Remarks on the neuropterofauna (Insecta, Neuroptera) from the Brazilian Cretaceous, with keys for the identification of the known taxa

This paper reviews all previous knowledge about neuropterans from the Santana Formation (Lower Cretaceous, northeastern Brazil) involving a decade of research in this group. The neuropterofauna from Santana Formation is one of the most complete and diverse known, formed by 50 species distributed in 28 genera, representing 11 families: Ascalaphidae, Myrmeleontidae, Psychopsidae, Chrysopidae, Berothidae, Sisyridae, Nemopteridae, Roeslerianidae, Babinskaiidae, Paleoleontidae and Makarkiniidae. All the know n material is from the laminated limestone, tip of the Crato Member, lowest unit of the Santana Formation, Lower Cretaceous, Ceará State, northeastern Brazil. This research have the objective to furnish the keys for the identification of all known Brazilian fossil neuropterans and 16 Figures containing the drafts of all Brazilian neuropterans holotypes

Checklist of South American Cenozoic Insects

This checklist is a compilation of literature about South American Cenozoic insects. The list include 73 named insects belonging to 11 orders. Records are from the Oligocene and Pleistocene of south-eastern Brazil, late Paleocene of north - western Argentina and Paleocene- Eocene of southern Argentina.Esta lista es una compilación de literatura acerca de los insectos del Cenozoico de América del Sur. La lista contiene 73 insectos nominados pertenecientes a 11 órdenes. Los hallazgos provienen del Oligoceno y Pleistoceno del sudeste de Brasil, del Paleoceno tardío del noroeste de A rgentina y del Paleoceno-Eoceno del sur de Argentina

Abuse and maltreatment in the elderly

Introduction: The aging population is increasing worldwide, but the abuse and mistreatment in the elderly (often silenced forms) has also been increasing, with strong implications for their quality of life. Objective: To identify forms of abuse and ill-treatment in the elderly, as well as the determinants of these abuses. Methodology: This is a quantitative study, of the non-experimental, descriptive, cross-sectional type attended by 135 Portuguese elderly. It uses the Family APGAR Scale and the Question to Elicit Elder Abuse (QEEA), which was applied between January and June 2013, in the elderly residing in the central of Portugal. Results: The data shows that 23.5% of the elderly have suffered some kind of abuse, these being especially of the emotional kind and neglect. We also found that the most abused elders were unmarried and widows, those who had lower academic qualifications, those who reported feeling lonely and less healthy and even those who perceive to integrate families with some degree of dysfunction. Conclusion: We found that the abuse and mistreatment are present in the everyday life of many seniors and are a difficult subject to approach. The evidence, invite us to reflect on the development of intervention strategies, particularly at the levels of emotional abuse, neglect, promotion of health and family functioning in order to contribute to the reduction or extinction of abuse and ill-treatment in the elderly.Resumo Introdução: O envelhecimento da população tem vindo a aumentar a nível mundial, contudo também têm aumentado os abusos e maus-tratos nos idosos, (muitas vezes em formas silenciadas), com fortes implicações na sua qualidade de vida. Objetivo: Identificar formas de abusos e maus-tratos em idosos, assim como os fatores determinantes desses abusos. Metodologia: Trata-se de um estudo quantitativo, do tipo não experimental, descritivo e transversal, no qual participaram 135 idosos portugueses. Foi utilizada uma escala de APGAR-Familiar e o Question to Elicit Elder Abuse (QEEA) que foi aplicada entre Janeiro e Junho de 2013, em idosos que residem na região centro do país e na comunidade. Resultados: Os dados mostram que 23,5% dos idosos já sofreu algum tipo de maus tratos, sendo estes sobretudo do tipo emocional e negligencia. Verificámos ainda que os idosos mais abusados eram os solteiros e viúvos, os que possuíam menores habilitações académicas, aqueles que referiam sentir solidão e menor saúde e ainda os que percepcionam integrar famílias com alguma disfunção. Conclusão: Verificámos que os abusos e maus tratos estão presentes no quotidiano de muitos idosos e constituem tema de difícil abordagem. As evidências encontradas, convidam-nos à reflexão sobre o desenvolvimento de estratégias de intervenção, sobretudo aos níveis dos abusos emocionais, negligência, promoção da saúde e funcionalidade familiar no sentido de contribuir para a diminuição ou extinção dos abusos e maus-tratos em idosos

Assistive mobility devices focusing on smart walkers : classification and review

In an aging society it is extremely important to develop devices, which can support and aid the elderly in their daily life. This demands means and tools that extend independent living and promote improved health. Thus, the goal of this article is to review the state of the art in the robotic technology for mobility assistive devices for people with mobility disabilities. The important role that robotics can play in mobility assistive devices is presented, as well as the identification and survey of mobility assistive devices subsystems with a particular focus on the walkers technology. The advances in the walkers’ field have been enormous and have shown a great potential on helping people with mobility disabilities. Thus it is presented a review of the available literature of walkers and are discussed major advances that have been made and limitations to be overcome

Efeito de extractos de raízes eliciadas de Castanea sativa no crescimento do fungo ectomicorrízico Pisolithus tinctorius

O castanheiro (Castanea sativa Mill.) estabelece associação com numerosas espécies de fungos ectomicorrízicos, estando descritos os efeitos benéficos para a planta após micorrização com Pisolithus tinctorius. Neste processo é essencial que ocorra a troca de sinais entre os simbiontes, para que seja reconhecida a sua compatibilidade e para que ocorra a formação dos órgãos ectomicorrízicos. Neste trabalho são fornecidas evidências que sugerem a capacidade de extractos de raízes de castanheiro, nos estádios iniciais de contacto com P. tinctorius regularem o crescimento do fungo micorrízico

