Comorbidities are Frequent in Patients with Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease in a Tertiary Health Care Hospital

INTRODUCTION: Several aspects of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) have been studied, but the frequency of comorbidities is not yet fully understood. OBJECTIVES: To study the prevalence of GERD comorbidities in a tertiary care hospital. METHODS: We prospectively studied 670 consecutive adult patients from the outpatient department of our facility. A diagnosis was established using clinical, endoscopic and/or pHmetry-related findings. Each patient's medical file was reviewed with respect to the presence of other medical conditions and diagnoses. RESULTS: Of the 670 patients, 459 (68.6%) were female, and the mean age was 55.94 (17-80 years). We registered 316 patients (47.1%) with the erosive form of GERD and 354 patients (52.9%) with the non-erosive form. A total of 1,664 instances of comorbidities were recorded in 586 patients (87.5%), with the most common being arterial hypertension (21%), hypercholesterolemia (9%), obesity (9%), type II diabetes mellitus (5%) and depression (4%). Two or more comorbidities were present in 437 individuals (64.8%). The occurrence of comorbidities increased with age and was higher in patients with the non-erosive form of GERD. CONCLUSIONS: In a tertiary referral population, comorbidities were very common, and these may have worsened the already impaired health-related quality of life of these patients. Clinicians caring for GERD patients in this setting must be aware of the likelihood and nature of comorbid disorders and their impact on disease presentation and patient management

Un sistema didáctico integrado para la enseñanza introductoria de robótica

Se presenta un sistema informático para la enseñanza introductoria de la robótica en escuelas de nivel medio y universitario. Está formado por un robot armado con componentes de bajo costo y por un conjunto de aplicaciones que permite programar y simular situaciones tales como la edición y resolución de laberintos.Eje: Tecnología informática aplicada en educaciónRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Un sistema didáctico integrado para la enseñanza introductoria de robótica

Se presenta un sistema informático para la enseñanza introductoria de la robótica en escuelas de nivel medio y universitario. Está formado por un robot armado con componentes de bajo costo y por un conjunto de aplicaciones que permite programar y simular situaciones tales como la edición y resolución de laberintos.Eje: Tecnología informática aplicada en educaciónRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Objective climatology of cyclones in the Mediterranean region: a consensus view among methods with different system identification and tracking criteria

The Mediterranean storm track constitutes a well-defined branch of the North Hemisphere storm track and is characterised by small but intense features and frequent cyclogenesis. The goal of this study is to assess the level of consensus among cyclone detection and tracking methods (CDTMs), to identify robust features and to explore sources of disagreement. A set of 14 CDTMs has been applied for computing the climatology of cyclones crossing the Mediterranean region using the ERA-Interim dataset for the period 1979–2008 as common testbed. Results show large differences in actual cyclone numbers identified by different methods, but a good level of consensus on the interpretation of results regarding location, annual cycle and trends of cyclone tracks. Cyclogenesis areas such as the north-western Mediterranean, North Africa, north shore of the Levantine basin, as well as the seasonality of their maxima are robust features on which methods show a substantial agreement. Differences among methods are greatly reduced if cyclone numbers are transformed to a dimensionless index, which, in spite of disagreement on mean values and interannual variances of cyclone numbers, reveals a consensus on variability, sign and significance of trends. Further, excluding ‘weak’ and ‘slow’ cyclones from the computation of cyclone statistics improves the agreement among CDTMs. Results show significant negative trends of cyclone frequency in spring and positive trends in summer, whose contrasting effects compensate each other at annual scale, so that there is no significant long-term trend in total cyclone numbers in the Mediterranean basin in the 1979–2008 period

Sensoriamento remoto como suporte para estudos cartográficos sobre o território da América Portuguesa entre 1500 e 1822

