A prevalência do tabagismo entre estudantes de graduação da escola de enfermagem da Universidade de São Paulo

Survey among undergraduate students to find out whether they were daily or occasional smokers, and whether this habit was acquired before or after their entrance into the School. From the total of 314 students registered in 1998, 80,9% filled out the questionnaire, among those 49,2% have already experienced to smoke, and 15,0 % have continued smoking at the date of the study. Among smokers, 16 have started to smoke between the age of 16 and 20, 12 students started before, and three at age 21 or older. At the end, it is proposed that the School spread out "no smoking" signs within its environment; periodically organise workshops and seminars to encourage lecturers and students on smoking cessation; to actively participate in the World no Tobacco Day or include such activity in the work of a specific committee. At last, to disseminate WHO data and statistics on smoking consequences.Estudo feito entre estudantes da EEUSP para saber se eles eram fumantes habituais ou ocasionais, e se esse hábito havia sido adquirido antes ou depois do ingresso na Escola. Do total de 314 estudantes matriculados em 1998, 80,9% responderam ao questionário, dos quais 49,2% já haviam experimentado fumar, e dentre esses, 38 continuavam a fumar na data do estudo. Entre os fumantes encontrados, 16 haviam começado a fumar dos 16 aos 20 anos, 12 com menos de 15 e três com 21 anos ou mais. Ao final, propõe-se que a EEUSP coloque maior quantidade de placas de "proibido fumar" no ambiente da escola; realize seminários periódicos sobre tabagismo para incentivar docentes e alunos a deixarem de fumar; participe ativamente do Dia Mundial sem Tabaco ou inclua essa atividade no programa do CCEx. Enfim, que se divulgue os dados e estatísticas da OMS sobre as conseqüências do tabagismo

CAUSES OF FUNCTIONAL DECLINE IN ELDERLY HOSPITALIZED PATIENTS RECEIVING EITHER INDIVIDUAL OR EXCLUSIVE REHABILITATION THERAPY: A COHORT STUDY

Background: Recently, exclusive rehabilitation therapy was introduced to prevent functional decline due to hospital-associated deconditioning by managing older inpatients’ activities of daily living in Japan. However, this type of therapy does not provide one-on-one exercises similar to individual rehabilitation therapy. This study aimed to report the present ward conditions and the causes of the functional decline in elderly patients receiving individual or exclusive rehabilitation therapy. Methods: A total of 1,636 inpatients, aged 65 years or older, were included in the study. Barthel Index at admission and discharge was assessed prospectively to analyze functional decline. We further analyzed the causes of functional decline by investigating the inpatient’s medical records. Results: Forty-three inpatients (2.6%) had functional decline during hospitalization. There were no significant differences in age, Barthel Index at the time of admission, and the type of clinical department between inpatients with and without functional decline. The functional decline rate in individual rehabilitation therapy was 8.2%, which was significantly higher compared to exclusive rehabilitation therapy (0.8%). The most common causes of functional decline were a pain, low postoperative physical fitness, malignant neoplasm, and new-onset cerebral stroke. Conclusion: We report the present ward conditions in elderly patients receiving either individual or exclusive rehabilitation therapies. Functional decline was correlated to the inpatients’ disease and conditions. The causes of the functional decline can be classified based on whether rehabilitation was effective or ineffective. If the functional decline was caused by hospital-associated deconditioning, we should address the functional decline by providing appropriate rehabilitation methods

Biosynthesis and Release of Methylarsenic Compounds During the Growth of Freshwater Algae

金沢大学工学部Arsenic transformations by freshwater algae have been studied under laboratory conditions. By the use of a new analytical method, we identified methylarsenic(III) species in the growth medium of green-alga Closterium aciculare incubated under axenic conditions. The arsenate concentration in the experimental medium began to decrease just after inoculation, and the levels of arsenite and methylarsenicals increased with the growth of C. aciculare. Initially, most of the arsenate was converted into arsenite, which peaked in concentration during the exponential phase. Methylarsenicals accumulated rapidly in the stationary phase. DMAA(V) production was enhanced when the ratio of phosphate to arsenate decreased in the culture medium. The levels of DMAA(V) increased continuously toward the end of the experiment. On the other hand, methylarsenic(III) species remained relatively steady during the stationary phase. Methylarsenic(III) species accounted for 0-35% of methylarsenicals. These results suggest that arsenite and methylarsenicals (containing methylarsenic(III) species) are supplied by phytoplankton, and serve as evidence of the origin of methylarsenic(III) species in natural waters. © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd

