Mortality among adults: gender and socioeconomic differences in a Brazilian city

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Population groups living in deprived areas are more exposed to several risk factors for diseases and injuries and die prematurely when compared with their better-off counterparts. The strength and patterning of the relationships between socioeconomic status and mortality differ depending on age, gender, and diseases or injuries. The objective of this study was to identify the magnitude of social differences in mortality among adult residents in a city of one million people in Southeastern Brazil in 2004-2008.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Forty-nine health care unit areas were classified into three homogeneous strata using 2000 Census small-area socioeconomic indicators. Mortality rates by age group, sex, and cause of death were calculated for each socioeconomic stratum. Mortality rate ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals were estimated for the low and middle socioeconomic strata compared with the high stratum.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In general, age-specific mortality rates showed a social gradient of increasing risks of death with decreasing socioeconomic status. The highest mortality rate ratios between low and high strata were observed in the 30-39 age group for males (RR = 1.74, 95% CI 1.59-1.89), and females (RR = 1.90, 95% CI 1.65-2.15). Concerning specific diseases and injuries, the greatest inequalities between low and high strata were found for homicides (RR = 2.44, 95% CI 2.27-2.61) and traffic accidents (RR = 1.64, 95% CI 1.45-1.83) among males. For women, the highest inequalities between the low and high strata were for chronic respiratory diseases (RR = 2.19, 95% CI 1.94-2.45) and acute myocardial infarction (RR = 1.93, 95% CI 1.79-2.07). Only breast cancer showed a reversed social gradient (RR = 0.70, 95% CI 0.48-0.92). Inequalities in circulatory and respiratory diseases mortality were greater among females than among males.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Substandard living conditions are related to unhealthy behaviors, as well as difficulties in accessing health care. Therefore, the Brazilian Health System (SUS) must ensure greater access to primary and hospital care, and develop programs that promote healthier lifestyles among vulnerable groups to reduce social inequalities in mortality. Moreover, because deaths from external causes are concentrated in poor areas, cooperative and coordinated intersectoral actions should be taken to combat the deadly violence cycle.</p

Categorías sociopolíticas evaluadas en programas y políticas nutricionales en América Latina

ABSTRACT: The evaluation of nutrition programs and policies has traditionally focused on analysing the impact and biological outcomes of their actions. Objective: To examine whether evaluations of nutrition programs include the following sociopolitical categories: (a) the right to food; (b) citizenship building; (c) civil participation in public policies; (d) women’s empowerment; and (e) territoriality in policy planning. Methodology: A comprehensive literature review of articles and documents that evaluate food and nutrition programs carried out in different Latin American countries and published during 2005-2013. Results: It was found that the evaluations carried out generally do not use these categories. In the cases where they are used, the conceptual development applied to the evaluation process is still incipient. Discussion: This study analyzed the sociopolitical categories of: the right to food; citizenship building; civil participation in public policies; women’s empowerment; and territoriality in policy planning, and found that although these categories are not prioritised when nutritional programs in Latin America are assessed, in most cases they form the basis of these programs. Conclusion: Social protection nutrition programs demand new objectives and actions. It is necessary to apply evaluation criteria that account for these new underpinnings in order to establish consistency between government institutions’ discourse, and the reality of their efforts.RESUMEN: La evaluación de programas y políticas nutricionales se ha enfocado tradicionalmente al análisis del impacto y resultados biológicos de las intervenciones. Objetivo: Examinar si las evaluaciones a programas nutricionales incluyen las siguientes categorías socio-políticas: (a) El derecho a la alimentación, (b) La construcción de ciudadanía, (c) La participación ciudadana en las políticas públicas, (d) El empoderamiento de la mujer y (e) La territorialidad en las políticas de planificación. Metodología: Revisión integrativa de la literatura sobre artículos y documentos de evaluaciones a programas alimentarios y nutricionales en países de América Latina publicados entre 2005 y 2013. Resultados: Se encontró en general que en las evaluaciones no se indaga por estas categorías; en los casos en que se hace su desarrollo conceptual aplicado a los procesos de evaluación es incipiente. Discusión: El principal hallazgo es que las categorías sociopolíticas analizadas no se encuentran entre las prioridades en la evaluación de programas nutricionales en América Latina, aunque en la mayoría de los casos son la base de estos programas. Conclusión: Los programas nutricionales de protección social demandan nuevos objetivos e intervenciones. Es necesario aplicar criterios de evaluación con nuevas bases, con el fin de dar coherencia entre los discursos de las instituciones gubernamentales y sus acciones

Expression of the dopaminergic D1 and D2 receptors in the anterior cingulate cortex in a model of neuropathic pain

