Enhancing health and public health through machine learning: decision support for smarter choices

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Towards a multi-marker prognostic strategy in acute heart failure: a role for GDF-15

AIMS: Growth differentiation factor (GDF)-15 mirrors inflammation and oxidative stress in cardiovascular diseases. Brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) is associated with cardiomyocyte stretch in heart failure (HF). The objective of this study was to evaluate the prognostic impact of plasma GDF-15 and BNP in acute HF. METHODS AND RESULTS: We studied a subgroup of patients prospectively recruited in an acute HF registry (follow-up: 2 years; endpoint: all-cause mortality). Cox regression multivariate models were built to study the association of GDF-15 and mortality. Further cross-classification according to discharge GDF-15 (mean) and BNP (mean) and association with mortality was studied. We studied 158 patients: seventy-nine were male, mean age was 75 years, 55.1% had left ventricular ejection fraction < 40%, mean discharge BNP was 1000 pg/mL, and mean GDF-15 was 3013 ng/mL. Higher BNP and GDF-15 predicted 2-year mortality. Patients with GDF-15 ≥ 3000 ng/mL had a multivariate adjusted 2-year death risk of 1.86 (1.08-3.18). Patients discharged with both BNP and GDF-15 above the mean had an adjusted hazard ratio of 4.33 (2.07-9.06) when compared with those with both <mean. CONCLUSIONS: Higher GDF-15 associated with worse prognosis in acute HF independently of BNP. When both biomarkers GDF-15 and BNP were elevated at discharge, the 2-year mortality risk increased over four-fold. Biomarkers related to different pathophysiological pathways can provide incremental prognostic information in acute HF.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

VO2 and velocity in rct during continuous incremental treadmill test of uphill and dowhill

The etiology of the drift in VO2 in the respiratory compensatory threshold (RCT) during downhill running is unclear. It was investigated the velocities (VRCT) and VO2 in RCT (RCTVO2) in three different inclinations in the continuous incremental treadmill test (Tt). Eight sedentary women volunteered (24±2 years old) to undergo 10% downhill (DT), 10% uphill (UT) and near-level (NL) in Tt to exhaustion to determine the RCTVO2 and VRCT and peak VO2 on different days and were randomly allocated. VCO2 was examined as function of VE under the assumption that the RCT corresponds to the break point in the VE-VCO2 relationship. Peak VO2 was taken as the average of the highest five consecutive breaths attained in the individual work rates for the steps test in three different inclinations. It was used one-way ANOVA (Tukey’s post hoc test) to compare the differences. Statistical significance was set at P≤ 0.05. Peak VO2 was 34.62±4.20 mL.kg.min-1, 33.14±3.60 mL.kg.min-1 and 32.74±2.66 mL.kg.min-1 for NL, UT and DT respectively (P\u3e0.05). RCTVO2 was NL = 29.14±7.95 mL.kg.min-1, UT = 30.10±4.53 mL.kg.min-1 and DT = 29.70±3.00 mL.kg.min-1 (P\u3e0.05). VRCT was 10.38±1.92 km/h, 8.25±0.89 km/h and 12.88±1.46 km/h for NL, UT and DT respectively (P\u3c0.01). Tukey’s post hoc test find the following differences between NL vs UT (P\u3c0.05), NL vs DT (P\u3c0.05) and UT vs DT (P\u3c0.01). The drift in VO2 in the respiratory compensatory threshold during the three bouts appears unrelated biomechanical factors possibly due to a decoupling of neuromuscular and metabolic responses under the status of training

O crescimento da indústria brasileira de estruturas metálicas e o boom da construção civil: um panorama do período 2001-2010

Bibliografia: p. 81-83Este artigo aborda alguns dos principais aspectos da indústria brasileira de estruturas metálicas, desde as características da cadeia produtiva nacional até as perspectivas de investimento para o período 2012-2014, passando pelo panorama mundial, pela inserção dos produtores brasileiros no comércio internacional e pelo papel do BNDES no financiamento aos investimentos do setor. Mostra-se que há grande potencial de crescimento dessa indústria no Brasil, em parte por conta das características técnicas de seus principais produtos, em parte em função da recente boa evolução da economia brasileira, em especial quanto à construção civil. Esse setor em sendo impulsionado pela ampliação do acesso ao crédito, pelo crescimento do PIB, por programas públicos de combate ao déficit habitacional e pelas obras relacionadas à futura realização de dois grandes eventos esportivos

Una plataforma integrada para apoyar la publicación científica

As alterações dos processos de publicação científica são emergentes para se poder cumprir com as necessidades atuais de gestão de informação, fluxos e diferentes contextos de aplicação que as revistas científicas hoje em dia têm como desafios. Pretende-se com este trabalho apresentar um projeto nacional integrador para promover boas práticas de gestão de publicações científicas, implementar serviços de apoio, formação e metodologias testadas e otimizadas para diminuir o esforço humano e aumentar os níveis de interoperabilidade entre sistemas e ferramentas. Prevê ainda a aplicação de processos inovadores ligados à Ciência Aberta.Changes in scientific publication processes are emerging to meet the current information management needs, flows, and different application contexts that scientific journals now face as challenges. The aim of this paper is to present an integrating national project to promote good practices in the management of scientific publications, to implement tested and optimized support services, training and methodologies to reduce human effort and increase levels of interoperability between systems and tools. It also provides for the application of innovative Open Science processes.Están surgiendo cambios en los procesos de publicación científica para satisfacer las necesidades actuales de gestión de la información, los flujos y los diferentes contextos de aplicación que las revistas científicas ahora enfrentan los desafíos. El objetivo de este documento es presentar un proyecto nacional integrador para promover buenas prácticas en el manejo de publicaciones científicas, implementar servicios de soporte, capacitación y metodologías probadas y optimizadas para reducir el esfuerzo humano y aumentar los niveles de interoperabilidad entre sistemas y herramientas. También proporciona la aplicación de procesos innovadores de Open Science.(undefined

