Scenario analysis different paths spotify may take

The report consists in the implementation of a scenario analysis to understand the different paths the world economy may take which might impact differently. First, a macroeconomic outlook was made in order to grasp recent events and their impact in the world. Then, it was identified US-China trade war as the main source of uncertainty in the world and two possible evolutions for this risk. The conclusion is that, in a negative scenario, Spotify’s expected price is $127andexpected return is -15.3$219 and expected return is45.7%

Prediction of itraconazole minimum inhibitory concentration for Fonsecaea pedrosoi using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and chemometrics

Fonsecaea pedrosoi is one of the main agents of chromoblastomycosis, a chronic subcutaneous mycosis. Itraconazole (ITC) is the most used antifungal in its treatment, however, in vitro antifungal susceptibility tests are important to define the best therapy. These tests are standardized by the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI), but these protocols have limitations such as the high complexity, cost and time to conduct. An alternative to in vitro susceptibility test, which overcomes these limitations, is FTIR. This study determined the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of itraconazole for F. pedrosoi, using FTIR and chemometrics. The susceptibility to ITC of 36 strains of F. pedrosoi was determined according to CLSI and with the addition of tricyclazole (TCZ), to inhibit 1,8-dihydroxynaphthalene (DHN)-melanin biosynthesis. Strains were grown in Sabouraud agar and prepared for Attenuated Total Reflection (ATR)/FTIR. Partial least squares (PLS) regression was performed using leave-one-out cross-validation (by steps of quintuplicates), then tested on an external validation set. A coefficient of determination (R²) higher than 0.99 was obtained for both the MIC-ITC and MIC-ITC+TCZ ATR/PLS models, confirming a high correlation of the reference values with the ones predicted using the FTIR spectra. This is the first study to propose the use of FTIR and chemometric analyses according to the M38-A2 CLSI protocol to predict ITC MICs of F. pedrosoi. Considering the limitations of the conventional methods to test in vitro susceptibility, this is a promising methodology to be used for other microorganisms and drugs

Securing sustainable access to aquatic foods

Global nutrition needs are increasing and aquatic foods have recently been identified as crucial in addressing many of the world’s urgent challenges, including hunger and malnutrition. This synthesis highlights the importance of aquatic foods as a source of protein, micronutrients and income, its potential to meet increasing food demands, as well as the challenges in aquatic food production and harvesting.Most importantly, it provides an overview of management initiatives and innovative solutions for secured sustainable access to aquatic foods in the future. Aquatic foods provide micronutrient-rich foods for 3.3 billion people and support the livelihoods of more than 800 million people. Small-scale fisheries, in particular, play a key role in supporting the diversity and nutritional benefits of aquatic foods. However, the capture and production of aquatic foods is not always sustainable, and access to these foods may be unequal. At the water-land nexus, new ways of producing aquatic foods hold the potential to reduce the climate footprint in the food system.The governance of, and investment in, aquatic food systems needs to aim to preserve, support and improve aquatic species diversity and to improve access to this highly nutritious food. These efforts need to include multiple stakeholders, such as fishers, community agencies, policy makers and researchers, and be firmly established in both the latest research and in a local/regional context - ecologically and socially. By incorporating different aspects of aquatic foods, this synthesis aims to inspire and inform the reader about the importance of these systems, and means for a sustainable way forward

Epidemiological characteristics and trends of leprosy in children and adolescents under 15 years old in a low-endemic State in Southern Brazil

Leprosy is an infectious and contagious disease affecting skin and nerves. The number of cases in individuals under 15 years old is one of the parameters used in Brazil as an indicator of endemic permanence of the disease and its continuous transmission. Rio Grande do Sul State, in Southern Brazil, is low-endemic to leprosy. However, the disease remains a public health problem. This is a retrospective, observational and analytical study of a historical series of new cases of leprosy in children under 15 years old diagnosed in the period from 2000 to 2019, in all health units in Rio Grande do Sul State. Seventy-seven new cases were notified. The male gender was predominant in 53.2% of the cases (n=41). The average age was 10.4 years (standard deviation of 2.9), with predominance of the age group between 10 and 15 incomplete years old. The most frequent operational classification was multibacillary, in 62.3% of cases (n=48), and the most common clinical form was borderline, in 38.9% of cases (n=28). The predominant disability degree in the sample was grade zero, in 80.0% of the cases (n=60), but in 4.0% (n=3) the grade assessed was 2. In 54.0% of cases (n=27), bacilloscopy was performed, with positive results in 36.0% (n=9) of the exams. Multibacillary cases, with physical disability and/or positive bacilloscopy, draws attention that that the diagnosis is frequently not made in early stages

Measuring Dislocation Density in Aluminum with Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy

Dislocations in a material will, when present in enough numbers, change the speed of propagation of elastic waves. Consequently, two material samples, differing only in dislocation density, will have different elastic constants, a quantity that can be measured using Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy. Measurements of this effect on aluminum samples are reported. They compare well with the predictions of the theory.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Influence of hormonal therapy on growth rate and bone age progression in patients with Turner syndrome