Review and classification of human gait training and rehabilitation devices

The number of people with reduced mobility capabilities increases every year. This reduction arises mainly due to spinal cord injuries; strokes which caused hemiparesis; or due to an advanced age. This decrease in mobility is a factor that influences both their quality of life and their dependence of others in daily life. Thus, it becomes necessary to find means and tools to prevent, compensate, improve or help to restore and increase the mobility of the affected people. The main expectation is that such means help to recover or ameliorate their independence in their daily life. Traditional training employs a treadmill with a support-weight system. This training is based on the principle of repetition of all the physical movements of a gait and has shown to produce good results in terms of rehabilitation of patients. However, this therapy requires two or more therapists in assisting patients during walking, to hold and adjust the patient’s lower limbs to correctly produce the desired gait. Thus, it requires a substantial commitment and effort of the therapists [1], and it is very expensive in terms of human resources. This leads to a boost on the population healthcare and assistive services demand and, thus an increase in the need for care givers. Assistive mobility robotic devices for gait training of disabled patients in treadmills and in the ground are one successful alternative. Other alternatives include devices that allow a broader training of patients, in different ground types, and the repetition of gait movements in uphill, downhill and trip. This paper reviews state of the art training gait devices focusing on passive and active devices. Passive devices rely on the principle of Gravity-Balancing in that they try to reduce or eliminate the effects of gravity during walking. Active devices are usually classified according to three different approaches: (i) treadmillexoskeleton based devices, (ii) robotic manipulators generating different types of gait patterns, and (iii) mobilite devices. In this review, several examples of current devices are presented

Revisão e classificação de dispositivos de treino e reabilitação da marcha humana

O treino de marcha convencional recorre a uma passadeira. Este tipo de treino comporta custos consideráveis, para além de exigir o constante envolvimento e esforço de dois ou três terapeutas. De modo a reduzir este esforço, inúmeros grupos de investigação têm desenvolvido uma série de alternativas a este método através da ajuda de dispositivos robóticos que realizam a assistência de pacientes na passadeira. Para além destes, têm surgido outros dispositivos que permitem um treino mais alargado dos pacientes no sentido em que permitem ao paciente executar a sua marcha no solo, bem como a repetição de movimentos de subida, descida e de tropeçar

Factors limiting the establishment of canopy-forming algae on artificial structures

Macroalgal canopies are important ecosystem engineers, contributing to coastal productivity and supporting a rich assemblage of associated flora and fauna. However, they are often absent from infrastructures such as coastal defences and there has been a worldwide decline in their distribution in urbanised coastal areas. The macroalga Fucus spiralis is the only high-shore canopy forming species present in the Azores. It is widely distributed in the archipelago but is never found on coastal infrastructures. Here we evaluate factors that may potentially limit its establishment on artificial structures. A number of observational and manipulative experiments were used to test the hypotheses that: (i) limited-dispersal ability limits the colonisation of new plants onto artificial structures, (ii) vertical substratum slope negatively influences the survivorship of recruits, and (iii) vertical substratum slope also negatively influences the survivorship and fitness of adults. Results showed that the limited dispersal from adult plants may be a more important factor than slope in limiting the species ability to colonise coastal infrastructures, since the vertical substratum slope does not affect its fitness or survivorship.European Regional Development Fund (ERDF); COMPETE - Operational Competitiveness Programme; FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology; cE3c funding. GMM was supported by a postdoctoral grant awarded by FCT (SFRH/BDP/63040/2009). ACLP was funded by a FRCT research grant M3.1.5/F/098/2012. Support was also provided by CIRN/UAc (Centre of Natural Resources of University of the Azores).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Sclerostin and DKK1 circulating levels associate with low bone turnover in patients with chronic kidney disease Stages 3 and 4

Background: Disordered mineral and bone metabolism is a common complication of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Bone biopsy remains the gold standard tool for evaluating renal osteodystrophy (ROD), but it is an invasive procedure. Despite a growing interest in the ability of newer bone biomarkers to discriminate between different forms of ROD, data on pre-dialysis patients are scarce. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in a cohort of 56 patients with CKD Stages 3 and 4. Participants underwent a transiliac bone biopsy after a course of double tetracycline labelling. Circulating levels of Wnt signalling inhibitors sclerostin and Dickkopf-1 (DKK1), soluble receptor activator of nuclear factor-¿B ligand (sRANKL) and osteoprotegerin were measured and correlated with histomorphometric analysis results. Results: Most patients had abnormal bone histology and low-turnover bone disease was the predominant form of ROD. Characteristics associated with high bone turnover were worse renal function, lower serum calcium and higher intact parathyroid hormone and fibroblast growth factor-23 levels. Patients with low bone turnover, on the other hand, presented with higher sclerostin along with lower DKK1 and sRANKL levels. In the multivariable logistic regression analysis, sclerostin and DKK1 levels were independently associated with low-turnover bone disease. Conclusions: Our results suggest that circulating levels of Wnt signalling inhibitors sclerostin and DKK1 are predictive of low-turnover bone disease in patients not yet on dialysis. Further research is needed to assess the performance of these bone turnover biomarkers, compared with histomorphometric analysis, in the diagnosis and treatment monitoring of ROD