Evaluation of hearing-protector insertion in groups with and without training

PURPOSE: to analyze the effectiveness for inserting different hearing protectors in trained and non-trained subjects. METHODS: we investigated the attenuation for four models of hearing protectors (foam earplugs, three-flange silicone earplugs, olive end earplugs and shell earplugs) by means of two strategies, namely, free-field audiometry and microphone probe measurements, with and without h. p. for comparison and determination of noise elimination. Two groups were evaluated: Group 1, with workers trained (23) in the use of hearing protectors, and Group 2, with non-trained ones (8). RESULTS: in group 1, the differences of hearing thresholds with and with no hearing protectors evaluated by the aforementioned methods, in general values, are greater than those of group 2. Shell earplugs submitted average values higher then those of the other types; and olive-end earplugs submitted the minor values. CONCLUSION: training for using hearing protectors is necessary and must be included in Hearing Conservation Programs (HCP).OBJETIVO: analisar a eficácia da colocação de diferentes protetores auriculares em sujeitos treinados e não-treinados e verificar a importância e a necessidade da realização de um treinamento para a colocação adequada do Equipamento de Proteção Individual auricular. MÉTODOS: investigou-se a atenuação de quatro modelos diferentes de protetores auriculares (inserção de espuma, inserção de silicone três flanges, inserção oliva e tipo concha) por meio de duas estratégias: audiometria em campo livre e medidas com microfone sonda, com e sem protetor auricular para comparação e determinação da vedação de ruído. Avaliou-se dois grupos, Grupo 1, sujeitos que receberam treinamento e orientação em relação ao uso e colocação do EPI auricular (23) e o Grupo 2, sujeitos não-treinados (8) universitários que nunca utilizaram o EPI auricular. RESULTADOS: no grupo 1, as diferenças dos limiares auditivos sem e com protetor auricular avaliadas pelos dois métodos apresentaram, em geral, valores de atenuação superiores ao do grupo 2. O protetor auricular concha apresentou valores médios de atenuação superiores aos demais tipos; e o protetor auricular oliva apresentou valores menores. CONCLUSÃO: o treinamento quanto ao uso dos protetores auriculares é necessário e deve ser incluído nos Programa de Conservação Auditiva (PCA).34535

DisProt in 2022: improved quality and accessibility of protein intrinsic disorder annotation

The Database of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins (DisProt, URL: https://disprot.org) is the major repository of manually curated annotations of intrinsically disordered proteins and regions from the literature. We report here recent updates of DisProt version 9, including a restyled web interface, refactored Intrinsically Disordered Proteins Ontology (IDPO), improvements in the curation process and significant content growth of around 30%. Higher quality and consistency of annotations is provided by a newly implemented reviewing process and training of curators. The increased curation capacity is fostered by the integration of DisProt with APICURON, a dedicated resource for the proper attribution and recognition of biocuration efforts. Better interoperability is provided through the adoption of the Minimum Information About Disorder (MIADE) standard, an active collaboration with the Gene Ontology (GO) and Evidence and Conclusion Ontology (ECO) consortia and the support of the ELIXIR infrastructure.Fil: Quaglia, Federica. Università di Padova; Italia. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche; ItaliaFil: Mészáros, Bálint. European Molecular Biology Laboratory; AlemaniaFil: Salladini, Edoardo. Università di Padova; ItaliaFil: Hatos, András. Università di Padova; ItaliaFil: Pancsa, Rita. Research Centre for Natural Sciences; HungríaFil: Chemes, Lucia Beatriz. Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas; ArgentinaFil: Pajkos, Mátyás. Eötvös Loránd University; HungríaFil: Lazar, Tamas. Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnology; Hungría. Vrije Unviversiteit Brussel; BélgicaFil: Peña Díaz, Samuel. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; EspañaFil: Santos, Jaime. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; EspañaFil: Ács, Veronika. Research Centre for Natural Sciences; HungríaFil: Farahi, Nazanin. Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnology; Bélgica. Vrije Unviversiteit Brussel; BélgicaFil: Fichó, Erzsébet. Research Centre for Natural Sciences; HungríaFil: Aspromonte, Maria Cristina. Università di Padova; Italia. Città della Speranza Pediatric Research Institute; ItaliaFil: Bassot, Claudio. Stockholms Universitet; SueciaFil: Chasapi, Anastasia. Centre for Research & Technology Hellas; GreciaFil: Davey, Norman E.. Chester Beatty Laboratories; Reino UnidoFil: Davidović, Radoslav. University of Belgrade; SerbiaFil: Laszlo Holland, Alicia Verónica. European Molecular Biology Laboratory; Alemania. Research Centre for Natural Sciences; HungríaFil: Elofsson, Arne. Stockholms Universitet; SueciaFil: Erdős, Gábor. Eötvös Loránd University; HungríaFil: Gaudet, Pascale. Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics; SuizaFil: Giglio, Michelle. University of Maryland School of Medicine; Estados UnidosFil: Glavina, Juliana. Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas; ArgentinaFil: Iserte, Javier Alonso. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires. Fundación Instituto Leloir. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Iglesias, Valentín. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; EspañaFil: Kálmán, Zsófia. Pázmány Péter Catholic University; HungríaFil: Lambrughi, Matteo. Danish Cancer Society Research Center; DinamarcaFil: Leonardi, Emanuela. Università di Padova; Italia. Pediatric Research Institute Città della Speranza; ItaliaFil: Rodriguez Sawicki, Luciana. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes. Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Recomendação de filmes utilizando filtragem colaborativa

O número de páginas da Web destinadas à oferta de produtos a consumidores vem aumentando a cada dia mais com a expansão da Internet. Estas ofertas podem ser tanto de produtos materiais, como venda de objetos, roupas, eletrodomésticos, etc, como também de produtos conceituais, como oferta de artigos, filmes, músicas. Com esse aumento, a quantidade de informação sobre as preferências dos usuários também aumentou muito. Para que os sites consigam otimizar o número de procura de produtos, e consequentemente aumentar o número de usuários que os adquirem, é necessário saber utilizar estas informações a seu favor, e para isso foram criadas técnicas de recomendações de itens a usuários, os Sistemas de Recomendação. Cada um destes sistemas opera de uma maneira diferente, observando conjuntos de características dos bancos de dados. Neste trabalho utilizamos o Sistema de Recomendação chamado Filtragem Colaborativa, que recomenda itens a usuários com base na similaridade, que pode ser tanto entre usuários quanto entre itens. A partir de um banco de dados onde usuários avaliaram com notas uma lista de filmes assistidos, ocultamos algumas destas notas para que fossem utilizados os diversos desdobramentos desta metodologia e posteriormente avaliamos a qualidade de cada desdobramento, com base na comparação das notas reais com as preditas e no poder do sistema de identificar quais filmes os usuários gostariam para assim recomendá-los. Também comparamos formas diferentes de fazer estas avaliações. Foi possível perceber que considerando a similaridade entre filmes a notas foram mais bem estimadas, porém obtivemos melhores resultados para a recomendação considerando a similaridade entre usuários. Também notamos que cada forma de utilização testada da Filtragem Colaborativa possui seus pontos positivos e negativos, e a melhor forma de escolher qual abordagem deve ser utilizada é priorizando as características de interesse que se destacaram para cada uma dela

Association of Sarcopenia With Nutritional Parameters, Quality of Life, Hospitalization, and Mortality Rates of Elderly Patients on Hemodialysis

