GeneBrowser 2: an application to explore and identify common biological traits in a set of genes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The development of high-throughput laboratory techniques created a demand for computer-assisted result analysis tools. Many of these techniques return lists of genes whose interpretation requires finding relevant biological roles for the problem at hand. The required information is typically available in public databases, and usually, this information must be manually retrieved to complement the analysis. This process is a very time-consuming task that should be automated as much as possible.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>GeneBrowser is a web-based tool that, for a given list of genes, combines data from several public databases with visualisation and analysis methods to help identify the most relevant and common biological characteristics. The functionalities provided include the following: a central point with the most relevant biological information for each inserted gene; a list of the most related papers in PubMed and gene expression studies in ArrayExpress; and an extended approach to functional analysis applied to Gene Ontology, homologies, gene chromosomal localisation and pathways.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>GeneBrowser provides a unique entry point to several visualisation and analysis methods, providing fast and easy analysis of a set of genes. GeneBrowser fills the gap between Web portals that analyse one gene at a time and functional analysis tools that are limited in scope and usually desktop-based.</p

O pensamento geopolítico de Carl Schmitt

Trabalho de Conclusão de Curso (especialização)—Universidade de Brasília, Instituto de Relações Internacionais, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Relações Internacionais, XIX Curso de Especialização em Relações Internacionais, 2018.O ensaio proposto tem por intento analisar um suposto pensamento geopolítico do jurista alemão Carl Schmitt (1888 – 1985), a partir de um estudo sobre as obras de Schmitt que tratam de questões internacionais e do realismo político clássico. Por intermédio de exame bibliográfico, biográfico, temático e documental, almeja-se deduzir que: Carl Schmitt também teorizou sobre questões geopolíticas e internacionais, pois possui obras essencialmente geopolíticas, como Terra e Mar, Nomos da Terra, além de diversos artigos que tratam de questões geopolíticas como o Großraum (Grandes-Espaços), etc. Ademais, nota-se que Schmitt discutiu todas as suas reflexões geopolíticas desde um paradigma realista que acabou por influenciar diversos teóricos das Relações Internacionais, como Hans Morgenthau e Raymond Aron. Essa influência se deve ao fato da obra geopolítica de Carl Schmitt permanecer atual pela sua lucidez, apesar de publicada na metade do século passado.The proposed essay attempts to analyze the geopolitical thought of the German jurist Carl Schmitt (1888 - 1985) which will be based on a study of Schmitt's works dealing with international issues and classical political realism. By means of bibliographical, biographical, thematic and documentary examination, it is desired to deduce that: Carl Schmitt also theorized on geopolitical and international issues, since he has works which are essentially geopolitical, such as ‘Land and Sea’, ‘Nomos of the Earth’, besides several articles dealing with geopolitical issues/topics such as the Large Spaces (Großraum), etc. In addition, it is noted that Schmitt discussed all his geopolitical reflections/thoughts from a realistic paradigm that ended up influencing many International Relations theorists, like Hans Morgenthau and Raymond Aron. This influence is due to the fact that the geopolitical work of Carl Schmitt remains current for his lucidity, although published in the middle of the last century

A utilização de sistemas de transferência em circuito fechado na preparação de medicamentos citotóxicos

Os sistemas de transferência em circuito fechado na preparação de medicamentos citotóxicos tornaram-se uma ferramenta essencial para os profissionais de saúde que executam estas tarefas. A natureza dos fármacos envolvidos obriga a cuidados redobrados e, como tal, o desenvolvimento destes dispositivos veio garantir uma maior segurança a um procedimento que cada vez se torna mais comum. Na presente monografia, é ilustrado o método convencional de preparação de medicamentos citotóxicos e demonstrado como a exposição ocupacional a estes fármacos acarreta sérios riscos para a saúde dos operadores, bem como para todos os profissionais de saúde envolvidos neste processo. Para além do mais, são também enumerados os diversos sistemas de transferência em circuito fechado existentes atualmente no mercado, a tecnologia associada a cada um deles, bem como os benefícios que a utilização de cada um destes dispositivos proporciona na melhoria da segurança, facilidade de preparação e diminuição das consequências para a saúde no que diz respeito à manipulação destes agentes de elevada toxicidade.Closed-circuit transfer systems for the preparation of cytotoxic drugs have become an essential tool for healthcare professionals who perform these tasks. The nature of the involved drugs requires extra care and, as such, the development of these devices has ensured greater safety for a procedure that is becoming more and more common. In this work, the conventional method of preparing antineoplastic drugs is illustrated and demonstrated how occupational exposure to these drugs poses serious risks to the operator’s health, and other health professionals, during this process. In addition, there are also listed the various closed circuit transfer devices currently on the market, the technology associated with each, as well as the benefits that the use of each of these devices provides in improving safety, ease of preparation and reducing the consequences for health, regarding the handling of these highly toxic agents

