Control of depth of anesthesia using MUSMAR‐‐exploring electromyography and the analgesic dose as accessible disturbances.

Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2007;2007:1574-7. Control of depth of anesthesia using MUSMAR--exploring electromyography and the analgesic dose as accessible disturbances. Nunes CS, Mendonça T, Lemos JM, Amorim P. Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Departamento de Matemática Aplicada, Rua do Campo Alegre 687, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal. [email protected] Abstract The problem of controlling the level of depth of anesthesia measured by the Bispectral Index (BIS) of the electroencephalogram of patients under general anesthesia, is considered. It is assumed that the manipulated variable is the infusion rate of the hypnotic drug propofol, while the drug remifentanil is also administered for analgesia. Since these two drugs interact, the administration rate of remifentanil is considered as an accessible disturbance in combination with the level of electromyography (EMG) that also interferes with the BIS signal. In order to tackle the high uncertainty present on the system, the predictive adaptive controller MUSMAR is used. The performance of the controller is illustrated by means of simulation with 45 patient individual adjusted models, which incorporate the effect of the drugs interaction on BIS. This controller structure proved to be robust to the EMG and remifentanil disturbances, patient variability, changing reference values and noise. PMID: 18002271 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE

Modeling Anesthetic Drugs' Pharmacodynamic Interaction on the Bispectral Index of the EEG: the Influence of Heart Rate.

Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2007;2007:6480-3. Modeling anesthetic drugs' pharmacodynamic interaction on the bispectral index of the EEG: the influence of heart rate. Nunes CS, Mendonca T, Bras S, Ferreira DA, Amorim P. Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Departamento de Matemática Aplicada, Rua do Campo Alegre 687, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal. [email protected] Abstract The effect of drugs' interaction on the brain signal Bispectral Index (BIS) is of great importance for an anesthesia control drug infusion system. In this study, the objective was to inspect the influence of patient's heart rate on the effect of the drugs on BIS. With this goal, the patient's heart rate was incorporated in an drug interaction model. The model was fitted per patient during anesthesia induction, and tested for prediction under surgery. The results showed that the model with time changing parameters incorporating patient's heart rate has a better performance than a non adjusted model. Three clusters of models were also identified using the fuzzy c-means algorithm. These clusters will help to distinguish between different patients' dynamics. PMID: 18003509 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE

Bone Characteristics Of Broiler Chickens Fed Diets Supplemented With Solanum Glaucophyllum

The aim of this study was to assess the characteristics of the tibiotarsus of male broilers at 21 and 35 days of age. The percentages of collagenous proteins (CP), non-collagenous proteins (NCP), ash, and minerals (calcium, phosphorus, potassium and sodium), as well as weight of dried and defatted tibiotarsus in natura were determined. A total of 648 Cobb® male broilers were used in a random block design study with 6 treatments, 6 replicates, and 18 birds per experimental unit. The treatments consisted of diet supplementation with 0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, and 2.5 μg of active Vitamin D3 per kg of feed. The birds were weighed at 21 and 35 days of age and one bird per repetition with the mean weight of the experimental unit was slaughtered to collect the tibiotarsus. The organic and mineral composition of the bone was affected by the addition of active Vitamin D3 to the feed. Our results indicate that a dose of up to 1.50 μg of 1,25(OH)2D3/kg of feed is ideal for male broilers between 8 and 35 days of age.37138139

Restructuring of the "Macaronesia" biogeografic unit: a marine multi-taxon biogeographical approach

The Azores, Madeira, Selvagens, Canary Islands and Cabo Verde are commonly united under the term “Macaronesia”. This study investigates the coherency and validity of Macaronesia as a biogeographic unit using six marine groups with very different dispersal abilities: coastal fishes, echinoderms, gastropod molluscs, brachyuran decapod crustaceans, polychaete annelids, and macroalgae. We found no support for the current concept of Macaronesia as a coherent marine biogeographic unit. All marine groups studied suggest the exclusion of Cabo Verde from the remaining Macaronesian archipelagos and thus, Cabo Verde should be given the status of a biogeographic subprovince within the West African Transition province. We propose to redefine the Lusitanian biogeographical province, in which we include four ecoregions: the South European Atlantic Shelf, the Saharan Upwelling, the Azores, and a new ecoregion herein named Webbnesia, which comprises the archipelagos of Madeira, Selvagens and the Canary Islandsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Maximally-localized Wannier functions for entangled energy bands