Objective: This study aimed to assess whether diminished muscle mass, diminished muscle strength, or both conditions (sarcopenia) are associated with worse nutritional status, poor quality of life (QoL), and hard outcomes, such as hospitalization and mortality, in elderly patients on maintenance hemodialysis (MHD). Design and Subjects: This is a multicenter observational longitudinal study that included 170 patients on MHD (age 70 6 7 years, 65% male) from 6 dialysis centers. Main Outcome Measure: The European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People defines sarcopenia as the presence of both low muscle mass by appendicular skeletal 1 low muscle function by handgrip strength. This study evaluated the clinical and nutritional status (laboratory, anthropometry, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, 7-point subjective global assessment) and QoL (Kidney Disease Quality of Life) at baseline. Hospitalization and mortality were recorded during 36 months. Results: Reduced muscle mass was observed in 64% of the patients, reduced muscle strength in 52%, and sarcopenia in 37%. The group with sarcopenia was older, had a higher proportion of men and showed worse clinical and nutritional conditions when compared with patients without sarcopenia. Although reduced muscle mass was strongly associated with poor nutritional status, low muscle strength was associated with worse QoL domains. In the multivariate Cox analyses adjusted by age, gender, dialysis vintage, and diabetes mellitus, low muscle strength alone and sarcopenia were associated with higher hospitalization, and sarcopenia was a predictor of mortality. Conclusion: In conclusion, in this sample, comprised of elderly patients on MHD, sarcopenia was associated with worse nutritional and clinical conditions and was a predictor of hospitalization and mortality. (C) 2017 by the National Kidney Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved.Fundacao Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ)Univ Estado Rio De Janeiro, Nutr Inst, Rio De Janeiro, BrazilUniv Fed Sao Paulo, Nutr Graduat Program, Sao Paulo, BrazilUniv Fed Sao Paulo, Nephrol Div, Sao Paulo, BrazilUniv Fed Sao Paulo, Nutr Graduat Program, Sao Paulo, BrazilUniv Fed Sao Paulo, Nephrol Div, Sao Paulo, BrazilFAPERJ: E-26/111.653/2010FAPERJ: E-26/103.209/2011Web of Scienc

Hearing risk in motorcycle taxi drivers of a Southern Brazilian city

ABSTRACT Objective: to characterize the hearing profile of motorcycle taxi drivers and analyze the risk of their exposure to noise. Methods: a cross-sectional study with 17 motorcycle taxi drivers of a city on the Southern coast of Brazil, in 2008. Noise was measured at workplace and during a standard route. The dose of exposure to noise was calculated, a questionnaire on the perception of auditory and extra-auditory effects was applied and an auditory hearing assessment through threshold tonal audiometry was performed. Results: at workplace, noise was around 73dBA (decibels, A scale), and while commuting, noise was above 100% for a 12-hour working day. Strain and stress/fatigue after work were reported by 58.8% of the subjects and 52.9% of them showed hearing losses, five presenting characteristic noise-induced hearing losses (NIHL). However, the motorcycle taxi drivers did not associate the adverse health effects to the continuous exposure to noise. Conclusion: the motorcycle taxi drivers presented hearing risk, 29% of them presenting hearing alterations with characteristics suggestive of noise-induced hearing loss, which makes the implementation of auditory conservation programs of extremely importance for this class of workers

Hearing risk in motorcycle taxi drivers of a Southern Brazilian city

<div><p>ABSTRACT Objective: to characterize the hearing profile of motorcycle taxi drivers and analyze the risk of their exposure to noise. Methods: a cross-sectional study with 17 motorcycle taxi drivers of a city on the Southern coast of Brazil, in 2008. Noise was measured at workplace and during a standard route. The dose of exposure to noise was calculated, a questionnaire on the perception of auditory and extra-auditory effects was applied and an auditory hearing assessment through threshold tonal audiometry was performed. Results: at workplace, noise was around 73dBA (decibels, A scale), and while commuting, noise was above 100% for a 12-hour working day. Strain and stress/fatigue after work were reported by 58.8% of the subjects and 52.9% of them showed hearing losses, five presenting characteristic noise-induced hearing losses (NIHL). However, the motorcycle taxi drivers did not associate the adverse health effects to the continuous exposure to noise. Conclusion: the motorcycle taxi drivers presented hearing risk, 29% of them presenting hearing alterations with characteristics suggestive of noise-induced hearing loss, which makes the implementation of auditory conservation programs of extremely importance for this class of workers.</p></div