linear. As áreas sob as curvas ROC apresentaram valores > 78% em cada estrato, detectando-se diferença, em relação ao sexo, no grupo de adolescentes. As curvas TG-ROC apresentaram pontos de corte do peso ao nascer mais elevados nos meninos que nas meninas, e as intersecções das curvas de sensibilidade e especificidade foram > 0,70. CONCLUSÕES: Os resultados do estudo indicaram que pontos de corte do peso ao nascer podem ser utilizados como marcadores de excesso de peso, na infância e adolescência, constituindo-se em estratégia para o rastreamento de grupos de risco.OBJECTIVE: To identify birth weight cutoffs to predict overweight in school children and adolescents from Chilpancingo, Mexico, in 2004. METHODS: Six hundred and sixty-two male and female children between 5 and 13 years old were selected by probability sampling. Birth weight measures were extracted from vaccination cards. The school children's nutritional status was defined using specific body mass index (BMI) cutoffs according to sex and age. Predicting equations were built using linear regression models. Areas under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were calculated and two-graph (TG) ROC curves were plotted, respectively, to detect global accuracy and to identify birth weight cutoffs corresponding to the intersection of sensitivity and specificity curves. RESULTS: Overweight prevalence was higher in female (46%) than in male school children (38.5%). Among adolescents, the prevalence of overweight was also higher in females (43.5%) than in males (38.9%). BMI average and birth weight deciles showed a linear relation. Areas under ROC curves showed values > 78% in each stratum of sex and age, depicting a difference by sex in adolescents. TG-ROC curves showed that birth weight cutoffs were slightly higher in boys than in girls, and the sensitivity/specificity intersections were > 0.70. CONCLUSIONS: The study results showed that birth weight cutoffs can be used as overweight markers in childhood and adolescence, being useful as a screening strategy to detect risk groups

Pt-Decorated TiO2 Materials Supported on Carbon : Increasing Activities and Stabilities toward the ORR by Tuning the Pt Loading

Pt nanoparticles (Pt NPs) supported on carbon have been widely employed as electrocatalysts toward oxygen reduction reaction. The development of more efficient electrocatalysts that enable one to reduce or even not require the use of Pt is a central challenge. In addition to the control over the physical and chemical features of Pt NPs, metal support interactions can be employed to enhance activities via the generation and exposure of surface-active sites. In this context, we report herein the development of electrocatalysts composed of Pt NPs supported on TiO2 microspheres, that were subsequently impregnated onto carbon. We have found that, by optimizing the loading of Pt at the TiO2 surface, the electrocatalytic activity toward the ORR could be improved compared to that of the commercial Pt/C (E-TEK) material, even at lower Pt loadings. The enhancement in activities could be assigned to the balance between Pt loading and generation of reactive surface sites, such as adsorbed oxygenated species. Moreover, the utilization of TiO2 as support enabled improved stabilities relative to Pt/C (E-TEK). We believe that the results described herein may inspire the development of electrocatalysts for the ORR with improved activities and stabilities.Peer reviewe

MnO2-Ir Nanowires: Combining Ultrasmall Nanoparticle Sizes, O-Vacancies, and Low Noble-Metal Loading with Improved Activities towards the Oxygen Reduction Reaction

