Percolation approach to quark gluon plasma in high energy pp collisions

We apply continuum percolation to proton-proton collisions and look for the possible threshold to phase transition from confined nuclear matter to quark gluon plasma. Making the assumption that J/Psi suppression is a good signal to the transition, we discuss this phenomenon for pp collisions, in the framework of a dual model with strings.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure

STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS RESISTENTE À METICILINA E ABCESSO HEPÁTICO Análise Retrospectiva de 117 Casos

Introdução: Os abcessos hepáticos constituem uma entidade clínica que coloca desafios no diagnóstico e tratamento, sendo em muito casos necessário um elevado índice de suspeição. A maioria dos abcessos hepáticos piogénicos são polimicrobianos. Os agentes entéricos facultativos e anaeróbios são os mais comuns. Na literatura revista, os abcessos hepáticos a Staphylococcus aureus constituem cerca de 7% dos abcessos hepáticos piogénicos. Esta infecção habitualmente resulta de disseminação hematogénea de microrganismos isolados em infecções à distância. Não existem séries publicadas sobre esta matéria, sendo que a informação disponível se restringe a case-reports. Objectivo e Métodos: Com o objectivo de aprofundar a fisiopatologia, diagnóstico e história natural dos abcessos hepáticos, nomeadamente por Staphylococcus Aureus resistente à meticilina (MRSA), realizou-se um estudo retrospectivo, fazendo a revisão do processo clínico dos doentes com o diagnóstico de abcesso hepático/piemia portal entre Janeiro de 2004 e Dezembro de 2009, num total de 117 doentes. Resultados: Clinicamente, a maior parte dos doentes tinha febre e dor abdominal. A esmagadora maioria dos doentes não dispensou TC abdominal no diagnóstico. Apenas 81,2% dos doentes realizaram algum tipo de colheita para microbiologia. O agente mais frequentemente isolado foi a Escherichia coli. O MRSA estava presente em 7,6% dos abcessos cujo pús foi processado. A terapêutica mais frequentemente seleccionada foi a drenagem percutânea associada a antibioterapia. Todos os MRSA isolados eram sensíveis ao trimetoprim-sulfametoxazol e vancomicina. O grupo de patologia subjacente mais frequentemente encontrada foi o das doenças das vias biliares, seguido dos pós-operatórios recentes. Na esmagadora maioria das infecções a MRSA, o grupo de patologia subjacente mais frequentemente encontrada foi o pós-operatório abdominal. A taxa de mortalidade global foi de 17,9%. No que respeita a abcessos a MRSA, faleceu 1 doente devido a complicações da doença de base. Conclusões: Estes dados confirmam que o MRSA é um patogénio importante em infecções hospitalares, incluindo as intra-abdominais. É de salientar a importância do pós-operatório abdominal como factor de risco para infecção por este agente, um dado pouco descrito na literatura revista. Estes achados acarretam implicações assinaláveis a nível terapêutico, investigacional e prognóstico

Clinical Usefulness of Streptococcus pneumoniae Urinary Antigen in Patients Hospitalized with Non-Nosocomial Pneumonia

Introduction : Community acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a major cause of hospital admissions and mortality in developed countries. Nevertheless, in about half of the cases a microbial etiology can`t be determined. The need to improve the diagnostic tools of this disease has led to the development of new techniques, such as Streptococcus pneumoniae urinary antigen. Objectives : To analyse the usefulness of the urinary antigen in determining the etiologic diagnosis of pneumonias and its influence in the antibiotherapy modification. Methods : Retrospective analysis of hospitalized patients in 2010 with CAP (n=226) and healthcare associated pneumonia (HCAP) [n=64] diagnosis whose urinary pneumococcal antigen has been analyzed. Results: Median age was significantly greater in HCAP. HCAP patients had more co-morbidities and higher severity scores. Twenty-one patients in the CAP group and 4 patients in the HCAP group had positive pneumococcal antigen. The sensibility of urinary antigen in determining pneumococcal pneumonias was 36% and the specificity 89%. Almost one quarter of the 25 patients with positive urinary antigen had appropriate reductions in antimicrobial spectra, which was not statistically significant when compared with the group with negative urinary antigen. There was a significant relation between a positive urinary antigen and pneumonia severity. Conclusions: Considering its high specificity, the urinary antigen is useful to confirm the presence of pneumococcal pneumonia. Potentially urinary antigen can help to avoid unnecessary treatments in hospitalized patients with CAP