Integrated Vitrinite Reflectance and Apatite Fission Track Thermocronology of the Lower Karoo rocks in the Moatize Basin, Tete Province, Mozambique

The Karoo in Mozambique is represented by Late Carboniferous to Late Triassic sediments that were deposited in rift basins that fringe or developed between Proterozoic cratons

Foliar and twigs lesions of sweet orange caused by citrus leprosis

O objetivo deste trabalho foi apresentar a descrição anatômica dos tecidos lesionados pelo Citrus leprosis virus do tipo citoplasmático (CiLV-C), em ramos e folhas de laranjeira-doce (Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck) 'Pêra', e fornecer dados para a compreensão das interações entre o vírus e a planta hospedeira. Tecidos que apresentavam lesões foram seccionados em micrótomo rotativo (5–7 µm de espessura) e, posteriormente, as lâminas foram coradas e montadas em resina sintética. Nas análises realizadas no microscópio eletrônico de varredura, as amostras, depois de fixadas, foram imersas em glicerina 30% e, em seguida, criofraturadas, desidratadas em série etílica, secadas ao ponto crítico de CO2, e cobertas com uma delgada camada de ouro. As lesões foliares se iniciaram como pontuações necróticas, envolvidas por halos cloróticos que limitam o crescimento da lesão. Nos ramos, ocorreram dois tipos de lesões com fendas. Na região da fenda, houve intensa hiperplasia do parênquima cortical e floemático, que promoveu a obliteração das células condutoras do floema. A formação de ductos gomosos traumáticos nas lesões caulinares foi descrita. As alterações verificadas no floema podem explicar porque o vírus torna-se não-sistêmico.The objective of this work was to present the anatomical description of tissues lesioned by Citrus leprosis virus cytoplasmatic type (CiLV-C), in leaves and twigs of 'Pêra' sweet orange (Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck) providing new data to understand the interactions between the virus and the plant host, in Brazil. Leprosis lesions were cut on a rotary microtome (5–7 µm thick), stained and mounted in synthetic resin. For scanning electron microscope analysis, fixed tissues were immersed in glycerin 30% and criofractured, dehydrated in a graded ethylic series, critical point drying and coated with gold. Foliar lesions began as necrotic points surrounded by a yellow halo that inhibited the lesion expansion. The twigs presented two different lesions: depressed ones and pustules with ruptures. There was hyperplasia of the cortical and phloematic parenchyma cells causing the obliteration of phloematic vessels. These histological alterations of the phloem tissue could explain why the virus does not become systemic even occasionally infecting phloem parenchyma cells. The development of gummosis traumatic ducts in twig lesions was described here

Control of Dalbulus maidis in maize crop with electrostatic spraying

Among the pests that attack the maize, the maize leafhopper, which causes direct damages by sap-sucking and indirect ones, stands out as being a vector of pathogens and viruses, and can cause losses of up to 100% of the production. An alternative to improve the chemical control of this pest is the use of electrostatic spraying technology. However, there is no research support. This study aimed to evaluate the deposition of spray in the maize crop and the effectiveness in the chemical control of the maize leafhopper, using the electrostatic spraying system, at different application rates, compared to the conventional spraying system. The experiment was conducted in a randomized block design with five treatments, in a 2x2 + 2 factorial scheme: presence or absence of electrostatic spraying system, two application rates (35 and 50 L ha-1), an additional treatment using a hydraulic spray nozzle and a rate of 100 L ha-1, and other additional treatment without the application of insecticide, in order to support the study of pest infestation. Each treatment consisted of eight replicates, in which the spray deposition in the maize canopy and the efficiency in the control were evaluated. For the insecticide applications, a boom sprayer with induction electrostatic spraying system was used with indirect electrification. To evaluate the deposition, the Brilliant Blue FCF marker was added to the spray to be detected by absorbance in spectrophotometry. For the biological efficacy of the maize leafhopper, the insecticide composed of thiamethoxam and lambda-cyhalothrin was used compared with the control without the application. There was a significant increase in the spray deposition, both in the upper and lower maize leaves, with the use of electrostatic spray technology compared to the conventional spray system. The control of the maize leafhopper was also superior. The electrostatic spraying also made it possible to reduce the application rate by approximately three times in relation to that used in conventional hydraulic spraying

Patient-physician discordance in assessment of adherence to inhaled controller medication: a cross-sectional analysis of two cohorts

We aimed to compare patient's and physician's ratings of inhaled medication adherence and to identify predictors of patient-physician discordance.(SFRH/BPD/115169/2016) funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT); ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) through the operations: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029130 ('mINSPIRERS—mHealth to measure and improve adherence to medication in chronic obstructive respiratory diseases—generalisation and evaluation of gamification, peer support and advanced image processing technologies') cofunded by the COMPETE2020 (Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização), Portugal 2020 and by Portuguese Funds through FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A produção de vinho no Brasil e seu consumo moderado como benefício para a saúde humana abordado na sala de aula

..