"Although clean energy generation utilizing the Oxygen Reduction Reaction (ORR) can be considered a promising strategy, this approach remains challenging by the dependence on high loadings of noble metals, mainly Platinum (Pt). Therefore, efforts have been directed to develop new and efficient electrocatalysts that could decrease the Pt content (e.g., by nanotechnology tools or alloying) or replace them completely in these systems. The present investigation shows that high catalytic activity can be reached towards the ORR by employing 1.8 ± 0.7 nm Ir nanoparticles (NPs) deposited onto MnO2 nanowires surface under low Ir loadings (1.2 wt.%). Interestingly, we observed that the MnO2 -Ir nanohybrid presented high catalytic activity for the ORR close to commercial Pt/C (20.0 wt.% of Pt), indicating that it could obtain efficient performance using a simple synthetic procedure. The MnO2 -Ir electrocatalyst also showed improved stability relative to commercial Pt/C, in which only a slight activity loss was observed after 50 reaction cycles. Considering our findings, the superior performance delivered by the MnO2 -Ir nanohybrid may be related to (i) the significant concentration of reduced Mn3+ species, leading to increased concentration of oxygen vacancies at its surface; (ii) the presence of strong metal-support interactions (SMSI), in which the electronic effect between MnOx and Ir may enhance the ORR process; and (iii) the unique structure comprised by Ir ultrasmall sizes at the nanowire surface that enable the exposure of high energy surface/facets, high surface-to-volume ratios, and their uniform dispersion.

Design-controlled synthesis of IrO2 sub-monolayers on Au nanoflowers : marrying plasmonic and electrocatalytic properties

We develop herein plasmonic-catalytic Au-IrO2 nanostructures with a morphology optimized for efficient light harvesting and catalytic surface area; the nanoparticles have a nanoflower morphology, with closely spaced Au branches all partially covered by an ultrathin (1 nm) IrO2 shell. This nanoparticle architecture optimizes optical features due to the interactions of closely spaced plasmonic branches forming electromagnetic hot spots, and the ultra-thin IrO2 layer maximizes efficient use of this expensive catalyst. This concept was evaluated towards the enhancement of the electrocatalytic performances towards the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) as a model transformation. The OER can play a central role in meeting future energy demands but the performance of conventional electrocatalysts in this reaction is limited by the sluggish OER kinetics. We demonstrate an improvement of the OER performance for one of the most active OER catalysts, IrO2, by harvesting plasmonic effects from visible light illumination in multimetallic nanoparticles. We find that the OER activity for the Au-IrO2 nanoflowers can be improved under LSPR excitation, matching best properties reported in the literature. Our simulations and electrocatalytic data demonstrate that the enhancement in OER activities can be attributed to an electronic interaction between Au and IrO2 and to the activation of Ir-O bonds by LSPR excited hot holes, leading to a change in the reaction mechanism (rate-determinant step) under visible light illumination.Peer reviewe

Curriculum directions and strategies for the implementation of a new pedagogic proposal

This study is aimed at contributing to the transformation movement to be developed in the Nursing Courses/Schools. The contribution refers to the formation of nurses with autonomy and discernment, to ensure the construction of the model of health attention, to the production of new knowledge and to the delivery of quality services directed to the health needs of the population. This study brings some conceptual and methodological reflections that may direct the change in the nurse formation process, as well as pointing strategies to implement the new pedagogic proposal from the challenge posed by the implementation of the National Curriculum Directions for Under-graduate Nursing Courses.O presente estudo busca contribuir com o movimento de transformação a ser desenvolvido nas Escolas/Cursos de Enfermagem. Essa contribuição se refere à formação de enfermeiras(os) com autonomia e discernimento, para assegurar a construção do modelo de atenção à saúde, à produção de novos conhecimentos e à prestação de serviços de qualidade voltados para as necessidades de saúde da população, com resolutividade. Traz algumas reflexões conceituais e metodológicas que possam direcionar a mudança no processo de formação de enfermeiras(os), além de apontar estratégias para a implantação da nova proposta pedagógica, baseando-se no desafio da implementação das Diretrizes Curriculares Nacionais do Curso de Graduação em Enfermagem.El presente estudio busca contribuir con el movimiento de transformación a desarrollarse en las Escuelas/Cursos de Enfermería. Esa contribución se refiere a la formación de enfermeras(os) con autonomía y discernimiento, para asegurar la construcción del modelo de atención a la salud, la producción de nuevos conocimientos y la prestación de servicios de calidad volcados hacia las necesidades de salud de la población, con resolutividad. Considera algunas reflexiones conceptuales y metodológicas que puedan orientar el cambio en el proceso de formación de enfermeras(os), además de señalar estrategias para la implantación de la nueva propuesta pedagógica, a partir del desafío de la implementación de las Directrices Curriculares Nacionales del Pre Grado en Enfermería.44344