Low Electron Temperatures Observed at Mars by MAVEN on Dayside Crustal Magnetic Field Lines

An edited version of this paper was published by AGU. Copyright 2019 American Geophysical Union.The ionospheric electron temperature is important for determining the neutral/photochemical escape rate from the Martian atmosphere via the dissociative recombination of O2+. The Langmuir Probe and Waves instrument onboard MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) measures electron temperatures in the ionosphere. The current paper studies electron temperatures in the dayside for two regions where (1) crustal magnetic fields are dominant and (2) draped magnetic fields are dominant. Overall, the electron temperature is lower in the crustal‐field regions, namely, the strong magnetic field region, which is due to a transport of cold electrons along magnetic field lines from the lower to upper atmosphere. The electron temperature is also greater for high solar extreme ultraviolet conditions, which is associated with the local extreme ultraviolet energy deposition. The current models underestimate the electron temperature above 250‐km altitude in the crustal‐field region. Electron heat conduction associated with a photoelectron transport in the crustal‐field regions is altered due to kinetic effects, such the magnetic mirror and/or ambipolar electric field because the electron mean free path exceeds the relevant length scale for electron temperature. The mirror force can affect the electron and heat transport between low altitudes, where the neutral density and related electron cooling rates are the greatest, and high altitudes, while the ambipolar electric field decelerates the electron's upward motion. These effects have not been included in current models of the electron energetics, and consideration of such effects on the electron temperature in the crustal‐field region should be considered for future numerical simulations

Nursing: idealism x realism. Perspectives about nursing profession from nursing students enrolled in their last semester of the under-graduate program of a nursing school

Estudo exploratório descritivo com os objetivos de: identificar os sentimentos dos formandos de uma Escola de Enfermagem em relação ao curso de graduação e sua percepção quanto à profissão de enfermagem. Após quatro anos de curso, 57,4% dos estudantes percebiam a enfermagem de maneira positiva, como profissão do futuro, valorizada, reconhecida, compensadora, mesmo que com algumas ressalvas, Entretanto, 25% dos formandos ainda a percebiam como profissão mecânica, sacrificada, braçal, com visão científica limitada e com um abismo entre teoria e prática e por isso mesmo pouco reconhecida pela sociedade, Mantidas as tendências atuais, a valorização do enfermeiro pela sociedade brasileira nas próximas décadas seria muito maior, conforme 61% dos respondentes,Estúdio exploratório y descriptivo con objectivos de: identificar los sentimientos de los estudiantes en final de curso de una Escuela de Enfermería con relación al curso y su percepción hacia la profesión de enfermería, Después de quatro años de curso, 57,4% de los estudiantes percibian la enfermería de manera positiva, como profesión del futuro, valorizada, reconocida, compensadora, mismo con algunas reservas. Mientras tanto 25% percibian la enfermería como pro fesión brazal, con visión científica limitada y con un abismo entre la teoria y la práctica, Por esto mismo poco reconocida por la sociedad. Mantenidas las tendencias actuales, la valorización del enfermero por la sociedad brasileña en las próximas décadas seria mucho mayor, segun 61% de los respondientes.Exploratory and descriptive study with the following objectives: to identify the nursing students' feelings related to the undergraduate course and their perception towards the nursing profession, After the four-year course, 57,4% of students perceived nursing in a positive way as a profession for the future, valued, recognised, compensating even with some limitations, However, 25% of students still perceived nursing as a mechanical, manual and sacrificed profession, with a limited scientific vision and with a gap between theory and practice and as a consequence a lower recognition by the society. If current trends are maintained, the nurse's value would be much greater in the next decades within the Brazilian society according to 61% of respondents