We present a method for obtaining well-localized Wannier-like functions (WFs) for energy bands that are attached to or mixed with other bands. The present scheme removes the limitation of the usual maximally-localized WFs method (N. Marzari and D. Vanderbilt, Phys. Rev. B 56, 12847 (1997)) that the bands of interest should form an isolated group, separated by gaps from higher and lower bands everywhere in the Brillouin zone. An energy window encompassing N bands of interest is specified by the user, and the algorithm then proceeds to disentangle these from the remaining bands inside the window by filtering out an optimally connected N-dimensional subspace. This is achieved by minimizing a functional that measures the subspace dispersion across the Brillouin zone. The maximally-localized WFs for the optimal subspace are then obtained via the algorithm of Marzari and Vanderbilt. The method, which functions as a postprocessing step using the output of conventional electronic-structure codes, is applied to the s and d bands of copper, and to the valence and low-lying conduction bands of silicon. For the low-lying nearly-free-electron bands of copper we find WFs which are centered at the tetrahedral interstitial sites, suggesting an alternative tight-binding parametrization.Comment: 13 pages, with 9 postscript figures embedded. Uses REVTEX and epsf macro

Trabalho, terra e geração de renda em três décadas de reflorestamentos no alto Jequitinhonha.

A partir dos anos 1970, as chapadas do Alto Jequitinhonha, localizadas no nordeste de Minas Gerais, até então áreas de uso comum de agricultores familiares, foram plantadas com eucaliptos. O objetivo deste artigo é comparar os efeitos do reflorestamento sobre a estrutura fundiária, valor da produção agrícola e ocupação rural com os efeitos da produção agrícola familiar sobre essas mesmas variáveis na microrregião homogênea de Capelinha, no Alto Jequitinhonha. Tal microrregião foi escolhida para o estudo por ser a área de maior concentração de eucaliptais da região. Foram utilizados dados secundários dos Censos do IBGE para os anos de 1970, 1980, 1985 e 1996, além de dados secundários de pesquisas realizadas sobre a região em questão, incluindo entrevistas com dirigentes de empresas e lideranças sindicais. O artigo conclui que, em trinta anos, o reflorestamento concentrou terras e criou um número reduzido de empregos; a agricultura familiar, ao contrário, teve suas áreas de terras comprimidas e super-exploradas em decorrência da perda das chapadas, mas continuou sendo a principal responsável pela geração de ocupações e rendas na região

Development and evaluation of an emulsion containing lycopene for combating acceleration of skin aging

Licopeno é um carotenóide com potente atividade antioxidante encontrado em grande quantidade no tomate e usado no combate a diversas doenças como doenças cardiovasculares e diferentes tipos de cânceres, incluindo o câncer de próstata. O objetivo desse trabalho foi desenvolver uma emulsão contendo extrato de licopeno obtido do tomate salada e avaliar a citotoxicidade do extrato, a estabilidade, o comportamento reológico, atividade antioxidante e permeação do fitocosmético. O cosmético foi desenvolvido utilizando fase oleosa contendo derivados de Karité e submetido à avaliação da estabilidade físico-química, espalhabilidade, análise térmica, comportamento reológico, qualidade microbiológica, citotoxicidade, atividade antioxidante e testes de permeação e retenção cutânea. Os resultados demonstraram que o fitocosmético é estável, apresenta comportamento reológico desejável para uma formulação tópica e é um produto promissor para ser utilizado no combate à aceleração do envelhecimento cutâneo.Lycopene, a carotenoid and potent antioxidant is found in large quantities in tomatoes. Lycopene combats diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and different types of cancer, including prostate cancer. However, its topical use in emulsion form for the combat of skin aging is under-explored. The aim of the present study was to develop an emulsion containing lycopene extracted from salad tomatoes and evaluate its cytotoxicity, stability, rheological behavior, antioxidant activity and phytocosmetic permeation. The developed cosmetic comprised an oil phase made up of shea derivatives and was evaluated in terms of its physiochemical stability, spreadability, thermal analysis, rheological behavior, microbiological quality, cytotoxicity, antioxidant activity, cutaneous permeation and retention. The results demonstrate that this phytocosmetic is stable, exhibits satisfactory rheological behavior for a topical formula and is a promising product for combating skin aging