Diretrizes curriculares e estratégias para implantação de uma nova proposta pedagógica

O presente estudo busca contribuir com o movimento de transformação a ser desenvolvido nas Escolas/Cursos de Enfermagem. Essa contribuição se refere à formação de enfermeiras(os) com autonomia e discernimento, para assegurar a construção do modelo de atenção à saúde, à produção de novos conhecimentos e à prestação de serviços de qualidade voltados para as necessidades de saúde da população, com resolutividade. Traz algumas reflexões conceituais e metodológicas que possam direcionar a mudança no processo de formação de enfermeiras(os), além de apontar estratégias para a implantação da nova proposta pedagógica, baseando-se no desafio da implementação das Diretrizes Curriculares Nacionais do Curso de Graduação em Enfermagem.El presente estudio busca contribuir con el movimiento de transformación a desarrollarse en las Escuelas/Cursos de Enfermería. Esa contribución se refiere a la formación de enfermeras(os) con autonomía y discernimiento, para asegurar la construcción del modelo de atención a la salud, la producción de nuevos conocimientos y la prestación de servicios de calidad volcados hacia las necesidades de salud de la población, con resolutividad. Considera algunas reflexiones conceptuales y metodológicas que puedan orientar el cambio en el proceso de formación de enfermeras(os), además de señalar estrategias para la implantación de la nueva propuesta pedagógica, a partir del desafío de la implementación de las Directrices Curriculares Nacionales del Pre Grado en Enfermería.This study is aimed at contributing to the transformation movement to be developed in the Nursing Courses/Schools. The contribution refers to the formation of nurses with autonomy and discernment, to ensure the construction of the model of health attention, to the production of new knowledge and to the delivery of quality services directed to the health needs of the population. This study brings some conceptual and methodological reflections that may direct the change in the nurse formation process, as well as pointing strategies to implement the new pedagogic proposal from the challenge posed by the implementation of the National Curriculum Directions for Under-graduate Nursing Courses

Hepatitis C Virus Infection as a Traumatic Experience

Objective The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether individuals consider their HCV infection to be a potentially traumatic experience. Additionally, we investigated its association with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and the impact of PTSD diagnosis on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in HCV infected subjects. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 127 HCV-infected outpatients recruited at a University Hospital in Salvador, Brazil. All subjects answered an orally-administered questionnaire to gather clinical and socio-demographic data. We investigated traumatic experiences and the subject's perception of the disease using the Trauma History Questionnaire. PTSD and other psychiatric diagnoses were assessed through the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview-Brazilian Version 5.0.0 (M.I.N.I. PLUS). HRQoL was assessed using Short-Form 36 (SF-36). Results Approximately 38.6% of the patients considered hepatitis C to be a traumatic experience. Of these, 60.7% had a PTSD diagnosis. PTSD was associated with significant impairment in quality of life for individuals in seven SF-36 domains as shown bymultivariate analysis: Role-Physical (β: −24.85; 95% CI: −42.08; −7.61), Bodily Pain (β: −19.36; 95% CI: −31.28; −7.45), General Health (β: −20.79; 95% CI: −29.65; −11.92), Vitality (β: −11.92; 95% CI: −20.74; −3.1), Social Functioning (β: −34.73; 95% CI: −46.79; −22.68), Role-Emotional (β: −26.07; 95% CI: −44.61; −7.53), Mental Health (β: −17.46; 95% CI: −24.38; −10.54). Conclusion HCV is frequently a traumatic experience and it is strongly associated with PTSD diagnosis. PTSD significantly impaired HRQoL

Portuguese propolis: a source of valuable bioactivities

To FEDER/COMPETE/POCI– Operational Competitiveness and Internationalization Programme, under Project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006958 and FCT - Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, under the project UID/AGR/04033/2013