Effects of Aliskiren Monotherapy versus Amlodipine Monotherapy in Hypertensive Patients with Obesity or Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Introduction: Renin-angiotensin system inhibitors have been reported to exert protective effects against organ damage and failure; however, the impact of the direct renin inhibitor as monotherapy has not been assessed. Here, we investigated the effects of 24-week monotherapy with aliskiren compared to amlodipine in hypertensive patients with type 2 diabetes or obesity. Methods: In this randomized intervention study, 62 adult hypertensive patients with visceral obesity (defined as a body mass index [BMI] greater than 25 kg/m2 and a visceral adipose tissue area [VFA] greater than 100 cm2) or type 2 diabetes mellitus (age 57 ± 13, 65% men, BMI 28.8 ± 4.8 kg/m2, VFA 134.8 ± 47.0 cm2, blood pressure 141 ± 16/86 ± 13 mm Hg) were randomized to receive 24-week treatment with aliskiren (max. 300 mg) or amlodipine (max. 10 mg). The primary outcome was the change in VFA at 24 weeks post-treatment. Results: Change in VFA did not differ significantly from baseline in either group. Systolic blood pressure significantly decreased at 12 weeks (−10 mm Hg, p = 0.001) and 24 weeks (−10 mm Hg, p = 0.001) in the amlodipine group and at 24 weeks (−11 mm Hg, p = 0.001) in the aliskiren group. Diastolic blood pressure significantly decreased at 24 weeks (−6 mm Hg, p = 0.009) only in the amlodipine group. Although the estimated glomerular filtration rates did not significantly change in either group, the logarithm of urinary albumin excretion significantly decreased at 24 weeks only in the aliskiren group (−0.60, p < 0.001). The 24-week changes in the urinary albumin excretion significantly correlated with the changes in the plasma renin activity in the aliskiren group (r = 0.51, p = 0.008). Conclusion: Aliskiren monotherapy did not show any superiority to amlodipine monotherapy on VFA, estimated glomerular filtration rates, or urinary albumin excretion in obese or type 2 diabetic hypertensive patients

An integrated analysis platform merging SuperDARN data within the THEMIS tool developed by ERG-Science Center (ERG-SC)

The Energization and Radiation in Geospace (ERG) mission seeks to explore the dynamics of the radiation belts in the Earth’s inner magnetosphere with a space-borne probe (ERG satellite) in coordination with related ground observations and simulations/ modeling studies. For this mission, the Science Center of the ERG project (ERG-SC) will provide a useful data analysis platform based on the THEMIS Data Analysis software Suite (TDAS), which has been widely used by researchers in many conjunction studies of the Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) spacecraft and ground data. To import SuperDARN data to this highly useful platform, ERG-SC, in close collaboration with SuperDARN groups, developed the Common Data Format (CDF) design suitable for fitacf data and has prepared an open database of SuperDARN data archived in CDF. ERG-SC has also been developing programs written in Interactive Data Language (IDL) to load fitacf CDF files and to generate various kinds of plots−not only range-time-intensity-type plots but also two-dimensional map plots that can be superposed with other data, such as all-sky images of THEMIS-GBO and orbital footprints of various satellites. The CDF-TDAS scheme developed by ERG-SC will make it easier for researchers who are not familiar with SuperDARN data to access and analyze SuperDARN data and thereby facilitate collaborative studies with satellite data, such as the inner magnetosphere data provided by the ERG (Japan)−RBSP (USA)−THEMIS (USA) fleet

Curated genome annotation of Oryza sativa ssp. japonica and comparative genome analysis with Arabidopsis thaliana

We present here the annotation of the complete genome of rice Oryza sativa L. ssp. japonica cultivar Nipponbare. All functional annotations for proteins and non-protein-coding RNA (npRNA) candidates were manually curated. Functions were identified or inferred in 19,969 (70%) of the proteins, and 131 possible npRNAs (including 58 antisense transcripts) were found. Almost 5000 annotated protein-coding genes were found to be disrupted in insertional mutant lines, which will accelerate future experimental validation of the annotations. The rice loci were determined by using cDNA sequences obtained from rice and other representative cereals. Our conservative estimate based on these loci and an extrapolation suggested that the gene number of rice is ~32,000, which is smaller than previous estimates. We conducted comparative analyses between rice and Arabidopsis thaliana and found that both genomes possessed several lineage-specific genes, which might account for the observed differences between these species, while they had similar sets of predicted functional domains among the protein sequences. A system to control translational efficiency seems to be conserved across large evolutionary distances. Moreover, the evolutionary process of protein-coding genes was examined. Our results suggest that natural selection may have played a role for duplicated genes in both species, so that duplication was suppressed or favored in a manner that depended on the function of a gene