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) has been related to the affective component of pain. Dopaminergic mesocortical circuits, including the ACC, are able to inhibit neuropathic nociception measured as autotomy behaviour. We determined the changes in dopamine D1 and D2 (D1R and D2R) receptor expression in the ACC (cg1 and cg2) in an animal model of neuropathic pain. The neuropathic group had noxious heat applied in the right hind paw followed 30 min. later by right sciatic denervation. Autotomy score (AS) was recorded for eight days and subsequently classified in low, medium and high AS groups. The control consisted of naïve animals.</p> <p>A semiquantitative RT-PCR procedure was done to determine mRNA levels for D1R and D2R in cg1 and cg2, and protein levels were measured by Western Blot.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The results of D1R mRNA in cg1 showed a decrease in all groups. D2R mRNA levels in cg1 decreased in low AS and increased in medium and high AS. Regarding D1R in cg2, there was an increase in all groups. D2R expression levels in cg2 decreased in all groups. In cg1, the D2R mRNA correlated positively with autotomy behaviour. Protein levels of D2R in cg1 increased in all groups but to a higher degree in low AS. In cg2 D2R protein only decreased discretely. D1R protein was not found in either ACC region.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This is the first evidence of an increase of inhibitory dopaminergic receptor (D2R) mRNA and protein in cg1 in correlation with nociceptive behaviour in a neuropathic model of pain in the rat.</p

Topological features for monitoring human activities at distance

In this paper, a topological approach for monitoring human activities is presented. This approach makes possible to protect the person’s privacy hiding details that are not essential for processing a security alarm. First, a stack of human silhouettes, extracted by background subtraction and thresholding, are glued through their gravity centers, forming a 3D digital binary image I. Secondly, different orders of the simplices are applied on a simplicial complex obtained from I, which capture relations among the parts of the human body when walking. Finally, a topological signature is extracted from the persistence diagrams according to each order. The measure cosine is used to give a similarity value between topological signatures. In this way, the powerful topological tool known as persistent homology is novelty adapted to deal with gender classification, person identification, carrying bag detection and simple action recognition. Four experiments show the strength of the topological feature used; three of they use the CASIA-B database, and the fourth use the KTH database to present the results in the case of simple actions recognition. In the first experiment the named topological signature is evaluated, obtaining 98.8% (lateral view) of correct classification rates for gender identification. In the second one are shown results for person identification, obtaining an average of 98.5%. In the third one the result obtained is 93.8% for carrying bag detection. And in the last experiment the results were 97.7% walking and 97.5% running, which were the actions took from the KTH database

On domain walls in a Ginzburg-Landau non-linear S^2-sigma model

The domain wall solutions of a Ginzburg-Landau non-linear $S^2$-sigma hybrid model are unveiled. There are three types of basic topological walls and two types of degenerate families of composite - one topological, the other non-topological- walls. The domain wall solutions are identified as the finite action trajectories (in infinite time) of a related mechanical system that is Hamilton-Jacobi separable in sphero-conical coordinates. The physical and mathematical features of these domain walls are thoroughly discussed.Comment: 26 pages, 18 figure

A Standardised Procedure for Evaluating Creative Systems: Computational Creativity Evaluation Based on What it is to be Creative

Computational creativity is a flourishing research area, with a variety of creative systems being produced and developed. Creativity evaluation has not kept pace with system development with an evident lack of systematic evaluation of the creativity of these systems in the literature. This is partially due to difficulties in defining what it means for a computer to be creative; indeed, there is no consensus on this for human creativity, let alone its computational equivalent. This paper proposes a Standardised Procedure for Evaluating Creative Systems (SPECS). SPECS is a three-step process: stating what it means for a particular computational system to be creative, deriving and performing tests based on these statements. To assist this process, the paper offers a collection of key components of creativity, identified empirically from discussions of human and computational creativity. Using this approach, the SPECS methodology is demonstrated through a comparative case study evaluating computational creativity systems that improvise music

Identificación molecular de micobacterias no tuberculosas mediante el análisis de los patrones de restricción, Colombia 1995-2005