The Safe-Port project: an approach to port surveillance and protection

SAFE-PORT is a recently started project addressing the complex issue of determining the best configurations of resources for harbour and port surveillance and protection. More specifically, the main goal is to find, for any given scenario, an adequate set of configuration solutions — i.e., number and type of sensors and equipments, their locations and operating modes, the corresponding personnel and other support resources — that maximize protection over a specific area. The project includes research and development of sensors models, novel algorithms for optimization and decision support, and a computer-based decision support system (DSS) to assist decision makers in that task. It includes also the development of a simulation environment for modelling relevant aspects of the scenario (including sensors used for surveillance, platforms, threats and the environment), capable to incorporate data from field-trials, used to test and validate solutions proposed by the DSS. Test cases will consider the use of intelligent agents to model the behaviour of threats and of NATO forces in a realistic way, following experts’ definitions and parameters

Stability of blood gases when refrigerated

Background: Blood gas analysis is a widely used procedure. In clinical practice, the physicians may not always have a blood gas analyzer in their proximity. Not infrequently, blood gas samples are stored in a fridge or on ice and read retrospectively. Continued anaerobic and aerobic metabolism in the blood may alter blood gases in the interval between drawing arterial blood and its analysis, which may cause a fall in the PaO2 and pH and a rise in the PaCO2. Methods: Two sets of arterial blood samples were obtained from hospitalized patients. After the initial analysis, one sample from each patient was put in raw ice within a specimen bag (0 to +1 oC) and the other in the fridge (+4 to +8 oC). These samples were submitted to serial analysis at 30 minutes, 1 hour and 2 hours after the initial analysis. Results: Two hundred arterial blood gas results from 25 patients were analysed. The mean values of PaO2, PaCO2, HCO3-, Na+, K+, Ca2+ and lactate at 0 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour and 2 hours were not signifi cantly different between the two alternatives of storage. However, within each group, signifi cant changes were found over time for PaO2, K+, Na+, Ca2+ and lactate. Conclusions: When using plastic syringes, arterial blood gas analysis should be processed shortly after collecting the sample. Despite the fact that low temperatures can slow down the metabolism, neither the ice nor the fridge preserved all the sample parameters

Novel biorecognition elements against pathogens in the design of state-of-the-art diagnostics

Infectious agents, especially bacteria and viruses, account for a vast number of hospitalisations and mortality worldwide. Providing effective and timely diagnostics for the multiplicity of infectious diseases is challenging. Conventional diagnostic solutions, although technologically advanced, are highly complex and often inaccessible in resource-limited settings. An alternative strategy involves convenient rapid diagnostics which can be easily administered at the point-of-care (POC) and at low cost without sacrificing reliability. Biosensors and other rapid POC diagnostic tools which require biorecognition elements to precisely identify the causative pathogen are being developed. The effectiveness of these devices is highly dependent on their biorecognition capabilities. Naturally occurring biorecognition elements include antibodies, bacteriophages and enzymes. Recently, modified molecules such as DNAzymes, peptide nucleic acids and molecules which suffer a selective screening like aptamers and peptides are gaining interest for their biorecognition capabilities and other advantages over purely natural ones, such as robustness and lower production costs. Antimicrobials with a broad-spectrum activity against pathogens, such as antibiotics, are also used in dual diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. Other successful pathogen identification strategies use chemical ligands, molecularly imprinted polymers and Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats-associated nuclease. Herein, the latest developments regarding biorecognition elements and strategies to use them in the design of new biosensors for pathogens detection are reviewed.This research is affiliated with the VibrANT project that received funding from the EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under the Marie Sklowdowska-Curie Grant, agreement no 765042. In addition, the authors acknowledge the financial support from Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2020 unit. Débora Ferreira (DF) is the recipient of a fellowship supported by a doctoral advanced training (call NORTE-69-2015-15) funded by the European Social Fund under the scope of Norte2020.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Caracterização morfológica dos acessos de feijão comum (Phaseolus vulgaris).

A diversidade genética é a responsável por essa segurança e estabilidade de produção. A coleta, caracterização e manutenção desses acessos disponibilizará aos programas de melhoramento genes responsáveis por características desejáveis na obtenção de novas cultivares.Apresentação oral - graduação

Prevalence of conventional cardiovascular risk factors in patients with acute coronary syndrome

Background: Primary prevention studies have shown that early detection and aggressive treatment of cardiovascular risk factors (CRF) prevent cardiovascular events. It is not well described the prevalence of CRF in patients, at the moment of admission due to acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Aim: To determine the prevalence of CRF among patients admitted with ACS. Methods: We analysed 4871 patients admitted consecutively in our coronary care unit with a diagnosis of ACS and included in a prospective registry, from January 2002 to October 2013. We studied the prevalence of conventional risk factors (diabetes, hypertension, smoking, dyslipidaemia) and compared findings according to gender and type of ACS: ACS with ST elevation (STEMI), ACS without ST elevation (NSTEMI). Results: Men represented 75% (n=3658) of the total population, were younger than women (61.6±12,9 vs 70.9 ±11.8 years; p<0.001) and had more frequently body mass index ≥ 25 kg/m2 (70.9% vs 62.3%; p<0.001). The most frequent CRF was hypertension (62.4%; n=3038), followed by dyslipidaemia (50.6%, n=2467), smoking (43.2%; n=2106) and diabetes (27.2%; n=1324). In women, the more common CRF were hypertension (75%) and dyslipidaemia (51.2%), whereas in men were smoking (54.4%) and dyslipidaemia (50.5%). We identify, at least, one CRF in 92,4% of all patients and two or three risk factors in 58.1%. Women had more frequently 2 CRF than men (40.1% vs 36.3%; p=0.011), although mean had, more often, 4 CRF (8.9% vs 4.1%; p<0.001). Previous history of cerebrovascular disease was more observed in women (8.6% vs 6.1%; p=0.002), but men had more often history of previous revascularization (9.8% vs 6.8%; p<0.001). On admission men presented more frequently STEMI (50.8% vs 43.5%; p<0,001) and less frequently renal dysfunction (17.2% vs 39.6%; p<0.001) and anaemia (18.8% vs 33.3%; p<0.001). Hypertension was the most prevalent CFR as in patients STEMI (56.6%) as in NSTEMI patients (67.9%), followed by smoking (47.5%) in STEMI patients and by dyslipidaemia (55.7%) in NSTEMI patients. Conclusion: We found at least one CRF in 92.8% of patients and two or three in more than half. Hypertension emerged as the major CRF in both forms of presentation of ACS

Incidence of in-stent restenosis over 13 years - a study based on a national registry

Background: In-stent restenosis (ISR) is one drawback of coronary angioplasty with stent implantation. Purpose: We investigated the incidence of ISR, its clinical presentation and treatment from a national registry. Methods: From all patients (pts) undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) from 2002 to 2014, we selected those who had previous history of PCI (n=15326). ISR was defined as diameter stenosis ≥ 50% in stent segment, being selected the interventions in which, at least, 1 IRS lesion was treated (n=3069). They were divided in 3 temporal groups:2002-2003 (group 1, n=179, 5.8%)– bare metal stent era; 2004-2008 (group 2,n=816, 26.6%)– 1st generation stent era; 2009-2014 (group 3, n=2074, 67.6%)– 2nd generation stent era. For each group we compared clinical features and treatment. Results: Over time, it has been observed a reduction in IRS incidence (24.8 vs 23.5 vs 18.6%;p for trend <0.001). Pts from group 3 were older (p=0.01), had higher prevalence of hypertension (63.7 vs 75.6 vs 78.4%;p<0.001), dyslipidemia (61.5 vs 68.5 vs 73.9%;p<0.001) and diabetes (31.3 vs 33.5 vs 38.5%;p=0.012). They also had more frequently history of previous myocardial infarction (p<0.001). Although admissions were more frequently due to stable angina (41% of total) or post non-ST segment myocardial infarction (16.3% of total); it was noticed, over time, an increase in admissions due to ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (1.1 vs 7.4 vs 11.4%;p<0.001) and unstable angina (1.1 vs 1.8 vs 3.7%;p<0.001). Most of pts presented with good systolic ventricular function, but an increase of pts with moderated (2.6 vs 9.0 vs 11.2%;p<0.001) and severe (1.3 vs 1.4 vs 4.7%;p<0.001) systolic dysfunction was observed. From 3069 PCI performed, a total of 3461 IRS lesions were treated. It was observed, at most, 3 IRS lesions for PCI. Over time, the most frequent presentation was 1 lesion for PCI (88.4% of total), being noticed a decreasing in number of multiple IRS lesions (15.1 vs 11.3 vs 9.6%;p=0.035). Incidence of ISR has increased in left descendant coronary artery (34.5 vs 39.8 vs 42.4%;p<0.001) and treatment was more frequently performed in more complex lesions (p<0.001). It was noticed a reduction in treatment with stent (72.7 vs 74.4 vs 52.8%;p<0.001) and an increasing use of only PCI balloon (39.3 vs 57.8 vs 45.8%;p=0.002) and trombectomy (0.0 vs 2.2 vs 8.2%;p<0.001). Conclusion: In spite of increasing in risk profile of pts over time, it was observed a reduction of incidence of ISR and multiple ISR lesions. It also was observed an increasing number of interventions avoiding second stent implantation