Concept-based query expansion for retrieving gene related publications from MEDLINE

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Advances in biotechnology and in high-throughput methods for gene analysis have contributed to an exponential increase in the number of scientific publications in these fields of study. While much of the data and results described in these articles are entered and annotated in the various existing biomedical databases, the scientific literature is still the major source of information. There is, therefore, a growing need for text mining and information retrieval tools to help researchers find the relevant articles for their study. To tackle this, several tools have been proposed to provide alternative solutions for specific user requests.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>This paper presents QuExT, a new PubMed-based document retrieval and prioritization tool that, from a given list of genes, searches for the most relevant results from the literature. QuExT follows a concept-oriented query expansion methodology to find documents containing concepts related to the genes in the user input, such as protein and pathway names. The retrieved documents are ranked according to user-definable weights assigned to each concept class. By changing these weights, users can modify the ranking of the results in order to focus on documents dealing with a specific concept. The method's performance was evaluated using data from the 2004 TREC genomics track, producing a mean average precision of 0.425, with an average of 4.8 and 31.3 relevant documents within the top 10 and 100 retrieved abstracts, respectively.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>QuExT implements a concept-based query expansion scheme that leverages gene-related information available on a variety of biological resources. The main advantage of the system is to give the user control over the ranking of the results by means of a simple weighting scheme. Using this approach, researchers can effortlessly explore the literature regarding a group of genes and focus on the different aspects relating to these genes.</p

Subjective wellbeing of preschool children

ObjectiveThe aim of the present study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Autoquestionnaire Qualité de Vie Enfant Imagé (AUQEI) in pre-school children and estimate the influence of demographic characteristics on their subjective wellbeing.MethodsConstruct validity was estimated using confirmatory analysis and the chi-square per degrees of freedom ratio (χ2/df), Comparative Fit Index (CFI), Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI), and Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA). Reliability was assessed by the ordinal alpha (α) and omega (ω) coefficients and the factorial invariance by the difference in CFI (ΔCFI). Mean scores for each AUQEI item and the general score were calculated.ResultsA total of 443 Preschool children enrolled in public education institutions participated. The original 4-factor AUQEI model showed collinearity between factors and a high correlation between two items. A single factor model was tested, presenting adequate fit to the data (χ2/df = 4.47; CFI = 0.98; TLI = 0.98; RMSEA = 0.08; α = 0.98; ω = 0.93; UniCo &gt; 0.95, EVC &gt; 0.85, and MIREAL &lt; 0.30) and strict model invariance (ΔCFI &lt; 0.01). The AUQEI model proved to be valid in relation to the external variables. Most children (76.7%) had positive subjective wellbeing. Higher scores were observed for items concerning recreation, holidays, and birthdays, and lower scores for those referring to hospitalization, medication, medical consultation, and being away from the family. The relationship between the demographic characteristics of the child or his/her mother and subjective wellbeing was not significant (p &gt; 0.05).ConclusionsThe assessment of subjective wellbeing with the single-factor AUQEI model provided valid, reliable, and invariant. Thus, being a relevant and interesting instrument to assess wellbeing in young children

Post-acute exercise cardiovagal modulation in older male adults with and without type 2 diabetes

Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s).Purpose: We examined heart rate variability (HRV) and baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) disease- and age-related response at 10-and 60-min after an acute high-intensity interval (HIIE) and moderate continuous exercise (MICE) in older adults with and without type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and healthy young adults. Methods: Twelve older male adults with (57–84 years) and without T2DM (57–76 years) and 12 healthy young male adults (20–40 years) completed an isocaloric acute bout of HIIE, MICE, and a non-exercise condition in a randomized order. Time and Wavelets-derived frequency domain indices of HRV and BRS were obtained in a supine position and offline over 2-min time-bins using Matlab. Results: HIIE but not MICE reduced natural logarithm root mean square of successive differences (Ln-RMSSD) (d = − 0.85; 95% CI − 1.15 to − 0.55 ms, p < 0.001), Ln-high-frequency power (d = − 1.60; 95% CI − 2.24 to − 0.97 ms2; p < 0.001), and BRS (d = − 6.32; 95% CI − 9.35 to − 3.29 ms/mmHg, p < 0.001) in adults without T2DM (averaged over young and older adults without T2DM), returning to baseline 60 min into recovery. These indices remained unchanged in older adults with T2DM after HIIE and MICE. Older adults with T2DM had lower resting Ln-RMSSD and BRS than aged-matched controls (Ln-RMSSD, d = − 0.71, 95% CI − 1.16 to − 0.262 ms, p = 0.001; BRS d = − 3.83 ms/mmHg), 95% CI − 6.90 to − 0.76, p = 0.01). Conclusions: Cardiovagal modulation following acute aerobic exercise is intensity-dependent only in adults without T2DM, and appears age-independent. These findings provide evidence of cardiac autonomic impairments in older adults with T2DM at rest and following aerobic exercise.publishersversionepub_ahead_of_prin

Early psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil: A sational survey

Isolation measures used to contain epidemics generate social interaction restrictions and impose changes in routines of the public that increase negative psychological outcomes. Anxiety and depression are the most common symptoms.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

PRINCÍPIOS DIDÁTICOS PARA A ORGANIZAÇÃO DA ATIVIDADE DE ENSINO:: CONTRIBUIÇÕES DA TEORIA HISTÓRICO-CULTURAL

Resumo: O objetivo a ser alcançado nesse estudo é investigar a inter-relação entre a didática e a Teoria Histórico-Cultural a fim de sistematizar princípios didáticos que contribuam com a organização e o desenvolvimento da atividade de ensino de conteúdos escolares pelos professores que atuam nos anos iniciais do Ensino Fundamental. Para tanto, elegemos duas categorias para a sistematização desses princípios: a primeira contempla os princípios que retratam sobre o objeto de aprendizagem, isto é, os conceitos científicos. Na segunda, formulamos os princípios relacionados ao sujeito de aprendizagem. Em síntese, consideramos, neste estudo, que a escola deve ser compreendida como o lócus privilegiado para a socialização dos conhecimentos que vão além daqueles que são disponibilizados na vida cotidiana dos alunos. Palavras-chave: Didática; Teoria Histórico-Cultural; Organização do ensino

Symptoms related to mental disorder in healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil

Background Studies of previous pandemics indicate that healthcare workers have a high risk of developing symptoms related to mental health, especially depression, anxiety, and stress. Objective To identify mental disorder symptoms among Brazilian healthcare workers during the Sars-Cov-2 pandemic and compare findings in different work categories. Methods This was an online cross-sectional study. Information related to the pandemic and mental disorder symptoms was collected. The Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale and the Impact of Event Scale-revised were used. Associations were estimated by the chi-square test. The mean scores were compared among work categories with ANOVA (α = 5%) and the prevalence of symptoms was estimated. Results 1,609 healthcare workers participated in the survey [mean age: 36.9 (SD = 11.6) years, women = 83.6%]. There was no association between work category and changes in mental health during the pandemic (p = 0.288) or prevalence of unsafe feeling (p = 0.218). A significant relationship was observed between maintaining work activities during the pandemic and work category (p < 0.001). Physicians had the lowest out-of-work prevalence (9.5%) while dentists had the highest (32.3%). Physicians and nurses showed the highest prevalence of in-person work routine. Psychologists presented the highest prevalence of remote work (64.0%) while dentists had the lowest (20.2%). A high prevalence of depression (D), anxiety (A), and stress (S) symptoms was observed in all professional categories (D: 57.2, 95% CI 48.3–66.1%; A: 46.20%, 95% CI = 37.2–55.2%; S: 55.80%, 95% CI = 46.8–64.8%), with physicians (D = 38.4%, A = 25.80%, S = 37.90%), psychologists (D = 50.2%, A = 39.0%, S = 43.1%), and nurses (D = 50.0%, A = 40.9%, S = 49.0%) having significantly lower scores. Psychologists had the lowest pandemic-related psychological impact (42.70%, 95% CI 36.8–48.6%). Conclusion Extreme changes in the work routine of dentists and psychologists and an overall high prevalence of mental symptoms due to the pandemic were found. Researchers should focus on gathering information that can identify workers at increased risk of mental illness to guide discussions and develop actions to minimize the harm of the pandemic. In addition, we suggest that healthcare and support systems urgently adopt mental health care measures with specialized professionals to protect the psychological well-being of the healthcare community.· · · · ·info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio