Test-retest reliability of the Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ-Br) in Brazilian carers of older people

The rapid aging of the Brazilian population is seeing people living longer but with comorbidities more common in older people and higher dependence in activities of daily living. Due to these factors, support from formal and informal carers is needed more frequently. Many informal carers are family members who manage the health of the older person they are caring for, including accompanying them to medical appointments and advocating for them when they are hospitalized1,2. As such, carers of older people often have a key role in accessing, understanding and supporting the implementation of health-related recommendations for the older person they provide care for..

Association Between Alpha 1 Antitrypsin Deficiency And Cystic Fibrosis Severity

Objective: To ascertain the distribution of alpha 1 antitrypsin genotypes and correlate it with the severity of pulmonary disease in patients with cystic fibrosis. Method: A clinical and laboratory cross sectional study of 70 patients at the Universidade Estadual de Campinas teaching hospital. Cystic fibrosis diagnoses was confirmed by both clinical and laboratory methods. The severity of cystic fibrosis was evaluated by Shwachman score. All the patients were tested for the presence of S and Z alleles for alpha 1 antitrypsin deficiency using polymerase chain reaction. Results: Nine (12.8%) patients were heterozygous for S or Z alleles or the heterozygote compound (SZ). No significant differences were found in clinical severity of Cystic fibrosis between genotypes of alpha 1 antitrypsin. No significant differences were found when the patients were divided according to the presence or absence of the DF508 mutation. Conclusion: In this study, the first undertaken in Brazil into the association of alpha 1 antitrypsin deficiency and cystic fibrosis, we did not find an association between the deficiency and cystic fibrosis severity. Copyright © 2005 by Sociedade Brasileira de Pediatria.816485490Cystic Fibrosis Mutation Database, , www.genet.sickkids.on.ca/cftr/Vankeerberghen, A., Cuppens, H., Cassiman, J.J., The cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator: An intriguing protein with pleiotropic functions (2002) J Cystic Fibr, 1, pp. 13-29Pelmutter, D.H., Clinical manifestations of alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency (1995) Gastroenterol Clin N Am, 24, pp. 27-43Lai, E.C., Kao, F.T., Law, M.L., Woo, S.L., Assignment of the alpha-1-antitrypsin gene and a sequence- Related gene to human chromosome 14 by molecular hybridization (1983) Am J Hum Genet, 35, pp. 385-392Faber, J.P., Poller, W., Weidinger, S., Kirchgesser, M., Schwaab, R., Bidlingmaier, F., Identification and DNA sequence analysis of 15 new alpha-1-antitrypsin variants, including two PI*Q0 alleles and one deficient PI*M allele (1994) Am J Hum Genet, 55, pp. 1113-1121Pierce, J.A., Antitrypsin and emphysema: Perspectives and prospects (1988) J Am Med Ass, 259, pp. 2890-2895Sommerhoff, C.P., Nadel, J.A., Basbaum, C.B., Caughey, G.H., Neutrophil elastase and cathepsin G stimulate secretion from cultured bovine airway gland serous cells (1990) J Clin Invest, 85, pp. 682-689Mahadeva, R., Westerbeek, R.C., Perry, D.J., Lovegrove, J.U., Whitehouse, D.B., Carroll, N.R., Alpha1 antitrypsin deficiency alleles, the Taq- I G→A allele and cystic fibrosis lung disease (1998) Eur Respir J, 11, pp. 873-879Mahadeva, R., Sharples, L., Roos-Russell, R.I., Webb, A.K., Bilton, D., Lomas, D.A., Association of Alpha1 antichimotrypsin deficiency with milder lung disease in patients with cystic fibrosis (2001) Thorax, 56, pp. 53-58Frangolias, D.D., Ruan, J., Wilcox, P.J., Davidson, A.G., Wong, L.T., Berthiaume, Y., Alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency alleles in cystic fibrosis lung disease (2003) Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol, 29, pp. 390-396Gibson, L.E., Cooke, R.E., A test for concentration of electrolytes in sweat in cystic fibrosis of the pancreas utilizing pilocarpine by iontophoresis (1959) Pediatrics, 23, pp. 545-549Shwachman, H., Kulczycki, L.L., Long term study of 105 patients with cystic fibrosis: Studies made over a five to fourteen year period (1958) Am J Dis Child, 96, pp. 6-15Andresen, B.S., Knudsen, I., Jensen, P.K., Rasmussen, K., Gregersen, N., Two novel nonradioactive polymerase chain reaction based assays of dried blood spots, genomic DNA or whole cells for fast, reliable detection of Z and S mutations in the alpha-1-antitrypsin gene (1992) Clin Chem, 38, pp. 2100-2103Pagotto, R.C., (1993) Polimorfismo Da Alfa1-1- Antitripsina Humana Em Populações Brasileiras, , [dissertação]. São Paulo: Universidade de São PauloAlvarez, A.E., Ribeiro, A.F., Hessel, G., Bertuzzo, C.S., Ribeiro, J.D., Fibrose Cística em um centro de referência no Brasil: Características clínicas e laboratoriais de 104 pacientes e sua associação com o genótipo e a gravidade da doença (2004) J Pediatr, 80, pp. 371-379. , Rio JDomee Espinoza, M.D., (1998) Fibrose Cística Em Jovens e Adultos Do Hospital Das Clínicas Da UNICAMP, , [dissertação]. Campinas: Universidade Estadual de CampinasSuter, S., Schaad, U.B., Morgenthaler, J.J., Fibronectin-cleaving activity in bronchial secretions of patients with cystic fibrosis (1988) J Infect Dis, 158, pp. 89-100Allen, E.D., Opportunities for the use of aerosolized alpha 1 antitrypsin for the treatment of cystic fibrosis (1996) Chest, 110, pp. S256S-60Doring, G., Krogh-Johansen, H., Weidinger, S., Allotypes of alpha 1 antitrypsin in patients with cystic fibrosis, homozygous and heterozygous for delta F508 (1994) Pediatr Pulmon, 18, pp. 3-7Meyer, P., Braun, A., Roscher, A.A., Analysis of the two common alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency alleles PiMS and PiMZ as modifiers of Pseudomonas aeruginosa susceptibility in cystic fibrosis (2002) Clin Genet, 62, pp. 325-327Belaaouaj, A., McCarthy, R., Baumann, M., Mice lacking neutrophil elastase reveal impaired host defense against gram negative bacterial sepsis (1998) Nature Med, 4, pp. 615-618Mahadeva, R., Stewart, S., Bilton, D., Lomas, D.A., Alpha1 antitrypsin deficiency alleles and severe cystic fibrosis lung disease (1998) Thorax, 53, pp. 1022-1024Mahadeva, R., Lomas, D.A., Secondary genetic factors in cystic fibrosis lung disease (2000) Thorax, 55, p. 446McKone, E.F., Emerson, S.S., Edwards, K.L., Aitken, M.L., Effect of genotype on phenotype and mortality in cystic fibrosis: A retrospective cohort study (2003) Lancet, 361, pp. 1671-1676Kerem, E., Kerem, B., Genotype-phenotype correlations in cystic fibrosis (1996) Pediatr Pulmonol, 22, pp. 387-395Dork, T., Wulbrand, U., Richter, T., Cystic fibrosis with three mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator gene (1991) Hum Genet, 87, pp. 441-446Bienvenu, T., Les bases molículaires de l'hétérogénéité phénotypique dans la muviscidose (1997) Ann Biol Clin, 55, pp. 113-121Accurso, F.J., Sontag, M.K., Seeking modifier genes in cystic fibrosis (2003) Am J Respir Crit Care Med, 167, pp. 289-29

INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIONS TO SHAPE RESEARCH

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version.The Brazilian care home sector is underdeveloped, and the limited available evidence suggests that care quality falls below international standards. Development of the Brazilian care home sector could be associated with better outcomes for those receiving care, and more efficient use of resources across health and social care. Research has an important role to play. This article summarises research priorities for Brazilian long-term care homes developed as part of an international workshop held in Brazil and the UK, and attended by 71 clinicians and researchers from 6 Brazilian Universities, supported by an international faculty of 8 Brazilian, 8 British, 2 Dutch and 1 Austrian academics. The research priorities identified were: understanding and supporting multidisciplinary working in care homes, with emphasis on describing availability of multidisciplinary teams and how they operate; dignity and sensitivity to cultural needs, with emphasis on collating accounts from Brazilian stakeholders about dignity in care and how it can be delivered; enriching the care home environment with art, music and gardens, with a focus on developing arts in the care home space in a way that is sensitive to Brazilian cultural identity; and benchmarking quality of care, with emphasis on exploring how international quality benchmarking tools can be adapted for use in Brazilian care homes, taking account of new initiatives to include person-centred outcomes as part of benchmarking. Instrumental to research in these priority areas will be establishing care home research capacity in Brazil

Rho GTPase function in flies: insights from a developmental and organismal perspective.