Introduction. Nontuberculous mycobacteria can be saprophytic, pathogenic or opportunistic. The most common diseases produced by these microorganisms are the post-surgical infections due to anesthetic procedures, infections associated with catheters, disseminated cutaneous diseases and pulmonary and central nervous system diseases that especially affect HIV patients. Identification of the nontuberculous mycobacteria can take several weeks and even then, differentiation of complex members is not possible.Objective. The PCR-restriction analysis (PRA) technique was evaluated as a method for genotypic identification of nontuberculous mycobacteria isolated of clinical samples located in the culture collection of the Instituto Nacional de Salud (National Institute of Health), Bogotá, Colombia.Materials and methods. Seventy clinical isolates of nontuberculous mycobacteria stored in 50% glycerol at -70&deg;C were identified by phenotypic techniques. The genotypic identification was made using the PCR-restriction analysis (PRA) using the restriction enzymes BstEII and HseIII, the restriction products were visualized on gels of agarose to 3%, and the concordance between the methodologies was evaluated.Results. A matching of 100% was obtained in the identification of Mycobacterium terrae, M. szulgai, M. avium, M. chelonae and M. scrofulaceum, the matching between M. fortuitum species, M. abscessus, M. gordonae and M. intracellulare varied from 44 to 89%; there was no concurrence in the identification of species M. flavescens and M. malmoense. Conclusions. PRA provided a fast, inexpensive and accurate alternative for the identification of nontuberculous mycobacteria that permited the differentiation among species of a complex and determining the subtype of each species sample.Introducción. Las micobacterias no tuberculosas pueden ser saprofitas, patógenas u oportunistas; las enfermedades más comunes producidas por estos microorganismos son las infecciones posquirúrgicas, principalmente por procedimiento estéticos, infecciones asociadas con catéteres, enfermedades cutáneas diseminadas, enfermedades pulmonares y del sistema nervioso central que afectan especialmente a pacientes infectados con el virus de la inmunodeficiencia humana. La identificación fenotípica de las micobacterias no tuberculosas incluye pruebas microbiológicas y bioquímicas, las cuales pueden tomar varias semanas y algunas veces no logran diferenciar entre los miembros de un complejo.Objetivo. El objetivo fue evaluar la metodología de reacción en cadena de la polimerasaanálisis de restricción, como método de identificación genotípica de micobacterias no tuberculosas aisladas de muestras clínicas que pertenecen a la colección del Instituto Nacional de Salud.Materiales y métodos. Se estudiaron 70 aislamientos clínicos de micobacterias no tuberculosas, criopreservados en glicerol al 50% e identificados mediante metodologías fenotípicas. La identificación genotípica se realizó por reacción en cadena de la polimerasa-análisis de restricción y se evaluó la concordancia entre las metodologías.Resultados. Se obtuvo una concordancia del 100% en la identificación de Mycobacterium terrae, M. szulgai, M. avium, M. chelonae y M. scrofulaceum, en las especies M. fortuitum, M. abscessus M. gordonae y M. intracellulare varió de 44% a 89%; no se obtuvo concordancia en la identificación de las especies M. flavescens y M. malmoense.Conclusiones. El análisis de restricción es una alternativa para la identificación de especies de micobacterias no tuberculosas, rápida, económica y segura para la identificación, que permite la diferenciación entre especies de un complejo y la determinación del subtipo de cada especie

Modelling creativity: identifying key components through a corpus-based approach

Creativity is a complex, multi-faceted concept encompassing a variety of related aspects, abilities, properties and behaviours. If we wish to study creativity scientifically, then a tractable and well-articulated model of creativity is required. Such a model would be of great value to researchers investigating the nature of creativity and in particular, those concerned with the evaluation of creative practice. This paper describes a unique approach to developing a suitable model of how creative behaviour emerges that is based on the words people use to describe the concept. Using techniques from the field of statistical natural language processing, we identify a collection of fourteen key components of creativity through an analysis of a corpus of academic papers on the topic. Words are identified which appear significantly often in connection with discussions of the concept. Using a measure of lexical similarity to help cluster these words, a number of distinct themes emerge, which collectively contribute to a comprehensive and multi-perspective model of creativity. The components provide an ontology of creativity: a set of building blocks which can be used to model creative practice in a variety of domains. The components have been employed in two case studies to evaluate the creativity of computational systems and have proven useful in articulating achievements of this work and directions for further research

Role of PTPN22 and CSK gene polymorphisms as predictors of susceptibility and clinical heterogeneity in patients with Henoch-Schönlein purpura (IgA vasculitis)

INTRODUCTION: To determine whether the PTPN22 (protein tyrosine phosphatase nonreceptor 22)/CSK (c-src tyrosine kinase) pathway is implicated in the susceptibility and clinical heterogeneity of Henoch-Schönlein purpura (HSP) in the largest series of Caucasian HSP patients ever assessed for genetic studies. METHODS: A set of 329 Spanish patients diagnosed with HSP fulfilling the American College of Rheumatology and the Michel et al. classification criteria and 515 sex and ethnically matched controls were recruited in this study. Two well-known CSK (CSK rs34933034 and CSK rs1378942) and two functional PTPN22 (PTPN22 rs2476601 (R620W) and PTPN22 rs33996649 (R263Q)) polymorphisms, previously associated with autoimmunity, were genotyped with TaqMan single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping assays. RESULTS: No significant differences in the genotype and allele frequencies between HSP patients and controls were observed when the CSK rs34933034, CSK rs1378942, PTPN22 rs2476601 (R620W) and PTPN22 rs33996649 (R263Q) polymorphisms were analyzed independently. In keeping with this observation, no significant differences were found when we assessed these polymorphisms combined conforming haplotypes. In addition, there were no differences in the allele or genotype frequencies when HSP patients were stratified according the age at disease onset, sex, presence of arthralgia/arthritis, nephritis or gastrointestinal manifestations. CONCLUSIONS: Our results do not support association between PTPN22/CSK and HSP