This article discusses the use of satellite imaging as a means to support and map out the historical expansion of the borders of São Paulo State between the discovery of Brazil and its independence. This tool was employed in Cartography of a history, an exhibition staged at Museu Paulista/USP in 2005. The images were generated by Modis, Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission and Landsat-5, and georeferenced with the SPRING image processor as well as georectified mosaics made available by Nasa. They were then checked against a valuable set of cartographic data collected by the researchers working under the Jaime Cortesão History Chair at USP. The said set included information pertaining to the boundaries established by the Treaty of Tordesillas, with its distortions; the Map of the Courts; the captaincies; as well as the trails of bandeiras (exploring expeditions), monções (expeditions made up and down the rivers of the São Paulo and Minas Gerais captaincies), and tropeirismos (cattle driving routes). In other words, all the pioneering actions that helped to consolidate the territory of São Paulo State and to shape much of Brazil's spatial identity were traced in the images. The researchers also looked into the myth of Brazil as an island and into the purported connection between the Amazon and Paraná-Prata river basins based on their geomorphologic attributes as shown on the orbital images. The results were compiled into an 800-megabyte database and displayed at Museu Paulista. This paper describes the methodological procedures used to generate and analyze the images, and provides a summary of the research findings.Este artigo aborda a utilização de imagens de satélites como suporte para evidenciar a expansão histórico-cartográfica das fronteiras paulistas entre o descobrimento do Brasil e a sua independência, recurso esse utilizado na exposição Cartografia de uma história, realizada no Museu Paulista da USP em 2005. As imagens foram aquelas do Modis, do Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission e do Satélite Landsat-5. As cenas foram georreferenciadas valendo-se da ferramenta Spring e dos mosaicos georretificados disponibilizados pela Nasa. Sobre estes produtos foi lançado um valioso conjunto de informações cartográficas coletadas pelas pesquisadoras da Cátedra Jaime Cortesão da USP. O conjunto inclui o Tratado de Tordesilhas, com suas distorções, o Mapa das Cortes, as capitanias, as bandeiras, as monções, as trilhas, os tropeirismos, ou seja, todo o conjunto de ações pioneiras que permitiram consolidar o território paulista e grande parte da identidade espacial brasileira. Foram analisados também o mito da Ilha Brasil e os enlaces das bacias do rio Amazonas e do rio Paraná-Prata a partir dos atributos geomorfológicos dispostos nas imagens orbitais. Os resultados foram consolidados em um banco de dados de 800 megabites, sendo dispostos em exposição junto ao Museu Paulista. Este artigo descreve os procedimentos metodológicos de geração e de análise das imagens bem como sintetiza os resultados alcançados

Sugar-based bactericides targeting phosphatidylethanolamine-enriched membranes

Free PMC Article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6242839/Anthrax is an infectious disease caused by Bacillus anthracis, a bioterrorism agent that develops resistance to clinically used antibiotics. Therefore, alternative mechanisms of action remain a challenge. Herein, we disclose deoxy glycosides responsible for specific carbohydrate-phospholipid interactions, causing phosphatidylethanolamine lamellar-to-inverted hexagonal phase transition and acting over B. anthracis and Bacillus cereus as potent and selective bactericides. Biological studies of the synthesized compound series differing in the anomeric atom, glycone configuration and deoxygenation pattern show that the latter is indeed a key modulator of efficacy and selectivity. Biomolecular simulations show no tendency to pore formation, whereas differential metabolomics and genomics rule out proteins as targets. Complete bacteria cell death in 10 min and cellular envelope disruption corroborate an effect over lipid polymorphism. Biophysical approaches show monolayer and bilayer reorganization with fast and high permeabilizing activity toward phosphatidylethanolamine membranes. Absence of bacterial resistance further supports this mechanism, triggering innovation on membrane-targeting antimicrobials.The European Union is gratefully acknowledged for the support of the project “Diagnostic and Drug Discovery Initiative for Alzheimer’s Disease” (D3i4AD), FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IAPP, GA 612347. We thank the Management Authorities of the European Regional Development Fund and the National Strategic Reference Framework for the support of the Incentive System - Research and Technological Development Co-Promotion FACIB Project number 21457. Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia is also acknowledged for the support of projects UID/Multi/00612/2013, FCT/UID/ Multi/04046/2013, IF/00808/2013/CP1159/CT0003, PTDC/BBBBQB/6071/2014, as well as for the post-doc grant SFRH/BPD/42567/2007 (A.M.), the Ph.D. grants SFRH/BDE/51998/2012 (C.D.), and SFRH/BDE/51957/2012 (J.P.P.), both co-sponsored by CIPAN, and also for the Ph.D. grant SFRH/BD/116614/2016 (R.N.).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio