The nurse in the management of materials in teaching hospitals

OBJECTIVETo present the nurse's integration within materials management of six teaching hospitals of Paraná - Brazil, and to describe the activities performed by nurses within this process.METHODA study of a qualitative approach and descriptive nature, conducted in teaching hospitals in Paraná, between June and August of 2013. The data collection was conducted through semi-structured interviews with eight nurses who worked in materials management; data were analyzed using content analysis.RESULTSThese showed that nurses perform ten categories of activities, distributed into four of the five steps of the materials management process.CONCLUSIONThe nurse, in performing of these activities, in addition to favoring the development of participative management, contributes to the organization, planning, and the standardization of the hospital supply process, giving greater credibility to the work with professionals who use the materials, and to the suppliers

Effects of enamel matrix derivative and transforming growth factor-β1 on human osteoblastic cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Extracellular matrix proteins are key factors that influence the regenerative capacity of tissues. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effects of enamel matrix derivative (EMD), TGF-β1, and the combination of both factors (EMD+TGF-β1) on human osteoblastic cell cultures.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Cells were obtained from alveolar bone of three adult patients using enzymatic digestion. Effects of EMD, TGF-β1, or a combination of both were analyzed on cell proliferation, bone sialoprotein (BSP), osteopontin (OPN) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) immunodetection, total protein synthesis, ALP activity and bone-like nodule formation.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>All treatments significantly increased cell proliferation compared to the control group at 24 h and 4 days. At day 7, EMD group showed higher cell proliferation compared to TGF-β1, EMD + TGF-β1 and the control group. OPN was detected in the majority of the cells for all groups, whereas fluorescence intensities for ALP labeling were greater in the control than in treated groups; BSP was not detected in all groups. All treatments decreased ALP levels at 7 and 14 days and bone-like nodule formation at 21 days compared to the control group.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The exposure of human osteoblastic cells to EMD, TGF-β1 and the combination of factors <it>in vitro </it>supports the development of a less differentiated phenotype, with enhanced proliferative activity and total cell number, and reduced ALP activity levels and matrix mineralization.</p

Spatial point analysis based on dengue surveys at household level in central Brazil

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Dengue virus (DENV) affects nonimunne human populations in tropical and subtropical regions. In the Americas, dengue has drastically increased in the last two decades and Brazil is considered one of the most affected countries. The high frequency of asymptomatic infection makes difficult to estimate prevalence of infection using registered cases and to locate high risk intra-urban area at population level. The goal of this spatial point analysis was to identify potential high-risk intra-urban areas of dengue, using data collected at household level from surveys.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Two household surveys took place in the city of Goiania (~1.1 million population), Central Brazil in the year 2001 and 2002. First survey screened 1,586 asymptomatic individuals older than 5 years of age. Second survey 2,906 asymptomatic volunteers, same age-groups, were selected by multistage sampling (census tracts; blocks; households) using available digital maps. Sera from participants were tested by dengue virus-specific IgM/IgG by EIA. A Generalized Additive Model (GAM) was used to detect the spatial varying risk over the region. Initially without any fixed covariates, to depict the overall risk map, followed by a model including the main covariates and the year, where the resulting maps show the risk associated with living place, controlled for the individual risk factors. This method has the advantage to generate smoothed risk factors maps, adjusted by socio-demographic covariates.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The prevalence of antibody against dengue infection was 37.3% (95%CI [35.5–39.1]) in the year 2002; 7.8% increase in one-year interval. The spatial variation in risk of dengue infection significantly changed when comparing 2001 with 2002, (ORadjusted = 1.35; p < 0.001), while controlling for potential confounders using GAM model. Also increasing age and low education levels were associated with dengue infection.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study showed spatial heterogeneity in the risk areas of dengue when using a spatial multivariate approach in a short time interval. Data from household surveys pointed out that low prevalence areas in 2001 surveys shifted to high-risk area in consecutive year. This mapping of dengue risks should give insights for control interventions in urban areas.</p

Compressed representation of a partially defined integer function over multiple arguments

In OLAP (OnLine Analitical Processing) data are analysed in an n-dimensional cube. The cube may be represented as a partially defined function over n arguments. Considering that often the function is not defined everywhere, we ask: is there a known way of representing the function or the points in which it is defined, in a more compact manner than the trivial one

Biased-corrected richness estimates for the Amazonian tree flora

Amazonian forests are extraordinarily diverse, but the estimated species richness is very much debated. Here, we apply an ensemble of parametric estimators and a novel technique that includes conspecific spatial aggregation to an extended database of forest plots with up-to-date taxonomy. We show that the species abundance distribution of Amazonia is best approximated by a logseries with aggregated individuals, where aggregation increases with rarity. By averaging several methods to estimate total richness, we confirm that over 15,000 tree species are expected to occur in Amazonia. We also show that using ten times the number of plots would result in an increase to just ~50% of those 15,000 estimated species. To get a more complete sample of all tree species, rigorous field campaigns may be needed but the number of trees in Amazonia will remain an estimate for years to come

The global abundance of tree palms

Aim: Palms are an iconic, diverse and often abundant component of tropical ecosystems that provide many ecosystem services. Being monocots, tree palms are evolutionarily, morphologically and physiologically distinct from other trees, and these differences have important consequences for ecosystem services (e.g., carbon sequestration and storage) and in terms of responses to climate change. We quantified global patterns of tree palm relative abundance to help improve understanding of tropical forests and reduce uncertainty about these ecosystems under climate change. Location: Tropical and subtropical moist forests. Time period: Current. Major taxa studied: Palms (Arecaceae). Methods: We assembled a pantropical dataset of 2,548 forest plots (covering 1,191 ha) and quantified tree palm (i.e., ≥10 cm diameter at breast height) abundance relative to co‐occurring non‐palm trees. We compared the relative abundance of tree palms across biogeographical realms and tested for associations with palaeoclimate stability, current climate, edaphic conditions and metrics of forest structure. Results: On average, the relative abundance of tree palms was more than five times larger between Neotropical locations and other biogeographical realms. Tree palms were absent in most locations outside the Neotropics but present in >80% of Neotropical locations. The relative abundance of tree palms was more strongly associated with local conditions (e.g., higher mean annual precipitation, lower soil fertility, shallower water table and lower plot mean wood density) than metrics of long‐term climate stability. Life‐form diversity also influenced the patterns; palm assemblages outside the Neotropics comprise many non‐tree (e.g., climbing) palms. Finally, we show that tree palms can influence estimates of above‐ground biomass, but the magnitude and direction of the effect require additional work. Conclusions: Tree palms are not only quintessentially tropical, but they are also overwhelmingly Neotropical. Future work to understand the contributions of tree palms to biomass estimates and carbon cycling will be particularly crucial in Neotropical forests

Search for Dark Matter and Supersymmetry with a Compressed Mass Spectrum in the Vector Boson Fusion Topology in Proton-Proton Collisions at root s=8 TeV

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