Morphogenesis is a key event in the development of a multicellular organism and is reliant on coordinated transcriptional and signal transduction events. To establish the segmented body plan that underlies much of metazoan development, individual cells and groups of cells must respond to exogenous signals with complex movements and shape changes. One class of proteins that plays a pivotal role in the interpretation of extracellular cues into cellular behavior is the Rho family of small GTPases. These molecular switches are essential components of a growing number of signaling pathways, many of which regulate actin cytoskeletal remodeling. Much of our understanding of Rho biology has come from work done in cell culture. More recently, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has emerged as an excellent genetic system for the study of these proteins in a developmental and organismal context. Studies in flies have greatly enhanced our understanding of pathways involving Rho GTPases and their roles in development

Measurement properties of self-report instruments to assess health literacy in older adults: A systematic review

Background High health literacy (HL) is important to optimise health outcomes, particularly for older people (who are substantial consumers of health services) and their adult caregivers. The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate measurement properties of HL instruments tested with these population groups. Materials and methods Six databases (MEDLINE (OVID); CINAHL; EMBASE (OVID); PsycInfo; Scopus; Cochrane Library) were searched for studies evaluating eight measurement properties of HL tools administered to older people or their caregivers. Only studies evaluating multi-domain self-report HL tools were included in analyses, using the COSMIN methodology. Results From 4261 unique papers located, 11 met inclusion criteria; six reported measurement properties of three HL self-report tools administered to older people (HLQ, eHEALS, and HeLMS) so are reported in this review, none involved caregiver samples. The HLQ and HeLMS were rated “moderate,” and eHEALS “low” for tool development. The HLQ, examined in four included studies, had the highest ratings and quality of evidence across the three measurement properties investigated in included papers. Conclusion The HLQ was the most highly rated self-report HL tool of just three tested with older people. Further studies evaluating measurement properties of self-report HL tools used with older people and/or their caregivers are needed

Segmentador de oraciones para textos en español basado en red neuronal

This work shows a connectionist system used for the segmentation of texts in Spanish into separate sentences. This task has to be carried out in many Natural Language Processing applications. This kind of pre-processing is not conceptually complex, and several techniques producing acceptable results may be applied. However, the task of text segmentation depends heavily on the sources (structure, layout, genre, style). Most of times, this fact imposes some reworking for every new application and type of text. By using neural nets, low level programming is replaced by learning from sets of sentences correctly classified by a specialist.En este trabajo se muestra la utilización de una red neuronal para segmentar textos en español en sus oraciones constitutivas. Esta operación debe efectuarse habitualmente como un paso previo en multitud de aplicaciones de procesamiento de lenguaje natural. A pesar de tratarse de una tarea conceptualmente sencilla, y de obtenerse resultados aceptables por diversos procedimientos, la división de un texto en oraciones tiene el inconveniente de ser fuertemente dependiente de la fuente (estructura, tipo de lenguaje, género literario, etc.). Esto obliga prácticamente a rehacer el trabajo no sólo para cada tipo de aplicación, sino para cada tipo de texto que vaya a ser tratado. Frente a otros tipos de técnicas, la utilización de redes neuronales tiene la ventaja de liberar el desarrollador de la tarea de programación, empleándose colecciones de ejemplos correctamente clasificados para el entrenamiento del segmentador

Geographic routing and hole bypass using long range sinks for wireless sensor networks

Greedy Forward is a well-known technique used by most of the geographic routing algorithms to forward packets to the node that is geographically closer to the destination node. It is the simplest form of the proposed geographic routing algorithms and it is particularly attractive in sensor networks by bringing additional advantages such scalability, dynamism, and high delivery rates. However, in the presence of a hole (or voids), greedy forward techniques tend to fail. Thus, a hole bypass solution needs to be used in order to route packets to a node where greedy forwarding process can be resumed. In this work, we propose a new geographic routing algorithm called REACT that can bypass routing holes and create routing paths toward the sink node. Our solution takes advantage of the higher communication range of the sink node and the Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) to enable the construction of routing paths by self-electing the next hop at each step while also performing data aggregation. No extra packets are required to configure the routing task. Our results clearly show an efficient data delivery achieved by the proposed algorithm in scenarios with routing holes with all the benefits of a greedy forwarding technique. © 2017 Elsevier B.V