Celem pracy była ocena skuteczności leczenia hormonalnego u pacjentek z zespołem Turnera (TS) poprzez analizę tempa wzrastania i progresji wieku kostnego w trakcie stosowania hormonu wzrostu (GH), oxandrolonu (Ox) i estrogenów (E). 62 pacjentki z TS w zależności od rodzaju zastosowanej terapii podzielono na pięć grup: grupę GH (n=11); GH+Ox (n=18); GH+Ox+E (n=7); Ox+E (n=6) oraz grupę 0, którą stanowiły pacjentki nie leczone. Wzrost pacjentek wyrażano w wartościach standaryzowanych obliczonych według siatek dla TS (hSDST), a wiek kostny (BA) oceniano metodą Greulich-Pyle. Wyniki: Średnie wartości ∆hSDST uzyskane w poszczególnych grupach w pierwszym i drugim roku terapii różniły się znamiennie, co wynikało z istotnie wyższych wartości ∆hSDST w grupie GH+Ox. Na podstawie analizy regresji pomiędzy przyrostem wieku metrykalnego w trakcie terapii (∆CA) a przyrostem wieku kostnego w tym czasie (∆BA) uzyskano w poszczególnych grupach współczynniki kierunkowe α równania ∆BA=α x ∆CA, które różniły się istotnie, co wynikło ze znamiennie wyższych ich wartości w grupie GH niż w grupie 0 i GH+Ox. Tylko w grupie GH+Ox stwierdzono ujemną korelację pomiędzy początkowych CA a ∆BA. Wnioski: Wszystkie formy terapii przyczyniły się do poprawy tempa wzrastania u naszych pacjentek, jednak największy przyrost wzrostu przy najmniejszej progresji wieku kostnego obserwowano w grupie GH+Ox.The efficacy of growth promoting hormonal therapy is assessed on the basis of growth rate as well as bone age progression until the patients reach their final height. The aim of our study was to investigate which hormonal therapy influences in most appropriate way height velocity and bone age progression in patients with Turner syndrome (TS) and to establish the optimal age to initiate treatment. Patients were divided into five groups according to the type of hormonal therapy:1) 11 patients treated with growth hormone (GH); 2) 18 patients treated with GH and oxandrolone (Ox); 3) 7 patients treated with GH, Ox and estrogens (E); 4) 6 patients treated with OX and E; and the control group (Group 0) of 62 untreated patients. The patients height was expressed in hSDS calculated on the basis of growth chart for patients with TS (hSDST). Bone age (BA) was assessed according to Greulich-Pyle method. Results: The mean values of ∆hSDST in the first and second year of therapy in individual groups were significantly different. The difference resulted from significantly higher value of ∆hSDST in group treated with GH+Ox. Analysis of regression between ∆CA and ∆BA revealed regression coefficients α of equation ∆BA= α x ∆CA: in group 0: 0.817; group GH: 1.233; group GH+Ox: 0.861; group GH+Ox+E: 0.997; group Ox+E: 1.141. There was significant difference between regression coefficients in studied groups. It resulted from significantly higher value of α in group treated with GH than in a group 0 and treated with GH+Ox. Only group treated with GH+Ox showed a significant negative correlation between baseline CA and ∆BA during the therapy. We can conclude that all regimens of hormonal therapy improved height in our patients but the highest increase of height during the therapy and the smallest progression of the bone age in the same time were observed in patients treated with GH+Ox

A estrutura temporal dos spreads de crédito em empréstimos sindicados : o caso dos fixed asset based loans e dos general corporate purpose loans

No presente trabalho analisa-se a relação entre spread e maturidade para dois tipos de syndicated loans: Fixed Asset Based Loans e General Corporate Purpose Loans. Em primeiro lugar, tenta-se perceber se a forma como o preço (spread) dos diferentes tipos de empréstimos sindicados estudados é calculado de maneira semelhante, ou seja, se existem diferenças na forma como o spread de cada tipologia de empréstimo é determinado. Os resultados sugerem que os spreads das syndicated loans estudadas são determinados de forma diferente. A estrutura temporal encontrada para os fixed asset based loans é quadrática com concavidade voltada para cima, enquanto que para os general corporate purpose loans, a estrutura temporal encontrada é linear e positiva. Testou-se também a potencial endogeneidade da variável maturidade nos dois tipos de syndicated loans, implementando-se uma regressão de variáveis instrumentais pelo método GMM para o tipo de empréstimos onde foi encontrado problemas de endogeneidade: general corporate purpose loans. Concluiu-se que com a crise financeira de 2007/2008, a estrutura temporal dos spreads não se altera em nenhuma das duas tipologias de empréstimos estudados.The present thesis focus on the correlation between spread and maturity for two types of syndicated loans: Fixed Asset Based Loans and General Corporate Purpose Loans. In the first place, we examine if the spread of the two different types of syndicated loans studied is calculated in a similar way; i.e., if there are any differences in the way how the spread of each loan typology is determined. The results suggest that spreads of the two types of syndicated loans studied are determined differently by common pricing factors. The term structure found for fixed asset based loans is quadratic with the concavity turned up, whereas for the general corporate purpose loans, the term structured found is linear and positive. One also tested the potential endogeneity of the variable maturity in the two types of syndicated loans, by implementing a regression of instrumental variables through the GMM method, for the type of syndicated loans affected: the general corporate purpose loans. We can conclude that the 2007-2008 financial crisis doesn’t impact the term structure of the loans studied

Differentiation and prediction of the in vitro antifungal activity of Brazilian propolis against Fonsecaea pedrosoi using chemometrics and diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier Transform spectroscopy

The in vitro antifungal activity of ethanolic extracts of propolis was evaluated at five different concentrations in twelve Fonsecaea pedrosoi strains using agar dilution. Eight propolis extracts were collected from towns located in the central region of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier Transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) was employed to analyze the spectra of lyophilized propolis extracts. The use of chemometric tools allowed for the development of models with more relevant factors and with fewer variables. Partial least squares (PLS) regression was applied, allowing for the development of PLS-DRIFTS models to predict antifungal activity of all fungal strains with root mean square error of cross validation (RMSECV) lower to 5.00 mm2 and coefficient correlation of cross-validation (R2) upper to 0.99 with five to eight latent variables at 4000-2400 and 2200-600 cm-1. Concluding, DRIFTS models associated with chemometrics are powerful screening tools of propolis samples with fungistatic properties against Fonsecaea pedrosoi